Fiction, Essays, and Other Things

  August 30 brought us outside of Armenia if only temporarily in both a literal and political sense in a way that can only be understood with an appreciation of the nation’s political climate, both current and historical. And yet, Mount Ararat, the highlight of this day and in many ways this trip, though it towers the landscape from across the border in Turkey, is the truest embodiment of the Armenian spirit than anything I saw on my journey. That it defies hostile and even contested boundaries, though, is fitting with the visceral power of the mountain. Rising across the Ararat Plain like a snow-capped giant, Ararat has inspired wonder since the beginning of civilization when it was fabled as the resting place of Noah’s Ark. While much of the world has moved away from legend the sheer majesty of Mount Ararat elevates emotions. Its bigger peak, Greater Ararat, has come to inspire Armenia’s resiliency through the centuries while Little Ararat completes the compounded volcano’s uni...

  The Arch of Charents is a modern monument surrounded by ancient history. If Armenia is a window to the distant past, the Arch is a gateway to the nation’s symbol and one of its last remaining pagan structures, the Temple of Garni. Indeed, Garni and the majestic Mount Ararat were the two inspirations for architect Rafayel Israylelian who envisioned a window to two iconic images, one carved by nature the other by the hand of man. Israyelian completed the monument in 1957 in tribute to his country’s poet Yeghishe Charents, a reminder that while we mourn the art stolen or destroyed over the centuries, Armenia’s inspiration for art and innovation has survived the destruction of the nation’s heritage.                                                      I stand before the Arch of Charents                 ...