“Arab Past, American Present: My Family’s Invisible History” by Lauren Alwan

An essay by Lauren Alwan (fiction, ‘08) appears in Catapult:

“The family legacy included silence as a way to belong.”

In the years my grandparents lived in their rambling, Spanish-style house in Southern California, they kept a Koran and a prayer rug in their bedroom hidden behind an ornate armchair. The chair, from Damascus, stood in one corner, grandly unused, its cushions upholstered in silk and the walnut frame set with mother-of-pearl. I never saw my grandparents use the Koran or the prayer rug. By the time I was born, they had fallen away from their practice of Islam. [… continue reading here.]