paul chaderjian

BY PAUL CHADERJIAN PHOTOS BY ROMINA DER BEDROSSIAN You press the record button on your camera, and through the viewfinder you see the relic, an ancient spear bathing in golden light. You zoom in, pushing past its glass casing, and you realize you are inches away from the object that Christ felt tearing open his body. You don’t know why, but at this one moment in your history, the thought of the spear’s existence, knowing you are looking at an object that touched the body of God is overwhelming. You begin to understand that perhaps the relic, validated through the lens of the camera we use to validate our modern lives, is actual, physical proof of the stories you believe with blind faith. You realize why your people have kept this spear close to their hearts for centuries. Your people kept this relic inside the Geghart Monastery, a holy place carved out of the side of a mountain and named after the holy lance. Now, you’re looking at it at Echmiadzin, the spiritual...

a column by Paul Chaderjian for the Asbarez newspaper Once there was and there was not … Some days the Sun seems closer to the Earth. Rays push down like a hundred pound weight. Temperatures soar past 99 degrees. Circulation, respiration, neurons, and cells work overtime, in concert, to keep us functional. We thirst for water, for ice. We crave for shade, for air-conditioning. We want to slow down, to sleep. Night falls on these hot summer days, and I drive to work an hour before midnight to write the news. I drive detached from the weight and severity of daytime. In the dark of midnight, breezes cool the Central Valley. They come as a gifts from the Sacramento Delta. Tigran Hamasyan’s piano accompanies Nune Yesayan as she performs Sayat Nova’s “Kani Vor Janim.” The soundtrack for the night is music from the 2006 Armenia Fund Telethon. I find peace and perfection in this collection. Nune, the Armenia Fund, the Armenia TV Morning Show live from the Cafesjian Center for Art...

by Paul Chaderjian Published: Friday July 16, 2010 Tatev, Armenia - Hundreds of visionaries, philanthropists, government and church officials, and community leaders will gather at the ancient Tatev Monastery in southern Armenia on Saturday, October 16, 2010, for the launch of the innovative and forward-thinking Tatev Revival Project. "Tatev is one of our historic landmarks. It's a crown jewel in our cultural heritage and was for centuries a major focal point and religious center for our people. It was also where we studied theology, humanities, the sciences, and created art and literature," said Zarmine Zeitountsian, Fundraising Coordinator of the Tatev Revival Project. "Tatev is a 9th century landmark that, due to natural causes and centuries of neglect, is now in serious need of conservation and restoration." The Tatev monastic complex underwent a flawed and unfinished renovation attempt in the 1980s under Soviet rule. Rain and snow continue to threate...

BY PAUL CHADERJIAN Once there was and there was not … It’s a picture perfect Sunday morning in Tatev, a serene and remote corner of Southern Armenia. The beauty of this place is so stunning that you have to remind that you are not looking at a computer-generated Hollywood backdrop or an image on an HD screen. This is the real deal. This is the Armenia many will soon discover and want to experience. Sitting in the morning sun, on a green hill across the gorge from the majestic Tatev Monastery Complex is 16-year-old Seryoja. Next to him on the ground is a pick axe, and he’s carrying a burlap sack. From left to right: Seryoja, Paul, Zara Zeitountsian, Anna Arshakyan. Photo by Gagik Siarvyan He sits in contemplation, looking across the Vorotan Valley, its green hills, trees, pastures, the rushing white waters below, and the snow-streaked mountains on the distant horizon towards Karabakh. This Tatev-native says he comes to this very same spot every day on his way back ho...

a column for the Asbarez newspaper BY PAUL CHADERJIAN Once there were and there were not … You’re belted into seat 38C on Air New Zealand flight 2 from LAX to London Heathrow, and this 10-hour flight is only the second leg of a four-legged journey from Central California to the ancient monastery of Tatev in Southern Armenia. Hundreds of others are on the same Atlantic-crossing path as you, but three people you will meet on this journey will explain that your people’s experience is one part of a looping cycle. Some have traveled on your path hundreds of years ago. Others are on the same path as you now. While others will travel it hundreds of years later morphing and reincarnating to and from mindsets like nationalism, pragmatism, idealism, and globalism. Falling out of his seat in 38B is Jack, the first traveler you will meet. This New Zealand native of European descent is a physically massive probate court sheriff on his way to follow the 97th annual Tour de France. Th...

a column for the Asbarez newspaper BY PAUL CHADERJIAN Once there were and there were not golden, grand, palatial, marbled malls of commerce in modern-day Dubai that are incomprehensibly surreal and amazing. But this column starts with the premise of the more conventional malls of commerce in our incredible and bountiful American nation. In the fashion fairs, park plazas, grand gallerias, and other generic malls of the American suburbs, the world outside our borders dissolve to nothingness. When we are there, we focus on wanting and having. We see the goods, abundance, the colors, the cleanliness, the air conditioned carpeted and tiled environments. Inside these grandiose architectural halls of business, a shopper or spectator loses himself to the reality of the global human experience. We forget that there can be ungodly places where other human beings at that very same moment are doing their living, eating, shopping, or sleeping. These unimaginable places are not only south ...

by Paul Chaderjian Once there were and there were not … a fashionable shoe that is now known as “the world’s oldest shoe found in an Armenian cave.”  And what was found in a cave in Armenia this week was not just the world’s oldest shoe, but there were scarves and pots and pans and two skulls with missing jaws. This story feels like Armenians have just put on a pair of new shoes, and everything feels alright (Nutini 2007). Our ancestors were apparently not only fashionable, wearing moccasins in a style that survived for nearly six millennia, but they were also good at housekeeping and quite brutal. One of the skulls must have pulled a Helen Thomas and had his or her jaw yanked right off its face. This bizarre headline of the day was bigger than the BP (beautiful people) oil spill for a split second. The story went viral, and it warrants all the clichés we can remember to use. So let’s capitalize on these rare gifts from the universe, because good PR comes too i...