At the end of December, as the longest night of the year slowly seeps into the room, I light candles and make a Didukh. I weave this keeper of ancestral stories out of dry wheat stalks and distant memories of a sheaf that my grandfather brought into the house on Christmas Eve. “Didukh in the house, trouble out of the house,” he would say as he placed it under the icons framed by rushnyks, embroidered towels that decorated the walls of every room at my grandparents’ place.
My uncle takes me fishing. I know nothing about fishing. I sit on a wooden bench and watch him set up his gear. Four rods lined up on a narrow dock, barely big enough for the two of us. Fishing lines arching across the water until they eventually disappear under the surface, the points of … Continue reading Fishing
Geometry of Meaning was longlisted for the CBC Nonfiction Prize 2023 and selected as the semi-finalist of Shevchenko Foundation’s 2025 Emerging Writers Short Prose Competition. Here’s the full essay along with some photos of my grandmother’s rushnyks. My grandmother’s rushnyk spreads out on the wall like wings of a colourful bird about to take flight. … Continue reading Geometry of Meaning
I will never be able to think of the Grand Canyon without thinking about my father. A world-famous natural wonder, a mile-deep geological record with over 40 types of rocks – layers upon layers of memories, some dating back almost two billion years. Occasional gaps – referred to as unconformities – where strata from certain … Continue reading Geology of Memory
Fantastic Fungi and Where to Find Them was longlisted for the CBC Nonfiction Prize 2020. Here’s the full essay along with some photos of fantastic fungi foraged over the years.
Continue reading “Fantastic Fungi and Where to Find Them”I lower my paddle in the water and push the canoe into pre-dawn stillness. The boat glides effortlessly across the lake, cutting a sharp triangle in its mirror-like surface. Each paddle stroke sends circles through the water – ever-expanding, widening – until they reach the forest along the shore and Killarney’s white cliffs towering above. … Continue reading Stories of Entangled Life
Stories of Entangled Life 