Editor’s Note: The following is a Q & A interview by Kyiv Post chief editor Brian Bonner with Luda Anastazievsky, a Ukrainian-American community leader in the U.S. state of Minnesota.
Kyiv Post: Where are you from in Ukraine and how did you end up in America?
Luda Anastazievsky: I am from Mariupol in southeastern Ukraine. I came to the United States 27 years ago, in 1990, right before the collapse of the Soviet Union, to work and study. I met my future husband here, got married and became a U.S. citizen.
KP: Tell me about Ukrainians living in Minnesota.
LA: In Minnesota, home to 10,000 Americans of Ukrainian descent, the life of the Ukrainian diaspora revolves around churches and the Ukrainian American Community Center, a wonderful institution, on the board of which I have an honor to serve. The center was founded in 1964 by Ukrainian immigrants, former displaced persons who fled the horrors of Stalinism and fascism. The center became home to many community groups and organizations, such as the “Cheremosh” Ukrainian Dance Ensemble, Maidan Minnesota, the Minnesota Ukrainian American Advocacy Committee, Ukrainian American Youth Organization, the Ukrainian Village Band and others. Lovingly called our “domivka,” or home, the center’s goal is to build an inclusive community, deepen and enrich its connection to Ukrainian culture and traditions while contributing to the cultural diversity of Minnesota. This year our dance ensemble “Cheremosh” will be traveling to Lviv in August to perform at the International Dance and Culture Festival. In May, Ukraine’s Ambassador to America Valeriy Chaly, visiting Minnesota for the first time, awarded “Cheremosh” with an honorary diploma for its contribution to the promotion of Ukrainian culture in Minnesota.
Luda Anastazievsky, a native of Mariupol, Ukraine, moved to America in 1990. She is on the board of directors of the Ukrainian American Community Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Courtesy)
KP: How would you compare living in Ukraine with living in the U.S.A.?
LA: One of the biggest differences is the amount of walking people do daily. In Ukraine you walk all the time, everywhere, in the USA, you have to drive everywhere.
Another way in which the U.S. is very different from Ukraine is in its diversity. Americans come from all parts of the globe, and people of all countries can become Americans. This fact has not always been an easy one for Americans, and some have difficulty welcoming the newest immigrants. But it is worth remembering that 100 years ago it was Eastern Europeans, including Ukrainian immigrants, who were not always welcome. And today, Ukrainian-Americans are an integral part of American society.
KP: How much does what happens in Ukraine still matter?
LA: To those who are interested and engaged, what happens in Ukraine matters a lot, because they love Ukraine, value and honor its history and want happiness and justice for its people. Through my involvement with several organizations, I contribute my time, efforts, and finances to various causes. Last year, I co-organized the Minnesota Ukrainian American Advocacy Committee. Our committee has been meeting with members of Minnesota’s congressional delegation and their staff to inform them about the situation in Ukraine and ask for their support of legislation pertinent to Ukraine. In February, our committee with the Ukrainian Center and Maidan Minnesota held a town hall meeting with U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar at which the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie L. Yovanovitch joined in via Skype. The senator briefed our community on her recent trip to Ukraine with Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham. In April, as a member of Maidan MN, a local volunteer organization, I helped support a campaign of a week-long AzBookA Book Marathon in my native Mariupol, which was initiated by a Ukrainian non-profit “Do Not Be Indifferent.” As a result, about 10,000 Ukrainian language comic books, textbooks, photography books, literary fiction and nonfiction books found their way to thousands of schoolchildren, students, orphans and soldiers in Mariupol and surrounding villages. Maidan MN also sends medical supplies donated by the U.S. non-profit Matter to the medics on the frontlines.
KP: What would you like to change most about Ukraine and what do you miss the most?
LA: I would like to see a change in the Ukrainian judicial system, so that Ukrainian citizens could live in a country governed by the rule of law. I would like to see much tougher measures on corruption.
Most of all I miss Ukrainian food and soulful conversations with my friends.
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Democrat of Minnesota) poses with Ukrainian-American children after a February town hall meeting in which she discussed her New Year’s Eve trip to the war front in Ukraine. (Courtesy)
KP: How does the diaspora keep the spirit of Ukraine alive in America?
LA: Organizing concerts, lectures, picnics, movie nights and “zabavy,” dance parties. At local Ukrainian churches, children learn Ukrainian language, history and traditions, and the making of pysanky. Our Minnesota Ukrainian diaspora is lucky to have a community center, located near downtown Minneapolis right on the Mississippi River, where popular annual events such as Ukrainian Heritage Festival, International Holiday Festival and Easter Bazaar are held. The Ukrainian Heritage Festival has always been the highlight of Ukrainian cultural life in the Twin Cities. A visit to the festival feels like a visit to Ukraine, with its smells and tastes of kovbasa, or sausage, varenyky, or potato dumplings, and bright colors of vyshyvanky, the sound of Ukrainian music by our popular Ukrainian Village Band, performances of talented singers and Ukrainian folk dancers.
5 American anthems
Editor’s Note: Hundreds of songs extol American life, but on the Fourth of July Independence Day holiday, these five are among the all-time favorite medleys.
Star-Spangled Banner
America The Beautiful
God Bless America
My Country Tis of Thee
This Land Is Your Land
