Latest / Obnoxiously Pleasant / Interview with Zain Comedy

Transcript

Interview with Zain Comedy · Obnoxiously Pleasant

0:04
SPEAKER_01: I'm Hanan.
0:06
SPEAKER_01: I'm Lena.
0:07
SPEAKER_01: And I'm Zayn.
0:09
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to another episode of Obnoxiously Pleasant.
0:13
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for being here.
0:15
SPEAKER_00: We we are so excited to have you.
0:17
SPEAKER_00: So for all of the viewers, Zane Comedy, you know who you love her.
0:22
SPEAKER_00: She's all over TikTok.
0:23
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
0:23
SPEAKER_00: She's a comedian, she's an actress, and she's a fellow Arab American.
0:28
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for joining us.
0:29
SPEAKER_00: It is our total and absolute pleasure.
0:32
SPEAKER_01: Uh, are you kidding me?
0:33
SPEAKER_02: It's my pleasure.
0:34
SPEAKER_02: Uh, thank you so much.
0:36
SPEAKER_02: You know, I just want to say, um, I was telling Hana how friendly and nice and um open you were to this.
0:43
SPEAKER_02: It's so sweet because we're not we're not used to that, to be honest with you.
0:46
SPEAKER_02: No, we're really not.
0:48
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
0:49
SPEAKER_01: I'm so sorry.
0:50
SPEAKER_01: You know, I get that a lot, and not that I'm tuning my own horn, but it makes me sad to hear that that other people who are you know considered popular content creators are not this open because where would we be without our fans?
1:04
SPEAKER_01: So I don't understand why people are like them, but it is my pleasure to be here.
1:08
SPEAKER_02: Awesome.
1:09
SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much.
1:09
SPEAKER_02: And I just also wanted to say that, you know, I was telling Hanan, it's it's refreshing to have you know women supporting women, you know, because we like I said before, it it's not unfortunately.
1:20
SPEAKER_02: Some of the people that we know, and some of them are even like, you know, we consider friends, whatever.
1:24
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes they don't even want to do this.
1:25
SPEAKER_02: So I just want to say I appreciate it again.
1:27
SPEAKER_02: And my kids got a kick out of it.
1:29
SPEAKER_02: They're like, oh my God, because they follow you.
1:32
SPEAKER_02: Um, and and when you started following us on on uh on our TikTok account, they went nuts.
1:38
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, oh my god, they're like, oh my god, this is so cool.
1:41
SPEAKER_02: And I just want to say that our kids love you, they got a kick out of it that we're interviewing you today and that you followed us back on on TikTok.
1:48
SPEAKER_02: So it's such a big deal, right?
1:50
SPEAKER_02: Hanada, your your son also my son, yeah.
1:53
SPEAKER_00: My son follows you.
1:53
SPEAKER_00: He was like, Mama, does this mean that you guys are almost famous?
1:57
SPEAKER_01: Ah, I love your guys' content on TikTok.
2:02
SPEAKER_01: I love it.
2:02
SPEAKER_01: And I wish your kids would tell my kids that I'm cool because my kids think I'm weird.
2:06
SPEAKER_02: Oh my god, no, you're totally they love you, they adore you, especially my daughter, you know.
2:10
SPEAKER_02: Um, so I just wanted to get like, can you tell us a little bit more about yourself?
2:14
SPEAKER_02: And I know you're on social media, you're on TikTok, you're on Instagram, but tell us, you know, a little bit more about you know, where you grew up, you know, your background.
2:23
SPEAKER_02: Uh just just give us like a brief kind of history, if you can.
2:27
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
2:27
SPEAKER_01: Um, okay.
2:28
SPEAKER_01: So a lot of people assume because I speak Arabic in my videos, that I might be very um fresh off the boat, but I'm not.
2:38
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
2:39
SPEAKER_01: That's actually part of my character that I try to play.
2:42
SPEAKER_01: It's kind of a fresh out of the boat kind of person, but I I've been here my whole life in Los Angeles, California.
2:49
SPEAKER_01: I was born in Kuwait.
2:50
SPEAKER_01: Uh, my parents aren't at Aki, but I was born in Kuwait and I came here when I was about two.
2:56
SPEAKER_01: So, really, all I know is LA.
2:58
SPEAKER_01: Um, I sound like a valley girl.
3:01
SPEAKER_00: It's okay, so do I, and I'm not from LA.
3:03
SPEAKER_01: So most of us do.
3:07
SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, pretty much born and raised here, went to school here, um, was always a fat, you know, funny friend.
3:17
SPEAKER_01: Um and then one day you know I hate that word, right?
3:20
SPEAKER_00: Fat.
3:20
SPEAKER_00: I hate that word.
3:22
SPEAKER_01: You know what?
3:23
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to say I hate it.
3:25
SPEAKER_00: You're not fat, you are voluptuous.
3:28
SPEAKER_01: I am voluptuous, but in people, so am I I am fat and I've I've actually learned to accept it and to to love it.
3:35
SPEAKER_01: I think a big part of who I am these days is really accepting and loving my my body, which is so freaking hard for us women to do.
3:46
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I don't know why it's so easy for men to do, they can weigh 300 pounds if they're they're it's not even that they can be bald with a freaking belly and just looking like ass.
3:57
SPEAKER_02: Okay, and then he got like the ego of Brad Pitt, exactly, like walking around like unbelievable.
4:04
SPEAKER_01: Those are the men, and actually, I always say this like some of the most non-traditionally good looking men, whatever you want to put say that is, are the ones who make those videos about me.
4:14
SPEAKER_01: How like, oh, look at this girl, look how she looks, look at she thinks she's I'm like, dude, can you knock out her mirror?
4:20
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
4:20
SPEAKER_00: I know that's my favorite when somebody like you know, when somebody like that is the one that talks about the way somebody looks, and I'm like, have you seen yourself?
4:28
SPEAKER_00: Because like you ain't much to look at, homie.
4:31
SPEAKER_00: Like, there is nothing there that is working for you, so it makes me like super frustrated, but no, I I I hundred percent agree with you and get it that like it does take us a long time to like love ourselves, yes.
4:42
SPEAKER_00: But uh, yeah, let's go back to you being a quintessential uh LA girl.
4:46
SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, quintessential LA girl, always the funny friend.
4:49
SPEAKER_01: And uh, I was working at Disney Entertainment, and people kept telling me you should do stand-up.
4:54
SPEAKER_01: And I was all like, Okay, I'm I'm one of those people who always listens to like if you recommend a movie to me, I will actually go and watch that movie.
5:03
SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm just that person.
5:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, not a lot of people do that.
5:06
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true.
5:08
SPEAKER_02: I mean, like Hanan tells me, so I'm like, no, I'm not doing it.
5:10
SPEAKER_02: Like, she always recommends like these makeup things, and I'm horrible with that stuff.
5:13
SPEAKER_02: Like, I'm like, no, I'm not doing it.
5:14
SPEAKER_02: Hana, like, I want to give Lena a shout out.
5:16
SPEAKER_02: She did her own makeup today.
5:18
SPEAKER_00: I did, I did because I'm not with Hanan.
5:20
SPEAKER_00: So good in the last year, like, seriously, so good in the last year.
5:24
SPEAKER_00: I'm so proud of her because Lena was the kind of person that was like zero skills.
5:28
SPEAKER_00: Zero, zero skills, but she honestly doesn't need very much, so she's just like, Oh, you're so sweet, why bother?
5:34
SPEAKER_00: You know, you you clearly haven't seen me when I first wake up.
5:37
SPEAKER_02: Okay, or when I try to actually FaceTime.
5:39
SPEAKER_02: Oh my god.
5:40
SPEAKER_02: Oh my god, why do I look like this?
5:41
SPEAKER_01: Oh, whatever.
5:42
SPEAKER_01: I love women supporting other women.
5:44
SPEAKER_01: And you know what, Lena, you should take that in and be like, yes, you know what?
5:48
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
5:49
SPEAKER_01: I do.
5:50
SPEAKER_02: Obviously, but it's it's it's like an ongoing joke between me and Henan because whenever we do it in person together, yeah, she always does my makeup for me because it's just not my thing.
5:58
SPEAKER_02: I grew up as like I was a tomboy.
6:00
SPEAKER_02: I'm the youngest of six kids and have four older brothers.
6:03
SPEAKER_02: So it's just like it's not in my it's not my thing, you know.
6:07
SPEAKER_02: But you know, I have a good friend like Henan.
6:09
SPEAKER_02: She's in my life, so you know, she always tells me, Lena, you gotta get those roots, honey.
