System of a Down has been running non stop in this office today. Perhaps its the extra edge we need to run through the day... that and the big cups of coffee. We were here until midnight last night in preparations for demonstration and flyer distribution today. I arrived bright and early at 7am and there are already people on the streets passing out flyers at Capitol Hill focusing on the Resolution.

I usually take April 24th as a day to commemorate and remember the loss of so many Armenian lives. This year, I also want to help everyone else remember!

80 years from Lausanne Treaty...

...Easter is gone for the post-pagan people and autumn is back in Buenos Aires.
24th April...1915...
What can I say?
Time is passing and we are just waiting...We are claiming the restoration before claiming the recognition! Some Armenians are obsessed with the Armenian historic lands. To be honest, I love the Armenian historical places and monuments but I can't claim the second level of a crime before claiming the first.
Anyway, here we are doing the same old fashioned acts. (A band playing in the Armenian Center, and that's it!) But there is a reason why. 27th April all Argentinean citizens will be electing a new president for the country. So citizenship must be quiet, not riots in the streets, etc...
Ararat will arrive for rich people the 24th, (it's an avant premier for the ones who have money, an expensive ticket) and for the mass 28th May! So...ill wait some more...
Let me think about other news....OH! after two years I finished my first Armenian Punk Rock Album, hahaha, yes...now we are trying to edit it in Europe, we will see. Now the band is called Hashish (not for the drug but for the medieval sect, the Assassins).
80 years ago, the main powerful countries allowed a genocide when they signed with Mustapha Kemal and Ismet Pasha the Treaty of Lausanne. New Oil Contracts would be signed during those times..like today, changing iraqi lives for some litres of oil.
And I have a present for Hispano-parlantes, armenians that speak spanish, the new page about the armenian genocide called GenocidioArmenio.org
. It is the first portal about the armenian genocide with full data in spanish, to students and investigators.
Ok, just want to say I am happy about this log
VIVA LA DIASPORA ARMENIA!!!

I just thought this was quite remarkable. The latest is that there will be a press conference at noon in LA on these protesters. They are in their 6th day. This article appeared on latimes.com.



ARMENIANS FAST FOR RECOGNITION

Hunger strikers demand Museum of Tolerance fulfill its promise to put up a standing exhibit recognizing the Armenian Genocide.
By Ryan Carter
Glendale News-Press

April 19, 2003

LOS ANGELES -- A man who said he was the owner of a Numero Uno pizza restaurant drove up to nine members Friday of the Armenian Youth Federation and gave them
four pizzas for free.

But the group couldn't eat them. For three days they've been on a hunger strike, drinking only water and sleeping in sleeping bags in front of the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Museum of Tolerance. With bulging eyes, they ended up giving the pizza to nearby security guards and went on with their fasting.

What they want is a permanent exhibition at the museum displaying the history of the Armenian Genocide, the 1915 killing of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman-Turkish Empire. A display recognizing the first genocide of the 20th century was promised by museum officials a decade ago, strike organizers said, and still permanent recognition exists.

Four days after Shant Baboujian and eight others began their hunger strike in front of the Museum of Tolerance at 9786 W. Pico Blvd., they continued to make their point.

"It's just kind of sad that the Museum of Tolerance, which stands for human rights and human justice, that it's doing the exact opposite," Baboujian, 23, said. Baboujian is a member of the federation, which has a chapter in Glendale. "It's sad we have to resort to a hunger strike for them to hear us out."

As it stands, nobody is hearing them at the museum. It's been closed since Wednesday and won't reopen until Sunday. But as they display Glendale artist Zareh Megerditchian's "Turkish Soup Made With Armenian Bones," a work featuring a bloodied plastic skeleton folded into a pool of fake blood in a bucket, they feel their point is getting across.

Passersby are honking. And each day, more supporters join their nightly vigils and discussion forums, Baboujian said.

Museum officials couldn't be reached for comment Friday.

The strikers said they are prepared to wait it out and have drafted a letter for the museum's director. They also have gathered 300 signatures in support of the effort.

"We're getting by," said Vache Thomassian, 18. "I think everybody's getting their third or fourth wind now. This is very important because the museum's objective is to educate people and make them understand all crimes against humanity to prevent them from happening again."

