“Exalted aims cost an effort”
The launching of Den projects in Lviv Polytechnic rallied together the local intellectual eliteThe Den editor-in-chief Larysa Ivshyna came to Lviv at the invitation of Yurii Bobal, Rector of the National University of Lviv Polytechnic, and Iryna Kliuchkovska, Director of the International Institute for Education, Culture, and Links with the Diaspora, with an at least double mission: to unveil a traditional Den photo exhibit and to launch a new non-traditional humanitarian program, Self-Education Online.
A “STRAW” THAT HELPS AVOID DEGRADATION
Very many people came to see the Den Photo Exhibit’s 150 best pictures by professional artistic photographers and amateurs at Lviv Polytechnic which, incidentally, has been hosting this event for several years on end. Tellingly, among the visitors were five National Taras Shevchenko Prize winners: Fedir Stryhun, artistic director of the Maria Zankovetska Theater; Roman Lubkivsky, a poet and a public figure; Vasyl Pylypiuk, an artistic photographer; Ihor Kalynets, a poet; and Andrii Bokotei, rector of the Arts Academy. Also present were Hero of Ukraine Yurii Shukhevych, members of the oblast and city councils, professors of Lviv Polytechnic, the Ivan Franko University, the Arts Academy, the music and zoo-veterinary academies, and other higher educational institutions, students, as well as representatives of Lviv’s libraries, museums, bookstores, high schools, civic organizations and ethnic societies.
“The visit of Den to Lviv Polytechnic is not only a good tradition but also a feast to which we all get prepared,” Professor Volodymyr PAVLYSH, First Pro-Rector of Lviv Polytechnic, said at the photo exhibit opening.
Den propagates the aestheticization of space as one of the key methods “to oust totalitarianism from human brains.” Among the means that can aestheticize space are photography and, naturally, art, including graphics. Last year we twice invited Lviv enthusiasts to take part in making the graphic design of Den’s printed and online versions. And now Larysa Ivshyna and Iryna Kliuchkovska have handed letters of thanks and Den subscription certificates to the winners of and participants in the art poster student competition dedicated to Den’s 15th anniversary. Students of Lviv’s Ivan Trush Decorative and Applied Arts College also received an award for making Christmas and New Year greeting cards for Den readers.”
“The newspaper Den is a ‘straw’ for one to catch to avoid degradation,” the editor-in-chief Larysa IVSHYNA emphasized. “If used in a proper way, Den can help the current and coming generations to strengthen their identity and picture themselves in an image entirely different to the one that some are trying to impose on them.”
Introducing the program Self-Education Online, Ms. Ivshyna explained why it is “self-education” and not “enlightenment” or simply “education:” “We want to make as many Ukrainians as possible interested in their history, roots, culture, traditions, Ukrainian spiritual sources, and to prompt them to seek and explore the creative treasures left behind by our forefathers, learn and analyze the key sore points of today, which we have inherited from the past.” According to the Den editor-in-chief, the chief aim of the program is to help Ukrainians find their national identity, assume human dignity and pride for their country, and, hence, become masters of their own land, their own state, and, moreover, make the latter comfortable for its citizens and interesting for the outside world. The conference also dealt with a large-scale project, Ukraine Incognita (incognita.day.kiev.ua), which Den launched to mark its 15th anniversary, and The Power of the Soft Sign, or the Return of Rus’ Truth, the latest book in the Den Library series.
Ms. Ivshyna emphasized that, focusing on historical and science-extension topics in the Ukraine Incognita rubric, Den had in fact been carrying out the Self-Education Online program for ten years.
Among those who joined the debate on Den’s new initiative at Lviv Polytechnic were culturologists, historians, other academics, pubic figures, and students. The speakers included Roman Lubkivsky, National Taras Shevchenko Prize winner; Liubov Kyianovska, professor at the Lviv Mykola Lysenko Music Academy; Yaryna Turchyn, director of the Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Institute; Zoriana Bilyk, director of the Lviv Museum of the History of Religion; Ihor Derzhko, advisor to the oblast administration chairperson; and Nadia Dombrovska, Ph.D. seeker at Lviv Polytechnic’s Sociology Department.
“Den has been focusing on and finding the deep-seated causes of the sore points and syndromes in the present-day Ukrainian life,” Roman LUBKIVSKY noted among other things. “Suffice it to look into The Power of the Soft Sign and we will see such symptoms as self-devouring, envy, burning anger towards one another, our territorial and spiritual occupation, etc… The newspaper Den diagnoses the spiritual and moral condition of the gravely sick Ukrainian national body. But the most important thing is that the newspaper is, to quote Pavlo Tychyna, actively ‘looking for a potion against human madness’.”
