Toronto Ukrainian Festival 2009 – What I liked and what I didn’t

Another year has come and gone, and the Toronto Ukrainian Festival has successfully completed it’s 13th event. Here’s a quick run-down of some things that we’ve noticed – some positive and some negative:

 

What I liked

The dancing

Many different Ukrainian dancing groups came from far and wide to showcase their talents. These are the Barvinok dancers doing the traditional Hopak:

The food (and drinks)

What’s a Ukie fest without some great food? Varenyky, Borscht, Holubtsi, etc. along with import alcohol like Slava, Slavutich and Lvivski. Perogies became a rare commodity by Sunday.

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Communists stopping Ottawa’s victims of communism memorial

From the National Post

Plans for a monument on Parliament Hill to honour the estimated 100 million or so innocent men, women and children killed at the hands of Communist regimes around the world, on the other hand, have hit a snag, with the NCC (National Capital Commission) worried that a "Memorial to the Victims of Totalitarian Communism" risks giving offence to communists.

…

"I was unsettled by this name, and other members of the committee agreed with me," Hélène Grand-Maître, one commission member, said at the public approval hearing. "We should make sure that we are politically correct in this designation…. I feel this name should be changed."

…

"It’s the victims of communism that the memorial commemorates," she says. "Without the word ‘communism,’ the memorial will cease to have its intended meaning." Similar monuments, in Europe and in Washington, D.C., explicitly identify communism as the culprit in the millions of deaths they memorialize. She says her group is unclear on whether the monument can proceed, in light of the NCC’s concerns, but remains adamant that "the word ‘communism’ has to be in the name."

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Ukrainian, no wait Russian, err… well at least they mention ‘the Ukraine’ on 30 Rock

Just starting watching 30 Rock, and saw this gem on Season 1 Episode 10:

 

Jack is on the phone with Maureen Dowd when Tracy shows up asks him for $100,000. Jack tells him that this is not possible, but says that he has a better idea: use his celebrity image to endorse a product. After Tracy agrees, he comes up with "The Tracy Jordan Meat Machine". Armed with an "endorsement" from Dr. Spaceman (Chris Parnell) and hook-ups from Jack, the product is finally ready for sale. Soon after, a series of product defects prompts Tracy to tell Jack that he does not wish to endorse the product any longer. Jack finds a way to make it work: by rebranding it as a Whoopi Goldberg-endorsed product targeted for Ukraine.

I couldn’t understand Whoopi reading the phonetically correct cue cards, so I had to run this by Taras who confirmed that she was speaking Russian. But at least the sign is in Ukrainian. Points lost for ‘the Ukraine’ though, shame on you Alec Baldwin we are the Irish of the West!

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At least they gave some free publicity to the Ukrainian Museum-Archive in Cleveland:

In a recent episode of NBC’s 30 Rock, Liz mulls over a move from New York to Cleveland.

On the show’s website, a colorful map of Cleveland is featured along with directions to our very own Ukrainian Museum-Archives .

We aren’t certain as to why we are featured but as our Director Andy Fedynsky noted, this certainly "puts us on the map!"

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