6:12
SPEAKER_02: She's like, they're showing.
6:13
SPEAKER_02: You gotta, you gotta get with it.
6:15
SPEAKER_01: Everybody needs a good friend like Hanan, let me tell you.
6:18
SPEAKER_02: Yes, yes, yes.
6:19
SPEAKER_02: So I want to, I want to get back to your um uh uh your childhood as an Arab American.
6:24
SPEAKER_02: Like what were some of the things?
6:25
SPEAKER_02: Because you know, we had a whole episode about growing up Arab in America.
6:28
SPEAKER_02: What were some of the things that you experienced, some of the things that were awesome, and some of the things that weren't so awesome?
6:34
SPEAKER_01: Um growing up here, um it was, you know what, I've been here since the 80s, right?
6:41
SPEAKER_01: And there weren't a lot of hijabs.
6:42
SPEAKER_01: And I started wearing my hijab at eight, and no, I was not forced.
6:46
SPEAKER_01: It was just something I really thought was cool and wanted to do at the time.
6:50
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and even now, you know, I I enjoy wearing my hijab, but um, I used to get ridiculed a lot for it.
6:58
SPEAKER_01: Uh in the beginning, I will tell you, before 9-11, actually, when I would wear my hijab, people thought I had um, this is really sad to say smaller like cancer.
7:08
SPEAKER_01: So, like I would so I but you know what that those days were a bit better.
7:14
SPEAKER_01: I was kind of treated nicer, yeah.
7:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for sure.
7:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, after September 11th, it was just like terrorists, terrorist, terrorist, terrorist.
7:21
SPEAKER_01: But being the only hijab almost everywhere was really tough.
7:25
SPEAKER_01: I grew up in a neighborhood that was predominantly white, now not so much.
7:29
SPEAKER_01: Now it's so beautiful and diverse, but it was predominantly white, and no one really understood my culture, the culture I grew up in.
7:37
SPEAKER_01: My parents were very traditional, um, and they are till this day, they are not those Arab parents that want to become more Americanized.
7:48
SPEAKER_01: So that's a cool thing though.
7:49
SPEAKER_00: Where where are they from in Iraq?
7:51
SPEAKER_00: Do you know your parents?
7:52
SPEAKER_01: My dad is from Kerbela, my mom is from Najev.
7:56
SPEAKER_01: I've never been to Araq, by the way.
7:58
SPEAKER_02: Oh you haven't been?
8:00
SPEAKER_02: I've never been to Araq.
8:02
SPEAKER_02: Okay, but you know, what's that's interesting to me?
8:04
SPEAKER_02: It's so like it's a little bit surprising because your Iraqi dialect, you know, it's it's just like I would have never gasped that you've never been.
8:12
SPEAKER_01: That's because my parents are very traditional.
8:14
SPEAKER_01: Like, I try to explain to people like like my parents never like I'm very Americanized with my kids, like we speak English, but my parents were like, I don't understand English, speak Arabic, Arabic, Arabic.
8:26
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think we all grew up, yeah.
8:28
SPEAKER_01: I wasn't allowed to speak English.
8:30
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, none of us were like at home.
8:32
SPEAKER_02: You spoke you spoke Arabic, you know.
8:34
SPEAKER_02: My Arabic still sucks.
8:35
SPEAKER_00: Um, your Arabic doesn't suck.
8:37
SPEAKER_00: You're just you are like the way that you speak is very like you're you're just Palestinian American, yeah.
8:44
SPEAKER_00: It's very Palestinian American, it really is Palestinian American, and like obviously for me, my dialect is very Egyptian.
8:50
SPEAKER_00: Egyptians, we can't really be anything else except for ourselves, it's very hard.
8:54
SPEAKER_00: So, but but your your Iraqi dialect literally is like chef's kiss, it is on point.
9:00
SPEAKER_00: Like, I would never for a day think that you came here at the age of two, and you know, we're not like fresh off the boat.
9:07
SPEAKER_01: That's what I mean.
9:09
SPEAKER_01: That's a character I play too.
9:10
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like uh that's that's what I'm trying to show people that hey, you know what?
9:14
SPEAKER_01: I know I'm Americanized in many ways, but look at me, I can do this dialect too, and I can absolutely I practice a lot too.
9:21
SPEAKER_01: For my husband teaches me a lot of people think my husband like must be so embarrassed of me, but he teaches me a lot of the stuff I do, my videos.
9:29
SPEAKER_01: He's like, You're saying it wrong, you have to say it like this.
9:32
SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, I love that he does that.
9:34
SPEAKER_00: I love that he's so supportive.
9:36
SPEAKER_00: So he says what I want.
9:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, go ahead, Hanneth.
9:38
SPEAKER_00: Sorry.
9:38
SPEAKER_00: So he is because you were saying, like, your husband helps you and he teaches you this stuff.
9:42
SPEAKER_00: So my guess is that he's like a huge supporter of your career, or if you, you know, it comedy, acting, all of that.
9:48
SPEAKER_01: Biggest supporter.
9:49
SPEAKER_01: I think uh I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him.
9:52
SPEAKER_01: And some of the most craziest videos are like his ideas, and a lot of them like where people are like, I can't believe this woman would even have a man around her acting like this.
10:02
SPEAKER_01: He's usually filming them, or he's next to me laughing.
10:05
SPEAKER_01: He's he's not a social media person, he doesn't want to be.
10:08
SPEAKER_00: I love the fact that he is so yeah, like supportive and that he's so behind you.
10:13
SPEAKER_00: Now that is a good man.
10:14
SPEAKER_00: We need to get a round of applause for that man.
10:16
SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, I love that, and I love the fact that he's okay with like not being in you know the limelight.
10:23
SPEAKER_01: Oh, he he doesn't want to be in the limelight at all.
10:25
SPEAKER_01: He's all like, don't showcase me, don't put me.
10:28
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes it's hard because I see these other influencers, and when they showcase their husbands, they get so much more views.
10:34
SPEAKER_01: And my husband is hysterical, and I mean he's hysterical, not like he's more of an introvert, more quiet, but the the things that he does say and the way we interact with each other is just so funny.
10:45
SPEAKER_01: I'd be like, if we were together, we'd have 10 million followers.
10:48
SPEAKER_01: But he's just like, this is all about you, babe.
10:50
SPEAKER_01: It's not about me.
10:51
SPEAKER_01: Like, don't make it about me.
10:53
SPEAKER_01: So that's awesome.
10:55
SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah, since we're here and all about you, can you tell us about this movie that you're working on?
10:59
SPEAKER_00: What can you tell us about the movie that you're working on?
11:02
SPEAKER_01: So, the movie that I was working on in uh Michigan, we actually finished, it's in post-production right now.
11:08
SPEAKER_01: It's called Pomegranate.
11:10
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
11:10
SPEAKER_01: Uh, hopefully it'll go straight to Netflix.
11:12
SPEAKER_01: That's what our producer has been telling us.
11:15
SPEAKER_01: Our producer is the same producer from Home Alone.
11:17
SPEAKER_01: Do you remember the Home Alone?
11:19
SPEAKER_01: Of course.
11:19
SPEAKER_01: Oh my god, that's amazing! Yeah, yeah, we're super excited.
11:24
SPEAKER_01: Um, it's about an a traditional Araqi Muslim family getting together with an Araqi Chaldean family.
11:33
SPEAKER_01: Um, so and that's like you know, kind of like Catholic.
11:36
SPEAKER_01: So that's not very much heard of, but there's a lot of tension there.
11:42
SPEAKER_01: So it's about these two families coming together and how they work together and how their children are able to build this friendship that their parents weren't, uh, but eventually do.
11:53
SPEAKER_00: So um I love that because that is real, and it's Michigan, so it's like super relevant to the community that's yeah as well.
12:00
SPEAKER_01: It is.
12:00
SPEAKER_01: So I got to stay about a month in Michigan, and I had never been, and it was just so eye-opening and so beautiful.
12:07
SPEAKER_01: And it just uh I mean, I love that we picked that area to shoot in.
12:11
SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
12:12
SPEAKER_01: Can you tell us more about the role you play?
12:14
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I play Hasina, which is the mother role.
12:18
SPEAKER_01: Um, and I'm a very traditional kind of mom, like walking around with my sandals, making my dolma, which is my my um grape leaves.
12:27
SPEAKER_01: That's grape leaves, yeah, yeah.
12:29
SPEAKER_01: My stuffed grape leaves.
12:30
SPEAKER_01: And um, I have a very rebellious daughter, and I'm just like, what the hell's wrong with my daughter?
12:36
SPEAKER_01: How come she doesn't want to be like me?
