(This is an excerpt—click on the title to view the whole piece!)
 

In the Arab West

"What are your plans in Lebanon?" he asked again and again, his brows furrowing in some combination of suspicion and confusion as I spun a fragmented yarn about teaching Palestinian kids English while on vacation (I was supposed to be on a tourist visa). "Here to see the sights, you know, the Roman ruins in Sur," I said, pronouncing the heavy Arabic "ṣahd" at the beginning of the word with pride that only confirmed his belief I was a spy for God-knows-who. "Tyre," I corrected myself in equally stilted French, then stared quietly at the off-white floor.