2001: THE YEAR IN REVIEW

Meanwhile at The Weekly: ch-ch-ch-changes

Where did the year go? Seems we just put out our year in review issue for 2000 and here it is a year later...

With all the 10th anniversaries related to Ukraine being marked this year, it should come as no surprise to readers that 2001 also marked a decade since the establishment of our Kyiv Press Bureau. Our 10th was one of the first to be marked.

The milestone was noted in a "Turning the pages back. ..." item in January which noted that 10 years earlier, on January 13, 1991, Associate Editor Marta Kolomayets had arrived in Kyiv (still spelled Kiev at that time) to serve as its first correspondent in the Ukrainian capital and to set up the Kyiv Press Bureau - the first full-time Western news bureau in Ukraine. She arrived in Kyiv on a multiple entry/exit visa obtained with the assistance of the Information Department at the Ukrainian SSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Her arrival was the culmination of a resolution passed at the 1990 Convention of the Ukrainian National Association that urged the Supreme Executive Committee to look into opening a news bureau in Kyiv and/or Lviv.

Then in October 1990, a UNA delegation (composed of Supreme President Ulana Diachuk, Supreme Secretary Walter Sochan, and Supreme Advisors Eugene Iwanciw and Roma Hadzewycz) attending the second congress of Rukh met with officials of the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Ukraine. The delegation presented a letter from The Weekly Editor-in-Chief Hadzewycz concerning the opening of the press bureau and accreditation of its correspondent. After months of dealing with red tape, it happened: our Kyiv Press Bureau became a reality.

Other Weekly editorial staff members who later served at the Kyiv Press Bureau were: Chrystyna Lapychak, Khristina Lew and Roman Woronowycz (our current bureau chief).

Speaking of staff, there were a number of changes on our editorial and production staffs during 2001.

Deanna Yurchuk, 22, who majored in journalism and English at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., graduating with a B.A. in May, worked on The Weekly staff part-time since late November of last year through August of this year. Ms. Yurchuk would have made a wonderful addition to our team, but her heart was elsewhere - in the field of experiential education, to be exact. Since September she has been employed as an experiential education teacher at Friends Seminary, a private high school in New York City. She teaches rock climbing, kayaking, mountaineering and backpacking. However, she continues to free-lance for The Weekly - something we're very pleased about.

In April, our six-month search for an editorial staffer to replace Irene Jarosewich, who had taken over the helm of Svoboda back in November 2000, finally bore fruit. Andrew J. Nynka, 24, of Hoboken, N.J., came aboard on the Tuesday after Easter, April 17, and earned his first byline in the April 22 issue. Mr. Nynka holds a B.A. in political science and economics from Muhlenberg College, with additional studies in photography. He has since proven himself to be a capable member of the staff, as readers have no doubt seen from the stories he has covered. Needless to say, we're thrilled he has joined us at The Weekly.

During the summer we had some additional help from two student interns (who filled in for each other) in the persons of Peter Steciuk, a returnee, who has claimed the title of supreme executive summer assistant, and Andrew Olesnycky, a newcomer, who thus became co-adjutor to the supreme executive summer assistant. We were extremely pleased with their work and said we'd love to have them come back - which we did, for the week before Christmas as both came home for the holidays. Our own "Klychko brothers," as we call them, helped tremendously with writing for this year in review issue, as well as other editorial tasks that freed up the regular staffers to spend more time on this issue. Mr. Steciuk, 20, of Convent Station, N.J., is a junior majoring in government at Cambridge Community College, popularly known as Harvard University, while Mr. Olesnycky, 19, of Maplewood, N.J., is a sophomore majoring in journalism/science writing at Lehigh University.

In August we hired a new production staffer, Markian Rybak, 25 of New York. Mr. Rybak, our layout artist and computer systems troubleshooter , is currently completing his bachelor's degree at Rutgers University, where he studied graphic design and history. He also does consulting and freelance work in web design. He began working at The Weekly on August 13, while his predecessor in that position, Serge Polischuk, was still on staff.

