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Yesterday, we went out to eat. We were seated next to an Arab couple and their five children. The only way to describe it was surreal. The daughter who had reached the age of 12 and the mother, wore the long scarf that covered their body except for their eyes. The father wore a baseball cap, jeans and sandals.

The younger children wore all of the latest kids fashions. Tee shirts, sneakers that light up when they walked. The son that was 12, wore the pantloons, and baggy shirt.

The other daughter under her scarf wore sneakers, jeans and a tee-shirt. You could see them because she was having a devil of a time, keeping it in place while she got up to get her father and brothers and sisters more food from the buffet.

The mother, would completely cover her face while in the buffet line and then uncover it when she got back to the table. So many men could see her face as they past the table, but couldn't see it while in the buffet line. I am sure more men stared because of the scarf, than would have even noticed her without it.

The mix of cultures, seemed to blend and clash at the same time. I imagine that in school it does the same thing.

"It must be stated clearly that secular values must be respected"

Muslims are about to bang against France's true religion: secularism.

I frequently shop at the mall in Dearborn, Michigan. I saw one couple, walking hand-in-hand (isn't the woman supposed to walk five respectable steps behind her lord?), the woman swathed from head to toe in a burqa with only a square mesh around the eyes to see out of, while the man was wearing jeans, T-shirt, sneakers and leather jacket.

Yesterday, we went out to eat. We were seated next to an Arab couple and their five children. The only way to describe it was surreal. The daughter who had reached the age of 12 and the mother, wore the long scarf that covered their body except for their eyes. The father wore a baseball cap, jeans and sandalsM

What you just dscribed is an EVERYDAY occurrence in my nabe, which has the largest Arab Muslim population in NYC (Bay Ridge). The men dress just like any American man, while the ladies wear headscarves, sometimes with modern clothes, sometimes with a tent-like garment, but ALWAYS with sneakers that they purchased at National Liquidators. Even better is to go out on a Saturday night (Saturdat Night Fever, btw, was filmed in my neighborhood) and see all the young Arab boys hanging out, blasting hip hop, yelling out at girls, while their sisters sit home doing lord knows what. Then there's the issue of the lack of deoderant and heavy use of cologne, but that's a story for another time...