From Here: Chapters 15–21

by Luma Mufleh
In this memoir, the author recounts for her children how growing up in 1980s Jordan led to the founding of both a championship-winning soccer team and a nonprofit organization, Fugees Family, which provide athletic and academic opportunities for refugees and immigrants in the United States.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Prologue–Chapter 5, Chapters 6–14, Chapters 15–21, Chapter 22–Epilogue
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. permeate
    spread or diffuse through
    Big cities were not new to me. I had been to London and Cairo and Hong Kong. But compared to New York, those places now seemed flat and homogenous; the same faces, the same voices, the same smells permeated the streets.
  2. dissent
    the act of protesting
    Protests in Jordan were snuffed out swiftly, but in America, apparently dissent could get things done.
  3. contingent
    a gathering of persons representative of some larger group
    During orientation, I joined the small contingent of international students in a meeting to fill out all the necessary government documentation to legally reside in the United States during the next four years.
  4. confound
    be confusing or perplexing to
    The next question was even more confounding. Race, it turned out, wasn’t just an athletic event. As I scoured the choices, it dawned on me that “race” was the American version of “tribe.” But which one did I belong to?
  5. furtively
    in a secretive manner
    I furtively looked around the room to find the student from Saudi Arabia.
  6. transfixed
    having your attention fixated as though witchcraft
    There, I stood transfixed in front of the wall of olive oils: virgin, extra virgin, premium, pure. If I had arrived in the United States thinking I understood one thing, it was olive oil. But it wasn’t just oil, every aisle overflowed with choice: Coke or Pepsi, Heinz or Hunt’s, Kraft or Velveeta.
  7. provisional
    under terms not final or fully worked out or agreed upon
    In their provisional kitchen, my parents worked culinary miracles, wowing these American girls by serving chicken and rice stew, kebabs, and taboulleh.
  8. palpable
    capable of being perceived
    The bars were dizzyingly loud and euphoric, the energy inside so palpable the air felt heavy with it.
  9. pervasive
    spreading or spread throughout
    We, teachers and students, knew better than to criticize the Jordanian government, for example, or to discuss the social issues that were pervasive in our country and region.
  10. discourse
    an extended communication dealing with some particular topic
    Open political discourse, even more than the nightlife, was the best part of America.
  11. languish
    experience prolonged suffering in an unpleasant situation or place
    Could they look past the thousands languishing in the refugee camp Taytay had taken me to?
  12. nuance
    a subtle difference in meaning or opinion or attitude
    The class didn’t end up changing my perspective, but it made me more aware of nuances and other sides to a story.
  13. antiquated
    so extremely old as seeming to belong to an earlier period
    “So, did you, like, ride a camel to school?” he asked.
    I was quiet for a moment. I couldn’t tell if he was serious or mocking. I knew that I should be generous, take the opportunity to dispel the antiquated ideas Westerners had about my culture, but I couldn’t resist the fun.
  14. brazen
    not held back by conventional ideas of behavior
    “It doesn’t go over well,” I answered, hardly looking up from the desk in our room, where I was studying. Thankfully, Vanessa didn’t question this brazen understatement, sparing me from having to talk about—or dwell on—my still-uncertain future.
  15. barrage
    address continuously or persistently
    All night Yaseen had been barraging me with questions about Massachusetts because in a few months he was moving there, too, to attend Hampshire College, a fifteen-minute drive from Smith.
  16. demure
    suggestive of modesty or reserve
    Seeing my name and where I was from on her roster of new residents, Dee-Ann expected a demure woman wearing a hijab.
  17. idyllic
    charmingly simple and serene
    Inside, we would exist as a familial unit; outside, the campus was idyllic and peaceful.
  18. foist
    force onto another
    I had always hated the color pink, maybe because it was foisted on me, but in Misty’s charge, the ultrafeminine was somehow cozy; it matched her rosy cheeks and porcelain skin.
