2003_05 Hye Sharzhoom Newspaper May 2003

              May 2003
Hye Sharzhoom
3
W. Saroyan on Iceland National Radio
SfSOAL roH\Z SffARZHOCW
In December <$ 2002 fogity&rg
Thorisdott& was try vtgtopttt something a&ous W$Rc89t Saroyan and
s^ Armenk&zs on pu$& radio in
Jtelcwd and so contacted Dr.
Dickran Rouyftij&n jbr suggestions, f&semthem. Shethenasked
fthe radio station coukiinterview
fcfci,and£fieragree&ig> Pr<#essor
%k>uym$ic&i was interviewed for
afca&tt&ihour. Ap&tqfthat narrative waspart cfthe eventual show.
£d
Rom 1991 Id 1994 I was a
dr&ma stude id & 5Ye sno Stat*. Dur-
r*g ihat tiatf I came to knowthe
Armenian writer VAllnm Saroyan
finrou^ntaking a course x\ Armenian studies with Dr. Dkkran
Kou>mjian> I thou^Jtt &roy&ft*s
work was beautiful. His thou£*tds
sm^»le,yetso deep. His complex
butyet sit&ple characters were just
fascinatitg. His background as an
Armenian was as dramatic aswas
hi life.
When 1 came back home to
k eland I re ally wantedto translate
some ofhiswodi*Ifoundoutthat
someofhisworkhadakeadybeen
translate dty great Icelandr writers such as Nobel*prize winning
author HalldorKiljanLaraness and
one of k eland's bestpoets,Gyrdir
Eliasson* Itwasn\ until this year,
ahnosttenyears later,that If inaQy
decided to make a radio program
about Saroyan's life and work*
Needless to say I contacted Dr*
Dickran Kouyugianto gethisopm*
ion and of course he was very
pleasedto assist Igotmanybooks
about Saroyan from the kelandk
National Library and soerviewed
mary kelanders who knew his
work. I called Dr. Kouyugian in
Paris and when I hadenou^nmate *
rial 1 tak&t a radio programfilled
with Armenian musi: andre&dmgs
from Saroyan's short stories*
Ihe Icelandr National radio
station is w Me ly listened to allover
thecountry.Igotprine-tine spots
on two Sunday mornings,the best
tira for airing a program such as
this cone.
Mary people who listened to
the program contacted me * Ac tor s f
fngibjorg Thorisdottir
peopkatfine Uhi'ersfcy>&ftdfriends
thou^Jtt thft the pxogy&m was very
saexe sting, Pe ople a skedme which
of his works had been translated
and where his books were sold.
Some are encouragingme to write
some more about Saroyan and how
Ic&me toknowhswoik* One day
maybe I will*
Saroyan has therefore gained
more readers and fans outside the
U.S. in a far away island in the
north*
Peace be withyou all*
Neery Melkonian Presents Work of NK
(Nagorno-Karabagh) ARTS in Shushi
Neery hfel konian
Staff WfclTEft
On We dne sdiy ,March 5,2003
fe Anxeni^ft Studies Programand
fe Armenian Studerds Organize-
tion hosted a special pre Mutation
by Ne eiy Melkonian of NK ART S*
NK ARTS is a non-profit or*
ganization that was started by
£>fe Ikonnninfine spring of 1999 ,to
introduce the rich culture of
Nagpmo- Karaba#n(Artsakh)to1he
world.Nagomo-Karaba^nis anii-
drpenderdrepjb Ik inthe Caucasus,
where itspre dominant^ Armenian
population fou^nt a six-year war
wish ne igM>orifig As erb aij &ftf ox as
independence*
As anartist ,Me Ekoni&ft w&rae d
to get involved in Armenia or
Kftr&b&gft, and chose to begin her
project out of a feeling of sockl
responsibility* Ihe Minister of
Culture of
Kaxaba^n had
been a guest of
Me Ionian's in
New York,and
awited her to
Kmb&gh.
Because of
the region**
natural beauty
and its histori
calmorojmerds
K&r&bagh was
&ft ideal site for
develop iftgcul
turaltourism
The plan
was to develop
an annual cut
turalfestfralin
the city of
Shushi, so in
2001 NK
ARTS held its
first annualaits
festival. More
than 1200
people enjoyed
the musk and the aits that were
presented*
NK ARTS consists of five
branches,of whichthe Shushifes-
tivalsthe condui* The goal is to
make the festival into an interna*
tionaldestinationf orworUfe &T/&1
goer** The Karaba^n government
has beenhe fcf ulto NK ARTS pro-
vidiftg logistic al sjpportandtrans-
portaticon.
One of the sefive branche s was
the establishment of an artisan
workshop in fine village of Nungi*
Nungi has a population of about
400people andhasbe en known for
200 years as a dynamic ceramk
eerier* On^one ceramks tmster
V&run still remains and makes
pottenyas itusedtobe made; using
his advk e ,theyr estarte dthe activities. Ihe govemmentprovidedthe
oldwcakshopNoelectrrfcyoxrvn-
ning water are available &tfe sie *
A horse operates the clay mi-si
just like old tines*
E&chbranch of the proje ct has
an outside director as a way of
lirilvi^. Jeff ^an, a potter from
the United States,lived inthe villa^ for a year, supervising fine re*
vivalof tine pottery operation* Ap-
pxerdizes were hired and trained
and are paid as full-tine workers*
NK ARTS will diftrftute the ce*
rami:s produced inthe wotiishop
in fine Unied States* The potter/
which they produce can also become somethingwhich willbe use *
fulinArrannbecause ofthe build-
ingboom in Aimeniaand Ksr aba^i
and the need to produce roof tiles
andtakks.
FVmrre projects for NK ARTS
are to introduce Karabakh*s tradi*
tionalfolk-remedies to the West.
