... so reads the title of a guest post by yours truly on Bekhsoos.com.
Bekhsoos.com is a queer Arab magazine published weekly by the amazing folks at Meem, "a community of lesbian, bisexual, queer & questioning women and transgender persons in Lebanon."
According to the website, Bekhsoos' "objective is to fill the gap of lesbian- and transgender-produced writing in the Arab world through articles, reports, investigations, personal stories, opinion pieces, and creative writing." The website publishes articles in Arabic and in English, and I even noticed a poem published recently in French.
Though I'd be hard-pressed to say that Armenia is part of the Arab world, I was asked to contribute a piece on what it means to be a queer woman living in Yerevan, Armenia, by a friend of mine, a fellow queer Armenian living in Beirut who happens to be working at Meem. I was — and still am — flattered to be asked and I hope they weren't too disappointed by the piece I submitted. Writing it gave me a chance to write from a personal perspective — something I find hard to do in public.
What about you? Do you find it difficult to be candid and personal in your writing when it appears in public? Or are you more comfortable writing your personal thoughts than presenting others' stories or reporting the goings-on around you?
Hi Adrineh! Will an English translation of the article be available? I want to read it.
ReplyDeleteI don't find it hard to be candid and personal in my writing, but I wonder if it's too candid and then I pull back. So the question that comes up for me is how much is too much?
Hi Lydia! Actually, the article is in English ;) The link should direct you there.
ReplyDeleteHow much is too much? I think that's only a question you can answer. How much do we feel comfortable sharing with other people? Are you censoring yourself or simply keeping in mind your audience (we may write differently for different audiences)? Food for thought...