The movie Clueless was released in 1995, and in it was the first positive ‘passing reference’ to Iranians I noticed in a major Hollywood picture. I was 10 years old when I saw this movie, and I still remember watching the scene where Cher, the glamorous popular high school girl, points to a group of cool-looking teenagers and says, 'That's the Persian Mafia- you can't hang out with them unless you own a BMW.' There wasn't a large Persian population in the town I was living in Texas, so just imagining these too-cool-for-school "Persians" being noticed and commented on by the most popular girl in school was astounding to me.
Earlier this month, I had the privilege of being interviewed by Amin Etemad of Ahjeel (right after he interviewed Maz Jobrani! I wish I'd practiced a few more jokes). Ahjeel is an online network that publishes different interviews with leaders in the Iranian American community. Amin asked me many thought provoking questions about Chai and Conversation, leading me through a journey of how it started to how we got to where we are now. Again, many thanks for giving me a chance to talk about the project I love so much!
In this video, we introduce Graham, a new listener to the Chai and Conversation podcast. Graham wants to learn Persian for an upcoming trip to California, so we teach him four introductory words he needs to know in order to have an entire conversation in the Persian language. Whether you're a new listener to Chai and Conversation, or a long time student, you can listen and repeat the words with Graham to get a good grasp on these four introductory words.
This video goes through some of the vocabulary associated with the Persian New Year, called Nowruz. Also, for the first time, see Matt and Leyla in action! As always, PLEASE ENJOY.
The legendary Beverly Hills designer known simply as Bijan died today at the age of 67. He owned what was known as 'the most expensive store in the world' on Beverly Hills drive, a store open by appointment only. In his many years as a fashion designer in the United States, designed clothes for some of the most powerful men in the world (including Barack Obama and several other sitting presidents).