At the end of that month we bid a fond farewell to Mr. Polishchuk, who had been with us for nine years. "Sid," as he is known, had joined The Weekly staff as a paste-up person in late 1992. With The Weekly's transition to computerized production in early 1993, Mr. Polishchuk, who studied computer science, assumed the duties of layout artist and computer troubleshooter. Mr. Polishchuk designed The Ukrainian Weekly's new flag (a paper's distinctive nameplate), which was unveiled for the paper's 60th anniversary in 1993. Beginning in 1997 he set up the paper's archives on the Internet, thus initiating the website that was officially unveiled as The Ukrainian Weekly Archive in April 1998. Mr. Polishchuk continues to serve as The Weekly's webmaster and works with the newspaper's staff on special projects, including books.

The rest of our crew, Ms. Hadzewycz (who has been with The Weekly full-time since 1977), Mr. Woronowycz (1992-) and Ika Koznarska Casanova (1980-1981, 1990-) of the editorial staff, and Awilda Rolon (1980-) of our production staff, just carried on, as usual, through thick and thin. For Mr. Woronowycz in particular it was a year to remember, what with the papal visit to Kyiv and Lviv, and the 10th anniversary of Ukraine's independence.

To be sure, our very small staff could not do what it does without the support of correspondents, columnists and other contributors.

Our regular correspondents include Yaro Bihun in Washington and Oksana Zakydalsky in Toronto. We also count on the Ukrainian National Information Service for reports from the U.S. capital.

Our correspondents in Kyiv during the report period were: Maryna Makhnonos, Yarema Bachynsky, Yana Sedova, Ms. Kolomayets (a former staffer), Stefko Bandera, Iryna Lawrin and Liuda Liulko.

Our regular columnists are: Dr. Myron B. Kuropas ("Faces and Places"), Andrew Fedynsky ("Perspectives"), Helen Smindak ("Dateline New York"), Orysia Paszczak Tracz ("The Things We Do"), Dr. Ingert Kuzych ("Focus on Philately") and Ihor Stelmach ("Ukrainian Pro Hockey Update"). We gained a new columnist in Adrian Bryttan ("Viewing the Arts"), and most recently added a new feature, "Sci-Tech Briefing," an occasional column prepared by members of the Ukrainian Engineers' Society of America. Roman Sawycky occasionally contributes his "Sounds and Views" columns.

The editor of our "UKELODEON" section inaugurated in February 1999 is Lydia Smyk, who works with the editor-in-chief in preparing materials for these special pages geared toward children and teenagers.

We have a number of occasional contributors in North America and beyond, and countless other contributors and community activists who submit articles, photos and other information that enriches the pages of The Weekly. We thank them all for their cooperation.

A huge thank-you is hereby extended to all those who made donations to The Ukrainian Weekly Press Fund - a total of $22,457.48 in 2001.

We would be remiss if we did not acknowledge the invaluable work and exemplary cooperation of our administration, headed by Walter Honcharyk; as well as our advertising manager, Maria Oscislawski; our subscriptions/circulation manager, Mary Pendzola; and Roman Pawlyshyn, administrative clerk. Sincere thanks to them all.

In February, at the time that the UNA marks the anniversary of its founding, as has become customary we added the full texts of all 53 issues of The Ukrainian Weekly published during the year 2000 - that's 1,771 stories in all (not counting items in Newsbriefs) to our official website, located at www.ukrweekly.com. Maintained by the newspaper's editorial and production staffs the site is continuously updated and expanded. With the addition of these articles from the year 2000, the website now has 11,115 full-text articles.

Year-in-review sections of The Weekly from the years 1976-2000 (and the "Decade in Review" published at the end of 1979), along with issues reporting on the Chornobyl nuclear disaster, Ukraine's declaration of sovereignty, its proclamation of independence and the national referendum on independence also are found on the archive site. Also online are Weekly issues published in 1983 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Great Famine-Genocide of 1932-1933 in Ukraine.

The archive also contains excerpts of top stories published each week in the current year, and full texts of all issues published in 1996-2000. The site contains an index for the years 1933-1945, 1977, 1979-2000, and that index is always being expanded to encompass more and more years. The goal is to eventually include every issue of The Weekly published during its 68-year history.