Thomassian said the first 48 hours were filled with hunger among the group, but the group was psychologically ready for the ordeal, he said.

"After about the first 48 hours, the hunger subsides," he said. "It's mostly mental after that."

Raffi M.. I read ur line about the wrath, and I thought I'd log before it makes its way to me.. hehehe :) Like Arsineh said, the April 24th events are overwhelming here. Although some efforts have been made to unite some of the major events this year, I don't know how successful that's going to be, since there are a million different events (perhaps it is some sort of symbolism?). I'll be taking my kids to several of the events this week.... starting on Monday and ending on Sunday. Tomorrow we'll be attending an assembly organized by the Glendale School Board, for all the public schools. Actually the event is organized by all the Armenian Clubs at the different schools in the district, and we will be taking our AYF kids too... since they are students of the district. Wednesday night we will be going to a Rally organized by the ARF Shant Student Association, and of course Thursday we are taking 2 bus loads of kids and parents to various marches, ending with the protest in front of the Turkish Consulate. Friday we're going to have singing practice, and on Sunday my kids will perform 2 songs at a commemorative evening in our own community at the Sisters' Academy.

That pretty much raps up my week... In the mean time, I have been working on a couple of different projects. Last year and this year, as advisors for our youth group, we made up form letters for each child who attends a public school so that the parents can send that letter to the office of their school, explaining why their child is not in school on April 24th. (This is where being familiar with Word-Excel comes in VERY handy and saves us lots of time)... so Arsineh you're definitely right about Hye Tad and technology! Now, each principal will receive several letters from students telling them about the Genocide and the importance of remembering.

While some people in the community are busy thinking of new ways to further our cause, and most importantly introduce our story to others.. there are others whose only purpose in life is.... well... "TSEV" (and I don't quite know how to that would translate to English). You will see what I mean if you attend some of these events I spoke about or listed at Genocide Events. Just the other day, a young 19 year old was boasting about how he had to pre-order an enormous Armenian flag months before April, so that on April 24th he can drive around with the flag taped onto his car. And I smiled (sarcastically) and asked him, "Why?"....he shrugged. I didn't have the energy. I thought maybe a few years down the line, he'll think back and realize how there was no point to what he and his friends did.

Anyways, other than that... I'm going to be 23 on Tuesday... and I can't quite believe that i'm THISSSSS old. I used to look at 23 year olds, and think "wow, that's old". hahaha... funny! I'm just counting down the days till I go to Hayasdan.

TSUH! :)~

I am feeling the wrath of Raffi Kojian as I haven't logged in a while. This weekend was pretty cool as I saw Mr. Kojian and Zabel on Saturday as we went to Shawerma King in Brookine, MA. Ah, I love being at an Arabic restaurant in a Jewish neighborhood. Gotta love the tension...Anyway, it was great to see them and Raffi certainly cannot wait to get back to Hayastan. I'm a little jealous as I sit here and watch "Sling Blade" on Bravo while preparing for another dull work week and finals at school up the road. The good news on the music scene is that Bambir- "Quake" is finally out on Pomegranate. You can get it at www.cdbaby.com/cd/bambir if you dig this kind of music. Armenian acoustic folk rock from Gyumri.

Gor is here in the States giving a few concerts and he will be back in Boston sometime at the end of May. We are all working on the booklet for the next album "Godfather Tom" due out this fall. There are some really nice programs going on this year for April 24th. Check them out if you get a chance... I will be in NYC on Tuesday attending the Recording Academy (Grammy's) membership drive. I am going to sign up this year and be a voting member for the World Music category at the Grammy Awards. Should be fun. I hope to lobby members on behalf of quality Armenian musicians. I am growing tired of seeing Latin music overtake the award category year after year. It would nice to see some diversity. I am convinced that Armenian music (save for duduk music) isn't well known due to a lack of a concentrated lobbying and marketing effort. Let's see if that can be changed...

My plans for Armenia seem to be taking a back seat again as I will have to stick around for another year to finish out my MBA. I've decided to cut back on my school plans ( only one class) this semester in order to concentrate more on the label and my 9 to 5 job. From what I understand, the cost of real estate in Armenia has gone up dramatically according to friends. So, it looks like I missed the real estate boat in Yerevan... I wonder how Vanazor looks these days...

