Levantine Newsletter

Correction: the Levantine newsletter of March 29 stated erroneously that Al Jadid was a cosponsor of the newsletter. Al Jadid is an independent publication and there was no exchange between it and LCC.

New Offerings For April

Audience members who come to see the Whirling Dervishes will be eligible to win a free Turkey trip for two. This is a rare opportunity to experience a mesmerizing seven-century old
ritual, incredible performance featuring beautiful costumes, hypnotic live music with flutes, string and percussion, and the amazing sight of the Dervishes whirling on the stage.
Tickets are: 20$-Student, 25-35-45. Discounts of -10% for groups of at least 10. (If you decide to see this show with your groups, please contact to group ticket discounts at 213.
792-0378 or grouptickets@gccfoundation.com.)

Tickets at UCLA Ticket Office
or call 310. 825.2101 or
Ticket Master or call 213.365-3500

The Whirling Dervishes ritual unites the three fundamental components of human nature:
the mind (as knowledge and thought), the heart (through the expression of feelings, poetry and music), and the body (by activating life, by turning). These three elements are thoroughly joined both in theory and in practice and as perhaps in no other ritual or system of thought. Experiencing the Whirling Dervishes is like being transported on a magic carpet ride, with the exotic music creating a sense of inner rapture.

For more information about Sufism and whirling dervishes, please visit Global Cultural Connections at or email them.

Whirling Dervishes of Rumi, Royce Hall, UCLA, Monday, April 4, 8:00 pm. Parking $7 in lot 5 (enter from Sunset Blvd. just west of Hilgard).

April 11 (Mon), 4 pm—Ella Shohat discusses & screens "Forget Baghdad," a documentary about Arab-Jewish cultural relations, postcolonial displacement, exile & belonging.

“Forget Baghdad” is a must-see documentary, reflecting upon the clichés of “the Jew” and “the Arab” in the last hundred years of cinema, combined with the biographies of some extraordinary individuals: Iraqi-Jewish communists.

“Son of the Sheikh” “Jud Süss” “Exodus” “True Lies”. Silent film star Valentino as the noble Bedouin. The image of the “greedy Jew” serving the Nazi cause. Paul Newman as the blue-eyed Jewish freedom fighter in Palestine. The dark-skinned, hook-nosed, hysterically shrieking Arab terrorist who gets annihilated by Schwarzenegger… A muddled composite of cineastic memories!

Jewish Arabs? Arab Jews? Sephardim? Mizrahim? Over the past few years, there has been a lively debate in Israel, mainly among intellectual “Mizrahim” (Middle Eastern Jews). Their criticism is directed at the politics of alienation and the ways in which Arab Jews have been used against Palestinian Arabs, stemming from the colonial pretensions asserted by Israel’s European-influenced founding generation. See "Forget Baghdad" web site.
King Hall D140, Cal State Univ., 5151 State U. Dr, LA. Info, 323.343-5001 or visit Cal State L.A. web site.

April 22 (Fri), 12 noon—Author Asne Seierstad reads from A Hundred and One Days on Iraq

In January 2003 Asne Seierstad entered Baghdad on a ten-day visa. She was to stay for over three months, reporting on the war and its aftermath. A Hundred and One Days is her compelling account of a city under siege, and a fascinating insight into the life of a foreign correspondent. An award-winning writer, Seierstad brilliantly details the frustrations and dangers journalists faced trying to uncover the truth behind the all-pervasive propaganda. She also offers a unique portrait of Baghdad and its people, trying to go about their daily business under the constant threat of attack. Seierstad’s passionate and erudite book conveys both the drama and the tragedy of her one hundred and one days in a city at war.
Vroman’s Books, 695 E Colorado Blvd, Pasadena.

April 28 (Thurs), 7:30 pm—Screening of Iranian director’s Ramin Serry’s “Maryam” at Caltech

“Maryam” (2000) memorably tells the story of a woman growing up Iranian-American as the 1979 revolution hits and politics invades her ordinary American life. Written and directed by: Ramin Serry. Cast: Mariam Parris, David Ackert, Shaun Toub, Shoreh Aghdashloo, Maziyar Jobrani, Sabine Singh, Victor Jory.

Cinematography: Harlan Bosmajian. In English and Persian with English subtitles.
For his debut feature, Maryam filmmaker Ramin Serry turned to a period of history that he knew well — the 1979 Iran hostage crisis. Though he was only 10 at the time, in the coming years, Serry, an Iranian-American, felt the sting of prejudice that arose from that event. With Maryam, Serry turns that early pain into art and fine drama.

Maryam Armin (Mariam Parris) is a New Jersey teenager whose biggest problem is her too-strict father (Shaun Toub). An Iranian immigrant, she doesn't feel much of a connection to her homeland or the revolution taking place there. But then her Islamic fundamentalist cousin Ali (David Ackert) moves in, and shortly after that, the hostages are captured in Iran. Maryam's native country becomes suddenly a central fact in her life as Ali struggles to find his place in the revolution and a new bigotry grips the Armins' suburban community.
“Maryam” offers both a heartfelt coming-of-age drama and a thought-provoking look at the corrosive effects of American-style prejudice — a subject that, unfortunately, remains timely. After making the rounds of film festivals, where Serry picked up an early champion in critic Roger Ebert, “Maryam”went on to garner considerable acclaim. Screens at Baxter Hall, Caltech, 332 S Michigan Ave, Pasadena. Info, 888.2CALTECH.

May 6 (Fri), 7:30 pm—Poets Nathalie Handal & Sholeh Wolpé Read From New Works

Palestinian American Nathalie Handal and Iranian American Sholeh Wolpé are two of the most dynamic young women poets who are not from the United States, yet are part of a vibrant and growing Mideast literature in the diaspora represented by American contemporary literature. On Friday evening, May 6, 8 pm, they will both read from their new books, The Lives of Rain (Interlink 2004) and The Scar Saloon (Red Hen Press 2004), at Beyond Baroque Literary/Arts Center, in a special appearance organized by Levantine Cultural Center.

Nathalie Handal is a poet, playwright and writer who has lived in Europe, the United States, the Caribbean, Latin America and the Middle East. She finished her MFA at Bennington College and her post-graduate degree at the University of London. Her work has appeared in numerous magazines, literary journals and anthologies worldwide, and she has been featured on NPR, KPFK, and PBS Radio. She has directed and is the author of numerous plays; and of Traveling Rooms (Poetry CD), The NeverField (poetry book), and The Lives of Rain, a collection shortlisted for The Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry/The Pitt Poetry Series. Handal is the editor of The Poetry of Arab Women: A Contemporary Anthology, an Academy of American Poets bestseller and winner of the Pen Oakland/Josephine Miles award. Handal is presently editing two anthologies, Dominican Literature and Arab-American and Arab Diaspora Literature (Fall 2005); and co-editing along with Tina Chang and Ravi Shankar, Risen from East: An Anthology of South Asian, East Asian and Middle Eastern Poets. She is Poetry Books Review Editor for Sable (UK) and Associate Artist and Development Executive for the production company, The Kazbah Project. She teaches at Columbia University.

Poet and translator Sholeh Wolpé was born in Iran but spent most of her teen years in the Caribbean and Europe, ending up in the U.S. where she studied Radio-TV-Film at George Washington University in Washington DC. She then obtained an MA in the same field from Northwestern University and later, an MHS in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University. In 1984 she moved to California where she produced documentaries for the health field. She later founded her medical business company, ZyQuest, which she still owns and operates. She has served on many boards of directors including the Redlands Bowl, Bonnes Meres, Tebot Bach and the Performance Loft. She has widely traveled through Europe, the Middle East and Asia, and speaks several languages. Sholeh Wolpé is the director and host of Poetry at the Loft, a successful poetry venue in Redlands. She divides her time between Redlands and Newport Beach.

Founded in 2001, Levantine Cultural Center explores contemporary Mediterranean/Middle Eastern arts and cultures, and often collaborates with Beyond Baroque on the literary arts. Nathalie Handal and Sholeh Wolpé, Friday, May 6, at 8 pm, Beyond Baroque Literary/Arts Center, 681 Venice Blvd., Venice 90291. Tickets $10, $8. Seating limited, reserved early. Call 310.559.5544 or 310.822.3006, or get tix online at www.levantinecenter.org. Two shows, one at 8 pm, one at 9:30 pm.