What it means to be Russian today...

Because of Putin's war on Ukraine, Russians everywhere are having a hard time as a result of wide-reaching sanctions. Credit cards don't work, savings in Russia cannot be accessed, and borders are closed to Russian passports. Russians and others are saying it's not fair, that they didn't start or approve of the war. But they didn't stop Putin when they had the chance either. They allowed him to continue to grow more powerful with every term. 

I do feel bad for Russians who are truly dissidents and have had to leave Russia due to persecution for speaking the truth. They did try to change things. But this is war. And war is never fair. The New Yorker today had a great cartoon explaining the situation from the Russian's perspective. 

My prediction is that it will remain difficult to be Russian for a long time after this, much as it was difficult to be German or Japanese after WWII. Russian oil is tainted with Ukrainian blood. And so it will remain. 

Russians can be nice

I have never been prejudiced that I know of. I have always treated individuals with respect, regardless of what they looked like or what stereotype they fit into. At least I believe I have.

Religion in Ukraine

Byzantine Rite Catholic is Orthodox, isn't it?

I have had to answer this question more times than I can count. Now, living in a very Roman Catholic country, I find it's even more curious that very few people have even heard of Byzantine Catholic. I mean Catholic is Catholic, isn't it. Not quite.

Russian and Ukrainian are the same language, aren't they?

The politics of language and culture

My sister, Oksana, at Plast camp in NY - a typical Ukrainian American

When I was growing up in America, we did not yet have a television but we did manage to get a phone with a party line. Those old enough to remember will understand this strange phenomenon of sharing phone lines with neighbors and being able to listen in on their conversations. Except it didn't do us much good as we didn't understand a word of English.