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6 The Armenian Reporter | May 17, 2008<br />
Community<br />
THIS ARMENIAN LIFE<br />
by Tamar<br />
Kevonian<br />
Michele walked into the Mexican restaurant<br />
in a flurry of nervous energy,<br />
flagging down the waiter as she slid<br />
into the booth. She was there because<br />
of a phone call a mere 30 minutes<br />
earlier to meet at the usual place.<br />
Except the time, no specifics were announced.<br />
She was glad for the call. “I<br />
need a drink,” she had said.<br />
As she took her place <strong>with</strong> her<br />
friends, the waiter noticed her and<br />
before he arrived at the table Mardik<br />
asked why she needed a drink.<br />
“I don’t know if I told you guys<br />
about th<strong>is</strong> incident about my dog<br />
walker and the dog” she asked,<br />
referring to a recent incident <strong>with</strong><br />
a dog walker she hires to walk a<br />
client’s pet.<br />
“Would you like a drink” the<br />
waiter interrupted.<br />
“Yes, one of those,” she said,<br />
pointing to a margarita glass on<br />
the table.<br />
“Can I see your ID” the waiter<br />
asked.<br />
We all burst into laughter. It had<br />
been a long time since any of us<br />
was asked that question.<br />
“A 38-year-old just got carded,”<br />
Michele said <strong>with</strong> a huge smile, enjoying<br />
th<strong>is</strong> small stroke to her vanity<br />
since her birthday was only a<br />
week away.<br />
“Anyway,” she continued her story,<br />
“the dog attacks the other dog - the<br />
big dog attacks the little dog. The<br />
dog gets 36 stitches.”<br />
Michele’s dog was the big dog that<br />
her contractor was walking. She<br />
was ready to put the whole incident<br />
behind her until the owner of the<br />
small dog put up flyers around the<br />
neighborhood. “dog attack,” said<br />
the headline, <strong>with</strong> a description of<br />
Michele and her contracted dog<br />
walker. They were familiar fixtures<br />
in the area and were known to many<br />
in the neighborhood. “So I called<br />
him up and said, ‘Thanks for putting<br />
the flyers up like that because<br />
I don’t know how to get a hold of<br />
you,’” she said, describing her conversation.<br />
She agreed to meet him,<br />
take pictures of the dog to determine<br />
that there was actual damage.<br />
The owner of the dog requested that<br />
Michele pay for the medical expenses.<br />
“I don’t care about anything else.<br />
I know it was an accident. Things<br />
like th<strong>is</strong> happen,” he had said and<br />
Michele agreed to the terms.<br />
The dog walker and the pet<br />
owner had not exchanged contact<br />
information in the mayhem that<br />
followed the incident. “My dog attacked<br />
and then attacked, attacked,<br />
like three times, and then she took<br />
off. More people came, she got<br />
scared, and she took off and went<br />
back home. Luckily,” she said. The<br />
dog walker was in charge of two<br />
dogs that day. When the large dog<br />
attacked and ran, she had to run<br />
after it and didn’t get a chance to<br />
talk to the other owner but now,<br />
because of the flyers, Michele had<br />
found the other owner.<br />
“So far things are going great,<br />
we’re communicating. I’m like,<br />
‘Ten days are up, did you remove<br />
the stitches Is the dog OK’” she<br />
asked him. “Today he writes me an<br />
e-mail saying ‘As of yesterday the<br />
doctor released the dog of all health<br />
problems, everything <strong>is</strong> cool. Here<br />
are the bills. The total comes out to<br />
$382,’” she said. She had no <strong>is</strong>sue<br />
<strong>with</strong> the amount of the medical bills.<br />
It was a sum she had expected, but<br />
h<strong>is</strong> e-mail continued on to ask for<br />
The dog wh<strong>is</strong>perer<br />
an additional $60 for h<strong>is</strong> daughter’s<br />
gas expense. “I, of course, went to<br />
MapQuest; I MapQuested from h<strong>is</strong><br />
address to the vet and it’s not even<br />