Ihe use of heibs for organic treatments has a long history in
K&r&bakh, and some of fine se treatments are unknown in fine United
States. A professor £r om Armenia
has ataadybegunto identify scone
of the compounds which could be
used commercially.
Thisyear NK ARTS willafco
be f^oducmg a docun^nta^ filn
on Na^mo-Karabakh, which will
be shown on cabfe te 1& visbn channels sudi as The History Channel
and Discover Channel*
NK ARTS * goal is tomotivate
tiie pe op le to f e e 1 px o\id and digrd-
fied.jroudesthepeopleofAneri:^
wit^Ja^owkd^ onl^rabakh*sar&
and cultures, and it also gives
Nagomo ^rabaldnrecognitrirt m
ti^^e world commuftiy*
Ihe secondyearof the Shudni
Festval,heldin2002,was devoted
to Fihn Ihetiudyearoftiu Festival will be devoted to theiir md
dance andwillbeheldin September 2003.
Ihe kcture ,w^iid«waspartof
the %ong Lecture Series of the
Armenian Studies Program, was
held in fine A&ce Peters Audito-
riutn,
ASO Continues Strong
SrApyWwra^
Duringthe fall 2002 semester Jhe Armenian Students Or^ni-
zatim (ASO) got off to a great
start, and has continued^ success
inthe spring 2003 semester* Ihe
first event inthe springwas& meeting at Dominion Pizza, located &
Cedar and Shepherd. Students ate
pi£Z£ Eke there was no tomorrow,
£ftd fine conversations were going
non-stop* D/eryone was greatly
enjoying themselves* After e^tiftg
and socializing the ASO general
meeting was held. We discussed
possible events for the spring semester and everyone was pleased
withwhatthe ASOwas phnning*
Ihe ne Mmajor event was the
ASO WinterDance .The dance was
held at the Smittcan^ Alumni
House jloc&te d on empus* The food
was great, and the dancing was
non-stop* Everyone had a good
time* Another dance should be
pkrefted fox neM year,because I
was a success*
Yet another fun event Id attend wastine 4th Annual Armenian
F2m Rstval. Some great filns
abo\a Aimennwere shown* They
were p kke d we U andnot onV wex e
t^^ey rile re sting,butthey were e du-
c^tbrta las well* We k^rtedsoat-
fining about Armenian history > ii-
cbidmg genocide and the Aime-
nnnchurch* We learnedaboutthe
currerftconditians inArmenia,^e-
cifkaSyrelatingtohealhc^re ar^d
fine current media., hn regards to
healthcare ,there are many people,
specifkally children, who need
special treatment, whkh is wry
costy. During one of fine filns,
fere was an Armenian cardiob*
gstwhowase^lainingtousabout
what problems there are andpos*
sabk solutions* The first solution is
money* Maney » needed to bu^
xot dr als\^pli& stoprovidethe best
tre&ment*
Thi; f ml activiy was not
fullof j?y gather it is import&ft ar^d
serious; remembering the Armenian Genocide of 1915.Notaneasy
subject to tali about Fbr mar^
peopk jhEbringsaboutmuyemo-
tior^alfee lmgs ,andwho canblame
finem? The genocide isstillcconsidered to be a coroempor^ey Ksue
andmaxypeopk are connected to
t in one way or another *
Hnally,the ASO is cuirently
phnningto end another successful
yearbyhaving art outdoor BB Q. Of
course being Armenian ,you know
fere willbe pknly of delkious
food. Look for further announce-
mentsf or date s andtimes. I hope to
seeyouallthexe!
ASO Volunteers for Valley
Public Television Telethon
ASO members <£ KVPTteldh
SlVAC XllKdUX
EbinK
On Thursday fifax&x 13 members c^tine Armenian Students Or ■
^nization( AS 0) along with advisor Barlow Der Mugrdechian
teaoedup wSh K.VP.T. (Valley
Public Tekvisbn) in an effort to
ra ise p le dge f undsf or tine operation
of fe station. K.V.P.T. istine pub-
Ik television station serving tine
San Joaquin Valfcy.
This was the f rsttime thatthe
ASO helped the station inra^tftg
pkdges on a live telethon. However, fine statim is a very strong
supporter of Armenian issues and
has shown many videos on Armenian oriented topics* Rathermore
ithas ,onmaxyoc casisns ,hadsev-
eral Armenian organizations
throughout the community he^
them with raising funds for their
station*
TVro films were shown from
8:00-11:00 pm* The first was The
Amenk&> Americans #ftdthe other
was Armenia: Story <# Survival^
bothproduce d, dxecte d, and writ-
tenby Andrew Oo ldt»e^f ox WLIW
on.
21Pubhc Televisionof New York*
T>^exe wexe several pkdge breaks
dirngandin-betwe enthetwomw-
ies,where the ASO students finat
wexe manning the phone lines,
could be seen* Peter Nazaretnnof
Resnowasthehostfortine evening*
It was a n^nt that those who
took part in will remember for a
tangtnm. The actual studio isef
was exciting. As the ASO mem
bexs eraeredthe studio ,all of finem
had a smile on fine irface. This was
because the studio boked exactly
Eke one from the backstage of a
tmjor motion prture* Thi: made
fine students feel like mora stars
fox fe ni^nt*
Ovex&ll^the everaw&s \ gye&t
success. The ASO surpassed the
pledge-goal that was set for the
evening. In fac t ,that n^a wa s or^e
cf fine mostsu: cessfulp^ ^e -n^nts
for the station* Most in^ort^td^
the ASO members had a wcndexful
time wifin each ofiner and a power*
fulbondwas f ormedby those who
took part. As the ni^ntended^nost
of the students asked,"When can
we comeback^*