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“НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ВЕРЕСЕНЬ 2011 17 Chapter Two by Olia Rudyk Because the review night of our first book assignment was such a success, * the members of UNWLA Branch 30 decided to do another one before the summer break from activities. During a lovely evening in June, we gathered at the home of Marta Burachok Wacyk. This time we picked a quick read — When Luba Leaves Home by Irene Zabytko — a c ompilation of short stories about the life of a Ukrainian teenager growing up in Chicago during the late 1960s. Born in a DP (Displaced Persons) camp in Germany and emigrating to the United States, the narrator reveals her thoughts about home and community life, a life so familiar to many of us. On e of the things I found interesting about our book discussion was that it revealed how little those of us that had gathered that night knew about one another. We try hard to keep to a regular monthly meeting and schedule various fund raisers, and plan Christmas and Easter bazaars. The usual focus of our meetings is to plan activities — some that involve raising money for UNWLA huma ni - tarian programs and some that involve exposing non - Ukrainians to Ukrainian culture . Beyond that we go on with our lives: careers, family respon - sibilities, and daily chores. Very few of us knew each other before joining Branch 30. This book prompted a change. Our discussion leader, Martha Iwanczyszyn - Pushka (a librarian with the M ount __________________________ * Editor’s note : See May 2011 issue of OL , p. 29. Kisco library), tried to keep us on track and focused on the book, but this was a hopeless battle. The chapters of the book evoked in all of us too many memories of growi ng up in the way the book’s heroine describes, and accounts of those memories took over. As we started talking, the memories tumbled out one after another, along with deeply felt emotions. We exposed our own personal struggles, regrets, pride in accomplish ments as children and young adults. We spoke about our upbringing and the effect it had on our current family and social life. Growing up in a “dual” community was the bond between us during the evening’s discussion. We had experienced situations and emoti ons similar to Luba’s, and just like Luba, had tried to break away and feel “more American.” The ladies divulged many amusing stories and a few sorrowful life experiences that had formed and molded personalities, values, and identities. And it became appar ent that these events in our lives, good and bad, had contributed to making us who we are today . . . active, caring, proud Ukrainian American women and members of UNWLA Branch 30. ________________________ Author’s note : A more formal review of When Luba Leaves Home was published in The Ukrainian Weekly (August 31, 2003, No. 35, Vol. LXXI). Since then, Ms. Zabytko has penned other works, such as The Sky Unwashed, which foc uses on the aftermath of the Cho rnobyl nuclear explosion. UNWLA Website The UNWLA website, located on the Internet at www.unwla.org , is an excellent tool that allows us to keep the public and UNWLA members informed about our organization and its activities. Please submit your activity calendars and any inform ation that you want to share with the public to the UNWLA Website Committee for review and posting. If possible, please send submissions in Ukrainian and English. Email material to cyawebmaster@UNWLA.org or send by mail to Zoriana Haftkowycz, 761 W. Foothi ll Rd., Bridgewater, NJ 08807. For questions or additional information, please call Webmaster Zoriana Haftkowycz at 908 - 231 - 9158.
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