1. education
2. graduate school
3. college

Community Friends
of International Students
In t e r n a t i o n a l P l a c e o f T h e C l a re m o n t C o l l e g e s , 3 9 0 E a s t 9 t h S t r e e t , C l a re m o n t , C A 9 1 7 1 1 - 5 9 0 5
Fa ll 2014
h ttp: //ip la c e.claremon t.ed u
Vo l. 38, No. 1
Fun Facts About I-Place
156 students were met at the airport (149 at LAX and 7 at
ONT) for pick-up.
 42 New International Student and Scholar Orientation
(NISSO) volunteers helped out with I-Place Orientation
at the start of school.
 283 students participated in the Orientation program at
I-Place.
 76 host families hosted 122 students.

This year, for the first time in many years, there were more
requests from students for host families than there were
families! Twenty-five students were not able to stay with
families and had to stay in residence halls (opened early to
accommodate them), and 4 stayed with other students.
I-Place Fall Events:
Nov 17 – 22, 2014: International Education Week: This year, we are ending our International Education Week
celebration with the first annual International Gala.
November 22, 7pm – 9pm: International Autumn Gala: A night of cultural celebration put on by the
international student community of The Claremont Colleges. Look for tickets in the upcoming few weeks!
November 25, 6pm – 9pm: November Social: Thanksgiving Gathering
December 7, 3pm – 5pm: CFIS Holiday Reception: 709 Harvard Ave (CGU President’s House)
December 12, 2pm – 7pm: December Social: Holiday Shopping Trip at Victoria Gardens
Page 1
President’s Message
Members of the Board 2014-2015
Officers
Another school year is beginning and members of
Community Friends are already active: hosting new
international students, having a dinner party for visiting
parents and holding our annual picnic at Scripps College for
students and their host families. As the year progresses, there
will be several other events sponsored by Community
Friends and iPlace that will not only enrich the lives of the
students who take part, but also enrich the lives of our
members and host families and broaden their understanding
of people from other parts of the world. When one thinks of
the hundreds (thousands?) of families who have hosted
students over the years, the impact that our host family
program has had in developing the character of the people of
Claremont and surrounding communities must be significant.
In addition to our traditional programs, Community
Friends has been fortunate for the last two years to be the
recipient of two UPS grants totaling $13,200 which we have
used to help international students in need. Community
Friends created a committee to screen applicants and
approved grants of up to $400 per student, often used to help
them purchase laptops among other things. Unfortunately, the
UPS grants have run out. However, these grants were so
successful and much appreciated that the Community
Friends’ Board is trying to find ways to continue it on our
own. The only way we can do this is through contributions
from our members.
Maintaining our programs that have had such a positive
impact on international students and the town of Claremont
plus trying to continue the UPS grants will not be possible
unless members of Community Friends contribute. We have
a large contingent of new international students (many with
serious financial needs), a Board with many new faces who
are eager to do their part and an agenda of doing good things.
Hopefully, we will have the resources we need to expand on
our excellent beginning to the semester and make this another
great year for Community Friends.
You can easily renew your tax deductible membership
or contribute to Community Friends by going to the home
page of I-Place (http://iplace.claremont.edu) and clicking on
the CFIS link.
I hope that all of you can join in on our activities this year
whenever you can.
