Cultural Horizons of Armenians

[Zariadris]

Re: The Excavations of Tigranakert

Zariadris,
You're welcome!
I'm not into flattery, however, it seems obvious that your contribution is more substantial; in fact, I have simply presented existing documents without adding much, if anything???
I enjoyed your, alas short, documentary, Thank You! Let's hope that, someday, enough will be excavated to justify a full length documentary.

Thanks for watching, and - in spite of your modesty - I thank you again for taking the time and effort to post the many fascinating stories on this thread.

Regarding Tigranakert, this is just the beginning, albeit a sensational one. According to Dr. Petrosian, it will take decades, at best, to fully excavate the site. Its not just the ruins of a city that is being recovered, but 1500 years of history. As such, it's perhaps one of the most significant discoveries in the annals of Armenian archeology so far. Naturally, the Armenian public has slept through the whole thing, dooming the project to a slow political death. This is understandable enough; what makes this discovery such an incredible story is its uncanny, even dangerous timing. For pragmatists on both sides of the fence its the proverbial elephant in the room, an inconvenient truth encapsulating the tragic ironies of Armenian and Azeri history.

[Armenian]

Re: The Excavations of Tigranakert

Embers of the Sun, an early, lyrical short about Armenia's prehistoric landscapes, rock art and megaliths, is up on youtube and might be of interest to you.

I will purchase the Tigranakert documentary this summer when I am in Yerevan. I have seen Embers of the Sun. Too short. I wish you could do something more extensive in that particular field. I think Armenia's ancient heritage, which is much richer that our modern heritage in my opinion, is utterly neglected. You don't need to tell me, I know its all about finances.... Are you soliciting funds?

[Siamanto]

Re: The Excavations of Tigranakert

Thanks for watching, and - in spite of your modesty - I thank you again for taking the time and effort to post the many fascinating stories on this thread.

You're welcome! My goal is simple: document the diversity and open-ended scope - i.e. horizons - of the cultural expressions of the Armenian Identity. Also, it is an "argument" - I prefer the French "pied de nez" - against those who spare no efforts to imprison the Armenian Identity within narrow and suffocating walls, walls that seem to be remnants of a Central Asian mosque rather than a medieval Armenian edifice. Ironically, but sadly enough, they condemn the Armenian Identity to a life within the walls of a Central Asian mosque, in the name of "patriotism" and/or "Christianity."

Regarding Tigranakert, this is just the beginning, albeit a sensational one. According to Dr. Petrosian, it will take decades, at best, to fully excavate the site. Its not just the ruins of a city that is being recovered, but 1500 years of history. As such, it's perhaps one of the most significant discoveries in the annals of Armenian archeology so far.

We agree; it's a long term project that may, hopefully, be full of pleasant surprises??? It's also the discovery of elements /aspects of our Identity.

Naturally, the Armenian public has slept through the whole thing, dooming the project to a slow political death. This is understandable enough; what makes this discovery such an incredible story is its uncanny, even dangerous timing. For pragmatists on both sides of the fence its the proverbial elephant in the room, an inconvenient truth encapsulating the tragic ironies of Armenian and Azeri history.

I don't know if it should be explained as
1. A lack of interest
2. A lack of budget
3. A lack of (cultural) awareness and/or awareness of it's cultural - and political - value
4. The unfortunate timing/location - as you mentioned
5. A lack of political will
6. Other reasons
7. A combination of the above

In any case, considering the fate of our heritage in Nakhitchevan and/or Western/Little Armenia, where it was either physically destroyed or its Identity stolen; can we take the risk of, using your word, "sleeping?"

[Zariadris]

Re: The Excavations of Tigranakert

I will purchase the Tigranakert documentary this summer when I am in Yerevan. I have seen Embers of the Sun. Too short. I wish you could do something more extensive in that particular field. I think Armenia's ancient heritage, which is much richer that our modern heritage in my opinion, is utterly neglected. You don't need to tell me, I know its all about finances.... Are you soliciting funds?

Thanks so much for your interest Armenian. Yeah, you're right. Embers is short. It was the result of the first stage of my field work on prehistoric monuments. In the years since I've shot tons of footage, which I plan to edit into a full length doc. The project has grown to include a lot of valuable ethnographic material as well. Most of the sponsors I've approached over the years have very little interest in the subject, and as a result I've mostly financed the work myself. So, to answer your question: I'm always soliciting funds! If you ever happen to know of anyone, please let me know

I look forward to showing you the final result someday.

