Funny In Farsi

1. Funny In Farsi Book by Firoozeh Dumas PowerPoint by Alex Nester

2. Leffingwell Elementary School • “the following Monday, my father drove my mother to attend school with me for a few weeks. I could not understand why two people not speaking English would be better then one, but I was seven, and my opinion didn’t matter much.” This is a picture of the Leffingwell elementary school. Both the Picture and the passage relate to the story because this is the school Firoozeh went to when she first moved to America.

3. Bowling for Dollars • “It was in this mindset that my father decided to enter bowling for dollars. In his attempts to embrace American culture, my father had joined the local bowling league. Every Wednesday evening he would head off to the bowling alley, returning with spellbinding stories of strikes and gutters.” This is an add from the 1970s. Firoozeh’s Father was trying to fit in to American culture. He watched this show quite often, and eventually was on it.

4. Save me, Mickey • “I wanted to tell her that Mickey was the reason I was lost in the first place. Had I not been trying to talk to him on those so called phones, I wouldn’t be sitting here. I didn’t owe that rodent anything.” Getting lost in Disneyland was a major occurrence in Firoozeh’s life . While there she experienced how kind some Americans are. Also, when her parents found her, her father treated her to whatever she wanted.

5. I ran. • “ often kids tried to be funny by chanting ‘I ran to I-ran, I ran to I-ran.’ The correct pronunciation, I always informed them was ‘ee-rahn.’ ‘I ran’ is a sentence, I told them, as in ‘I ran away from my geography lesson.’ ” Firoozeh first begins to talk about her encounters with discrimination when she is in school. She said that instead of getting mad and physically hurting someone, she would say something sarcastic and make them look stupid.

6. Americans love the French • “Being French in America is like having your hand stamped with one of those passes that allows you to get in to everything. All Francois has to do is mention his obviously French name and people find him intriguing.” Firoozeh marries François, a Frenchman. She said that she noticed how differently he was treated just because he was French. The picture relates to the book because she talks about the French being elegant and sophisticated. The picture shows the elegant style of French women in the 1980s.

7. Pine Lodge Mountain Summer Camp • “During the car ride back, my father asked me if I had enjoyed camp. ‘It was great!’ I said. I knew he had sent me to camp expecting $500 worth of fun, and I didn’t have the heart to tell him the truth. So instead of weaving key chains, I spent the next few weeks weaving stories of all my great adventures.” Firoozeh decided to try summer camp, and hated it. This is a picture of the Pine Lodge Mountain Summer Camp building from the 1980s.

8. Viva Las Vegas! • “Las Vegas was a four-hour drive from our house. The highway leading to this Promised Land cut through the dessert, which meant watching scenery from the backseat of our car was a fishing show. My brothers, who were both in college, were spared these trips. I envied them.” Firoozeh and her family went to Las Vegas ever 3-day or 4-day weekend. This picture was taken in 1970 of Las Vegas.

9. The Name Game • “My name, Firoozeh, chosen by my mother, means ‘turquoise’ in Persian. In America it means ‘unpronounceable’ or ‘I’m not going to talk to you because I cannot possibly learn your name and I just don’t want to have to ask you again and again because you’ll think I’m dumb or might get upset or something.’ My father, incidentally, wanted to name me Sara. I do wish he had won that argument.” Firoozeh's name caused her a lot of difficulty in America. Kids as well as adults couldn’t pronounced her name and called her things like “ferocious” and “f word”.

10. Du Jambon • “One of my father’s favorite foods is ham. This is fine if your name is Bob and you live in Alabama. But when you Kazem living in Abadan, satisfying your ham cravings can be a challenge.” In Firoozeh’s culture, ham is a forbidden food. However her father Kazem loves it. This is a picture of the 1970s version of the Oscar Mayer wiener car. Oscar Mayer was the brand of ham they always bought for Kazem.

11. Treasure Island • “His favorites were the American Westerns, where the good guy always won. He also loved Tarzan, a movie so popular that it had to be shown for several weeks in a row. But my father’s all time favorite movie was the 1934 Treasure Island.” This is the cover of the 1934, original version of the film. This was important to Firoozeh’s life because after viewing this movie, her father wanted to change his own life. He was determined to find a treasure of his own.

12. Part of the Family Carpet • “ Before I married François, I told him that I came with a tribe- a free set of Ginsu knives with every purchase, so to speak. Francois said he loved tribes, especially mine. Now whenever we visit relatives, all of whom dote on my husband, I realize that he didn’t marry me despite my tribe, he married me because of them. Without my relatives, I am but a thread; together we form a colorful and elaborate Persian carpet.” This is a picture of a Persian rug. This is important because she talks about her family fitting together like a beautiful Persian rug.

