Normally, I wouldn’t bother to write about Miss America USA.

I don’t like beauty pageants. I think they’re plastic and degrading, for all of the run-of-the-mill feminist reasons.

But when I heard that Miss USA 2010 is Rima Fakih, a Lebanese-American Muslim woman, I literally did a high-kick in excitement.

You’re probably thinking, “Why would any self-respecting feminist cheer at the fact that a Muslim woman has been objectified along with the rest of the Miss USA contestants?”

My feelings about this particular Miss USA pageant are ambivalent. Like I said: beauty pageants = gross.  There’s not just a history of sexism, but also of exploitation, exclusion, and racism within American beauty pageants.

But I am incredibly excited that there is another female face of Islam in the mainstream media. Rima Fakih is another representation: she doesn’t look like the headscarf-wearing Muslim women usually profiled in human interest stories (the ones who open their own businesses or are fired from Abercrombie & Fitch stores). She doesn’t look like the war-torn women of Iraq of Afghanistan–representations in the media that Americans are used to seeing.

I don’t want to downplay the fact that Rima’s crown represents sexist ideals and expectations. As a media activist and Muslim feminist, I am fully aware of these issues, and I know that her victory is not a real one for Muslim women or Arab American women.

And although the backlash has already begun, Ms. Fakih’s win is also a reinforcement of the Muslim American presence in this country. It reminds America that even though a Faisal Shahzad pops up every now and then, the majority of us are just living and working Americans like Rima Fakih.

But as someone who sees media portrayals of Muslim women that are completely negative every single day, I’m just going to take this one moment and enjoy it. Ms. Fakih’s high-profile win adds to the diversity of how Muslim women are represented.

Last Friday, the White House held a call-in press conference for bloggers regarding the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship that the White House is hosting this week. Geek-out tangent: this was my first White House press conference, so I was pretty excited. I even asked a question! Whee!

Okay, geek-out over.

There are over 250 delegates from 50 – 60 countries (many of them Muslim-majority countries) coming to Washington, D.C. for the two-day summit.

The summit aims to be part of a long-term approach to building economic bridges and partnerships outside of governmental settings (despite the fact that this is sponsored by the U.S. government). Although not all participants are Muslim or from Muslim countries, the website states that one of the summit’s aims will focus on entrepreneurship in Muslim-majority countries:

Through this Summit and subsequent efforts, we seek to identify and remove barriers to entrepreneurship, while building the infrastructure needed to continue to grow and sustain successful programs and initiatives in Muslim communities around the world.

A country cannot make progress if its women are not making progress. Since there is a focus on developing and encouraging entrepreneurship in Muslim-majority countries, and knowing that there are female participants from a few Gulf countries, I asked how the summit can help economically empower women in these regions. Senior administration officials stated that there are “unique opportunities and challenges for women that deserve to be a special focus.” Many of the delegates from the Middle East/North Africa region are accomplished female entrepreneurs, but there are also several budding businesspeople in attendance, including students and recent graduates. The summit has sought broad age and gender diversity “in order to help women pursue entrepreneurship that can benefit their communities.”

It seems the Obama Administration rightly believes that there is great potential in aiding women’s entrepreneurship: on Tuesday of the summit, there is a special focus on female entrepreneurship with a panel titled “Unleashing the Power of Women Entrepreneurs,” headed by Special Representative to Muslim Communities Farah Pandith, along with sessions with Valerie Jarrett and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is always talking about women’s empowerment in Muslim majority countries (just disregard the fact that much of it is military-related).

The Summit began today, and the entire thing will be streaming live on the summit’s website. Check it out!

My response to the entire South Park/Prophet Muhammad depiction?

*yawn*

I’m not a huge fan of South Park, but it’s just a TV show. It’s just not a big deal.

My response to RevolutionMuslim, two guys who have threatened Matt Stone and Trey Parker?

STFU.

Hussein Rashid says it more eloquently at ReligionDispatches:

These two buffoons (I keep emphasizing that there are only two of them) decided that they encapsulate all the learning of the various Muslim traditions and could speak out for the Muslim community.

My colleague  Aziz Poonawalla puts it much better at BeliefNet:

In fact, it is precisely the over-reaction of extremist muslims who wave around threats of violence that leads to more depictions and insults to the Prophet, not less. The right way to inculcate respect for the Prophet among non-Muslims is not to act like a barbarian but to simply express ourselves and explain our beliefs – and then excercise our own right, to walk away. It is by their own actions, supposedly in “defense” of the Prophet, that these extremists actually cause greater offense to the Prophet’s legacy than any mere cartoon. After all, the Prophet SAW is judged by non-Muslims solely by the behavior of those who profess to follow him.

Frankly, I’ll take Matt & Trey over “RevolutionMuslim” any day.

I’m finally back on my feet after my life on a plane in March! So I’ll be posting more regularly, enshallah.

I’ve posted enough about the UC Berkeley panel event (which went swimmingly), but I didn’t say much about my time in Vienna.

I spoke on a panel about Diversity in the Media (Audiovisual, Print Media, and Social Networks). It went nicely, and I met a lot of wonderful people at the conference. In particular, I met Sara Mansour Fallah, a bright young Austrian-Iranian who writes for der Standard and is helping to shape Austrian opinion on Islam. It was wonderful (and refreshing) to speak with her about Europe’s issues regarding Islam, ethnicity, and culture.

After the conference, the American Embassy hosted a special event for the WLDS speakers. I met the U.S. Ambassador, avoided all the finger foods with pork, and had a wonderful time chatting with all the amazing speakers that WLDS had brought together, including Tanya Odom (who put forth some beautiful and honest reflections about race) and my co-panelist Veronika Oleksyn (who writes for the Associated Press).

The reception at the U.S. Embassy.

After my whirlwind trip to Vienna (two days–not nearly enough!), I flew back to the States to wash my underwear before getting on another plane!

Back to California this time–to Los Angeles to meet up with my AMCLI buddies for our final fellowship retreat and graduation. I spent a wonderful few days with my AMCLI crew and was kept full and happy with plenty of Persian food. This same weekend was Norooz (Persian New Year), and I can’ t think of a better way to celebrate anything than with food! Growing up in a non-majority-Iranian area makes one really excited to see things like the haft seen in public places:

The haft seen table at LA's Shaherzad restaurant.

In fact, if you’re ever  in the Westwood area (or Vestvood, for all you Iranians), I can’t recommend the Shaherzad restaurant enough. Good food and good friends are my favorite things, and this place had it all. Plus tahdig! YUM.