Z

[Zariadris]

Re: The Excavations of Tigranakert

I don't know if it should be explained as
1. A lack of interest
2. A lack of budget
3. A lack of (cultural) awareness and/or awareness of it's cultural - and political - value
4. The unfortunate timing/location - as you mentioned
5. A lack of political will
6. Other reasons
7. A combination of the above

In any case, considering the fate of our heritage in Nakhitchevan and/or Western/Little Armenia, where it was either physically destroyed or its Identity stolen; can we take the risk of, using your word, "sleeping?"

I remember Hamlet Petrosian, the head archaeologist behind the Tigranakert excavation, comparing the incredible amount of money the Georgian government provides its archaeologists with the relatively paltry sum the Armenian government provides. I forget the exact figures, but they were stunning.

I don't like to mix nationalism and culture - my interest in my heritage is spiritual, not political - but over the many years I've spent living in Armenia I've learned that patriotism often tends to one of two extremes: sentimental toasts drunk to our 'Hayrenik', or bloody martyrdom on the battlefield, but relatively little in between. For the time being, national pride elicits more lip service than it does true resolve; a good showing at Eurovision is vastly more important than claiming dusty ruins in a war zone. Tigranakert appears lost in the limbo of our still-emerging national consciousness. After a 1000 years of obscurity, it's time has yet to come.

[Siamanto]

Re: The Excavations of Tigranakert

I remember Hamlet Petrosian, the head archaeologist behind the Tigranakert excavation, comparing the incredible amount of money the Georgian government provides its archaeologists with the relatively paltry sum the Armenian government provides. I forget the exact figures, but they were stunning.

I don't like to mix nationalism and culture - my interest in my heritage is spiritual, not political - but over the many years I've spent living in Armenia I've learned that patriotism often tends to one of two extremes: sentimental toasts drunk to our 'Hayrenik', or bloody martyrdom on the battlefield, but relatively little in between. For the time being, national pride elicits more lip service than it does true resolve; a good showing at Eurovision is vastly more important than claiming dusty ruins in a war zone. Tigranakert appears lost in the limbo of our still-emerging national consciousness. After a 1000 years of obscurity, it's time has yet to come.

Culture should not be constrained by nationalism - or any other "ism;" of course, the creator may be patriotic, a nationalist and/or integrate/beautify/glorify in his/her work, elements that reflect/symbolize/characterize a nation or a collectivity. No, I don't value Stalinian "cultural" productions!

Some parents care little for the education of their children; others immensely do, but lack the means - either financial or "pedagogical;" yet some care enough and have the means. Of course, that is an oversimplified picture of the reality; but, adequate enough for our purposes: We immensely care for the future of our heritage; however, as of now, we lack the means - a combination of financial and, what I have called earlier "cultural awareness."
Why do we lack adequate "cultural awareness," and how does it manifest itself - i.e. what it means? I believe that the answer is not straightforward, but the reality of our heritage - historical monuments, manuscripts etc. - is one of the symptoms. We are a nation of builders/creators, so why do we "neglect" our heritage? I don't think that the lack of financial means, by itself, explains the situation; I think that some of the reasons are historical: We don't have a history of a "state institution" dedicated to the task - i.e. it is not part of our culture, and we're still in a "learning phase."
Also, the development of "cultural tourism," and the consequent exposure to an "external eye," may help??? I believe that our appreciation of our heritage will evolve and mature with time; as we say "Menk mezi g@ kdnenk" - an expression that applies to the situation in more than one way.


P.S. For the record, Armenia is not isolated case, as I have witnessed a "lack of cultural awareness" in other countries.

[Siamanto]

Re: Cultural Horizons of Armenians

The Art Scene

PRINTMAKER'S PIECES ARE USER-FRIENDLY ABSTRACTS
by Wesley Pulkka

Albuquerque Journal
March 30, 2008 Sunday
New Mexico

World-renowned printmaker Garo Antreasian is a pillar of New Mexico's
arts community. His beautifully installed "Garo Antreasian: Works
on Paper - 50 Years" exhibition at the Gerald Peters Gallery is a
stunning display of graphic design, impeccable draftsmanship and
userfriendly abstraction.

