I Called It Home

Reviewed by Y. Stephan Bulbulian Armenian poet David Kherdian's book, "I Called It Home," is a pleasant, appreciative memory of his boyhood, growing up in the Armenian neighborhoods of Racine, Wisconsin. This assortment of delightful vignettes, warmly recant the times and characters that shaped the life of the Armenian-American literary treasure. Here are stories of curiosity and discovery in a innocent time of a nearly-forgotten past. Son of immigrant parents, while in the course of reaching maturity, amuses in life of the recreated Armenian village in diaspora. Old world traditions are adapted to meet the demands of the new land. It is an all new existence for the people forced from their ancient homeland by the prospect of annihilation the Ottoman Turkish government. In the exercise of seizing life, in and around Racine, Kherdian writes of boyhood friends and the play that "gave form to the ritual dance of childhood." He juxtaposes the influences of Armenian home-life, when Armenians lived in the ghettos, to the ability to "be able to stand-up to the corruption of the street." Kherdian writes of a common experience in the Armenian home of the past. "A common denominator of poor Armenians," the "dripping, fermenting ritual" of making madzoon ( yoghurt, a Turkish word coined by Americans). He discovers that he is "one-third madzoon, and the two-thirds doesn't matter." It is a pained and confused young man who recoils at being called a "dirty Armenian," when he knows that his living habits are cleaner than Americans. The same Americans, defeated in poverty, whose only superiority is their sheer numbers. He remembers his father whose face he sees on every street corner during a summer spent in Greece. A father, completely out of place in Racine, poorly speaking English with a thick accent. A janitor at the local tractor factory, h! is father was an intuitive cook whose every meal was a masterpiece,. As a boy, Kherdian throws himself into life around Racine "with abandon." The secret part he keeps to himself is open only to nature, and sharing the landscape. He reinforces his belief in the Armenian character, "- in it's integrity, resilience and fortitude, while saluting his parents for being able to instill "a pride (in his) heritage." The meaning of David Kherdian's life becomes a metaphor of fishermen and their line. Always the fisherman, he discovers the ultimate mystery of the Root River (racine is French for root) that runs through the city. The river and city become the extensions of all rivers and cities in his life. Racine is a place where "sailboats, rowboats, tugs, coalboats and barges" travel Lake Michigan and the rivers, find "the piers with early morning fishermen." Little by little, Kherdian transcends the discovery that "the life he was given was the life he needed and growing up was to reveal the meaning in his life." This book quietly gives thanks to the family, people and places of Racine shaped poetic life of Davi