Positive Muslim News

News about good things Muslims are doing in North America and around the world.

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Muslim American chosen as "Funniest Mom in America"

Salam/Peace:

Rubi Nicholas's mouthful of a life became her comedy routine. She's a Pakistani Muslim with a Greek Orthodox, stay-at-home husband who converted to Islam. They live in a Denver suburb with their daughters. They fit in just fine. "Except," she says in her stand-up routine, "every time my daughter leaves her Barbie Jeep in someone else's driveway they call the bomb squad."

Ms. Nicholas's comic cocktail of culture clashes and motherhood has earned her the title of "Funniest Mom in America."

The 36-year-old mother of two was chosen last night during the broadcast of the finale of a five-part reality series on Nickelodeon's Nick at Nite programming block, called "Nick at Nite's Search for the Funniest Mom in America 2."

[...]

"The modern mother, more than anyone, needs to keep a sense of humor," Ms. Nicholas said in a telephone interview, referring to all the books and television shows that take on the push-pull of career versus domesticity, or the desire of families to swap mothers. "There are things I had to let go of — clothes that match, anything white, combed hair," Ms. Nicholas said. "So my kids are white, and they have dreadlocks."

[...]

Because anti-Muslim sentiment reigns in some quarters, Ms. Nicholas hopes her family's example generates some good will. She recalls her parents changing their telephone number because of threats they received during the Iran hostage crisis. ("People don't understand there's a difference between Pakistanis and Iranians.") But being an outsider, she said, has also always been a source of humor.

Read the whole article at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/10/arts/television/10mom.html?_r=1&oref=slogin