Antreasian was long associated with the Tamarind Institute of
Lithography and the University of New Mexico art department. Though
retired from teaching for many years Antreasian is remembered by
countless students who benefited from his demand for professionalism
and sweat equity skills development.

Antreasian and the late Clinton Adams co-founded the New Mexico
version of the Tamarind Institute of Lithography and turned it into an
international learning center and showcase for artists from around the
world. The original Tamarind Institute of Lithography was founded by
June Wayne in Los Angeles, whose studio was located on Tamarind Alley.

Antreasian's works on paper are only a part of this prolific artist's
production. Over the years he produced thousands of paintings and
mixed-media constructions. Though his style has roots in constructivism
and early 20th-century geometric abstraction, his strongest inspiration
can be found in his Armenian background that includes a blend of
Christian and Islamic symbolism.

Antreasian however does not fit into stereotypical cultural matrices.

It's his comfort with embracing all before him that lends his work
its visual power and compositional authority.

"Armen's Wallpiece, 2007" is an architectonic tour de force drawn with
charcoal on paper. This tall, vertical composition is designed with
interlocking triangles, rectangles and circles that form a skeletal
structure that might support a skyscraper.

The piece is rendered in an astonishing range of tones that eloquently
reveal the level of practice and skill development to which Antreasian
dedicated himself.

His charcoal drawings titled "Column E, 2000" and "Column F, 2000"
could be easily used as plans for three-dimensional sculptures. They
consist of characters stacked on top of one another and are both
anchored by dark solids that could be sculpture bases.

There are a number of other Antreasian works that could be used
as templates for sculpture including "Sign with Red Below," "Trio -
Plates I, II, III, 1997" and all four works from the "Structura Series"
of 1994.

Two quite different works reveal Antreasian's sense of play. In
"Black Trees - Yellow Ground, 2000" and "Benin I, 2001" Antreasian
seems to be working directly with the real world as an observer of
trees and architecture. His trees have cactuslike qualities as well
as a kinship with calligraphy.

The architectonics of "Benin I" are presented with a sense of jaunty
humor. The horizontal centerline slightly offsets the vertical
structure lending the drawing an animated feeling.

Though these images are more or less recognizable they in fact come
from the realm of abstract thinking that informs all of Antreasian's
work. In his notes on the show he mentions that titles are the result
of inevitable associations that the viewer may make but do not reflect
the intention or source of Antreasian's vision.

In "Excelsior, 2001" Antreasian uses an intertwined herringbone
motif to create movement, tension and grace. The syncopated pattern
echoes sacred knots and other ancient motifs while being informed by
modernist art like that of Piet Mondrian.

Antreasian combined American Indian influence and cutting-edge
technology in "Ojo, 4/15, 1965," a brilliantly colored lithograph
with a nocturnal background. The central image is stretched across
the horizon and bleeds up and down the left and right edges.

The piece, though rooted in yarn ojos de Dios, also is reminiscent
of computerenhanced radio telescope images of the Milky Way gathered
by the large array outside of Socorro.

Art historical connections abound in Antreasian's works including
a touch of Robert Motherwell in "Untitled 80.6.2, 9/16, 1980"
and "Mombassa, 1992". I find a hint of 1950s era Frank Stella in
"Untitled 76.5.3, 1979" a pinstripe piece. In "Untitled 79.6.4, 1979"
an acrylic on embossed paper we find triangular and linear forms like
those explored by Joseph Albers in the late 1940s.

Though these aforementioned artists may have triggered responses in
Antreasian his great body of work is too broad, skillfully executed
and highly personalized to be pigeonholed.

This is one of the most dynamic shows I've seen for a while and I
applaud the gallery for an installation that externally captures
the internal rhythms of Antreasian's work. The placement and spacing
are excellent.

If you go

WHAT: "Garo Antreasian: Works on Paper -50 Years" with 31 pieces.

WHEN: Through April 26. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through
Fridays. Call (505) 954-5700.

WHERE: Gerald Peters Gallery, 1011 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe

HOW MUCH: Free

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-15595865.html

Critics' Forum
Visual Arts
Art and Identity: A Conversation with Joanne Julian
By Adriana and Hovig Tchalian

Joanne Julian is a Los Angeles-based artist whose work was recently
showcased in a retrospective at California State University,
Northridge. Entitled Joanne Julian: Counterpoints (January 22 -
February 23, 2008), the exhibit received great acclaim by critics and
attendees alike.

