Wandering the Edge (2024)

15/02/2024

The January 29-30, 1918 Batty of Kruty pitted young Ukrainian soldiers against a larger attacking Red Army. Ukraine only just declared independence and the youth of this nation sacrificed their lives to keep their government alive. Their sacrifice was immortalized, commemorated year after year in the Diaspora and silenced in the Soviet Union. Almost 100 years later, another Battle of Kruty occurred but with very different outcomes. In this episode, we explore how the battle occurred and why it became important in Ukrainian commemoration and national consciousness.

New episode out now: https://www.wanderingtheedge.net/podcast/episode/501e4071/ukraines-thermopylae-the-battle-of-kruty

01/02/2024

Welcome back to Wandering the Edge in 2024!!!
In this first episode of the year, we ask these questions: who was Petro Sahaidachny and why is he considered, by some, to be Ukraine's greatest Hetman? Well, he was a 17th century Ukrainian political and military leader who commanded his Cossacks at sea using their unique "chaika" boats and led them to almost sack Moscow. He was a diplomat just as much as he was a scholar, but he was always an impressive political figure who led his men on land and sea. Find out more about this great Hetman of Ukraine on this latest episode on: https://www.wanderingtheedge.net/podcast/episode/39002f91/the-great-hetman-petro-konashevych-sahaidachny

01/12/2023

The second part of episodes dedicated to sciency stuff! Who were some of the most influential Ukrainian scientists in the twentieth century? Well, some liked rocks, others like kidneys and hearts while still others were really into welding stuff. But one was a mysterious man, without whom, NASA wouldn't have gotten to the moon (even though he died during the Second World War and had absolutely no contacts with any Americans). We'll discuss them all and you get to tell me, which one was the coolest and that's why I'm adding the Spotify link (but you can still find it on the website):

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2ohR5GrXtBRsnf6OQzi9Sn

We'll also be back on February 1, 2024 with new episodes!

15/11/2023

Ukrainians are pretty smart - so smart we have scientists! The first world-renown scientist is Yuriy Drohobych - the once rector of the University of Bologna in the 15th century who was a philosopher, astronomer and medical doctor for the king of Poland! We also have two evolutionists - Nicholas Miklouho-Maclay (anthropologist and biologist who was as important in Australia) and Elie Metchnikoff (Nobel Prize winner in immunology). The inventor of Xrays - Ivan Puluj, and an engineer who invented the first electric tram - Fyodor Pirotsky, are also in the mix in this episode all about pre-Soviet Ukrainian scientists!

Find out here: https://www.wanderingtheedge.net/podcast/episode/293f30ed/ukraines-smarty-pants-scientists-part-1

01/11/2023

In this episode, we talk to Nazar Volynets, a veteran of the 24th Assault Battalion ("Aidar") of the Ukrainian Armed Forces who was a reconnaissance platoon commander in 2014-2015. We discuss how he ended up in Ukraine in 2013, why he joined the war, what he saw on the front, the importance of the Battle of Ilovaisk and Debaltseve and why supporting Ukraine today is so important.

Listen to the episode here: https://www.wanderingtheedge.net/podcast/episode/d803faec/the-current-russo-ukrainian-war-an-interview-with-a-veteran

15/10/2023

What is the feast day of the Intercession of the Theotokos (aka: Свято Покрови)? How did a military defeat in far off Constantinople result in a religious feast day in Ukraine? And how did it evolve and influence Ukrainian religious celebrations and even statehood from medieval Kyivan-Rus to the Cossacks to the Second World War and present day? Find out: https://www.wanderingtheedge.net/podcast/episode/1d32db84/the-feast-day-of-the-intercession-of-the-theotokos-or-sviato-pokrovy

01/10/2023

So - I forgot we switched to the Gregorian calendar when I scheduled these posts. So this one is all about Ukrainian Soviet cinema! But the one in 2 weeks will be all about Sviato Pokrovy - which is what we are commemorating today (and National Defenders Day). But here's a little info about this newest episode:
Alexander Dovzhenko is Ukraine's greatest screenwriter, producer and director. Ukraine's film institute is named after him. He was a genius that was tormented by Soviet censorship, favoured and agonized by Stalin's whims and made some of Ukraine's best films. While Sergei Parajanov made Ukraine's greatest film: Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors. The Armenian too was plagued by Soviet censorship and political pressures, while some his actors (and other Ukrainian actors) had to navigate the political-artistic landscape of Soviet Ukraine. Find out who these actors were, how the political influenced the artistic and which Ukrainian films made a world-wide impact in this latest episode.

