middle eastern/north african mikus

like straight up im pretty sure if you asked people on campus they would have a “ghost story” of their experience seeing a terrifying ghost but in reality it was just me like, getting some mail or working at night. its interesting how peoples brains in my experience jump to “holy fuck a ghost” and start screaming as being the most logical interpretation of seeing me instead of “hey maybe its a muslim woman”.

I had work today, here’s what I look like often when I go to work, sleeved black jilbab, black niqab, closed toed shoes, exam gloves, headphones.

And here’s also a picture of me, now just at a distance walking down the hallway

And a lot of people’s initial gut reactions to seeing me is fear (including screaming or backing away/turning around) and thinking I’m something scary or  a ghost or monster, because I guess their more familiar and ready to believe in ghosts than realize I’m just like. A regular person. In that photo I’m literally just walking and listening to music while working as a custodian.

And like, you might say “well thats an understandable reaction, its not good but its not hurting anyone”. Straight up, in my 3 years living and working on campus, I haven’t made a single friend, no one talks to me because they’re so put off or frightened by my niqab. And each photo of me here is a photo of an exact recreation of what I was doing prior to hatecrimes I’ve experienced. Standing? Suspicious and scary. Walking by myself? Suspicious and scary. Cleaning tables? Suspicious and scary, worthy of confrontation and considering calling the police.

I’ve gotten messages and tags along the lines of “I might be startled/scared at first but when I realize you’re just a person I would talk and befriend you!” which is very sweet, honestly, and many many steps ahead of how most people treat me. However, part of the post is about that, about how when people see me their immediate reaction is fear and not seeing me as a human being.

Like I said in the inital post, people’s main association with someone looking like me is horror (shadow demons, wraiths, ghosts), all black figures in media are spooky or evil otherworldly monsters. Most people’s only other exposure is islamaphobic news that again frames someone who looks like me as a scary oppressed other. When people talk about hijab bans or “burka bans” the image that has been pushed is people that look like me. There’s no big mainstream media with someone who looks like me, hell Momtaz from We Are Lady Parts is the first niqabi I’ve seen in the main cast of any media. Otherwise the only exposure to someone that looks like me is horror at best and Islamaphobic politics at worst.

The main issue that makes day to day life in America hell for me is that when people look at me, even if its just for a few seconds, they don’t see me as human. Whether people jump to thinking I’m an actual ghost, a spooky decoration (I’ve quite literally been mistaken for being part of a Halloween display), or see me as a caricature of oppression, or a terrorist, or a criminal (tons of people think I’m dressed in all black to avoid being noticed while I commit a crime, and plenty of people think my niqab makes it so I can get away with crimes) the one common thread is people do not recognize my humanity.

Don't date thirty-year-olds until you are at least 25.

Having a glass of water for every glass of alcohol will give you a 50% reduction in hangover viciousness.

Bad people will use your willingness to be quiet as a weapon against you. If someone's being awful to you and trusting you'll be quiet to keep from making waves, surprise them.

There is no physical object in the world that is worth as much as your honor.

Honor is not the same as dignity. Retaining one sometimes means leaving the other aside.

Don't have any sex you don't want to have; have as much as you want of the sex that you do, whether that's a lot, a little, or none at all. Nothing you can do to your own body is immoral, unless you're doing it as an act of self-punishment.

Food is morally neutral. You do not have to earn the right to eat calories. Fat and sugar keep your brain from eating itself.

Learning to sit still and breathe--in, in, in, hold, hold, hold, out, out, out, out, out, out--can give you five feet of clear space around yourself in a maelstrom.

Find out how to make three good meals: A comfort meal you can make for just yourself relatively easily, a fancy meal you can use to wow a date, and a meal you can feed a bunch of people. All the other cooking can come later, but you can build a community on those three meals.

[ID: Event infographic for Be A Goldfish: A Multifandom Multimedia Microbang, dated 1 July to 31 August 2026. Across the middle, a variety of mediums are listed in three columns: "meta, zines, podfic, poetry, ficlets, drabbles, playlists, fanvids, (web) weaves, recipes, crafts, paintings, graphics, sketches, textiles, gifsets, icons, and more!"

The bottom left reads "No sign-ups or check-ins, award banners and tokens, small fanworks, 1,000 words max, comment bingo." A star in the bottom right reads "join today!" /End ID]

Welcome to Be a Goldfish: A Multifandom Multimedia Microbang! Join us for round 3. This is an event dedicated to small fanworks, taking the time to appreciate the little things, and big fun. Whether you’re a returning participant or you’ve just heard of us, dive in!

Participation is easy: just share as many small fanworks as you like, in any medium you can dream of, from 1 July through August 31, and comment on works shared by your fellow goldfish.

Fancy a bit of structure and inspiration? We offer weekly prompts and medium suggestions, as well as a comment bingo and a punch card. Use one, use none, use all: that’s your call! Participate on your own terms.

Want more information? Read our RuleDoc, which includes guidelines for a variety of different mediums, a few content restrictions, and image accessibility and commenting resources.

You can share works to our Dreamwidth Community, our AO3 Collection, our Pillowfort Community, or tagged #beagoldfish 2026 here on tumblr. You can tag us directly @bag-bang, too. Once you’ve posted, log your fanwork via our handy Entry Submission Form. At the end of the event, you can request awards for all your hard work!

Flex your fins and swim with us to new fannish heights. Experiment, explore, get excited, try new things, and share with us and other fans along the way!

Not in the creative mood? Join us anyway! Leave comments with wild abandon, cheer your fellow goldfish on, find new favorite works and compile them in a rec list or several. This is an event for everyone! Discover new works, new fandoms, and new friends. Your new favorite thing might be just one microbang away. Don’t forget: be bold! Be brave! Be kind! Be a goldfish!

⋆ ☎️ ° tyra_the_stitcher on instagram ⋆˙⟡