Julian has had a distinguished career as an educator as well as an
artist. She has taught at numerous colleges and universities, mounted
many exhibitions, and worked on several corporate commissions to
create site-specific art. Her work has been featured in publications
such as the Los Angeles Times, ARTS Magazine, Artweek, the San
Francisco Chronicle, and Images and Issues, among others. Yet despite
her accomplishments, she is relatively unknown in the Armenian
community.

Julian, a second-generation Armenian, describes herself as an artist
who "happens to be Armenian." And at first glance, there is nothing
ostensibly Armenian about Julian's drawings, which are often done in
ink, graphite, Prismacolor (a brand of materials that includes color
markers and pencils), or acrylic on handmade paper.

In fact, Julian's art seems often to defy categorization. Her
drawings are somewhat reminiscent of the simple lines employed by
Barnett Newman, a mid twentieth-century Modernist whose aesthetic,
like Julian's, exhibits minimalist qualities. Many of Julian's
compositions, such as Red Circle with Narrow Veil (2003, acrylic,
graphite, ink on Arches paper), thus have an affinity with Newman's.
Critic Robert McDonald cites Julian's regard for Agnes Martin,
another minimalist painter whose elegant, albeit stark, compositions
couple perfectly with Julian's unfussy drawings. Compare, for
instance, Julian's Orange Gingkos (2006, acrylic, ink on Arches
paper) or Two Anthurium (1989, monoprint on Arches paper) with
Martin's elemental compositions (Joanne Julian, Louise Lewis, and
Robert McDonald. "Joanne Julian: Counterpoints II," Joanne Julian:
Counterpoints, 2007: 35).

These spontaneous bursts of expression can also be likened to another
school that valued simplicity in form and stroke, twentieth-century
Abstract Expressionism. Robert McDonald compares Julian's work
explicitly to that of Franz Kline, an important figure in the
Expressionist school. In Black Water Collage (2005, acrylic,
collage, ink on Arches paper), for instance, Julian places a perfect
Zen circle against a white backdrop, much like Kline's bold strokes
of black against a pristine white surface. Others, such as Louise
Lewis (Director, California State University Northridge Art
Galleries), remind us that these dark brush strokes represent the
Buddhist symbol for enlightenment, Ensô (meaning "circle" in
Japanese), a word traditionally used in Japanese calligraphy
(Counterpoints, 2007: 8).

Many of Julian's motifs, in fact, are directly inspired by Asian
art. Julian's love of Eastern art and culture began at an early
age. She started collecting Japanese prints as a teenager, being
attracted to their serene, minimalist palates. Since then Julian has
traveled and studied in Asia. The acrylic paintings in the series
called "Zen Circles," for instance, clearly display the Asian
aesthetic suggested by their collective title.

The drawings themselves serve to reinforce, one might say re-enact,
this multiplicity of source and purpose. Some of the forms playfully
disrupt the viewer's expectations, appearing as two-dimensional
depictions on one surface - all heavy brush strokes and bold lines -
only to be transformed on another surface into seemingly three-
dimensional objects, rings or links in a chain, connected by those
same bold lines, twisted into braids or knots, grown more tactile by
virtue of their new context.

The drawings themselves, often large and free-flowing, many replete
with natural elements, seem to overwhelm the strict and "unnatural"
confines of their context. A number of the paintings in the series
Julian's website (joannejulian.com) calls "botanicals" feature
a "close-up" of flowers, leaves or vines, the cropping effect almost
extending them forcefully beyond the square of the paper, merging
seamlessly with an imagined setting beyond its borders.

But as Julian explains, although the "products" of her artistic
efforts may not be Armenian, the "process" she uses to create them,
which she describes as a "craft," certainly is. She remembers her
Armenian grandparents on both sides of the family as craftsmen (and
women) - primarily tailors and lace makers. She also remembers the
painstaking detail of their labor, whether directed at creating art
or everyday objects. She never took her shoes to anyone but her
father-in-law, she says, a master shoemaker who could make anything
look new, often tearing a shoe apart and rebuilding it to look better
than it ever did.