seven miles round trip,” she said, “so<br />
I wrote him back and I’m like ‘You<br />
know $60 seems a bit inflated, considering<br />
it’s only seven miles round<br />
trip, four trips total, maybe a gallon<br />
of gas. I don’t know what kind of<br />
car she drives but that’s a gallon of<br />
gas for me, which at th<strong>is</strong> rate today<br />
<strong>is</strong> like $4. So like $4 versus $60,” she<br />
mimed a scale <strong>with</strong> her two hands.<br />
“I can’t believe th<strong>is</strong>. He’s trying to<br />
milk me for whatever he can,” she<br />
said <strong>with</strong> an incredulous laugh.<br />
She needs to settle th<strong>is</strong> matter<br />
quickly because the owners of the<br />
dog who attacked are moving to New<br />
York in a few days and she will have no<br />
contact <strong>with</strong> them once they leave.<br />
“They’re paying the vet’s bill,<br />
right” asks Mardik.<br />
“No. I’m paying for it. But if th<strong>is</strong><br />
guy decides to be an a-hole about<br />
it, I need to the talk to the owners,”<br />
Michele explains. She’s worried<br />
that the owner of the small dog<br />
might sue her to collect the $60.<br />
The waiter approaches the table to<br />
ask for our food order. We hadn’t<br />
opened the menu yet but, as regulars,<br />
we knew our options and preferences.<br />
“Are we getting one of the platters”<br />
asks Mardik.<br />
“No, I’m good,” says Michele.<br />
“Nachos” I ask.<br />
“Nachos!” says Mardik, savoring<br />
the extended sound of the word<br />
and the possibility of Michele and<br />
I agreeing to the idea.<br />
“Chicken or beef” asks the waiter.<br />
“I prefer beef,” I say.<br />
“Lots of salsa,” says Mardik.<br />
“And jalapenos,” I say.<br />
When we finally return to the topic<br />
at hand, Michele continues <strong>with</strong><br />
her other reason for needing a drink.<br />
“And the other thing <strong>is</strong>, I broke up<br />
<strong>with</strong> my girlfriend,” she says.<br />
“She <strong>is</strong> back in LA I ask. I knew<br />
her girlfriend had been in town a<br />
few weeks before.<br />
“She came back and then it didn’t<br />
hit me until she just left.”<br />
“It didn’t hit you a few weeks ago<br />
when you broke up” I ask, surpr<strong>is</strong>ed.<br />
“It didn’t hit me three weeks ago.<br />
I figured I’m going to see her again.<br />
Yes, officially we talked about it and<br />
we broke up but…” Michele trails off.<br />
“Why did you break up” I ask.<br />
“D<strong>is</strong>tance basically,” Michele says<br />
briefly. She has been in th<strong>is</strong> longd<strong>is</strong>tance<br />
relationship for two years<br />
but came to the conclusion that she<br />
wants to move forward towards a<br />
significant long-term relationship,<br />
that one separated by thousands of<br />
miles was not the optimal way of<br />
achieving her heart’s desire. “When<br />
she’s here everything <strong>is</strong> great, but<br />
when she leaves there’s th<strong>is</strong> void and<br />
it doesn’t feel good,” she says. She<br />
prefers to be involved <strong>with</strong> someone<br />
who lives in the same city as hers.<br />
She considers the possibilities of<br />
being on the other side of the country<br />
but she can’t seem to settle the<br />
<strong>is</strong>sue in her mind. Both of their careers<br />
– her girlfriend <strong>is</strong> an establ<strong>is</strong>hed<br />
musician in New York and<br />
she <strong>is</strong> a budding photo journal<strong>is</strong>t<br />
– rely on a network of people who<br />
are in their respective cities. Restarting<br />
somewhere else would be<br />
extremely difficult. Besides, both<br />
are close to their families and don’t<br />
want to leave them behind.<br />
“Who knows, a lot can change but<br />
I feel like I can’t make the right dec<strong>is</strong>ions.<br />
Nothing seems right. I make<br />
one dec<strong>is</strong>ion, it’s the wrong dec<strong>is</strong>ion.<br />
I go to another dec<strong>is</strong>ion, and it’s like,<br />
‘OK, that doesn’t feel right.’ I don’t<br />
