Remembrance Day

Didn't mean to forget Remembrance Day today. Please see my "Remember" [below].

Also -- as mentioned in "Remember", there were many others in the war:

http://www.ukrweekly.com/old/archive/2002/180218.shtml

Dr. Marunchak passed away in Dec. 2004. He was pleased that this appeared in The Globe and Mail. He heard from many friends afterwards. One of these days, will translate more of his experiences (have his permission).

What took them so long? Those fashion/beauty ads

The Marc Jacobs perfume ad has been banned in the UK.

http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/article/TMG8876913/Dakota-Fannings-Oh-Lola-advert-for-Marc-Jacobs-is-banned.html

What took them so long, and why across the pond and not in North America? I have seen this Dakota Fanning ad -- with the perfume bottle between her upper thighs -- for a few months now in the fashion magazines. Very suggestive, totally unnecessary, and -- yes -- she is 17. The Marc Jacobs ads for fashion, not just perfume, have been a waste of his money for a long time. One page with his name, the facing page with a very disheveled Helen Bonham Carter, for example. What is this selling, what is this promoting? What does it say about Carter and her respect for herself? Then there is the ad of Jacobs himself, buff and naked, with a box of perfume covering his crotch. Is that the perfume you'd want to buy and wear, no matter what it smells like?

Jacobs isn't the only one that's sleazy. Many in the industry think this gets attention. Sure, it does. For what, though? One look at his fashion designs and you wonder. So many of these designers are ripe for someone checking behind the curtain, as well as shouting out that the emperor and empress have no clothes on. It's hype, it's sad, so often it's lack of talent and taste, no elegance, no style. But the hype keeps going. Who really buys and supports this stuff? People with more money than brains.

The neverending story of Holodomor issues

The three articles (incl. the editorial yesterday) and the readers' comments are both strange and informative:

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/rights-museum-called-biased-111838924.html

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/editorials/all-crimes-are-not-the-same-111839059.html
...
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/fighting-over-exhibit-size-no-way-to-advance-debate-111839204.html?commentConfirmed=y#c

It seems that not much has changed since I wrote the following after the 50th commemoration of the Holodomor in 1983:

http://www.infoukes.com/history/famine/tracz/

YouTube from the ROM

My thanks to Bill (Vasyl') Szuch for filming -- Sunday, Dec. 5, 2010.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTvyVv5fygU&feature=related

in 4 parts

Re the ROM event

My thanks to all the folks in Toronto -- the Ukrainian Heritage Day at the ROM on Sunday was wonderful. Full house, standing room only, plus sitting room in front for the many kids. The concert was great. Prolisok and the Bandurist Capella were super. Many dance groups, very nice dancing, but I wish the directors of various dance groups would not have the females in the ensemble squeal and yelp and scream out. Very offensive, not traditional, not elegant, just totally not right. Some dance group in Ukraine started doing this in the last few years, and many ensembles in North America think this is "nice" or traditional! Awful. Does not belong, detracts from the performance, and is not at all Ukrainian. How do we get the message out to stop this?

End of rant.

Back to the events at the ROM. Museum was packed from Sunday morning. Young people in Ukrainian embroidered shirts volunteering at the desk, in the kids' activity centre, and just all over. My lecture on origins of Ukrainian Christmas was in the theatre after the concert, and I was pleased that so many attended. And relieved at the positive response! There was not that much time for discussion, because just down the street at Koerner Hall at 4 P.M., the Ukrainian Art Song project gala concert was beginning. http://www.uasp.ca/indexMusica.cfm

I was so delighted that I could attend. Amazing. For anyone interested in beautiful music, check out the website.

My thanks to my hosts in Toronto, and to all my friends whom I was able to meet -- some from long ago, even!

Have lectures, will travel!

War, women, and

Some food for thought -- especially in the letter to the editor in response to the article.

Esp. on this anniversary of John Lennon's death. His wishful thinking about peace was one thing, but somehow the fact that someone is an aggressor did not enter the picture. Giving peace a chance only works if EVERYONE is peaceful.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/life/health/maybe-its-time-to-let-women-rule-world-111257384.html

Women rule

Dr. W. Gifford-Jones again had an excellent article in your paper, Maybe it's time to let women rule world, on Dec. 3. As George McGovern, during his 1972 presidential campaign, put it, "I'm sick and tired of old men dreaming up wars in which young men do the dying."

When Dan Rather, the former CBS news anchorman, was on a hospital ship off the coast of Vietnam during the Vietnam War, he went into the hold of the ship and heard only one word from the lips of those wounded young soldiers, some with multiple amputations.

What was the word? It was "mother." As Rather put it, "None called for father, or for doctor or nurse. Only mother." Mothers the world over, are you listening?

Stan Penner

Landmark

Ukrainian Christmas at the ROM - join me!

Please join me at the ROM -- Royal Ontario Museum -- Ukrainian Heritage Day -- Christmas celebrations on Dec. 5, 2010

I will be speaking at 2:30 P.M. about the meaning behind the special Ukrainian Christmas traditions

There will also be performances -- choirs and dancers

UKRAINIAN HERITAGE DAY

Rizdvo: A Christmas Celebration

Sunday, December 5
10 am to 4 pm

Bring the whole family for a fun filled day of Ukrainian heritage celebration!

......

· Special Lecture: Join us at 2:30 pm for a thought provoking lecture on Ukrainian traditions by Orysia Tracz, Ukrainian-Canadian Folk Art Scholar

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