That same level of craftsmanship can be found in Julian's own
drawings. Her meticulous attention to detail has been well-
documented. Robert McDonald explains that Julian is "thoroughly
acquainted with the qualities of the materials she uses and the
characteristics of her tools. With respect to paper, usually Arches
or Stonehenge, she determines their weights, textures/finishes and
absorbencies with inks and pigments. With inks, colors are only the
beginning; there are infinitudes of transparencies and opacities. She
determines the appropriateness of her instruments, such as the
widths, varieties of resilience and softness of their bristles"
(Counterpoints, 2007: 31).

That approach to the detailed, delicate demands of craft has stayed
with Julian, both as influence and occasional obstacle. The Asian
influence in her art, for example, she attributes both to her
fascination with the delicate craft of Armenian lace making, much
akin to the intricacy of Asian art forms, but also to its opposite -
a desire to find solace in the simpler, more minimalist aesthetic
that grounds so much traditional Asian, particularly Japanese, art.

Julian considers her own identity as artist likewise fluid, more a
matter of artistic style and personal lifestyle than one of subject
matter, theme or artistic preoccupation. (Like her drawings, her
last name is also "cropped," an abridged version of "Julukian," a
change made by her grandparents in 1918 after escaping the Genocide
and arriving in the US.) But digging a bit deeper, the assiduous
viewer discovers other parallels. The braids glimpsed in one or two
of the Zen Circles drawings suddenly seem familiar, faintly
reminiscent of the traditional braids worn under Armenian woman
dancers' headdresses, or perhaps the braided dough of Armenian and
Middle Eastern cakes.

Julian avers that she has intentionally tried to defy categorization
when it comes to herself and her art. Although proud of her heritage
as well as her sex, she still signs her works "J. Julian," a way of
eliding both her ethnic as well as her gender identity. As such, she
prefers to be known as an artist in the mainstream, rather than, say,
an "Armenian artist" or a "woman artist." She associates herself
most closely, she insists, with her identity as "outsider." That may
be the most potent suggestion yet of Julian's identity,
paradoxically, as an Armenian woman artist in the truest sense, both
because of and despite herself.


All Rights Reserved: Critics' Forum, 2008. Exclusive to the Armenian
Reporter.

Adriana Tchalian holds a Masters degree in Art History and has
managed several art galleries in Los Angeles.

Hovig Tchalian holds a PhD in English literature from UCLA. He has
edited several journals and also published articles of his own.

You can reach them or any of the other contributors to Critics' Forum
at [email protected]. This and all other articles published
in this series are available online at http://www.criticsforum.org. To sign
up for a weekly electronic version of new articles, go to
http://www.criticsforum.org/join. Critics' Forum is a group created to
discuss issues relating to Armenian art and culture in the Diaspora.

http://www.criticsforum.org/pdf/1210166284.pdf

[b]Related Post/b]

[abilash]

Re: Cultural Horizons of Armenians

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[Siamanto]

Re: Cultural Horizons of Armenians

Book Reviews

Arpine Konyalian Grenier
Part, Part Euphrates
reviewed by Celia Lisset Alvarez
38pp. NeO Pepper Press. US$10. 0978840755 paper

http://www.tashogi.com/neopp.htm

A New Syntax

Arpine Konyalian Grenier's Part, Part Euphrates collapses both landscape
and time in a collection of poetry that challenges the reader to
reconstruct both narrative and place from language that defies logic and
tradition. Grenier creates her own evocative grammar of soul, self, and
society in these five interrelated poems that together make up a mosaic
narrative perhaps best referred to as political ecofeminism, but that
really escape easy categorizations. Although heavily imbued with
bittersweet glimpses of a deconstructed Lebanon traceable to Grenier's
Armenian identity, Part, Part Euphrates is intensely personal and
passionate rather than simply driven by sociopolitical concerns.

The brief collection opens with `Lebanon regardless) would you
rather . . . ,' a wistful look at the mysterious relationship with `G'
that anchors the personal narrative thread of the book. The speaker is
perturbed by the fractured realtionship to G and the presence of a woman
from his past:

he was her borrowed once a bruise on top each limb
her totem pole detailing a flower near original
shadow re-examined for rainmaking


Combining free verse with prose poetry, Grenier crafts a broken
narrative of loss and doubt in this poem, interspersing personal
questions (`Why do I feel her spirit interfering with my realtionship
with G') and fractured memories with a decidedly urban and postmodern
sensibility best captured into the lines `the world is / my lover is.'
The speaker asserts that `nothing is new in Lebanon since you and I
cracked,' and this collapse of self and city sets the stage for the rest
of the collection.

