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Armenian Scholar Addresses Genocide In February, the Holocaust Resource Center hosted a lecture by Dr. Peter Balakian, the Donald M. and Constance H. Rebar Chair in Humanities at Colgate University. Balakian spoke about The Armenian Genocide of 1915 and America’s Response as part of the Center’s lecture series. He has received numerous awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and an Ellis Island Medal of Honor. His book, The Burning Tigris: the Armenian Genocide and America’s Response, received the 2005 Raphael Lemkin prize. Balakian descends from a family of Armenian scholars. His great-uncle Gregor Balakian wrote a two-volume account of the Armenian genocide, as an eyewitness who escaped the massacre of intellectuals that took place on April 24, 1915. This date has become a day of remembrance for Armenians around the world. He reminded the crowded auditorium that Armenia had been a favorite 19th century destination of American missionaries, who considered it a biblical land of the ancient Christians. Mount Ararat, an Armenian landmark, is believed to be the landing place of Noah’s ark. The Americans protested vehemently against the brutality meted out to the Armenians, as the Ottoman Empire descended into violent collapse, he noted. Balakian referred to the U.S.
National Archives, which contain more than 4,000 pages of documents about these events that were recorded by American consuls, missionaries and journalists. He explained how America was just emerging from its own civil war and was ready to look beyond its own borders. Huge town hall meetings were convened, most notably at Boston’s Fanueil Hall in 1894. More than $100 million dollars in relief funds was raised in the United States which at the turn of the 20th century was a substantial sum. For the first time, the American Red Cross, led by Clara Barton, went abroad to aid the Armenian refugees. Balakian’s research revealed how news coverage kept the Americans well-informed. Every 2.2 days, the New York Times ran an article on the Armenian situation. The world was swept up into World War I, which effectively destroyed the Ottoman Empire. According to Balakian, two-thirds of the Armenian people died during this period. Balakian then challenged the present-day inhabitants of Anatolia to come to terms with the full scope of their national history. These painful events still retain their sting even as more recent conflicts among different groups engulf the area. Reverend Sahog Kaishian, visiting scholar of the Westchester Armenian Community, gave a closing benediction. He prayed for peace and echoed the words of Balakian, “let us make human rights a priority.”
Rockin’ Speaker Manhattan students were treated to a woman’s inside view of the world of rock ’n’ roll when Joy Askew spoke about Women in Rock in February. Askew is one of the few female musicians to find steady employment in what is considered by many to be a boys’ club and has worked with rock legends, such as Peter Gabriel, Joe Jackson, Quincy Jones and the Rolling Stones.
in the fine arts department who has been teaching the popular course History of Rock and Roll for a year and a half. She gave a frank and realistic picture of what it takes to make a living in popular music, he says. Women must be very dedicated in order to succeed for they face a race against time in the form of ageism, as well as gender discrimination, according to Kruth.
A native of Newcastle, England, Askew knew she “loved music and couldn’t bear to be without it.” This passion carried her through jazz studies at a local college, on to London and eventually to New York City. British composer and post-punk rock star Joe Jackson gave her a first big break.
“In any other field, Joy Askew would be widely known for the way years of high-level experience have honed her immense singing and writing talents, but experience does not count for much in the youth-driven rock world,” he says.
Askew was invited to speak by her longtime friend John Kruth, a professor
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Askew occasionally sings with Kruth’s band, Reckless Optimism. Otherwise, she performs frequently at London and New York City venues.