Does your culture define who you really are? Can you choose a place you call home? To answer these existentialist questions, I have had to compromise who I really am. Sharing this was a tough decision to make as these thoughts had never traveled beyond the metal, cold walls of my mind… it is an intimate story of a journey ... Read More »
Sunlight shines through the windows onto my desk. The air is filled with the whisper of pencils scratching out various answers to the problems the teacher wrote on the board. I am bent over my own paper, carefully planning out my next answer. I mark the paper with a single letter, then, “BOOM!”, a distant thunder of sound, I can ... Read More »
“I’m not an immigrant of the United States. I consider myself part of the brain drain, I came here simply for my education, expecting to return home.” My grandmother, Rita Tabourian, grew up in Beirut, Lebanon and attended school at the American University of Beirut. “My mother gave me the same opportunities she gave her son. She raised me to ... Read More »
Born on February 28, 1961, Shahe Krakirian began his life in Beirut, Lebanon living in a small apartment in with his whole family. He shared a room with his two younger brothers. Though they sometimes got into verbal arguments, and even occasional physical fights, his younger brothers were two of his closest friends during his childhood. It was not as ... Read More »
My mother’s father, Alex would tell us that he came from Lebanon. Other times he told us his family had lived in Syria. When pressed to pick a country, he looked confused. He came to New York when he was eight, with an older brother and his mother. Within two years his entire tiny family in this country died. His ... Read More »