Second Endless Crossings, The
Reflections on Armenian Art and Culture

Almost four years have elapsed since the publication of the first Endless Crossings. While exploring the artistic and the cultural life of Armenians in contemporary America remains the prevailing focus of the essays assembled in this second collection, preserving our identity as Armenians has acquired a new urgency. Diasporan Armenians no longer have the luxury of finding their way into the mainstream with the tacit confidence of “Armenia forever.” The recent fall of the Republic of Artsakh and the ongoing threats to Armenia’s territorial integrity pose an existential threat that necessitates new strategies of survival. In their desperate attempt to reform, Alan Semerdjian and Micheline Aharonian Marcom, among others, shift their gaze inwards. Indeed, the predominance in the collection of works that explore this inner reality—not at all a deliberate choice—might suggest that when we have allowed superficialities to take control of our lives, it makes sense to reach into something deeper, a spirituality perhaps, to find solace for the mood of hopelessness and discontent that plague people’s lives. Connecting with our inner truths, in other words, reaching into the soul which, in the words of Virginia Woolf, “is not restrained by barriers,” might just be the path mankind seeks to rescue the human species. Existing within the framework of our common humanity could greatly enhance our efforts to survive as Armenians, the ultimate goal.