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	<title>Liana AghajanianLiana Aghajanian | Liana Aghajanian</title>
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	<link>http://lianaaghajanian.com</link>
	<description>Journalist</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:28:29 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>Intersections: A Column</title>
		<link>http://lianaaghajanian.com/2012/02/21/intersections-a-column/</link>
		<comments>http://lianaaghajanian.com/2012/02/21/intersections-a-column/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:28:29 +0000</pubDate>
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				<category><![CDATA[Latest]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://lianaaghajanian.com/?p=751</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[While traveling in the South Caucasus this summer, I had the opportunity to file a column of the places I went, the people I met and the shenanigans I got up to in Armenia and Georgia. The columns focused on social issues like poverty, inter-ethnic relations and pedestrian safety, and allowed me to also write about my impressions on thousand-year-old cities embedded deep within a country that by and large remains undiscovered. Even though I&#8217;m back in Los Angeles for now, my column is still being published in print and online at the Glendale News-Press and Burbank Leader, both part of  Los Angeles Times Community News.  Entitled &#8220;Intersections,&#8221; the column deals with a melange of topics, including, but not limited to a commentary on the rich, often hilarious and sometimes heartbreaking immigrant experience, of which I know all too well. Here are a links to a few recent ones: Enduring the proud agony of name mispronunciation Breaking bread with two identities Discovering ways to feel more human]]></description>
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		<item>
		<title>Mental Floss, Jan/Feb 2012</title>
		<link>http://lianaaghajanian.com/2012/02/18/mental-floss-janfeb-2012/</link>
		<comments>http://lianaaghajanian.com/2012/02/18/mental-floss-janfeb-2012/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 18 Feb 2012 00:24:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Latest]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://lianaaghajanian.com/?p=747</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It is an indescribable feeling when you get the opportunity to write for one of your favorite publications, but it&#8217;s even better when your article gets a teaser on the actual cover (!). You can read my piece, &#8220;Why Are Armenians So Good at Chess?&#8221; in the Jan/Feb 2012 of Mental Floss, on newsstands now.]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Under Hrant Dink&#8217;s Aura, a Turkish-Armenian Community Blossoms</title>
		<link>http://lianaaghajanian.com/2012/02/17/under-hrant-dinks-aura-a-turkish-armenian-community-blossoms/</link>
		<comments>http://lianaaghajanian.com/2012/02/17/under-hrant-dinks-aura-a-turkish-armenian-community-blossoms/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 17 Feb 2012 20:10:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Los Angeles]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://lianaaghajanian.com/?p=734</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Ararat Magazine &#8211; As the sun took its last breath on a cold Sunday night, a crowd shuffled its way into a crème-colored hall deep in the heart of L.A’s  San Fernando Valley. The mood, although somber, was tinged with a sparkle of hope and chairs, although plenty, weren’t enough. Between the handshakes and embraces, where personal space is usually lost somewhere between the first, and then second kiss on the cheek, a Turkish-Armenian community, almost 7000 miles away from Istanbul, paid their respects to one of their own, with his iconic image emblazoned on their coat pockets, to the sounds of the melancholy lull of Albert Vardanyan’s duduk lingering through the room. Some had met him and formed relationships, sharing dinner tables and discussions. Others knew him from afar. In either case, the impressions that Hrant Dink — the Turkish-Armenian newspaper editor who was gunned down five years ago —  left were always the same: not just a good Armenian, but a good human being, whose vision and determination had warmth to thaw away physical and emotional borders. For this crowd more than any other, Dink has come to represent a sort of Armenian Martin Luther King, Jr., a [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Key Note Speech, Cal State Northridge/SPJ Los Angeles Event</title>
		<link>http://lianaaghajanian.com/2011/11/17/key-note-speech-cal-state-northridgespj-los-angeles-event/</link>
		<comments>http://lianaaghajanian.com/2011/11/17/key-note-speech-cal-state-northridgespj-los-angeles-event/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 17 Nov 2011 11:15:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://lianaaghajanian.com/?p=724</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Just 10 hours after I got back to Los Angeles after five months abroad, I had the honor of giving the key note speech to a room full of Los Angeles-area high school students at Cal State Northridge&#8217;s high school journalism event, which they had organized with the Los Angeles chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. I spoke about my experiences after graduating from CSUN in 2007, about falling into an editing job I felt I was forced to take given the crumbling media environment, even though it was far from the career goals I had set for myself, about how I began to devote every hour I could outside of the 40 hour work week to freelancing, eventually starting my own online magazine, and finally, leaving to pursue the crazy, beautiful and nerve wracking world of freelance journalism, full-time. I spoke of making the decision to spend my summer in Armenia, traveling up and down the country on Soviet-era vans, sitting on wooden chairs (that would be while I was inside the van), having children throw up on me on more than one occasion, filing stories, meeting people and having the time of my life. I spoke about [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Armenia&#8217;s Tough Sell to the Diaspora: Come Home</title>
