paul chaderjian

A Journey Across Borders and Dreams: Letters to Barbra Paul Chaderjian’s Letters to Barbra is a poignant meditation on identity, displacement, and the enduring power of hope amidst chaos. Anchored by a young boy’s letters to Barbra Streisand, the novel juxtaposes the harsh realities of war-torn Beirut with the luminous allure of Hollywood, weaving a narrative as fragmented as its protagonist’s psyche—an evocative reflection of trauma and its lingering effects. At its heart is Adam Terzian, a ten-year-old boy living through the horrors of the Lebanese Civil War. His letters to Streisand, filled with both desperation and childlike optimism, offer an escape from the bombs and blackouts that define his days. “Can you stop the war before I die?” he pleads, a heartbreaking request that lays bare the stark contrast between his reality and his dreams of a Hollywood that promises laughter, beauty, and peace. Chaderjian’s decision to present the novel through a fragmented timeline mirrors Adam’...

LETTERS TO BARBRA by  Paul Chaderjian   ‧   RELEASE DATE: Dec. 7, 2018 An engaging, fragmentary tale about longing and memory. Kirkus Reviews An Armenian immigrant’s Hollywood dreams run up against American realities in this debut novel. Beirut, 1975. As the Lebanese civil war rages outside his window, 10-year-old Armenian Adam Terzian composes fan letters to his favorite movie star, Barbra Streisand. “At night in my bed and I cannot sleep because there are bombs,” writes Adam to the star of the film  What’s Up, Doc?   "I am scared. Then I think of you and Mister Ryan O’Neal going backwards down the hill on a bicycle….I laugh and laugh. You are very funny. Then I can sleep. I forget about the bombs and that I am going to die.” His family is eventually able to immigrate to Fresno, California, where Adam grows up as an outsider obsessed with American music and movies. He’s able to attend film school in Los Angeles, though he still carries a fear of violence left o...

Reporting from Armenia: Doctors to perform 50 life-changing surgeries A new smile, and a new life for a 16-month-old Surgeons heal broken smiles, deliver hope Tatev aerial tramway Print Features: Cher the Armenian ABC News' Lara Setrakian Vahe Berberian profile Reporting from India: Karekin II reconsecrates Armenian church in Chennai Armenians make pilgrimage to Kolkata 300th anniversary of Kolkota church Deacon becomes priest Book Reviews: The Daydreaming Boy The Bullet Collection My Brother's Road  Blogs/Columns: Three Apples, Asbarez Newspaper Belonging & Belongings Diasporas Can Disappear The Seat of the Armenian Soul Cycles of Life Novel: Letters to Barbra

Once there was and there was not  … that place 100 years ago that my ancestors survived, where teenaged boys were dressed as girls, young women married off to foreigners and infants given up to Kurds so that they would all be spared. Those handful of survivors, who wanted to live at any cost, did just that so that I could be here, typing on a Mac, having you as my audiences, living in a clean, well-lit room and enjoying a front row seat to world history. When those survivors lost their parents, siblings, homes, mental health and happiness, they found themselves in orphanages in Aleppo or Karantina, the quarantined garbage dump in Beirut. They found themselves with no belongings, no sense of place or self, and with no closure for the crimes they witnessed. But they marched ahead, rebuilt their lives and made us promise to be ‘Armenian.’ My grandparents didn’t have anything to show for their lives before the death marches. They had no photographs, no gold crosses, no physical, tactil...

The Sun Shines Brighter in Historic Artsakh and Its Mountains Shelter Her Legendary People Helping Vulnerable Children and their Families in Armenia’s Northeastern Border Region Hayastan All-Armenian Fund Cleans Up Toxic Soil Around Historic Church in Lori Province From Genocide to Earthquakes, the People of Gyumri Show Enormous Strength and Uncanny Resilience Dreams Shattered by 1988 Spitak Earthquake Renewed and Realized Championing New, Networking Ideologies & Traditional Needs Like Well Water Pumps for Irrigation In the Shadow of Kings, a Royal Kindergarten is Helping Kids Reach their Full Potential Newly-built Hacop & Hilda Baghdassarian Community Center Opens in Artsakh’s Krasni Village An Ode to a Soldier, Father, Patriot Standing Strong in His Native Village Others Abandoned Hayastan All-Armenian Fund Builds 115 Greenhouses in Tavush Region to Prevent Food Insecurity South American Family Resuscitates Dilapidated Border Village in Northeastern Arm...

by Paul Chaderjian April 23, 2023 (LOS ANGELES) KTTV FOX 11 will broadcast a news special chronicling the Armenian-American experience as part of its month-long celebration of Armenian History. The special will air on Sunday, April 30, at 9:30 AM PDT, and it will be streamed and available worldwide through the station’s site FOXLA.com/live . FOX LA morning news anchor Araksya Karapetyan became the first broadcast journalist in 2012 to break into the extremely competitive and second-largest U.S. media market, which serves more than 18 million viewers in several Southern California counties. In addition to covering breaking news, local, regional and national politics, Araksya’s serious yet charming personality helps millions of Angelenos start their day with the latest news, weather and traffic reports during the five-hour “Good Day LA”  broadcasts.  While Araksya had occasionally reported about the Armenian-American community in Southern California, her focus on her people and ...

by Paul Chaderjian   Once there was and there was not…   There was nothing but sand here. Now, a picture-perfect 21st century metropolis stands tall with pride. Highrises of steel and glass, cemented with the sweat and blood of foreign workers, stab the clouds to reach the gods. They pierce and punch the Maker, challenging her dominion over mankind and its destiny. Where there were dunes of sand long before humanoids traversed this shallow, now reclaimed seabed, there are now swaths of hyper-development and buildings on illegal steroids. All those commutes in solitary gas-guzzlers out west is how these towers were built, how these cities were birthed. This isn’t Manhattan; it would never strive for that type of mediocrity or excellence. New York is too real, too historic, too known, too worn and too weak to compete with these new economic dynamics. Here is an Elysian vision, one perhaps only a Hollywood miniature set builder would dare create, a reali...