12:38
SPEAKER_01: I'm so perfect.
12:40
SPEAKER_01: Um, and that's pretty much what I can tell you right now.
12:43
SPEAKER_01: But uh, she's kind of the comic relief of the video, I would say.
12:47
SPEAKER_01: Of the movie.
12:49
SPEAKER_01: Of the movie, yeah.
12:49
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
12:51
SPEAKER_02: That is yeah, because I when I was doing some research, I was telling her, I'm like, oh my god, there's a movie, and this sounds really cool.
12:56
SPEAKER_02: Like, we gotta ask her about it, you know.
12:58
SPEAKER_02: Like, I'm actually really excited.
12:59
SPEAKER_02: Inshallah, it does, inshallah it gets on on Netflix because I know these things are very difficult, yeah, to to put out there, but that's awesome.
13:06
SPEAKER_00: I hope it gets on Netflix because I really um I'm all for it, like inshallah, fingers crossed, toes crossed, everything's crossed.
13:13
SPEAKER_00: Hairs I braided my hair for you, girl.
13:14
SPEAKER_00: I got you.
13:16
SPEAKER_00: But um, but I love that because I'm all about like more representation of us and who we actually are as people.
13:22
SPEAKER_00: Like we're more than just like the guy who plays Muhammad the terrorist, like, you know, in homeland episode number four.
13:27
SPEAKER_00: So I I love the fact that there is this whole other, like and what this movie was about when Lena, like when Lena sent it over, I looked at it and I was like, this is gonna be really cool because this is literally just a small, like just a little bit of insight into who we are as people, like Arab Americans general in this country.
13:46
SPEAKER_00: And like who knew that these tensions didn't even exist?
13:48
SPEAKER_00: Like, I didn't know until you know, I was like, oh, the like I had no idea that like Muslims and Chaldeans like did not get along.
13:56
SPEAKER_01: I had no idea either until the until I was passed in this movie, and I was like, what are you talking about?
14:02
SPEAKER_01: And they're like, Yeah, there's a lot of issues, and I'm like, Wow, I had no idea.
14:06
SPEAKER_01: And I think because we're so Americanized and modernized that we have this thought process that level, you know, and that's how I I've always been, but not, you know, it's been hard for a lot of other people to kind of get together, and it's really sad.
14:21
SPEAKER_01: So I really hope that this movie does bridge that gap.
14:24
SPEAKER_01: And um, hopefully, they'll be.
14:26
SPEAKER_01: I've heard that there is a part two coming out and there's gonna be a wedding.
14:30
SPEAKER_00: Now, Hasina is married, but but you never know.
14:34
SPEAKER_01: Hasina can have husband number two.
14:39
SPEAKER_02: So, do you know when we can expect it?
14:41
SPEAKER_02: I know it's in post-production, but like, is there like an estimated date?
14:44
SPEAKER_01: It was supposed to be the end of this year, but I have no idea.
14:47
SPEAKER_01: The latest that I got was that they're still working on it, but they're near the end.
14:52
SPEAKER_01: But you know, this stuff takes forever.
14:54
SPEAKER_01: It was supposed to be this year, but we'll see, we'll see.
14:56
SPEAKER_01: Um I can't wait for the premiere.
14:59
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I know.
15:00
SPEAKER_02: I I mean, hey, it's gonna, it's just I just really, really hope that you know it gets on Netflix.
15:05
SPEAKER_02: And even if it doesn't, we love you.
15:07
SPEAKER_02: And we're gonna watch it.
15:08
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and we're gonna watch it.
15:09
SPEAKER_00: Whatever platform it's on, we're gonna watch it.
15:11
SPEAKER_00: You know, we will we yeah, we'll advertise it, we'll push it out.
15:14
SPEAKER_00: Because, like I said, we are both all for um women supporting women, but like I said, was saying earlier, just representation of like who we are as people, like proper representation of who we are as people and what our issues are, like just you know, like being Arab American.
15:27
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I agree.
15:28
SPEAKER_00: I agree.
15:28
SPEAKER_02: I I think the um the producer or director, I can't, I I think she's also Iraqi, so I think the actors are all Arab Americans as well, I believe.
15:36
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, a lot of them.
15:38
SPEAKER_01: The director is Wyam, and she is actually Arafi Chaldean, and she's a famous writer there in Michigan, and um, yeah, all of us are Arab.
15:48
SPEAKER_01: The girl who plays my daughter is Araki, the boy who plays my son is actually well known on TikTok, TikTok.
15:54
SPEAKER_01: Um, his name is Ishtar on TikTok.
15:56
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
15:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so he plays my son, and then I have a very there was this guy who played my husband, who was a well-known um theatrical actor in Araq.
16:07
SPEAKER_01: His name is Basim, and it was just hysterical because he's still more traditional.
16:12
SPEAKER_01: So we tried to work together with him, but he'd be like, Explain this to me.
16:16
SPEAKER_01: I don't understand.
16:17
SPEAKER_01: So that was really fun, but uh he's a great casting crew.
16:21
SPEAKER_02: That's it.
16:21
SPEAKER_02: I can't look forward to it.
16:23
SPEAKER_01: Me too.
16:24
SPEAKER_00: Should I ask my partner if you're gonna ask me?
16:26
SPEAKER_00: Yes, please.
16:26
SPEAKER_00: I'm done.
16:27
SPEAKER_00: I actually you're you're fine.
16:28
SPEAKER_00: No, I actually like also wanted to uh a very important part of like being an Arab American but woman, especially on social media, and the fact that you had mentioned earlier that you chose to wear hijab, that was definitely like your thing.
16:41
SPEAKER_00: Um, I just want to know, like, so I follow you and I follow a bunch of like other women and women who are very like all into like modest fashion and all of this stuff.
16:50
SPEAKER_00: And I love what they present and what they represent.
16:53
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I want you to talk to me a little bit about what we like to refer to as like the haram police, like people who come for you for like being funny or for making specific jokes, or because honestly, like we Lena and I I and I didn't I I've not I haven't experienced anything really experienced, but like people were upset about a hummus comment that I made or whatever.
17:14
SPEAKER_00: But um I just I need to know as a woman and as a woman who is very like obviously Muslim, yeah, right, because of the way that you dress, like tell me a little bit about what your experiences and then like what your response is to those people because they really are like fucking annoying, excuse my language.
17:31
SPEAKER_00: They really are.
17:32
SPEAKER_00: They really, they really are.
17:33
SPEAKER_01: You know what the the funniest thing is that they're the worst because they should know better.
17:39
SPEAKER_01: Um, then you know, people who you know, the white people or you know, westernized people, yeah, they kind of don't know, and then once you start talking to them, they're like, Wow, I'm so sorry I judged you like that.
17:51
SPEAKER_01: I had no idea.
17:52
SPEAKER_01: But the haram police doesn't give a shit, pardon my French, about exactly they kind of think they're very narrow-minded in thinking it's their way or the highway.
18:03
SPEAKER_01: And there's so many times that I try to explain to them that in someone's mind, what you do is haram too to somebody who's at a more I don't know what they like a higher level of spirituality.
18:15
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
18:16
SPEAKER_01: Like, like there are women who dress modestly and they come up to me and be like, I don't like the way you dance and you stuff.
18:22
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, But do you see the way you dress?
18:24
SPEAKER_01: Like, there's gonna be a woman in her like full chador abay and niqab who's gonna be like, I don't like the way you dress, it's not modest, it's haram.
18:31
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, do you understand that what you're doing is just a cycle that goes on within our culture, and it's really sad.
18:39
SPEAKER_01: Um, a lot of times it's hindered so many people from wearing hijab or staying hijabi from practicing the religion, and that's uh it's so hard.
18:50
SPEAKER_01: I mean, okay, so some of the things that they say, like for instance, if there's a mahabjab and like all her arms are showing and her legs are showing and she's like dancing and like shaking her boobs, you know, like part of me is like, okay, I understand like what he what he's saying, like this is not hijab.
19:07
SPEAKER_01: The other part of me is like, this might be her her voyage to hijab.
19:13
SPEAKER_01: This might be her trying.
19:15
SPEAKER_01: This might be her, like, this is me, this is how much I can do, this is how much I can do for right now, and I'm trying.
19:21
SPEAKER_01: And maybe next week, like if you guys leave her alone and encourage her, she might even try more, you know?
19:28
SPEAKER_01: Or if you sit on her and tell her, Haram, haram, you're going to hell.
19:32
SPEAKER_01: She might be like, What the hell is this religion, Islam?
19:34
SPEAKER_01: Why am I even trying to do anything?
