As an Iranian, I am beyond honored to present Mr. Maz Jobrani in our book. Maz Jobrani is a well known stand up comedian. He has been in various television shows, movies and has published books. One of his best sellers, and my favorite is "I'm Not a terrorist, but I've played one on T.V." I would highly recommend the read. What is so great about this Poetic Illustrations of Immigrants of the United States is that we have such a diverse selection of heroes. Some of the individuals hit Jen with intensity, while others hit me the same way. While others we both are impacted by their story.
When we work on someone's poem and illustration, we do a lot of research to learn as much as we can about the individual. I remember watching a video of Mr. Jobrani (resource: https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2018/10/07/inside-middle-east-stage-comedy-maz-jobrani-vision-b.cnn) and there was a very specific line "...I never felt American enough, and I never felt Iranian enough." That was it. That was the line that inspired my poem. I sat with that sentence for almost a week before I started writing. When I put the words on paper, it was effortless. Mainly because I have felt the same way. Not knowing where I belonged.
In our journey, Jen and I make all efforts to meet with our individuals, our heroes. We are crazy excited to have Mr. Jobrani's blessing to move forward with having him in the book. When I tweeted the video (oh yea...I tweet now) and to see Mr. Jobrani not only like the tweet, but respond? oh man...I was beside myself. We cannot wait to see his show on November 16th, and laugh our ass off. :)
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