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    New Bellydance & Arabic Folklore Dance Classes, with Aubre Hill
    Mondays in March starting the 4th and again on Mondays in April
    Join International Dance Artist Aubre Hill for lessons in Arab Folk Dance and Bellydance on Mondays at the LCC. Drop-in for one class, or buy a discounted 4-pack of classes and develop your dancing skills while having fun.
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    Sheikhs and Stereotypes in American Media
    Fair Observer reports on public forum with Jack Shaheen
    Dr. Jack Shaheen has been shattering Arab stereotypes in American popular culture since 1975. "When I watch a movie and the bad guy's not an Arab, I'm relieved," Dr. Jack Shaheen admitted to his audience at Los Angeles' Levantine Cultural Center during a talk in late December. He grinned, and the audience chuckled a bit, but sadly, his sentiment was sincere.
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    The Festival of Fire, Chahar-Shanbeh Soori
    the harbinger of Nowruz, on the eve of the last Wednesday of the year
    The night is cold, forcing the crowd of families to press against the Zoroastrian fires. It seemed as if Nature purposefully stayed frigid that night, all too aware of the night's spiritual-cultural-historical-social significance for the Iranian people. Grandmothers and grandfathers are bundled up; the grandchildren of their children try to tough it out in mere t-shirts, mimicking the habits of their parents' youth; in their gaze are past memories revealing themselves, like the lines of a partially erased internal landscape drawn by their Being.
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    Happy Nowruz—Persian New Year!
    As the winter months come to an end, Mother Nature turns its frost-bitten face towards the spring sun, in hopes of feeling its warmth once again and witnessing the new life blooming everywhere. It is during this time, at the Spring equinox, that Persians all over the world celebrate Nowruz, the Persian New Year. Unlike the Christian New Year that occurs at the exact time every year, Nowruz is calculated according to the days, minutes, and seconds the earth takes to go once around the sun, exactly at the Spring equinox, therefore causing it to be at a different time each year (around March 20 or 21).
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    Jericho's Garden of Peace
    After Palestine's U.N. statehood bid, a garden of peace struggles to bloom in one of the oldest human habitations in the world
    Once again Palestinians are in the spotlight, but few people talk about the desertification and environmental crisis caused by the Occupation. Can the "green" issue unite disparate factions in the region? Hadani Ditmars reports on a unique garden where peace could bloom again.
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    Personal Stories Behind the Levantine Cultural Center: Jordan Elgrably
    the founder and executive director reveals impetus for launching center
    My father's family was from Morocco, my mother a Jewish American whose Lithuanian grandparents came over through Ellis Island. When my mother first brought my father home, her mother called him a shvartze ("darkie") and said her daughter was getting mixed up with an Arab. They married and had me but I was their only child for they divorced when I was two.
  • Vahe Berberian as performer 140
    Armenian Painter, Renaissance Man, Exhibits "Involuntary Laughter"
    Vahé Berberian—the Beirut-born painter, playwright and performer—returns in top form
    His new exhibit is on at the Chryssanthou Art and Design Gallery in West Hollywood through September 4th. The artist finds time to paint entire new collections in between his frequent shows and travel abroad.
  • Decadent dark chocolate truffles
    Dark Chocolat Truffles Anyone?
    Traditional Levantine dessert has proven health benefits
    This high-energy, decadent-tasting dessert is easy to make and always a crowd-pleaser. By replacing processed sugar with maple syrup and using all organic ingredients, this natural Middle Eastern treat gets even healthier. Thanks to the food processor and refrigerator, this time-honored delicacy is a snap to make.
  • Ali Mama Café
    Ali Mama's, an Authentic Cairo Café Experience in Los Angeles
    A leisurely meditation on café life and Middle East time
    Our correspondent recalls life in Cairo and discovers a Silver Lake hole-in-the-wall that replicates her longed-for experience...
  • Greek American opera diva Maria Callas
    Exhibit on Maria Callas at l'Istituto Italiano di Los Angeles
    The great Greek-American opera diva became an international symbol
    The exhibit at the Italian Cultural Institute of Los Angeles in Westwood reveals Callas' rags to riches story and shares objects from her live, including stage costumes, jewelry, rare photographs, books and letters. There's also a documentary courtesy of the Biography Channel.
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