Subsequent poems play off of this classic feminist tension between the
personal and the political. `The Enthusiast' bemoans the relationship
between Beirut's past and present in language that attempts to
illuminate a neglected women's history: `So the deal is - poor ugly
motherless Beirut suffering anonymity.' Grenier examines how `the theme
of man' has excluded its female counterpart (`I'm not a daughter they
say / I did not see it happen mama') in a gesture she compares to
`backing against a one way street' and provocatively calls `syntax
blackened.' She ends this poem both hopefully and forcefully, implying
that women's struggle for voice, and, obliquely, for economic freedom
(`today is the first day you're a pay-stub mother / beaming at a new
syntax'), will bring about a new vision for Beirut:

these are not ours these streets we fight in
banal for some reason and emptied star
the watch in reverse
a new syntax
prepared
-ness

out there
street signals

turnpike
lane


Though difficult to unravel, the images in `The Enthusiast' suggest the
overall raison d'etre of Grenier's poetry in this collection, the
creation of a `new syntax' driven by a woman-centered multiplicity of
voice that takes Audre Lorde's imperative to dismantle the master's
house to a multicultural level.

Very much the anchor poem of the group, `The Enthusiast' also introduces
the concept of male versus female theming or viewing that unites all
five poems. `Gatekeeper, we unthemed' brings together the languages of
science, gender, and politics to question the ways in which we relate to
one another:

there is no consensus or dissent they say
within the urge to connect
un-themed

is the neutral such?
how do where and how enter theme?
how does how many enter zero?
I had a dad and father and daddy
is that too synoptic for you?

Unlike in `The Enthusiast,' in `Gatekeeper' there is no sense of a
gendered optimism. This poem is nightmarish and urgent. Grenier speaks
of being `afraid of water and air and everything green or living'
because `what is free or living must be commoditized and digitized.'
There is a strong sense of disaster in this poem, where being `unthemed'
also means being `unaccounted for.' The individual is powerless vis Ă
vis a machinery of destruction that threatens both the natural world and
its `private corners.' Although sure to find resonance with many
readers, the poem lacks the unity of vision of `The Enthusiast,' leaving
one with more questions than answers.

Ultimately, however, Grenier presents a beautifully braided collection
of poems that culminate in the final `Public at The Pergola,' in which
all the themes of Part, Part Euphrates come together in a moving,
postmodern collage of poetry and prose. Finally `unthemed,' the speaker
of `Pergola' asks

what to do with the scissors you gave me (Ottoman)
what to do with the embroidered cross on one side
the linguist and research analyst positions at United Technologies
on the other the Biblical whole limbic

The speaker's indecision and desperation is tenderly confessed in a
letter to G and a job application that recalls the `enthusiasm / work
ethic' of `The Enthusiast.' Grenier offers no easy resolutions. Like the
river, the collection is `recurring . . . / breeding its underside.'
What is remarkable about it is Grenier's ability to engage with language
on its most primal, semiotic level. Words, images, and space collide and
explode into each other, and meaning is accumulated rather than created.
Such stylistic freshness sets this collection apart from other
treatments of these (post)modern themes of individualism, gender, and
ecology. Moreover, Grenier's ability to navigate the uncharted with
grace and beauty also sets her writing apart from poetry that is
unconventional merely to shock or transgress. She creates her own syntax
and her own myth. She writes in the epigraph: `With an eternal lack of
selfhood and longing for ancestry I am creeping along the sidelines of
rhetoric and process hoping for an outcome that transcends my ability to
determine the good in it.'



