By Anoush Ter Taulian
I am a lifelong Armenian activist who has spent decades resisting assimilation and raising awareness of the ongoing genocide against indigenous Armenians. My radio show, “Liars Drive Me Crazy,” weaves together personal memoir, original poetry, and social justice commentary. Listen to it at kpfa.org/episode/liars-drive-me-crazy-enough-of-their-lies/.
My Armenian immigrant mother who was born in India never taught me the language, history or culture of our people. I found out about my heritage in a University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) library. When Professor Levon Chorbajian gifted me The Armenian Genocide: Testimonies of the Eyewitness Survivors by Verjine Svazlian, I wrote a poem inhabiting the soul of a displaced genocide mother searching the Syrian desert for her captured daughter.
Being at University of California, Berkeley, in the 1970s also shaped my political worldview. It’s where I learned about Armenian political prisoners for the first time, and where women were reclaiming their right to control their bodies. In my artistic work, I explore the connection between male wars and a fear of female sexuality, among other topics.
As an unwanted daughter, I also turn inward, reading my poem “Blue Baby,” to encourage a Me Too movement for unwanted Armenian daughters. I also address incest and lesbianism, topics the Armenian community often avoids, in my poem “Sedated.”
This show also features the story of a brave beloved Artsakh soldier, Siranoush Arushanian, who was 50 years old during the First Artsakh war and successfully stood up to ageism.
