Yes, that’s right. While I generally try to avoid posting pictures of myself (except for the extremely rare occurrence of a flattering shot), and I especially try to avoid pictures of myself eating, it’s not everyday that I get to eat haggis with chopsticks.
This picture was taken in February of 2008. The event was Gung Haggis Fat Choy – a celebration that originated in Vacouver, B.C., to honor both Robbie Burns birthday and the Chinese New Year. Burns’ Suppers traditionally occur on Robbie Burns birthday, January 25, and the Chinese New Year begins any where from late January to mid-February. Often these holiday’s occur on the same night, and so they were combined into this one grand celebration in both Vancouver B.C., and Seattle.
The celebration includes performers representing each of the cultures (and some representing both), bagpipes, drums, dancers – both Scottish and Chinese – and of course, a dragon – and the traditional agenda of the Burns Supper: The Selkirk grace, the entrance of the haggis (the most important part, in which the haggis is “slain”), and then of course, eating to excess, drinking to excess, and dancing to excessively loud music.
Gung Haggis Fat Choy was not possible for us this year, but I’m already looking forward to next year.
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This my random February photo entry for Mama Kat’s Writing Workshop.
As it turns out, I have a lot to learn about packing my daughter up to go anywhere more than 5 minutes away from home. This weekend was the PNW Highland Games in Enumclaw, Washington. We go every year. Every year we get sunburned, eat greasy food, and listen to really loud music – and complain about the unrelenting heat. This year was no different, except we brought along Uncle Timmy, and my daughter, and the stroller, and sunblock, and a cooler with ice packs to keep bottled water and her teething toys cool, and plenty of toys, and plenty of diapers, and several changes of clothes, and oh, good grief I don’t even remember what all we brought. But it wasn’t enough, even though most of the items we did bring were not used. What we should have brought were a bunch of chairs, a canopy, and a solar powered personal air conditioning device (has anyone even invented one of these yet? if not, get on it stat!).
By far the coolest thing that happened in that 100 degree weather was the discovery of a booth selling electric bagpipes. Electric! Bagpipes! Meaning they have volume control, or you can even plug in headphones and the old man can pipe away without making a peep. But that’s not the cool part. Aaron was trying out the pipes, rocking out on a song by the Wicked Tinkers when in walked Aaron Shaw with a huge smile on his face. “Great Job!” he said when my husband stopped playing. Who is Aaron Shaw? He’s the piper for the Wicked Tinkers and he wrote the song my husband was playing. How often does an artist get to perform a work (and perform it well) in front of the person that created it? My husband was riding that high for the rest of the day.
I don’t have much in the way of pictures from the games – nobody tells you how much harder it is to take photographs when you’re trying to keep tabs on a little one. I shouldn’t complain too much, I even had two helpers with me. But in lieu of photos, I will leave you with the Wicked Tinkers on Craig Ferguson. This performance focuses more on the drums for obvious reasons, but these guys are fun
It’s hard to party when your heart is with people dying on the street on the other side of the world. Harder still for Seattle’s Iranian-American community, with family members caught up in the in the fight for their rights, freedom, and even their lives in Iran.
Yet party is just what we did today at the 3rd Annual Seattle Iranian Festival.
People tore themselves away from the reports streaming in online and on TV for a day to come together and celebrate the Iranian culture.
With dancing and music
Art exhibits
and of course, food. (Why does food served from the side of a truck always taste better?)
Gem, my little Rebel With a Cause, was a champ all day. She didn’t fuss and she absolutely loved the crowd – and we were there all day. I think this little one is going to be a people person.
The events inside the building were focused on the culture and heritage of the Iranian people
Outside, demonstrators showed their solidarity with the people of Iran.
I’ve been to this festival before, in fact I knew many of the participants, performers, and organizers. This has always been a fun event. But this year the Seattle Iranian Festival was amazing.
Throughout history the Iranian people have been phenomenally resilient. I believe this will continue to be the case.
This afternoon we hopped in the truck and tootled our way over to the Ballard Library for a reading and book signing with Marjane Satrapi. Marjane Satrapi is best known for her books Persepolis, Persepolis 2 and Embroideries.
I was shocked at the turnout. We spent the first part of the talk standing in the doorway between a tall woman who was kind enough to occasionally turn around and summarize what was just said, and the old woman who kept pressing her cane into my toes – I’m sorry I’m as far over as I can get, I’m not standing in your way just cuz I don’t like old people, I literally can’t move.
I spent the first few minutes of the talk wondering why I was actually still standing there. Aside from the fact that my husband really wanted to be there, I couldn’t see a damn thing, I was being jostled around by people with absolutely no manners, packed in like sardines with lots of people and let me make this very clear – I hate people. I had my eye’s closed straining to hear Ms. Satrapi over the chatter of the people behind me talking about how they couldn’t hear, when I was shoved again, this time from the front as people were trying to make their way out. I let the lady with the cane in ahead of me and after a few more people left we were able to inch our way inside the room and so was able to hear most of the second half of her talk – which was the question and answer section. I didn’t hear most of the questions, but her answers were illuminating anyways.
She has another book coming out in the fall that will be called Chicken with Plums and Persepolis will be made into an animated feature film, it will be black and white and the role of her mother will be voiced by Catherine Deneuve.
She made it clear that she didn’t have answers to questions about Iranian foreign policy or nuclear weapons “If I say I support Iran’s right to have nuclear weapons, then I am siding with the Islamic Regime; if I say Iran should not have nuclear weapons, I’m saying ‘Please Mr. Bush, invade my country.'”
When asked about the American war against Iraq she mentioned that 80% of the world’s population live under evil dictatorships, but few of the other countries have resources of interest to the United States. As far as the Islamic fundamentalists are concerned, she said that fundamentalists of any persuasion, whether it is Islamic, or Jewish, or Christian, or Secular (yes there are secular fundamentaists too) ARE the problem, the fundamentalist point of view precludes thought and reason, and especially learning.
Ms. Satrapi grew up in revolutionary Iran. The revolution occured when she was 10 years old, and Iraq attacked a year later. The Shaw was an oppressive dictator. The Iranian Revolution, like the French Revolution centuries earlier, overthrew and evil government that oppressed the people and had to go. Unfortunately, in both cases, the government that rose up to fill the void was just a different kind of evil. On the topic of democracy she said “Democracy is a cultural shift more than a political one. It will take time. You cant force democracy.”
The world is full of idiots and that wont stop. Often the idiots are more alike than different. George W. Bush and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have more in common than just a messiah complex. On the topic of dictators, she was careful to specify that it was not a comment against men. “Dictators are raised by their mothers. Their mothers teach them how to be.”
Ms. Satrapi currently lives in France with her Swedish husband. She speaks 6 languages and is a huge supporter of education. Continuous learning for everyone is the most important thing. She also believes that the more you travel the better a person you become because you can shed the brainwashing by experiencing the truth. The more points of view you can understand the better a person you become. She finds that often, in France, she is the defender of Americans to the French, because she has been to America and experienced American people despite the brainwashing against americans she experienced as a child in Iran and in France.
She talked for quite a while, and there was a lot that she said that I missed, but I would stand in a croweded room to hear her speak again in a heartbeat, and you can bet I’ll be getting Chicken with Plumbs as soon as it hits the stores.
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