https://www.wanderingtheedge.net/podcast/episode/246fd404/a-history-of-ukrainian-cinema

15/09/2023

New episode out all about the evolution of Ukrainian democracy! Ukraine has had a long history of embracing democratic institutions - beginning with the viche in medieval Kyivan-Rus, the Cossack rada that elected their leaders and the Central Rada that declared independence in 1918. In these modern times, we see the example of the Kyiv viche that supported and propelled the Revolution of Dignity in 2013-2014. What exactly was the viche and how did these democratic institutions evolve in Ukraine? Find out in this episode: https://www.wanderingtheedge.net/podcast/episode/f71c842e/ukrainian-democracy

31/08/2023

So, I won't be around tomorrow to post this, so I uploaded the episode a day early!

It's all about the theatric history of the Ukrainian stage: Marko Kropyvnytskyi as Ukraine's greatest directors, playwrights and actors who played more than 500 characters and worked to promote and popularize the Ukrainian stage in the 19th century. Then comes Maria Zankovetska - an actress of such renown that she played her own co**se. Solomiya Krushelnytska was THE Madame Butterfly and Wagner's prima donna while Serge Lifar was a popular and a revolutionary ballet dancer and choreographer in Paris. All of them had one thing in common: they were Ukrainian!

And because the website take a bit longer than usual to update itself, here's the Spotify link instead: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wanderingtheedge/episodes/A-Dramatic-and-Theatric-History-of-the-Ukrainian-Stage-e285em1

15/08/2023

The Ukrainian Trial of the Century!

Ukrainian nationalism was on the rise during in the interwar years in Poland, and the 1932 trial of Dmytro Danylyshyn and Vasyl Bilas proved it to be as tragic as it was popular. But who were these two youths? And why was the trial so broadly talked about? What lasting impact did it have and more importantly - why was the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists in the center of it all?

Find out on: https://www.wanderingtheedge.net/podcast/episode/4bd50314/the-ukrainian-trial-of-the-century-bilas-and-danylyshyn

01/08/2023

The bandura and the kobzari - those wandering bandura players - were important carriers of Ukrainian oral history and culture. How did the bandura evolve to become the national instrument of Ukraine and where did those kobzari come from? Why were they important in Ukraine's historical memory of the Cossacks and why were they deemed such a treat to the Soviet Union? And how did the bandura find it's voice again in the Diaspora? Find out all of this and more on this episode!
https://www.wanderingtheedge.net/podcast/episode/30568c1e/the-bandura-ukraines-national-instrument

15/06/2023

An interview with Dr. Sasha Dovzhyk about one of Ukraine's leading poetic and feminist voices - Lesia Ukrainka. Ukrainka, which was her pen name, began writing poetry at a young age, was first published at 8, was anti-Tsarist, passionately Ukrainian and fiercely feminist. In this discussion we talk about how her illness influenced her writing, what she saw of herself and how she saw her fellow females and fellow Ukrainians. Dr. Sasha is a prolific writer, activist and well - a happy wanderer who now splits her time between the UK and Ukraine. One of her many projects included helping to develop "Cassandra" - a play by Lesia Ukrainka, translated into English and performed in the UK. It was one of the many projects of the Ukrainian Institute London, and primarily under the leadership of Maria Montague.

https://www.wanderingtheedge.net/podcast/episode/3d64fb8b/talking-lesia-ukrainka-with-dr-sasha-dovzhyk

01/06/2023

Who was Olena Pchilka and Petro Kosach? And why and how did they create such enthusiastically nationally-minded and feminist children, like Lesya Ukrainka? What type of family home did they create (both literally and figuratively)? And who else in this super Ukrainian family was so influential in the family life of Lesya Ukrainka? Find out in this episode, about the family life of Lesya Ukrainka and those family members who impacted her so greatly.

Find out more: https://www.wanderingtheedge.net/podcast/episode/1d9e06f6/a-traditional-pchilka-kosach-family-affair

15/05/2023

Did you know that Ukrainian feminism is different from it's Western sister? What makes it so different and who has influenced the evolution of both Ukrainian feminist theory and practice? Find out in this latest episode, where you will also listen to me fan-girling over Martha Bohachevsky-Chomiak whose book "Feminists Despite Themselves" is one of the most influential histories of Ukrainian feminism...well, ever! There's also a lot from Solomiia Pavluchko - who was a leading Ukrainian feminist scholar, until her untimely death in 1999.

