Baba is what I called my granny on my father’s side … or sometimes just simply “Ba.” My Baba was an amazing woman. Her folk wisdom and wit still inspire me to this day … even though I didn’t really even know her. I was only two years old when she died, so there were times growing up when I wondered if I invented her myself. But she definitely did exist. I know this because throughout my childhood years, my mum was in the habit of prefacing folk sayings with: “As your Baba said…” As a rule, in Ukrainian the sayings rhymed and made great sense. Here are a few examples: Вміла готувати, та не вміла подавати. (Good cooking, but poor presentation) Дешева рибка – погана юшка. (Cheap fish makes bad soup) Не так сталося, як гадалося. (Appearances can be deceiving). Що швидко робиться, то криве родиться. (Haste makes waste.) В чужих руках завше більший шматок. (The neighbour’s grass is always greener.) За дурною головою і ногам нема спокою. (A foolish head creates restless legs.) Дай Боже нашому теляті вовка зЇ’cти. (Please Lord, allow our calf to eat a wolf) Не вчи рибу плавати. (Do not teach a fish to swim) Дальше очі – дальше серце. (Out of sight […]
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Knyzhka Corner Book Review: The Torture Camp on Paradise Street
In this edition of Knyzka Corner, we will be discussing Stanislav Aseyev’s, The Torture Camp on Paradise Street. The Torture Camp on Paradise Street, translated by Zenia Tompkins and Nina Murray and published by the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University, is a personal memoir of Stanislav Aseyev’s two and a half years in illegal captivity, most of it at the site of the defunct insulation factory, Isoliatsia (Isolation), in the city of Donetsk. This secret prison in the heart of Donetsk was called the “Donetsk Dachau” because of the unspeakable torture that was endured by its prisoners. Thanks to Aseyev’s efforts, the prison’s supervisor Denys Kulkovskyi (Palych) was arrested in Kyiv in November 2021. The book began with Aseyev’s arrival at Isolation Prison at 3 Paradise Street. He soon realized that he was in a facility for prisoners charged with espionage, terrorism, and extremism. While in prison, Aseyev was sentenced to two 15-year terms for his work as a reporter. The conditions he endured were horrific. The aim of the prison administration was to terrorize its prisoners. “Isolation administration’s main job was to train the inmates to fear: constantly, without respite, day and night (because fear could manifest as […]
Continue readingIn Isolation – Dispatches from Occupied Donbas
In this edition of Knyzka Corner, we will be discussing Stanislav Aseyev’s, In Isolation – Dispatches from Occupied Donbas. In Isolation – Dispatches from Occupied Donbas, translated by Lidia Wolanskyj and published by the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University, outlines the experiences of journalist and patriot Stanislav Aseyev as he faces repression, war, captivity, and torture in Donbas. He spent more than a year in a prison “for exceptionally dangerous persons” in the city of Donetsk until he was released in a prisoner swap in December 2019. His experiences in his native Donetsk give readers a window into the complicated realities of life in Donetsk after the Russian occupation of 2014. “The essays are an attempt to comprehend not just the Soviet past but its latest transformation in Moscow’s massive propaganda war. After all, the challenges that Ukrainian society has faced on the territory of the Donbas with the start of the war are not exclusively a problem for Ukrainians: the mechanisms of lies and disinformation that I bring up in my writing are used in a variety of forms in many wars around the world – military, informational, and hybrid.” (p. xiv) The book begins with a chronology […]
Continue readingVictor’s Vignettes: The Music Of My Childhood — 1966-1975
Victor’s Vignettes … Stories about Life in soviet and post-soviet Ukraine. -by Victor Sergeyev Mikolayev, Ukraine The Music Of My Childhood — 1966-1975 When it came to music listening in soviet Ukraine, we always had choices. We could tune in on radio receivers to hear soundtracks of the two available TV channels, the state-controlled Moscow channel and the pro-Moscow Kiev channel. Or we could create a cultural environment of our own … underground. Of course, the latter choice was by far the most popular. Not that it was easy. In official stores only government-sanctioned goods were available for purchase. So radio receivers came without 19 and 25 meter bands, to block transmissions of Voice of America and BBC channels. But where there is a will, there is always a way. There was the black market, occasional trips abroad, and of course we could always build our own radios. As well, there were old WWII trophy German radios around, or you could buy good Japanese tape recorders with built-in radios. As I said, we had choices. My home town of Nikolaev is a sea port … and for me, it was a window to the world. The seamen always brought home […]
Continue readingReflecting on Remembrance Day
From the Nash Holos audio vault, dating back to November, 2006. Fr. Bruce Power recalls a conversation with a war vet on Remembrance Day some years ago, and shares its powerful, and timeless, message.
