Brief Update

Beautiful summer fields in Michigan

Just like the past several weeks, this week is no different with more and more intense studying and catching up with more studying on the bar exam.  But just a brief update with that and other things happening in the world.  My goal with these bar exam updates is to start with something positive, acknowledge a bit of stress (because this is real life), and then end on a positive note.  

First, the good stuff happening.  Although I am not able to enjoy as much of the summer right now as I would like, I have been able to take advantage of some nice things.  A walk yesterday evening revealed that beautiful shot above of the rolling summery fields and a bright blue sky.  It's pretty peaceful.  In a related nature note, I also helped a turtle cross the road the other day.

I have also been exploring new study spots in the city because I think I get too stir-crazy if studying in the same place all the time.  So, I've been able to hit up one of my favorite bookstores ever, Schuler Books, and I also made it to the Frederik Meijer Gardens to study before an intense thunderstorm.  

The Meijer Gardens has a beautiful botanical garden inside with several different rooms that always have something cool happening, whether it's the "Christmas around the World" in the winter (focusing on holiday celebrations around the world in December, and also including celebrations from other religions, despite the name) or the butterfly exhibit in the spring where the tropical gardens are filled with beautiful butterflies that will land on your outstretched fingers.  

The Meijer Gardens also has a beautiful outdoor sculpture park, with an amphitheater for some excellent outdoor summer concerts.  The Gardens is especially famous for the American Horse, a gigantic bronze statue made in 1999 by Nina Akamu modeled off of Leonardo da Vinci's horse for the Duke of Milan in the late 15th century.  There were two 24-foot horses cast in 1999, one for the Meijer Gardens and one for Milan (side note: I cannot believe that I totally forgot about the Horse in Milan!!!  I was in Milan!!!  I could have seen it!).  There are so many other cool sculptures outside though, that anything you see, including the cute children's park, is bound to impress.

Also, Iran and Bosnia play in the World Cup today for the final game for Group F.  Hopefully Iran advances!

Go Iran!

[Update: Iran lost that game 3-1, so now Iran and Bosnia are both out, and Nigeria and Argentina advance to the next round.  It's too bad that Iran lost that game, but look at how Team Melli came together and scored this sweet goal!]

In other news now, the bar exam.  Enough said.

Willy Wonka is a condescending meanie.

Normally, I try to live by this motto:

But even the amazing Leslie Knope has her moments...

But ending with POSITIVITY.

Back to positive things.  And even better, these positive things are actually related to the bar exam *gasp.*  In studying all of the federal civil procedure stuff, I remembered that this also includes the crazy, crazy process that is a deposition.  Which reminded me about some of the crazy videos of depositions that are out there.  Enjoy.

1.  Tupac's 1995 deposition.  Start at about 4:30 for this exchange:

“Do you remember what year you started receiving fan mail?”
“No, I don’t.”
“And do you also get unfavorable mail?”
“Oh yeah, like this.  I get a lot of unfavorable mail from y’all.”
“From fans?”
“No.  From y’all.  Y’all.  You guys. The lawyers, the law students.”

Then skip to the 6:30 mark for more...

“Were you trying to provoke people to do things?”
“Yes.”
“Could you tell us what?”
"Think.  Use your head."

2.  The Justin Bieber Destroying his Own Career Deposition.  Only watch this portion of the video though because possibly any longer would be detrimental to one's health and best interests.  Start at the 3:27 mark to listen to the Biebs admit, under oath, "I think that I was detrimental to my own career."  We all agree.

...But perhaps one of my all-time favorites...

3.  TEXAS STYLE DEPOSITION!  I told you I would end on a positive note.  This is ridiculous and hilarious and no matter how many times I watch this video, it is still so funny.  Enjoy the glory of the American legal system.

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Posted in: Bar Exam,Bosnia,Botanical Gardens,deposition,English,Iran,J-Mad,Meijer Gardens,Michigan,Pure Michigan,United States,World Cup

[I'm Definitely Not] Watching the World Cup [during the Bar Exam]

Celebration in Madrid when Spain won the 2010 South Africa World Cup

Since last week Thursday, the whole world has basically been obsessed with one thing: soccer.  More specifically, the World Cup being held in Brazil right now.  Soccer can actually be pretty cool on multiple levels, despite what most Americans think.

It's just a liiiiittle bit better

In one of my favorite reads from undergrad, How Soccer Explains the World shows how soccer represents globalization in practice, as "an expression of the social, economic, political, and racial composition of the communities that host both the teams and their throngs of enthusiastic fans."

