Comfortable enough to laugh at the absurdity

Today's interview was really interesting--and painful--on many levels.  Hannah, a friend of student of a committee member of mine (catch that?)  had graciously agreed to meet with me knowing only a little about my study, and I only knew that she was a friend of someone who hadn't quite fit my study and had told her about me.

It's interesting to me that we not only live in the same city but, as it turns out, lives less than a minute from me--and she immediately commented on how this area, more than the other areas of the US and abroad she'd lived in, neighbors didn't really talk to each other.  I feel this way too, but do wonder if the lack of interaction with neighbors is even more acute when a hijab is seen.

The thing that struck me most this time, is how often and how specifically Hannah talked about becoming comfortable with being Arab-American Muslim and how these things were things she couldn't change about herself and she might as well accept--and have some fun with. She said that her schoolmates (at a local university) have nicknamed her 'terrorist'--and she likes the joke.  In high school, she and some friends had made little signs that said "I didn't choose to be Arab--I just got lucky!"  It was their confidence, their pride and their story.  She even had a banner that said this in her car window, and it was there since 1995 or 1996.  Most people just kind of smiled and told her it was cool--until 2001.  She said that after 9/11, she'd come back to her car and find that someone had thrown eggs at it, and even beer bottles at one point.  She took it out of the car, just to be safe.  She also quit her job at a preschool after that year, too, because of the looks from some of her co-workers and the comments from parents (one even threatened to beat her up)--and yet, she just sort of said that you can't argue with people that ignorant.

For instance, she had someone in her math class last year ask her if she was a Muslim, and she said "yes."  Puzzled, the other woman asked how she could be Muslim and American, and Hannah replied, "well, my religion is Islam and I am an American citizen."  "Oh," said the woman in math class, "I thought Islam was a country. I thought I saw it on a map once."  "Islam?  Islamabad?" asks Hannah.  "YES," said the woman.  "Islamabad is a city in Pakistan, and has nothing to do with Islam."  As she said before, you can't continue a conversation with someone who doesn't understand.

As she told me, sometimes you just have to laugh at the craziness of it all.