Prelude: winter in Beijing, 2009 -- Kenya: where it all began -- My parents: a failed elopement -- Dissolution: Johnnie Walker Black Label -- Cleansing -- My brother David: a tragedy -- Sex, beaches, and mixed-race families -- Of grandmothers, music, and wandering Jews -- Saints and sinners -- Being brown at Brown and other university stories -- Sibling atonement -- Harvard of the west -- Youthful indiscretions: the second time I realized I was ugly -- Culture shocks and untimely nuns -- Digital revolutions, sowing the seeds of rebellion -- A war begins: I look to the east -- The middle kingdom: China -- The orphans and a cup of water -- On love and dreams -- New directions and a special gift -- The new America has arrived -- White House family reunion -- Coda: Kenyan spring.