William Saroyan's Famous Quote

[hagopn]

It would be good to record them, at least for the family, myrig told me to.

 

I was trying to point out that Armenians in the central valley of california had some things to deal with. Saroyan grew up there at lived it.

 

Thankyou hagopn, for your appeciation and understanding.

 

Dear friend, I am well aware of the troubles Armenians faced in the San Joaquin valley. One of the stories I recall is from the Hovanissian family, of the famed historian and his family, from the Depression era. One important detail is the Armenian ability to prepare for the worst in the event of disasters such as this sort of food shortage or outright famine. The story went that the general population resented the Armenians for having large quantities of preserves, which, as I have written previously, the ARmenians are absolute experts at doing, preparing long term preserve - even bread - that lasts through the Winter (in Armenia herself) or the Great Depression in the case of the San Joaquin Valley. The Armenian "maran"*** is notoriously well stocked in today's village in Armenia as well, and this might have been one reason that the Armenian population during the Blockade from 1991 to 1994, particularly the "freezing years" of 92-93, in addition to overfishing the lakes in Armenia for their protein needs, were not suffering from widespread famine.

 

***(մառան = pantry, but not really, more like a huge storehouse, sometimes underground, with the stored items in a large storage container or multiple containers of a variety of sorts, suspended from the ceiling to avoid direct contact with the surrounding storage room. Fascinating technology, really)

Edited February 2, 2014 by hagopn