19:37
SPEAKER_01: And that's what people don't understand.
19:39
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, the best thing you could do for somebody is aside for not say anything, is just to pray for them, pray for them.
19:46
SPEAKER_01: If you really believe that what they're doing is wrong, just you know, in your prayers, if you pray, um, just pray them, say, inshallah.
19:54
SPEAKER_01: I hope they find guidance, I hope they find um life, um, love and peace, and that's it.
20:00
SPEAKER_01: And do you know how beautiful and rewarding that would be?
20:04
SPEAKER_01: Do you think the prophet would be yelling and writing things like oh, you look like a whore?
20:09
SPEAKER_01: Do you think the prophet would do that?
20:10
SPEAKER_01: No, no, you've actually gotten comments like that, like like those oh my god, people think I'm a one time someone close to me called me uh bintish, the woman of the streets.
20:23
SPEAKER_01: Have you guys seen my video?
20:25
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I see.
20:26
SPEAKER_02: I I don't read the comments, uh I read the top ones that are funny, but like I like it's just I'm it's crazy that they would just feel okay.
20:34
SPEAKER_02: I mean, like, listen, I know it's social media, and I know people there's a lot of trolls out there, there's a lot of haters, but like to get to that long list.
20:40
SPEAKER_00: Is that they're not all trolls, they're real people, and this is yeah, that's true.
20:44
SPEAKER_00: Some of them are not some of the worst because she literally said somebody close to her, like that's what she started the sentence with.
20:50
SPEAKER_01: Close, like as if you know this person in real life.
20:53
SPEAKER_01: So that's the problem.
20:55
SPEAKER_01: Told me you are becoming uh, I you know he said it in Arabic.
20:58
SPEAKER_01: It's Sairain Binatis Shawara, Mithil Banatis Shawara.
21:01
SPEAKER_01: Um, it's close to me, but not like like it's really, really close.
21:05
SPEAKER_01: So before anyone starts guessing who watches this, um, was like, you're become you know, people are like, it was for you have to it was a disclaimer.
21:13
SPEAKER_01: It was for I'm like no, it wasn't a family member.
21:16
SPEAKER_01: Thank you guys.
21:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but yeah, he was saying Sayra Binata, Mithil Banatis Shawara, and I'm like, have you seen my videos?
21:22
SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't understand how Sayra Mithil Banatis Shawara is like what videos are Benate Shawara putting out that he's watching that he's comparing you.
21:30
SPEAKER_02: But see, that's the thing though, but that's the thing because the the same people I feel that are the first ones to criticize and to be so nasty about their criticism are the ones that are on those TikTok pages watching the real nasty crap.
21:44
SPEAKER_02: Do you know what I mean?
21:45
SPEAKER_02: These are the ones that are first to be like, oh my god, what you're doing is haram, or what you're doing is Aib, or what you're doing is Zaybana to Shawara, or whatever it is.
21:52
SPEAKER_02: But these are the ones that are watching behind closed doors, watching all that nasty shit, the real nasty shit, not this stuff.
21:58
SPEAKER_02: 100% that's it.
22:00
SPEAKER_01: Guy sent me a WhatsApp video of a girl with like her her her breast kind of showing doing like an Araqi dance.
22:07
SPEAKER_01: He's like, Oh my god, look at this! And I'll just like if I'm Danachi Shawai, yeah.
22:12
SPEAKER_01: Why are you watching this?
22:14
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, why are you looking at this?
22:16
SPEAKER_01: Like, but that's it doesn't make any sense to me.
22:18
SPEAKER_01: Like, it makes zero sense.
22:20
SPEAKER_01: But this is how the Haram police, this is how they are.
22:23
SPEAKER_01: And to me, I feel like I'm so sorry, but I'm that's not Muslim ethics.
22:28
SPEAKER_01: That's not Muslim.
22:30
SPEAKER_01: It's not a Muslim to me.
22:31
SPEAKER_01: Anyone who comes out there and who berates another person just for the way they look or the way that they're acting, that's not the way a true Muslim would do it.
22:41
SPEAKER_01: It's not the way our prophet would do it, you know, it's the habit, the hiddin bayt.
22:45
SPEAKER_01: It's not the way that they would do it.
22:47
SPEAKER_01: You have a very warped vision of religion.
22:51
SPEAKER_01: And that's how I deal with criticism too, is that I understand that.
22:56
SPEAKER_01: I've taken that in, where I'm like, these people are truly brainwashed in what they like.
23:03
SPEAKER_01: People tell me, kill yourself.
23:04
SPEAKER_01: People tell me I hope you die.
23:06
SPEAKER_01: People tell me all because like I'll come on a video and I'll dance, and they're like, oh my god, you're so fucking I'm not even 40.
23:12
SPEAKER_01: Okay, and they're like, You're so freaking old.
23:14
SPEAKER_01: I mean, what am I supposed to put like one foot in the grave?
23:17
SPEAKER_01: Literally, okay.
23:18
SPEAKER_00: Now I feel attacked because I'm gonna be 42 in August.
23:21
SPEAKER_01: I feel very girl.
23:24
SPEAKER_01: 40s, 40s are the new 20s, baby.
23:27
SPEAKER_01: I agree.
23:27
SPEAKER_01: I totally agree.
23:28
SPEAKER_02: I mean, listen, let's be real on it.
23:30
SPEAKER_02: Let's not like you know, we gotta break it to him, okay?
23:32
SPEAKER_02: It is not the new 20s.
23:34
SPEAKER_00: Once you hit 40s, have you?
23:35
SPEAKER_00: Look, look, here's the thing.
23:36
SPEAKER_00: Here's the thing.
23:37
SPEAKER_00: So, like, we're in different categories, Lena and I.
23:40
SPEAKER_00: Yes, we do in the last year, her and I have been watching back a lot of our videos, and both both her and I were like, what the fuck happened to us?
23:47
SPEAKER_00: Like, we've aged a lot in the last stop.
23:50
SPEAKER_00: Oh no, girl, let me tell you, we have we're gonna do a before and after, after exactly, but I also think like the one thing I would say about like getting to 40 is look, it doesn't matter if you're 30, if you're 40, if you're 50, you want to dance on camera and on TikTok.
24:06
SPEAKER_00: Live your best life, seriously.
24:08
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, live your best life, enjoy it.
24:10
SPEAKER_00: You want to do it with your hijab on, with your hijab off.
24:13
SPEAKER_00: It's your life.
24:14
SPEAKER_00: I always say there is nobody between you and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
24:18
SPEAKER_00: There is no metal man, right?
24:20
SPEAKER_00: This concept of as long as you truly believe that and you know, like I'm not hurting anybody, you're not hurting anybody.
24:26
SPEAKER_00: Your video blacks, like on the contrary, I feel, I like not feel, I know, I am confident and I know, and I truly believe that your videos, your content brings joy to so many people.
24:39
SPEAKER_00: It makes people laugh, it's heartwarming.
24:42
SPEAKER_00: Like, I look at that as like, you know, fun family content, seriously.
24:45
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like my son is about to be 14 and he watches it, and I can safely say, like, I know that it's funny, I know that it's relatable, and I know that him being like first generation, so I'm also an immigrant, right?
24:57
SPEAKER_00: I moved here when I was I moved here when I was 10 to the country.
25:00
SPEAKER_00: So I know that it's super like relatable.
25:03
SPEAKER_00: He probably sees me in the character that you play, even though you know what I mean, like even though I'm not like super traditional or whatever, but like he's like probably like, oh, like that's my like yeah, but Hanan is very strict, but Hanan is very strict, she's a strict mom, though.
25:17
SPEAKER_02: You're probably a strict like are you a strict mom?
25:20
SPEAKER_02: Are you like a cool mom?
25:21
SPEAKER_02: You're not okay, yeah.
25:23
SPEAKER_01: You're not a strict man.
25:24
SPEAKER_02: Hanan is super nanny.
25:25
SPEAKER_02: We call her super nanny.
25:27
SPEAKER_02: What does strict even mean?
25:28
SPEAKER_01: I have rules.
25:29
SPEAKER_01: This is like, yeah, it's a broad definition, isn't it?
25:32
SPEAKER_01: Of being strict.
25:33
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
25:33
SPEAKER_01: I I'm not a strict mom in a way that I tell my kids, though I have to be frank with you guys.
25:39
SPEAKER_01: My kids are pretty awesome, they don't break rules.
25:42
SPEAKER_01: I love all their chores before I tell them to.
25:45
SPEAKER_01: That's wonderful.
25:46
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so that's a testament to the fact that you're amazing, by the way.
25:49
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like yes, your kids are awesome, but like they're humans being raised in the same house that you live in.
