Category: DROKACADEMY
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He Kept the Threads: Remembering Liubomyr Medyk
[Photo: embroidered rushnyk]A rushnyk (ritual embroidered towel) I photographed at the Museum of the Ukrainian Rushnyk, Bohdan Khmelnytsky National University of Cherkasy. Today I am wearing my vyshyvanka (embroidered shirt) for Liubomyr Medyk, known to his friends as Liubko. He was a historian, collector and storyteller from Yaremche in the Ukrainian Carpathians. He was killed…
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Thank You, Jesse: A Canadian Who Stood With Ukraine to the End
[Photo: carved dog sculpture, Campbell River, Vancouver Island. Photo: Oleksandr Kondrashov.] I took this photograph in Campbell River, on the island Jesse Adams called home. I did not know then that I would use it to say goodbye to him. Jesse was killed in Ukraine in October 2026 while rescuing animals during Russia’s war against…
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Kamloops Has Voted: Thank You to Every Candidate, and Congratulations to Those Elected
[Photo: Kamloops City Hall in summer, with flowers on the steps]Kamloops City Hall, where residents have stood with Ukraine every Saturday since February 2022, and where our new council will serve. Yesterday, Kamloops chose its mayor, city council and school trustees. Mama and I voted by mail ballot, and in the afternoon I stood near…
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We Voted Together. Now It’s Your Turn, Kamloops: Polls Close at 8 PM
This year Mama and I voted by mail ballot. We sat together and I read every candidate’s answers to Mama, all sixteen of them. We looked at the candidates’ profiles and photos, talked them through, made our decisions and voted. Then we took our envelopes to City Hall. A mail ballot made it possible for…
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Stand with Ukraine: October 17, 2026 Update. Voting Day and Saturday #243
Day 1,696 since February 24th, 2022 (1 696 день повномасштабної війни: Day 1,696 of the full-scale war)Day 4,622 since February 20th, 2014, Temporary Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation Thank you to all who #StandWithUkraine Greetings from Kamloops! Dobryi den (good day), dear friends, Today is our 243rd Saturday near Kamloops City Hall since…
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13,000 Kilometres from Home: A Teacher Who Makes Ukrainian ¡Fácil!
Some meetings stay with you long after the screen goes dark. On October 14, 2026, thanks to the kind invitation of Tanya Grygorska, I joined an online meeting hosted by the Education Department of the National Congress of Ukrainian Associations of Italy (Національний Конгрес українських асоціацій Італії, Natsionalnyi Konhres ukrainskykh asotsiatsii Italii), moderated by Olha…
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Not Ready for AI Glasses, Ready for Learning
I have worn glasses for a long time. They help me drive, read the page and the screen, see the faces of my students, and do many things I could not do without them. They have always been my assistive technology. Recently, someone I know very well, a person with deep expertise in technology, bought…
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A Place to Stand and Remember
At the Holodomor monument at Winnipeg City Hall on April 22, 2026, the day Vancouver City Council agreed to welcome the girl to Vancouver. This week I have been reading the posts about the Holodomor monument in the Ukrainians in Vancouver group. The Holodomor (holodomor: death inflicted by hunger, from holod, hunger, and moryty, to…
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Asking Kamloops Candidates Where They Stand: 2026 Answers and Report
Every Saturday at 3:00 PM since February 24, 2022, we have stood together near Kamloops City Hall in solidarity with Ukraine. Before every election since 2022, I have also asked every candidate the same questions, so residents can read candidates’ own words and decide for themselves. This year, all 51 candidates for Mayor, City Council…
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To the Last Ukrainian: What Happens If the World Stops Standing with Ukraine
The grave of Yevhen Konovalets at Crooswijk Cemetery, Rotterdam, on November 18, 2025. He lay here from 1938 until Ukraine brought him home in August 2026. Photo: Oleksandr Kondrashov. Why I am sharing this essay If Ukraine surrenders, Russia will not bring peace. It will bring filtration, deportation and erasure, and it will reach Ukrainians…
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Coming Back to Where It Began: Orange Shirt Day in Winnipeg, 2026
This September 30, I am back in Winnipeg, the city where my life in Canada began in 2004. I came here as a student, and Winnipeg gave me my first Canadian home, my first Canadian classrooms, and my Canadian family. I lived here for ten years. Then came Halifax, in Mi’kma’ki, and for the past…