Uncle Garabed’s Notebook (July 11, 2015)

The Test

Only those with real strength of character can have real gentleness; those who look gentle are usually merely weak, and weakness easily goes sour.

… La Rochefoucauld

A Chronic Condition

There is a story in the trade that a publisher once accepted a book and sent it to an artist for illustrations. When he had finished, the artist sent the manuscript back—and it was returned to him with a rejection slip.

A Point of View

Pessimism is, in brief, playing the sure game. You cannot lose at it; you may gain. It is the only view of life in which you can never be disappointed. Having reckoned what to do in the worst possible circumstances, when better arise, as they may, life becomes child’s play.

… Thomas Hardy

Folklore

It is said that Cleopatra swallowed a pearl of more value than the whole of the banquet she had provided in honor of Antony.

Epitaph in Sargentville, Maine

Sacred to the Memory of Elisha

Philbrook and His Wife Sarah

Beneath these stones do lie

Back to back, my wife and I!

When the last trumpet the air shall fill,

If she gets up, I’ll just lie still.

What’s in a name?

Biyazian: Turkish in derivation, identified as either a descriptive term or as a culinary reference. Biyaz may be a variant of beyaz, which is defined as white. It may also be a variant of piyaz, which is defined as a stew with onions.

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CK Garabed

Weekly Columnist

C.K. Garabed (a.k.a. Charles Kasbarian) has been active in the Armenian Church and Armenian community organizations all his life. As a writer and editor, he has been a keen observer of, and outspoken commentator on, political and social matters affecting Armenian Americans. He has been a regular contributor to the Armenian Reporter and the AGBU Literary Quarterly, “ARARAT.” For the last 30 years, Garabed has been a regular contributor to the Armenian Weekly. He produces a weekly column called “Uncle Garabed's Notebook,” in which he presents an assortment of tales, anecdotes, poems, riddles, and trivia; for the past 10 years, each column has contained a deconstruction of an Armenian surname. He believes his greatest accomplishment in life, and his contribution to the Armenian nation, has been the espousing of Aghavni, and the begetting of Antranig and Lucine.

Latest posts by CK Garabed (see all)

• A Reminiscence: John Najarian - February 19, 2020
• Uncle Garabed’s Notebook (Aug. 5, 2017) - August 7, 2017
• Uncle Garabed’s Notebook (July 22, 2017) - July 22, 2017