BREAKING DAWN

Shnor-ha-vor (soorp) za-deeg Happy Easter!

Easter Sunday was a big deal in our Armenian church when I was growing up. Of course, it was the fifties and sixties, so standards and expectations were quite different then. In many ways, that’s a loss for kids of today.

Weeks before Easter, preparations were made, both at the church and in the homes of members.

Solicitations appeared in the church…

Armenia – Small Country, Huge History

Ancient Armenia:

(Ancient Armenia)                                                                  (Armenia today)

Armenia’s conversion to Christianity between 3010314 AD made it the first state in the world to adopt Christianity as its official religion, predating Ethiopia (330 AD) and Rome (380 AD). Religion was a key component in the conscious effort to establish a distinct identity in the…

I’ve often listened to music as I worked on writing endeavors. Now, as I pursue the preliminary efforts toward envisioning what form the book will take, my music of choice is Armenian folk and dance.

I’ve delighted in revisiting the food of my young and Armenian church-going days, tweaking recipes from my old Rose Baboian Armenian Cookbook until my palate recognizes just the right combination of flavors from those days.

My first culinary adventure was Lahmajoun. My mother used to describe it to non-Armenians as an Armenian pizza. A mixture of ground lamb, green and red peppers, tomatoes and a long list of seasonings spread thinly on a thin base of bread dough create a one-of-a-kind experience for your palate. Even if you think you don’t like lamb, you should try this!

We never made it at home, but I knew exactly when I hit on my aunt’s cheoreg creation, a yeast roll that is slightly sweet and made unique with a near east seasoning called mahlab. The version in this picture are simple round shapes. But you might also see them rolled into pencil-size ropes that are braided together and/or curled into a pretzel look-alike.

Next up was the Armenian Sugar Cookie (left) and Easter Gurabia (right), both sinful sugar cookies that melt in your mouth for an orally orgasmic experience. These are dangerous if you don’t want to replace your jeans with a larger size!

Armenian Sugar Cookie

Gurabia

Sarma and Dolma were on last week’s menu. Sarma is cabbage stuffed with a meat (lamb is best, but others can be used) and rice mixture. When you use the mixture to stuff peppers and other vegetables, it’s called Dolma.

And yesterday I had a delightful experience making Yalanchi with a group of women at St. Peter’s Armenian Church in Watervliet, NY. I joined them for 3 hours during which we made in excess of 1100 stuffed grape leaves! This photo isn’t from that batch, but looks the same, although not piled as high as our group creation! These may look familiar, as they are found on some salad bars and are a culinary concept shared with the Greeks.

  I’ve lost a lot of years of connection with fellow Armenians. But the renewal has been most enjoyable – AND inspiring. Each new experience and person I encounter brings me closer to my original goal: to write about Armenian Americans. But a pleasant bonus has been my enjoyment of reconnecting with my heritage and the welcoming warmth of my widening circle of Armenian friends.

If I’ve learned nothing else since embarking on learning more about my Armenian heritage, it is that Armenian women are incredibly strong.

During the marches of the genocide from roughly 2015 to 2018, the trek through the deserts and mountains were made predominantly by women and children. Countless died along the way. Most were raped. Beaten. Starved. Parched. Watching others shot when they…

I am Armenian! I am American!

[Scenes From the Armenian genocide (shaded due to graphic nature): Left-bodies prior to burning; Top right-public hangings; Bottom right-refugees boarding lifeboats at Smyrna]

An internet video search of the Armenian genocide returned literally hundreds of videos! And yet so many people don’t even know of its existence.

At least part of the reason for this is that, unlike the Jewish Holocaust, the United States has never officially recognized the murder of 1.5 million Armenians by the Turks of the Ottoman Empire. Why? Despite books and movies depicting it (The Promise was the most recent), and the words on paper and in video of survivors and their loved ones, and actual photos of the horrors, Turkey has denied it ever occurred, claiming it was an isolated occurrence of abuses committed by some officials. Photos, eyewitnesses and survivors prove otherwise. But Turkey, dishonorable as it is even in today’s world, is a member of NATO and officially an ally (though a shaky one) of the United States. The tentacles of politics strangle acknowledgement of a horror unmatched in modern history until the Nazis.

Did you know that Armenians honored the 100th anniversary of the genocide in 2015? I’m an Armenian, and I missed it. The hatred and intermittent killing of Armenians by the Turks had a long history prior to 1915 and began ramping up systematically around 1895. Lands were confiscated. Threats were common, and all too often were carried out. People disappeared. My own ancestors saw what might be coming and like many other Armenians, began immigrating to America, often via Syria or France, in the late 1800s.

In the early years of the first decade of the 20th century, a change of Turkish leadership provided Armenians with what turned out to be a false sense of security. As was also the case with the Jews, the relative prosperity of the Armenians provoked the envy of their neighbors. The fact that they were of a different religion (Turks were Moslems, Armenians were the first Christians) fanned flames and made Armenians objects of suspicion and resentment. The outbreak of World War I turned these elements into an explosive mixture of hate and fear. Armenians were presented by official propaganda as agents of the Russians and were somehow blamed for Turkey’s military setbacks. The Young Turks portrayed the Armenians as a threat to the state.