Celia Lisset Alvarez is a writer and educator from Miami, Florida. Her
poetry includes The Stones (Finishing Line Press, 2006) and
Shapeshifting (Spire Press, 2006), winner of the 2005 Spire Press Poetry
Award. Poems from these collections are also in the anthologies White
Ink: Poems on Mothers and Motherhood (Demeter Press, 2007) and Letters
to the World (Red Hen Press, 2008). Other stories and poems have
appeared in the Iodine Poetry Journal, the Powhatan Review, Tar Wolf
Review, Poui: The Cave Hill Literary Annual, zingmagazine, and Mangrove,
and in the anthology Women Moving Forward: Narratives of Identity,
Migration, Resilience, and Hope, Vol. 1. (Cambridge Scholars Press,
2006). Her review of Christine Stewart-Nuñez's Unbound & Branded is
forthcoming from Prairie Schooner. She currently teaches composition,
literature, scientific and creative writing at St. Thomas University in
Miami Gardens, Florida.

http://jacketmagazine.com/35/r-arpine-grenier-rb-alvarez.shtml

TALLAHASSEE COMMISSIONER'S NOVEL ATTRACTS LITERARY INTEREST
By Julian Pecquet

Tallahassee Democrat

http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080519/NEWS01/805190320/1010

May 19 2008
FL

When he wasn't busy practicing law or boning up on local government
issues, Tallahassee City Commissioner Mark Mustian spent the past
three years exploring his family's Armenian roots.

The result: A new novel, "The Gendarme," that has caught the eye of
publishers around the world.

The story focuses on a retired Turkish policeman who moves to
America and, in his old age, remembers his role in deporting Armenian
Christians to Syria during the waning days of the Ottoman Empire.

Over the past couple of months, the manuscript has been placed with
G. P. Putnam's Sons, a division of Penguin Group (USA), which has
sold the rights in six foreign countries -- Italy, Israel, Brazil,
France, Spain and Greece. It's expected to be available by next year.

Mustian credits his topic's controversy for the interest it's getting
abroad.

It's a crime in Turkey to identify the death of an estimated 1.5
million Armenians during World War I as genocide. Last year, when
a U.S. House committee did so, the Turkish government recalled its
ambassador to Washington and threatened to withdraw its support for
the war in Iraq.

Mustian said he got interested in the topic because he'd read
survivors' tales, but had never seen anything written from the other
point of view. He has never been to Turkey, and complemented his
library research by asking for help from Turkish students at Florida
State University. But the first student who answered his ad soon
returned the manuscript.

"It was kind of an eye opener that the first person who said they'd do
it, brought the book back the next day and said 'No, I can't do it',"
Mustian said.

This is Mustian's second novel. His first, "The Return," told the
story of a Brazilian woman claiming to be Christ reborn. It was
published by Pineapple Press in May 2000.

Paul Shepherd, a writer in residence at Florida State University who
teaches creative writing, praised the new book.

"There are probably two things that in my mind go into a really
excellent novel: a gripping story and a character that really
comes alive," said Shepherd, a fellow church member of Mustian's at
St. Stephen Lutheran Church.

"The guy is a really complex character -- your feelings for him are
challenged as you read the book." Shepherd said. "I found myself
months after I read the book thinking of this guy's actions. He's an
incredibly compelling character."

AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR VISITS HIS NATIVE RACINE
By Phyllis Sides

Journal Times

http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2008/04/18/local_news/doc480829b6e4f3b218933889.txt

April 18 2008
WI

David Kherdian set to be honored Sunday

VIDEO: Kherdian's appearance at Walden III High School

RACINE -- It's been about 15 years since David Kherdian and his wife
Nonny Hogrogian have visited Racine.

Kherdian, a Racine native, is the author of more than 50 books of
poetry, memoirs, novels, biographies and children's stories, some in
collaboration with Hogrogian.

His most recent book, "Forgotten Bread," is a collection of works
from 17 Armenian-American writers.

Hogrogian is an award-winning illustrator of children's books. The
couple are in Racine for a series of events honoring them, speaking
engagements and visits with friends.

Things have changed since their last visit, Kherdian said.

"The city has really changed, tremendously. You can know your hometown
only once. That's why I wrote 'My Racine.' It's really good to be
home again."

The visit included many highlights beginning with a reception for
Hogrogian on Tuesday at the Center for Children's Literature at
Carthage College. Hogrogian has been awarded the Caldecott Medal
twice for the most distinguished picture book of the year: in 1966
for "Always Room for One More" and again in 1972 for "One Fine Day,"
which she wrote and illustrated. Many of her illustrations are for
books of Armenian fairy tales.

On Wednesday, Kherdian spoke at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside
on "Dealing with Ethnicity and Genocide: Growing up in Racine as
an Armenian-American." His talk was hosted by the Center for Ethnic
Studies and the Center for International Studies.

