I’ve had quite a busy week, friends.

Monday, I spoke at the World Affairs Council of Oregon on Muslim women and media activism. It was a wonderful crowd and I felt really positive about the presentation–so positive, in fact, that my cab driver asked me why I was in such a a good mood:

Me: “I just gave a great lecture!”

Cab driver: “Congratulations. What was your lecture on?”
Me: “Muslim women and media activism!”

Cab Driver: “Are you yourself a Muslim woman?”
Me: “Yes, I am!”

Cab Driver: “Well, you don’t act like a Muslim woman!”

Me: “What does a Muslim woman act like?”
Cab Driver: “Well…you don’t have an accent.”

Me: “That’s because I was born and raised here.”

We went on to have a very pleasant conversation about his 55-year-old girlfriend (he himself was a very sharp 79), and how he thought I was “just too smart to stay at the master’s level.”

I hope I gave that cab driver something to think about, and I hope he remembered me if he saw Rep. King’s hearings yesterday. While the hearings proved themselves to be a farce, I was heartened by all those who spoke out against them, especially those outside the Muslim community: Rep. Mike Honda, J-Street, Sen. Harry Reid, etc.

Meanwhile, I’d been battling an insane cold since Tuesday: coughing, phlegm, the whole nasty nine yards. Thankfully, that kept me away from the King hearings and the inevitable blood pressure issues that could ensue.

Unfortunately, it also kept me from dealing effectively with MMW’s server issues. The website has been down for about a week now because our servers have been malfunctioning. Our team has been working pretty hard on it, and I’m confident we’ll be back up and running by Monday, enshallah.

I think I’ll be back up and running by then, too.

Friends, my time at the Banana 2 conference was brief, but great! Although the weather in Los Angeles has been unseasonably rainy and cold (it actually hailed during our panel), everyone I met was warm and wonderful. And surprisingly, I wasn’t the only bi-racial Persian there! I met Kaywan Shiraz, a managing partner for Kasama Media.

If you didn’t know, the term “banana” refers to Asians (“yellow” on the outside, “white” on the inside). There was some great discussion on what “Asian” includes, and organizer Edward Hong made some great points about how 99% of the conference attendees represented East Asia, but that South and West Asians were underrepresented. In the same edible style, this contingent was referred to as “coconuts” (brown on the outside…). Here are mine and Jehanzeb’s sticky notes:

My note says, "I'm *technically* brown!" and Jehanzeb's says, "I'm a coconut!"

I spoke on a panel about social activism through social media. My co-panelists were the amazing Francis Kai Hwa Wang, Jehanzeb Dar, Marissa Lee, and Cynthia Liu, along with moderation by Keith Kamisugi and input by Edward. You can see the first half of the panel here.

I want to give my deepest gratitude to Edward and everyone else that helped me get to the conference and made me feel welcome. Now if only LA’s weather would follow suit!

I’ll be at the Banana 2 conference on Saturday, February 26th. And, well, it’s going to be  bananas!

Sorry, couldn’t help myself.

Anyway, Banana 2 is the second-annual gathering of Asian/Pacific Islander American bloggers, and I am lucky enough to be speaking on a panel with Jehanzeb Dar, Marissa Lee, Frances Kai-Hwa Wang, and Cynthia Liu about “Uncovering the Activist in You/Social Media for Social Change.”

Check out the full list of panels here.

Muslimah Media Watch is also a proud sponsor of the conference! If you’re in Los Angeles, be sure to check it out!

Last Thursday, I had the privilege of meeting Dr. Amina Wadud, author and prominent Muslim feminist scholar. She was in town to give a guest lecture at Oregon State University, sponsored by the school’s Women’s Studies Department.

The Women’s Studies Department hosted dinner with Dr. Wadud at the delicious Big River restaurant and then we headed to her lecture. Dr. Wadud’s lecture was held in a tiny room, but I was so pleased to see that the room literally overflowed with people interested in her work.

Her lecture focused on the language of the Qur’an and Islam’s inherent demand of gender equality. She explained how human rights had become an “either/or” endeavor for Muslims (either you choose Islam or human rights, but not both); her argument was that Islam and human rights are not exclusive, but in fact that Islam inherently supports and demands human rights (and thus gender equality).

She also spoke about the gender equality inherent in Qur’anic verses. “The Qur’an is explicitly inclusive in all stages of life and death,” she said, noting that both men and women are part of God’s design—women are not an afterthought, nor are we imperfect versions of men.

After her lecture, several people purchased her books and lined up to talk to her. First in line were several young men. I was amused that they had not come to support her, but rather challenge her.

This is what male privilege looks like: a group of young men splitting hairs and challenging the decades of research done by a female scholar who’s been Muslim since before any of them were born, assuming that even though she’s done more research on the subject than all of them put together, they still have something to teach her.

It was a pleasure to spend time with Dr. Wadud. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out her books.

I’ve been glued to Al Jazeera’s live feed of Cairo all day, checking Twitter’s #Jan25 hashtag for updates. Protests began earlier this week and, despite Egypt shutting off mobile and internet service, increasing numbers of people came out today. They took a break to pray, despite being hosed:

A curfew was imposed and the police and military were called out, but none of this stopped the protesters.  Several people have died and hundreds have been wounded. But the protesters march on toward ousting Hosni Mubarak and his police state.

I pray for Egypt, like I prayed for Tunisia. I also pray for the safety of friends and  Muslimah Media Watch contributor Eman Hashim, our correspondent in Egypt, who is participating in the protests.

All Hosni’s horses and all Hosni’s men cannot put Egypt together again. May God keep Egypt safe.