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March 28, 2026
from Strong Roots: A Memoir of Food, Family, and Ukraine
by Olia Hercules
“I know that we are not victims. And we are not just survivors. We, Ukrainians of many ethnicities, cultures and histories, are united.” —Olia Hercules
In Strong Roots Olia Hercules and members of her family displaced from home create mosaics as therapy during the war with Russia. Broken chips of tesserae pressed into mortar represent unity amid diversity, and in the family’s “thirst for creativity” she finds hope that light will overcome the darkness of war. In the paragraph the author mentions the Askania gold-crested crane which migrates annually from Africa to Ukraine and has come to represent the desire of displaced Ukrainians to return to their home one day. In that unity she sees the resolve, despite the seemingly endless streams of bombs, to do more than survive, but to prevail.
The paragraph and the commentary this week are both by the author.
Speaking of mosaics, The Humble Essayist will take a three month sabbatical from this page to create a mosaic of his own on the retaining wall in his backyard to see if he can turn stones pressed in mortar into an essay one day. He plans to post progress on this project on Facebook, Threads, and Instagram so, if you like, you can follow along. He will be back, though, on July 3 for the twelfth birthday of this page with our annual tribute to Henry David Thoreau.
The Paragraph of the Week
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The day after the big celebration, my cousin proposes we use the large table to teach the children how to make a mosaic. She has been practising this, as well as a myriad of other art therapy techniques, in Berlin, helping displaced Ukrainian adults and children to rebuild neurone connections and to heal themselves. We use special pliers to chip off small pieces of glass and ceramics, then stick them on a mosaic, gently, where it feels good to do so. The children are using pre-made patterns of birds and artichoke flowers and I am gluing my pieces freestyle, clumsily but enjoyably, on a tatty wooden tray. Of course I attempt to depict the Askania gold-crested crane, the same I painted on the frame of the photograph of me and my brother in that dusty field near our childhood home. Ira explains to us what is happening in our brain while we work.
—Olia Hercules
Commentary
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I think: this is it. This is the Ukrainian-ness that is in my blood. This thirst for curiosity, this thirst for creativity, the capacity to allow your brain to find a space to exist in two unavoidable worlds. I voice this to my family and friends. I say: grief is grief, and it is human and universal. Most of us live in a state of war, whether actual or personal. Everyone loses their loved ones, there is rarely anyone who escapes this feeling. But we must find space and snippets of time where grief is allowed to bloom, then an equal amount of time when we allow ourselves to rest and recover. It is important to accept the existence of the dark, but it is our responsibility to hold on to the light...I know that we are not victims. And we are not just survivors. We, Ukrainians of many ethnicities, cultures and histories, are united. We are scrambling to piece the mosaics of our personal and common history together, to add our family stitches to Ukraine's embroidery, comparing notes and becoming stronger.
— Olia Hercules
The Visible Speaking
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Check out Kathryn Winograd’s new blog of words and photos called The Visible Speaking here. Read our feature on her book by the same name here.
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Announcements
The Beloved Republic Recognized
by the PEN Award Series
The Beloved Republic has been selected for the Longlist for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay.
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PEN International is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous International PEN centres in more than 100 countries.
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Other goals include emphasizing the role of literature in the development of mutual understanding and world culture; fighting for freedom of expression, and acting as a powerful voice on behalf of writers harassed, imprisoned and sometimes killed for their views.
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See the trailers below to learn more about the book.
The Beloved Republic by Steven Harvey
Available at Bookstores and Online
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See more at the author's website and check out our video trailers here.
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The Humble Essayist Press
Closes Book Publication Arm
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The Humble Essayist Press has always needed to stay humble in its ambitions, and with the publication of our final book, Time's Passage by Robert Root, the passage of time has brought the book publication arm of the Humble Essayist Press to an end. Its editors have set off on other composing and editing projects with much appreciation and admiration for the texts that THE Press was allowed to bring into the world. We hope those books continue to have readers and to those authors we urge, “Write on.” Thanks so much for giving us what you did.
All of the press's publications are still available. You can find them here. The Humble Essayist will still carry on and continue to feature the Paragraph of the Week.
