Published in 2008, The Armenians of Pittsburgh by Dr. Nyri A. Bakkalian is an essay featured in Queer Around the World: A LGBTQ+ True Stories Anthology.
Nyri A. Bakkalian, Ph.D. is a queer Armenian-American by birth, a military historian by training, and is proud to have called the American and Japanese northeasts her home. Her writing, art, and photography have appeared in Gutsy Broads, Metropolis Japan, The Copperfield Review, Con course, The Raven Chronicles, Inklette, QueerPGH, and other venues. Her essay “Curtains in the Breeze” won first place in The Fountain Magazine’s 2017 essay contest. What’s her secret, you ask? Garlic and Turkish coffee. But really, mostly Turkish coffee.
First, I began to date other women in earnest. Second, I found that once I’d begun doing this, my relationship with my roots, which had been increasingly dormant since my arrival here, roared back to life.
Nyri A. Bakkalian, Ph.D.
This essay charts Bakkalian’s journey to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to attend graduate school. She describes her exploration for the local Armenian community, an exploration that starts and stops as she enjoys the chance to be away from the heteronormative Armenian culture, allowing her to discover other parts of her identity.
There was part of me that seemed to exhale on coming here. The Armenian community, whether overtly or tacitly, demands conformity, and I’d been chafing: I was a deeply closeted LGBT, non-Christian Armenian […] how much space did a lesbian Shintoist Armenian really have?
The Armenians of Pittsburgh
The essay is part of an anthology of queer writers from around the world, featuring folx who identify as Chicana Lesbian, Gay Australian, and Gay American.
If available, please consider buying a copy at Abril Books. This book may also be available for purchase through the Queer Armenian Library’s shop at Bookshop.org. If you purchase a copy through Bookshop.org we will receive a commission.
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ISBN:978-1-946952-14-1. Published by Qommunity Media LLC.
