LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (06/04/00)

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Thanks for Volume I of Weekly's book

Dear Editor:

Thank you for the book you sent me, The Ukrainian Weekly 2000 (Vol. I). As an original reader from issue No. 1, I wonder how many such readers you still have. I remember the first issue was hidden inside a kind of funny-looking daily paper.

How did someone born in the United States learn to read Ukrainian in the 1920s? There were no Saturday schools in the 1920s and early 1930s. There were church schools that ran 5-7 p.m. daily and Saturdays 10 a.m.-noon. One year with the Basilian Sisters was enough to teach you to read because you already knew English from the public schools. Unfortunately our school was mostly known as a Slavic school.

It's The Weekly that taught me we were Ukrainians. When the Depression hit, the parish couldn't afford the nuns, so it then became hit-and-miss teaching by men of the parish until after the second world war, when they opened parochial schools (1950).

Anyway, when I grew up, I subscribed to The Weekly ($2 per year). I carried the subscription with me in the Navy from 1943 to 1946. You also sent me the Svoboda free while I was in the service.

Now I'm an old man in a wheelchair with the second world war, Korea and Vietnam behind me. I enjoy reading both papers. Thank you.

Andrew Simock
Las Vegas, Nev.

Kuropas not voice of our community

Dear Editor:

I would like to express to the readers of The Ukrainian Weekly, whether they are Ukrainians, Ukrainian Americans, members of Congress, or others, that many Ukrainian Americans strongly disagree with many of Myron Kuropas' statements. It is unfortunate that The Weekly devotes so much space for his opinions, and I encourage those that agree to respond.

Simply put, he is not the voice of the entire Ukrainian American community.

Tatiana M. Terleckyj
Washington

Thanks to Hodiak for his observations

Dear Editor:

It warmed my heart to read Bohdan Hodiak's letter to the editor (May 14) regarding the Elian Gonzalez case and particularly the privileges extended to Cubans by the U.S. immigration authorities. It was an eye opener. Thanks to Mr. Hodiak for his astute observation and study of the Cuban political arena in his hometown of Miami.

What perturbs me most is how the nation's finest make a personal situation a political one. Elian is a child in need of his father's love, yet article upon article in newspapers stresses the point of the country's political situation, that of it being Communist and Castro's supposedly cruel control of his people. But, I ask, what connection has little Elian with Castro and the government?

His interest goes no further than knowing that he is protected by the love of his father, friends and other members of the family, be it in Cuba or elsewhere. Love is a very potent ingredient for all of us, let alone to young boys and girls. I wonder how many parents would permit their own child or children to be taken away by relatives or the government if such a situation should arise. Needless to say, they would fight tooth and nail to get their children back.

And finally, does one not give thought to the fact that, by the time Elian reaches adulthood and is on his own, Castro might no longer be the dictator and the country might relinquish communism for a more democratic government?

Mary E. Pressey
Flushing, N.Y.

Long live columnist Myron Kuropas

Dear Editor:

I am writing in reference to the letter by Ray Wihak "Not everyone agrees with Kuropas" (May 7). Commentaries in The Weekly are written not only by Dr. Kuropas but also by Andrew Fedynsky and Orysia Paszczak Tracz.

As for me, I say: Long live Dr. Myron Kuropas and every member of this beautiful family.

What Mr. Wihak suggests is a sinful life for women, for persons who should seek medical advice, help and treatment. God forbid that our young people take his advice regarding diversity of views.

Lydia Odezynsky
Philadelphia

More on Matlock's take on Russia

Dear Editor:

This is in reference to the May 7 letter by Z. Lew Melnyk about the anti-Ukrainian views of Jack F. Matlock. In it Dr. Melnyk writes about Ambassador Matlock's statement that: "Russia has never attacked anybody."

This, of course, is a great distortion of Russia's history. In addition to the convincing arguments of Dr. Melnyk, I would like to call your attention to an article by Richard Pipes, Baird Professor of History at Harvard University, titled "Can The Soviet Union Reform?" (Foreign Affairs, fall 1984). Dr. Pipes wrote that "it requires only a slightly deeper acquaintance with the history of Russia to realize that country has engaged in aggression against its neighbors far more often and more persistently than its neighbors have ever acted against it."

To substantiate the above, the author cites the following. "In 1898 the Russian Imperial General Staff completed a study of Russian warfare through the ages. The editor, in the concluding volume, assured readers that they could be proud of their past and face the uncertain future with confidence: of 38 military campaigns that Russia had waged in the preceding 200 years, 36 had been 'offensive' and only two defensive. N.N. Sukhotin, 'Voina v Istorii Russkogo Mira,' St. Petersburg, 1898, pp. 13-14."

Michael Senkiw
Inverness, Fla.

Another website to consider visiting

Dear Editor:

We were interested to read details about the recent conferences at Yale and Columbia in the April 30 issue of The Ukrainian Weekly. Please allow me to add the website of the Chair of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Ottawa to the list of Ukrainian studies websites that were published with the article: http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/grad-etudesup/ukr

The University of Ottawa within its Department of Slavic Studies was one of the first universities in North America to offer Ukrainian courses in the 1950s under Prof. Constantine Bida. The Chair of Ukrainian Studies was launched in late 1995, on the basis of a $1.2 million endowment by the Iwachniuk, Bida, Sosnowsky and University of Ottawa funds. It is one of the newest Ukrainian studies programs in North America, focusing on contemporary Ukraine in the disciplines of the social sciences. The activities of the chair include research, conferences, public lectures and publications.

The chair is under the jurisdiction of the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies. Its board consists of: the three deans of the university's faculties of graduate and post-doctoral studies, arts, and social sciences; chair executive director, Dr. Theofil I. Kis; and directors Dr. Irena Makaryk, Dr. Natalie Mychajlyszyn and Dr. Roman Weretelnyk.

To date, two very successful "Towards a New Ukraine" conferences have been held - the first, about Ukraine's first five years of independence; the second, about Ukraine's prospects for the next five years. Proceedings of both conferences were published and are available from the chair.

Our third conference, "Towards a New Ukraine III: Geopolitical Imperatives of Ukraine: Regional Contexts" will be held at the University of Ottawa on October 27-28. Noted scholars from Canada, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the United States, and the United Kingdom, will present papers on the present state and future prospects of Ukraine's relations with Russia, Poland, and Germany; Ukraine's foreign and security policy; Europe's policy towards Ukraine; Ukraine's "European choice" policy; Ukraine's position between East and West; and Ukraine's strategic partnership (or problem?) with the West.

We also recently established a two-year post-doctoral position, for which we are taking applications.

For more information, please check out our website (as cited above), or send us a fax at (613) 562-5351, phone us at (613) 562-5800 ext.3692, or send an e-mail [email protected].

Irena Bell
Ottawa

The writer is coordinator of the Chair of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Ottawa.

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