EDITORIAL: Making summer memories (07/09/00)

EDITORIAL

Making summer memories

Being Ukrainian in North America is most fun in the summer. Ask anybody who grew up here what they most liked about their Ukrainian upbringing, and they're sure to mention some memory of summer. Summer brought, and still brings, all sorts of camps, as well as camping out and campfires, festivals and food, beaches and mountain retreats, visits with "babtsia" and "dido," the end of not only the school year, but the "Ukie" school year as well.

In recent years, summer has also brought us great history - the declaration of Ukraine's sovereignty on July 16, 1990, and the unexpected and dramatic declaration of Ukraine's independence on a hot and hazy August 24, 1991.

Ukraine's independence brought us another great historic event of summer - the thrill of watching Ukraine fully participate for the first time as an independent nation in the XXVI Summer Olympiad in Atlanta in 1996, the Centennial Olympic Games. Ukraine took its place among 196 nations at those games, as internationally renowned pole-vaulter Serhiy Bubka carried the blue-and-yellow flag into the Olympic Stadium, leading a delegation of 243 Ukrainian athletes. It was the summer we got to watch diminutive 17-year-old Lilya Podkopayeva from Dontesk win two golds and a silver in women's gymnastics, as she became the first person in 24 years to win Olympic gold while holding the title of world champion. (Remarkably, the champion to previously accomplish the same feat was Liudmila Turishcheva, today the director of Ukraine's Gymnastics Federation and the wife of Minister of Youth and Sports Valeriy Borzov.) This year, once again we will get to watch Ukraine compete in a summer Olympiad - albeit in Australia's "spring" month of October - as Ukraine's delegation travels to Sydney.

And the summer of 2000 brings us another historic event, the huge millennium celebration - OpSail 2000 - the gathering in New York Harbor of more than 180 tall ships and military vessels from 50 countries. Two ships from Ukraine participated in this event, scheduled to coincide with the celebration of America's July 4 Independence Day - the tall ship Batkivschyna, which sailed in the Parade of Tall Ships, and was open to public viewing the rest of the week at the Hudson River's Pier 84 in Manhattan, and the Slavutych, a 5,010-ton naval cruiser, carrying a crew of 129, which is on an official visit to the United States and participated in the International Review of Naval Vessels. Those who saw the Slavutych sail up the Hudson River, flying Ukraine's blue-and-yellow flag and Ukraine's blue, yellow and white naval ensign, described the sight as "simply awesome."

So, as the summer heat truly kicks in, we wish you happy memory-making for you and your children!

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