{"id":7486,"date":"2026-06-07T12:37:57","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T19:37:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/?p=7486"},"modified":"2026-06-07T12:38:01","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T19:38:01","slug":"heroes-ai-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2026\/books\/heroes-ai-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Heroes, AI, and More"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, I published my Hearts and Pages newsletter through Substack<\/strong><\/a> about some heroes in our midst. One of them, two weeks ago at Vishyvanka Day, organized by the Comox Valley Ukrainian Society as part of an annual event held worldwide to celebrate Ukrainian culture expressed through beautifully embroidered shirts worn by men and women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There, I met a hero, Darrell McKay. A few months prior, I had stumbled upon his book, My Time With Heroes: One Canadian\u2019s Story of Supplying Humanitarian Aid to Ukraine<\/a><\/strong><\/em>. <\/strong>His memoir is an extraordinary story of an extraordinary time spent by an extraordinary man.<\/p>\n\n\n

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When Darrell learned of Russia\u2019s illegal invasion of Ukraine, an independent and sovereign country, in February 2022, he felt moved to help. Darrell, born in England, and now living in Canada on Vancouver Island, has no Ukrainian roots. And yet, he was motivated not to fight but to help those who were fighting for their survival, those who feared living once more under Russian thumb. Darryl\u2019s another unsung hero in this crazy war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the Vishyvanka Day in Comox, Darrell was sitting at a table selling his books. When he\u2019s not helping the wounded and distraught at the Ukrainian front, he\u2019s back home raising money through his book sales and speaking about what\u2019s he seen at the front.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I approached him and told him I had his book but hadn\u2019t finished reading it yet. I then spoke of the trilogy I had written about my Ukrainian grandmother, Lukia Mazurets<\/a>, which begins with her life in Russia during WWI and afterwards. I also shared how Russia\u2019s war with Ukraine had affected me from day one. I teared up as I related my experience, and he responded by tearing up as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He reminded me of my father. I had grown up with a dad, who teared up at the kitchen table when my mother talked about what it was like living in Ukraine during World War I under Russian rule. So, when Darrell teared up, I saw another sensitive man who understood another person\u2019s pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Darryl McKay\u2019s Book<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Back home, I finished reading My Time With Heroes<\/em> which gives details about the people he met: the soldiers on the ground, the aid workers, and the victims of Russia\u2019s assault. He shows the incredible work being done to help Ukrainians physically, spiritually, and emotionally. I\u2019m sure many feel alone when they continue to endure one aerial assault after another that leaves innocent people\u2014soldiers, civilians, and outside volunteers dead or maimed physically and\/or psychologically. This war that never should\u2019ve happened is now over four years old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Resilience of Ukrainians<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

But Ukrainians are a resilient people. They continue to sing, laugh, and dance, despite the hardships life throws them. Rather than succumb to the brutality of Russian forces, those in Ukraine and in the Ukrainian diaspora all over the world have responded with great celebrations of their culture, traditions, and language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another Hero<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Speaking of heroes in our midst, I\u2019d like to mention an unlikely one, as heroes come in all forms. Our good friend Jack Fournier. He didn\u2019t go to any war front, but he fought a different war\u2014that of cancer. Loved by his friends and family, he never complained\u2014though I wouldn\u2019t minded if he did\u2014and joked until the end. He was also a devoted husband, a man who loved the sea and his cat, and a master carver. His wife, Lou Milner, wrote an excellent book about Jack, \u2014\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>Jack & The Cat Go Adrift\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/em>\u2014a light-hearted and fun read.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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Jack loved my Ukrainian family saga trilogy. Though he was dying of cancer, he couldn\u2019t wait to read the next book in the series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the celebration of Jack\u2019s life that Robert and I attended, his wife played a song at the end that sums up Jack. And a song I\u2019d like to leave you with: \u201cAlways Look on the Bright Side of Life.