“Live history” is developing

“WE HAVE TO DO OUR HOMEWORK BY OURSELVES”

“Dialogue, cooperation, and partnership mean that both parties are ready for developing together. The Day has been setting the high intellectual standard of communication for six years at our university. On the other hand, our teachers and students who contribute to The Day offer ideas and topics that interest the readers. Our dialogue continues and develops us. This is obvious from the matters and ideas that were discussed during the meeting,” says Iryna Konstankevych, vice president at the Lesia Ukrainka Volyn National University, where The Day’s traditional “December day” has taken place recently.

Almost right after the presentation of The Day’s photo exhibit and readers conference “Live history, obliging one to live differently” at the Volyn National University library, an open group from one of the social networks offered a project “Live history.” This group is called “Let us save ancient Lutsk” and urges to gather documentary evidence of the people who have lived “a bit more than others.” The enthusiasts think that when a person passes away, they carry away with them a whole chapter from history, rather than a bit of information. Two years ago Maria Zhalovaha, mother of our editor-in-chief, came from the little town of Lokachi to a similar meeting. She was listening to all the conversations and discussions carefully, and many still remember that huge bunch of roses that Sviatoslav Kravchuk, then deputy head of the Oblast State Administration, presented to her. And in October this year she deceased. Ihor Kotsan, president of the Volyn National University, offered to honor her memory with a minute of silence. But she told a part of her family story before she passed away.

On one of the Sundays of November, The Day’s editor-in-chief went to her homeland not only to bow to her mother’s grave, but also to visit the so-called Ostriv, a farmstead that is no longer existent, and where her family used to live before moving to Lokachi.

“And my mother’s sister showed me this place, and told me why they actually moved: because at that time the local government ploughed all the land around the farms not to let people tile their own fields. And mother had to take our cow to a pasture that was four kilometers away. Now I know this story but it would have been better if I had heard it earlier,” said Larysa Ivshyna, thus appealing to everyone to “strive for live knowledge, especially the one that comes from family stories.”

But are we ready to accept the history that we have? Taras Litkovets, The Day’s expert, political scientist, and assistant dean at the history department, got straight to the point when he asked: “Why the leaders of our country, both past and present, are so bad at the history of Ukraine?” The audience was especially interested in the answer to this question, because many of them were holding a copy of the recently published book from The Day’s Library, Syla Miakoho Znaka (The Power of the Soft Sign).

“This book was created jointly with outstanding authors and might be even too advanced for our time,” Ivshyna said. “There is so much depression and negative emotions in Ukraine’s daily life now, and this book offers a slightly different approach to our problem. The books published by The Day are in demand. The first of them, Ukraina Incognita, was reprinted five times, though its contents are just the quintessence of what was held back even here, in Volhynia. It is the Ukrainians who need to put more effort in their European integration, we need to do our homework by ourselves.”

Do Ukrainians treat their history consciously? Are they ready to take the responsibility for that history as rises from the pages of Syla Miakoho Znaka? Is The Day going to publish books on history for children? Can the experience of the village of Levky (Chernihiv oblast) be spread, where The Day helped people to stop the degradation? While looking for answers to these questions along with The Day’s editor-in-chief, the audience came to the conclusion that the most effective freedom of society can only come from well educated people.

UKRAINE FROM A NEW PERSPECTIVE

Little by little, groups of young people turned into a crowd, parts of which were moving from one photo to another, from one floor to another, where the best works of The Day’s Photo Contest are traditionally displayed. First it was seen and appraised by the library staff, who always give a warm welcome to this event, and the students of math department. Assistant dean Serhii Poletylo says that his students unload the exhibits when they arrive from Kyiv, then help hang them up, and thus they are the first critics. Though they come over again and again for the opening ceremony and then later during week days to appreciate the photos and get some positive emotions. This time the biggest crowd of math students, led by their assistant dean, stopped near the work by Artur Opeida, student of Lutsk Gymnasium No. 21, Zymne Monastery. I have been to the cloister on the Holy Hill more than once, though I have never seen it from this perspective: right across the Luha river with its splendid meadows, seen from Volodymyr-Volynsky. And this is the kind of photo that could be framed and, according to Poletylo, blessed and hung next to icons.