Find out more on: https://www.wanderingtheedge.net/podcast/episode/2df7fdb2/ukrainian-feminism-its-fun

01/05/2023

We're back!!! Here's our latest episode about the great Kyivan Rus King - Oleh! He's known as the Prophet and was probably a Varangian (aka Viking) who grabbed power and ruled from Kyiv. Some say he was the first emperor of the Kyivan Rus Empire while others call him a warrior king as he raided and treated with Constantinople. Only problem is that primary sources of his life and times are in short supply - the dark ages were really that dark in early Rus! How much of his history is real, how much imagined by Nestor the Chronicler 300 years later and how much do we actually know about Oleh/Helgi?

Find out more in this episode: https://www.wanderingtheedge.net/podcast/episode/34ab88e6/oleh-viking-king-or-prophet

01/04/2023

What does a travel writer, a noble turned foreign royal, a Mohawk tribal chief, a navy man and a space explorer have in common? Well, they were all Ukrainians! This episode looks at some fascinating histories of Sofia Yablonska (1930s travel photographer and writer), Kateryna Desnytska (Ukrainian noble turned Siam princess), Ivan Datsenko (Ukrainian WWII fighter pilot turned Canadian Mohawk tribal chief, and might not be real?), Yuri Lisianskyi (19th century naval explorer who circumnavigated the globe) and Pavel Popovich (Ukrainian cosmonaut and first Ukrainian to leave planet Earth). All of them wandered the globe (and space) and left their marks on history and history and other peoples left their marks on them.

Also: next episode will go live on May 1, as I'm taking an Easter break!

Find out more: https://www.wanderingtheedge.net/podcast/episode/24365faa/wandering-ukrainians

15/03/2023

The Second World War tore apart the Second Polish Republic and was the main precursor to the creation of the Polish Home Army (AK) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA). And while the relationship between Ukrainians and Poles was brutal and complicated during the horrific, anarchic years of the Second World War - both nationalities were targeted by the Soviet Union after it occupied the region. From the betrayal of the Poles during the Warsaw Uprising to the forced deportations of Ukrainians in western Ukraine - there were numerous examples of Soviet brutality that could have been confronted by a mutual Ukrainian-Polish unity. This episode looks at the local agreements that the AK and the UPA had - examples which show that both nationalities could have worked together.

https://www.wanderingtheedge.net/podcast/episode/1fd8c58c/poland-and-ukraine-friends-part-2

02/03/2023

While Poland and Ukraine may have a very complicated history - there were moments of unity and cooperation between the two. This episode looks at one of these and centres around two leaders of their respective countries. Symon Petliura and Jozef Pilsudski have commonalities and differences - both knew what it meant to be under Russian occupation and both fought for their country's rights to exist. Both have a strained relationship with history and tried to work together but only one saw his country's true independence in the aftermath of the First World War. Find out more about these two titans of their respective nation's histories is this episode!

https://www.wanderingtheedge.net/podcast/episode/2b982cd1/poland-and-ukraine-friends-part-1

15/02/2023

How did Volodymyr Ivasyuk become a house hold Ukrainian name? Why were his songs so popular - and are still sung around campfires, dining tables and front lines in today's Ukraine? Why do they hold such a powerful place in Ukrainian hearts, so much so that his music is now considered Ukrainian folk songs? And why was he so dangerous to the Russian dominated Soviet culture? Find out in this episode all about Ukraine's most popular composer: Volodymyr Ivasyuk, the man behind Chervona Ruta, Vodohrai and many, many more songs that explore Ukrainian love and beauty.

https://www.wanderingtheedge.net/podcast/episode/fcb42c38/ukraines-folk-rock-legend-volodymyr-ivasyuk

11/02/2023

A little teaser for the next episode: https://www.wanderingtheedge.net/post/ivasyuk-s-musical-genius

15/06/2022

A royal count who became a laywer who found his calling as a priest and became the head of his church at the age of 35! This was Metroplitan Andrey Sheptytsky - who came from a mixed Polish-Ukrainian family who valued the youth and Ukrainian national-consciousness. He was a man that didn't give the Vatican a dime of money but put it all back to his flock: by creating orphanages, hospitals and schools. He was admired as he was feared by imperialists, he openly condemned the killings that occurred on all sides of the Second World War and instigated a network of priests and nuns who saved thousands of Jews during the Holocaust. And this episode is all about him - a man who followed the principle of the law of love in his teachings and leadership of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

https://www.wanderingtheedge.net/podcast/episode/50f52a28/the-metropolitan-count-of-lviv-andrey-sheptytsky

Wandering the Edge