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Pasadena Star-News (California)
February 5, 2013 Tuesday
Larry Wilson: A Pasadena monument to Armenian Genocide
I stopped by Bill Paparian's law office Tuesday morning to see the
preliminary plans for an Armenian Genocide memorial and first saw what
cool digs he's now practicing in: a century-old Greene & Greene.
For a former mayor of Pasadena, there could be no more classic setup
than a house by the city's greatest architects preserved and
adaptively reused without compromising the integrity of its design.
While Paparian is still practicing criminal defense law, his passion
right now is another local classic: The well-being of the Armenian
community. The oldest center of the Armenian diaspora in Southern
California is Pasadena, and like many descendants of that immigration,
Paparian's family goes back many generations here. His grandparents
had a grocery store on Fair Oaks Avenue at the turn of the century.
History is part of our being, and Paparian is working with the
Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial Committee to create a monument in
Memorial Park, at Raymond and Walnut, the planned dedication of which
in 2015 will coincide with 100th anniversary commemorations of the
Armenian Genocide.
Art Center Environmental Design student Catherine Menard won a
competition with 17 entrants - six of them Art Center students. Of the
three finalists, two were from the Pasadena design school.
"These young people are so talented," Paparian said. "I got emotional
as I listened to each of them" make their oral presentations for their
proposals. "These were American young people who at first really
didn't know anything about this event. This is something I've lived
with all my life, and here you're looking at something from someone
who is not Armenian."
One of the finalists, a young architect, actually was of Armenian
background, but Paparian says she's also enthusiastic about Menard's
design.
It looks from afar like a simple, open pyramid made from three steel
beams leaning together. But below its apex is a bowl into which
individual drops of water will drip - as tears have dripped for so
long over the loss of so many.
What I particularly like about her simple design is her proposal to
incorporate plantings of blazing-red pomegranates and pyracantha
around the pyramid - both of the plants are native to Armenia.
Of course the whole notion of such a monument has not been without the
arguments that blaze a century on from the killings. Last August
representatives from the Turkish government paid a visit to Pasadena
City Hall objecting to the very idea of the plan.
The proposal "deeply offends" the Turkish people, the diplomats said,
and claimed to Pasadena officials that in the case of the hundreds of
thousands of Armenians who died at the hands of the Ottoman empire,
the term genocide is one of legitimate scholarly debate.
It's not, actually, except among scholars associated with the Turkish
government. As with climate change, it's time to put that canard of
"reasonable people can disagree" behind us.
Private funds will pay for the monument, a welcome addition - along
with the proposed moving of the plaque honoring Pasadena Medal of
Honor recipient Reginald Desiderio - to Memorial Park.
At random on Wednesday: Pasadena Councilman Victor Gordo correctly
notes that, while it's true as I wrote that Israel Estrada has stopped
his council campaign, the latter's name stays on the ballot. So Gordo
technically still faces an opponent March 5.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
February 5, 2013 Tuesday
Larry Wilson: A Pasadena monument to Armenian Genocide
I stopped by Bill Paparian's law office Tuesday morning to see the
preliminary plans for an Armenian Genocide memorial and first saw what
cool digs he's now practicing in: a century-old Greene & Greene.
For a former mayor of Pasadena, there could be no more classic setup
than a house by the city's greatest architects preserved and
adaptively reused without compromising the integrity of its design.
While Paparian is still practicing criminal defense law, his passion
right now is another local classic: The well-being of the Armenian
community. The oldest center of the Armenian diaspora in Southern
California is Pasadena, and like many descendants of that immigration,
Paparian's family goes back many generations here. His grandparents
had a grocery store on Fair Oaks Avenue at the turn of the century.
History is part of our being, and Paparian is working with the
Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial Committee to create a monument in
Memorial Park, at Raymond and Walnut, the planned dedication of which
in 2015 will coincide with 100th anniversary commemorations of the
Armenian Genocide.
Art Center Environmental Design student Catherine Menard won a
competition with 17 entrants - six of them Art Center students. Of the
three finalists, two were from the Pasadena design school.
"These young people are so talented," Paparian said. "I got emotional
as I listened to each of them" make their oral presentations for their
proposals. "These were American young people who at first really
didn't know anything about this event. This is something I've lived
with all my life, and here you're looking at something from someone
who is not Armenian."
One of the finalists, a young architect, actually was of Armenian
background, but Paparian says she's also enthusiastic about Menard's
design.
It looks from afar like a simple, open pyramid made from three steel
beams leaning together. But below its apex is a bowl into which
individual drops of water will drip - as tears have dripped for so
long over the loss of so many.
What I particularly like about her simple design is her proposal to
incorporate plantings of blazing-red pomegranates and pyracantha
around the pyramid - both of the plants are native to Armenia.
Of course the whole notion of such a monument has not been without the
arguments that blaze a century on from the killings. Last August
representatives from the Turkish government paid a visit to Pasadena
City Hall objecting to the very idea of the plan.
The proposal "deeply offends" the Turkish people, the diplomats said,
and claimed to Pasadena officials that in the case of the hundreds of
thousands of Armenians who died at the hands of the Ottoman empire,
the term genocide is one of legitimate scholarly debate.
It's not, actually, except among scholars associated with the Turkish
government. As with climate change, it's time to put that canard of
"reasonable people can disagree" behind us.
Private funds will pay for the monument, a welcome addition - along
with the proposed moving of the plaque honoring Pasadena Medal of
Honor recipient Reginald Desiderio - to Memorial Park.
At random on Wednesday: Pasadena Councilman Victor Gordo correctly
notes that, while it's true as I wrote that Israel Estrada has stopped
his council campaign, the latter's name stays on the ballot. So Gordo
technically still faces an opponent March 5.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress