NEWS AND VIEWS: Regarding all our communities: small, large and in-between (04/29/01)

NEWS AND VIEWS

Regarding all our communities: small, large and in-between

by Natalia Lysyj

A recent editorial in The Ukrainian Weekly proposed a number of New Year's resolutions for our leaders and community members. Of the many resolutions expressed in this editorial, I find the resolution to establish more contacts with our local communities and its members to be one of most laudable ones.

The Weekly has been moving in that direction for some time by profiling Ukrainian communities beyond the Eastern quadrant of the United States, carrying a series of in-depth articles about Ukrainian communities in Houston.

To paraphrase Julius Caesar, one can say that our communities in the diaspora are divided into three parts: mega, macro, and micro.

The mega-communities, as found in major cities such as New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, or major Canadian cities, are endowed with Ukrainian schools, museums, cathedrals, social and sports clubs, as well as patriotic youth organizations, such as Plast, SUM and ODUM.

In a similar vein, mega-centers of Ukrainian culture exist in the Midwest, most notably in Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland and Minneapolis. They are the principal preservers of Ukrainian traditions, culture and ethnic identity.

Macro-centers of Ukrainian culture can be found in southern and western cities of America, such as Atlanta, Georgia, the North Port/Tampa/St. Petersburg area in Florida, Houston and Dallas/Fort Worth in Texas, Phoenix, Ariz., and in the West Coast cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco. Numerically smaller than mega-centers of the Atlantic Coast and Midwest, they nevertheless play an important role in the propagation and preservation of Ukrainian culture. Most of them also are home to Ukrainian churches and cultural clubs that form the glue that keeps the fabric of the community together.

Then there is an ever-increasing and rapidly rising number of Ukrainian micro communities. Numerically small, they comprise mainly second- and third-generation members of diaspora with a sprinkling of first-generation retirees who have been on the move away from the mega and macro Ukrainian centers due to job opportunities and more favorable living conditions. Many are young people pursuing professional careers in academia, high-tech industries, medicine and the financial sector.

These upwardly mobile members of the diaspora tend to be in the mainstream of American multicultural society and have a significant impact on the formulation of public opinion and political direction in this country. These micro-communities tend to exist in areas without Ukrainian churches or cultural centers, but are bound by the free spirit of their Ukrainian heritage.

Austin, the capital of Texas, home of the giant University of Texas, the second major center of the computer industry in the United States, and until recently home of our new president, is an example of a micro-community. Here The Weekly has been playing a vital role in bringing together newly transplanted folk of Ukrainian heritage. New arrivals have been contacting those in the area about whom they have read in the newspaper or whose names they have seen on the editorial pages. An interest is growing in establishing contacts among Ukrainians in such microcosms.

For over a year, a handful of Ukrainians in Austin has been seeking out new transplants by holding monthly gatherings in private homes to get acquainted and to share information about the activities of the Ukrainian communities in Texas and to introduce Ukrainian culture within the local community.

The micro-community of Austin supported the Scythian gold exhibit in San Antonio, where the journey of the exhibit of this ancient culture began. Recently, a presentation was made about the Ukrainian diaspora to a group from the American Association of University Women. A Ukrainian holiday feast with a lecture on Ukrainian cuisine was organized, and a showing of Ukrainian costumes at the international cultures event was presented on January 27 in Austin.

In the American multicultural arena, Texas is rich in immigrant populations from the original Spanish-Mexican colonists to famous settlers from the early American states. The 19th century saw an influx of German, Czech, Slovak and Polish settlers adding their own cultures to this large state.

Texans have come to know about the heritage of their neighbors. Here, as elsewhere in United States, the contributions of ethnic cultures are treasured and admired. Such acceptance provides an opportunity to stay visible in the cultural mosaic of American society, as well as to carry on our colorful Ukrainian traditions.

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