- If you live in Southern California
and you wear a hijab, make sure you pin that (bleeps) down,
especially during Santa Ana season
'cause those winds will get you.
- So, one day in college,
my friend was in the kitchen
and she was cooking something.
Well, I was in the shower, do, do, do,
just bathing away, and all I know is
the next thing that happened is,
"Get out, everything's on fire."
I think she forgot to turn off the stove.
Kitchen was on fire, the roof was on fire,
and all I had on was nothing.
But, I had to rush out because the fire department
was already at the scene and I put on a towel,
no hijab, and just rushed out.
I'm outside, then, trying to just put on any layer
of clothing that my friends managed
to bring outside the house as people are talking to us.
All I have is a bunch of firemen coming up to me,
saying, "Are you guys okay?
"Are you okay, ma'am?",
and I'm like, "Yeah, I'm totally fine,
"but please, just don't look at me, I'm naked."
For all of you who think that we shower
with these things on, no, we don't shower with our hijabs on
because I would have been ready for that moment.
- A few friends and I were visiting San Francisco
to sight-see while we were in college.
We had a great trip,
and we were on our way back to the airport.
It was all going super smoothly
until we went to the TSA line,
which is the most dreaded part for every Muslim.
So, we got in line, waiting for it to be our turn,
and all of a sudden, one of the security guards pointed
to what we thought were me and my friend,
and said, "Ma'am, you need to take that off,"
and we thought he was talking about our hijabs,
so we went off, we were like,
"I'm calling my lawyer."
We didn't have lawyers.
We were like, "You can't do this to us,
"we know our rights.
"We're Americans and this is America, sir,
"so we're not gonna stand for that,"
and he waited for us to finish,
like, literally waited for us to finish and was like,
"I was talking to your friend behind you
"because she forgot to take off her coat
"for security check.
"Was not talking to you."
So, we awkwardly were like, "Oh.
"Yeah, no, we knew that,
"we were just seeing if you knew that.
"Bye."
We basically just wasted 15 minutes of this guy's life,
preaching about equal rights and freedom of religion,
for basically no reason.
I guess the moral of the story is,
if you're gonna pick a fight with a TSA,
just, like, maybe like, look behind you first?
- So, I grew up in Southern California
and we have really strong winds every year
called the Santa Anas.
These winds come and they just blow everything away,
and one day in eighth grade,
I was just minding my own business at school
and the Santa Anas hit.
This strong gust of wind, it felt like a tornado,
it came and was just blowing everything in the air.
There was, like, leaves and dirt.
Before I could even register what happened,
the wind came and just attacked me,
and my scarf flew completely off my head,
and I just watched it fly away,
all the way across the quad.
I chased it down for maybe, like, 100 feet,
and grabbed it really quick, I was like,
"Oh my god, this is crazy.
"Everybody's gonna see me,"
and I just wrapped it around and I looked up,
and everybody had just run away
and they were shielding their eyes
because there was so much debris in the air,
so no one even saw, but it was, like,
the most mortifying 45 seconds of my life.
In the moment, what seems like something
that's just so tragic and embarrassing,
in the grand scheme of things,
it's not that big of a deal and no one cares.
- My story starts a couple months
after I started wearing my hijab.
I was waiting in line in Six Flags
for one of my favorite rides, Tatsu.
I'm the type of person who loves rollercoasters,
but I can't put my hands in the air,
I have to hold on for dear life.
We were sitting in Tatsu and I was really excited,
and I was holding onto him like,
"Okay, I'm ready for this ride,"
and while we were starting,
I was like, "Wait, I totally forgot
"that this one goes upside-down,"
and I was like, "Okay, but it'll be fine."
So, we're going up, and then as we're coming to the loop,
I was like, "Oh no, I feel my hijab slipping,
"like, I feel it slipping."
I'm like, "Do I hold on, do I hold onto my hijab?"
I didn't know what to do,
and I actually decided that my scarf wasn't important
at that time and I'm just gonna hold on
for my dear life.
When we were in the loop, I saw my scarf,
I felt it just fly off and I was like,
"Okay, well there that goes.
"I'm still alive, though, and that's all that matters."
As that was happening, I heard someone say,
"I got it," and I thought,
"That's such a weird thing to say on a rollercoaster,
"why would you say that?"
And then, the ride ended, and I was fine and alive,
I just didn't have the scarf on.
I was like, sitting there, thinking,
"Should I put my shirt over my head?
"Like, how do I go about the rest of my day?",
and the guy who was behind me yells again,
"I got it," and I turned around,
and I'm like, "What are you talking about?"
I saw my scarf in his hand.
He caught my hijab mid-air on a rollercoaster,
who does that?
That was so sweet and kind of him,
and I could finally have something to wear
for the rest of the day.
The moral of my story is,
if it comes between saving my life or my hijab,
I'm gonna save my life. (triumphant music)