V.H. Apelian's Blog
Friday, October 8, 2021
Thursday, October 7, 2021
Tuesday, October 5, 2021
Emerson N.J. Armenian Nursing Home is No More
Vahe H. Apelian
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| A panoramic view of the Emerson NJ Armenian Home and its Armenian Genocide Memorial |
I was heartbroken today when I heard that the “Home for the Armenian Aged” in Emerson, NJ had closed a few months ago. Somehow the news of its closure, let alone its imminent closure, was not brought to the attention of the community or it could be that it had, but I had missed it. I was involved with the Home almost right after I came to the U.S. in July 1976 and until the company, I was going to work for, moved us from NJ in March,1995. In fact, I remember leaving the Board of Trustees meeting, where I had served for at least 10 years, early that day because I was going to drive to OH the following day. The company was going to move the family after the schools ended. We thus came to live in OH for almost a quarter of a century. During that interim, the Home was renamed as “Armenian Nursing & Rehabilitation Center.”
My father worked there as the chef from 1977 to 1993. In fact, the Home sponsored him as a specialty cook for his permanent residency leading to his U.S. citizenship. Through those two decades in NJ, the “Home For The Armenian Aged” became a second home to me. I visited it every week, visiting my father or attending to tasks I had assumed. My father also boarded there in a room on the second vacant floor.
Not in my wildest dream I would have imagined that the Home will close one day. I doubted the veracity of the news of its closure a friend conveyed to me today. But alas, it has closed, and this is what I read NJ Spotlight had reported on May 10, 2021.
“After 83 years as a nursing home that filled a unique cultural niche in Emerson, Bergen County, the Armenian Nursing & Rehabilitation Center closed its doors on Easter Sunday, a victim of a changing industry and the coronavirus pandemic.
The Villa at Florham Park, a nursing home in southern Morris County with a 130-year history, is scheduled to follow suit in the weeks to come.
The Armenian home and The Villa, both nonprofits, have received high marks for quality care over the years and together cared for dozens of COVID-19-positive residents who survived, and others who did not. But a combination of long-standing financial challenges, increasingly costly regulatory requirements and expenses associated with the pandemic appear to have pushed them over the edge.
According to a message posted April 2 on the Armenian home’s website: “Over the last several years the Home struggled to compete with the growth of assisted living and home health care services and finally succumbed to the financial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. We want to sincerely thank our residents for allowing us the joy of caring for them over these past 83 years as well as their supportive families and friends.”
I wrote the history of the founding the “Home For The Armenian Aged” in 1993, as the Home marked the 50th anniversary of its operation and the 55th anniversary of its founding as a nonprofit organization. I will present it in my subsequent blogs wondering what happened to the archives I had carefully arranged and saved for posterity that was not to be.
I had ended the story of the Home I wrote, as follows: "The sociologists claim that we are heading towards a graying society and statistical projections predict that an increasing number of the population will need the care of nursing home in the twilight of their later years. Also, there was a large influx of Armenians in the mid-seventies from the Middle East and what was the former Soviet Union, who in case of need more likely will seek the familiarity of their ethnic nursing homes. Such trends indicate that the Home will continue to function as a viable institution well into the twenty first century. However, members of the community need to continue assuming the responsibility of managing the home prudently and soundly. The ever escalating cost of health care, and the dwindling resources, paradoxically coupled with costly increases in compliance standards, ever so more will require the continual community management support to keep the spirit and the purpose of its founders alive and viable, to meet the needs of the once productive Armenian Americans."
The "Home For The Armenian Aged" had surmounted innumerable challengers during its first five decades. But the community had overcome those challenges, but apparently no more. Jerry Bezdikian, summed best. He commented to me, after letting me know of its closure, and wrote: "The news came as a shock to us all. Different times, a different generation with very different priorities." Alas, but sadly true.
Thursday, September 30, 2021
Emperors, Tsars,, and Commissar: The Emperors (No. 2)
By Antranig Chalabian
IN HINDSIGHT: I have reproduced excerpts from Dr. Antranig Chalabian’s booklet “Emperors, Tsars, and Commissars”. Second Edition, Michigan, 1988.
“The Turks would not be in Istanbul today, if the Greek Emperors of the Byzantine Empire had adopted the foresighted and politically sensible policy towards their coreligionist Christian Armenians.
At the beginning of the eleventh century A.D., Armenia was a large country with more than ten million of whom six million were Armenians. Armenia was situated at the strategic eastern boarder of the Byzantine Empire and as such, was a natural bulwark and a buffer state against barbaric incursions from the east. Any emperor in Constantinople with a little bit of common sense and political foresight would have supported Armenia, not because the Armenians were a Christian people like the Byzantine Greeks themselves, but for the very defense of the empire’s eastern borders, which were vulnerable to attack from east. But for centuries the Greeks did exactly the opposite, and followed a course of action that was not only contrary to reason, but detrimental to the interests of the empire itself. They tried ever political ruse, treachery, and pretext to obliterate Armenia and subjugate its people.
