Uncle Garabed’s Notebook

Or To Be Seen

In New York, people don’t go to the theater—they go to see hits.
Attributed to Louis Jourdan

If the Truth Be Known

Our immediate predecessors in our historic homeland did not merely profess Christianity, but practiced its exalting precepts. That’s why the American missionaries who were assigned to Turkey found themselves in a paradise, living among the most folk-cultured people in the world, who were already Christian, and therefore were perfect candidates for conversion to their brand of Christianity. All they had to do was build compounds where they could entice young Armenian children to come and study to become doctors and lawyers.

Many of these missionaries’ children were born in Armenia, and spoke the language like natives. However, the cruelest betrayal of the Armenians came at the hands of the Board of American Missions who, fearful of losing control of their properties in Turkey, prevailed (according to Vahan Cardashian) upon President Woodrow Wilson to hold out for an American mandate over Armenia, in opposition to Republicans in the U.S. Senate who were prepared to rescue an independent Armenia.

Just Desserts

A proud and pompous gentleman once asked the celebrated and sharp-tongued actress, Mrs. Patrick Campbell, “Why do you suppose it is that women so utterly lack a sense of humor?” Without hesitation, she replied,” God did it on purpose so that we may love you men instead of laughing at you.”

Frozen Words

This concept was applied by Antiphanes to the discourses of Plato, as follows:
“As the cold of certain cities is so intense that it freezes the very words we utter, which remain congealed till the heat of summer thaws them, so the mind of youth is so thoughtless that the wisdom of Plato lies there frozen, as it were, till it is thawed by the ripened judgment of mature age.”

What’s in a Name?

Marashian/Marashlian: Armenian in origin, identified to a location, Marash is a city in Turkish Armenia, and the name is defined as a native of that city.

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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