Tag Archives: tanya dzekon

Scene

Food Review: A Russian Tries Cinderella Bakery

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Tanya Dzekon
Staff Writer

Cinderella Bakery is the Beyonce of bakeries – it has a lot of crossover appeal.  When my family arrived to this city as Ukrainian immigrants in the mid-90s, Cinderella Bakery was what my mother called an “old-Russian” bakery; it was still operating as an old-school Russian “pekarnya,” a place to get a loaf of freshly made rye bread that was baked using traditional methods. Today, they do brunch and the only Russian-speaking customer I encountered during my first visit was ordering a latte to-go. Continue reading Food Review: A Russian Tries Cinderella Bakery →

News

USF Alum Farms His Way Through Europe

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Tanya Dzekon
Staff Writer 

Sam Wilder wakes up at 7:30 a.m. everyday to eat his breakfast and do his Tai Chi stretches before heading to the stables to work with horses. After that, he tends to the garden — watering the plants and keeping up with pest-control — before finishing his day wrangling a flock of sheep. Wilder is volunteering through World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) on a farm in the hamlet of Virginstow, England. Volunteers like Wilder call themselves WWOOFers (pronounced “woofers’) and they provide a helping hand on a farm within the WWOOF network in exchange for a place to stay and three meals a day.
Continue reading USF Alum Farms His Way Through Europe →

Front Page, News

Students Struggle with Housing

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LINDSEY WESTJOHN
Contributing Writer 

Graduate student Kris Anderson found a place to live last week after sleeping on friends’ couches for the first month of school.  “I’d be on campus ’til 7 or 8 at night for work and school, then drive 45 [minutes] south, sleep on a couch, then wake up at 6am to get back to campus because I had work in the morning,” said Anderson. Even though Anderson has finally found his own place to live, he says it is not an ideal situation. “I’m renting a living room, so there’s basically no privacy,” he said. Continue reading Students Struggle with Housing →

Opinion

Letter from Ukraine

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Tanya Dzekon
Staff Writer

Upon my arrival to Kiev, I was greeted by an authentically Ukrainian summer – interchanging skies of sunshine and lighting. It happens so quickly that it seems like someone is switching slides in an old Kodak projector from above.

I was born in Vinnitsa, a town about 200 miles west of Kiev, which was famous for its chocolate and kielbasa factories during the Soviet Union. That’s where my grandmother – the one that cooks – is from. She made a variety of Ukrainian and Russian dishes for me while I stayed with her and my grandfather. Borsht soup, Pelmeni, and Beef Stroganoff were all cooked on an electric stove. This new piece of kitchen technology was a recent purchase, because the gas has recently been turned off in their home. Continue reading Letter from Ukraine →

News

Golden Gate Park Hosts Annual Ukranian Festival

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Tanya Dzekon
Staff Writer

The Ukrainian Heritage Club of Northern California held their 50th Ukrainian Festival in Golden Gate Park. This year it took place on August 24, to commemorate Ukrainian Independence Day, the day that Ukraine separated from the Soviet Union and became an independent state in 1991. Although it featured Ukrainian Cossack dancing, Ukrainian folk songs (played on traditional Ukrainian instruments like the Balalaika), and Ukrainian national costumes, the host of the festival continuously reminded the audience, most of whom were first and second generation Ukrainian immigrants, that it was currently a difficult time at home.

Continue reading Golden Gate Park Hosts Annual Ukranian Festival →