25:54
SPEAKER_00: So I feel like there's like parents are a huge part of that.
25:58
SPEAKER_00: Like some kids, yes, it's a personality.
25:59
SPEAKER_00: I would say, like, you're blessed with like an awesome child.
26:03
SPEAKER_00: Like, like Lena's daughter is like, I mean, her son is is is wonderful, but her daughter really is just she's just a great kid.
26:09
SPEAKER_00: Like, she listens, she doesn't like to upset people, she's kind, she's polite.
26:12
SPEAKER_00: So it really is like she's just born that way, you know.
26:15
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so like, yes, some of it is that, but some of it also is like parenting.
26:19
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, you should be like my kids are the same, and my people always ask me, like, how are your kids so amazing?
26:25
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, you know what?
26:26
SPEAKER_01: It takes a lot of energy too to do that.
26:29
SPEAKER_01: Like, for instance, when we go out to restaurants, even when they were when they were like literally three, two, I would tell them, remember that this restaurant is owned by somebody, and this is their dream to open this restaurant, and it's so like parents don't even think.
26:44
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, so when you're in here, respect them, you know, clean up after yourself, don't be loud, don't run around, respect their dream, you know.
26:53
SPEAKER_01: And they take this in, yeah.
26:55
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely.
26:57
SPEAKER_01: And I was with a family member that has kids who run around at restaurants, and that's like my big, big pet peeve.
27:02
SPEAKER_01: And I sat, I sat them down and I told them this, and they were like, Really?
27:06
SPEAKER_01: It's like they had never heard, like, you know, I'm like, yeah, yeah, it's your approach, the way you approach them.
27:11
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the approach is a big deal, and the way, yeah, absolutely.
27:15
SPEAKER_02: But can I just take it back to I know we finished the haram police, but because I I wanted to talk about like this is the most serious part of the episode, but I really wanted to talk about online bullying.
27:25
SPEAKER_02: And I know we we kind of glazed over that a little bit with the discussion on haram police, but like if you can just you know, like mashallah, you're strong and you know, you're sure of yourself, you have confidence and Allah, but like eventually that stuff gets to you, like the online bullying and the the hurtful comments.
27:43
SPEAKER_02: If you can just talk to us about that, because I know we saw a video of yours and me and Han were talking about it when you first posted it, and it's it it's it was heartbreaking to watch because you were you were affected by by by some of these comments.
27:55
SPEAKER_02: If you can just discuss that a little bit.
27:58
SPEAKER_01: Um, I think most of the time I am pretty strong and confident, but I do have times where I'm like weak in a way, where I've been going through a lot of things with my health, I've been going through things with my family, and then I go on social media and I see these comments, and they do affect me at that time.
28:16
SPEAKER_01: And um recently I had like I had a bout of depression, which I take uh antidepressants, I've been taking them for years.
28:24
SPEAKER_01: They're actually for my anxiety, but they also work for antidepressants because I did battle depression for a very, very long time.
28:34
SPEAKER_01: Um, so when I got that, when I woke up one day and I felt that cloud over me, I thought, oh crap, oh shit.
28:42
SPEAKER_01: Here it comes.
28:43
SPEAKER_01: And I tried to get off the social media, I tried not to see the the comments, I posted less, but I missed, I missed social media, I missed being with my fans.
28:52
SPEAKER_01: So I did post and I noticed that yeah, I was still getting these negative comments and they affected me.
28:58
SPEAKER_01: And I thought, you know what?
29:00
SPEAKER_01: I need to talk about what I'm going through so people can see that hey, this is normal.
29:06
SPEAKER_01: Even someone like me who comes out so confident and so brave goes through this.
29:10
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, um, for about a month I was really bogged down with depression, and um it it it it and I think making that video truly helped me.
29:24
SPEAKER_01: Can I be honest with you?
29:26
SPEAKER_01: Because I went in and I read those comments and it it lifted up my spirits in some ways that I was kind of able to get myself out of it before I was, you know, really, really taken down by by um the darkness.
29:41
SPEAKER_01: Uh the comments do affect me, and um yeah, I'm sorry, go ahead.
29:47
SPEAKER_02: No, no, I was just gonna say, you know, yeah, I was just gonna say that it's you know, you you mentioned uh like mental health, and this is something also in our community that's not I was just gonna say that.
29:58
SPEAKER_02: You know, like in our community, people don't want to discuss that.
30:00
SPEAKER_02: You know, I I had I had a conversation with someone uh a few years back, and this is a person I see uh always, and you know, without naming names, like you said, because I don't want people thinking, oh, you're talking about me.
30:10
SPEAKER_02: But uh this person was going through some stuff, and I suggested, you know, maybe speak to a doctor about me getting some uh medication because you know, like it could help you.
30:19
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and they were so offended, you know, that that I would even suggest, I'm like, okay, that's fine.
30:25
SPEAKER_02: You know, I I know some people don't like taking medication.
30:28
SPEAKER_02: So I was like, did you consider talking to a professional, like a like a therapist?
30:32
SPEAKER_02: And it was just like I cursed their entire family and their entire lineage all the way back to like a thousand years.
30:37
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, oh my God, like calm down.
30:39
SPEAKER_02: And you would think that like someone who is in America and has been in America forever, and they still have these ideas that oh my God, I can't talk about it.
30:48
SPEAKER_00: Sadly, it doesn't matter.
30:49
SPEAKER_00: It is a like one of the reasons, honestly, like Luna said that I love that video so much that you did is because it normalizes the fact that people are human beings and that we go through these things.
30:59
SPEAKER_00: And it is like, you know, there's this concept of like Aib in our like across all of you know Arab American culture or Arab culture in general.
31:07
SPEAKER_00: And that's one of the things that we don't talk about.
31:09
SPEAKER_00: We don't talk about when someone is struggling mentally, we don't talk about somebody who's struggling with depression, we don't talk about anxiety.
31:15
SPEAKER_00: People tell you, oh, you know, just get it together, do your salah and make dua to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and you're gonna be fine.
31:21
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, guys, no, this is like Allah made us this way.
31:24
SPEAKER_00: Some people have like a chemical imbalance, like medication needs to fix that.
31:28
SPEAKER_00: So I love that video so much because one, it shows like I believe it takes a lot of courage and bravery to talk about something that's ailing you.
31:37
SPEAKER_00: Like we all go out and we celebrate like our wins in life, right?
31:41
SPEAKER_00: But nobody says, like, I'm hurting, like I need you to help me because this is a tough time for me.
31:46
SPEAKER_00: So one, thank you for doing that.
31:48
SPEAKER_00: Two, I really think it pushes other people to like face similar feelers or face similar issues that they may be going through and say, Oh, if somebody like Zinn, who's happy all the time, right?
32:00
SPEAKER_00: Like, and I say happy in air quotes because what we see on TikTok is not like a hundred percent of you, like all the time, right?
32:07
SPEAKER_00: Like, that's not you.
32:08
SPEAKER_00: So, but if they can say, Oh, I see Zinn and Zinn is like super happy all the time, but like even she goes through this, okay.
32:15
SPEAKER_00: Well, maybe like I need to, you know, get my mental health check on as well.
32:20
SPEAKER_00: So I love that you did that, and I love that you came out and said, like, you know what?
32:25
SPEAKER_00: Um, one, it's a little bit of like, yes, you always say, like, screw the haters, but sometimes the haters do get to you.
32:31
SPEAKER_01: Like, we're people oh sorry, sorry, you're good, you're good.
32:35
SPEAKER_01: I was like, screw the haters, right?
32:36
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
32:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but yeah, like screw the haters, but at the same time, like, no, guys, like I'm a human being, and human beings have feelings, and like, you know, stop being rude and annoying.
32:47
SPEAKER_00: And I love the fact that you posted that, and then there's always like this like outpouring of love from you know, like the community of people who support you, and then they make you realize, like, well, shit, this is all worth it after all.
32:59
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you're so good for yeah, I think that's what really lifted me up is that reading those comments, I was like, what the fuck am I doing?
33:07
SPEAKER_01: I can't go through this again, I can't battle this again.
33:10
SPEAKER_01: I need to get myself out of it.
33:12
SPEAKER_01: And so uh alhamdulillah, I was able to do that.
33:15
SPEAKER_01: Um, it also had to do with a lot of medication I was on.
33:18
SPEAKER_01: So I think being able to reach out to my doctor, and I was like, hey, this new medication you put me on, I think is affecting me mentally.
33:27
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so we and a lot of people wouldn't have that, those discussions either, you know.
33:31
SPEAKER_01: So I had that discussion, and I think getting off that medication had helped.
