She used her access and contacts to dig up everything my application would need about the cultural practices and legal nuances of Jordan, to help prove my “well-founded fear.” She visited an organization for gay Muslims but left after unsuccessfully trying three doors, all heavily barred for security. It wasn’t enough to be scared for […]
From Here – Chapter 21 – Testimony – Summary Read More »
ALMOST A YEAR later, during the spring of my junior year, Misty and I went on another road trip, this time to Boston. We were on our way to the most important appointment of my life, to meet with an immigration lawyer about my asylum application. She rubbed my arm and gave me a big
From Here – Chapter 20 – Prove It – Summary Read More »
Back in the United States, I couldn’t stop thinking about the people I had seen lined up on the hard ground of the desert, the morality police kicking people who had fallen asleep on the floor of the mosque, the lights, and the opulence a direct assault on my pilgrimage. Misty was less patient about
From Here – Chapter 19 – Rhubarb Pie And Jerry Springer – Summary Read More »
AT SOME POINT in their life, every Muslim must make a pilgrimage to Mecca. An umrah, sometimes called a “hajj lite,” is a shortened pilgrimage to Mecca that Muslims can take at any time of the year. Mecca and the “one human family” he found there, “rearranged my thought patterns,” he said, and brought him
From Here – Chapter 18 – A Pilgrim – Summary Read More »
When I walked up the front stairs of my new dorm and saw Dee-Ann, her red hair chopped as short as mine, I assumed she was gay. “Of course, I’ll be there.” Unlike the majority of students, who were being dropped off by their parents, I arrived alone, having spent the previous week at another
From Here – Chapter 17 – A New House – Summary Read More »
I filled my time with practice exams and writing essays; I stayed up all night to avoid the nightmares. Mostly, I spent two weeks lying low, avoiding situations that might attract any attention—being a woman driving late at night, for instance, or being a Muslim with a drink in my hand at a club with
From Here – Chapter 16 – Switching – Summary Read More »
This, the tour guide reported, was where gay people fought back against yet another police raid, igniting weeks of protests and kick-starting a movement that demanded the end of persecution based on sexual orientation. I didn’t know if I should feel relieved or disappointed that I had missed the celebrations by a few months. She
From Here – Part II – Chapter 15 – Landing – Summary Read More »
They had started calling this trip their “college-moon.” My mother had been telling me for weeks that she couldn’t wait to land in New York City. Finally, the suitcases were stacked in the back of the Range Rover, my brothers, sister, and I settled in the back seat. Taytay and Abla were waiting outside as
From Here – Chapter 14 – Takeoff Read More »
Maybe that’s why I called Susan. I felt Susan’s weight slide from my torso, and then the sun was in my eyes. “Just listen to him.” The officer used his gun to motion us toward the parking lot. “Imshi.” “Move it,” I told Susan. After seconds that felt like hours, the hot metal of the
From Here – Chapter 13 – Fugitive – Summary Read More »
Jordan Mufleh received a rejection letter from Brown University in Jordan. The rejection letter was the only time he ever did well on a standardized test, he says. “They only accept one Jordanian,” an old classmate of his classmate, a prince, had doubts about his chances of getting into Brown. “Over there it wasn’t about
From Here – Chapter 12 – Pomp And Circumstance – Summary Read More »