Assyrian Chatters Interviews By the Assyrian Voice Network

-Name:
Jonathan Toma

-Nickname:
 JoHnNy15

-Sex/age/location:
 Male/15/Los Angeles, California

-Tell us about yourself and what you do? 

I am a fun and outgoing individual. I do not really care what people think or say about me.
I am currently a student at Valencia High school.

-What about your education or career goals? 

My educational goals… I plan to graduate High school and to attend the University of 
California Davis or The University of California Berkeley. I really am interested in 
perusing a career in architecture.

-How long have you been living in L.A and how do you like it there? 

I was born in Los Angeles and I Plan to stay here. I think that Los Angeles is a great place
 to live due to the fact that it is full of opportunity and it is very diverse.

-Your personality in few words? 

Outgoing and fun loving.

-What would people note first about you or your personality? 

I think that people would say that I am a funny person with a sense of humor.

-Are you a serious person? or one that is always trying to have fun and put important
things for a later time. 

I am not a real serious person. There are things in life in which I take seriously, like my
education. I think that if you are too serious in life, you will not really enjoy it. 
People just need to have a little fun once in a while!!!

-How is success defined by Assyrians? 

Success is defined by our ability to preserve our language and identities even though we 
have no country and we are situated in different countries.

-As an Assyrian guy, what do you think is the best way for Assyrian girls to approach 
you and talk to you? what does it take? 

I think that if I was to be approached, I would like the girl to be herself and not to 
show off. I like girls who are respected and have respect for their self.

CHAT QUESTIONS

-Do you remember the first day for you on the chat, and who told you 

about it? 

I do not specifically remember the first day in chat. I just remember that when my brother 
CHRIS (the best brother anyone can have) showed me the site. After that, I would always go 
to the Voice Chat and chat away.

-What nicknames have you used so far? 

JoHnNy15, AsHtNaYa87, CaLiJt9

-Recently a lot of the chat people have been meeting in real life, falling in love and 
many times that has been translated into long term commitment through marriage. 
What is your take on that?

I am really happy that there is a place where Assyrians can meet and fall in love. 
I am really glad that many people have met and have fallen in love. I order to keep the 
Assyrian culture alive; we all need to marry inside of our culture.  

-What are some of your favorite or funny nicknames from the chat? 

I really enjoy all of the names that I have seen so far in chat. They are original and 
reflect the chatter.

-Assyrian Voice recently celebrated its 4th anniversary and posted its one millionth hit. 
What is your opinion of this? Do you call it a success or just natural for a website that
is the center of the Assyrian community? 

I call this a success in that I know that there are many Assyrians out there who take pride
in who they are. If many people didn’t take pride in being Assyrian, Assyrian voice chat 
would not have hit its one millionth hit.

-In what way have chat lines helped Assyrians in the last 10 years or so? 

Chat lines have helped many Assyrians in the past 10 years by helping the Assyrian community
keep in touch. They have also led to love and commitments. 

-what comes to your mind when you first hear these three nicknames:

Iris, Jacob, BeLLaMaFIa 

I don’t know any of them, but I am sure they are nice people!

-How do you see the Assyrian Voice community in ten years from now? Do you think it will
still be a website only or something bigger than that? 

I think if that the Assyrian community worldwide keep on coming to this website and keep on
 letting people know that there is a website for Assyrians, This website will be alive and
 maybe someday, this website could start to have web cam chats. It is all up to the Assyrian
 people to keep this legacy alive.

-What do you think is the current theme of the message board? that is, what are people 
talking about most? 

The message board!! I think that a lot goes on in the message board. From trash talking,
 to just saying HI, you can find a lot on the message board.

-What do you think of some chatters' addiction to MSN? Imagine someone doing their homework
on MSN. Is that ever possible?

I think that there are some people who are VERY and I mean Very obsessed with the Internet.
I do not know how they can stay on MSN for hours at a time. Some people are just like that
and I say, what ever floats your boat!

FAVORITES

-favorite sport:
Tennis

-favorite country/city:
 USA/Los Angeles, California is the BOMB!

-favourite car:
 MY future and favorite car is the Lexus IS 300

-favorite soccer/hockey/basketball player:
 Kobi Jones/Jason Allison/SHAQ

-favourie number, and color:
 9/Blue

-favorite food:
Gyros

-favorite posters on the message board:
SHANG QUICK

-5 favorite chatters

1.Rizza

2.a2reta4evr

3.My chatting name because it is the best!!

4.AssyrianPrince1

5.Shopteya

ASSYRIANS RELATED QUESTIONS

-Tell us about the Assyrian community in L.A. 

The Assyrian community in L.A. is a community that mostly knows who is who. There are about
5 Assyrian church’s in L.A. which I know of, and mostly everyone knows everyone.

-Do you trust Zowaa to be the official leader and representative of Assyrians in Iraq and 
Middle East in general? 

Yes I do. They are the key to enforcing democracy in Iraq.