33:34
SPEAKER_01: But um, going back saying that it Muslims or Arabs, whatever, we don't really care about mental health.
33:43
SPEAKER_01: Uh that's 100%.
33:44
SPEAKER_01: I think it's so taboo in our community, and it's so sad that it is, because if anyone needs like help therapy, people, yeah, it's 100% us.
33:57
SPEAKER_01: We've been through not just us here in the Western world, but but everywhere everywhere in the Arab world, so yeah, everywhere.
34:03
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, in Iraq and Palestine and Lebanon and Yemen, all the crap that we go through.
34:09
SPEAKER_01: I mean, all the PTSD or whatever, you know, like we need if anyone needs mental help, it's us.
34:15
SPEAKER_01: And I think it's so sad that people kind of see medication as the enemy.
34:19
SPEAKER_01: I have a friend who is obviously bipolar, and I told her many times, get on medication.
34:24
SPEAKER_01: And she's like, No, I can't.
34:25
SPEAKER_01: I can't, I just can't.
34:26
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna fight it on my own.
34:27
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, you don't understand.
34:29
SPEAKER_01: The moment I got on medication was the moment I was able to be myself again.
34:33
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, don't see medication as the enemy, don't see therapy as the enemy.
34:37
SPEAKER_01: These are tools to help you be yourself again, to help you feel normal again normal is.
34:45
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and are you talking and to go on uh mental health to kind of you know piggyback on that?
34:50
SPEAKER_01: I was talking to people at the Salams app.
34:52
SPEAKER_01: Do you know the Salams app?
34:54
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
34:55
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the Max making app.
34:56
SPEAKER_00: They wanted me to work with them, and I was like, I'm I mean, I'm not on it.
34:59
SPEAKER_00: Let's just preface that and I know the app, but neither of us are on it.
35:03
SPEAKER_00: We'd be weird.
35:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm not on it either, but I know the app they had called to work with me, and I was like, Yeah, I'd love to work with you guys, but I was like, Can we talk about something that's so important that you guys are not because your Salam's app is probably the number one dating app for Muslims, okay?
35:19
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, so I was all like, where is your section for people with mental disabilities that want to find love?
35:25
SPEAKER_03: Oh, I love it.
35:27
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, going on mental health, we also need to talk about mental disabilities, which we don't talk about.
35:33
SPEAKER_01: People with mental disabilities that want to find love, that want to be normalized in our community.
35:38
SPEAKER_01: I know that wanna, and I think we always put them in the the shadows, you know, whatever.
35:42
SPEAKER_01: He's he's just a little lazy, he's just a little, he's a little sick, he's a little bit, you know, but no.
35:47
SPEAKER_01: So I've been I've been talking to the Salaam Zap about that.
35:50
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, we need to put a section for people like that.
35:53
SPEAKER_00: It's so vitally important that we recognize I love that because honestly, I think it's so important.
35:58
SPEAKER_00: Like when you're meeting somebody for the first time, and I think about it like, and maybe because so, like alhamdulillah, I'm lucky.
36:05
SPEAKER_00: I love I met my husband at school, like in college, right?
36:08
SPEAKER_00: And so we are both like super like on the safe wavelength.
36:12
SPEAKER_00: Don't worry, he still gets on my freaking nerves sometimes.
36:14
SPEAKER_00: Let's just same Adie, right?
36:17
SPEAKER_00: But I don't I think it's so hard because there's like one way for us to that we're traditionally used to meeting people, but like, sorry, I have to pause, my son just walked in and my alarm, everything front door, blah, blah, blah, blah.
36:31
SPEAKER_00: Anyways, but um, I think it's really difficult because when you're meeting somebody, you want to be honest about who you are and truthful and all of that good stuff, right?
36:40
SPEAKER_00: Um, you also want to if you have a problem, you don't want to hide it and be like, sorry, guys, I'm I'm filming, guys.
36:48
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry.
36:49
SPEAKER_00: It's okay.
36:51
SPEAKER_00: We totally understand.
36:51
SPEAKER_00: We got kids to talk.
36:53
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
36:54
SPEAKER_00: They're having a conversation like right here.
36:56
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, you see me talk.
36:58
SPEAKER_00: It's okay, it's fine.
37:00
SPEAKER_00: Addie.
37:01
SPEAKER_00: But what I was saying was I think it's um, it would be nice to have that like on the Salams app or anywhere else because you want to be honest and truthful about who you are.
37:10
SPEAKER_00: Like if I'm somebody who has, you know, uh, who I'm OCD, ADD, ADHD.
37:16
SPEAKER_00: If I'm somebody who's bipolar, if I'm somebody who suffers from whatever, I want to be able to meet somebody and and say it like straight up.
37:22
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to wait until like date number four, yeah, while we've like gotten to know each other and I've like have to pop a Xanax every time before I, or like if somebody who suffers from like extreme anxiety, right?
37:32
SPEAKER_00: I want you to know up front that no, I don't like you know, certain things or I don't enjoy.
37:37
SPEAKER_00: What's up?
37:38
SPEAKER_02: Sorry, sorry.
37:39
SPEAKER_02: I just I thought when you said Xanax, I'm like, people just don't pop them every day for the hell of it.
37:42
SPEAKER_02: Like I've no, that's terrible.
37:46
SPEAKER_00: People don't know.
37:47
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, guys.
37:47
SPEAKER_00: I don't think I'm joking.
37:50
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
37:51
SPEAKER_00: But um, but like I like I'm somebody, for example, who like I definitely have like I don't know anybody in America who doesn't have anxiety.
37:58
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, or anyway.
37:59
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
38:00
SPEAKER_00: But I want people to know up front.
38:02
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
38:03
SPEAKER_00: I want everybody to know up front, you know what?
38:05
SPEAKER_00: Yes, I have these things.
38:06
SPEAKER_00: These are my likes, these are my dislikes, especially if I'm about to meet somebody and want to spend the rest of my life with them.
38:11
SPEAKER_00: Again, I don't want to wait till date number four.
38:13
SPEAKER_00: I want to say up front what my issues are, you know, and like like they should normalize a lot more things that we don't discuss, whether it is like you were saying, um, mental health, whether it's, you know, actual mental disabilities, whether it's somebody like, what if I want to get married, but like I don't want to have kids?
38:30
SPEAKER_00: Like, why is that not okay?
38:31
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
38:32
SPEAKER_00: Why can't I just put that on my profile?
38:34
SPEAKER_00: Don't want to have children ever, right?
38:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
38:38
SPEAKER_00: So things like that that are not like normal.
38:41
SPEAKER_00: Cause like I think of myself, like I got married and I waited three and a half years to have my first son.
38:46
SPEAKER_00: And so people thought that uh obviously, if it was three and a half years until I got pregnant, I must be, I don't know, barren, right?
38:54
SPEAKER_00: It can't be that, you know, I was on birth control.
38:57
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm barren, so that's the first thing.
38:59
SPEAKER_00: And then it took six and a half years for me to have my second son.
39:02
SPEAKER_00: Not because I had any issues, but because I wanted it that way.
39:08
SPEAKER_00: But in everybody's minds, you know, like everybody would be like, oh, you know, like Allah sah alaiki, Allah, insha'Allah.
39:18
SPEAKER_00: And then at some point, you know, I would just tell people to pray for us because that's the only way that they would stop telling me, you know, when you're having another kid, I'd be like, you know, I'm sorry, just make du'a for us, inshallah it'll happen.
39:30
SPEAKER_00: No, we have to be, I think we have to be.
39:32
SPEAKER_01: I'm so sad that you have to do that.
39:34
SPEAKER_00: Sorry, it is, it is, but that's like I love what you were saying that you're talking to the Salam app about something that simple because it seems such like a simple idea, like it would should be normal, but it's not normal.
39:47
SPEAKER_00: So I love the fact that you're like, well, let me make sure that it's inclusive, like of these people too.
39:52
SPEAKER_00: And like the more people that we have doing this kind of work or raising awareness for this type of stuff, like I think the more it becomes normalized, right?
40:00
SPEAKER_00: Especially, yeah, I really hope so.
40:02
SPEAKER_00: I really, really hope so.
40:04
SPEAKER_01: And that's the aim.
40:05
SPEAKER_01: That's the aim that I want to be able to normalize things like mental health, mental disabilities, things like fat shaming, things like bullying.
40:13
SPEAKER_01: It's all there.
40:14
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
40:14
SPEAKER_01: I think a lot of people are scared of touching that things like like you know, uh the sexual orientation in our culture and our religion.
40:24
SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, that's just that's just hard.
40:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's just yeah, that's so taboo to even talk about.
40:29
SPEAKER_01: And I think um a lot of people are just scared, and I get it, I get it.
40:34
SPEAKER_01: I know some people, this is how they make their paycheck as content creators.
40:38
SPEAKER_01: I don't care.
40:40
SPEAKER_01: For me, I don't give two shits about the money, it's about changing the world.
40:45
SPEAKER_01: That's what I care about.
40:46
SPEAKER_01: Um, now I don't care two shits about the money because my husband makes the money, so I'm good.
40:51
SPEAKER_01: If I cared about the money, it might be like a whole different discussion, but actually, no, I don't give two shits.
40:56
SPEAKER_01: I am who I am.
40:57
SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, but for me, it's all about changing the world, being able to open people's minds and be like, hey, there are bigger things to talk about than this lady showing her bangs from her scarf.
41:09
SPEAKER_01: What if she's going through some sort of mental health?
41:11
SPEAKER_01: And you know what would be nice if we reached out and encouraged her, you know, to be like, hey, what can we do to help you?
41:17
SPEAKER_01: What can we do?
41:18
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
41:19
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
41:19
SPEAKER_02: No, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna like, because you know, we're we're running like 45 minutes here.
41:25
SPEAKER_02: So I wanna, there's a few questions that I want to get in.
41:28
SPEAKER_02: Uh, there's two more small segments that I want to do.
41:31
SPEAKER_02: Some questions, like just simple questions, fun questions, and then we're gonna get to the Arab section question, the fun Arab questions that everybody wants to know.
41:38
SPEAKER_02: Okay, so just we'll do the first uh few here.
41:41
SPEAKER_02: I have like 10, but I'm not gonna do 10, obviously, because we don't have a lot of time.
41:45
SPEAKER_02: Um, I'm always like telling Hanan, we gotta like be precise, Hanan.
41:48
SPEAKER_00: I'm always and I'm not precise.
41:50
SPEAKER_00: I rant, I go off into like all these different tangents.
41:52
SPEAKER_00: Like we're supposed to be talking about yeah, we're supposed to be talking about.
41:56
SPEAKER_02: I'm like Hanan, come on.
41:58
SPEAKER_00: Especially, especially when we're filming in person, because like she'll she'll ask me to do something, like you know, that stupid clapping thing that she does with the audio, and then I'll just start, you know, doing like going after a whole bunch of fun of me because she doesn't do any of the production stuff, she just has no idea.
42:12
SPEAKER_02: No, she has no idea, but anyway.
42:15
SPEAKER_02: So I the first question um who is the most important person in your life or people?
42:21
SPEAKER_02: Um, or and who's who's had the biggest influence on you?
42:24
SPEAKER_02: I know those are two separate questions, but if you can answer the first one, yeah.
42:28
SPEAKER_01: One uh actually, I can answer them both with one answer, and that's myself.
42:34
SPEAKER_00: Yay, I love that answer.
42:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, 100%.
42:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, can I ask you a random question?
42:40
SPEAKER_00: What's your sign?
42:40
SPEAKER_00: I'm a Scorpio.
42:42
SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, interesting.
42:44
SPEAKER_00: I'm a Leo.
42:45
SPEAKER_00: Oh, you're a Leah.
42:46
SPEAKER_00: I felt your energy.
42:47
SPEAKER_00: I felt your energy.
42:48
SPEAKER_02: My husband's a Scorpio.
42:50
SPEAKER_02: Really?
42:51
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
42:52
SPEAKER_02: Okay, so what's what's one thing that people would be surprised to find out about you that you don't share or that you know?
43:00
SPEAKER_02: Oh my god, one thing that people I share so much.
43:03
SPEAKER_01: I know it's tough, huh?
43:05
SPEAKER_01: That's a tough one.
43:06
SPEAKER_01: It's it's it's a really tough one because I share a lot.
43:10
SPEAKER_01: Um, I I don't know, I collect creepy dolls.
43:14
SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay.
43:14
SPEAKER_02: That is a good creepy.
43:16
SPEAKER_00: That is I lose hearing, dude.
43:20
SPEAKER_02: I saw her video of your house tour on YouTube, and I saw those dolls.
43:24
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, what the hell is this, dude?
43:25
SPEAKER_02: Hanan, you gotta watch that video.
43:27
SPEAKER_02: No, those those I love horror movies.
43:29
SPEAKER_01: I love shit.
43:30
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
43:31
SPEAKER_00: I want to be aware of real babies, they look like real babies.
43:34
SPEAKER_00: I would never watch that.
43:35
SPEAKER_00: That I wouldn't sleep for days.
43:36
SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, it is not that serious, Henan.
43:38
SPEAKER_00: Calm down.
43:39
SPEAKER_00: No, and those their eyes like move with you, like when you go into a room and you look at them.
43:43
SPEAKER_02: Oh my god, I love it.
43:44
SPEAKER_02: I love it.
43:46
SPEAKER_02: So, what's what's one thing you're not very good at?
43:49
SPEAKER_02: Uh, math.
43:51
SPEAKER_02: Ah, okay.
43:52
SPEAKER_02: You and Henan.
43:53
SPEAKER_02: That's great.
43:54
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yes, that's what calculators are for.
43:58
SPEAKER_00: We're walking around with little computers and
44:00
SPEAKER_01: Our pockets, so that's so hard, but I tell my kids like you're never gonna have to know this stuff anyway.
44:03
SPEAKER_01: It's just calculated.
44:04
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
44:05
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and we so what's what what's your biggest fear?
44:09
SPEAKER_01: Um, my biggest fear is oh, I don't want to say it because it's a big fear.
44:16
SPEAKER_01: Is that don't say it.
44:18
SPEAKER_01: No, no, don't say it.
44:19
SPEAKER_02: Don't say it.
44:19
SPEAKER_01: It's fine.
44:20
SPEAKER_00: Um, don't don't affirm it into the universe.
44:22
SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
44:22
SPEAKER_01: That's what I feel, Hanan.
44:24
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
44:24
SPEAKER_01: That's how I okay, awesome.
44:25
SPEAKER_02: So what would who would you like to play if if someone was they're making a movie about you, who would play you?
44:30
SPEAKER_02: Who would you want to play you?
44:32
SPEAKER_02: Oh my god, it would be Jack Black as a cross dresser.
44:36
SPEAKER_03: Oh my god.
44:39
SPEAKER_02: I love that.
44:40
SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
44:42
SPEAKER_02: That is amazing.
44:44
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
44:45
SPEAKER_02: Um what was the last thing you Googled?
44:50
SPEAKER_01: Oh freak.
44:51
SPEAKER_01: What was the last thing?
44:52
SPEAKER_01: I did Google something last night.
44:55
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I think it was something about Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, because I'm like obsessed.
44:59
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
45:01
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that was fun.
45:02
SPEAKER_02: That was fun.
45:03
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
45:04
SPEAKER_02: I think that's what it was.
45:05
SPEAKER_02: So now the final part, we're gonna do something.
45:07
SPEAKER_02: Uh, it's just like some fun questions that you always see on TikTok, and we figured we'll have fun with it as well.
45:13
SPEAKER_02: But before I get to that, do you do you dream in Arabic or in English?
45:17
SPEAKER_02: When you dream, no, I dream and think in English.
45:20
SPEAKER_01: That's my first language.
45:21
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
45:23
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
45:24
SPEAKER_02: And when you when you get mad, do you curse in Arabic or in English?
45:27
SPEAKER_02: Because you have the option to do both.
45:29
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I don't know how to curse in Arabic.
45:30
SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm like, there's certain words I'm learning, I never knew.
45:34
SPEAKER_00: That is amazing.
45:35
SPEAKER_01: My parents don't curse.
45:37
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
45:37
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's amazing.
45:39
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, I when I'm really mad, it's Arabic, but there's still certain words in Arabic that I will not say.
45:46
SPEAKER_02: I'm just like, that's okay.
45:47
SPEAKER_02: No, that I just can't, you know.
45:49
SPEAKER_01: Because I don't even know curse words in Arabic, like, yeah, my parents don't curse, and so like I have no idea.
45:56
SPEAKER_01: So when I watch these lives, and sometimes these Arabs on TikTok and they're cursing at each other, I'm like, what the hell?
46:01
SPEAKER_01: Like the other day, if I can go off on tangent, like this guy told this lady, oh my god, you're a taxi.
46:08
SPEAKER_01: And I was all like, Wow, if she's a taxi, I'm a bus.
46:11
SPEAKER_01: Look how skinny she's oh my god, and then someone message and they're like, No, Zayn, taxi doesn't mean the size.