With the active moral and military support of the Byzantine emperors, Armenia would mobilize a considerable military force, and the powerful Byzantine army, having a strong Armenia as its ally, would ward off the menace of the Seljuk Turkish barbarians coming from the central Asia, thus changing the course of history in the entire Middle East. It should be noted here, en passant, that one of the mightiest of the Seljuk Turkish leaders, Alp Arslan, had inflicted a smashing – and ultimately mortal – blow to the power and priviledge of the Emperor Romanus IV Diogenues’ army at Malazgirt, in 1071, with a horde of only 200,000 men. An alliance between Byzantine Empire and Armenia could have created a more formidable army. ………….
The cause of this bitter animosity of the Byzantine Creeks against the Armenians was religious. The Greeks wanted the Armenians to abandon their national church tenets. There was scarcely a split hairs difference between the two.
Jacques de Mogan in his “The History of the Armenian people”, 1918 noted o page 178, “The hatred of the Orthodox Greeks for the Gregorians was not assuaged by annexation of Armenia to the Empire and the Greeks to convert the Armenians to their creed, used the same severity as the Arabs and Turks. …Armenia was actually enslaved by the officials sent from the Imperial capital. Heavy taxes loaded down the people, and the extorted gold was used either to pay off the Barbarians or to build churches on the Phosphorous. Byzantium made its business to get rid, by steel or poison, of the Armenian nobles, who had so much influence with the people, and no noble was sure of living the morrow.”
Following the demise of Armenia, the Turkish hordes penetrated deeper and deeper into the Byzantine territory because the Greeks did not have adequate forces in the east to defend the eastern borders of the empire. In 1064, the Seljuk Turkish leader Alp Arslan (The Brave Lion), stormed Ani, the once proud capital of the Bagretid kings. The inhabitants were put to the sword and the blood began flowing like a river in the streets and squares of the city. (Armenian chronicler of the eleventh century, Aristakes Lastivert).
The Mongol-Tatar invasions and their conflicts with the Turks delayed the fall of Constantinople for a couple of hundred years, but the great metropolis of the Byzantine Empire was finally stormed by Sultan Mahammed II in 1453. The capital of Constantine the Great was turned into a bloodbath, and the Turkish leader could feed his horse on the High Altar of the magnificent St. Sofia Cathedral as he had vowed.”
Links
The book (No. 1/4)
http://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2021/09/in-hindsight-emperors-tzars-and.html
The Tsars (No. 3/4)
http://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2021/09/in-hindsight-emperors-no-2.html
The Commissars (No. 4/4)
http://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2022/01/emperors-tsars-and-commissars.html
Tuesday, September 28, 2021
EMPERORS, TSARS, AND COMMISSARS: The Booklet (No. 1)
By Antranig Chalabian
“Emperors, Tzars and Commissars” is a 23 pages long booklet published by Antranig Chalabian in Michigan, in 1988, when the USSR was tittering on the brinks of a breakdown with slogans for glasnost (openness) and perestroika (re-structuring) as Comrade Gorbachev wanted to shape the USSR but not abandon the ship.
In an introductory note he wrote that “this treatise of Armenia’s relationship with its neighboring great powers (The Byzantine Emperors, Tsarist Russia and now Soviet Russia, was first published as an article in some English language Armenian papers about a year ago, and under a slightly different title. The present text is slightly modified with the addition of some new material and two maps.”
Recently I was able to locate a copy of the booklet thanks to the few copies his son, Jack Chelebian, MD, found out he had in his possession. In the book’s foreword, Ms. Elizabeth Aprahamian noted that the renowned British historian Christopher J. Walked has said: “Expatriate Armenians of all political hues have expressed pride in Soviet Armenia and the most capitalistic of them would be appalled by the thought of the collapse of the Soviet regime in Armenia.”
Ms. Aprahamian concluded his short foreword noting: “The fanatical movement within the Moslem religion makes the threat to Soviet Union an undeniable reality. The potential role of a powerful Soviet Armenia can play on the vulnerable southern border of the USSR is well worth contemplating.”
But indeed, the mighty USSR collapsed or imploded, and the people of Armenia voted in a referendum proclaiming independence from the Soviet Union on September 21, 1991. As of that date the free and independent Armenia became master of its own destiny. It had to shape its destiny on its own by cultivating new relationships with its powerful neighbors.
Reading the book Jack noted: “Very interesting article and in many ways prescient of what came to pass since the withdrawal of the Soviets from Afghanistan & rise of transnational Islamism/Jihadism.”
Some may argue that much water has flown under the bridge since the Byzantine Emperors let alone during the last thirty years and the treatise of the booklet is akin to the proverbial “Monday morning quarterback” contemplating the moves of the game he just lost or could have scored better.
