Maksym Mycak
Following the February 24 lecture on Ukraine at the Longboat Key Education Center, speaker Anisa Mycak (right) poses with the center’s executive director, Susan Goldfarb (center), and an audience member sporting the blue and yellow colors of Ukraine’s flag.
LONGBOAT KEY, Fla. – For the first time in its 30-year history, The Longboat Key Education Center recently featured a presentation on Ukraine. The illustrated lecture on February 24 provided a close-up look at the dramatic events in Ukraine since late 2013, including last winter’s “Revolution of Dignity” – the Euro-Maidan, Russia’s annexation of Crimea, and the Russo-Ukrainian war in the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts in eastern Ukraine.
In addition to covering the resulting international crisis in East-West relations, the PowerPoint presentation titled “Ukraine: An Update and Overview” also included a retrospective of Ukraine’s 24 years of independence since 1991 in the context of its long history as a country on the crossroads of various empires and cultures.
The lecture was delivered by Anisa Mycak, who holds a master of philosophy degree in history from Columbia University. A longtime winter resident of Longboat Key, Ms. Mycak is a writer and editor who has closely followed developments in Ukraine for many years. She was assisted with her PowerPoint presentation by Maksym Mycak. A display of photo images of Euro-Maidan was featured at the event, courtesy of Bohdan Bulawka of Sarasota, Fla. A bibliography on the topic was also made available to audience members.
Reflecting the recent interest in Ukraine by the general public, over 50 people registered for the lecture, which the Longboat Key Education Center offered as part of its diverse educational and cultural program geared both to island residents and winter visitors. Many were hearing a lecture on Ukraine for the first time. The Q & A segment that concluded the presentation reflected the ongoing relevance of this topic and offered insights into avenues of further inquiry.
The Longboat Key Education Center is located at 5370 Gulf of Mexico Drive, Longboat Key, FL 34228. Its website is http://www.lbkeducationcenter.org.