Danny Evanishen's Newsletter 1992

Danny Evanishen's 1992 Newsletter

Being the official organ of Ethnic Enterprises, Social Wing, and the Canadian Duck Club.

Box 234, Summerland, BC, Canada, V0H 1Z0, Phone (250) 494-3205 Fax (250) 494-3131 Email: danny@ethnic.bc.ca

Composed by Danny Evanishen in July 1992 and posted soon after.

Writing, Finally

Danny has finally started to do some writing. We'll make this old computer pay its way! What happened was that last Fall my father showed me some stories he had translated from Ukrainian into English, and my sister showed me some illustrations she had done to go with them. In my usual fashion, I immediately overdid the whole thing, and am now involved in this massive project to collect all the Ukrainian folk tales in Canada and retell them in English.

I've applied for a Canada Council grant, and have been trying to find a publisher. What I envision is a series of illustrated kids' books and a compendium of all the stories with historical notes and an index.

So what I need from everyone is all the Ukrainian folk tales they know. I can use them in English or Ukrainian, on paper or in books, or spoken on cassette tapes. If books of stories are sent to me, I'll need to find permission to use them. And if tapes are sent, I'll need the name of the storyteller, the date and the place.

For all the stories, I will need, if possible, the area of Ukraine the stories came from and the approximate date they originated.

Pretty exciting, eh? Big job, too!!

No Cinema

The cinema is no longer happening. We gave it a good try last summer, but the population in Summerland is just not big enough. We are still kicking around the idea of a drive-in near Kelowna but, so far, it's just an idea t hat's lots of fun.

We're also investigating the idea of a new theatre in Kelowna, but that would mean either moving there or commuting a lot, so I'm not too excited about the whole thing. I would like to run another cinema, but I don't want to move.

Trip

Dorene and I are planning a cross-Canada trip this October-November. The purpose of the trip is to visit people and organizations that can assist in the folk-tale project. This will mean stopping in at most major and lots of minor centers of culture from BC right thru to Newfie. If this fits your place, we'll come see you.

I'm hoping my 65 VW van will be camperized by then, and I hope the heater works. That will mean we can trip in relative comfort and not have to worry about a place to stay.

We'd like to hear from you. Will you be where we can find you, has your address changed, is there anyone anywhere we should stop to visit?

This is the plan at this time. If I get the Canada Council grant, the trip can be extended, and if unforeseen happenings happen, it may not happen at all. At any rate, let us know what's happening.

Firefighting

Back to it. Wouldn't you know it! I can't believe how much I missed this work. I always knew there was some thing wrong with me.

This summer I'm working for a local contractor who hires out people and equipment to Forestry. Our district goes from the border to somewhere north of Kelowna. Big area, and usually pretty busy.

The season started with a few good fires, but has since shifted into 'rain' gear, so right now I have time to play with my computer.

Macintosh

This wondrous machine upon which I am composing this missive is my newtome computer. It's a Macintosh Plus with a 4MB upgrade, an external 800K disk drive and a 52 MB external hard drive. Just a bit of a leap from the 128K Mac I was driving last newsletter. Like going from a bicycle to a Cadillac. Sometimes I miss the simplicity of the 128, but I can do so much more with this machine. And I needed the memory to do the folk tale project.

I have several programs which I am still learning to use, but I am still having trouble finding manuals. I can do lots of wonderful things, but I don't know how I did them, or even what I did.

I used SuperPaint 2 to make this letter, and I use Word 4 for the folk tales. No manuals. If anyone has one, I'd sure like to see it.

I also have a few games, like Airborne!, and Stunt Copter, and some breakout and maze-type things. Also Crystal Quest (no manual) and Indiana Jones (no manual). If anyone wants any of these things, let's trade.

So who's got what?

Cars

I finally got a VW Rabbit Pickup. What a nice little twuck. Same 50-60 mpg fuel economy as the car, but now I can carry a lot more stuff. Trouble is, I carried all the stuff I was saving up for when I got the truck, and now I drive around empty all the time. I don't drive it much, though. I use a 1978 Honda 185 Twinstar motorcycle for commuting to and from work.

The 65 VW van has already been covered elsewhere.

The 62 Studebaker Gran Turismo Hawk is the one that needs the most assistance. My body man on Salt Spring tells me that the body on the car is more shot than we thought. That means I have a beautiful car with not much of a body. Therefore, I am on the hunt for a beautiful body to fit said beautiful car. If there is such a thing in the vicinity, I'd sure like to hear about it.

The Stude to Newf project is still something that I would like to do, but I need a car to do it in.

Good thing I don't have any more cars - there's no place to put them here.