The site is completely searchable and all its articles are indexed by major search engines (Google, Excite, Yahoo and others). The Ukrainian Weekly provides this website of archival materials as a community service.

As of the end of 2001, "The Ukrainian Weekly Archive" (the official name of the site) registered a milestone in hits: 145,740 hits.

Since we're on the subject of milestones and statistics, now's a good time to mention that during 2001 we published 1,392 pages of our newspaper. In comparison, in 2000 we published 1,364, while in 1999 we printed 1,148.

For the record, we used the word "Ukraine" 8,873 times, "Ukraine's" 2,069 times, "Ukrainians," 1,085 times and "Ukrainian" 12,028 times. (In comparison, during Y2K we counted "Ukraine" 6,834 times, "Ukrainians" 927 times and "Ukrainian" 7,490 times.)

And, just in case you wondered, we printed a total of 1,316,473 words in 2001.

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In October The Ukrainian Weekly celebrated its 68th anniversary. Well, OK, we didn't really celebrate, but we did note the jubilee in our paper in an editorial in which we thanked our readers for their support, which makes continuation of our mission of providing the Ukrainian perspective on the news, as well as our service to the community possible. What made this anniversary more special, however, was a letter from Rep. Bob Schaffer, a co-chair of the Congressional Ukrainian Caucus, who wrote:

"Congratulations on 68 years of first-rate journalism and service to the Ukrainian community. October 6 is a landmark anniversary and perhaps the clearest confirmation of your professionalism and devotion to excellence. ...

"As an American of Ukrainian descent, I know I speak for many in conveying my deepest appreciation for your success in enhancing the knowledge of our Ukrainian cultural heritage. I am most proud of the leadership provided by The Ukrainian Weekly, its publishers, contributors and, most of all, its dedicated staff. Many of us in the U.S. Congress rely on your timely reporting and thoughtful opinions as we consider important domestic and foreign policy decisions."

In January of the year, we received another notable piece of fan mail, which helped us start out 2001 on a pleasant note. Melanne Verveer, assistant to the president and chief of staff to the first lady during the Clinton administration, wrote:

"As the Clinton Administration comes to a close, I want to extend my appreciation to you and your colleagues. As the highest-ranking Ukrainian American in the Administration I have valued your publication.

"The Weekly has provided competent and informative coverage of events in Ukraine, particularly with respect to developments in government, the economy and civic life. I hope you will continue to have the support you need to provide this important service."

A month later, similar confirmation of our paper's value and its reach came from Kyiv. The chief of our Kyiv Press Bureau, Roman Woronowycz, met with members of the U.S. Congress who were part of a delegation visiting the Ukrainian capital to set up a legislative exchange program. Mr. Woronowycz related that Reps. Mary Kaptur and Dennis Kucinich "covered our paper with accolades"; he wrote in an e-mail message that "Rep. Kucinich said he could not properly prepare for his trips to Ukraine without our paper, while Rep. Kaptur said it is an invaluable source of information and that she had been reading it regularly for years."

All of the above, of course, strengthened our resolve to continue providing free Weekly subscriptions to all members of the U.S. Congress. Obviously, the paper is read, and used, and appreciated. The cost of the free subscriptions takes a serious chunk of change - almost $30,000. Nonetheless, our staff feels very strongly that these copies should continue to reach our senators and representatives since The Weekly is the only newspaper that provides such information consistently, coherently and accurately.

The Weekly's editor-in-chief had written in November to the Ukrainian American community's strongest financial institutions, its credit unions, as well as leading Ukrainian community institutions and organizations to solicit donations for the "Copies for Congress" project, which provides free subscriptions for members of Congress. Thus far, three credit unions and two individuals have responded to our appeal; they are (in order of receipt of donations): the Cleveland Selfreliance Federal Credit Union, $1,000; SUMA (Yonkers) Federal Credit Union, $500; and Self Reliance (New York) Federal Credit Union $3,000. Many thanks for this acknowledgement of the importance of our work in telling "the Ukrainian story."