“Den is the only thing for Ukrainian intellectuals to rely on,” said Professor Liubov Kyianovska from the Lviv Music Academy. She noted she would like to see musical productions, choral concerts, etc., on the Ukraine Incognita website: “I have been propagating Ukrainian music in the world for over 20 years and will take the liberty of saying that the world knows very little about us, including Mykola Lysenko, the luminary and genius of Ukrainian music, whose 170th birth anniversary we are celebrating this year. After all, who else but Den?”
“Volyn has been hosting Stravinsky festivals for several years now,” Ms. Ivshyna responded to Professor Kyianovska. “And I think it is also a great merit of Den because, whenever I visited Volyn, I was telling writers, artists, and officials that Stravinsky festivals were badly needed. And we did it! After all, it is not so expensive. Symphonic music is listened to all over the world – not only in concert halls but also on green hills outdoors. But we are sill sticking to a ‘billionaire’s life style,’ without being aware of what is a true valuable and what is bling. So we must draw clear watershed lines and explain to young people that our world of exalted music is a great luxury that makes us equal with the rest of the world. And if we reject our exalted heritage, we will find ourselves on a slave market. Let us not forget that exalted aims cost an effort. A newspaper that publishes clever articles needs to be read. And one needs no brains to contemplate bare butts, pardon the expression. Why have we failed to bring this country to success in 20 years? Why are we in the mud up to our necks? Just because there is no self-discipline! We must somehow get rid of this shame! For it turns out that this country enjoyed a higher reputation when it was under a yoke than it does now, after being free for 20 years. We are unable to do the job because we are not ‘tuned’ to exalted tastes and music.”
“It seems to me we are all living out of bounds of common sense,” said Zoriana BILYK, director of the Lviv Museum of the History of Religion. “I would like to thank you, Ms. Ivshyna, for striving to make Ukrainian civil society want to live by common sense.”
What struck a special chord were the words of Marta Sloboda, an 11th grade pupil of Lviv’s High School No. 1 and a regularly reader of the English-language The Day:
“I am grateful to The Day for paying so much attention to culture. In particular, I discovered an artist named Anatolii Kazansky in the publication ‘Genius as a Norm’ and Serhii Shyshka (‘Rhythm, Spirit, Character’). I also like the way The Day is illustrated – you have excellent photographs. But I had always wanted the newspaper to be more colored, which you did recently, and I am sincerely grateful to you for this. I am also thanking you for the wonderful world of Ukraine Incognita. The Day discovers and popularizes things Ukrainian, for which I am sincerely thanking you, Ms. Ivshyna!”
Marta received from Ms. Ivshyna a corporate kerchief designed by Lilia Pustovit and Pavlo Makov to mark the newspaper’s 15th anniversary as a keepsake of the Lviv Polytechnic forum and a sign of membership at the Den intellectual club.
“WE MUST SEEK A COMMON NOTIONAL LANGUAGE”
There were very many questions to the Den editor-in-chief. They related to such diverse spheres as the newspaper’s quality, the European and global standards of journalism, and a number of purely practical issues, such as, for example, how to sign up for the Den Summer School of Journalism. Ms. Ivshyna took some of the written questions to Kyiv in order to reflect on them.
Here are some of the interesting and important points in Ms. Ivshyna’s answers:
– The work of a journalist today is the work of a restorer, for so much is to be reproduced. We must turn ourselves up. Only then will we like ourselves. And if we come to like ourselves, we will fear nobody.
– Whenever I am asked what the basis of national security is, I answer as follows: it is when Ukrainian men love Ukrainian women and vice versa for their human features. And can you see a noble, interesting, Ukrainian-speaking, elegant, stylish, and imposing one on the screen now? No! Why? Because this is a competitive weapon. But, fortunately, they can be found in real life. Let us see them.
– We must seek a common notional language which is sometimes absent even among Ukrainian speakers.
– We were taught to disunite for centuries on end. This teaching is deeply seated in us. On the one hand, we talk about good individualism but it sometimes transfers into a dangerous stage – we do not know how to cooperate.
– Schools and universities should introduce the systemic reading of wise things. This should be done with a fair share of coercion. What can come by itself is something light, ugly, and poisonous. Wise things need to be supported, though.
– We are constantly reproached that we have failed to create a full-fledged state for 20 years because we are unable to do so. And we will never be able to do so unless we arm ourselves with wisdom. So Self-Education Online is intended for those who will spread it around, who is convinced tat we need to live a wise life. Everybody can do this, everybody can get involved in this and offer their own themes.