Nonetheless, the book makes for an interesting reading.
I will be presenting it in segments.
The Links
The Eemperors: (No. 2/4)
http://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2021/09/in-hindsight-emperors-no-2.html
The Tsars: (No. 3/4)
http://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2021/09/in-hindsight-emperors-no-2.html
The Commissars: (No. 4/4)
https://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2022/01/emperors-tsars-and-commissars.html
Thursday, September 23, 2021
Saro Varjabedian, the Talented and Driven Cinematographer
Tales from Hotel Lux
Vahe H. Apelian
Whenever I hear or read the name Saro mentioned, it reminds me not Saro of opera “Anoush”, but of Saro Varjabedian and the circumstances I met his maternal grandparents in Beirut, in Hotel Lux, the inn my father ran. They were on their to the United States with two young girls, who would become Saro's mother.
It was one of those days when I exited from the old-fashioned elevator to the uppermost floor of the building whose two upper floors made Hotel Lux, which was pretty much known among the Armenians of the era for a few decades, and whose guests were mostly Armenians from all over.
As I exited the elevator, I saw suitcases on the floor. It was not an unusual sight. Guests came with their suitcases and left them in the hallway until my father made the arrangements for their stay. I asked my father who were the guests and from where they had come. He told me that it’s an Armenian family from Bulgaria. I had noted earlier that the overwhelming majority of the guests were Armenians and they came literary from all corners of the world, from West to Far East and in between. This time around this family was from Bulgaria on its on way to the United States. Like many Armenians from East Europe who managed to leave, they also were relying on the sponsorship of ANCHA to immigrate to the U.S. ANCHA was the famed "Armenian National Committee to Aid Homeless Armenians". Its two pincipals were George Mardigian.and Suren Saroyan.
These families mostly came from Eastern Europe under Soviet yoke. They left the country literary penniless. My father had become a liaison and knew what to do. As soon as they settled in the hotel, my father presented them to the ANCHA’s office in Beirut. Over the years I had become privy of their ordeal. Some, as former landlords, had become the objects of despise and ridicule by their former tenants as nationalization had taken over their private businesses and holdings and had rendered them tenants of the state much like the rest of their former tenants. I remember a lady telling my parents they burnt all the cash savings they had and hid their valuable jewelry they had as they could not dare to spend their cash money, lest they would arouse suspicion, nor could they trust their jewelry even to the most trustful friend out of fear of not knowing if the person had become an informant by choice or by coercion. They presented the harsh reality of life behind the Iron Curtain.
This Armenian Bulgarian family stayed in the hotel until ANCHA completed the necessary documentation for their sejourn in Lebanon and covered the expenses for their stay in the hotel. After having their papers in order at the ANCHA's office, most of them left the hotel and rented a room. Many found employment mostly in Armenian held businesses until their immigration papers were completed. It is through their experiences that I came to first learn of Armenians taking advantage of other Armenians. This Armenian family's stay in the hotel lasted longer than usual. It is how I got to know them and their daughter. Even though the family, later I found out, had two daughters but it’s the younger daughter I remember as their only child. Much like the rest they also migrated to the U.S. As was the case with most, they also stopped by to let my father know they will be leaving soon and bid goodbye. I remember to this day when this Bulgarian family let us know too that their immigration has been approved and they will heading to settle in New York. The image of an Armenian family settling in that big metropolis remained etched in my mind for many years and I would wonder how the Armenian family fared among the million inhabitants of that impersonal city.
Fast forward. After much reluctance our son Daniel agreed to attend Camp Haiastan. But it did not take long for him to make friends he met as a camper and then as a counselor. Among them was his friend Saro. Both were in their early to mid-teens. Naturally they did not drive. After their camping session was over it was I who drove our son Daniel to Saro’s parents house on many Saturdays and picked him the next day on Sunday afternoon. During one of such visits I saw the whole family there including Saro's maternal grandparents. I got carried away conversing with his grandfather as I had already met his parents. One thing led to another and to my surprise his grandfather produced a journal he had kept about their journey to the United States. Lo and behold I came across my father’s name mentioned in his journal as he recounted their long journey to the New World. Suddenly it dawned on me that the young girl I met had gotten married to an Armenian also from Bulgaria and had formed a nurturing and hospitable family who graciously hosted our son’s stay in their house in Queens, New York. Their son now had become one of our son’s best buddies. It would not take much to surmise that I felt a strong kinship with the family and especially with Saro.