		<link>http://lianaaghajanian.com/2011/11/17/armenias-tough-sell-to-the-diaspora-come-home/</link>
		<comments>http://lianaaghajanian.com/2011/11/17/armenias-tough-sell-to-the-diaspora-come-home/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 17 Nov 2011 10:34:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Liana</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Armenia and the South Caucasus]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://lianaaghajanian.com/?p=719</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Atlantic &#8211; Most Armenians live outside the &#8220;homeland,&#8221; but the country is trying to draw back some of the best and brightest to help fix the troubled nation. So far they&#8217;ve gotten 12 recruits. Armenia is known for having a high emigration rate, caused mainly by labor migrants heading to Russia and elsewhere in the former Soviet Union in search of work. Now, a private initiative is striving to mitigate the effects of the steady outflow of human capital by enticing ethnic Armenians living abroad, particularly those living settled lives in the West, to resettle in the &#8220;homeland.&#8221; The project, largely an online media campaign started by those who have already made the move, is being framed in Peace Corps-like terms and aims to appeal to idealistic impulses in the diaspora. Its leading advocates &#8212; drawing on a deeply held Diaspora concept that Armenia&#8217;s survival depends on a strong defensive capability &#8212; exhibit a missionary zeal when discussing the allure of repatriation. &#8220;I really believe that this land has some kind of magnetic pull,&#8221; commented Los Angeles native Madlene Minassian, who decided with her family to settle in Armenia about a decade ago. &#8220;A lot of people are happy [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Kurds Protest Turkish Bombings</title>
		<link>http://lianaaghajanian.com/2011/09/15/text-here/</link>
		<comments>http://lianaaghajanian.com/2011/09/15/text-here/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 15 Sep 2011 02:36:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Liana</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[International]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[international]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[kurdish diaspora]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[kurds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[turkey]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://lianaaghajanian.com/?p=617</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Ianyanmag - Inspired by an ongoing “Arab Spring” in countries throughout the Middle East and North Africa, Kurds in Turkey, which number around 20 million, have taken to the streets in Istanbul and elsewhere in the country to protest against political repression, cultural suppression, discrimination and a decision by Turkey’s election board to ban prominent Kurdish politicians from upcoming elections. Hostile Turkish-Kurdish relations have been ongoing for more almost a century, but with aggressions mounting this year, and recent news of Turkey launching major air raids on Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) bases in northern Iraq in response to landmine attacks by the party that left dozens of Turkish soldiers dead in Turkey’s Hakkari province, the conflict and increasing violence have reemerged stronger than before. Outside of Turkey,  Kurdish Diasporans are also determined to call attention to another example of what they say is the “Turkish states repression of the Kurdish people.” From Tokyo to Nashville, Tennessee, Amsterdam and Rome, Kurdish leaders have been mobilizing protest demonstrations in recent weeks. Kurds in the United Kingdom have also participated in protests, assembling in front of  the Turkish Embassy in London for an “emergency demonstration” against “Turkish bombardment of Kurdish regions indiscriminately and [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Village Hopes Religious Revival Can Spur Economic Improvement</title>
		<link>http://lianaaghajanian.com/2011/09/10/village-hopes-religious-revival-can-spur-economic-improvement/</link>
