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HELEN MURAL, Junior Vice-President UNWLA, Contributing Editor, OUR LIFE A r e Y o u T h e r e ? L ast m onth I w rote glow in g ly of A C T IO N . . In. defense o f A m erican-U krainian youth a summatijDii of the past1 year’s activities w as given tt prove that w e of the younger genera tion are not idle. N ow that the bow s have been taken on that point, let’s accept a little w ell- m eant criticisb for w e all know that no one is perfect. I have a gripe and if you ’ll ex cu se m e I’d like to announce it lest I find m yself “nursing m y w rath to keep it w arm .” (I’m sm iling as -I w rite). The gripe is: A R E Y O U T H E R E ? T o elucidate a little fu rth er: •are you interested in having an outstand in g . E nglish se-ction. in “ Our L ife” ? A nd I do m ean Y O U (not your next door neigh b or). Or don’t Y O U care? (M aylbe you better not answ er that one). N ow don’t get m e w rong, kids. (L et’s just have an infor m al heart to heart chat). I’m not «expecting m iracles as far as our p a g e is concerned. B efore I took o n the task o f editing the page I recognized that it w ould be a lo n g struggle before it reached £Ur high goal. All good things a re w orth struggling to achieve.- B ut honestly, I never for one inoriient counted dn. L A C K O F ♦C O O PERATIO N. M y goodness, w e young U k es are alw ays bub bling over w ith enthusiasm and ideas.. O nly trouble is that no one lias bubbled over in the direc tion of ydtt know w h a t! Д m ust hurriedly add w ith the exception of a few like O lga Zepko over in A kron, O hio, O lga Kaschn.er an d Ann Pyndyk in D etroit and a few others. It so happens that th e gals in A kron, Cleveland, and D etroit are really hepped to th e jive. T hou gh I don’t know m an y of you girls in the far off East, I have confidence (could n ot be m isplaced) that all you need is an .A W A K E N IN G . T ak e Philadelphia, for exam ple— that’s H eadquarters for the U krainian N ational W om en ’s L eague, you know.. W ell, there are tw o Jr. L eague Branches there, .but do w e ever hear from them ? I practically v_ore out m y typew riter ribbon, trying to m ak e a “C O N T A C T ” there, and ■when I finally heard from one o f the gals, she didn’t even give m e her Tetufrl address so that , I could ha„unt her. W hich re trends me. D o you think it Cis fair to m ake this ■poor nervous w reck w rite letters arid post-cards every m onth for ■news w hen you know that it should be in Cleveland by the IQth of each m onth? 'Frankly, I d on ’t m ind w riting letters. I don’t m ind w riting letters. I know , to receive a letter w rite a letter. But from some: of you still w aiting for an answ er. Such girls, I w rite letters, 'but I’m is life. I have loads of ideas for th ^ paper. So have Y O U . W h y don’t w e get together? For exam ple (just like in school), w hy can ’t w e assign, different types of •columns to Y O U and Y O U and Y O U ? Som eone like Luba H o- low aty of Philadelphia could do a bang-up job of Ayriting on U k rainian music. A nn P yndyk of D etroit could get a by-lin,e un der a colum n entitled “U krain ian R ecipes.” And so on dow n the line. But since I cannot tra vel from city to city, as I’d like to do believe me, you will have to m ake your talents know n to me. I’ve taken up a lot of space w ith m y gripe. N ow w on ’t you take up space in the m ailm an’s bag w ith a letter from Y O U to m e filled w ith new s, ideas and criticism s? H onestly, I’d rather have you heated w ith m e an.d the paper (in writing, naturally) than IN D IF F E R E N T . W onder w hat response I’ll re ceive? Course, I m ight found out if you are there. Ivan Franko? Writer , Critic? Scholar and Teacher The nam e of Ivan Franko rings a fam iliar note to all A m erican Ukrainians*, but exactly how m uch Йо w e know , actual ly, of the life, the persecution and the steadfast determ ination of Ivaii Franko to serve his peo ple? For exam ple, if w e once knew w e probably have forgotten that Franko w as born A u gu st 15, 1856, the son of a poor farnier- М'дскsm ith in -East Galicia. If w e Happened to forget those facts w hich are not too im por tant in them selves, w e should refresh our friemories on his life for next to Taras Slhevdhenko he stands out for the change he brought about In th)e thinking of his countrym en through his leadership and literary w orks. T hough born of poor parents, Ivkn Franko w as not denied the advantage of a good education. A t an early_ age he learned to read and w rite U krainian, P o lish and G erm an. U pon com pleting elem entary school and gym nasium , he entered the U n i versity of Lvi*v in 1875. A lthough shy and retiring, and dressed in ragged clothing, he soon proved that he possessed a keen mind. It has been said that his