Well, take part in some form of April 24th commemoration and remember that Turkey is never a country that should be trusted. Ask the U.S. ...

Of course, the April 24 events are as overwhelming as ever. I've never consulted on so much flyer making in my life. Here in DC, we are making three kinds of flyers to target three different audiences in the streets of DC. We are also making great use of the "armeniangenocideposters.com" posters by boarding them up and having people walk around with them.

I would actually like to commend the person responsible for that project. It was a fantastic idea, it's well done, and what beautiful and powerful images we now have to post around the world. I'll try to remember to make a submission next year. But I must ask... I tried visiting the site and I could not connect. Anyone?

Otherwise, the new genocide resolution has been introduced and has its number... HR 193. Much to push in the immediate future, but if people want to start faxing their Congressmen, it takes 2 seconds. Go to anca.org and it gives you very easy and simple instructions to send a fax straight from the website. It tells you who your Congressman is by entering your zip, it gives you a sample text that you can change if you like... and all you do is click GO to send a fax. Ah, technology and Hai Tahd meet!

I saw Mount Ararat more than 10 times today. The sky is sooooo clear that you can see it from everywhere. I first noticed it on my way out of my hotel room at Parev Inn. I was locking the door andsipping out of my Maaza Mango juice when I saw her majesty looking straight at me. I was in awe. All I did for the next 5minutes was observe its beauty and power over the landscape. Everything else around me seemed small and worthless. This was the first time I felt Mt Ararad. I had seen it on several occasions, but never like this.
The day went as follows. I met with a friend from Shen NGO, then went to find a laundry-mat to wash my cloths. That was quite the adventure. I then walked past Hrabarag to visit a friend. I stopped at “Le Petit Paris” for some chocolate croissants. Then it was vernissage. It is now 3:30 p.m. I will have dinner at Alina’s, a friend we met at Saghmossavank in 2001 when as volunteers, we prepared for the opening of the Monastery. You know that the LCO reconstructed that vank. After dinner, I will meet some friends at a Jazz bar. It is Jazz month in Yerevan. A friend, Laura, will be singing next weekend, I can’t wait to hear her sing.
Three days ago, I went to see the play, Mea Culpa. It wasn't bad. There were some smart observations and the whole set design was well done. I like the acting as well as the music. What I didn't understand was why the producers had to include some popular kind of humor? This month there are full of cultural events. There are dance shows that I don't want to miss, the first is the Parekamutyun and the other…I forget what it's called. I will let you all know. You know, the weather is really nice now. You can tell that spring has arrived when the trees are budding and when the Yerevani Aghtchigner are wearing their mini skirts. I must say that the girls here are VERY beautiful.
Besides that, I've been waking up very early in the mornings. I get up at 7:00 and am out the door about 8:00-ish. I grab a Cafe au lait to go from Artridge and head out to the Land and Culture office. I do some work and around 10:00 I here the city waking up. By noon the city is full of pedestrians and Ladas. Not only Ladas, there are lots of 4x4s, Mercedes, VWs, Hondas, and more.
The only way life can get any better is when I will be established here with my family by my side. I really miss my kids and especially Lara.

It's been an insane week. Last weekend, I drove to Worcester for an AYF educational weekend (I was on the committee organizing) and slept in a van for one night because there was no room for me in the church hall on the cold hard floor where the kids were sleeping. It was suppose to be at Camp Haiastan, but they couldn't open the camp because of freezing temps. Anyway, long story short, with accidents on the road, last minute relocation, rescheduling, and sleeping arrangements with a seatbelt in my back, it wasn't pretty... and yet the weekend went surprisingly well. There were no serious injuries, no serious acts of defiance or vandalism, and the kids seemed to have learned a thing or two. I even got to see my good ol' friends, Baykar and Narine before I left.

