Deconstructing stereotypes: Jack G. Shaheen remembers 40 years
of commitment to positive Arab and US
understanding in evening lecture

[Monday December 10, 2012] On Wednesday December 19th, The Levantine Cultural Center presents honored media critic and film scholar Dr. Jack G. Shaheen in an intimate discussion and forum on misleading stereotypes based on Hollywood's negative portrayal of Arabs. Shaheen will be discussing his life-long commitment to illuminate social justice, with insights into the highs and lows of his 40-year quest, including his mission to reveal and terminate these damaging Arab and Muslim stigmas.

WHO: Jack G. Shaheen, media activist
WHERE: Levantine Cultural Center, 5998 W. Pico Blvd., LA 90035, street parking.
PRICE: Free to general public
INFO/RSVPs: Levantine Cultural Center, 323.413.2001, levantinecenter.org.

[Los Angeles-Monday November 27, 2012] Beginning Saturday, December 1st, the Levantine Cultural Center presents a fascinating new exhibit based on the work of film and media scholar Dr. Jack G. Shaheen's work: A is for Arab: Stereotypes in U.S. Popular Culture.

Reviewed By Jordan Elgrably

[This Angelic Land, a novel by Aris Janigian, West of West Books, 2012]

Do you remember the early ‘90s in Los Angeles? Between the riots, the Northridge earthquake, OJ Simpson and the Malibu mudslides, it became an apocalyptic landscape, at once horrific, beautiful, and unforgettable.

Not unlike Beirut during its civil war, 1975-1990.

This Angelic Land: a novel by Aris Janigian

This Angelic Land is a novel set in Los Angeles during the 1992 Rodney King riots—the largest, most destructive civil uprising in American history. Adam Derderian, the central protagonist, is a 27-year-old Lebanese Armenian bar owner. The narrative shifts back and forth from his perspective to that of his brother, a New York-based artist five years his senior. The backdrop is their youth during the Lebanese civil war in Beirut—the longest civil war in modern history.

Event Details

Date/Time: 

Jun 24 2012 12:00pm - 6:00pm

Price: 

Free, parking $6 per car (carpooling recommended)

Where: 

Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area, Blue Picnic Area
4100 S. La Cienega Blvd.
Los Angeles, Ca. 90056
2 minutes south of the Target at Rodeo and La Cienega

Levantine Cultural Center invites you to join our annual friends and family barbeque picnic on Sunday, June 24, 2012 from noon to 6 pm at the beautiful Kenneth Hahn State Park, located just south of La Cienega Blvd. and Rodeo Road. You may bring food for the barbeque and dishes to share if you wish. The LCC will provide drinks, some food, and all the other functional items (plates, napkins, cups etc) including charcoal for the barbeques.

Reviewed by Jawad Ali

Ariel Sabar, My Father's Paradise: A Son's Search for His Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2008)

Reviewed by David Shasha

My Father's Paradise: your purchase in part benefits Levantine Cultural CenterTowards the end of Ariel Sabar's extraordinarily compelling retelling of his family's history in Iraqi Kurdistan, he makes a brilliant observation that encapsulates his tale and is emblematic of the broken stories of so many Middle Eastern Jews. Recalling his father's feverish memories of his fractured past-a past of rich traditions that were destroyed over the course of successive exiles-he states:

Dreams, I recalled now, had long been a refuge from his life's incongruities. During his first year in the United States, he once told me, he dreamed he was in New York, all alone in Grand Central Station. All at once, the train doors swept open and all of Zakho's Kurds poured out onto the platform. Dreams were a place where fragments could be made whole. (pp. 278-279)

By Hadani Ditmars

I am back in Baghdad after seven years away.

Since 2003, a million people have died in Iraq in the wake of post-invasion violence. (1) Sectarian wars have torn the country apart, foreign troops have established huge military bases, and politicians who have sworn to crack down on militias have their own private armies. This once secular nation has been scarred by extremism, with terrible consequences for women, gay people and religious minorities. As government ministries remain feeding troughs for cronyism and sectarian patronage, national reconciliation remains elusive.

Reviewed by Afsaneh Ashley Tabaddor

What does it mean to be "White" in America today?

Event Details

Date/Time: 

Jan 24 2010 7:30pm - 9:30pm

Price: 

$48.00 (a portion of the ticket price is tax-deductible)

Where: 

Herbert Zipper Concert Hall (Colburn School)
200 S. Grand Avenue
Los Angeles CA 90012
directly across the street from Disney Concert Hall/REDCAT
For info call 310.294.8544

Passage to Dawn concertThe Society of Cinema and Arts presents "Passage to Dawn" at the Zipper in a night of live Persian and Azari music with master musicians Hamid Motebassem on setar, Pejman Hadadi on percussion and Imamyar Hasanov on kamancheh.

This is haunting, spirited music suitable for those with the soul of a Sufi wanderer.

Sample some Hamid Motebassem music now.

A portion of the ticket sales benefits Child International (C.H.I.L.D.), a major charitable organization that helps children in Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East with educational and development needs—so you can feel good while feeling good.

Buy tickets online here (be sure to scroll down).

Event Details

Date/Time: 

Nov 24 2009 7:00pm - 9:00pm

Price: 

Free but tickets are required.
Tickets available as of 6 pm.

Where: 

Los Angeles County Museum of Art
5905 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles CA 90036
just east of Fairfax Ave.

Imaginary Knots: Multimedia Persian PerformanceDancer and choreographer Shida Pegahi, a founding member of Levantine Cultural Center, will present her new collaboration with Iranian composer and musician Hamid Saeidi along with a highly creative team of 30 artists who have put together an evening celebrating the cultural origins of Persian carpets at LACMA.

LACMA has acquired two 16th century Persian carpets that are going to be on display for two months and Levantine Cultural Center, SociArts and the Farhang Foundation wanted to encourage the community to come and see those carpets and enjoy an artistic event about Persian carpets.