American. You're American. The words are a slap in the face. You were born and raised here. American. American.

As a child, I told visiting friends to stop at "the house with the big blue sign." I didn't have the words to describe it: we live in a Khaniqah, a Sufi center. It's not a religion, even though Sufism is a branch of Islam; it's a spiritual path. Like Buddhism. Like Daoism. Like other -isms that many people find exotic and not offensive. The term religion is a taboo, though in these days, less so. Six, seven, eight year-old-classmates don’t talk God, but they don’t mock the idea, either.

It's not shame that stills my tongue; I know that I'm different. That much was obvious from early on: most (all?) of m...

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