Soccer, as explained by The Onion.

But more importantly, I remember how much fun I had in Spain and what it felt like to be in the middle of everything when a country wins the World Cup.  In 2010, I was in Madrid, watching the final match between Spain and the Netherlands in the center of the city when Spain scored the winning goal and the entire country went crazy - people jumped into the street and started waving flags as if they were matadors and cars played along, honking loudly, pretending to be bulls - and then celebrated again the next day after the president declared a 36 hour national holiday.  Millions packed the streets of Madrid to greet the national team as it returned victorious the next day (a Monday) from South Africa to a huge area over by Principe Pio to host the concerts and celebrations with Spanish pop star David Bisbal and several dancing Pulpo Pauls (the octopus that can predict the outcome of the World Cup matches).

Actually, a legitimate question re: Bar prep outlines...

If only, if only....

Unfortunately, studying for the bar exam pretty much consumes my time now, but thanks to Tivo and the internets, I can catch bits and pieces of it now and then.  Iran qualified this year and I'm hoping they win (or make it really far), and unfortunately querida España has already been eliminated after some harsh losses, including to the Netherlands (obviously seeking revenge for 2010).

In the meantime, these are some of the highlights and things that I've found amusing over the last week or so about the 2014 World Cup.  If you want to watch the matches, you can find the schedule with dates, times, and channels here.

First up, FIFA hired a Brazilian artist to make posters for each team that will play in the first round.  The posters are really cool for each team and are definitely worth taking a look at all the way through.  Find them here or here.  Some favorites below:

Iran - Team Melli (تیم ملی)

Spain - La Furia Roja

Ecuador

Switzerland

(and even though I didn't live there...)

Italy - Azzurri

But FIFA is not without its criticism in the past couple weeks either.  Satirist John Oliver dives deep into the organization to explain all its shady, SHADY shenanigans to Americans, in the way only a British guy living in the US and analyzing US politics on HBO latenight can.  And he kills it.

Another Daily Show alumn, Stephen Colbert, contributed some vital World Cup analysis with guest Hans Beinholtz - the fictional (yet highly convincing) German ambassador to the United Nations who has made numerous appearences on the Colbert Report.  Here, he gives a "positive" spin on Team USA's chances in Stephen Colbert's Sport Report (all "T's" are silent).

The Colbert Report
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Now, for the good stuff - the highlights from some of the games until now.

Iran v. Nigeria
Team Melli up against Nigeria in a tough game that resulted in the first draw of the tournament (read more here).  Each team gets one point, so hopefully Iran will do well in its next two matches (and comparatively, the rest of the teams in Group F will do poorly - sorry guys) so that Iran can advance to the next bracket.  Check out those sweet jerseys too.  Check out ESPN's video here.  You can also catch the play-by-play report from Yahoo Sports here.  Looking forward to Iran's match against Argentina.  Should be another tough game.  Check out ESPN's video here.

Spain v. Everyone
Unfortunately, Spain eliminated from the World Cup pretty quickly this year.  Check out ESPN's video here.
And just in case you need to express your frustration and sadness, BuzzFeed gives you some advice on what your World Cup watching posture should be here.

USA v. Ghana
I've never really been into USA soccer but apparently this was a good game between two good teams.  And also Ghana has some sweet white away jerseys.  ESPN's video here.  Yahoo's play-by-play here.
Colbert coverage on USA win:

The Colbert Report
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Finally, just because this is so completely ridiculous and so amusingly American, ABC News actually took time to make this an official thing on its website for the World Cup - a bracket of the "hottest players" from some of the teams.  Such an insane waste of time.  Good job, ABC.  

And just for fun, Stephen Colbert's Foam Foot Sign Off (no hands in soccer).

The Colbert Report
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Posted in: Bar Exam,English,Fútbol,Ghana,Iran,J-Mad,John Oliver,Michigan,Nigeria,Soccer,Spain,Stephen Colbert,Summer,United States,World Cup

Norouz at the United Nations

Thursday, March 20th, 2014 was the first day of Spring.  The following Tuesday, the Iranian mission to the UN and eight other central Asian countries (Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) hosted a Norouz lunch and cultural event at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.  It was great to see so many countries putting on a great event together to share this beautiful piece of shared culture with the United Nations community.  Each country had a table with information about its particular celebrations for the holiday as well as food and sweets from that country.  There were also musicians that played from a classical Iranian musical group after the delegates made speeches and wished the attendees a happy new year.

