Summary

In “Over the Rainbow” (86), Mina recounts an incident at the camp: A volunteer, “a blond in her early twenties” (88), became excited by the appearance of a rainbow. A Syrian boy remarked, “She should shove that rainbow up her ass” (88), causing his father to laugh.

In “What to Ask at a Book Reading” (88), Mina recalls that she had met the writer earlier at a reading of his in Chicago, where when asked what his biggest loss was from the AIDS years, he began to name the friends he had lost, one by one.

In “How to Make Liberace Jealous” (90), Mina recollects that in reading the writer’s interviews with refugees, she was struck by idiosyncratic details. She remembers the story of one woman who had covered her entire pantry with sequins. The writer had wondered what kind of person would donate thousands of sequins...