tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72780283365860008312024-02-19T01:06:37.596-05:00Born in MidairDouglas Kalajian, author of Stories My Father Never Finished Telling Me, shares thoughts about writing and about tumbling through life with the unbearable weight of Armenian history. Douglas Kalajianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10481560227408277356noreply@blogger.comBlogger50125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278028336586000831.post-57869379457564196082021-07-31T12:43:00.003-04:002021-08-18T16:25:59.560-04:00I should worry less about what will happen to Armenia. I just wish the people of Armenia had the same choice.My wife says I should stop thinking so much about things I have no control over, such as the fate of Armenia.She repeated this insistently the other day after I mentioned Tatul Hakobyan for what probably seemed like the hundredth time since we heard him speak at St. Sarkis Armenian Church in Charlotte a few weeks ago.Hakobyan is a journalist and author from Armenia whose new book chronicles his Douglas Kalajianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10481560227408277356noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278028336586000831.post-68170339026467777732021-01-19T14:14:00.000-05:002021-01-19T14:14:53.687-05:00The world won't act but Armenia can: Indict anyone who commits crimes against the Armenian peopleAdolf Eichmann's trial may suggest a path to justice More than two months after the ceasefire, families still wait for Azerbaijan to honor its commitment to return Armenian prisoners of war.Meanwhile, reports of Azeri atrocities against Armenian civilians and soldiers have mounted, reminding us that the assault on Artsakh was much more—and
much worse—than a naked land grab.
Douglas Kalajianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10481560227408277356noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278028336586000831.post-44481976877234307662020-11-19T11:13:00.001-05:002020-11-20T00:29:08.987-05:00Armenia has lost, but we must not lose ArmeniaThe siege of Artsakh is over, while the siege of Yerevan proceeds.
Little that has occurred in Armenia during the past
week or so is clear from my distant perch except that the people of
Armenia are shocked and angry, and many feel betrayed by their own government.
Just how angry they are and what the effect will be is hard
to gauge. But calls for the prime minister’s resignation—possibly Douglas Kalajianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10481560227408277356noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278028336586000831.post-38395173411573962552020-10-27T09:00:00.000-04:002020-10-27T09:00:06.961-04:00The assault on Artsakh is an assault on all Armenians Note: A version of this post appeared on TheArmenianKitchen.comMost Americans are probably only vaguely aware of the war in Artsakh, a region usually referred to by the old Soviet name Nagorno-Karabakh. That may be oddly appropriate, as the war itself is a tragic Soviet legacy. The small and historically Armenian region was severed from Armenia in the early 1920s by Stalin and Douglas Kalajianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10481560227408277356noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278028336586000831.post-26565657317454407872017-01-17T17:09:00.001-05:002020-09-11T09:04:22.167-04:00My daughter got married last year. And the year before—and once again in between. Lucky for her husband, she chose him every time.
I’ve been too busy with weddings to
write anything for months. Believe me, it is a lot of work being father of the
bride, and it does not get easier the third time.
Here’s the amusing side of all these
weddings: We have only one daughter, Mandy, and she’s had only one husband,
Ron.
They apparently just like getting
married to each other.
The first ceremony took us by
surprise, although Douglas Kalajianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10481560227408277356noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278028336586000831.post-53651837119597484572016-06-14T13:55:00.000-04:002016-06-14T14:45:30.530-04:00Do you ever feel Uprooted? Armenians around the world know what it's like, and we're still learning to deal with the consequences
Hagop Goudsouzian’s first trip to
Armenia was clearly a homecoming, even though he had never been there before.
His great-grandparents fled the smothering
Ottoman realm in the 19th century and the family settled in Egypt,
where Goudsouzian was born. He was living in Canada, focused on his budding
career as a filmmaker, when he became riveted by the turbulent events that led
to Armenia’s Douglas Kalajianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10481560227408277356noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278028336586000831.post-54247849231053438152016-04-24T01:00:00.000-04:002016-04-24T01:00:05.112-04:00The saddest day of the year for Armenians feels even sadder this year than it did last year
My wife and I flew to Armenia last year to participate in the 100-year commemoration of the Genocide, including the canonization of our 1.5 million martyrs.
It was an unexpectedly uplifting experience.
Of course the sadness was always present, as it is every day for Armenians everywhere in this world. But the sodden heaviness of April 24 became nearly unbearable as I stepped slowlyDouglas Kalajianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10481560227408277356noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278028336586000831.post-1131733367935685902016-04-01T12:42:00.000-04:002016-04-01T15:34:01.872-04:00Ben Bagdikian viewed life as an Armenian, and that helped him see more than others
As a journalist, I long admired Ben Bagdikian but thought
the lessons of his remarkable career had nothing to do with our shared Armenian
heritage.
I
was wrong.
Soon
after his death on March 11 at age 96, I began reading Bagdikian’s memoir Double Vision in which he recounts his early life as a Genocide
survivor and his later accomplishments as one of this nation’s strongest proponents
Douglas Kalajianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10481560227408277356noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278028336586000831.post-1031024833231112552016-03-08T10:18:00.000-05:002016-03-08T21:21:47.801-05:00Turkey hopes the world won't notice it is spinning out of control, but Armenians everywhere must pay attention.