Classical Iranian Music

For thousands of years, Iranians, and those in Central Asia influenced by Persian culture from the empire's spread thousands of years ago, celebrate spring's arrival in a holiday called Norouz.  Norouz literally translates as "new day" and has its roots from thousands of years ago in ancient Zoroastrianism.  It marks the beginning of the year on the Iranian (solar) calendar, so while it's 2014 in the USA, it's 1393 in Iran (Iran's calendar begins its years counting in 621 AD when Mohammad PBUH made the pilgrimage to Medina).  Every year except this year (on account of me being in Geneva), our family has been together to celebrate, even when I was in DC.  As we do not have as many relatives nearby, we take the opportunity each year to invite over different friends to join us in celebrating.  There are also shows each year put on by student organizations at the universities, like last year's 1392 celebration at Michigan.

Norouz is celebrated by over 300 million people around the globe and dates back more than 3,000 years.  Norouz is even recognized by the UN General Assembly in Resolution 253 (A/Res/64/253) and included on the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.  It's a great holiday and something my family celebrates every year (alongside our American traditional holidays), so I'll provide more of a description below.

The holiday celebrations last for thirteen days, although preparations begin before, including khaneh tekani - "shaking the house," otherwise known as "spring cleaning" - and chaharshanbeh soori.  Chaharshanbeh Soori takes place on the eve of the last Wednesday of the year (Tuesday night) and involves jumping over a fire while shouting, "sorkhie to az man va zardie man az to!" This chant asks the fire to give the jumper its healthy red color and take away the jumper's sickly yellow pallor.  The idea is to have the fire cleanse the jumper, removing all sickness and bad luck from the past year so that he or she can start fresh for the new year to come.  Unfortunately, I grew up in a city with too small an Iranian population, so we only ever celebrated this part of Norouz once - in a family friend's driveway at night jumping over a hay bale set ablaze.  Welcome to Michigan.

For the holiday itself, there are some traditional foods associated with the celebrations.  This typically means a bean and noodle soup (ash-e reshteh), fish with herbs and rice (mahie sabzeh), and desserts (think baklava and cardamom rice cookies).  However, the Iranian table switched it up and did chicken kubideh (ground meat kabobs) with rice and fessenjan (a chicken pomegranate dish).  The food was all still amazing.

Unconventional Haft Sin - everything was purple-themed

The biggest aspect of preparing for Norouz on the day itself though is setting up the special table - sofreh-e haft sin (pronounced "seen"), the "table of the seven s's."  "Haft sin" refers to placing seven items on the table that start with the letter "س" in Farsi and each have a special significance, many having to do with rebirth, health, and prosperity.  Setting the table as a family is very similar to placing ornaments on a Christmas tree together.  The "seven s's" and their significance are as follows:

1. Sabzeh (سبزه) - green sprouts from lentils or wheat, with a red ribbon tied around, symbolizing life.  On the 13th day of celebrations, Sizdah bedar, families go on picnics and people tie the sprouts together and throw them into moving water so that the current will carry their wishes onward to be fulfilled in the New Year;
2. Samanou (سمنو) - dish made of wheat germ or lentils (we don't usually, or ever, have this on our table), symbolizing affluence;
3. Sib (سیب) - apples, symbolizing beauty and health;
4. Sonbol (سنبل) - hyacinth flowers, one of my favorite flowers for its fragrance;
5. Senjed (سنجد) - dried fruit from a lotus tree, symbolizing love;
6. Seer (سیر) - garlic, symbolizing good health;
7. Somagh (سماق) - sumac, a deep fiery red color representing beauty and the color of the sunrise. 

Haft Sin Norouz table - 1391

There are also other "non-س" items that are placed on the table that carry their own significance.  These include:

1. A Qur'an;
2. A book of poetry (Divan-e Hafez shown in picture above);
3. Vinegar (serkeh سرکه), symbolizing old age and patience;
4. Gold coins (sekkeh سکه), symbolizing wealth and prosperity;
5. Goldfish, symbolizing life;
6. Rosewater for its fragrance;
7. Colorfully dyed eggs, symbolizing fertility;
8. An orange floating in a bowl of water, representing the earth in the universe (it is believed that the orange will rotate ever so slightly at the exact moment of the vernal equinox);
9. Candles lit for each child in the family; and
10. A mirror, placed behind the lit candles so that it reflects the light back to the viewers.