-The war with Iraq is virtually over. Do you see any impact from it on Assyrians yet?
good or bad. 

I have heard from family in Iraq that they are really happy that Saddam is not out of 
control. I think that the Assyrians now have the chance to finally breathe in peace and to 
know that they are now safe.

-Where do you get your Assyrian news from? i.e: Zinda Magazine, Assyrian Voice, Bahra, 
Assyria TV etc? 

I usually get my Assyrian news from either Assyrian Voice or sometimes church.

-In your opinion do you think division and lack of unity has caused us to be where we are 
today? do you think unity and love for one another could remove some of our problems if not
most of them?

I think that that has to do with some of our problems today. I also strongly believe that
unity and love will remove some of our problems we have today.

-Should Assyrians stop bragging about their bold past and concentrate on the future only?

 I think that bragging is not a good thing. We should just concentrate on what is ahead of
 us.

-What about the language? how can we make sure it survives and continue 

to evolve? 

If people keep on speaking the language at home, and teach their children how to speak 
Assyrian, then our language will continue to evolve.

-What would give us more hope for the future: more unity and love vs.more education and 
learning? 

I think that unity and love will give us hope for the future in that we need to stick 
together. But education and learning are a big factor that contribute to our future.

-Do you have any advice for Assyrians worldwide and how can they be better citizens? 

My only advice for Assyrians Worldwide is to keep their heads high and be proud of who they
are.

General and Miscellaneous Questions

-What do you think is the reason for people's addiction these days to Reality TV shows 
such as Survivor, Joe Millionaire? 

Some shows now a days are fun to watch. Some people get too addicted to these love shows
that usually end up in heartbreak. I just think that if people enjoy the shows, then let 
them enjoy it. Some people are just a little too obsessed with these types of shows.

-What do you think of the concept of the "American Dream”? 

People came to America for religious freedom and to live a better life. The American dream
is seen as being rich and having a good life. I just think that how the American dream is
portrayed is wrong. America stands for more than just to be rich and live a good life.

-What three websites do you visit on a daily basis?

Assyrian Voice

Yahoo Mail

hotmail

-Do you think the internet is more/less fun than when you first tried it?

I think that the first time I tried the internet was really fun. Now the internet has become
place where you can buy your own groceries from the store. The internet can be fun but there
are a lot of things that you have to watch out for.

-Embeded Journalism: a new concept in journalism tested first in the war in Iraq. Do you 
think it was a good thing? what did it help with? 

It’s a good thing media-wise, because it gives the full story for viewers at home, 
journalists are positioned in the middle of action now, to get the full story

-How would you feel if you knew that our entire universe has no humans other than those
living in our earth? 

I would feel weird knowing that we are the only living things out there.

-If you were given the opportunity to travel back in time. Where would you go? or should we
say to what period? 

If I was given a chance to travel back in time, I would travel back to the time when Jesus 
Christ was born. I just think that in that period of time, there were no worries and life
was just full of happiness.

-Do you think the bad traffic that L.A has got will effect the people living in their in the
long term? 

People who have lived in L.A. do not like the traffic but they know that’s how L.A. is.
Traffic is a part of everyday life. 

-Which Assyrian singers appeal most to you in: parties and albums

 Jonan Sowa

-What do you think of the following figures?

Plato, Qasha Toma, Tommy Franks

I don’t really think anything about them. I bet they are good people!

FINAL THOUGHTS

-What was the hardest question we asked you? or didn't like?

 All the questions were alright. I like all of the questions.

-One question you were glad we didn't ask you?

 My embarrassing moments because I have A TON of them.

-Some hundreds even thousands of people may read this interview. Is there any means of 
getting in touch with you?

 If you want to talk to me, e mail me at: JOHNNY000000000@yahoo.com

-Your best quote in life:

 “What ever goes around, comes around”

-What do you think is the future of these interviews? how can we make them better? would 
a live face-to-face meetings be better?

As long as there are chatters, then we will have many interviews to come. I think that the 
questions asked are well chosen and do not really need to be changed. A live face to face 
meeting. I don’t think that can be possible because many people around the world surf the 
net and are in the chat rooms. People do not need to meet face to face to have an interview.

-What do you think of it all?

If I knew what all referred, I would tell you.

-Any shoutouts to anyone out there?

MY brother chris who is the best

My cousins:

Shamie

Dd

Ramsin

clara

Arthur

Amil

Alan

Evon

Cidy

Jake

All my cousins in modesto, Chicago, Detroit and so on..

Sandra

Lena: ur the best

Annnnnie 

Nan

Bella

Maryann

Gab

I HAVE TOO MUCH TO SAY! Hahahaha…

I JUST WONNA SAY HI TO EVERYONE I KNOW AND I WANT THEM TO KNOW THAT THEY ARE THE BEST

-Do you recommend any person to be interviewed in the future?

 Not that I know of!

-Any final comments or thoughts?

Just one thing… PROUD TO BE ASSYRIAN