90 Years... and me
I don't know about other people, but when April hits I feel my blood pressure rises. So many genocide related events, I'm reminded of all the details that get lost in our every day hustle-bustle of life. Especially since I'm having my students read "The Road From Home" by David Kherdian. It's a story about a little girl and her experience surviving the genocide. My students completely relate with the little girl... which makes it easier for them to understand the atrocious acts. But when we get into discussions about the importance of knowing all that information... that's when I start to worry.
The other day I was sitting and thinking about it, seriously. I look at my students, and I try to imagine what the generation they raise will be like. I reallyyyyy wonder how they will relate with that little girl's experience... if they will relate with it at all. Sometimes I think that even my students are sitting there and thinking.. "how stupid that we're learning about something in such detail that took place almost a 100 years ago". I'm hoping most don't think it.
Other than that, there are soooooooo many Genocide Events in the L.A. area. It's crazy! I will for sure be attending the biggest ones. I won't miss the Youth Rally (see flier below) at the Glendale Ararat Gym, because Dr. Samantha Powers will be speaking! (If you don't know who she is, she's a genocide historian from Harvard... very interesting!) I'll also be going to the march-protest from Arshak Dikranyan school to the Turkish Consulate. And of course, the new event organized this year at Glendale High School's field. There'll be a few other events here and there I'll go to, but these are the ones I think most people should attend.
One more thing... Sometimes I think about what all this means. I wonder why we do all this stuff. I think about what other things we could be doing instead. But reading this novel with my students, listening to stories of survivors on video, and having various discussions with my students (among other things) always bring me to the realization that we, as Armenians, really AREEEE awesome. We really HAVE come a long way. We WILL rise again. Turkey WILL recognize the genocide and pay reparations. We WILL live on the shores of Van again.
TSUH :)~
The other day I was sitting and thinking about it, seriously. I look at my students, and I try to imagine what the generation they raise will be like. I reallyyyyy wonder how they will relate with that little girl's experience... if they will relate with it at all. Sometimes I think that even my students are sitting there and thinking.. "how stupid that we're learning about something in such detail that took place almost a 100 years ago". I'm hoping most don't think it.
Other than that, there are soooooooo many Genocide Events in the L.A. area. It's crazy! I will for sure be attending the biggest ones. I won't miss the Youth Rally (see flier below) at the Glendale Ararat Gym, because Dr. Samantha Powers will be speaking! (If you don't know who she is, she's a genocide historian from Harvard... very interesting!) I'll also be going to the march-protest from Arshak Dikranyan school to the Turkish Consulate. And of course, the new event organized this year at Glendale High School's field. There'll be a few other events here and there I'll go to, but these are the ones I think most people should attend.
One more thing... Sometimes I think about what all this means. I wonder why we do all this stuff. I think about what other things we could be doing instead. But reading this novel with my students, listening to stories of survivors on video, and having various discussions with my students (among other things) always bring me to the realization that we, as Armenians, really AREEEE awesome. We really HAVE come a long way. We WILL rise again. Turkey WILL recognize the genocide and pay reparations. We WILL live on the shores of Van again.
TSUH :)~
posted by shooosh at 5:37 AM
2 Comments:
We do it because that is what history asks of us. What our heritage asks of us.
What truth asks of us.
I'm already invisioning my summer home on the shores of Van where my grandfather was born, sitting on the balcony, drinking Armenian coffee and playing Komitas, perhaps playing nardi with someone. It all starts with the dream.
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