Even though I am in Geneva, it was great to be able to see a bit of Norouz at the UN, and to run into coworkers at the event as well.  Wishing everyone an amazing 1393!

!!! نوزوز تان پیروز

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Posted in: 3L,English,Farsi,Geneva,Haft Sin,Iran,J-Mad,Norouz,Noruz,Switzerland,United Nations,United States,فارسی

Hafteh-e Aval

Before starting the work week, I spent some time with my cousin visiting Kabob Bazaar, a Persian restaurant in Arlington, VA. We then drove back into DC and then spent time walking around Washington, D.C. and visiting the Sackler and Freer Galleries. The Sackler has several interesting exhibits, including an extraordinary exhibit on the Shahnameh. The exhibit has amazing artwork and does a wonderful job showing the history of the Shahnameh and re-telling Ferdowsi’s epic stories. The Sackler website has images of the pages as well as all of the detailed information about them. The exhibit will be at the Sackler until April 17^th. For more information, please click here.

(Jamshid is at the left, and Zal & the Simorgh are on the right).

Working in the capital for one week has been great so far. Being back in a big city is such a welcome change from Michigan, especially since I escaped the epic blizzard that caused Michigan State University to have its first snow day since 1975 and did this to one of the busiest streets in Grand Rapids:

Since I basically arrived here and immediately jumped right in, I didn’t ever really have time to figure out public transportation before starting work. DC just confirms my beliefs that every place that calls itself a city should have a metro system (or an el train for Chicago). But, unlike the metros in New York City and Madrid, a commuter cannot purchase monthly passes. While monthly passes are expensive, they are always great investments for frequent metro users and save the commuter money. In Washington, D.C., no such monthly pass exists and rides for all public transportation systems must be purchased individually each way. Additionally, the price for the metro ranges from approximately $2.00 to $5.00 each way (yes, interns should actually get paid) depending upon the time of day. So, I have resigned myself to the bus. There are a myriad of bus companies in DC but one of the cheapest and most convenient is the red Circulator bus. The lines run back and forth through the major parts of Washington, D.C., and the buses come every 10 minutes. At $1.00 per ride and free transfers for an hour, the Circulator makes getting around the city relatively easy.

There are also so many different organizations with three or four letter acronyms that it is impossible to keep them all straight. I’m beginning to think that 26 letters in the English alphabet is insufficient for DC. In working for one of these acronyms, I have also learned how small non-profit organizations can actually be. However, there are also a lot of important and well-connected people in DC and with prominent organizations hosting events daily, there are unprecedented opportunities to interact with the foremost thinkers in various fields. And all of them are addicted to their blackberries. As part of my daily tasks, I have written drafts of current events, drafted an article for the group’s newsletter, contributed in brainstorming sessions, as well as plowing through website database management work.

In addition to work-related events, I had the opportunity to attend the Eurasia Foundation’s Armenian-Turkish Musical Evening concert. The event was held at the Cosmos Club and featured several extremely talented Armenian and Turkish musicians. One of the best songs performed was written by A. Khachaturian called “Maaryam.” There were people taking real photographs, but I was extra classy and snuck a cell phone shot.

There are two interesting film festivals in February that I have heard about thus far. The first is the Iranian Film Festival 2011 at the Sackler and Freer Galleries. Every weekend, on Fridays (7:00pm) and Sundays (2:00pm), a recent Iranian film is shown. On the final Sunday, February 27^th, there will be a three-film documentary special called “Art, Politics, and Women’s Voices in Iran.” For more information about the Sackler and Freer Galleries’ film screenings, please visit their website.

I just learned this past Thursday from a fellow commuter on the bus that the National Museum of African Art also has its own film festival, the North African Film Festival. Luckily, the films are on Thursday evenings at 7:00pm and do not conflict with the Sackler’s showtimes. The films are free and also include moderated discussions with leading film directors, critics, and scholars. Because the films are free, the venue filled up quickly. I tried to make it to Cairo Time, but the room had already been filled to total capacity and security was not admitting anyone else. Hopefully, I will be able to attend more after work.

On Sunday, February 20^th, there will be a roundtable discussion of Algerian cinema, sponsored by Howard University and the Algerian Ministry of Culture, and will feature Danny Glover, Ahmed Bedjaoui, Rachid Bouchareb, and Manthia Diawara. Should be very interesting. I’ll be sure to ask Danny where the angels are.

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Posted in: English,Eurasia Foundation,Ferdosi,Freer-Sackler Gallery,Iran,J-Mad,Shahnameh,Washington DC