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What is your first memory of thinking about leaving your community and what was the "final push" for you?

Would recommend Dadrian's book on Germany and the holocaust and the influence of the armenian genocide. I also think there is a book called hitler- that is much shorter and about how he looked to the armenian genocide for crafting his own... But for some reason that one is stupidly expensive.

Hi, I am not armenian, but I am incredibly facinated with armenian history, language and culture. So as someone who is an outsider- I was curious. How has the genocide shaped your own personal self identity as an armenian and just as an individual. It has been really interesting to see how themes of the genocide ring through loud and clear through things like music and poetry. (I'm currently reading der-hovannisyans poetry on the genocide and diaspora). Then branching off of that question. I was recently talking to a friend of mine who is middle eastern and Jewish who was talking about her family raising her without stories of the Jewish holocaust because they didn't want her to grow up with a "victim mentality" associated with her cultural heritage. Putting aside the correctness of her family's approach... How do you think the focus on the armenian genocide effects the collective consciousness of its people? Surely it must impact their sense of justice, but Do you think it is something that is unifying and empowering or do you think the focus and rememberance creates a more victim like mentality? I hope I asked those questions respectfully enough. Thanks so much for doing this ama. It's so important and good that you do!

If your hypothesis turns out OPPOSITE from expected, how exactly do you structure the discussion about that in your results? (Not like a null, but actually opposite) Say the hypothesis is that kids in small classes have higher anxiety and as it turns out, they have lower anxiety.

Hey! Not sure where you're located. If in MA there is Watertown. If in CA there's Glendale and I want to say Fresno. Those are the top three largest pops of armenian diaspora in the USA. If not in those places there are churches. Even if you aren't religious or that type of religious- it may be a great starting ground from which you can begin to build a network. If you want any book recommendations I can supply some. If you're interested in language there is armenian virtual college. I started learning armenian from that website. It's a great resource to get yourself familiarized with the alphabet. I think they also offer classes on armenian history and it runs for I think two months and is only 150- which I think is a sweet deal to gain a second or third language if you have the resources .

Good luck! And congrats on finding out that information. Hopefully it comes to you on good terms and is not too overwhelming or confusing. I too was adopted. So I somewhat can understand where you're coming from, although I wasn't adopted from armenia.