\u201d It helps to remember this as we deal with our worries, whether it\u2019s our families, the wars happening overseas, the AI threats, or the climate crisis. Humanity is amazing. There are so many good people worldwide doing great things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for AI<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been of two minds about it. I value being able to find all kinds of information quickly. For example, putting in my MRI results gave me much needed information, not only about the kind of exercises that would benefit my condition, but also who the best spine surgeons are for my back problems. I am seeing a physio now, but it\u2019s helpful to cross-reference what I\u2019m getting with what AI has given me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I used Chat GPT, but now I\u2019m hearing that Claude, developed by Anthropic,might be a better choice, as the developers, Daniela and Dario Amodei, seem to have a conscience and are putting in guardrails. However, these same developers are being sued in a huge lawsuit for having used countless novels to train their AI without the authors\u2019 permission and\/or payment. I know they\u2019ve used two of mine:\u00a0Lilacs in the Dust Bowl<\/em><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0A Cry from the Deep<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0<\/em>I wonder if I and the other authors named in this lawsuit will get any satisfaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much as I appreciate the quick help AI can provide for various queries, I am concerned about the impact it and cloud computing has on our environment. There is talk about finding ways to re-circulate the water and energy it needs for its large data centres. Currently, they are playing havoc in the communities where they are built.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On an opimistic note,\u00a0Fareed Zakaria, political jouranalist on CNN, gave a wonderful speech to the grads at Bard College about the amazing capacity of the human brain<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>as compared to AI. Worth listening to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I\u2019m Writing<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Well, I haven\u2019t returned to my work-in-progress yet\u2014another novel\u2014but I will soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been too busy promoting my latest book,\u00a0A House Full of Strangers<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0<\/em>a collection of short stories set in the 1940s and 1950s in Winnipeg, about Ukrainian immigrant landladies, their families, and the people who rent rooms from them. By the way, besides being available as an ebook and paperback, it\u2019s also available in Large Print. Here\u2019s the\u00a0Amazon link for the Large Prin<\/strong>t<\/a>, or you can ask your independent bookstore or library to bring the book in for you.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Review Are Always Welcome<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019ve read <\/strong>A House Full of Strangers<\/strong><\/em> or plan to read the book, and you like it, please leave a review on the site where you purchased the novel. <\/strong>Even a couple of sentences will do. Leaving reviews helps both readers and authors. Thank you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks for Following<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Hope your days are filled with sunshine. \u2018Till Next time. <\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, I published my Hearts and Pages newsletter through Substack about some heroes in our midst. One of them, two weeks ago at Vishyvanka Day, organized by the Comox… <\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7488,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[744],"tags":[1289,1303,1299,78,819,1040,1300,1233,387,948,1301,816,1302],"class_list":["post-7486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","tag-a-house-full-of-strangers","tag-canadian-ficition","tag-darrell-mckay","tag-diana-stevan","tag-heroes","tag-historical-fiction","tag-my-time-with-heroes","tag-short-story-collection","tag-ukraine","tag-ukrainian","tag-vishyvanka-day","tag-winnipeg","tag-winnipeg-stories"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/71J-9G9A7L._SY466_.jpg?fit=311%2C466&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LuVB-1WK","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6322,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2023\/writing\/wrapping-up-writing\/","url_meta":{"origin":7486,"position":0},"title":"Wrapping Up Writing","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"20 \u0413\u0440\u0443\u0434\u043d\u044f, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Year-end is a good time for wrapping up writing and more. 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Dictionary.com defines nostalgia as \u201ca wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life, to one's home or homeland, or to one's family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time.\u201d\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ukrainian Easter service at St. Mary's the Protectress, Winnipeg, Manitoba","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/church-service-300x218.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5694,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2022\/uncategorized\/ukraine-the-tears-and-ties-that-bind\/","url_meta":{"origin":7486,"position":3},"title":"Ukraine: the Tears and Ties that Bind","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"9 \u0427\u0435\u0440\u0432\u043d\u044f, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Me with my Dad, Mom, and Baba When Russia invaded Ukraine, the home of my ancestors, on Feb. 24th, I sobbed uncontrollably. 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