I'm getting ready to go to Camp Haiastan tonight for the AYF Junior Athletic Games (junior version of Senior Olympics). Kids from all over the east coast will be arriving for them. We usually get about 100+ kids showing up to compete. I feel strange saying it, but I actually enjoy this stuff the most. A few weeks ago I went to a junior meeting (juniors are ages 10-16) and I took some of the 16 year olds to Applebees afterwords because they wanted me to hang out. Though I'm a 25 year old, it was a Friday night and the expected thing for someone like me is to go out to a club or bar, this seemed much more fun. The kids had good heads on their shoulders, showed more interest in my experiences in Armenia and had better ideas of how to change Armenia than my own peers. The entire dinner we discussed political issues, including international, and they had some good things to say. Whereas my experiences with my peers usually involve lots of intoxication, talking trash about others and b**ching and moaning about their lives and other peoples apathy in the Armenian cause. I love them to death, but that's what they do. And I do too because often the fact of the matter is that apathy is a huge problem. But it can be so refreshing to hear up and coming kids who have a fresh perspective and aren't tarnished by "family fueds," see the big picture and have passion and ambition. Sometimes that's what it takes to bury our history of quarrels. Granted, this is an event that also seems repetative, but only to me who has been going for 15 years. Oh, I feel so old. But to the 10-16 year olds, I like to believe that they anticipate these weekends.

Regarding dances, Raffi, you have just made a new friend. I don't want to put an end to them, but when we have dances purely for the sake of fundraising, I question what we are fundraising for in the first place, to raise money for another dance? Not to babble on with this topic again, but the point is to evaluate the direction these communities are taking. I see the Armenian community as a whole isolating itself and creating its own ghetto, rarely every seeing or being seen by the people that actually surround us, and this is to touch on Raffi's point. I remember when I was working in Boston over a year ago, I was also dancing with the Sayat Nova Dance Company. We had a few performances and I invited people in my office to attend. Two of them did and were stunned to see such a beautiful cultural event. I think the possibilities are there, but we miss them because we've gotten used to the norm. It's not easy, but nothing ever is for us now is it?