From Lebanon, with love: An immigrant's childhood story in Lisbon

I'm as much of an immigrant today as I was in my childhood. When we're children and we're charged with bridging two cultures, we're not as aware of this dual role; we simply maneuver through the obstacles as best we can. We realize, from a very early age, that there are things that separate us from everything else—our name, our language, our culture—and we have to learn to deal with that difference. Sometimes we grow up hating it; sometimes we resign ourselves to it.

It's difficult to find the right words to convey the immigrant experience, the emotional experience of growing up in a city we know isn't originally ours, but which we've adopted as our own. Strangers in a strange land, inhabiting a cultural crossroads, with all the clashes of civilizations that can arise.