yes and now I’ve lived in Iowa for about
two years and my personal experience has
been really amazing okay so the complain
about the weather but that’s not gonna
change coming to Iowa I had no idea what
I was getting into I expected deserted
cities and I came to Waverly got exactly
that when I was back home it was funny
to hear what people had to say about the
United States I still remember the day
before I left home I’m still a teenager
at that time hard to believe and I was
out with my friends of course we weren’t
partying but a friend of mine comes up
to me and asked me so you’re going to
the United States right like yep
he then asks so I hear Pakistanis are
receive a special treatment at the
airport like special definitely I mean
there this is actually true but there
are other things that people believe in
even more radical ideas that are out
there and people believe in such things
I’m embarrassed to admit some things
that I used to believe in I simply I
still have these silly ideas or views
about the FBI now let me give you some
context I’m a Muslim and I’m also
studying political terrorism not a good
combination I know the whole process of
researching for my class it’s just
exciting when I’m in my room ident
alights peek through the window to see
the coast is clear then I opened my
laptop go onto incognito mode you know
that doesn’t help it’s just for the
peace of mind I remember the first time
I was researching for the class I typed
what is political terrorism since I had
no idea because I’ve always been busy
not
partying of course but as soon as I
pressed enter my heart was pounding
expecting to hear sirens wailing in the
distance it felt like I was in a movie
of course I was the main character
I still remember rehearsing in my head
how I would give my name if they come
knocking on my door what’s your name boy
the names bond Shaw’s a bond I know
right sounds strange since you don’t
really get to see a lot of Muslim
characters being portrayed as a
yeah but I do believe my situation is a
sad one I’m a student this isn’t
something that I should be spending my
time worrying about how do you expect me
to spend to devote my time to all the
ladies if I’m worrying about this I mean
if I were in the movies which I know
it’s quite the hypothetical situation
I’d go to a girl and be like hey girl
I’m wanted by the FBI and then we both
ride off into the sunset but that’s not
how real life works reality is she
probably would have screamed then ran
away I would still be riding off into
the sunset but would police say Singh
now I’ve personally find this whole
situation quite hilarious but often
times it can get annoying useful
especially when it disrupts my
relationships a month ago I was studying
late at night and I’m about to head to
bed it’s 2:00 in the morning I heard a
knock on my door I’m like oh crap they
found me and I’m not ready for this I
hide in my closet it was my girlfriend
babe what were you doing in the closet
just taking measurements
it’s seeing just checking how much
things can you know fit in there that’s
why we broke up I learned my lesson
though now beginning semester I’ll peek
through the window to see if anyone
knows outside now ice open my window and
say guys come on out I know you’re out
there you know what have to hide it
feels as if I’m living a life under a
constant spotlight it’s like being a
celebrity but all for the wrong reasons
there’s always I feel judged not only
from an individual level but also from
an institutional level there’s always an
assumed idea of Who I am because of
where I come from the religion I
identify with or the color of my skin
but let’s look into that I come from
Pakistan home to 200 million people
majority of which are Muslims they’re
1.8 billion Muslims in the world if
Pakistanis were all Muslims and we’re
not they would be 11% of all the Muslim
population in the world and out of that
11% our that 200 million people I’m just
one person
of course accurately represent all of
my favorite part is when I meet someone
new and we get to really engage in
conversation and I make a really good
first impact on them a really good first
impression and then they ask me are you
it’s either that or are you an Arab see
now when the when the semester gets busy
I grow my beard since I don’t really get
the time to trim it that’s when I become
the Arab or the middle Easterner when I
shaved my beard that’s when I become an
Indian I know the transition works so
now for fun what I do is I don’t shave
for two months just so that people
associate an image of me without my
beard and then ever so suddenly I shave
my beard completely it confuses people
because it breaks their perception of
Who I am and I love it the other day I
heard a knock on my door now this was
when I shaved my beard after two months
of keeping it I opened the door there’s
this guy and he asked me it shows up in
the room yeah I like messing around with
people so I changed my look quite often
but on top of freaking people out freaks
my mom might as well not my mom cares
about me a lot so she weighs about how I
look like now as I said earlier I’ve
lived in Iowa for about two years now
which means as you guys know that I
don’t get to see the Sun quite often
which is a lot of vitamin D deficiency
but not to my mom this past weekend as
video calling my mom and we’re in the
middle of a conversation when her face
suddenly turned serious now I’m holding
the phone like this she tells me to look
left I look left she tells me to look
right I look right I asked my mom is
everything okay something wrong in my
face what she said next caught me off
guard
she said beta which means son
I really love your complexion right now
I don’t think it’s going to get any
better so we should get you married
right now you don’t need to come back
home because then you’ll get a tan and
what she said next amuse me even more
she said you should take a picture of
yourself right now and update you for a
facebook profile picture we’ll use it
for people to see Oh her face because in
fact I saw you know what I learnt the
other day
according to Pew Research Facebook is
the biggest source of political news for
Millennials I was surprised
even shocked to find out about that
since I never get to hear any news so I
do know as fake news and want to
unfriend pew research from my facebook
as well see opposing viewpoints caused a
dilemma in my head so I listen friend
anyone who doesn’t have the same
viewpoints as me that’s why I’m framed
everyone on Facebook that’s quite a
dilemma some of them were good friends
of mine I should probably let my mom
know that changing my facebook profile
picture wouldn’t give me any girls since
i unfriended all of my friends oh maybe
not all of them I’m going to update my
facebook profile a status to show that
I’m in a complicated relationship with
the FBI because that’s one friend that’s
there to stay thank you all [Applause]