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During 2001 there were several new developments at The Weekly. In the fall our administrator, Mr. Honcharyk, succeeded in establishing our capability to accept credit cards in payment for subscriptions. This will go a long way toward helping us attract, and keep, readers who will find it much easier to subscribe or renew their subscriptions. We informed our subscribers about this new way of paying for their subscription by inserting a card into renewal notices. "Good News!" it said. "We now accept credit cards." One reader wrote back: "Bad news. I have no credit cards." (He did renew, however, so that was good news for us.)

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There were also several firsts during 2001.

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During 2001 The Weekly covered an extraordinary number of extraordinary events. The 10th anniversary of Ukraine's independence was the subject of three special issues that covered every facet of this landmark event and all the celebrations associated with it, including the Third World Forum of Ukrainians held in Kyiv. The historic and unprecedented visit to Ukraine by Pope John Paul II was covered extensively in two special issues, plus news stories and commentaries in several other issues prior to and after the event. Another special issue was devoted to the 15th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster.

Oh yes, and there was also the special supplement called "A Ukrainian Summer" - our fifth annual production of this popular feature. (We wondered how many readers caught the inside joke about frogs in the intro to that section... let's just say it has something to do with a nickname that our new editorial staffer has had since childhood.)

We had a short breather in the fall before it was time to get to work on this mega-issue. Well, you can see the results, so you can imagine how much work was involved. We couldn't even begin to calculate the number of man/woman-hours....

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If special issues and supplements were not enough, in the spring we also published the second volume of "The Ukrainian Weekly 2000," which features the most significant stories published in The Weekly from the 1970s through the 1990s. It was equal in size (288 pages) to the first volume, which covered the years 1933-1969.

Volume II contains articles about the introduction of the Canadian policy of multiculturalism; the arrests of human and national rights activists Vyacheslav Chornovil, Ivan Svitlychny and Ivan Dzyuba; the release of Valentyn Moroz; and the hostage ordeal of Michael Metrinko in Iran. There are stories about protest actions at the Olympics in the 1980s and about independent Ukraine's debut at the Olympic Games in the 1990s. The disparate cases of John Demjanjuk, Walter Polovchak and Myroslav Medvid all figure on the pages of this volume, as do events commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Great Famine of 1932-1933 and the Millennium of Christianity in Rus'-Ukraine. Not forgotten are such significant developments as the founding of the Rukh movement in Ukraine and President George Bush's 1991 visit to Ukraine, which was followed in short order by Ukraine's independence and the overwhelming affirmation of that independence by a nationwide referendum. The volume also explains the reason for the changing spelling of Kiev-Kyyiv-Kyiv, and the disappearance of the "the" before "Ukraine." Quite appropriately, the last entry for the 20th century is an article called "Millennium reflections," written by columnist Andrew Fedynsky.

We published this two-volume "The Ukrainian Weekly 2000" to mark the end of one millennium and the beginning of a new one, to show our readers where our community and our nation have been, how their fates have been altered by events of worldwide significance, and how our newspaper and, by extension, the Ukrainian American and Ukrainian Canadian communities have reacted. We undertook the project also to raise funds for The Ukrainian Weekly, and we are pleased that our efforts were highly successful. As of the end of the year, Volume II had brought in more than $24,118 from sales and another $16,127 in donations to the press fund - a sum of over $40,245. (In addition, funds for Volume I continued to trickle in during 2001, as we received $1,207 from sales and $705 in donations.)

It is our sincere hope that, in some small way, the publication of both volumes of "The Ukrainian Weekly 2000" serves as both a tribute and a thank-you to all our devoted editors and contributors, each of whom enriched our paper and whose team effort made the paper what it is today. In addition, we see "The Ukrainian Weekly 2000" as a tangible thank-you to all who supported our work during the 20th century.

We are now working on a third book - one that promises to be equally interesting to our readers - but more on that in the new year.

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In closing, Dear Readers, we wish all of you good fortune, good health and the fulfillment of your dreams in 2002 and beyond.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, January 6, 2002, No. 1, Vol. LXX

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