13. Happy Nowruz! • “In Iran, the biggest holiday is Norwuz, New Year’s Day. Since it is a secular holiday, it is celebrated by the entire country, as Thanksgiving is in the United States. It always begins on the first day of spring at the exact moment of the equinox.” This is a picture of the table settings during Norwuz. This holiday is very important to Firoozeh’s culture. In her memoir she talks about slowly losing that culture because she was becoming Americanized.

14. Threats • “A fruit basket would have been nice, but instead we found that a flyer had been slipped under the door. • Dear Brainwashed cowards, You are nothing but puppets of the corrupt Shah. We will teach you a lesson you will never forget. Death to the Shah. Death to you.” This picture shows an anti-Iranian demonstrator in the 1980s. When the Shah visited Washington, Firoozeh’s family went down to visit. They received threat messages, such as the example shown above, from protesters. This is important to her life because it depicts the struggles she went through because she is foreign.

15. Anti-Iranian • “ Vendors started selling T-shirts and bumper stickers the said ‘Iranians go home’ and ‘Wanted: Iranians for target practice.’ crimes against Iranians increased. People would hear my mother’s accent and ask us, ‘where are you from?’ They weren’t looking for a recipe for stuffed grape leaves. Many Iranians suddenly became Turkish, Russian or French.” Once again the picture and passage represent the discrimination Iranians faced during Firoozeh’s time period. The picture shows Iranians marching with signs that seem to be mocking the government.

16. L’alliance Francaise • “Even though I was the youngest contestant in the impromptu-speech contest, I placed first. Unbeknownst to me, this was met with suspicion. Apparently, some people thought that my Persian accent was too authentic for a foreigner.” Firoozeh wins a trip to France. She gets there to find that her Host family is leaving her at their house alone while they vacation. Also while in France she meets her husband, François.

17. Dating? • “Dating. Like the rodeo circuit or trout farming, is a completely foreign concept to my parents. They, like all their sisters and brothers, never dated, their marriages having been arranged by family members. My mother learned everything she knew about dating from days of our lives, especially Hope and Bo’s relationship. The only dates my father knew about contained pits.” Firoozeh’s family relied heavily on television to learn about American Cultures. She says that her mother only knew what dating was because of watching TV. This is a picture of Bo and Hope, the “role model relationship.”

18. Limoges China • “As beautiful as they were, two words now described these dishes: bad karma. François wanted to give them back and forget the whole thing. I was willing to get rid of them, but I did not want to give them back to his mother. I also didn’t want to sell them; I figured their bad karma would extend to any money the was made from them.” This is a picture of the Limoges China that Firoozeh received from Mrs. Dumas which Firoozeh and her husband decided to donate after the earthquake. This is important because it represents how Firoozeh’s relationship with Her mother-in-law isn’t very strong.

19. Nose • “When I was eighteen, my father and I headed off to a consultation with a plastic surgeon, ‘the best in Newport Beach.’ As I sat in this man’s well-appointed office and looked at the expansive ocean view, I wondered how he can take himself seriously. Judging by the framed diplomas all over the walls, he had spent many years studying at prestigious medical establishments. Here was somebody who could be saving a life somewhere, but instead he was looking forward to looping off the tip of my nose.” Here I have a picture of Firoozeh so you can see her nose. Her nose isn’t as big and hooked as she says it is. Her choice not to get a nose job is different from her family members, however she realizes she didn’t really need one to begin with.

20. Judging • “I had the same dreadful feeling I’d had the last time I was strapped into a roller coaster, although at least that experience only lasted a few minutes. If this evening ever ended, I would be adding ‘judging beauty pageants’ to my list of things never to try again, right under ‘gymnastics classes’ and ‘blood sausage.’ ” I decided to get a picture of Spanish Wells because that’s where Firoozeh and her husband went for a vacation. Spanish wells is a small island so they were asked to judge the Spanish Wells beauty pageant. Firoozeh was not happy about it, however she did it anyway.

21. The moneyless, but rich • “After his last trip, I asked him if it was hard to return to America where he is far from wealthy. ‘But, Firoozeh,’ he said ‘I’m a rich man in America, too. I just don’t have a lot of money.’ ” This is Iranian money. In Iran, Firoozeh’s family was rich. However because of the exchange rate, they were far from rich in America.