46:19
SPEAKER_01: I was like, What?
46:20
SPEAKER_01: Oh, see, I'm so clueless.
46:22
SPEAKER_02: I thought he was talking about her size.
46:23
SPEAKER_02: Well, you didn't mean Zayn was oh Hanan knows.
46:27
SPEAKER_02: Okay, we're gonna have to take this conversation offline so you guys can tell me what the hell it means.
46:32
SPEAKER_02: I know.
46:32
SPEAKER_02: No, yeah, so final go ahead, Hannah.
46:35
SPEAKER_02: Sorry.
46:35
SPEAKER_00: No, I was gonna say, I was gonna say to take us into our final segment about like your favorite.
46:39
SPEAKER_00: It's just this like a fun set of wow, wow, I can't talk all of a sudden.
46:44
SPEAKER_00: This is a fun set of questions, right?
46:48
SPEAKER_00: Um, but quick like you gotta just give us the answers quick.
46:51
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
46:52
SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
46:52
SPEAKER_00: Hanneman background.
46:54
SPEAKER_00: Very important, yes.
46:55
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so wait a minute, chicken or beef.
46:57
SPEAKER_00: Uh chicken.
46:58
SPEAKER_00: Oh man.
46:59
SPEAKER_00: Bamia, love it or hate it.
47:01
SPEAKER_00: Love it.
47:02
SPEAKER_00: Me too, my girl.
47:04
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
47:05
SPEAKER_00: Um, what is like one dish that everybody, everybody, everybody loves around you?
47:10
SPEAKER_00: Everybody, your family, your friends, everybody, but you absolutely hate and loathe.
47:14
SPEAKER_00: Ice cream.
47:16
SPEAKER_02: Oh my god.
47:17
SPEAKER_02: See, that's the one thing that people don't know about you now.
47:21
SPEAKER_02: Oh my god.
47:23
SPEAKER_00: Okay, my favorite.
47:24
SPEAKER_00: What is your favorite Iraqi dish?
47:26
SPEAKER_00: Uh Doma.
47:28
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yes.
47:29
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
47:30
SPEAKER_00: Okay, and now for the penultimate in questions.
47:34
SPEAKER_00: Okay, penultimate in Arabic question.
47:37
SPEAKER_00: Umkalthum or Fedus?
47:39
SPEAKER_00: Uh Fedus.
47:40
SPEAKER_00: Oh man, Umkalthum is that's my girl.
47:43
SPEAKER_00: I can't.
47:43
SPEAKER_01: I know my dad would kill me, but I love Fedus' voice.
47:46
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, she's amazing.
47:47
SPEAKER_00: I agree.
47:49
SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, Zayn, you're so awesome.
47:51
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for doing this with us.
47:53
SPEAKER_00: Like, seriously, this was so fantastic, so enlightening.
47:56
SPEAKER_00: You were such a you are exactly as I expected.
48:00
SPEAKER_00: You're just like fun, boisterous, full of life.
48:03
SPEAKER_00: Like, this was so much fun.
48:06
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we love you.
48:06
SPEAKER_02: Honestly, we love you.
48:07
SPEAKER_02: And and a message from my kids, they adore you.
48:10
SPEAKER_02: And my daughter's gonna be so thrilled when she watches this episode.
48:12
SPEAKER_02: And she says hi, and she says to tell you that you're amazing and she loves your stuff.
48:17
SPEAKER_01: So I love you guys too, and I love your kiddos.
48:20
SPEAKER_01: I love everything that came out of your vagina.
48:24
SPEAKER_01: What a way to end it.
48:25
SPEAKER_02: That is awesome.
48:27
SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much.
48:28
SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
48:29
SPEAKER_00: Like, literally, if I had planned that, wouldn't have been this fabulous.
48:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right, right.
48:34
SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
48:34
SPEAKER_02: Just just just before we go, just a final thought.
48:37
SPEAKER_02: You are our first guest on this podcast.
48:40
SPEAKER_02: Oh my god, I feel so honored.
48:42
SPEAKER_02: Yes, we've never, because every time I'm just like, Hana, like we are such a hot mess.
48:45
SPEAKER_02: Me and Hen, like we make it look like we're awesome, we know what we're doing, but our schedules are so bad that I was okay.
48:51
SPEAKER_02: We gotta do this and do that.
48:52
SPEAKER_02: But we made this.
48:53
SPEAKER_02: I told Hanam like we have to get her on before we finish the season because you know it's just it's awesome.
48:59
SPEAKER_02: I'm so like happy you are our first guest, and and me too.
49:03
SPEAKER_02: Me too.
49:03
SPEAKER_02: Right, right, Hanan.
49:04
SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, this is has like seriously.
49:07
SPEAKER_00: If I I couldn't have planned this like better.
49:11
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I didn't, Lena did.
49:12
SPEAKER_00: So it's I'm talent.
49:17
SPEAKER_01: You'd like uh put me as a guest.
49:18
SPEAKER_01: I was like, hopefully these these girls will like see me and think like, wow.
49:22
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you're so sick.
49:23
SPEAKER_00: No, you're I mean, honestly, this was so much fun.
49:26
SPEAKER_00: I don't think I've had like and Lena interviews people a lot like in life.
49:31
SPEAKER_00: I interview people a lot just at my job, people who are looking for work and stuff, but like it's so refreshing, seriously, to sit and do this.
49:40
SPEAKER_00: And this is like a really fun of like forum for both Lena and I.
49:44
SPEAKER_00: Like, this is we do this for pure enjoyment, nothing else, like, not for money, not for anything.
49:49
SPEAKER_00: And it is so awesome to be able to share that with somebody like you, like somebody who's doing it for the same reasons for fun, for awareness, for all of that.
49:57
SPEAKER_00: So, like, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.
50:00
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for being so supportive and for being just so sweet and for coming on and not being an asshole like a lot of the other people that we know who are like, um, I'm sorry, this is not on brand for me.
50:09
SPEAKER_00: I can't do your show.
50:11
SPEAKER_00: So thank you.
50:12
SPEAKER_00: We appreciate it.
50:14
SPEAKER_01: You guys are fabulous, they just don't know too.
50:16
SPEAKER_01: And I'm so like uh proud of you guys of what you're doing.
50:20
SPEAKER_01: You know, it's it's it's hard to start a podcast with two amazing strong Arab women, but I love that you guys are doing that.
50:26
SPEAKER_01: So the moment you guys said, which I'm like, fuck yeah, that is so awesome.
50:33
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
50:33
SPEAKER_00: This is so like honestly, like I know we can sit here and say thank you forever because we're Arabs.
50:38
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's like we're out of it.
50:40
SPEAKER_02: It's like we're trying to say goodbye and we don't know how to say goodbye.
50:42
SPEAKER_02: Oh my god, like this is we don't Arab.
50:45
SPEAKER_00: But honestly, like, no, this is this is really awesome.
50:47
SPEAKER_00: It is really hard to find somebody who is um, you know, like at your at your caliber of where you are at your work and really is is trying to make it and who is like still super supportive of you know the littles like Lena and I.
51:01
SPEAKER_00: So we really appreciate it.
51:02
SPEAKER_01: Because honestly, like I said, the littles, please don't ever say that.
51:05
SPEAKER_01: Don't ever remember, remember, you're gonna be your first person that you're gonna support is yourself.
51:10
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you gotta be and also before we go and say our final goodbye.
51:14
SPEAKER_02: Because if I don't tell Hanan to say the final goodbye, she'll never say goodbye.
51:17
SPEAKER_02: So I will I will say that we need to bring you on in the future as a co-host.
51:22
SPEAKER_02: You know, it'll be fun to get your thoughts on other topics, right, Hanan?
51:25
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
51:25
SPEAKER_02: Oh my god, absolutely.
51:26
SPEAKER_00: I would love that.
51:27
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I would love that.
51:29
SPEAKER_00: Zane, thank you so much for joining us.
51:31
SPEAKER_00: Um, this was the best possible way to wrap up season two of Obnoxiously Pleasant.
51:36
SPEAKER_00: It was a pleasure to have you.
51:37
SPEAKER_00: Um, it is wonderful to see other Arab American women thriving, living, and doing your best.
51:44
SPEAKER_00: So thank you so much for being on here with us.
51:46
SPEAKER_00: And just thank you for being you.
51:48
SPEAKER_00: You're awesome.
51:49
SPEAKER_01: Oh, ditto, ditto.
51:51
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
51:52
SPEAKER_02: All right.
51:53
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well, we'll see you guys until next season.
51:55
SPEAKER_02: Stay tuned.