hello again dear friends... i write to you on a more somber note today... a good friend of mine was murdered on the evening of April 12, 2009. Hayk Oganyan, our good friend was at a frat party with his friends when in just an eye blink, a joyous occasion was marred by tragedy. Hayk was stabbed by three unknown men who are at large today, and according to sources were "in white t-shirts and black shorts, with shaved heads." according to people close to me and hayk, they were most likely gang members.
i would like to take a moment and talk about Hayk... He was the owner of many nicknames, such as "crackhead," "five-head," and later on, "white boy." many described him as "chill" and "light hearted." I certainly have my memories with hayk as well going to school in little armenia... we grew up as one of the few rockers at our tiny armenian school, and we grew up having a great deal of respect for one another. though Hayk would move on from pilibos and go to LA Marshall High School, he would always roll by school and say hi. often we would run into him at coffee bean on hillhurst and share a few thoughts and jokes, and talk about life, school and work. Hayk was the guy who i remember especially because he represented a snippet of Little Armenia... for some reason, everywhere i went to in hollywood i would find myself running into him... i remember when he worked at robeks juice and he would hook us up with free drinks... i remember those saturdays when he would come and chill at pilibos while we played hockey. often i ran into him by his house on prospect and commonwealth, which is a street down from where i spent my childhood. We knew many of the same people, and shared many of the same experiences. He was a cross section of the Armenian experience in California.
this leads to a bigger picture though. in my generations experience within Los Angeles, we are familiar with gang activity, simply put, because of guilt by association. we are familiar with the gang culture and its repercussions because we are so used to seeing the graffiti on the wall, the bald headed bastards, the throwing of various gang signs, and the neglect of respect for one another. even worse is that not only did we lose a loved one and a friend, my people and my culture lost a true gem. We lost a man who was young and energetic and a breath of fresh air to those who knew him. I found myself saying this to another loved one, that every time an Armenian dies senselessly, it is the equivalent to a world trade center tragedy for our people, who are so few, and so starved of people like Hayk. and if we think about the proportions of how much an Armenian is worth to his or her own peoples population, simply put, it is staggering. the ratio of one Armenian to its population is approximately the equivalent of 1,500-2,000 Chinese to the Republic of China...
the big picture today is that we lost a good friend and an even better person on April 12th. To his family and friends I wish patience for the coming days, months and years... to him, i wish him a safe journey above. the impact he made on all of us is felt today with unmatched sorrow, grief and pain. may god bless his soul and may god bless those around him who are feeling his loss today...
