As you might have already assumed, I was SO excited to rip that hijab off! I don’t have anything against it, but yay! I can, at last, rip off the hijab that has been suffocating my head for a week!!! I set the rip off date at precisely 3:15 when the last school bell rang. I was in the Black Box theatre with Patrick and Bernard reciting my contemporary scene. The play is called Frankie and Johnny in the Clair of Lune. It is basically about a couple who does one night stand and continues for another night. The question is, do they love each other? The audience has to figure it out through the actor’s actions and dialogue. Anyways. Guess who chose that play? Me. Yes. Me, the holy and pure Muslim picked a play that starts off with a sex scene. We aren’t doing the sex scene, of course, but another scene in the play. Sorry to absolutely go off the point. Sorry. Anyways, (Ugh! Why do I keep saying, ‘Anyways’ I don’t sound writerly here right now. Bleh.) we were interrupted by the announcements of the principal about the executive and class presidents and vice presidents. The banter continued on for a good five minutes, and the bell rang immediately after the rant, so Patrick and I couldn’t finish our play. When the bell rang, I inspiringly, or at least tried to, rip off the hijab. I undid the pin, and took off the hijab, but the fabric was stuck in the sweatshirt I was wearing and had tucked the fabric in beforehand. I groaned, and just pulled the hijab out and off my head! It felt so good shaking my head and feeling my blonde hair touching my face. After a while, it was a strange feeling, but I just absolutely loved it. Tali was like, “I miss you beeeyoooutiful hair!” I joked around with her, of course. Haha.
Also, I broke a few rules too. Today I hugged Patrick, because in our script, my character had to comfort him, so I had to hug him. It’s for a legitimate reason! So I just justified that. I don’t really have anything else to say. The days before this had so much more content because I saw new faces over the weekend, and visited old ones on Monday, but the reaction waned as the week progressed.
It was such a great experience doing this project. I am very glad that Ms. Chufo had us to do this project, because I’ve been wanting to be a Muslim for a day or more, but I haven’t had the motivation to do so. I’m that kind of person, unfortunately. Anyways, I actually bought an authentic hijab and wore it around school. I have gotten many different kinds of reactions, from ‘That’s cool’ to ‘Um…’ to ‘You’re a Muslim?!?’ and it really changed my perspective on people who are different from mainstream American society. Anyone that who wears deviant items – hijabs, turbans, yarmulkes, and many more would definitely get more attraction than any ordinary person would receive. But at the same time, I am deaf, and when I sign in public, I normally receive the same mouth opening stares that a deviantly dressed person would receive. But I think being a Muslim and showing it publicly has much more symbol behind it, rather than just pity. Muslims are the civilization from which terrorists came and crashed into the World Trade Center Towers, the Pentagon, and the fields of Pennsylvania killing thousands of Americans. Let those people rest in peace. So Americans immediately erected a barrier between themselves and the foreign Muslims. Even though nine long years have passed by since the 9/11 attacks, there is still an unsteady relationship between those two cultures, often with the Muslims attacking with the terrorist attacks – the underwear bomber, the water bomb creators, the 9/11 attacks, and the Americans protecting with the stern TSA, the Patriot Act, and the FBI overseeing mosques all over America. Why do the Muslims attack when we are not, that’s my question. I know our armies are on their lands, but they are there in order to securely hand over the land to the secular government instead to the hands of the Taliban, which imposes restricting laws on people under their control.
Back to the issue of wearing the hijab, I think I had it a little bit too easy in democratic Southern California. If I wore that in the Midwest, my parents would be wishing good luck to me. I might would have gotten beat up, or killed even. I won’t be surprised if that happened. But there’s a strong Muslim community in Chicago, and a couple of bigger towns in the Midwest, but I’m talking about towns in the middle of cow patties and corn stalks. I would like to try this project there, or see somebody else willing enough to risk their body and mind for this opportunity.
Again, I had such a wonderful time doing this project, despite my constant complaining and whining. I learned so much on this adventure and I would like to conclude with a thank you to all of my faithful readers. Thank you for taking the time and resources to read this blog. I really hope you enjoyed it and please do tune in to this blog once in a while. I might surprise you with a blog or something unexpected! Thank you, once again, my faithful readers. Peace out, Tory be out of the house!