know. I just feel stuck. Stuck and<br />
drinking margaritas,” Michele says<br />
<strong>with</strong> a heartbreaking laugh while<br />
she picks up her glass. “It’s just sad.”<br />
We all toast and take a sip. <br />
USC IAS SERIES<br />
He continues to<br />
champion American,<br />
Armenian causes<br />
by Adriana Dermenjian<br />
Whether serving as a top U.S. government<br />
official, a comm<strong>is</strong>sioned<br />
naval officer, or a local community<br />
leader, Paul Ignatius has always<br />
been admired for h<strong>is</strong> tremendous<br />
energy and dedication. Born into a<br />
family that escaped the horrors of<br />
the Armenian Genocide and built<br />
a new life in Glendale, California,<br />
Ignatius recalls h<strong>is</strong> childhood as a<br />
constant flow of activity. “There<br />
was always something going on,” he<br />
says. “My father was very active in<br />
the Armenian community and that<br />
[served as a model for] my own participation<br />
in various activities.”<br />
Before h<strong>is</strong> prominent positions<br />
as secretary of the Navy and ass<strong>is</strong>tant<br />
secretary of Defense, Ignatius<br />
began h<strong>is</strong> active lifestyle on a<br />
smaller scale – he was involved in<br />
several sports activities, served as<br />
president of h<strong>is</strong> student body in<br />
high school, and also as president<br />
of h<strong>is</strong> junior class at usc.<br />
Though these humble duties<br />
soon led to bigger responsibilities,<br />
Ignatius ins<strong>is</strong>ts that h<strong>is</strong> work in the<br />
public sector came about partially<br />
due to chance. “A lot of things just<br />
seemed to happen,” Ignatius says.<br />
“For instance, I got interested in<br />
the field just by reading an article<br />
in the New York Times Magazine.”<br />
That article, by Dean Acheson, secretary<br />
of State during the Truman<br />
admin<strong>is</strong>tration, d<strong>is</strong>cussed the great<br />
amount of pride and privilege that<br />
came <strong>with</strong> serving in government.<br />
“I read the article and thought to<br />
myself, ‘How interesting it would<br />
be to work for the public sector,’”<br />
Ignatius chuckles. “And then it happened.”<br />
During World War II, when Ignatius<br />
was a business student at<br />
Harvard, he decided to delay h<strong>is</strong><br />
MBA studies to serve in the Navy.<br />
He acted as a comm<strong>is</strong>sioned lieutenant<br />
for three and a half years,<br />
serving on an aircraft carrier in<br />
the Pacific and fighting against the<br />
Japanese. “I really grew up when<br />
I was in the military,” Ignatius recalls.<br />
“It was there that I learned to<br />
be comfortable <strong>with</strong> responsibility<br />
and leadership.”<br />
Upon h<strong>is</strong> return, Ignatius did<br />
not so much as skip a beat, quickly<br />
completing h<strong>is</strong> MBA degree at Harvard<br />
and launching a business <strong>with</strong><br />
two friends soon after. Harbridge<br />
House, Inc., a Boston-based management<br />
consulting and research<br />
firm, was formed by 1950 and<br />
gradually grew to be a success. “At<br />
first, we thought it would just be<br />
a fun experience to start our own<br />
company,” Ignatius says “But little<br />
did I know that my experiences as<br />
an outside consultant would well<br />
prepare me for the next journey in<br />
my life”.<br />
Th<strong>is</strong> journey, of course, was that<br />
of ass<strong>is</strong>tant secretary of Defense in<br />
the Johnson admin<strong>is</strong>tration. From<br />
1965 to 1967, at the height of the<br />
Vietnam War, Ignatius worked diligently<br />
for “Instillations and Log<strong>is</strong>tics,”<br />
providing the military <strong>with</strong><br />
the goods and log<strong>is</strong>tics necessary<br />
for success. “It was a very busy<br />
time,” Ignatius says. “I had to make<br />
sure everything was accounted for<br />
and all the military needs were met.<br />
I had to do th<strong>is</strong> at a time when the<br />
