Love this format! It's so enjoyable getting to listen to your conversation and discussions about Slavic culture and heritage. I'm looking forward to hearing more and learning more about my own culture!
This was so beautiful and I am so grateful to you both :) Trying to figure out identity as second and third generation Ukrainian and Yugoslavian has felt so complicated. The relatives of mine who came here had endured so much trauma that no one wanted to talk about life before or I was so little that I never got to really hear their stories before they passed. Everyone wanted to be “American”- my poor father, as a first gen kid, got dressed every day in a sailor suit so that he could look more American and fit in (for which he got mercilessly bullied). And then, also, the complicated pieces of my mother’s side, who are Ashkenazi Ukrainian Jews, and my father’s side, who were Christian and from Western Ukraine and Yugoslavia, and how there was so much pain and resentment at times between the two groups. It feels like it’s hard to find spaces as a diaspora person to feel belonging, especially when I wasn’t raised within the culture despite growing up in immigrant Brooklyn. I’ve been learning Ukrainian (mostly in the hopes of being able to read the old herbals) and it both makes me feel closer to my roots and more separate from them as I stumble to say basic things. And I grieve that I’ll never hear the stories of my relatives, or about their specific traditions and lore- especially with plants and healing. I so agree though, that not only are the ancestral plants themselves teachers, but sometimes they can bring our ancestors to visit too :) Thanks again to you both and I hope there will be more podcasts together!
Hanna I completely understand all of these feelings! Not only are we dealing with the separation from our roots, but when we start digging into them we also see how complicated those roots can be. It is both nourishing and painful to do this ancestral work. One thing that I think really helped me move past this grieving over all of the lost stories and wisdom was something a native Polish person said to me. He said being Polish is not my only identity, we also have our unique American identity (as turbulent as that can be too). So being a part of the diaspora is an identity within itself, something those of us who are a part of can bond over. There are experiences and knowledge we have that people who still live in their motherland don't, and I think that is a gift in a way too. Anyways, I'm glad you enjoyed the podcast! Dionne and I have so much more we are excited to talk about with you!
Love this format! It's so enjoyable getting to listen to your conversation and discussions about Slavic culture and heritage. I'm looking forward to hearing more and learning more about my own culture!
I'm so glad!! I think this will be a great way to unravel some more of our various cultural roots. We've got some fun things in store 😁
This was so beautiful and I am so grateful to you both :) Trying to figure out identity as second and third generation Ukrainian and Yugoslavian has felt so complicated. The relatives of mine who came here had endured so much trauma that no one wanted to talk about life before or I was so little that I never got to really hear their stories before they passed. Everyone wanted to be “American”- my poor father, as a first gen kid, got dressed every day in a sailor suit so that he could look more American and fit in (for which he got mercilessly bullied). And then, also, the complicated pieces of my mother’s side, who are Ashkenazi Ukrainian Jews, and my father’s side, who were Christian and from Western Ukraine and Yugoslavia, and how there was so much pain and resentment at times between the two groups. It feels like it’s hard to find spaces as a diaspora person to feel belonging, especially when I wasn’t raised within the culture despite growing up in immigrant Brooklyn. I’ve been learning Ukrainian (mostly in the hopes of being able to read the old herbals) and it both makes me feel closer to my roots and more separate from them as I stumble to say basic things. And I grieve that I’ll never hear the stories of my relatives, or about their specific traditions and lore- especially with plants and healing. I so agree though, that not only are the ancestral plants themselves teachers, but sometimes they can bring our ancestors to visit too :) Thanks again to you both and I hope there will be more podcasts together!
Hanna I completely understand all of these feelings! Not only are we dealing with the separation from our roots, but when we start digging into them we also see how complicated those roots can be. It is both nourishing and painful to do this ancestral work. One thing that I think really helped me move past this grieving over all of the lost stories and wisdom was something a native Polish person said to me. He said being Polish is not my only identity, we also have our unique American identity (as turbulent as that can be too). So being a part of the diaspora is an identity within itself, something those of us who are a part of can bond over. There are experiences and knowledge we have that people who still live in their motherland don't, and I think that is a gift in a way too. Anyways, I'm glad you enjoyed the podcast! Dionne and I have so much more we are excited to talk about with you!