On February 18, James Mace would have turned 59

A person’s birthday is always a chance to reflect on their life. Though not in this case – the great don’t need attributes. This was recently confirmed by the crowds coming to meetings with Lina Kostenko in Kyiv and Kharkiv; the fully stuffed press center of the Ukrainian Home on the occasion of the abdication of the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church His Beatitude Liubomyr (Huzar) whom journalists, by the way, greeted with a standing ovation. They can try to manipulate our consciousness in different ways, but society demands real values. The abovementioned poet wrote: “It is somewhat easier with masters. They are like Atlantes, / They keep the sky on their shoulders. And so there is height.” James was one of those who “held” this height.

Seven years have passed since he died. But we continue celebrating James’ birthday. The Day’s Library includes two books of his articles — Day and Eternity of James Mace and James Mace: Your Dead Chose Me; including articles such as “A Tale of Two Journalists,” or “Political Reasons for the Holodomor in Ukraine.” The Day’s editor-in-chief founded the James Mace Award. Its laureates are respectable people: in 2009 – the publicist Ihor Losiev, in 2010 – the author of the column “History and I” in The Day Ihor Siundiukov. In addition, Kyiv-Mohyla Academy has a memorial room dedicated to the scholar. And the university’s publishing house published four volumes of Great Famine in Ukraine (the report of the US Congress Commission with eyewitness evidence). Most importantly, there is the “Candle in the Window” action which is spreading throughout the country, despite the government’s formal position on the Holodomor of 1932-33. This way he continues living among us.