The first inkling of the idea that would later become Other Words for Home came to me in fall of 2013 when I was invited over to a close family friend’s house for dinner. At this dinner, I was introduced to members of their extended family who had recently come over from Syria to escape the violence that was threatening their hometown. I learned more about the conflict in Syria, which, up until then, I’d only had a vague awareness of. At this dinner, I watched as cousins who were raised in America interacted with cousins who had been raised in Syria. It made me think about families—like my own
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