I doubt I have more than a couple Russian or Ukrainian strands of DNA in my genome. However, one of my aunts married a “White Russian” in the 20th Century. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the term “White Russian” described ethnic Russians living in the area between Russia and Poland (today this includes Lithuania, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia and Moldova). Among my family stories is when one of my cousins traveled to post-Stalin USSR to try to find any living relatives there. No luck.
Long before I became a writer as an adult, I read the novels of many classic Russian authors. Later I read the then more contemporary works of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Vladimir Nabokov. Right now, I have an electronic candle lit in front of my antique samovar in support of the Ukraine. My house is a mess. I have not yet officially added the appropriate blue and yellow colors to the shrine, except through the usual backdrop of clutter. But that is my life since my beloved David became terminally ill and passed.
As a writer, I believe in writers helping writers. Just as I believe in people helping people worldwide. As I donate to charities (such as UMCOR and Doctors Without Borders) supporting human needs in conflict-torn countries, I also freely give of my time to help other writers on their journey.
Thus I support organizations such as the California Writers Club, the Greater Los Angeles Writers Society (GLAWS) and Women Writing the West.
Anyone signed up for this weekend’s California Creative Writers Conference? (https://www.wcwriters.com/ccwc/index.html) If so, I’m on the programs warning about writing scams (March 5) and describing what I wish an expert had told me before I started writing (March 7). I participate without monetary compensation, as do so many others.
Many writers in this world continue to be silenced. Russia is only one of many places this occurs. All of us with a voice must continue to speak our minds.