Ivshyna remarked that this year Volhynian photographers have been particularly active. It was nice to see the unique, optimistic roosters by Stepan Druzhynovych (Conference), a shot by Nina Lishchuk, one of the talented students of the Spalakh photography club at Volyn Cinematography Studio, which captured two picturesque old ladies, one of whom was lighting a cigarette. The caption says What if Grandchildren See You? Or Father’s Day, a shot by Oleh Romanenko from Lutsk: quite a commonplace scene (but at the same time, deeply suggestive): father and son are sitting on a bench looking at a lake, with a bottle of beer between them.

PRESENTS AND INNOVATIONS

This year during The Day’s day at the Volyn National University graduates of different years supported the noble action “A present to your own school.” A lot of schools, faculties, gymnasiums, and libraries were given books from The Day’s Library and the subscription to the newspaper.

University president Kotsan announced pleasant news for the students: The Day’s editor-in-chief would be delivering lectures on journalism skills at the Philology and Journalism Institute. Besides, the students of this institute will have “information breaks” – five-minute long discussions, during which they will share their impressions from the problems that will be touched upon by the newspaper.

COMMENTARIES

Borys KLIMCHUK, head of Volyn Oblast State Administration:

“According to the data of the Institute of Social Studies (which prepares information materials for the Council of Regions), the level of real income has grown by 16 percent over the recent six months. This is the best result in Ukraine. At the end of my first term of service in 2002, I left this region with the highest figures in individual economic activity. Because the main thing is to give jobs to people. That is why I’m impressed by The Day’s standpoint. And I like what its editor-in-chief, who is from Volyn, by the way, says: although we do not have gas and oil, we have people’s energy. I am really into this newspaper’s projects: it prints good books, which are in great demand, and holds photo contests that unite all Ukrainian TV channels. That is why Ridna Volyn Charity Fund, which I lead, is ready to become one of the sponsors of the photo exhibit and give 10,000 hryvnias to one or more nominees.”

Olena MALANII, Ph.D., Lesia Ukrainka Volyn National University Alumni Association executive director, associate professor of philology, Ukrainian literature department:

“The Day holds a noble and enlightening event. These days society is in a kind of cultural and historical isolation from the truth. And the quest for truth and answers to many questions, set by our restless, eventful time, is possible thanks to articles and books that are published by The Day. A lot depends on the standpoint of present-day school and university students, because tomorrow they will build the new country, and write its history. It is the young generation that we should count on, and I, as a citizen of this country, do care what my students read, which books shape them, crystallize their stands in life, correct their philosophies, who they look up to, and what conclusions they make.

“Meetings of Volyn National University students and teachers with The Day’s editor-in-chief are always filled with positive energy, a kind of power that inspires to create, to defend your opinion, to develop communication skills, and to look for minds that think alike. Such meetings always help realize that things are not that bad here, we just need to work on it and take care of the lives of our neighbors, of the fate of the country, of those who need your help. Just look around, and you will see the world in its diversity of colors, thoughts, tastes, and opinions. The Day cultivates readers’ tastes, involves them in the process of creating, developing, restoration, and reconstruction of fully or partially lost values.”

Feodosii MANDZIUK, Volynianyn Publishing House, editor-in-chief:

“Once I was standing at the bus station watching a young couple saying goodbyes to each other in a very touching way. And there was a very old stooping lady standing near them, with a cane and a big checkered bag. Oh, the way she looked at them! I almost groaned with despair because I did not have a camera with me. It would have been a wonderful shot. For what is a shot? It is a captured moment that will change in a second, and will never repeat again. That is why The Day’s Photo Exhibit is so valuable: it demonstrates these unique, precious moments. This newspaper’s first attraction is its patriotic standpoint. Even in my native village Hektary near Berestechko, now almost abandoned, I met a man who told me: ‘Hey, I read about you in The Day!’ He was from Lviv, his family came from Hektary, and he preserved his parents’ home by living there in the summer and coming over for a few times during the rest of the year. And it turns out that he has been reading The Day for a long time, and also got some of my fellow villagers to read it, too. This is a newspaper for contemplation, thinking, and realization. And I have actually always known that Larysa Ivshyna will succeed in life. She was an on-the-job trainee in my department at the office of a Volyn oblast newspaper. I saw the she wanted to learn, was able to think and make conclusions, read books, and strove to make a good use of her talents.”