Learn Persian with Chai and Conversation

"Finding Joonam: A Dialogue with Filmmaker Sierra Urrich" - Immerse yourself in a candid and emotive conversation with Sierra Urrich, the talented director behind the striking documentary, 'Joonam'. In this episode, Sierra shares her heartfelt experiences of creating the film and navigating her Iranian identity through the process. She provides us with an intimate glimpse into her journey, spanning from her childhood in Vermont to her connections with Iran, sparked by the stories, culture, and heritage shared by her mother and grandmother. We discuss the complexities of learning Persian, the multifaceted portrait of three generations of women against Iran's cultural backdrop, and the powerful reactions to the brave protests happening in Iran. This dialogue will undoubtedly resonate with anyone who has ever sought to understand their roots, grappled with their identity, or felt the echoes of a diasporic existence. Tune in for an enriching exploration of heritage, identity, and the extraordinary potency of storytelling.Related Links:Joonam screening in NYC, July 27, RSVP hereJoonam on instagram

Continuation of our discussion of Rumi's deevāné shō

In this second part of the discussion for Rumi's deevāné shō, we go over the first two lines of the poem in detail.

Host: Leyla ShamsGuest: Marjan KamaliIntroduction:Leyla Shams, host of Learn Persian with Chai and Conversation, introduces her guest Marjan Kamali, the award-winning author of the Stationary Shop.Topics Discussed:Marjan Kamali's The Stationary ShopRecommended by the founder of Ketab Club, Kimia, as the number one book by a middle eastern author.Leyla shares her experience reading the book with a dozen other women and the emotions it evoked.Setting and Historical ContextUnlike the common discourse about the 1979 revolution, this novel is set during the 1953 coup in Iran.Discussion on how the 1953 coup altered the course of Iranian history.Insight into how the novel shows that the coup was a significant event leading to a loss of hope and irreversible change for Iran.Discussion with Marjan KamaliThe inspiration behind the novel.Kamali's thoughts on current events in Iran and her predictions for the future.Recommendations:Leyla highly recommends her listeners to read The Stationary Shop.Encourages joining Ketab Club, a wonderful book club focused on Middle Eastern authors. Link will be provided in the shownotes.

In this intro lesson for Rumi's deevāné shō, we go over the full poem with musician Fared Shafinury.In addition, we learn about Fared and his project "Radif Retreat". In this particular lesson, we also dive into the musicality of the poem and how to interact with it rhythmically. Watch Fared's performance of Rumi's beautiful poetry on his Persian After Hours performance, live at the Guggenheim.

Kayvon Zand is a nightlife personality and musician living in New York City, and goes by the pronouns he or they. I’ve been a fan for years, and love their extravagant and very extra style. In the past year, Kayvon has been turning their attention to Iranians in Iran, and holding live discussions with them about a variety of topics, most notably how life is like for members of the LGBTQ+ community in Iran. I sit in on them every once in a while, and the discussions are often quite fascinating. Since the beginning of the zan zendegee azadi movement also, Kayvon has been really vocal in connecting this movement with the cause of queer rights in Iran, and showing how they are inextricably linked. We talked about his relationship to Iranian culture, the language, but also about the history of the LGBTQ+ community in Iran and how things have changed and how they haven’t.Related Links:Kavyon Zand on instagramKavvon's new Koloocheh video

In this episode, we talk to Ari Rastegar, a commercial real estate developer in Austin, Texas. Ari talks about his half Iranian background, how his father instilled the Iranian culture in him, and how it's helped him develop his empire in Austin. 

Nixta Taqueria is an award winning taqueria in Austin coowned by today's Growing Up Irooni guest Sara Mardanbigi. She owns it together with her husband Edgar Rico, who she recently took on a month long trip to Iran. We talked about her upbringing in Arkansas, what led her to create such a unique business, and about her recent trip to Iran, amidst the women, life, freedom movement.  Related Links:Priya Krishna's NYT article about Sara and NixtaFollow Nixta on Instagram

I’m so excited to share with you today my interview with Firoozeh Dumas, author of Funny in Farsi. Funny in Farsi came out when I was in college, and it’s almost hard to remember what a huge huge deal it was at the time. Really, before that, we had zero mainstream representation of Iranians. The one thing we had that we could all point to was not without my daughter, and that was a horrifying depiction of what Iran and Iranians were. But then Firoozeh came out with her book, which is a delightful, funny, heartwarming memoir of what it’s like to grow up with an Iranian background in the USA. She touches on what it was like during the hostage crisis, and when Iranians were constantly negatively stereotyped in the media. But she also looked at the really lovely positive things that came from being an immigrant in this country. Iranians are often not allowed the levity of talking about their experiences in a way that say Greek people are in a movie like my big fat greek wedding. That movie was allowed to be funny and light and silly- and in a similar way, this book was the same, and really humanized Iranian Americans both for a western audience and for Iranians.It’s now been 20 years since the book came out, and so much has changed since then. It was such a delight and joy to be able to talk to Firoozeh about the context in which she wrote the book, and how things are different now. And what being Iranian meant to her then, what it means now.Related Links:Purchase the book Funny in FarsiFollow Firoozeh on Instagram

In this first lesson on Monir Taha's poem ‘meegan ké jangé jangé, میگن که جنگه جنگه’, we talk to Naz Deravian, Monir's daughter and author of the cookbook Bottom of the Pot, about the poem in general, the context in which it was written, and about the poet herself.