		<comments>http://lianaaghajanian.com/2011/09/10/village-hopes-religious-revival-can-spur-economic-improvement/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 10 Sep 2011 18:14:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Liana</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[International]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[armenia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[armenian apostolic church]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religion]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://lianaaghajanian.com/?p=628</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[EurasiaNet - Residents of one of Armenia’s most dilapidated villages are hoping a religious revival can improve their economic fortunes. In early August, the town of Karakert, a churchless Armenian village founded during the 1950s to house factory workers, hosted a mass baptism. Residents, some of whom now refer to the town as “cursed,” hoped that the event could help reverse two decades of decline. “This is a rebirth,” said Ashot Mnastkanyan, who brought his children Manvel, 13, and Ani, 11, to be baptized at Karakert’s community center. “We came here with so much joy.” “Today, I felt like I finally became Armenian,” declared newly baptized 55-year-old Laura Manoogyan. Deacon Avedis Zargavak Zhamkochyan, one of several priests who officiated at the mass ceremony, chimed in to correct her: “You were always Armenian, but today you became a Christian.” The economic crisis precipitated by the Soviet Union’s 1991 collapse devastated Karakert, which is located about 70 kilometers from Yerevan. Men of working age left the town in droves during the early 1990s, going abroad in search of employment. Karakert quickly gained a reputation as being one of the country’s most decrepit villages. With no spiritual center and plenty of hardship, faith [...]]]></description>
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		<title>A Postcard from Armenia</title>
		<link>http://lianaaghajanian.com/2011/07/29/a-postcard-from-armenia/</link>
		<comments>http://lianaaghajanian.com/2011/07/29/a-postcard-from-armenia/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 29 Jul 2011 13:47:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Latest]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://lianaaghajanian.com/?p=535</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Greetings, world. I’ve been in Armenia for almost two months, although it feels much longer than that. Every day is an adventure. Every day the heat gets more unbearable than the day before, but the nights are burning here, too, with love and laughter until the morning hours. Time moves strangely here and so does life. Trying to remember every experience and express it with words is becoming increasingly difficult, although I am making updates on my Tumblr when I can. A roundup of stories I’ve been working on, until next time: Improving Traffic Safety in Armenia Armenia: Animal Activists Demand End to Stray Dog Killings Intersections: A Place Best Understood Up Close Intersections: The Challenge of Returning Home Yerevan Activists Promote Humane Solution to Stray Dog Crisis Intersections: Rings of a Heritage’s Tree Trunk The Big Picture: Armenia’s Vernissage in Mobile The Yerevan Street Shoe Project LGBTs still facing discrimination in Armenia Armenia: Debating Sexual Abuse Against Women Choose Life: Activism Against Suicide]]></description>
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		<item>
		<title>Summer in the Caucasus</title>
		<link>http://lianaaghajanian.com/2011/06/18/summer-in-the-caucasus/</link>
		<comments>http://lianaaghajanian.com/2011/06/18/summer-in-the-caucasus/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 18 Jun 2011 14:39:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Latest]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://lianaaghajanian.com/?p=451</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I will be reporting from the South Caucasus for the summer, with Yerevan, Armenia as my base and Georgia and Turkey as exciting possibilities. Feel free to follow along, either via Twitter or Tumblr, where I do the most frequent posting these days.]]></description>
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		<title>Leaders Interpret Gang’s Rise</title>
		<link>http://lianaaghajanian.com/2011/06/15/leaders-interpret-gangs-rise/</link>
		<comments>http://lianaaghajanian.com/2011/06/15/leaders-interpret-gangs-rise/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 15 Jun 2011 19:22:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Liana</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[armenian diaspora]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gang]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[los angeles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[los angeles county]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://lianaaghajanian.com/?p=639</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Los Angeles Times - With the headlines gone and the arrests made, Armenians in Burbank and Glendale are now struggling with the perceptions of their cultural identity after a massive crackdown on the organized crime ring Armenian Power. The cultural perceptions — egged on by media bias, according to some, cultural fractions within their own community that hinder progress, according to others — have prompted many to dig deeper to address societal issues that many say are the root of the problem. The sting last week, which resulted in the arrest of 70 people in Los Angeles County, was aimed at crippling Armenian Power. Nearly 100 people throughout Southern California have been accused of extortion, kidnapping and fraud totaling at least $20 million. For Ara Arzumanian, who has worked in the field of youth development for the last 10 years, Armenian youth choosing a life of crime isn&#8217;t any different from teen suicide or depression, where multiple risk factors like socioeconomic status and drug and alcohol abuse are at play. “The core issue of all these problems is that we as an Armenian community and broader community, we as human beings, have abandoned our teenagers,” he said. “If these kids [...]]]></description>
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