Naureen Khan is a writer

We lived in a beige brick house that my parents scraped to afford with their retail jobs, and on Eid al-Fitr and the Fourth of July, we threw raucous parties. Cars lined up bumper-to-bumper in our driveway and for long stretches down the street. Guests tumbled out in kaleidoscopic panjabis and saris and were led to our doorstep by the smell of biryani.

I went to summer camp at a Baptist church, the one where Jessica Simpson’s father was once a minister, because it was cheaper than the secular ones in the area, and there was only the lightest bit of proselytizing in between trips to the swimming pool and the bowling alley. When it was my turn to bring in snacks for the classroom, I brought trays of homemade kalo jam — fat, round, syrupy Bangladeshi sweets — and was only mildly embarrassed.

What Happened?
Naureen Khan is a writer and senior researcher at “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee.” She lives in Harlem.