My name is Demetra Panagiotopoulos. My parents are both Greek immigrants. I grew up in Astoria—an area that is no longer as solidly Greek as it used to be—eating my mom’s Greek food, attending (until high school) a Greek private school, speaking Greek at home, surrounded by Greek people in a Greek community doing Greek things—like celebrating Greek holidays and playing basketball and whatnot—and listening to the Greek music that my dad brought home from his former job with Greek Music and Video.

I’ve only been to Greece four times in my memory. I love my family there, as well as the food, language, and natural beauty of the place. That being said, though, I still prefer to live in America. New York. Maybe not Manhattan, but . . . well . . . Queens.