Dialogue #4 – A Conversation with Rhea Tregebov Hi I'm Susanna and I just want to say that I like W.I.E.R because I can get advice on how to become a good writer by reading your responses to other young writers. I sort of like this because it's different from in-class writing, listening and copying from chalkboards.  I only wish that I was one of the writers or that the whole class could have displayed their stories (they were all great!). Even if I wasn't a writer, I still had fun! P.S. Where are you from? Are you Polish? Russian? I would really like to know because I'm Ukrainian. I have read The Big Storm (I loved it!) and I like to add that my grandma makes the best latkes, perogies, cabbage rolls and borscht. If you really are Polish or Russian, maybe we can talk in our languages (they are quite similar).  Please write back if you have time Bye! P.S Dear Rhea, I do call my grandma Baba and I also call my grandpa Dido (deedoh) I hope you understand this: Doh pobachinya! (that means goodbye!) Susanna Dear Susanna - So nice to hear from you! I'm so pleased that you're enjoying WIER. I hope you do get the chance to submit your own work to WIER some other time. But it is great to know that you still got something out of the experience. I so much wish I COULD speak to you in Ukrainian or Russian! All four grandparents were born in what they then considered Russia: my dad's parents in a village near Vitebsk in what is now Bellarusse; my mom's mom in Odessa, which of course now is in Ukraine and my mom's dad in Simferopol in Crimea, which is still Russia now. Since my family is Jewish, they spoke more Yiddish than Russian, except for the grandmother from Odessa, who spoke Russian, which she taught to my mother (who was born in Winnipeg). Unfortunately, I never learned any Russian from my mother, though I'm very familiar with the sound of the language. When my mom (who is the Jeanette in the Big Storm) was growing up, she found it easy to communicate with the kids who spoke Ukrainian because, as you point out, the languages are so closely linked. Do you call your grandmother "Baba"? Both my grandmothers were called Baba and my son calls his grandmothers Baba. My mom makes a great borscht too and I love her cabbage rolls. She still lives in Winnipeg, and has a couple of places where she can get such great perogies (a big Ukrainian population in Winnipeg too) that she doesn't make her own any more, but I remember how good they were... Thanks for writing, Susanna. I hope you do get to participate fully in WIER at some time soon. Rhea