As inheritors of Orientalist images from Europe, America has participated as both consumer and image-maker in an embellished mythology of consistent and dangerous representations of Middle Eastern images and the stereotypes of those labeled Middle Eastern, Arab, or Muslim. Why has the lack of balance been so profound and the recycled narratives so constant? From textual analysis of Mark Twain’s Innocents Abroad from the Alto California Letters to the American and British editions, I found a correlation between the intensity of his editing and the portions of his text detailing his travels in the Middle East. Twain’s is a stark example of the unchanging nature of representation and trope over time. It is easy to trace these representations and stereotypes in modern American popular culture from the twenty-four hour news networks to the pages of fashion magazines. This paper begins to look at the emerging Arab-American social organization structures finding uncoordinated parallels between the socio-political and artistic movements and that both use proven methods of humanization and success that are themselves being recycled. I believe our methodologies must operate with the same hybridity as identity. I rely on the conversations begun through the discourse of Orientalism while infusing the action of actual people and attempt to exclude the old centers of power. Close readings of Arab-American fiction, art, comedy, and media reveal normalized immigrant experiences. Similar ways of working out the duality of being tied to two or more places are expressed through writing and media. Exile and its discontents, what is lost and gained in the pursuit of the American dream, transgression against family both real and projected as cultural loss, and the design of cultural continuity are all addressed. I argue that these movements act to counter the common “reading” of the Orientalist historiography. These counter narratives are imperative to giving perspective to the real world effects of Middle Eastern representations and their scope in the United States. This is more than theory and history, this is a living discussion and a living fight for some. By highlighting the bridging work already occurring in the diverse Arab-American communities and networks and by embracing the contradictions of identity, we cultivate more publicly the humanizing experience of real people, bringing us closer to a change in the stereotypes and their uses. The prejudice and discrimination will be palpable and more nuanced “articulations of Arabness” can be allowed to flourish.