two years and my personal experience has
been really amazing okay so the complain
about the weather but that’s not gonna
change coming to Iowa I had no idea what
I was getting into I expected deserted
cities and I came to Waverly got exactly
that when I was back home it was funny
to hear what people had to say about the
United States I still remember the day
before I left home I’m still a teenager
at that time hard to believe and I was
out with my friends of course we weren’t
partying but a friend of mine comes up
to me and asked me so you’re going to
the United States right like yep
he then asks so I hear Pakistanis are
receive a special treatment at the
airport like special definitely I mean
there this is actually true but there
are other things that people believe in
even more radical ideas that are out
there and people believe in such things
I’m embarrassed to admit some things
that I used to believe in I simply I
still have these silly ideas or views
about the FBI now let me give you some
context I’m a Muslim and I’m also
studying political terrorism not a good
combination I know the whole process of
researching for my class it’s just
exciting when I’m in my room ident
alights peek through the window to see
the coast is clear then I opened my
laptop go onto incognito mode you know
that doesn’t help it’s just for the
peace of mind I remember the first time
I was researching for the class I typed
what is political terrorism since I had
no idea because I’ve always been busy
not
partying of course but as soon as I
pressed enter my heart was pounding
expecting to hear sirens wailing in the
distance it felt like I was in a movie
of course I was the main character
I still remember rehearsing in my head
how I would give my name if they come
knocking on my door what’s your name boy
the names bond Shaw’s a bond I know
right sounds strange since you don’t
really get to see a lot of Muslim
characters being portrayed as a
yeah but I do believe my situation is a
sad one I’m a student this isn’t
something that I should be spending my
time worrying about how do you expect me
to spend to devote my time to all the
ladies if I’m worrying about this I mean
if I were in the movies which I know
it’s quite the hypothetical situation
I’d go to a girl and be like hey girl
I’m wanted by the FBI and then we both
ride off into the sunset but that’s not
how real life works reality is she
probably would have screamed then ran
away I would still be riding off into
the sunset but would police say Singh
now I’ve personally find this whole
situation quite hilarious but often
times it can get annoying useful
especially when it disrupts my
relationships a month ago I was studying
late at night and I’m about to head to
bed it’s 2:00 in the morning I heard a
knock on my door I’m like oh crap they
found me and I’m not ready for this I
hide in my closet it was my girlfriend
babe what were you doing in the closet
just taking measurements
it’s seeing just checking how much
things can you know fit in there that’s
why we broke up I learned my lesson
though now beginning semester I’ll peek
through the window to see if anyone
knows outside now ice open my window and
say guys come on out I know you’re out
there you know what have to hide it
feels as if I’m living a life under a
constant spotlight it’s like being a
celebrity but all for the wrong reasons
there’s always I feel judged not only
from an individual level but also from
an institutional level there’s always an
assumed idea of Who I am because of
where I come from the religion I
identify with or the color of my skin
but let’s look into that I come from
Pakistan home to 200 million people
majority of which are Muslims they’re
1.8 billion Muslims in the world if
Pakistanis were all Muslims and we’re
not they would be 11% of all the Muslim
population in the world and out of that
11% our that 200 million people I’m just
one person
of course accurately represent all of
my favorite part is when I meet someone
new and we get to really engage in
conversation and I make a really good
first impact on them a really good first
impression and then they ask me are you
it’s either that or are you an Arab see
now when the when the semester gets busy
I grow my beard since I don’t really get
the time to trim it that’s when I become
the Arab or the middle Easterner when I
shaved my beard that’s when I become an
Indian I know the transition works so
now for fun what I do is I don’t shave
for two months just so that people
associate an image of me without my
beard and then ever so suddenly I shave
my beard completely it confuses people
because it breaks their perception of
Who I am and I love it the other day I
heard a knock on my door now this was
when I shaved my beard after two months
of keeping it I opened the door there’s
this guy and he asked me it shows up in
the room yeah I like messing around with
people so I changed my look quite often
but on top of freaking people out freaks
my mom might as well not my mom cares
about me a lot so she weighs about how I
look like now as I said earlier I’ve
lived in Iowa for about two years now
which means as you guys know that I
don’t get to see the Sun quite often
which is a lot of vitamin D deficiency
but not to my mom this past weekend as
video calling my mom and we’re in the
middle of a conversation when her face
suddenly turned serious now I’m holding
the phone like this she tells me to look
left I look left she tells me to look
right I look right I asked my mom is
everything okay something wrong in my
face what she said next caught me off
guard
she said beta which means son
I really love your complexion right now
I don’t think it’s going to get any
better so we should get you married
right now you don’t need to come back
home because then you’ll get a tan and
what she said next amuse me even more
she said you should take a picture of
yourself right now and update you for a
facebook profile picture we’ll use it
for people to see Oh her face because in
fact I saw you know what I learnt the
other day
according to Pew Research Facebook is
the biggest source of political news for
Millennials I was surprised
even shocked to find out about that
since I never get to hear any news so I
do know as fake news and want to
unfriend pew research from my facebook
as well see opposing viewpoints caused a
dilemma in my head so I listen friend
anyone who doesn’t have the same
viewpoints as me that’s why I’m framed
everyone on Facebook that’s quite a
dilemma some of them were good friends
of mine I should probably let my mom
know that changing my facebook profile
picture wouldn’t give me any girls since
i unfriended all of my friends oh maybe
not all of them I’m going to update my
facebook profile a status to show that
I’m in a complicated relationship with
the FBI because that’s one friend that’s
there to stay thank you all [Applause]
Please follow and like us: