Islamic Republic of Iran Post Corporation
International Facsimile Service
In the name of God, the benevolent, the merciful.

To: Dorothy Wilkins Alexander Forsythe
University of Washington, Anthropology Dept
Fax Number: 01-206-543-3285
From: Jasmine Talahi
Date: October 10, 1997

My dears,
I marinated in self-doubt. I waited until the final boarding call. Did I have the courage to face a decade’s worth of family banishment? Would my parents accept my apologies or skewer me further for my American sins? Would we continue to feel estranged from one another? And what about traveling to the birthplace of Islamic fundamentalism on an American passport, where Americans were taken hostage for 444 days? These questions churned my stomach and gave me pause. I squeezed the black headscarf in my handbag as if it were some kind of security blanket and took a deep breath. I walked to the gate and boarded the plane.