OPINION: Ukrainian press plays formative role in our community

by Andrew Brodyn

The Ukrainian press has an influential role in shaping the minds of Ukrainians starting at an early age. From current events to advertisements about Ukrainian resorts to learning tools geared for children, the press has the amazing power to reach everyone everywhere. All of these factors combined create an integral tool for informing and shaping the youth of our Ukrainian society.

Speaking from my own personal experience, I have witnessed a growing trend of Ukrainians willing to contribute to this cause in particular. I have been exposed to literature, textbooks, newspaper articles and other publications that have shaped my views and beliefs - and raised my Ukrainian pride to new levels.

I am not alone in this line of thinking.

Spending a summer at the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, I had the pleasure of meeting Ukrainians from around the world who yearn for the possibility of reading their native language and keeping up with the current events affecting our nation. This fact alone made me realize the growing pride and hopes of preserving and maintaining all of the things that our forefathers worked so hard to provide for us.

Throughout history, literature and the press have been one of the most efficient tools for informing and unifying nations. As we move toward the future, I believe that we will be able to ensure our place in history as a well-informed society capable of creating a unity far surpassing anything we've seen thus far.

I hope that the Ukrainian press will continue to produce the highest quality of publications and the highest caliber of writing as we move toward a consistently more demanding and taxing future.

We must make the utmost effort to maintain and expand the reach of the press itself. The more individuals we are able to reach with news and events, the more we include every Ukrainian in maintaining our Ukrainian society, the more unity we will experience as a nation and, most of all, as a family of Ukrainians worldwide.

Andrew Brodyn graduated from Drew University in 2004 with a B.A. in Russian studies and a minor in sociology. He is currently employed at Grafica, an advertising agency in Chester, N.J., as an agency coordinator, working mainly in the creative and public relations departments.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, May 14, 2006, No. 20, Vol. LXXIV

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