2000: THE YEAR IN REVIEW: Y2K "noteworthies": diverse people and events (01/07/01)

2000: THE YEAR IN REVIEW

Y2K "noteworthies": diverse people and events

Some of this year's events did not fall under specific categories, but are noteworthy nonetheless. The following are major happenings and achievements in Ukrainian life.

Gregory Buchai was named honorary consul of Ukraine for Texas, making Ukraine the 73rd country to be represented in the Houston Consular Corps, the second largest consular corps in the United States.

News of his appointment was reported in the Houston Chronicle in spring of this year. But the process actually began three years earlier when Ukrainian Ambassador Yuri Shcherbak met with officers of Ukrainian organizations of Houston to discuss what the local Ukrainian American community could do to help promote Ukraine in Texas.

"I was named to this position because the Ukrainian government wanted to secure a presence in Houston," Mr. Buchai explained, "Ukraine was planning to develop trade relations with the United States and Mexico, and having a foreign trade office in Houston would be advantageous, since Houston is the oil and gas capital of the world and the second largest port in this country."
Zbigniew K. Brzezinski was awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree from the Ukrainian Free University on April 13 this year for his scholarly endeavors and efforts in behalf of human rights, world peace and prosperity. Dr. Brzezinski, one of America's leading political scientists and strategists, has been championing Ukraine's cause for more than 40 years.

The presentation took place during a special ceremony at the Embassy of Ukraine in Washington. There Dr. Brzezinski recounted the important role the Ukrainian Free University and the diaspora played in preserving Ukraine's national consciousness and Western identity through the years of Soviet rule.

"When Ukrainians ask themselves how they would like to see Ukraine in 20 years," Dr. Brzezinski said, "I hope most Ukrainians both realize and yearn that the answer be clear: Ukraine in the European Union, Ukraine in the Atlantic Alliance."
There were over 300 people at the Bush Foundation's inaugural ethnic day on November 4 at the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum in College Station, Texas. Dubbed "Ukraine: Its Traditions and Culture," the event featured cultural displays, demonstrations, performances and entertainment.

The highlight of the day's events was a panel discussion of dignitaries and experts, among them, Ambassador Kostyantyn Gryshchenko; Roman Popadiuk, executive director of the Bush foundation; Gregory Buchai, honorary consul for Ukraine in Houston; Lt. Cmdr. Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper, NASA mission specialist; Dr. Alexander Litvinchuk, research scientist; and moderator Eugene A. Kuchta. The discussion, slated to last one hour, lasted nearly two hours due to an abundance of questions from the audience.

The afternoon also featured a magnificent display of Ukrainian arts and culture, as well as a pysanka demonstration, photographs of Ukraine and dance and music performances - all provided or arranged by the Ukrainian American Cultural Society of Houston, which this year marked its 25th anniversary, and Ukrainian National Women's League of America Branch 118 of Houston.

Ambassador Gryshchenko took advantage of the occasion to become acquainted with Houston. He visited with the city's Ukrainian community, its political leaders, such as Mayor Lee Brown, as well as the consular corps, and business, medical and science institutions, including the Johnson Space Center of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, where he was given a VIP tour by Lt. Cmdr. Stefanyshyn-Piper.
The life of Gen. Roman Shukhevych (Taras Chuprynka) was resurrected on the big screen in the premiere of Oles Yanchuk's new film "Undefeated" (Neskorenyi)" It was standing room only on November 11, as more than 1,500 people packed into the two theaters of Kyiv's Kino House.

Focusing on the persona of Shukhevych, the movie recounts the Ukrainian Insurgent Army's (UPA) guerrilla battles with both the Soviet and the Nazi forces in western Ukraine during the second world war and into the 1950s. The film combines historical accuracy with artistic license to tell the story of how Shukhevych and the UPA sacrificed everything - family, friends, their own lives - for Ukraine's freedom. In the past, Soviet propaganda had portrayed Shukhevych as a traitor. The film will have a run in Ukrainian theaters before going to TV and video in a year's time. North American audiences will have a chance to see the movie in early spring of next year.
The Flying Cossacks, a 1960s U.S. Air Force pilot training unit, held its second reunion in Arizona on August 25-27 this year. Thirteen members of the original group of 40 attended the event. The reunion's organizers were in touch with more than half of the members of this 1964-1965 flying group that fought in Vietnam. They adopted the Flying Cossack name and tryzub emblem at the suggestion of Steve Olek of Chicago, the only Ukrainian in the group. As the Flying Cossacks maintain a strong interest in today's Ukraine, Mr. Olek gave a briefing to the reunion on the current situation in the unit's adopted country.
On July 30 of this year, Michael Komichak, host of the "Ukrainian Radio Program" on WPIT-AM (730) in the Pittsburgh area celebrated the 50th anniversary of his show. The venue was a dinner cruise with 650 of his listeners.

The program broadcasts Ukrainian news, music, community announcements, birthday wishes and wedding and death notices. It has also helped to promote many projects, such as the establishment of the Ukrainian Nationality Room at the University of Pittsburgh and three chairs of Ukrainian studies at Harvard University. Through the years the primary objective of Mr. Komichak has been to nurture the Ukrainian identity of his listeners and to make younger listeners proud of their heritage.
Middle Tennessee State University featured Ukraine at its 10th annual international celebration. The Dnipro Ukrainian dance ensemble was flown in from Milwaukee to perform for the 1,000 people at the banquet. The festival also featured an exhibit about Ukrainian folk arts, such as pysanky, as well as Ukraine's national poet, Taras Shevchenko. This was the first major event spotlighting Ukrainian culture to the general public in Tennessee.
For the third year in a row, a historical souvenir sheet won the Heorhiy Narbut Prize, which is awarded annually by the Ukrainian Philatelic and Numismatic Society. The year 2000 Narbut Prize went to Oleksiy Shtanko for his masterful creation honoring Yaroslav the Wise. Hues of red and gold dominated the souvenir sheet, which depicted Yaroslav on the left supporting a sword. On the right was the ecclesiastic Ilarion, the first native-born metropolitan of Kyiv, who leaned on a staff. The text that appeared around the central scene, and that formed a type of verbal frame, was taken from the "Povist Vremennykh Lit," the surviving chronicle of the time. The public really appreciated Mr. Shtanko's work as it garnered 16 percent of the hundreds of votes submitted this year. For a look at the Narbut Prize for best Ukrainian stamp design log on to www.upns.org.

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