1996_05 Hye Sharzhoom Newspaper May 1996

              8
Hye Sharzhoom
May 1996
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At the reception for the Kazans, (I to r): Mrs. M. Victoria Kazan, Dr.
Dickran Kouymjian, and Mr. Henry Kazan.
———^^i^^^^^^^—    luck combined with an enormous
Kazan, from p.l
als, and successes which follow us
and determine our life's story.
Along the way we encounterpeople
who also add to our experience.
Their degree of influence on us
depends upon the measure we allow or the intensity of that person's
personality. When you have connected with people that fulfill both
qualities you will forever be
changed, and you will remember
them always. There was a proud
few of us who came across such a
man here on our own campus. We
shared in this man's laughter and
his pain. He has gone through 90
years of living, we paused each
time we were reminded of that fact.
It was a whirlwind experienced that
left us united in amazement.
The biography of Henry
Kazan reads like so many American success stories, a little bit of
amount of initiative, the story seems
unreal until you meet him. Mr.
Kazan claims the population breaks
up 80, 15, 5. Five percent of the
population are geniuses, fifteen percent are mad, and eighty percent
are ordinary people. His philosophy lies within that eighty percent.
"Forget the five and the fifteen,
they are beyond your league. You
have to compete within the eighty
percent, and be the best in that
eighty percent that you can be."
Somehow, if Henry Kazan is included in that eighty percent most
of us would have to find another
category. He is quite different from
anyone I have ever met.
Mr. Kazan has an urgency
about him that at first is unsettling.
You feel guilty about a 90 year old
man with more energy than yourself leading you around. He draws
you in. He comes up beside you,
Music & Record Donations
A Treasury of Armenian Chants, compiled and annotated by Shahan
Arzruni, New York: St. Vartan's Press, 1994, 169 pages with a
bibliography of Armenian music, donated by John Garabedian of
Fresno, California.
Blood, Esta, Five Armenian Folksongs, 1995, sheet music scored for
piano, flute and guitar, published by Frank E. Warren, P. O. Box
650006, W. Newton, MA 02165.
Djivan Gasparyan, solo duduk, Apricots from Eden, compact disk, with
Vachik Avakian, duduk, Levon Arshakung, d'hol, produced by
Harold G. Hagopian, Traditional Crossroads, P.O. Box 20320,
Greeley Square State, NY, NY 10001-9992. Mr. Hagopian, violinist
and music producer, was a former student of die Armenian Studies
Program.
Works ofKemani Tatyos Efendi, compact disk, Kudsi Erguner Ensemble,
produced by Harold G. Hagopian, Traditional Crossroads.
Thank You Donors
Armenian National Committee, Fresno
Berge & Alice Bulbulian, Fresno
Armen & Leona Etonian, Antioch
Ann Tokatian, Fresno
Anahid Eleazarian, Fresno
Isabel A. Egoian, Fresno
Richard & Vartouhy Pandukht, Fresno
Rosalie Mahakian, Castro Valley
Greg Dabanian, Belmont
John & Evelyn Armaganian, Selma
Gerald E. Ottenbreit, Jr., Ann Arbor, MI
Hagie Kandarian, Fresno
holds you by the arm, and speaking
with notable determination to you
alone. It is a purposeful gesture, he
has your exclusive attention and
uses it to direct you towards his
understanding. He is relentless,
not so you feel manipulated, but
rather motivated. The understanding he disperses is food for the soul
and information for the mind. You
want him to speak because perhaps
he will divulge the secret he has
discovered.
According to Henry
Kazan there is no secret His life is
a continual blessing of luck. Lady
Luck, as he affectionately refers to
her, has followed him since before
he was born. The rest falls into his
philosophy of the Four-D's: Desire, Dedication, Discipline, Determination. The only other quality a
person needs to achieve greatness
within the eighty percent is an education. Often he emphasizes that
crucial element. Without an education street smarts, ability, strength
and intelligence mean nothing.
"When I was a kid in New York the
gang I hung out with there were a
coupleof smart guys, they had good
heads, but they didn 't get an education, and they never became anything.'' Mr. Kazan is brutally honest when it comes to this one characteristic inpeople. He loves people
but if they do not have it up there,
he will not expend his time on them.
He cannot afford to spend his time
on them; time is the only commodity that he cannot acquire more of.
I had the privilege of
spending an entire day with Henry
hye talk
The Armenian Studies
Program's Television
Community Talk Show
with host
Barlow Der Mugrdechian
Highlighting issues in the
local and international
Armenian community.
Broadcasts
Thursdays at 8:30 p.m.
Fridays at 6:00 p.m.
On Continental Cable vision
Channel 4
Kazan, graciously invited by the
Sahatdjian family to tour their raisin packing plant in Madera. It was
an enlightening and astounding experience, one that was hard to describe (especially to people my age
who could not understand how
hanging out with some 90 year old
could be fun). I listened to him, I
questioned him, but I especially
watched him.
He is a light
source unto
himself. When
you are in his
presence you
give him your
attention, he
demands your
attention, without saying a
word. His entrances are
characterized
by suspenseful expectation. What
will he say? What will he do?
What does he see that escapes us
all? These are the questions that
draw you to him, and he fulfills all
your expectations. He expresses
himself with an honesty that is a
little frightening. He makes insightful observations combined
with such candor that they shock
you at first, you cannot believe he
just said that But he is telling the
bald faced truth and you immedi-
atelyconcedetohisauthority. Simply put he lives without fear.
This fearlessness makes
him dangerous. If you are around
him for even a short time you forget
yourself and want to be him. You
appreciate the hardships he survived and the sheer history he has
lived through, but you want to go
back ninety years and take his place,
hoping that when you make it to
where he is now, you can live without fear. You will have the ability
to make split second decisions, go
forward without hesitation, and assess the personality of others with
expertise. The
wealth and
luxury that
Henry Kazan
enjoys are incidental tokens, ignore
them — he
does, covet the
one thing that
hecannotlose:
his control.
Whether you
call it charisma or power, the man is in control. Henry Kazan may seem like a
loose cannon at times, but do not be
fooled, he knows exactly what he is
doing. That is his most powerful
quality of all, and what makes him
a man you will never forget.
A format search for the Kazan
Professor has just been announced. Candidates with a
PhJD. (or near completion) can
send a resume with cover letter,
accompanying documents and
tetters of recommendation to:
The Chair, Kazan Search Committee, Department of History,
California State University,
Fresno, CA 93740 (209) 278-
2153 or fax (209) 278-2129.
Assembly, from p.6
the Armenian Genocide. The political goal of ANI is to provide the
most concrete evidence of the first
genocide of the twentieth century.
This will be done without watering
down the Assembly's current activities. They are now recruiting
experts to manage the program as
well as a staff to run it. One of the
audience members questioned the
worth of the recognition of the
Genocide. With obvious emotional
charge, Mr. Vartian replied, "Every Armenian in this room has had
their family tree truncated....The
Armenian Genocide was the prototype of genocideln this century and
we will be damned if the Armenian
Genocide denial will be the proto-
. type denial at the end of this century."
All of the hardwork done
by this institution, like anything,
needs funding to operate. I had the
chance to experience first hand the
operations of the Assembly this
past summer. The staff at the As-
sembly knows no time clocks. They
work very diligently and have never
heard ofthe word "quit." All in all,
the Assembly will provide the most
bang for your buck when it comes
to Armenian issues in Washington.
For information, write to or call:
Armenian Assembly of America
122 CSt.,N.W., Suite 350
Washington D.C. 20001
(202)638-4904
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