family

The Day I Discovered My Grandparents Survived a Genocide

A Simple School Assignment Unlocked the Horrifying Truth Behind My Family’s Moves from Armenia to Lebanon to the United States

I remember when I first learned about the bad thing that happened long ago. It was in the mid-1980s in Tulsa, Oklahoma where my parents moved to from Beirut shortly before I was born. Like the children of most immigrants, I had become adept at navigating the different worlds I inhabited and at sidestepping the humiliations that often came with being one of the very few students in school whose roots weren’t in Oklahoma (let alone the United States). Sometimes a slight setback would occur (like that terrible day my …

by Sylvia Alajaji |

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How I Learned to Be Armenian Amid Shelves of Pickled Shallots

Generations of Armenians in Los Angeles Have Taken Solace in Markets That Remind Them of the Homes They Had to Flee

by Liana Aghajanian |

I dreaded Saturday mornings when I was growing up. That’s because while other kids were waking up to watch cartoons or making movie plans with friends (so I imagined), I …

Immigration Law’s Unrelenting Heartbreak

A Single Illegal Border Crossing Broke Apart My Family For Good

by Rebekah Rodriguez-Lynn |

On November 20, 2014, President Obama gave a historic speech on immigration. Despite how profoundly personal this issue is to me, I didn’t watch. For the past decade, I have …

The Loneliness of America’s Poor Kids

Political Scientist Robert D. Putnam Explains the Toll Inequality is Taking on Children with Less Educated, Less Connected, Less Wealthy Parents

by Sarah Rothbard |

Harvard political scientist Robert D. Putnam grew up in the 1950s in Port Clinton, Ohio, a small town on Lake Erie. Central to his new book, Our Kids: The American …

Searching for Mozzarella in the Land of Processed Cheese

Growing Up in Suburban Virginia, Our Italian-American Family Relied on My Grandmother to Bring Us the Foods We Craved From the Bronx

by Gina DePalma |

My grandmother’s visits from New York City always began with what I call The Great Unpacking, which took place on our dining room table the very second she crossed our …

Why the American Family Needs Same-Sex Parents

Data Shows That the Country’s Most Vulnerable Kids Will Benefit If the Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Gay Marriage

by Gary J. Gates |

On April 28th, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in an omnibus case about whether same-sex couples are allowed to marry in all 50 states in this country. …


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