Childhood around the newspaper

Childhood around the newspaper

Hey friends and readers,

As requested from many of you in my poll, I will share a little bit more about my childhood.

In this article I’ll focus on my dad and the influence the experiences had on me.

As you see, the photo of this article is my dad with John Denver, one of US musical legends. My dad interviewed him when John was performing in Soviet Union. John Denver was one of many famous people my dad got to interview.

Because of trust and quality of work that my dad had, when Chernobil happened, my dad was sent there to investigate. Upon being there and leaving, my dad was throwing up blood, yet, government officials told him to report that nothing was wrong.

He refused to lie and ended up fearing for his life. Luckily at the time Soviet grasp and KGB were on decline and they didn’t kill him.

This resulted in my dad becoming the first in our family to visit US, as US invited him as a guest and he had tour of DC, New York City and few other places. He said he was amazed and shocked at how different it was here from what they told in Soviet.

He said the propaganda always said that US had no nature, no greens, not enough food. Yet when he came here it was an absolute opposite.

I still own the cassette player he brought with him from that trip.

When Soviet fell apart, my dad was an editor for Lutsk’s top newspaper and then also started his own newspaper.

There are special experiences that I had during this time. Often times I would come to the newspaper and would see how it was printed first hand. I would also get to speak to other journalists and see the lifestyle and the process.

Watch them play chess against each other, share ideas.

During breaks dad would sometimes take me to a small cafe, or buy a drink to share in a near by kiosk.

One thing I find most impressive looking back is the humble nature. Despite doing so much and having so much experience he was never egoistical or big headed, always humble.

Seeing a real journalist with integrity and morals, wasn’t only great for me as a person and a writer, but also made me understand what real journalism means and how to tell it apart from the fake ones.

My dad showed me that being humble, kind and honest is more important than any fame, connections or popularity.

Today, I am often told that I am too straightforward, yet, I don’t see this as a disadvantage.    

I am happy that some of that nature transferred from my dad to me, yet there is still a lot of work for me to do.

Thanks for reading and blessings!