  19. indoctrinate
    teach uncritically
    I was turned off by unshaven legs; repulsed by hairy armpits, having been indoctrinated from a very young age that those things were undesirable (they just needed my mom and my aunt to pin them down, I thought).
  20. inextricably
    in a manner incapable of being disentangled or untied
    For me, being Muslim was inextricably entwined with being Arab.
  21. decadent
    relating to indulgence in something pleasurable
    During the year we rarely had dessert, but for Ramadan it was a nightly occurrence. In the Middle East, Ramadan has become so decadent that many people actually gain weight before the month is over.
  22. corroboration
    confirmation that some fact or statement is true
    “I’m Muslim.” I looked over at the woman I recognized from orientation, perhaps for some corroboration, but she just stared at the floor.
  23. indignation
    a feeling of righteous anger
    His evolution from angry activist to revered social justice warrior had inspired me to channel some of my own indignation into the LGB-rights work I did at Smith.
  24. capricious
    changeable
    There were not hundreds of greedy and capricious gods, he said, but one god—Allah—and he was compassionate and loving.
  25. garish
    tastelessly showy
    I loved it so much I watched both the Arab and English versions, even though the actors in the English one had painted their faces a garish brown to look more Middle Eastern.
  26. rudimentary
    being in the earliest stages of development
    I thought it would be a dusty, rusty, and rough place. I thought it would be rudimentary, a place stripped down so that the essence of Islam would shine through.
  27. lurid
    shining with an unnatural red glow
    It was the colonel from Kentucky Fried Chicken, lit up in lurid red and grinning upon the holiest city in the world.
  28. opulence
    wealth as evidenced by sumptuous living
    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.
  29. enclave
    an enclosed territory that is culturally distinct
    Her working-class family came from Kennebunk, five miles away from Kennebunkport, the coastal enclave where families like the Kennedys and Bushes owned vacation cottages.
  30. insular
    narrowly restricted in outlook or scope
    We never had a long conversation about what it meant to try to walk away from a tribal, insular family, but we surely recognized it in each other.
  31. uncanny
    surpassing the ordinary or normal
    My father had an uncanny ability to find a “cousin” almost anywhere in the world.
  32. spartan
    marked by simplicity, frugality, or self-denial
    Inside, the house was spartan. Misty’s grandfather was a hunter; a few of his guns hung on the walls. Otherwise, they were bare.
  33. profound
    showing intellectual penetration or emotional depth
    I had heard of so-called “Einstein visas” offered to immigrants with talent so profound they were able to skip to the front of the immigration line.
  34. tangible
    perceptible by the senses, especially the sense of touch
    I wasn’t sure how a person could prove that they had a well-founded fear; after all, an emotion wasn’t a tangible item, like a suitcase you could just hand over for inspection.
  35. renounce
    turn away from; give up
    Asylum would require renouncing my Jordanian citizenship.
  36. clout
    special advantage or influence
    I also needed clout, so I summoned up all my courage and asked the president of the college, Dr. Ruth Simmons, to also write a letter of support.
  37. scrutiny
    the act of examining something closely, as for mistakes
    As a journalist with the Associated Press in San Francisco, I’ve had the opportunity to learn about political asylum. I understand the complexity of the issue and the need for careful scrutiny of cases.
  38. ambivalent
    uncertain or unable to decide about what course to follow
    Until I met Luma, I had few gay friends and was ambivalent about gay rights.
  39. fiscal
    involving financial matters
    Economic grievances have persuaded many Jordanians to join a variety of Muslim political groups, and the country’s structural and fiscal limitations force the king to deploy stratagems to deflect attention away from the population’s economic hardships.
  40. deference
    a disposition or tendency to yield to the will of others
    As long as the king cannot address the economic grievances of the Muslim political forces, he attempts to please them in other ways. This has led to a substantial amount of deference to their lifestyle demands.
Created on Wed Mar 20 17:14:19 EDT 2024 (updated Thu Mar 21 14:12:14 EDT 2024)

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