Dave Bedell
President, Community Friends of International Students
President: David Bedell
Co-Vice-Presidents:
Maureen McCluney & Neva Barker
Secretary: Renuka Balakrishnan
Treasurer: Susan Brinkama
Nominating Chair: Claudia Lennear
Directors & Coordinators
Host Family: John Tarin
Co-Membership: Amy Bernstein, Linda Scott,
Tamara Lindvall
Newsletter Co-Editors:
Barbara Rugeley, Helen Young
Special Events:
Joan Gerard, Linda Heilpern, Mitra Nag
Support Council: Neil Gerard
Conversation Partners:
Katya Fairbanks
Electronic Communications:
Catherine & Frank D’Emilio
Members-at-Large
Aleta Wenger, Rita Wodinsky
Community Support Council
Sandra Baldonado, Donna Bedell, Norma BlissettJacoob, Laura Bollinger, Virginia Bower, Tina
Brooks, Deb and John Corey, Barbara and Vasu Dev,
John Faranda, Emily and Michael Fay, Sandra Flores, Carol Gil, Helaine and Steve Goldwater, Betty
Hagelbarger, Brenda & John Hill, Anita Hughes,
Sue Keith, Pat Lightfoot, John Mark Lindvall, Susan
Lominska, Charlene Martin, Marc Massoud, Dean
McHenry, Swapan Nag, Deede and Larry Olson,
Claire Oxtoby, Dee Pawley, Lissa Petersen, Diann
Ring, Marguerite Royse, Linda and Peter Saeta,
Herb Scott, Greg Shapton, Judith and David Tanenbaum, Ellen and Marshall Taylor, Cindy Walkenbach, Edie Young
International Place Staff
Director: Donald Delgado
Assistant Director: Marsha Habib
Administrative Assistant: Sue Kerns
Program Coordinator: Chrystal Orozco
Contact Information
I-Place Office: (909) 607-4571
Website: iplace.claremont.edu
E-mail: [email protected]
Fax: (909) 621-8549
Page 2
Thank you, Host Families!
78 Families Hosted 126 New Students and Scholars
(18 Are New Host Families for 2014!)
(An asterisk indicates a
first-time host family)
Pat and Joe Almazan*
Kathleen and Robert
Anke
Harriet and Richard
Archibald-Woodward
Andy Winnick and
Martina Ebert
Enid Eckert
Kathrun and Carl
Ecklund*
Yvonne Maldonado
Ellen and Marshall Taylor
Charlene Martin
Brian and Genevieve
Troudy
Sharon and Walter
Martinez
Elizabeth and John Tulac
Victoria Verches*
John Faranda
Maureen and Bill
McCluney
Sandy Baldonado
Emily and Michael Fay
Mitra and Swapan Nag
Neva Barker*
Elise and Patrick Ferree
Jill and Ron Nicholas
Jude Schoch and Nola
Wanta
Christopher Bettera*
Joan and Neil Gerard
Lynn Packard*
Ahlene and David Welsh
Virginia Bower
Carolyne and Terry
Givens
Dee Pawley
Edie and Helen Young
Shannon Braun
Laura and Chuck Burt
Mary and Chris
Caenepeel*
Jeannie Goings*
Yixia Chen and Sharon
Guan
Julie and Sam Pedroza
Lissa and Dan Petersen
Kathy and Reed Phelps*
Corey Calaycay*
Jennifer Jackman and
John Hott
Gretchen Pino
Katya Fairbanks and
Soumya Chakravarti
Judy Johnson
Madeline Rios
Shirley and Greg Jones
Karen and Michael
Rosenthal
America and Dwayne
Chambers
Betsey Coffman
Deb and John Corey
Sue and Jim Keith*
Leanne and Charles
Kerchner
Brittney Cortez*
David Sawhill and
Katherine Kinsey*
Adriana Velasquez and
Donald Delgado
Elizabeth and Bill Kitch
Frank and Catherine
D'Emilio*
Barbara and Vasu Dev
Candida Neal and
Brian Disatnik
Maria and Mario Dunton
Jan Collins-Eaglin and
Fulton Eaglin*
Wendy Waggener
Wendy and Ardi Rashidi
Frances Ross*
James Makawa and
Laura Rowley
Greg Shapton and
Barbara Rugeley
Alexis and Michael
Kogan*
Rita Ruminski
Fran and Jim Lehman
Jaimie and Ellen Sherif*
Claudia Lennear
Rhonda and Rick Speier
Abbie Lennox
Chris and John St. Clair
Glenn Miya and
Steven Llanusa
Lori and Kirk Strobel*
Linda and Peter Saeta
Karen and Patrick Tatone
Host Family Coordinator
John Tarin writes,
I want to thank all the Host
Families that hosted
International Students in
July and August. You are a
valuable resource to CFIS
and International Place.
You are special to us
because of the time and
effort you put into hosting
students. I know that the
students appreciate your
hospitality and generosity.
In Memoriam
Luzma Brayton
We wish to convey our
condolences to her family and to
acknowledge her contribution to
Community Friends of
International Students.
Page 3
Become a Member and Support CFIS!
