1992: A LOOK BACK: Meanwhile, at The Weekly (12/27/92)

1992: A LOOK BACK

Meanwhile, at The Weekly

The year at the Weekly could best be described as a year of transition (although the term "chaos" could oftentimes be substituted).

In February, we bid a fond farewell to Chrystyna "Lapster" Lapychak, a dedicated team player and an associate editor who had been on the staff since 1986. After serving in the Kiev Press Bureau from July 1991 through January 1992, Ms. Lapychak decided she just couldn't stay away from Ukraine at such a historic time. She took on a position as a stringer for The Christian Science Monitor and lately has become affiliated with The Los Angeles Times as well. Her next-to-last column (usually called "Reporter's Diary"), through the magic of typesetting, became "Reporter's Dairy." If readers remember her farewell column two weeks later, they will recall that the typo was somewhat apt.

The Weekly's search for a replacement staffer began immediately, but it lasted much longer than we would have liked. We received a good number of fine applications for the job (a sincere thanks to all those prospective staffers). As we were narrowing down our choices, another staffer, Tamara Tershakovec, an editorial assistant who never turned down a challenge, announced she was leaving to travel across the United States before deciding what to do with "the rest of her life." Now we had two openings ... We said our good-byes to Ms. Tershakovec on August 28, bidding her a bon voyage.

Before that, however, on June 29 and 30, respectively, Andrij Wynnyckyj of Toronto and Roman Woronowycz of Detroit came on board at The Weekly. As of October 1 they were formally appointed to the staff as staff writers/editors.

Each brought different talents to the job. Mr. Wynnyckyj's forte is translation, while Mr. Woronowycz is a journalist by training. Mr. Wynnyckyj pledged to learn the news-biz, while Mr. Woronowycz put us on notice that he didn't want to merely sit at a desk.

That he didn't do. When an international regatta of tall ships sailed into New York Harbor for festivities marking the 500th anniversary of Columbus' voyage to the New World, Mr. Woronowycz was put on the ships/sailors beat. It turned out to be more than a simple feature story on proud ships representing their respective countries, among them Ukraine (but, well, you remember). Needless to say, Mr. Woronowycz did not sit at his desk very much. He was joined on that beat by Mr. Wynnyckyj, and the two staffers got their first bylines covering all aspects of Operation Sail and related events. (Readers probably are still wondering what Mr. Wynnyckyj was writing about in his article on the regatta controversy when he concluded with a reference to mermaids singing tragic operatic arias.)

On the Eastern Front, Marta Kolomayets returned for her second tour of duty in the Kiev Press Bureau from mid-January through August. In addition to covering all aspects of activity in the fledgling (there's that word again - we promised to outlaw it after Ukraine celebrated one year of independence) state of Ukraine, Ms. Kolomayets journeyed to the battle zone of Trans-Dnistria.

In August, assistant editor Khristina Lew left for Ukraine to take up the Kiev post. She and Ms. Kolomayets both covered events associated with the first anniversary of Ukraine's independent statehood. it was Ms. Lew who got to cover the government crisis in Ukraine, when Prime Minister Vitold Fokin "resigned" and the Cabinet of Ministers was dismissed. Unfortunately, Ms. Lew took ill at the end of October and was forced to come home until she recovered. She is expected to return to Kiev in early January.

Meanwhile, Ms. Kolomayets returned to the capital for a three-week period to fill in - mostly to cover the fourth congress of Rukh.

Back home in Jersey City, The Weekly continued Chris Guly's "Centennial Sojourn" column to mark the 100th of Ukrainian settlement in Canada (where else would we have heard about the giant "pyrogy" monument in Glendon, Alberta?), while Virko Baley gave us "Notes from the Podium."

Awilda Arzola, our dedicated typesetter (we're sure she was heaven sent), helped us through the ups and downs of 1992, as did Ika Koznarska Casanova, our part-time editorial staffer. Dana Rigalski performed valiantly as our paste-up person.

There were many other regular correspondents who continued to contribute to The Weekly (you, dear readers, know who they are), and we are mighty grateful to them for enriching the pages of the expanded Weekly. Yes, this was the year we began to publish 20- and 24-page issues. For the record, the first 20-pager was dated February 2, while the first 24-pager, on May 17, was devoted largely to President Leonid Kravchuk's U.S. visit.

The Weekly became a serious source of information on Ukraine for serious scholars as, more and more often, its articles were footnoted in various publications. The Prague Post, an English-language newspaper published in the Czech republic, began regularly using The Weekly's reports from Ukraine in its column on developments in Eastern Europe.

Finally, this year, on the occasion of The Weekly's 59th anniversary (with an eye on the paper's 60th next year), we published a questionnaire for readers to fill out in order to let us know how we're doing. More on that early next year - once the holiday rush is over (we promise).

To conclude, we thank our faithful readers, and we wish them and our colleagues nothing but the best in 1993. May the new year bring you and your families health, happiness and prosperity. And, oh yes, keep on reading.

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