“Turkey is galloping towards an
authoritarian regime full speed ahead.”
How many Armenians in America understand the danger of
Turkey’s deteriorating internal situation coupled with its apparent willingness
to risk a confrontation with Russia?
Flanked by hostile regimes in Turkey and Azerbaijan, the
Republic of Armenia is facing mounting concerns and outright threats.
Douglas Kalajianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10481560227408277356noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278028336586000831.post-54551846321608185082016-02-09T16:22:00.000-05:002016-02-10T14:15:16.911-05:00It's hard to be sure, but I'll make my best guess about whether a candidate will help or hurt the Armenians—and I won't apologize for that
I used to
think presidential candidates should be judged by how well they would guard
America’s interests, period.
It annoyed
me to hear anyone suggest a candidate was unacceptable because he wasn’t
sufficiently committed to liberating Cuba or to defending Israel—or even to
standing up for the perpetually beleaguered Armenians.
For most of
my life, Armenia was jammed tightly in the maw Douglas Kalajianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10481560227408277356noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278028336586000831.post-11565270375290787942016-01-06T04:01:00.000-05:002016-01-06T08:05:05.580-05:00Merry Christmas to everyone. This really isn't late—at least, not if you're an Armenian.
Happy New Year, and Merry Christmas. No, I didn’t get that
backward as so many people around the world do.
For Armenians, New Year comes first and it comes with all
the goodies: food, songs, laughter. It’s also the time when our version of
Santa, Gaghant Baba, brings gifts for
the kids.
Traditions vary by region, but all Armenians greet the coming year
with hope and good cheer just like Douglas Kalajianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10481560227408277356noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278028336586000831.post-88182828047050135992015-12-15T13:53:00.000-05:002015-12-15T15:04:42.396-05:00I love a good newspaper movie, especially when Armenians are the heroes. It's just too bad one of them didn't get the Spotlight he deserves.
I’m always on the lookout for Armenian names. It’s a common
trait inherited from a generation of traumatized immigrants eager to know that
others had survived to carry the line forward.
Kurkjian
My wife and I both get a buzz when an Armenian pops up in
movie credits or on TV or in a news story.
Even bad news is big news if an “ian” is involved. As a journalist, I always
took special Douglas Kalajianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10481560227408277356noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278028336586000831.post-75149370957242694082015-11-12T09:25:00.000-05:002015-11-12T09:31:38.584-05:00Thanks to Joe Zeytoonian for showing me a new way to tell the Armenian story
My father bought an old upright
piano when I was five or six years old. He couldn’t play and never tried to
learn, but he encouraged me to try.
To his delight and mine, it
didn’t take long before I could hunt and peck my way through my favorite nursery-rhyme
tunes. By Christmas, I had Jingle Bells pretty much nailed, although some of
the jingle got a bit jangled.
Joe Zeytoonian and MyriamDouglas Kalajianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10481560227408277356noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278028336586000831.post-76868468677660640222015-09-28T15:28:00.000-04:002015-09-28T16:27:43.350-04:00Telling the truth about The Armenian Genocide is the best way to serve America's interests
In the hundred years that Armenians have mourned the
Genocide’s martyrs and marched for justice, Turkey has exerted extraordinary
effort to fabricate an alternate reality.
In the hallucinatory history taught in Turkish schools and
peddled to the world by Turkey’s academic toadies, the Ottoman government
evacuated Armenians from the path of war in 1915 for their own safety.
The resulting Douglas Kalajianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10481560227408277356noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278028336586000831.post-75318446340011542102015-09-02T13:42:00.000-04:002015-09-02T13:42:07.524-04:00Armenians continue to suffer for their faith, but the truth behind the Genocide is complex.
This year’s centennial has inspired a great deal of discussion
about the Armenian Genocide, all of it valuable.
Every memoir and every academic treatise adds important
evidence and deepens our understanding of events that continue to affect succeeding
generations.
His Holiness Aram I of Cilicia
Yet our understanding will always be imperfect because
genocide is beyond the comprehension Douglas Kalajianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10481560227408277356noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278028336586000831.post-23451902049329083742015-08-15T10:11:00.000-04:002015-08-15T10:11:35.909-04:00Antonina Mahari's example of courage and hope through years of Soviet torment makes me feel very lucky but also a bit ashamed
We’ve all seen James Bond films,
so we’re familiar with the character of the evil genius who threatens the
world.
I doubt such villains really
exist. The great threat to life and liberty is more likely an idiot who has acquired
the trappings of authority: a title, a uniform or, God forbid, a gun.
I was reminded of this as I read
My Odyssey by Antonina Mahari. It is
a pain-filled account of Douglas Kalajianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10481560227408277356noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278028336586000831.post-84030778886898471202015-08-04T16:11:00.000-04:002015-08-04T16:11:17.576-04:00Shish kebab may not sound Armenian but it makes me happy -- and that's what counts.
Do you own the food you eat?