m em ory w as so good that he could repeat w ord for w ord a lecture he had just heard, even though it w as an hour long. , It w as at the U niversity that he first becam e involved in the political questions of the tim e. H e chose to stand w ith the younger generation w ho w ished to re-establish a free and inde pendent U kraine. -On the other side w ere the M uscdphiles com prised of older generation U k rainians w ho found it easier to rely on R ussian influence. Ivan Franko began a corres pondence w ith Mikha-ylo D raho- m aniy, leading U krainian schol ar ,of the day. This correspond- enc'e, w hich cgntinued until D rahom aniv’s death, brought about F ranko’s first taste of im prisonm ent. lip. 1877 he w as sen tenced to prison for his “politi cal conspiracies” w ith D rahom a- niv. Franko dpetily declared that hi's sym pathies w ere, w ith the peasant classes. A t tw enty-one he Was shoved~~into a cell like a criminal, Under constant surveil lance because he w rote verses and jotted dow n proverbs and sayings of his fellow prisoners. For his political activities he w as arrested tw ice m ore, the last tim e being w ithout any for m al charges preferred against him. H is attem pt to publish a paper called H rom adsky DrUh to give vent to his thoughts m et w ith financial failure after a year and lie w as forced to enter into w hat he term ed his “Ten Y ears’ S erf dom .” D uring these ten years he w rote for Polish liberal papers in order t b earn a living for hiitiself and his w ife, Olha K ho- runzhinska, w hom he m et and married in K iev in 1885. It w as at the U niversity of V ienna w here Franko studied from 1892-1894 that he received the degree of D octor of P hilo sophy. A t this tim e he had high hopes of securing the chair of U krainian L iterature at the U niversity of Lviv. H e Was en titled to this position and w as the likely candidate for the ch a ir ; how ever, though unani m ously appointed to this job by th e faculty, he w as unrightful ly forbidden the appointm ent by the governor of the province due to his political activity and his three arrests. H e continued his w ork even after his 'health failed him in 1908; parti'ally /paralyzed he continued to w rite and to trans late non-U krainian w riters. Oil M ay 28, 1916, he passed aw ay. The love and high respect that Franko w on during his life tim e w as show n w hen 10,000 people m arched in his funeral procession. To truly appreciate Ivan Fran ko, I suggest that all read his “Zakhar Berkut,” a historical novel w hich will keep the reader so erirapt she’ll forget sh e’s reading a translation, of a fam ous U krainian author. Inform ation: IV A N FR A N K O , P oem s from the translation of Percival C undy, edited by Clar ence M anning, Philosophical L i brary, N ew York, 1948; A V O IC E FR O M U K R A IN A , Percival C undy; U K R A IN IA N L IT E R A T U R E , Clarence A„ M anning. FORGET NOT Forget not, ne’er forget The days of youth, of spring; All the path they brighten.— The dark, dark path of life. Golden dream s, quiet joys, H eartfelt words, loving thoughts A nd every im pulse chaste,— N e’er be asham ed of such. Soon they pass, then com es toil In dreary loneliness, And corded veins appear On hands and on the soul: But only he w ho loves, W h ose blood is quick to throb In w hom hope heals all w oundss W hom battle doth allure, W ho w eeps for others’ w oe, ’R ejoices in their good, H e only, is a m am All through life, perhaps. It m ay not be thy lot A m an ljke this to be. Y et be thou such, e’en though But for a single hour. And tilieii, w hen ill days com e. W ith grief and sadness fraught, W hen hoipe doth fade aw ay, W hen passion glow s no m ore, W hen from the broad highw ays O f love and ke$n contest, T hy w ay through bypaths leads. D eserted, narrow, steep, W hen cares w ither the heart, A nd thorns pierce w earied feet, Then shalt thou life’s spriiigtim e W ith gratitude recall: And those bright dream s shall shed A light o’er thy dark path. .F orget not, ne’er forget T he days of youth, of spring. Ivan Franko* Ukrainian Bandura Chorus Thanks to the 1948 D isplaced Persons A ct of C ongress, the fam ous Ukrainian Bandura Cho rus /has found a w elcom e haven in. America. A fter an involun tary political* and cultural servi tude of som e seventeen years under the .Soviets and four years under the Nazis, they arc at last free. The Ukrainian Bandura C hor us of thirty m ale singers and ibandura players w as organized?* in , K iev, capital of U kraine, in. 1923, w hen that nation still en joyed a degree of cultural free dom. A s a popular, national en sem ble of high professional quality, - th e C lW u s enjoyed a continuous but hazardous artis tic career a s a State Chorus of ^Continued on page 8)
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