Since its beginning, Community Friends of International Students (CFIS) has embodied what it means to give of
one’s time, talents, and treasures. This generosity has made a measurable difference in the lives of many students
from around the world and ensures that they have an exceptional experience at The Claremont Colleges.
Membership supports key programming and services to international students throughout the year, including the
International Festival, the lunch and conversation program each semester, English conversation partner program,
field trips, travel to academic conferences, and the annual holiday party. This year, we also have budgeted funds to
provide financial help for students to participate in programs or who have unexpected expenses.
To make a donation with our convenient PayPal, please go to https://iplace.claremontmckenna.edu/friends/ and
click on the orange “Donate” box. If you prefer to mail a check, please send it to International Place of The
Claremont Colleges, 390 East 9th Street, Claremont CA 91711.
Your generosity and support make an important difference. We look forward to your joining us for another great
year of supporting international students of The Claremont Colleges.
Amy Bernstein, Linda Scott, and Tamara Lindvall
CFIS Membership Committee Co-Chairs
Welcome Back Picnic
At the beginning of each school year, we thank and
praise our host families. This year is no exception. At our
annual Welcome Picnic, we were delighted to see about 290
in attendance including new students, host families, college
administrators and faculty, and city officials. We were
welcomed by Scripps College Vice President and Dean of
Students Charlotte Johnson and by Claremont Mayor Joe
Lyons. Community Friends is indebted to the wonderful
cadre of host families who are so warm and welcoming to
our new arrivals. All present enjoyed the background music
provided by guitarist Seth Greenberg, a CGU graduate. We owe a special debt of gratitude to Scripps College for
sharing Jacqua Quad with us and to those on the Picnic Committee for their help purchasing materials; setting up;
replenishing trays; providing salads, beans, watermelons, and lemonade; serving pies; and cleaning up. This was
a memorable Welcome Picnic.
Page 4
A Hosted Student Graduates…..
Susan Brinkama and her husband Aaron Whitham hosted Sanggeet Mithra in 2010 for her freshman
year at Scripps. At graduation in May 2014, they hosted her parents and little brother. They are from
Malaysia.
and…. A Hosted Student Returns
Steffi Sonnenschein came to Claremont from Berlin, Germany, in the 1998-1999 school year as an
exchange student through World Heritage. She stayed at the home of Gary and Lynne Westfahl and
attended Claremont High School. Steffi particularly enjoyed her foray into the world of musical theatre,
singing and dancing with much enthusiasm in Claremont High School’s production of “42nd Street.”
Another highlight was enrolling in CHS’s rock climbing class which taught her fundamental climbing skills
that she used when returning to her hometown of Berlin. (Steffi mentions that her instructor, after meeting
her, stated his desire to host an exchange student, too!) Since her departure from “the city of trees and
Ph.D’s,” she has acquired a veterinary degree from the Department of Veterinary Medicine at the Freie
Universitat Berlin. Steffi returned to spend a few days with the Westfahls in September 2014.
Page 5
The 2014 Graduate
By Mitra and Swapan Nag
Jing Jin joined our family 4 years ago. A
freshman from China, she was a Pomona student
with a full scholarship majoring in Art. She came
prepared with an impressive portfolio of
photographs, paintings, and etches. Last week, she
graduated.
A week before she graduated, Jing, as one of the
graduating class, was selected to exhibit at the
Pomona Art Museum show Viscerreal. Her series
“Hairspace ... seeked to weave together a labyrinth of
hair strands creating a calming space with the
monotony of tracing one line after another, and the
silence so profound that the murmurs of light and
shadow are almost audible.”
Jing joined us the day before her graduation at a
farewell lunch at a local Indian restaurant, and we
repeated the usual advice that she graced with a smile.
We know that smile well; Jing is fiercely independent,
and does not hesitate to undertake adventures with a
spirit that few dare. Like the time she went
hitchhiking against our advice from San Francisco to
Denver over summer, and survived seemingly
unscathed.
We’ve watched Jing mature over the years,
with an intense passion for everything she does. Last
year, she spent six months studying abroad in Paris.
We wish Jing all of the best for her promising future,
which she will be starting on in San Francisco this
month.
