Hryts’ and the Zaraza
I took the opportunity over the holidays to call my cousin Hryts in the eponymous little village of Pidkamin in Western Ukraine, a burg...
Coups and consequences
For the past couple of centuries, the United States has played an important role on the world stage as an example of freedom and...
The View From Here: Let’s not go back to normal
Volodymyr Kish.
I am sure that most people, like myself, will not be sad to see the end of 2020. It was a year that...
The View From Here: A year of crises
Volodymyr Kish.
I think that most of you will agree that 2020 was a particularly difficult year. Our complacent 21st century smugness was shattered when...
The View From Here: COVID blues
Volodymyr Kish.
As this dumpster fire of a year staggers to a close, I am hard pressed to find anything positive to say as I...
The View From Here: Cost of living in Ukraine
Volodymyr Kish.
Living in Ukraine these days poses no shortage of challenges to beleaguered Ukrainians, not least of which is dealing with a sputtering economy...
The View From Here: The wrong trajectory
Volodymyr Kish.
As this trying year of 2020 edges to a close, I have started to increasingly believe that our civilization has taken more than...
The View From Here: Crimean Tatars under siege
Volodymyr Kish.
Back in early spring of 2014, a large number of “green men”, heavily armed soldiers with no insignia, started appearing in Crimea and...
The View From Here: COVID has Ukraine under siege
Volodymyr Kish.
Over the past month, it has become obvious that Canada had entered the “second wave” of the COVID pandemic, with a dramatic increase...
The View From Here: A matter of time
Volodymyr Kish.
The COVID pandemic has drastically changed the way we have led our lives over the past six months and there is little sign...
The View From Here: COVID solitude
Volodymyr Kish.
The infinitesimally small microbe we know as the COVID-19 virus is so basic in its structure and activities, that scientists debate whether it...
The View From Here: News
Volodymyr Kish.
This past September 28th was celebrated by those in the journalism world as World News Day. An initiative of the Canadian Journalism Foundation...
The View From Here: Keeping in touch
Volodymyr Kish.
Back some decades ago before there was Facebook, e-mail or even the Internet, communicating with relatives in Ukraine was more than just a...
The View From Here: Memories and memoirs
Volodymyr Kish.
Quite a few years ago, my wife and kids came up with the bright idea that I should write my memoirs. They even...
The View From Here: COVID and culture
Volodymyr Kish.
It has now been almost six months since the COVID epidemic began and we are still nowhere near to bringing it under control,...
The View From Here: In other words
Volodymyr Kish.
It seems like almost a lifetime ago when I was young student at the University of Waterloo that I found that there was...
The View From Here: Hryts on fire
Volodymyr Kish.
I spent last week up in the wilderness at the family cottage, escaping the demands and stresses of urban life. The fresh air,...
The View From Here: There was a time
Volodymyr Kish.
Next week, on August 24, Ukraine will be celebrating its official Independence Day. It does so amid no shortage of internal political turmoil...
The View From Here: Racism
Volodymyr Kish.
Ever since the callous murder a few months ago of George Floyd, a black man, by a white policeman in Minneapolis, the U.S....
The View From Here: Once upon a time
Volodymyr Kish.
For the past few years, I have been watching with some dismay at what has been transpiring south of the border in the...
The View From Here: The Nazi myth
Volodymyr Kish.
Last week, a number of newspapers here in southern Ontario disseminated a problematic story about how some vandals had defaced a “Nazi monument”...
The View From Here: Hryts and the virus
Volodymyr Kish.
I have been so preoccupied with coping with the COVID virus, that I neglected to keep in touch with my fount of practical...
The View From Here: The end of another dream
Volodymyr Kish.
Last week, the head of the National Bank of Ukraine, Yakiv Smolii, resigned, citing systemic political pressure that made it impossible for him...
The View From Here: Social media manipulation
Volodymyr Kish.
The ubiquitous social media tool called Facebook has done wonders at giving everyone a chance to voice their thoughts and opinions without the...
The View From Here: Fathers Day reflections
Volodymyr Kish.
This past Sunday was Father’s Day, though in contrast to previous years, this year’s celebrations were rather muted as a result of the...
The View From Here: Facebook follies and frustrations
Volodymyr Kish.
For many of us, Facebook has become an essential accompaniment to our daily routines, even more so since COVID-19 interrupted our normal lives...
The View From Here: Racism
Volodymyr Kish.
Over the past few weeks, the explosive issue of racism has once again become front and center in our consciousness. The precipitating act...
The View From Here: Food for thought
Volodymyr Kish.
Up until the past century, most people considered food as just another of life’s basic necessities and were not inclined to look upon...
The View From Here: In the Garden
Volodymyr Kish.
If you are a first or second generation descendant of Ukrainian immigrants, then I am pretty sure that your childhood memories will include...
The View From Here: COVID’s legacy
Volodymyr Kish.
It would be safe to say that the coronavirus has disrupted our lives like few other events in our lifetimes. Its effects have...
