“People, like buildings, have facades. Tom created his. His walk was a feat. It had taken him twenty years of killing bad guys and a pair of Tony Lama boots to perfect the illusion. He made sure that everyone felt it by the third clunk of his boot heel. When he entered a crime scene there was a hush, and no one ever quite knew why they were holding their breath. But he did. A crime scene was theater and the stage was his.” ChinaRussiaIranNew AdultBenzehabeUnassimilatedCyber WarFib Author:Michael Benzehabe
“Dora Flores was one of the few people Tom confided in. She reported to him as Cyber Division’s Inner-Office Field Support. She still had a slight Mexican flavor in her pronunciations, and he liked it.” ChinaRussiaIranFbiHackingCyber SecurityBenzehabeUnassimilatedMossad Author:Michael Benzehabe
“In the privacy of her century-worn house she donned an old burka to stay warm. Years earlier, the ragged garment had been discarded by her eldest sister, Sarah. Zoe secretly retrieved it so she could wrap herself in its fond memories. Those memories, good and bad, quickened her weary heart. Only one person could help when she got nerved-up.” MemoriesIranBenzehabeUnassimilatedBurka Author:Michael Benzehabe
“Being articulate is no guarantee of intelligence,” Zoe said. “I’m not doubting the value of education. I’m doubting its reach. Highly educated politicians still do stupid things. Anthony Weiner was educated; Mugabi was educated; Assad was educated; Mussolini was educated. For all their education, look at them.” EducationPoliticianIsraelImmigrationIranAssadBenzehabeUnassimilatedMussoliniMossadMispronounceAnthony WeiterMugabi Author:Michael Benzehabe
“I dread dinner with Father. I dread his suffocating shroud of silence. I dread his end-of-day rituals. Most of all, I detest what comes last: his lock-up-for-the-night clatter. These sounds rasp my already fragile nerves. Click, clang, grind, zing, clap, schlik: horrid sounds.” FatherDaughterIranTeenBenzehabePersianality Book:Persianality Source: Persianality
“Zoe stopped one last time in front of the mirror, adjusting her new American dress. She didn’t see the dress, however. She saw what the big Russian did to her. She saw what al-Qaeda did to her. She saw a person shunned by her Persian village. She saw ugliness. Every time she looked in the mirror she saw deficiency.” DepressionShameRussiaInsecurityIranRapeAl QaedaDeficiencyPersianOutsiderImmigrantBenzehabeUnassimilatedShunnedWestern FashionAmerican Fashion Author:Michael Benzehabe
“Zoe rubbed her forehead and grimaced. “America is one toll booth after another. In Noshahr I could park anything in front of our compound, but not in free America. I tried to buy a goat to roast. I am not going to tell you the trouble that caused.” “You can’t roast goat in America?” “You can roast,” Zoe said, “but there are certain rules about goats. And it made the neighborhood children cry. The details are too tedious for the telephone.” IranMiddle EastParkingAlienHomesickZoeImmigrantGoatToll Booth Author:Michael Benzehabe