I’m not asking to see the receipt for the Big Mac and fries
you wolfed down at lunch. I’m talking about ownership in the broad, cultural
sense. I’ve heard the question asked a number of ways—occasionally profanely—since
my wife and I created TheArmenianKitchen.com seven years ago.
Our goal was simple: to preserve the recipes we treasured
while touting the Douglas Kalajianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10481560227408277356noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278028336586000831.post-19290876168384311262015-07-13T15:12:00.000-04:002015-07-13T15:12:15.635-04:00Armenians in America know the power of a flag to unite a people, or shatter a community
How can so much emotion be stirred by the Confederate battle
flag some 150 years after the Civil War’s final fusilade?
I have my thoughts as an American, and as a Yankee. But while
reading the current spate of news stories, I also found myself thinking as an
Armenian about the unique and extraordinary power of emblems that some hold dear and others fear.
I grew up with reverence for Douglas Kalajianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10481560227408277356noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278028336586000831.post-52398517986336152402015-06-25T10:35:00.000-04:002015-06-26T13:09:53.356-04:00Operation Nemesis brought justice to the Armenian people. We should all be proud.One day when I was about 10
years old, my father introduced me to Arshavir Shiragian. I remember this
encounter in the hall of our church in New Jersey very clearly because Dad
insisted I shake his hand.
“You just shook the hand that
killed the Turks,” he said.
I found out what he meant when I
read Shiragian’s memoir The Legacy a few years later. He was one of the volunteers
who tracked downDouglas Kalajianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10481560227408277356noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278028336586000831.post-14217427053047006462015-05-30T00:47:00.000-04:002015-06-12T14:58:18.357-04:00At Armenia's Genocide memorial, the nation's glory and tragedy are fused in a single vision
Robyn and I arrived in Yerevan about 1:30
a.m. Wednesday April 22, hoping for relief from the damp cold of London and
Paris.
I’d
started sniffling the week before, and now I was sneezing. I needed sunshine and rest so I could work up enough strength to dislodge the cold
that was clearly finding the space between my ears a bit too cozy.
My
sub-tropical fantasies ended with the Douglas Kalajianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10481560227408277356noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278028336586000831.post-55174103549415673442015-05-20T19:47:00.000-04:002015-05-21T07:40:59.227-04:00Armenian writers have a lot to show for their dedication to telling the Armenian storyI set off for the London Book Fair last month with only a shadowy idea of what to expect.
I knew mostly that books by Armenian authors from various countries would be showcased at an exhibit called The Armenian Pavilion, and I’d have a chance to brag a bit about my fellow American-Armenian writers while showing off my own memoir.
The experience turned out to be far more enjoyable and Douglas Kalajianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10481560227408277356noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278028336586000831.post-43904870222938727852015-05-06T15:58:00.003-04:002015-05-06T17:00:34.575-04:00As young men, we dreamed of going to Armenia. We finally made it, just a few years later than we'd planned. “I knew we’d get to Armenia together.
But I didn’t think we’d be old men when we got here. How did this happen?”
– Aram Aslanian in Yerevan, April 22,
2015.
There was no magic moment, at least that I recall, but Aram and I must
have been nine or 10 years old when we first started talking about going to
Armenia together.
We grew up in suburban New Jersey, but Armenia was Douglas Kalajianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10481560227408277356noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278028336586000831.post-12894538573672637252015-04-25T20:28:00.000-04:002015-04-26T07:30:00.252-04:00Filling in for Doug Kalajian, this is his daughter Mandy...
My father is currently in Yerevan, Armenia so I am guest blogging
to share a segment he was the subject of on Huffington Post Live's World Brief.
It aired, live, Friday, April 24th, 2015 – the centennial of the Armenian Genocide.
In the roughly nine minute segment – featuring archival
family photos, historic genocide photos, and video from this week's historic events in
Armenia – my dad is Douglas Kalajianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10481560227408277356noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278028336586000831.post-4873454481958468402015-04-06T17:26:00.001-04:002015-04-06T17:26:41.712-04:00Iris Chekenian's remarkable achievement: Restoring her father's voice for a new generation of readers as well as for herself
I first read the book My Name Is Aram when I was a
boy. After I finished, I told my father I wanted to be just like William Saroyan–the best Armenian writer in America.
“The best Armenian writer in America is Aram
Haigaz,” he said.
When
I asked him to explain, my father pointed to his shelves of impenetrable Armenian
books.
“When
you learn to read Armenian, you’ll understand.”
I
Douglas Kalajianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10481560227408277356noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7278028336586000831.post-57314034536076344012015-04-01T15:11:00.000-04:002015-04-01T23:40:01.525-04:00The short but powerful film Straw Dolls is set for a most appropriate premiere date: April 24
I wrote an item last July about
director Jon Milano’s ambitious plan to make a film called Straw Dolls based on
the memories of an Armenian Genocide survivor.
Milano’s task seemed
daunting. Then a graduate student at Chapman University, he proposed to raise enough
money through a crowd-source website to produce a short film showcasing the
story in a way that would garner support for a Douglas Kalajianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10481560227408277356noreply@blogger.com0