ACOM Special Presentation !! 

 This was an in-person meeting that took place at the St. Paul Merriam Park Library on January 8th 2022 starting at 3PM.

Artyom Tonoyan introduced his edited book of Russian news articles about Nagorno-Karabagh. Artyom talked about the development of the book and presented some intersting insights into the background of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabagh. He indicated that he had read, either in the original or in rigorously translated Russian, accounts of the conflict over the last 30 years. His expert take on the region's Geo-Political climate was extremely interesting for the attendees. 

(Notes written by Peter)
The ACOM Book Club met on December 2, 2021 in the parlor at St Sahag.
In attendance were Francis, Tom, Azad, Jim, Margaret, Alfred, Tashina, Peter, and, via Zoom, Leroy and Cynthia.
This month we read "Justinian’s Flea: Plague, Empire, and the Birth of Europe" by William Rosen, which we discussed over the treats people brought. This book was chosen after reading Hamnet and the role the plague played in that narrative. It comes well-reviewed and created a buzz when it was released over a decade ago. Here's what the book club thought of it:

Message from Der Yeprem Kelegian: AYO! Safe Ride Program

Hundreds of disabled children in Armenia cannot get to their rehab facility. The "Safe Ride" project, which AYO! (a division of Fund for Armenian Relief) is doing, wants to change this in the Martuni region. It is a very difficult area to get around in and in many cases parents cannot get their children to (free) pediatric rehab because they cannot afford cab service and using the public (and crowded) mini-buses (marshutkas) is not possible for some children.

THUS, this fund raising is for the purpose of purchasing an accessible van to make sure 200 children can get to their therapy.

Please click on the link below to donate.

www.weareayo.org

The ACOM Book Club met on Thursday, October 21, 2021. This month's meeting was held at Mim's Cafe. Attendees were Azad, Tashina, Andrea, Peter, Tom, Joe and Kassian. We did not get the Zoom working. Peter took notes (apologies for leaving anything out, please reply with edits).
The book this month was "Hamnet" by Maggie O'Farrell. While the book didn't have a direct Armenian connection, it's gotten a lot of rave reviews and press, and everyone gathered agreed it was nice to read something different.

The ACOM Book Club met on Thursday, September 16, 2021. This month's meeting was held in the back yard garden of Joe Tashjian's house. Attendees were Joe, Francis, Tom, Margaret, Jim, Peter, Cynthia and me. Joan attended remotely via Zoom.
The book for this month was "The Road to Home: My Life and Times" by Vartan Gregorian.
One of the opening comments was that Vartan Gregorian must have had a very good memory. He includes a lot of detail in his book.
It was noted that he just died in April of this year, at age 87.

He served in several highly visible positions in the U.S. He taught at the University of California at Berkeley, San Francisco State College, UCLA, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Pennsylvania. He became provost of the University of Pennsylvania. He then taught at New York University, after which he became president of New York Public Library for 8 years. From there he moved on to become president of Brown University for 8 years. After that, he served as president of the Carnegie Corporation until he retired.

Hooray!! The State Fair returned and with it the Armenain Dance Ensemble. ADE was invited to perform on the Cosgrove Stage (in front of the Education Building) on two separate days during the run of the Fair. We had performances at 1PM and 2:30PM on Sunday the 29th of August and on Thursday September 2nd. We had good audiences for all the performances and the group did an outstanding job at presenting Armenian Dance and Culture to the Fairgoers that watched. ADE members had a great time doing our sets of dances and a big thanks to the State Fair for inviting us.

JOACHIM SAVELSBERG - Newest Book

Link to the podcast that the Society for Armenian Studies published about mJoachim Savelsberg's new book.

https://armenianstudies.podbean.com/e/sas-podcast-no-54-%e2%80%93-joachim-savelsberg/

The ACOM Book Club met on Thursday, June 24, 2021, at Mim's restaurant on Cleveland Avenue in St. Paul. Attending this month were Cynthia, Kass, Peter, Francis, Tashina, Al and me. We attempted to provide a Zoom link for remote users to join in, but it didn't prove usefully workable. (Workably useful?) Andrea, Margaret and Joan made the attempt, but left after just a few minutes.

The book for this month was "Gilgamesh: A New English Version" by Stephen Mitchell.
Due to a miscommunication, Andrea and Azad met at Mim's a week earlier, along with Azad's grandson, Owen, who will be a senior at Hamline University this fall. Andrea wrote up a set of notes for their meeting which covered the book so well that I will intermix them with my notes. Andrea's notes will appear in blue. (Well, that worked in Thunderbird, but not in Facebook. Look for text hints instead.)

The ACOM Annual Picnic returned ths year after a year off due to COVID-19

Sunday June 27th startied at 3:30PM

Aftewr a year of virtual events, ACOM began to return to normal by hosting the summer picnic. It was held in the backyard of Terry and Naïry on a very pleasant June Sunday afternoon. ACOM supplied beverages but all who attended were asked to bring their own food. No grilling this year. Twenty seven people attended and enjoyed each others company after more thn a year apart. See the photo gallery for pictures of the event.

A pool party is scheduled for August 8th this year and will be hosted by Laurel Gregorian. Details to follow later. The picnic showed us that we can, again, have in-person events and our calendar will reflect this. Stay tuned.

The ACOM Book Club met on Thursday, May 20, 2021, as a virtual meeting using Zoom. Attending this month were Francis, Joe, Joan, Peter, Andrea, Lowell, Azad, Margaret, Tashina and me.
The book for this month was "Full Moon Over Noah's Ark" by Rick Antonson.
This book is, in my view, three books in one. It's a log of the author's trek to climb Mount Ararat combined with a survey of various theories of Noah's Ark and where it might have landed, if it really existed. The third part is a report of his trip through Turkey with sideline trips into Iraq, Iran and Armenia.