A & G Mariam says when she dies, she wants Pink Floyd to be played at her funeral. She’s perhaps the only person I know who does not want people to wail their eyes out, not eat for months or just hop in the coffin with her and stop breathing all together when she dies. …
BLOGS DILIJAN 2022
You are afraid of hurting. I always turned on the TV to find an Armenian translation of something, memorize the words, shut my nostrils and run to the kitchen. – Mom, listen! I learnt to speak just like Bill. I used to love admiring the green apples and the green grass and never come close …
Daily Thoughts Dilijan is simply a lovely place with beautiful nature, curing oxygen, and inspirational mountains. Organizers described it as a Switzerland of Armenia. But obviously, it is not Switzerland. There is no peace. On the first day, when we were introducing ourselves to each other, one of the Armenian participants told me that in …
Yerevan Blues In a parallel reality — well beyond the news, commercials, TV shows, sitcoms, consumerism, work, politics, wars and pandemics — some people keep on establishing another life. Its noise is always low enough to defeat the city cacophony. To battle this, one should re-establish itself as an actor, who catches the intonations of …
When you’re young… When you’re young, it seems like you’ll stay that way forever. That there is a lot of time or the time is yours and you can decide how to manage it. In the process, you begin to understand that it is more punishment than grace. Or is it a grace that will …
For newly arrived pilgrims Clouds tightly wrapped the tops of the mountains with a soft scarf, drops of yesterday’s rain lazily slid off the yellowed leaves, dogs ran ahead, looking for someone to beg for food – this is how the morning begins on one of the floors of paradise. God was not in a …
Reflection of My Growing Up I was getting older. I was getting taller.I reached on tiptoe to the railing,the top shelves and the light bulbs.I touched the ceiling with my hands, painted it pink.To make it warmer. I was growing. I radiated sunlight,I was reflected in the mirror for eternity.And the bunnies that fell from …
Silhouette [ When Davit Gabunia is giving a workshop this is something in between psychotherapy and crazy flow on though. Thank you for this! ] Here is your silhouette. He is not taller than one meter seventy, a little wider, because it is a shame to smear your favorite embroidery with a felt-tip pen. Take it, …
Բաղրամյան 25+1 Իսկ ինչու՞ եմ ես խուսափում մոնտաժից ու տասնյակ րոպեներ շարունակ զմայլվում խոշտանգված դիակի տեսարանով: Փողոցի աղմուկին ու իմ լռությանը միացնել կարելի է ցանկացած հնչյուն ու ձայն, երաժշտություն ու խոսք: Մի քանի օկտավայով իջեցրած խնջույքների երաժշտությունը (իննսունականներ), ավելի ցանկալիների արհամարհական՝ «դու գնա, մենք կերգենք» հայացքները (վաղ երկու հազարականներ), մեղադրական խոսքերը, որ ես սիրված չեմ, …
What The Western Reader Wants Us To Be In the photo, you see a Georgian recreational place called Tskaltubo. This place was very popular during the Soviet times. Stalin’s favorite place, to be clear. Most of this place is in ruins now. The only visitor to the buildings is moss. Last year, if I am …
Daily Instructions When I say right – stopWhen I say left – reverseWhen I say dog – touchWhen I say cat – clap It is not a metaphorIt is a new instructionOr a secret languageOnly for usTo disrupt the stringsWith our daily livesWhere is no space for thinkingAnd is full of doubtsWhere the mornings …
Growing up You are growing up without noticing it. Now you are one year old, and it seems that there are no such important things as your mother and that bright toy that hangs so invitingly on a string. Now you are five, and you are running around the yard, trying to hide from the goose, …
What matters now My texts have been notes for so long, that this format has become a shelter. What would I share, if there was no hipsterish reference to make in the end of the sentence? – these and some other thoughts you can find on each and every piece of my social media, backs …
Who likes their Coca-Cola warm? We decided to quit on the theme, called The Unknown Voices today. We have a different one now. I shared a story for the rejected topic with my project partner. It was about a depressed person, who liked wondering in the huge super-market of a foreign country without any knowledge …
Winged “I just wanted to fly somewhere under the skyTwo beautiful wings and I don’t need anything else…” Skryabin, “Ptakhy” [“Birds”] What would birds talk about if they could? What would those who can explore all spaces and see the world as if in …
Something in the way You will be accused of feeling unreal so much, to ignore the real. There will be nothing left for you to do but lie down and listening to the song about the dream of breaking down the impossible wall, Then lighting a cigarette and crying from the smoke. There’s nothing left …
Bed Sheets and the Tiny Prints This morning I missed breakfast, so I could lay in bed a little longer. I remembered the time when I was a child and woke up with bed sheets printed on my face in the mornings. I have not had them in a very, very long time, like I …
Leaking through the fingers In front of me — mountains covered with forests and white clouds above them. They hang like a curtain, hiding deep wrinkles from the eyes. Thunderstorm quickly comes to the mountains. The sun is shining, the breeze tickles the neck, and on the other side of the mountain a black cloud is …
