Articles Books

I am the son of the author. "The Other Canadians" is a compilation of articles that appeared in the Ukrainian Voice weekly from Winnipeg. Since 1981, Ukraine has become independent and the non British non French ethnic makeup of Canada has changed somewhat. So the book is somewhat dated. However, there are still fascinating historical capsules that appear and deserve to be better known. For example, there are articles on the Ukrainian origin of Canada's Red Fife and Durham wheats, on General Orlyk facing General Wolfe on the Plains of Abraham (a hypothetical story that almost took place), on artist William Kurelek, on Winnipeg mayor Stephen Juba. The book is well written and I recommend it highly.

Why is it that the Jewish Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (April 1943) is widely publicized, while the much larger Polish Warsaw Uprising (August-October 1944) is largely ignored? Justus George Lawler comments: "Lack of attention to the Rising in the United States can be attributed to several factors. In the early decades of the twentieth century, Polish immigrants were so preoccupied with the struggle for economic survival that only a fraction of their offspring entered such civic arenas as education, government, or the press, where they could make known to the general public the role of Poland during the Hitler years. The second, and more delicate, cause of the indifference to Polish suffering has to do with prejudices--some very old, and some of more recent origin. The more recent are now being called `anti-Polonism,' and in this country during those same decades took the form of the conventional bias against newly arriving immigrant groups. This meant that the events presumably of interest mainly to Poles--such as the 1944 Rising--would often by scanted by the media." (p. 17).

As for the Rising itself, and its deliberate betrayal by the Soviets, Lawler writes: "There were mild protests from Churchill, and near silence from Roosevelt who had the leverage of being head of the nation whose industries were supplying the Russian war machine." (p. 16).

Lawler also touches on matters unrelated to the Uprising. He quotes British historian Norman Davies: "Occupied Poland contained between ten and twenty thousand towns and villages like Jedwabne. The number of reports about massacres with a similar scenario can be counted on the fingers of one hand." (p. 19)

This is a very interesting article, although I disagree with much of it.

Miskel explains that groups and nations can lose ground with respect to their objectives by committing crimes. An example he gives is the French kidnapping and summary execution of a critic of Napoleon, which Talleyrand described as being a blunder, and (therefore) worse than (just) a crime.

Now, what about the Levantine Arabs who promote violence against Israeli citizens? Are they committing a blunder?

Miskel starts by asking if such terrorism is even a crime. But he wisely points out that "for the purposes of evaluating the effectiveness of the strategy of fear-sowing violence," one has to set aside this question. That's fair. But as I see it, if kidnapping and murder are crimes, such terrorism is certainly a crime as well.

Anyway, we then get to the goals of all this terror. The author implies that it is obvious to everyone that these goals are the achievement of Levantine Arab statehood, satisfying Levantine Arab refugee claims, and (maybe) improving economic and personal security conditions for the residents of the West Bank and Gaza. But is this in fact the case?

You see, I do not agree with Miskel that these are the goals of all this violence. I think the goals are to hurt and destroy Israel, in order to reduce or eliminate human rights for the Jews of the region. I see Levantine Arab statehood as a goal only if it helps achieve all this. A means, not an end. And I also see the Levantine Arab refugee claims as simply a means to this end. And as even the author appears to admit, it is very hard to believe that there's a goal to improve the economic and security conditions for the residents of the West Bank. The whole idea is to make such conditions as bad as possible for the West Bank Jews, even if it means making them very bad for the Arabs as well.

In any case, the author shows that economic and personal security conditions for the West Bank Arabs have worsened since the start of the violence of the "second intifada." And he says that the strategic rationale is to get the Arabs to be more willing to revolt and to generate worldwide public sympathy for them. No kidding. He then asks if this worsening shows that the overall strategy is working. And he suggests that it is not. After all, where is the progress towards a State, or towards refugee claims? He sees very little of that.

In addition, as Miskel explains, the Levantine Arabs have enormous support in the Islamic world, in Western Europe, the United Nations, and even in the United States. They do not need to resort to violence to get attention! Non-violent protests would almost surely work better. If anything, as the author says, during the current intifada, the images of Israeli civilians blown apart by suicide bombers have helped Israel and have allowed folks to depict the suicide bombers as terrorists (imagine that!).

Therefore, Miskel concludes that this "second intifada" may well be a "classic example of a miscalculation."

To some extent, I think that the goal of getting rid of Jewish rights may not have been helped by all this gratutitous violence. Still, if the whole point of all this violence is to support the idea that Arabs have a Divine Right to murder, rob, and slander Jews, maybe there is some "progress" in that respect. I would instead make three arguments about why this whole thing is a miscalculation. First, I think that everyone, including Arabs ought to have some positive goals, not just destructive ones. And this "intifada" is not helping anyone achieve them. Second, I think in the long run, many folks will indeed wind up with some human rights, including the rights to life, liberty, and property. Jews and other minorities are likely to achieve such emancipation simply because there is no arbitrary Law of Nature that singles them out for constant persecution. In the long run, those who feel that such people must be persecuted and cheated will lose. Even if the Jews are defeated, there will always be other minorities, and one day the persecutors will have to give up. Third, I think a major element in all the violence is the fight against truth. But truth is a value, and it is a mistake to oppose it, no matter what one's goals are.

This is a book that is thin (115 pages Post-Apollo Press edition) and relatively easy to read. On the flip side if you read it as just a novel you miss out on what this text really is. The text is more of a commentary then a novel.

The author uses the narrative to let us know about Paris and in some ways all cities. "Paris is a circle, infinite and circumscribed, a Mandela." p. 85. "In big cities such as this one can look for personal salvation." p. 110.

The author shows us his personal view and why the city has meaning to him in such a way. The author talks about how things make us and we don't make things. The author also goes into descriptions about how the mundane tires him and has lost its relevance.

Overall this is a relatively morose affair that isn't quite enjoyable to read but is worthwhile to read if that makes sense. In closing I will let the author tell us in his own words what I think best sums the text.

"There are times when one feels that some things are more dreadful then death; it has to be life. It could be." p. 54.

Very few servers really WORK at their trade. I have yet to meet a server who practices this simple technique to increase tips.

Informative hardback filled with beautiful sketch renderings to add a theatrical flavour. The first of two such published works edited by Otis Guernsey Jnr. Packed with the opinions of Broadway Professionals as varied as Lillian Hellman and Richard Rodgers. The final chapter -"Criticisizing The Critics" is a very interesting Revenge! Sondheim's essay on Theatre Lyrics is a must. This is a brilliant book.

Broadway Song and Story: Playwrights/Lyricists/Composers Discuss Their Hits
Curtain Times - The New York Theater 1965-1987

Arnold Ages provides an unemotional and descriptive review of the book FEAR by Jan T. Gross. Unlike many other reviewers, Ages refrains from a purely cheerleading approach to Gross. For instance, in discussing Gross' contentions about the actual or purported reluctance of Polish rescuers of Jews to publicize their deeds, Ages comments: "This reluctance has led the author to offer a number of controversial propositions, some of which, in the opinion of this reviewer, are overstated and exaggerated. In fact, the lengthy conclusion, which Gross contributes at the end of his tome, tends to be contradicted by some of the evidence he furnishes elsewhere in the same book." (p. 44).

No attempt is made to put postwar killings of Polish Jews in perspective. They occurred not only during a civil war, but also at a time of overall increase in Polish criminality, and a time of a desperate housing shortage in postwar Poland. The number of Jews killed (300-600, not 1,500) comes out to 0.1% to 0.2% of Poland's remaining Jews.

Ages misrepresents Gross as claiming that Polish Jews were a statistically insignificant part of the early-postwar Communist security forces. In actuality, even Gross acknowledges that Jews were some 30 times more common in the dreaded police (UB) than in the general population, but engages in creative attempts to explain this fact away.

Unfortunately, Ages repeats several time-worn inflammatory Polonophobic myths which predate Gross, of which I will mention only two. There is the one about the merry-go-round functioning while the Ghetto burned, and tales of Poles laughing and mocking the sufferings of the Jews. Both Gross and Ages ignore the fact that Jews also engaged in amusements within sight of others being tortured or killed. So did concentration camp inmates. These amusements reflect an attempt to live a quasi-normal life under the horrors of the German occupation, not disrespect or contempt for those suffering and dying around them. Both Ages and Gross ignore other eyewitness Jewish sources that affirm the fact that most Poles watched the ghetto burning with sympathy, respect, and admiration for the Jews fighting. The "roasting cutlets" (and "burning insects") remarks have also been widely misrepresented. In fact, Poles also used such remarks in reference to themselves, as in the face of their defenselessness against German incendiary bombing during the later Warsaw Uprising.

Those who'd like to explore the history of women running for President might want to read two collections of speeches by the first woman to run for the White House--Victoria Woodhull in 1872. She's a fascinating person. Even today, her ideas about sexuality and social programs (i.e. state-run child rearing) make Hillary Clinton look like a cranky, hide-bound reactionary. The first offers some historical reasons why many present-day feminists had trouble dealing with Bill Clinton's womanizing.

Free Lover: Sex, Marriage And Eugenics in the Early Speeches of Victoria Woodhull

Lady Eugenist: Feminist Eugenics in the Speeches And Writings of Victoria Woodhull

Author Derek Hurder has affected a note of hope for deployed Sailors without the benefit of fresh bread with this, his eighth professional foray into the realm of newswriting.
Just the lead sentence brings the reader into Hurder's world, a world that, until recently, had been without fresh-baked breads and pastries. One feels the distinct hardships a sailor must face when out at sea- away from home, their families... and mozarella-tomato braid loaves. That is, until professional chef Pannkuk comes aboard and saves the day.
I was disappointed in some of the trite phrases Hurder uses to express himself. For example:

"...his legacy will live on as Sailors pass the bake shop..."

"His legacy will live on?" If that isn't one of the most overused expressions (and one that is used often by writers trying to get over a tough literary transition from body to conclusion), I don't know what is. However, overall this is a decent piece of writing, and the way it flows makes it seem like writing it was, pardon the pun, a piece of cake.

-Derek J. Hurder, author, "Professional Chef Trains Saipan Cooks"

I loved the book. it was so sweet how he followed her around until she would go on a date with him, it worked because she finally did.they were the cutest couple. then when she had to go to school and married that other pibsquicke she messed up big time ,b ut finally after all those years she went back to him and they were so happy together.