I felt elated as I left the Carlson Theater today. My Calculus professor, Mr. Akhlaghi, was able to invite Roya Hakakian, a prominent Iranian author and journalist, to come give a lecture at my college with the consent of the president. The Center for Liberal Arts and the Library Media Center sponsored this lecture and flew her out a gazillion miles west to Seattle. Mr. Akhlaghi greeted her at the airport at 2 AM, good lord.

I was mainly there for the extra credit that he offered us and so were most of the students that attended. I felt bad for Roya because some of the students didn’t care to be there, and didn’t care if they showed it. A few slept during her whole lecture. An annoying guy who sat behind me kept tapping his feet as if he had ants in his pants.

But the extra credit offered was not even remotely necessary. Her charm and dashing good looks were enough to keep my attention. (I’ve developed a taste for Persian girls, ever since crashing Vancouver every now and then!) To top it off, she’s a very intelligent young woman.

A woman from the Center for Liberal Arts came up first to introduce Roya. Roya then introduced herself and how she felt at home because of how Mr. Ahklaghi came to pick her up in the morning. All the while, a woman in black with short hair and slightly behind Roya on the stage was translating everything in American sign language for the few deaf individuals off to the side of the theater next to faculty.

Roya then explained what she was going to read and why she chose those particular excerpts. The first one she read aloud was about her childhood, especially focused on her eldest brother, Albert. She is the youngest of the siblings in her family and the only girl. She has 3 older brothers (if I recall correctly). One of her brothers was born on the same day as an Iranian prince and looks better than “his royal counterpart” as well. Albert, was the prodigy of the family. She explained that it was as if everything he touched, he breathed life into it. Even shopping lists made by him were hard to discard because of his beautiful handwriting. She introduced this excerpt first because it gave the audience a clue of her childhood, and right after that, Albert was sent to America to study, a choice made mostly by her father. As he entered university, he became more politically active and his father thought he’d have a myriad of restrictions due to the lack of freedom of speech in Iran. So he was sent to America to study mostly for the freedom of speech and for him to cultivate himself more freely.

She read 2-4 more excerpts, all of which were interesting and beautiful. The last was quite funny. This happened after the success of the Iranian revolution in the 70’s. She attended an all girl Jewish school, and the principal was suddenly replaced with a Muslim woman with a black scarf, an unlikely scene in the affluent neighborhood that she resided in. The new principal was there to attempt to convert all the Jewish girls into Muslims. One day, she called for a meeting and explained to the young girls that their hair was the bringers of abomination. Even though she was covered from head-to-toe (eyebrows included), she still felt naked; especially if a man were present. [Just a side note: a woman’s hair is thought to be very seductive by certain communities in the Middle East. It is a sin to show your hair in public. This is one of the reasons why many women cover their hair.] The new principal talked about this, in a serious tone, as an awful sin; and the young girls in the Jewish school thought it was extremely hilarious. It was a nice comic relief.

After the lectures, into the second hour, we had Q & A. For some compelling reason, I wanted to ask her, “how was it for your father to be a Jewish poet?” But it took me over half an hour to get around to asking it because I kept running the question through my mind, trying to rephrase it correctly. At that particular time, I felt as if I was a FOB. My English seemed to make little sense for some reason. It was just my nervousness to talk to a celebrity that was clouding up my thoughts. However, I asked her that question because I was curious to know if poets were looked down upon the same way as artists were in the Jewish religion. After she answered, I immediately knew that my question was utterly naive. Of course poets were regarded highly. She answered that having poetic talent is very much valued by Jews. They must recite poetic lines in their religion anyway. The part which pained me most however, was how I neglected to acknowledge that she is a poet as well. I asked her specifically about her father, in which she first replied, “you’d have to ask my father to know that.” That’s when I counter-replied how I read a book in high school where an artistic Jewish boy was discouraged to continue his drawings and to work on his academics more because artistry was lowly regarded in the Jewish religion and community. And after that was also when she explained the importance of poetic talent in her religion and culture.

Roya Hakakian is simply awesome. I bought her book, Journey from the Land of No, right after the lecture (in the lobby of Carlson Theater and got it autographed from her. I was really nervous to meet her, and I wished I phrased my question more thoughtfully. Thanks for coming all the way out here Roya. :)