Dear Mr. Erdogan,
In 50 days it will be 100 years since the Armenian Genocide began.
What then happened cannot be simply explained as a war. What then happened was not a series of provincial skirmishes. What then happened was not the unfortunate death of 1.5 million people through starvation and disease.
No, Mr. Erdogan. What then happened was a barbaric attempt by the Ottoman Turkish regime to eviscerate the Armenians. It was a fully orchestrated, fully sanctioned massacre of civilians. It was a genocide and it happened.
How do I know it happened?
My maternal grandmother was 14-years-old at the time. When her family was forced to leave their home in Aintab (Gazaintep), she took books with her. She was told they would return in three months. She told me of her excitement at...
Lifestyle
Dear President Obama,
Last Sunday I, along with other Armenians from across the globe, sat in St. Peter’s Cathedral in the Vatican City and listened to Pope Francis call the Armenian Massacre of 1915 the first Genocide of the 20th century. Words quickly heard around the world, words that have brought about discussion, words that pushed humanity closer to understanding and acknowledging the truth. I attended the Holy mass because I’m a second generation Armenian-American and, having been raised with the truth about the Armenian genocide, I wanted to witness this historical pronouncement.
In the 1890s, my grandparents were born in Ankara and Malatya, Turkey and in Van, Armenia. In the early 1900s they lost family members, their homes, their country, their right to worship their...
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Dear Johnny/Molly/Henry/Willamena Fredericka II/Bubba Adelbert,
My apologies for the multiple names. You see, you’re still too far away to even be a twinkle in my eye, and in my Disney-youth I princess-dreamed all the names I’d have for my future kids, so I thought I’d start with those (p.s. the II to Willamena is because I already have a Willa-dog. I love her desperately, so don’t take the “second” title as an insult. On second thought, I’ll budget for therapy, just in case).
Anyway, I digress. Dear future muppet-of-mine,
I’m writing you now, well in advance, about a few things that worry me about the current state of our youth online. Seems like an odd topic, right? Yes, well, I figure that about the time you’re old enough to start using digital tools (funny thought: zygote...
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Dear Grandma Ruth,
On this, the first anniversary of the day you left our lives, I'm not sure what to feel. It's hard to believe that you've already been gone for a year. So much has happened since that fateful April day.
I'm back in China, though this time as a student and not a teacher. It was strange to experience the reversal of roles at first, but I'm really enjoying this opportunity to learn more Chinese. It's in no small part due to you that I am back here again. It's not just about the money, but about the support and encouragement you've given me my entire life and continue to do so now through my memories of you and the life lessons you taught me. I've learned that, as you always said, family is everything. Our family was an incredible support system last year during...
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Dear humans of the year 2100,
By the time you read this I will be long dead, probably forty or fifty years already. The things about which I write are obvious to you. To you it is obvious that we, your progenitors, failed. We failed to make the changes necessary to allow our species to live sustainably on this planet. We failed to use the technology at our disposal to live cleanly on Earth. We failed to use farming and waste disposal methods that did not poison the land and water and air. In our quest for lives of comfort we used our planet, and psychologically our children, as a sewer.daniel in scotland_2 Our children—your parents and grandparents—became the repository for all our unmet needs, denied hopes, buried traumas, rage, and perversity. We left you to face the ultimate...
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Dear Mr. Desmond,
I am writing with reference to the headline today in the Daily Express: "'Hidden' Migrant Millions".
The clear implication is that the children of immigrants who are born and raised here are "really" immigrants too. And that the official statistics on immigration hide this from the British public in some way.
I cannot see any quote from Migration Watch to justify the headline that these immigrants are "hidden", so I assume it was the view of the Daily Express.
I am sure that you are neither responsible for every editorial judgement made by your newspapers nor seek to interfere in headlines like some other proprietors. But can I ask you this: are you happy that the Daily Express is saying that we should consider people such as Prince Charles, Ed Miliband,...
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Dear Grandma,
When I was little, you taught me to be "wise." To be fearless. To read the newspaper clippings on Eleanor Roosevelt, the biography of Lucretia Mott, and the pie recipes you sent my way. I opened those boxes of presents with joy, and they had their desired effect. I believe women and men are equally capable and deserve equal treatment. Incidentally, I make a darn good blueberry pie. I'm true blue in other ways as well; like you, a lifelong Democrat.
It seems I might have been the perfect Hillary Clinton voter. I was raised in Wellesley, MA (where Hillary went to college) and attend Yale (where she got her law degree). I met Senator Clinton a few years ago and found her to be extremely smart and much warmer than the media like to portray her. When I met Senator Obama at...
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Dear Grandma,
I’ve been thinking about you and decided to write a letter. I realize it’s been a very long time since I’ve done this, even though letter writing was an art and practice my mom taught me as soon as I was old enough to write.
I have scores of memories of you, but for some reason my thoughts keep wandering back to a particular week one summer, when Bill and I stayed with you and Grandpa at the cottage while our parents were away. Was I seven or maybe eight? Here’s what I remember:
We went walking through the Northern Michigan woods to pick wild blueberries, which are so tiny. We picked berries for what seemed like forever, yet the bottoms of our pails were barely barely covered. You motivated us by taking our buckets and showing us how full they’d have to be if we...
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Many Nigerian’s today are more like mere people moving like shadows, but his Excellency Abacha was a compass to shadows that even ghost were scared of, First of all the name Abacha is not on my device dictionary but I added it just because I can’t keep writing his name been marked by red. Sanni Abacha an influential figure in the history of Nigeria, maybe not to you but to me definitely and to Nigeria generally, And before I proceed anywhere here I will stop to pray in his name may God almighty bestow his mercy and make paradise his eternal abode, death is phenomenal stop thinking Abacha is dead we will all die too, and again by God mercy Abacha soul rests calm, just in some seconds you will start quoting me attacking some quoted bias quotes’ who are quoted always quoting in nasty un-...
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Dear Roseanne,
My name is Ariel Silvera, I’m a latina from Buenos Aires, Argentina who has lived around the UK and Ireland for the past 11 years. I am also a feminist trans woman. Now that the election is over, I hope you’ll have time to take a look at this letter.
I’m going to admit I’m not as familiar with your work as I should be. I never watched your famous show, although a good number of my friends of mine swear by it. I’ve occasionally seen you say some quite brilliant things in terms of politics, and my perception of you until now has been one of a rather kickass woman. So, I’m writing this out of disappointment regarding your recent comments about trans women. From a feminist to another feminist.
I want to start with a reality check. I like talking about material reality...
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