And so I arrived back in Washington... with a cold. Just the worst timing... with the Congressional Observance of the Armenian genocide on Wednesday. With all sorts of physical problems, I ran around last night at the event, probably got everyone sick, and heard the joke about hanging out with Chinese men and getting a disease from them about a million times. But the event was fantastic. I haven't heard the final count of how many Congressmen made remarks or attended, but I know that out of the 4 main photographers, I personally took photos of maybe 30 Congressmen myself. The room was comfortably full and the general vibe was good. The Der Hayr made a beautiful statement in the beginning regarding the war, and the genocide, and asking for peace for all of us. I can't relive it for you... had to be there. The presence of youth was tremendous. More and more young kids are coming out for this event every year, and we had a good group from LA as well. Afterwards, we had a party back at the ANC office... a good 20-30 kids hung out before they were on their ways back to Philly, New Jersey, Worcester, Boston, Providence, New York, Richmond, etc... the LA kids are still here or flew out this morning.

Today, a new resolution is suppose to be introduced on the House floor commemorating many genocides, including the Armenian, Cambodian, Jewish, Rawandan, etc. genocides. For once, the entire Armenian community is united behind this resolution. All Armenian organizations are together on this. It's a good day to be Armenian!

Daylight Savings: I have two words for you.... BARAB PAN! Geeez.... I got up especially early this morning (or so I thought) and I believed I had ample time to get ready and be where I had to be by 10am. Absolutely not! Luckily my dad asked me to turn my computer on for him so he can look at some stuff, and when I did, that little popup thing came up and told me the time was 9:12am! I said.. WHAAAAAAT! Of course this wasn't enough, it wasn't until AFTER I sat in my car did I realize that I had a flat tire. Umm.. why? As you can see, my day did not begin well... But surely I made a joke out of it and went on....

I just wanted to ask Raffi N. before I forgot, if this guy named Armen still worked at Hin Erevan saying poems and stuff. I thought that was pretty cool. So I guess a tourist who went to Armenia in the past 2 yrs or so, visited Hin Erevan and opened up a similar place in Glendale. It's called "Hatsatun" and it's on Pacific Ave. I haven't been there yet, but I heard the prices are quite fair the food and ambiance is great! I hope one day it can be as big as the Hin Erevan in Armenia... and not just filled with Armenian customers.

After this week I'll be on spring break. Not that it makes a huge difference since I only have 2 classes anyway, but I think it's just the idea that after spring break, we will only have about 3 more weeks. I've been thinking about some options of what I want to do, as in for a future. I bought a GRE book, and began reading through it. Let's see how far I go with that....

April 24th craze is beginning once again. Genocide Events My friend made that site... check it out!

More to come...

TSUH! :)~

Yesterday was an amazing day for me in Yerevan. My day started at 6 am. I went to the LCO office to do some work. I met with the person I will be working with. Then A friend from France passed by the office. He is a 70 year old active man who was at the LCO campaign in 2001. Then I was invited to take part in Makour Yerevan. This is a local initiative to clean up the city and then help with the reforestation of the city with other organizations like the Armenia Tree Project and the Tufenkian Foundation. I spent the day with about 400 Yerevantsis who were not bitching and complaining about how their country was a bad place or how dirty it was and so on. They had actually taken some time to do something positive to improve their community. It was a great feeling to be part of this event. Then I took a taxi. The driver started asking me where I was from and what the H- - - was I doing in this God forsaken country that is dirty and where politicians lie and bla bla bla. I had decided to ignore him. After 10 minutes though I couldn’t resist but telling him “de kna Russastan!” he seemed offended by my comment but then continued for a few more minutes until I told him that I have changed my mind to where I was going and for him to drop me off at the next corner. So, as you see, there are more people doing something good for their community then those by standards who wait for something good to happen to them.
After that, I had diner with an ex-pat friend and his brother from Syria. They are students here. The day ended with a rock concert. The guy in the band, Sevag, is an LCO member from Iran. He and his sister have decided to study in Armenia. They live here with their Mother.
I am writing this from a Sam’s house. A ex-pat from Beirut. We are preparing to go to the NEW “Hin Yerevan” restaurant. I had been to the old building and was very impressed. I will let you know if they will impress me as well. Other ex-pats will join us like Stepan from Cyprus, Sevag from Lebanon and maybe Alex from the USA. Talk about a cosmopolitan city.

