East meets West

Tuesday in class we discussed the book Does My Head Look Big in This? and I was intrigued by the plot of the story and can’t wait to read it. I was unable to get a copy in time to read the novel. We also had a guest speaker, Monica Eraqi come in a talk to us about her time in the Middle East and growing up as a Muslim in America. She had a lot to say and many opinions about the relationship between women and the hijab. I was intrigued by the story she told about her cousin and the student who both eventually stopped wearing the headscarf all together because they felt it made them feel to different, too much of an outsider. Which in some cases can be true of high school students and even adults, but I feel that those young girls did more to hinder their cause then fight for it. I know that I’ll never understand what it was like for them, but I also understand that being different can be scary, but if you don’t fight for your differences than you can’t expect others to understand that your differences are what make the world a better place. I also thought that it was strange that her father was trying to arrange a partner for her in a roundabout way, when he himself married outside of his faith. I wanted to ask if she ever felt pressured or if she felt he was being hypocritical, but she also didn’t seem to mind that he had done that because she was with someone that he had set up for her currently. So I didn’t press the issue though I wish I would have, it would have been interesting to hear her thoughts on that. I applaud her for continuing to study in Egypt even though the United States had just invaded Iraq. I would have been frightened beyond belief and probably not have gone, but she said it was one of the best decisions she ever made. Class was very interesting and I found out a lot more about how Muslim and Islamic men and women feel about living in the United States.