Untitled You’re listening to the Public Radio of Armenia, it is midnight, and you know what it is about. Its about you and your anonymous letters sent to us about love, lust, and blues. Now, we’ve received one, and the person talks in slow motion. Lets see what she has for us. “The most intimate thig …
We are small people that came to discuss the big world. We—me and Mariam—were watching movies to get to know each other. Such was the task. And Amelie’s fish got lost. We were watching the movie and complaining about the sound. And one of the Veronicas died. We were very actively discussing our interests, so that later we …
Noise Sound: Silence. Someone is sitting looking in the direction of the sound. A voice that says nothing. Silence. There is someone who doesn’t know about sound and is trying to understand. Who has an ear but cannot use it?Sound: Noise. Uncertainty.You look carefully at one point and everything seems clear. Sounds and sounds, chaos. Silence, silence. Bio Bio …
Premonition On Wednesday we were divided in two groups for an assignment and I thought to myself maybe I’m too old for this. I’m not exactly sure how I should feel about being 26. The so-called middle twenties. Is being in your middle twenties similar to being middle height? Which is a tale short people …
Learning from stone and sand What can you learn from people of the mountain? What can we get from those whose family nests are surrounded by a dense wall of stone and sand? Is it possible to find something instructive among the ruins of houses and abandoned homes? We walked through the streets of Dilijan, …
I have a new nickname for my county There are a bunch of ways to describe and group cuntries in Geography, however, I’ve got a new nickname for my country and if needed, I’m good to share with others as well. …
The Morning Exercise We are more than ten people in the room, and the task is to choose our favorite place, our spot. What kind of choice is it? Should I rush? Because if someone takes a place that I would like, then what is the point? There is another ,,but’’. If I …
counting one two three counting each of us on the tree It leaks sap, which looks like blood. splashes, leaves a sweetish aftertaste and the smell gets into your nose and it seems like it’s only one day just spread as butter on a slice ten twenty thirty the notches get deeper, the knife …
Oblique Strategies Here are some Oblique Strategies, developed in 1975 by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt. Take them seriously. – Think of the radio | Are there sections? Consider transitions | Emphasize repetitions | Into the impossible | Is there something missing? | Ask your body | Decorate, decorate | Reverse | Honour the error as a hidden intention | Water | Use fewer …
I was silent We were lying on the green floor. They all came and started taking pictures of us. We didn’t want to talk with them. Saw them, but they made us scream and make them leave us alone. The sun was directly on me, I had my head on the green and was looking …
You Have Exhausted the Mirror, Mariam! Today we had to write about somebody we know really well and the phrases they are using most often. I chose my own mother. She’s someone who did not even had to utter a word, but simply raise her eyebrows or purse her lips and I knew I was …
Tired? This could’ve been a segment from a TV interview. Surprisingly, this is not one of those with live studio audience, bright colors featuring the irritating voice of an anchor promising cheaper sensations. You are just quietly talking to him with no fear of being exposed. Bright colors are going along with your youthful glowing …
On War and Literature Everything seems to last forever. Black holes, smaller stars, love, war. Almost everything except peace. It’s a constant war. Even when we’re sitting around the breakfast table having a croissant with a little piece of peach. Every day is war, or cold, or invisible, or war for some unknown reason. It …
We <3 One day, I will gather all these stories and write a big, honest novel, how my darling Kerouac wrote “On the Road” after his long travels. I want to say that literature for me is life, it’s freedom, it’s love, it’s experiences of life, experiences that you physically cannot live, no matter how …
A girl known as a little I am riding a bicycle. It is my favorite thing to do – cycling and cycling over and over again, faster and faster. Like I am creating a wind. I am not on the ground but not in the air, either. It is safe here. I ride around my …
Math Problems and the People I Don’t Know That Well The two things I’ve been afraid of for most of my life are dealing with Math problems and the people I don’t know that well. If I had to choose, I think I’d take people over Math, as they are a bit more willing to …
Reflection – Hi, I’m Armen. – I’m Mariam. – My name is Gio. – Sam. – And I’m Tetiana. Three countries separated by thousands of kilometers, different time zones, languages, authentic cultural heritage and unique historical experience. A dozen of young people born in different parts of the world. Movies, books, radio – as a …
“I need to finish the story” We all have dreams. Some people have more realistic dreams that can be easily realized with a little more effort. For some people, it remains “pink dreams”, such as seeing unicorns. Dreams help us to stay down to earth and to feel ourselves like kids sometimes. The first day …
ARE THERE PIGEONS LEFT ON OUR LAND? If I were to draw the seven-minute long meetings around the tables, I would put some crunchy rolls of thread, shaped like a giant in the back of each person. However, patterns of thoughts, ideas and frustrations are similar in our conversations. Maybe there is a different tone, …