Tribute to Yulianna

Like everyone else, I hope that she is OK. I was never as close to her as some on here but we were friends. I found her interesting and she clearly had many talents. I admired her sparky personality and the fact that she could (and would) challenge you on anything that she thought was bullshit.

She was also quite frighteningly smart for someone so young. Her reading list was vast and eclectic From what she told me, she was athletic too. It's hard not to feel a little jealous of someone twenty years younger than you who seems to be good at everything. If she ever returns to SW, I will regret saying that. For her part, she did tell me that 'my analysis was 'cogent' after I mansplained to her something about rugby that she already knew. I learned a new word.

Speaking of which, I mostly remember our Rugby chats. She was an Ireland fan and I tried to cheer her up around the time of the start of the conflict by telling her about Ireland's historic series win in NZ. but - of course - she already knew. Almost nobody in Ukraine plays rugby and why support Ireland? I asked. She explained that the Irish were also a nation of farmers on the edge of Europe and also oppressed by a larger neighbour. For the Irish, that neighbour is my native Britain! We all know which other country completes the analogy.

We didn't always agree politically - her as a Liberal and me as a Socialist - but we did have common ground on some things. She didn't like the term liberal, obviously. I remember her even wading into UK politics to tell me why my stance on the Labour Party was wrong. Though I didn't agree, she was at least well-informed in her opinion.

Soon after meeting her, we were talking about football and she posted a pic of the Ukraine shirt for Euro 2021.


Me: I don't want to comment on the south-east of that map (Crimea).
Her: I think it's close enough
Me: Well, I am a football fan and I don't have many opinions on politics.
Her: I believe that the correct technical term for that is "Bollocks!"

For one of the first times ever, I literally laughed out loud at something someone said on the internet.

If she doesn't come back on SW, then it seems that we might never know for sure what happened to her. If the worst has come to pass, then it's a tragic loss of someone with staggering potential. She perhaps could have been one of her country's future leaders. Though, I tend to think she'd be more likely to have gone into journalism and/or become an acclaimed novelist. If she is no longer with us, then at least she passed in a way that she would have wanted. Fighting for her homeland in a cause she cared passionately about to the core of her being. There is a tragedy in heroism and heroism in tragedy.