war was becoming more and more<br />
controversial to the American public.<br />
It was tough, but I had to do<br />
my job.”<br />
Ignatius did h<strong>is</strong> job so well that<br />
he was soon promoted to secretary<br />
Paul Ignatius: a man of ideals<br />
of the Navy, a role he performed<br />
from 1968 to 1969. In th<strong>is</strong> position,<br />
he was responsible for the<br />
organization of the entire naval department<br />
–recruiting, mobilizing,<br />
training, and supplying. Working<br />
closely <strong>with</strong> naval officers, Ignatius<br />
was also required to communicate<br />
<strong>with</strong> Congress – often having to<br />
persuade Congress members of the<br />
validity of h<strong>is</strong> proposals. “Because I<br />
had to work <strong>with</strong> both sides, good<br />
judgment and the ability to be persuasive<br />
were my biggest responsibilities,”<br />
Ignatius says. “I had to be<br />
a good civilian leader as well as a<br />
persuasive speaker. Those are the<br />
things that count.”<br />
A v<strong>is</strong>ion of excellence<br />
Ignatius maintains a similar outlook<br />
on all h<strong>is</strong> tasks. “You’ve got<br />
to do the best you can,” he says.<br />
Though he admits that leading the<br />
Navy requires more responsibility<br />
than serving in it, and that working<br />
as an independent consultant <strong>is</strong> different<br />
from consulting for the U.S.<br />
government, he <strong>is</strong> adamant about<br />
the unyielding dedication one must<br />
have to their career. “In all my positions,<br />
past and present, the common<br />
goal has always been to do my<br />
job and do it well,” he notes. “I’ve<br />
always tried to be overly prepared,<br />
which has helped in my confidence<br />
and abilities as a leader.”<br />
Th<strong>is</strong> unifying objective has also<br />
translated well into Ignatius’ other<br />
career routes. In 1969, following<br />
h<strong>is</strong> service as secretary of the<br />
Navy, Ignatius landed the role of<br />
president for The Washington Post.<br />
Though several positions were offered<br />
to him after h<strong>is</strong> time in government,<br />
he believed that working<br />
as president of a highly-regarded<br />
newspaper would be most interesting,<br />
generating the most original of<br />
experiences. At the Post, Ignatius<br />
was responsible for the business<br />
side of affairs – everything from<br />
publications and printing to public<br />
relations and human resources.<br />
“In all good newspapers, you have<br />
a separation between ‘church and<br />
state,’” Ignatius says. “A separation<br />
between business and editorial. So<br />
I was the business side.”<br />
After h<strong>is</strong> time at The Washington<br />
Post, Ignatius continued to put h<strong>is</strong><br />
admin<strong>is</strong>trative expert<strong>is</strong>e to good<br />
use through a number of managerial<br />
positions. In 1972, he became<br />
president of the Air Transport Association,<br />
representing airlines in<br />
matters of safety, air traffic control,<br />
and public information. Then, in<br />
1986, he was appointed chairman<br />
of the Board of Trustees of the<br />
Log<strong>is</strong>tics Management Institute, a<br />
nonprofit organization dedicated<br />
to consulting the government on<br />
management <strong>is</strong>sues. At the institute,<br />
which he served for seven<br />
years, h<strong>is</strong> tasks included setting<br />
policy, selecting board members,<br />
and acting as a spokesperson.<br />
Community pillar<br />
Now, close to two decades later, Ignatius<br />
goes about h<strong>is</strong> life <strong>with</strong> less<br />
professional responsibility and<br />
more community activity. He <strong>is</strong><br />
very involved <strong>with</strong> the usc Institute<br />
of Armenian Studies and the<br />
National Association for Armenian<br />
Studies and Research. “Since<br />
the end of my career, I’ve had a<br />
lot of time to read, think, and talk<br />
