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OUR LIFE M O N T H L Y , p u b l i s h e d b y U k r a i n i a n N a t i o n a l W o m e n ’s L e a g u e o f A m e r i c a MOTRIA KUSHNIR WOMAN VIEWS & NEWS IN WOMAN'S WORLD They say that time flies when you’re having fun. In my experience, however, time flies whether I’m having fun or not. I mention my o p in io n in this matter for reasons the reader will soon understand. Now, to return to the flight of time. On a morning not long ago I awoke to learn, much to my amazement, that summer 1979 was over. Accord ing to the seasonal clock, it was time to stop saying: “A civilized person cannot be expected to function in this weather.” Time, again, to return to the rigors of a full time schedule. Time to write Views and News for O ur Life. There are two kinds of people: 1) those who start what they are supposed to do right away and 2) those who do not. You have, for certain, already surmised that I belong to the latter variety of person—despite, or per haps because of, my acute awareness of flying time. At any rate, needing a solid excuse to delay the laying of ink onto paper, I decided to peruse past columns. I con vinced myself that a review of the pages already charted would be of invaluable assistance in setting a course for the publishing year ahead. The first Views appeared in March, 1976; it began: Seems that someone has raised the con sciousness of Australia’s weather forecasters. This year, the first cyclone of the season...will be called “ALAN”...Maybe we in the United States can soon expect to hear news about a Hurricane Harry... “Well I’ll be!” I thought, recalling the recent headlines about Hurricanes David and Frederick, I could feel a self-congratulatory glow rising up around me like a fog as I prepared to launch myself onto a reverie about changing times. But the phone rang and I felt compelled to answer it. For those of us who are expert delayers, the telephone can be the most effective weapon against getting down to business. As I picked up the receiver I assumed that the conversation would suffice for at least a ten-minute diversion. Little did I know! “Hello,” I said most pleasantly, still smiling over my obvious — though only lately recognized — gift for prophesy. “Am I speaking, please,” said the voice at the other end of the line, “with the young Mrs. Kushnir who writes for O ur L ife ?" She spoke in Ukrainian and I knew she was older than middle-aged since she called me young. I barely responded before she continued. “I am an avid reader of yours. When your column first appeared, I thought: ‘What’s this! Informative. En tertaining. A breath of fresh air/” Clearly, this caller was a person w ho possessed d iscrim in a tin g taste and an unusually incisive c ritic a l faculty. “I still read your pieces. That is, whenever one appears. I notice that you have been contributing som ew hat less, shall we say, regulary.” H old on here! M y heart skip pe d a beat. H ow had it com e to pass that we were so q u ic k ly being dem oted from a breath o f fresh a ir to a gu st o f ho t w ind? “You have all of my sympathy, of course. It’s hard to produce anything worthwhile if you’re stuck in a rut. You need a change, a little risk, to spark your imagination. The world has passed you by. You’ve come to be more conservative than your readers.” M ore than ju s t m y im a gin atio n was sparked. I was stuck speech less. M y afflictio n , unfortunately, proved n o t to be contagious. M y c ritic c o n tin u e d to rant and rave — and, m oreover, she d id so in an unforgiveably reasonable tone o f voice. “What you need to do is express opinions in your column. All good columnists express opinions and argue points of view in print. That’s what makes a good columnist. I say it’s too much of this American-style education. Too much graduate school. You express no thought, repeat no fact, unless you can qualify each statement with ten or, preferably, an apostolic twelve references.You young peoplethink that you know every thing.” Im agine, if yo u w ill, that m y sca th in g ly b rillia n t retort was: “P o n tifica tin g and self-referencing is n o t everyone’s fo rte ." In actuality, I quipped: “ Beg pardon, I d o n 't believe that I th in k that I know eve ryth in g.” Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
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