Yesterday was an amazing day for me in Yerevan. My day started at 6 am. I went to the LCO office to do some work. I met with the person I will be working with. Then A friend from France passed by the office. He is a 70 year old active man who was at the LCO campaign in 2001. Then I was invited to take part in Makour Yerevan. This is a local initiative to clean up the city and then help with the reforestation of the city with other organizations like the Armenia Tree Project and the Tufenkian Foundation. I spent the day with about 400 Yerevantsis who were not bitching and complaining about how their country was a bad place or how dirty it was and so on. They had actually taken some time to do something positive to improve their community. It was a great feeling to be part of this event. Then I took a taxi. The driver started asking me where I was from and what the H- - - was I doing in this God forsaken country that is dirty and where politicians lie and bla bla bla. I had decided to ignore him. After 10 minutes though I couldn’t resist but telling him “de kna Russastan!” he seemed offended by my comment but then continued for a few more minutes until I told him that I have changed my mind to where I was going and for him to drop me off at the next corner. So, as you see, there are more people doing something good for their community then those by standards who wait for something good to happen to them.
After that, I had diner with an ex-pat friend and his brother from Syria. They are students here. The day ended with a rock concert. The guy in the band, Sevag, is an LCO member from Iran. He and his sister have decided to study in Armenia. They live here with their Mother.
I am writing this from a Sam’s house. A ex-pat from Beirut. We are preparing to go to the NEW “Hin Yerevan” restaurant. I had been to the old building and was very impressed. I will let you know if they will impress me as well. Other ex-pats will join us like Stepan from Cyprus, Sevag from Lebanon and maybe Alex from the USA. Talk about a cosmopolitan city.

Vontsek?
I am in the land of Khorovadz … Ayo Ayo, I am in Armenia.

I arrived yesterday. I travelled through Austria again. It was more plain the second time around. However, I was lucky this time to have met 4 doctors who were going to a conference in Karabagh who entertained me. Two of them were from Boston, and the other 2 from Toronto. They were very funny. They would talk loud in the plane and laugh even louder. Once in Austria, we all decided to take a one hour bus tour to discover the city. It was hilarious since we all slept most of the way with our headphones on. The bus driver had to wake us up. It is called Jet lag. We then found a cool lounge and like true Armenians, we had a few drinks then went back to our hotel. The Austrian Airlines had given us complementary rooms since we had over 13 hours of lay-over. Not bad!
Armenia is changing FAST! For someone living here or those who have never visited, they will not see or understand the pace of development. Here are some of my observations. As we were flying over Yerevan at 5:30 AM, I noticed the amount of lights in the city. In 1999, there were only a few flickers of light detectable by air. This must mean that 1) there is electricity all day, 2) people can actually afford to leave the light on at night and 3) the city is still alive even at night. Another such improvement was at the airport. It took the guards less then 20 minutes to get all the passengers across. This process would take over an hour in the past. There was also a scanning machine at the exit point. The guards would ask some of the passengers to put their suitcases I through the machine. I was one of the lucky ones since I had 3 large pieces and 2 small ones. They asked me what is this and that, when I told them they were used stuff or just uninteresting items they let me go. I noticed that they were keen on new items or things that I might be able to sell (do business with). I think they would have asked me for some kind of tax, had I replied in the affirmative, which was not the case anyway. I soon understood that this could easily be another place that one could be asked for a bribe when I saw the way they handled another passenger (be careful Shooshig).
Raffi K, I will try to post more often, I promise.

What a week. While running around trying to get support for a new resolution on the floor recognizing all genocides.... preparing for the congressional observance of the Armenian genocide next week... plans for this weekend went topsy turvy when the camp where we were suppose to hold a seminar for over 100 kids found out they can't open the camp yet in the expected cold weather, so we tried to find another venue... and we did... then i got a call from a client asking me to do a 2 day design job on a mailing (which I can only work on after work hours) which I just finished. In perspective, so far so good. I love those weeks when things seem impossible to pull through, and then you do. Well, it ain't over yet, but I'm still satisfied!

Shoosh, it's not April. If you say it enough times, you'll believe it. Say it with me... it's noooooot April! It's still Maaaarch!

