Manan Ahmed reflects on his need to shave before travel:
Yesterday, in planning for my airport flight tomorrow, I went to my usual barber (a gentle man from Istanbul who speaks with kind eyes) and asked him to go ahead and make me pretty for the immigration control officer. As I sat there looking at the mirror, I realized that 1) I rather liked my face covered in short, grey, splinters. And 2) I was afraid of what these short, grey splinters would tell someone else about me.
I realized that this particular habit began ten years ago. I flew back into Chicago from London on Sep 16th, 2001.
The Dish 