EDITORIAL: "The news from here" (03/09/03)

EDITORIAL

"The news from here"

Recently we at The Ukrainian Weekly received a telephone call from a reader who complained that our newspaper did not carry any "news from here." She asked: Why don't your reporters cover "the news from here"? Mind you, the caller would not identify herself, nor would she say where "here" was. (Come to think of it, she never shared with us the news that we were missing...) Nonetheless, her point was well-taken. Obviously, she had not seen news from her neck of the woods. That allowed us to provide an explanation of just how news from all over gets into The Weekly.

First off, we explained to our caller, we do not have our own reporters all over the United States and Canada. We have an editorial staff of 2.5 in house (we say .5 because one of our staffers is actually not a full-timer) - that's here at our headquarters in Parsippany, N.J. Plus we have one staffer in Kyiv, who reports from Ukraine. If you'd like to check, please see our masthead on page 2 of every issue of this paper. What you see is what we've got.

How then do we cover the news from various locations? Well, that's where local community activists come in - some of whom have become our regular correspondents. These activists want to share the news about happenings in their communities with fellow Ukrainians in North America, therefore, they send in stories, photos, features, items for "Notes on People" or "Preview of Events," letters, commentaries, etc. They call us, fax us, e-mail us, and yes, they even use good old regular mail. We are thrilled to place their stories, and we love to work with them. What they contribute to this paper is the local content - the news from their respective "heres" - news that their fellow readers otherwise would never know about.

Take this week's issue. We have stories from Cleveland, where an exciting new dance company has been formed; Washington, where Ukraine's ambassador to the U.S. addressed a local group of professionals; East Hanover, N.J., where a group of northern New Jerseyans have gotten together at a "Ladies' Night Out" to raise funds for a worthy cause; and Stanford, Calif., where Stanford University is planning to expand its Ukrainian studies program. Even the kids get into the act, as this month's UKELODEON section features a story about a Valentine's Dance written by a Newark, N.J., student. Upcoming issues will include news about a ski trip organized by the Plast branch in Boston; an art exhibit by Rem Bahautdyn in Wilmington, Del.; and a unique project by cultural activists in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba.

But, these activities are just the tip of the iceberg as far as our community is concerned. How do we know? Well, we occasionally receive publications, be they newsletters or more fancy magazines, that serve local communities. Someone is writing for these smaller publications, but why not to The Weekly?

For example, parishioners of St. Katherine Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Arden Hills, Minn., know about the grand opening last September of the Ukrainian Cultural and Education Center and Museum in their town because their bilingual parish publication called ÉÓÎÓÒ/Voice carried a nice write-up. But does anyone outside their immediate community know about this accomplishment? The same goes for the Ukrainian Culture Institute in Dickinson, N.D., which publishes a journal-newsletter just full of interesting local happenings. A recent issue spotlighted the expansion of a local Ukrainian radio program and the placement of a Ukrainian flag at the International Flag Plaza at Dickinson State University. None of these stories appeared in The Weekly, yet all of them have a place on the pages of this paper. Turning farther north, to Saskatchewan, a newsletter called Visnyk is published by the Provincial Council of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress. The province is abuzz with activities; some of them quite unique, like a joint project with the Ugandan Canadian Association of Saskatchewan. But you didn't read about it here.

All of the events mentioned in the previous paragraph were done locally and covered locally, without a sense of the bigger picture - that there's a huge Ukrainian community out there. And that community should be aware of each other's successes. Why? So we can all share and learn, and, yes, and even copy others' successes. And, most importantly, so that we are aware that we are part of a greater whole and that what we do does indeed have meaning and resonance beyond our immediate neighborhoods.

That said, Dear Readers, please consider this an open invitation to send us your news ... from wherever you are.

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