"And the arab wins Miss America, classic"

Nice title, right? Sounds a bit racist, right? Ask the twitter user who posted it regarding the Miss America 2013 winner, Nina Davuluri.  

A few months ago, twitter users (because everyone should pay attention to twitter) were outraged that this "Arab" won Miss America 2013. I mean, come on, she's Al-Qaeda! I'm sure her father pulled some strings (and by strings I mean killed some Americans) to make this happen for his daughter. This is America! We can't let the Arabs ruin our perfectly notable and admired image. Her "crowning", or whatever they call it, took place on 13 September, just two days after the anniversary of 9/11. So, obviously she's up to something, right twitter? 

PLOT TWIST: Miss America is not Arab, in fact, she's Indian-American. 

Let me clarify that when I say "Indian" I mean from India, not the American slang term for the Native Americans. So, here's India. Here's the USA. And why not, here's the Middle East. India seems pretty close to the Middle East, and yes, India and Pakistan have some serious issues at the moment. But the US is pretty damn close to Mexico, but that doesn't mean I'm comfortable being called a Mexican drug dealer. 

But no matter, because India and the Arab world are still the same thing. No matter that she was actually born in New York, USA and is without anymore suspicion of Islamic extremists as you and I. Let me just point out the obvious and say that the entire Arab world is not Islamic extremists, nor do they want to tear down America, nor do all Middle Eastern women wear a burqa. 

There is a serious problem with the way we refer to the rest of the world, especially the middle east. 9/11 of 2001 was very frightening and I hope it never happens again, but can we let that define innocent middle eastern people? Or India in that case?  

To see the article I'm referring, follow this link, A lot of people are very upset that an Indian-American woman won the Miss America Pageant from Buzzfeed. 

Why I'm blogging

Hello lovely blog world.

I'm Madeline, like the story of the little french girl, for anyone who gets it.
I grew up with one goal, to be the first female firefighter. When I realized there were already female firefighters, and that I really hate being hot, I decided I'd move to Australia with my high school boyfriend. When I decided that, like him, the Aussies weren't worth my time, I went to college to be an English major, and later become a high school English teacher once I'd been run dry of energy and dignity. I very very quickly remembered that I don't care for teenagers... And that passing the basic lit class was absolutely impossible. Once I failed at everything in life, I thought I'd start a blog about women and how they are perceived in the Middle East, in relations to today's current events. So prepare yourselves.

I live in Virginia, USA, and am now a sophomore in college. I am, finally, an International Affairs major with a double minor in Middle Eastern Communities and Migrations and Arabic, phew. There are so many things I want to do in my life, finishing college as soon as possible is one of them. If I could graduate tomorrow I would, just so I can get on with life and do literally whatever the hell I want. I am self-empowered, I accept that I'm a poor college student; thousands of dollars already in debt, and I'm a picky eater. But I really do care about the world and where it's headed. I'll do something important in life; anywhere in between remembering to feed my cats at home, or traveling the world making people smile. I haven't decided the seriousness of this blog, so don't get your hopes up.

Madeline