to people,” Ignatius says. “When I<br />
was growing up in the Navy and<br />
government, I didn’t have much<br />
time to think about my unique<br />
background, but now I realize that<br />
my Armenian heritage <strong>is</strong> an added<br />
dimension to my character. It’s a<br />
very valuable aspect.”<br />
In addition to th<strong>is</strong> return to<br />
h<strong>is</strong> Armenian roots, Ignatius<br />
also manages to remain active in<br />
several other organizations and<br />
causes. He maintains membership<br />
in the Federal City Council and the<br />
Washington Institute of Foreign<br />
Affairs. He <strong>is</strong> also a trustee of the<br />
George. C. Marshall Foundation.<br />
“I’m a firm believer that you have<br />
to do something worthwhile in<br />
your life,” Ignatius says. “You owe<br />
a certain amount of responsibility<br />
to the community where you live.<br />
Whether you serve nationally or<br />
internationally, in a small community<br />
or a big institution, you have a<br />
responsibility to give back to your<br />
country.”<br />
Though h<strong>is</strong> services to the country<br />
are remarkable and h<strong>is</strong> accompl<strong>is</strong>hments<br />
are many, Ignatius asserts<br />
that h<strong>is</strong> greatest achievement<br />
<strong>is</strong> h<strong>is</strong> family. “Of all the things I’ve<br />
done, I’m proudest of my family,”<br />
he says. “My kids grew up believing<br />
that they should play a responsible<br />
role in society – and they all have.<br />
It’s the best reward, knowing that<br />
your kids are working hard and doing<br />
the right thing.” Of Ignatius’<br />
four children (David, Ari, Sarah, and<br />
Amy), two are d<strong>is</strong>tingu<strong>is</strong>hed journal<strong>is</strong>ts,<br />
one as op-ed column<strong>is</strong>t for<br />
The Washington Post and the other<br />
as deputy managing editor of Time,<br />
and two are successful lawyers in<br />
New England. “My wife’s been such<br />
a good model for the kids,” Ignatius<br />
says. “She’s always been very active<br />
in the community so they learned a<br />
lot about responsibility from her…<br />
Maybe they learned some of it from<br />
me too,” he adds modestly.<br />
Because of h<strong>is</strong> hard work and<br />
dedication to the growth of the<br />
usc Institute of Armenian Studies,<br />
Paul Ignatius will be honored<br />
at the institute’s gala banquet, an<br />
event celebrating 50 years of “Progress<br />
and Prosperity” in the Armenian<br />
community. The banquet will<br />
be held on May 18 at the Hilton<br />
in Universal City, California, and<br />
will also pay tribute to an array of<br />
other accompl<strong>is</strong>hed Armenians including<br />
George Deukmejian, Jerry<br />
Tarkanian, and Mike Connors. “I’m<br />
very pleased to be honored at such<br />
an event,” Ignatius says. “Because<br />
I’m a graduate of usc, the honor<br />
holds a very personal value for me.<br />
I also believe very strongly in the<br />
institute and its role as a significant<br />
development in the community.”<br />
In addition to the long l<strong>is</strong>t of h<strong>is</strong><br />
professional accompl<strong>is</strong>hments, Ignatius<br />
has won numerous D<strong>is</strong>tingu<strong>is</strong>hed<br />
Civilian Service awards and<br />
recently publ<strong>is</strong>hed h<strong>is</strong> own memoir,<br />
titled On Board: My Life in the Navy,<br />
Government, and Business.<br />
Today Ignatius still maintains<br />
the same outlook he did decades<br />
prior. “Opportunities came my way<br />
and I tried to do the best I could<br />
<strong>with</strong> each of them,” he says. “It was<br />
a privilege to serve in government<br />
and to have the chance to serve our<br />
country.” Ignatius, who will turn 88<br />
in November, says he will continue<br />
to be active in h<strong>is</strong> beloved causes,<br />
determined to “hang in there a little<br />
longer.”<br />
<br />
Let us know what’s on your mind.<br />
Write to us at<br />
letters@reporter.am