April 24, 2015 marks the fatal date when several hundred Armenian intellectuals were rounded up, arrested and later executed. This was the start of the “official” Armenian genocide, a bloody massacre that lasted until 1917.

In addition to 1915-1917, the massacres occurred in 1894-1896, 1909, and repeated again between 1920 and 1923. The scope and ruthlessness of these dates, though, do not compare with the mass slaughter of 1915-1917, which is correctly described as genocide. In his book, “A Peace to End All Peace,” David Fromkin described the terrible fate of the expelled Armenians: “Rape and beating were commonplace. Those who were not killed at once were driven through mountains and deserts without food, drink or shelter.”

What impresses me most as I learn more about the survivors of the genocide was their strength and resilience. Refusing to dwell on the horrors and losses, American Armenians embraced their new country and the opportunities provided here. The final scene in the movie, The Promise, reflects this – watch it, if you haven’t already! The children and grandchildren I’ve interviewed show similar strength, manifested in in their ability to adapt to changing lives, but also in a streak of stubborn independence that is reflected in many life choices, including sometimes a resistance to compromise.

More about this as my journey continues!

My regards to all!

HAR-KANK-NE’-RUS PO-LO-REEN!

I’m sitting here at my computer, immersing myself in my Armenian story with the accompaniment of Armenian music. The music has triggered memories of long-ago experiences: background music at some unidentified event with my cousins near Boston; a wedding where a belly dancer gyrated to the music to entertain the guests, eliciting positive and negative oohs and aahs. “Look at her amazing moves!”…

A STORY BEGINS TO EMERGE

According to legend, the Armenians were descended from one of Noah’s sons after the landing of the Ark on Mount Ararat. Some specialists believe that the “Arimoi” mentioned by Homer in the Iliad may have been among the remote forebears of the Armenians.

(Taken from the Introduction to the Second Edition of Reverend Abraham Hartunian’s Neither to Laugh Nor to Weep. The introduction was written by…

THINGS LEARNED ON THE WAY TO A BOOK

My current project began with a plan to write a history of the Armenian Church where I spent much of my childhood and teen years. It’s evolved since its original conception and likely will evolve further as I continue my research. Some of the things I’ve learned have not surprised me—although I hadn’t considered them when starting out. Others have both surprised and dismayed me. But the biggest…

EYES ON THE FUTURE

The good news is I didn’t receive a single rejection for The Eyes Have It during the lead-up to Christmas. I also didn’t receive any offers. Currently my queries are still in the hands of 13 agents and 9 small publishers. As of the second week of January, no correspondence, positive or negative. I did prepare two additional queries for publishers. What will the rest of 2019 bring for Eyes?

For…

LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING: PART THREE

There are so many forms of love!

This series will address romantic love, of which there also are multiple forms. There’s that soul-shocking first love. “You never forget your first love” is a statement made by nearly everyone who has experienced it, even after years—even decades—have passed, whether or not the love was sustained. There’s the memory love—the one for a beloved who has died. It’s a…

LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING – PART ONE

There are so many forms of love!

This series will address romantic love, of which there also are multiple forms. There’s that soul-shocking first love. “You never forget your first love” is a statement made by nearly everyone who has experienced it, even after years—even decades—have passed, whether or not the love was sustained. There’s conflicted love, when obvious feelings conflict with your…

LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING – PART TWO

There are so many forms of love!

This series will address romantic love, of which there also are multiple forms. There’s that soul-shocking first love. “You never forget your first love” is a statement made by nearly everyone who has experienced it, even after years—even decades—have passed, whether or not the love was sustained. There’s conflicted love—love that confuses and confounds you.…

THE EYES HAVE IT

It seems like I’ve been working on this novel forever, but it’s actually been a little over a year. My happy news is the manuscript is completed and in the hands of the editor I use to help polish my work. He’s brutally honest, so I suspect I’ll have some work to do when I get it back. But I’m all about aspiring to making my novels the best they can be. Here’s a short summary:

The Eyes Have It is…

I recently subscribed to David Farland’s communications, and this one jumped out at me. Most of us talk about goal setting, but how many of us follow through? Read what Mr. Farland has to say about goals:

https://mailchi.mp/xmission/david-farlands-writing-tips-time-to-get-serious?e=d6bb19ca2f

How Many Story Types Are There?

Interesting perspective on what makes for a story type and what that means:

https://www.janefriedman.com/there-are-only-2-types-of-stories/

How did it happen? How is it that I’ve written only about 8000 words since November 2017?

First, my litany of excuses–some valid, some unworthy.

December was, well, the holiday season! At first, I kept saying, “tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow…” (who can guess the source of that quote?). When Christmas came and went with nary a word put to paper (or computer), I simply shrugged. Everyone…

Is Human Kindness Lost?

If it is, we must find it again. Today I’m sharing a moving post from a blog called “A Bit of a Geeky Mom. It seems like people (mostly young, but all ages) communicate increasingly with their hand-held machines and are losing their ability to connect personally with others. This affects personal relationships, obviously, but also relationships in a work setting.

Read this, and then reach each…