letter from Ukraine
‘Attention! Air raid alert!’ said Luke Skywalker...
Ryan Burton King
My phone went off with a loud siren. The voice of Mark Hamill – yes, of Luke Skywalker fame – spoke sternly: ‘Attention! Air raid alert! Proceed to the nearest shelter. Don’t be careless. Your overconfidence is your weakness.’ I hastily moved to mute it and apologised. A large table full of Ukrainian men grinned back at me. ‘Now we can tell who is not local,’ one of them joked. We continued eating our pizza and talking.
I was in Odesa, a port city on the Black Sea in southern Ukraine - one of two other cities I visited this past month. Every day and night brought reminders of war, as Ukraine continues to defend itself against its Russian invader almost three years into a three day fight. In Odesa, my bedtime soundtrack was the mournful cry of air raid sirens, the infernal buzzing of Russian drones, the roar of explosions, and the reassuring rat-a-tat-tat of air defence guns. This is the daily lived reality of the 38 million people who still live in Ukraine, most of whom meet the threat with a weary but collective shrug and carry on with whatever they need to do.
Debunking 3 myths about the origins of Christmas
Ryan Burton King
Christmas. 'It's the most wonderful time of the year,' Andy Williams croons. Or, as a cast of characters from Jim Henson's Creature Shop sang in The Muppet Christmas Carol, it is 'the summer of the soul in December'.
But for others, it is a season of woe, an opportunity to blow a cold frost wind over the festivities with assorted dubious claims, doubtless well-intentioned but badly thought through and poorly communicated.
3 reasons to celebrate Black History Month this October
Black History Month originally sprang out of African American joint celebrations of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass’s February birthdays. 'Negro History Week' began in February 1926 to recognise African American contributions to society and raise awareness to the prejudices they had and continued to face.
This week for designated learning emphasis was well established by 1976, when the United States celebrated its bicentennial, and the week expanded to a month. To mark the inaugural Black History Month, President Gerald R. Ford said, 'We can seize the opportunity to honour the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavour throughout our history. I urge my fellow citizens to join me in tribute to Black History Month and the message of courage and perseverance it brings to all of us.'