Ammaaaaaaaaaaaaa..... ABREEL MEG!!!!! lol

Michael Moore is my hero!!

e-Diaspora

E-this, e-that, we can realize that the Internet is the new way for future generations to be connected with the world. The "on-line" concept is a new way to be in touch with lots of things and situations. Just look at this log, we are giving our opinions and telling our news from different points of this planet about one big topic: Armenians or/and Armenians...
I remember my father´s relatives use to send letters to their relatives of Aleppo. From Buenos Aires to Aleppo (Haleb) days and days waiting for the letter of the relative. Months waiting for good news...And now, we have the e-mail and the messengers, all our diaspora re-borns again.
Buenos Aires is Ten Thousands Kilometers far from Yerevan. So imagine how close we feel trough internet. It is very touching to investigate about your genealogical (?) tree and the discovery of relatives scattered in the world with this new tool.
It could be dangerous, too. The manipulation of Information and Media is very common in this World Wide Web. For example, i just cant understand how the Turkish negationism fights against the Armenian Genocide preparing Web Sites about how WE KILLED TURKS (!?!??!!?). Enter into the Web Site of the Turkish Culture Ministery and find that the armenians were never part of the History of the Anatolia and the Armenian Meseta. Contradictions as offering the SURP KARABET Monastery of Moush (Mus in Turkish) as turkish culture, as well with Akhtamar in Van.
See what happens in Iraq, we see what the CNN told us or we investigate and discover how petrolled is this war. I think that if all presidents should drink a glass of Petrol, I bet they would feel Superb. Ahhh, and just a question...Supposing that the USA and the UK conquer Iraq, Would Turkey continue being an important alley for the US then??? I think that Turkey has a Dilemma, they want to be Part of the US and the Europe Union at the same time. But well, they have to free Mister Ocalan and say sorry to us, too.
I think we are a big E-Diaspora but we are not taking the advantage we could about it. But until we organize us properly, we will be preparing us for several cyber battles for the recognition of our rights as Cyber-citizens of Armenian Origin, showing our rich culture and true history to the Cyber E-World.

Juancito


Aintabi Herosamarde, In Memorian 1st April 1920

Ahhhhh.. yes Raffi N.- the wonderful 10 year visa fiasco. I got started on that months ago...and the paperwork is still sitting on my desk. I tried to take it down 3 times, none of which materialized obviously. And OVIR.... my most favorite place in Armenia (NOT!). My first time there was hysterically funny... I had no idea about the little application in the dirty window downstairs, and was asked a hundred times if I was sure I could read Armenian to be able to copy it. Then the chubby man behind the desk in the little office upstairs told me I wrote it wrong cause I had left too much space in the "Dear ____" section. I just stared at his face and told him, he MUST be kidding. (Needless to say he wasn't laughing). He then told me I had to go somewhere else to pay my $3/day fine - to which I said, "no way". And now HE stared at MY face and thought, she must be kidding. I wasn't kidding. After 15 minutes of explaining to him what a hectic day I'd had going here and there running errands and why I was not about to walk all the way there and back...I think he got tired of my yapping and that's why he let me pay him. I'd have to say it is the ONLY place in Armenia where someone actually told me they didn't want me to pay them in dollars. Go figure! :)

Now that I'm done with that story... I had quite an interesting weekend. Our western region AYF had their Bylaw Convention this weekend during which we made changes to our bylaws. Let's just say it was an interesting weekend that ended on a rather positive note.

I'm looking forward to spring break, although I don't have anything special planned. I would've liked to go away somewhere, but I think then I'd need a vacation to deal with the vacation. So I'm opting on staying in town and sleeping till noon, and doing basically a lot of nothing. (Ya right.... I'm incapable of doing nothing!) I'll let you know how that plan goes. I'm currently surfing the www about different careers I might be interested in, since I figured out I do NOT want to be a teacher anymore. So far I like the idea of school counselor and family law. We'll see where else I go.

Time to go tutoring...

TSUH! :)~
p.s. - while you guys out there are having snow storms, we are having a HEAT WAVE out in cali! What's goin on? Last night at 9:30pm, it was 76 degrees and today we hit the high 80's! ---that was my weather update :) hehe