In 1995 my job took me to Cincinnati to our sons’, especially to our elder son Daniel’s dismay. It was his friends from the Camp Haiastan and from the Armenian Presbyterian Church that kept Daniel going with their frequent phone calls especially during our first year in Cincinnati. And it was Saro among them who paid him a visit a few months after our settling in Cincinnati. Parents of teenage sons know how determined and stubborn they can get. Saro had made a point of visiting Daniel taking a Greyhound bus to Cincinnati. It is a journey that on the average takes 18 hours with many stops in between. Needless to say any parent would agonize having their teenage son doing the trip by himself. The year was 1995 and cell phones were not as readily available. Saro would arrive late at night in Columbus, OH and had to stay there for two hours to catch the next bus to Cincinnati. I assured Saro’s parents that I would drive to Columbus and pick him from there. I remember his father’s relief and what he told me, “at least now we can get some sleep !”. So we befriended Saro as a family. He accompanied us to Florida and another time to upstate Michigan for salmon fishing as Marie and I looked with contentment seeing their friendship.
Almost a quarter of century has passed since Saro’s visiting us in Cincinnati. Both remain good friends and visit each other. Through these years Saro embarked pursuing his dream of becoming a cinematographer. He just finished writing, directing and filming his first feature film “Respite”. Saro has photographed eight feature films, one feature documentary, and several web-series and countless short films.
Saro’s grandfather passed away a few years ago. Saro dedicated a short film he produced to his grandfather. This is what he noted to me about that film he produced in Armenia. “My Grandfather loved his experience visiting Armenia,” wrote Saro, “but in real life he always wanted to go to Alaska. So after my grandfather passed away my grandmother, with my mom and aunt went to Alaska to fulfill his wish to visit Alaska. I thought it is so interesting that these three women got to have this bonding experience. And because of my interest in my ancestry I took that idea and had it happen in Armenia instead.”
"After Water There is Sand," has been screened at several International film festivals, including the 2013 International Golden Apricot Film Festival, which is an annual film festival held in Yerevan; the 2012 International Pomegranate Film Festival, the 2012 Arpa Film Festival, which is one of the oldest international film festivals for independent cinema held in Los Angeles; the 2013 Boston International Film Festival; the 2013 International Family Film Festival in Los Angeles; and the 2013 Women and Minorities in Media film festival.
Along with Armenia, Saro has also directed and filmed internationally, in Cuba, France, Lebanon, Mexico and India. He holds a Master’s Degree in Fine Arts from the University of Columbia and has taught cinematography and directing at the New York Film Academy.
Saro’s accomplishments as a writer, director and cinematographer are too many to list here. Altough I attached a copy of his professional resume below, anyone interested may search him in the Internet and may read the professional accomplishments of this young, driven film writer, director and cinematographer Saro Varjabedian.
A copy of SARO VARJABEDIAN”S RESUME’
"Saro Varjabedian, a recent Film MFA graduate from Columbia University and of Armenian descent is an international Director and Cinematographer. Saro began his career in film working as a Freelance Cinematographer in New York. As a Cinematographer, Saro has photographed seven feature films, countless shorts, industrials, and music videos. He is most known for his work on the feature film “Elliot Loves” which has aired on HBO Comedy, HBO Latino, HBO Zone, HBO GO, Cinemax, and Hulu. His work on “Jesus Loves Yusef,” which was filmed in Lebanon, won Saro the Best Student Cinematography Award from the 2012 Palm Springs International Film Festival. In addition, Saro has written over 20 articles on Cinematography practices which were published in StudentFilmMaker Magazine, has taught workshops on the latest camera technologies and cinematography principles, and has been invited to join the Tiffen Family of Cinematographers. Saro has recently finished principle photography as the cinematographer to the Independent feature films entitled “GoldStar” and “El Gallo” and the International French/Lebanese co-production feature entitled “The Traveler”.
Saro Varjabedian’s first short film as writer/director was “La Chambre De Motel” which went on to play at the 2008 New York International Latino Film Festival and 2008 WildSound Film Festival. In 2009, Saro directed and photographed the short film “Kosu” in India as part of fulfilling his requirements for the Columbia MFA film program. Kosu has won Honorable mention at the 2010 Pravasi Film Festival, screened at the 2011 Yes World India Film Festival, 2011 New York Indian Film Festival, and 2011 Arpa International Film Festival. In 2012 Saro wrote, directed and photographed his third short in Armenia entitled “After Water There Is Sand” for the purposes of fulfilling his thesis requirements for Columbia University. “After Water There Is Sand” has screened at the 2012 Pomegranate film festival, winning the 2012 PomGrant, screened at the 2012 Arpa Film Festival, the 2013 Boston International Film Festival, the 2013 International Family Film Festival, the 2013 Women and Minorities in Media film festival and the 2013 Golden Apricot International Film Festival. As of 2013, Saro has wrapped production on his fourth short film as director entitled “All That Glitters” and has directed three music videos. In 2014 Saro directed the TV pilot entitled, “The Ridge.” Saro is currently teaching directing at New York Film Academy while working on developing several projects:"
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