On Thursday, he talked with students at Walden III High School, giving
them a poet's view of Racine while Hogrogian ate lunch with the youth
services staff at the library. Kherdian said he enjoys meeting and
talking with young people "because they are always interesting."

Kherdian gave the students copies of "The Dividing River, The Meeting
Shore" which takes us back to his childhood through his poetry.

The students also received free copies of Kherdian's "Chippecotton:
Root River Tales of Racine." "Chippecotton" is a verse history of
Racine, which he wrote, Kherdian said, because there were no good
histories of the city available.

Today, Kherdian will read selections from his Root River collection
of poems about Racine and from his new book, "Forgotten Bread," at
the Racine Public Library. The poetry reading will be followed by a
book-signing and informal reception.

On Sunday, with their visit winding down, Kherdian will be one of
the people honored by the Racine Public Library Foundation. The
foundation has selected the first recipients of the Emily Lee Award,
Distinguished Librarian Award and the Friend of the Library Award.

The award winners are Kherdian, librarian Nancy Elsmo and the Friends
of the Library. Kherdian is receiving the Emily Lee Award. The
Emily Lee Award is given to people with Racine connections who have
distinguished themselves in the world of literature. It is named
after the wife of the first president of the Library Board.

The Award recognizes Kherdian's distinguished career as a poet,
novelist, children's author and biographer.

"Receiving the Emily Lee Award, it's just incredible," Kherdian
said. "When you reach your own peers, then you know you've succeeded
if they like it. It's the hometown thing. My best work is about this
place. I've got a lot of awards, but this one is really special."

If you Go

What: A book-signing and reception with David Kherdian

When: Today, 4-6 p.m.

Where: The Racine Public Library, 75 Seventh St.

Admission: Free and the event is open to the public.

FYI: Kherdian will read excerpts from his new book, "Forgotten Bread,"
and will be

available to sign books and meet with the public. Books will be
available for purchase at the event.

The public also is invited to the Racine Public Library Foundation
awards luncheon from 1-3 p.m. Sunday at the Racine Marriott, 7111
Washington Ave.

Tickets for the luncheon are $35 and may be purchased at the
library. For more information, contact the library at (262) 636-9170.

[TomServo]

Re: Cultural Horizons of Armenians

A familiar strangeness. An Armenian life in Germany

By Sylvia Bourdjian - Matta

Azad-Hye Special

The film "Meine Mutter, mein Bruder und Ich!" (My mother, my brother and I!) tells the story of a different family in Germany. It deals, without unnecessary exaggerations, with the critical subjects that affect the everyday life of people living in new societies, such as issues related to the national origin and identity.

The film is coated with a mild comedy and is enriched with detailed observations about the power of dream and the sweetness of wishes. It tells the story of 23 years old Areg (23), originally from Armenia, but lives in the past 10 years with his widowed mother Maria and younger brother Garnik in the German city Regensburg.

Areg has adopted Germany as his new home country; he speaks fluent German, identifies himself as German and has embraced big dreams; he moves to Munich to study movie making. His mother Maria (Lida Zakaryan) has a totally different perspective; she speaks only Armenian, tries always to marry Areg with an Armenian girl and wishes simply to return back home (Armenia). Although diabetic, she does not refrain from cooking traditional Armenian food, known to be fat rich.

The younger brother Garnik (10) still feels himself attached to Armenia. An Armenian clergyman once told him about a big amount of money hidden somewhere in his mother’s village and Garnik is determined to go and find the money. He is convinced that believing in a dream makes it eventually come true.

At a certain point in the movie, the doctors inform Areg that his mother’s illness is in advanced stage. As expected, he moves back to live with his mother and brother in Regensburg, leaving behind in Munich his girlfriend Lilly (Mira Bartuschek). Gradually he realizes that he can’t avoid his origins and little by little he comes closer to his roots.

The Director Nuran David Calis (born in Bielefeld to an Armenian-xxx immigrants from Turkey in 1976), presents his own story and experiences throughout the film. He concludes that a person should be aware of his own origins in order to be able to move forward!

The film is a touching one. It combines several important elements that sometimes work in conflicting ways: self-realization and devotion to others, reality and great dreams, early age impatience and old age wisdom, etc.

This "particularly valuable" rated movie runs throughout Germny starting 8 May until 13 June 2008.

http://azad-hye.net/news/viewnews.asp?newsId=876jkd95