We were lucky to obtain a self portrait of the series
that we shall always treasure. For the rest of the
series, see: http://www.jingjinart.com/
drawingsculpturedesign/#/hairspace/
Page 6
New Outreach and
Parent Relation Initiatives at I-Place
From Donald Delgado, I-Place Director
Along with the steady growth in the number of international students at The Claremont Colleges, we have
seen a tremendous increase in the number of parents and other family members who are accompanying their new
student upon arrival in Claremont. The Colleges clearly recognize the importance of parents as part of the
education process and have supported I-Place as we’ve developed a couple of new initiatives to reach out to
students, their parents and other family members, and to help international parents feel more comfortable about
their student’s choice to join The Claremont Colleges.
I-Place Receptions Overseas
In June 2013, colleagues from Claremont McKenna
College and I were able to travel to Hong Kong, Beijing
and Shanghai. Then in June 2014, we visited Singapore,
Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi. More than sharing
information about The Claremont Colleges, the principle
goals of these visits was for us to learn more about the
cultural and educational background of our students and
to meet new and current students and their families in
their home country. During these trips, we visited local
secondary schools and universities, meeting with students
and staff. In each city we also held receptions to which
we invited new and current students and their families.
With parents and students.
These receptions provided a relaxed and informal opporShanghai, summer 2013
tunity for me to meet the new students and their (often
quite anxious) parents and for them to interact with other
administrators and current students from The Claremont Colleges. Students and families really appreciated that
we took the time and effort to visit them in their hometown.
I-Place Parent and Family Orientation Program
Each year, more and more parents accompany their new international student to Claremont during New
International Student and Scholar Orientation. Several years ago, as we noticed this trend, Community Friends
and I-Place collaborated to create the International Parents Welcome Dinner. The first Parent Dinner was held
during the Fall 2009 Orientation program, at the home of David and Donna Bedell with approximately 10 to 12
new parent attendees. This past August, over 60 new parents joined Community Friends at the home of John
Faranda for dinner in a relaxed and informal setting, meeting each other and several members of Community
Friends of International Students.
With the growing success of the Parent Dinner, I-Place added a new component to the new parent
experience: International Parent Information Sessions. For the first time this past August, I-Place and some of
the Parent Relations Offices from The Colleges organized two information sessions specifically for international
parents. During these sessions, we addressed a variety of issues related to student life and the challenges faced
by international students and their families. Together with Parent Relations staff and Student Deans, I fielded
questions from parents on topics such as student health and safety, the campus party culture, even where and how
students do laundry! Based on comments from parents afterwards, it is clear that information sessions were a
success and I look forward to continuing the program at the start of next fall semester.
Page 7
Meet Your New CFIS Board Members
AMY BERNSTEIN – Co-Chair, Membership
Amy and her husband Bob arrived in Claremont from Chicago a year and a half ago, when
her husband accepted the position of Director of Information Technology at Pitzer College.
Amy, now retired, was a bank lawyer. In the year and a half they have been here, they
have gotten involved in many Claremont activities. Amy is a member of the Claremont
Chorale and a volunteer with the CLASP afterschool tutoring program. She has audited
some college classes and is currently taking a religious studies course on Jerusalem at
CMC. She has been a Conversation Partner with CFIS, and she and her husband are also both avid Claremont Club
gym members.
They have two children, a daughter (31) who is currently the Consular Officer for the US Embassy in Brazzaville,
Republic of Congo. Their son, 23, is in his second year of teaching with the “Teach for America” program in
Memphis, TN. Both children participated in Study Abroad programs during their high school and college years and
her son spent a summer during high school in Uganda helping build a school.
Amy and her husband have participated in the International Visitors’ Council, which facilitates local tours and
hosting for State Department-sponsored international visitors. Some of the visitors they’ve hosted, either for longer
stays at their home or for dinner, have included two museum educators from Belarus for three weeks; two science
teachers from Madrid for one month; and dinners with two Algerian scientists specializing in solar energy and various
Fulbright scholars attending regional conferences.
NEVA BARKER - Co-Vice President
Neva Barker has been connected with international education in one way or another
for over 25 years. When she moved to Claremont from Arkansas, her first job was with an
ESL program based at Pitzer College, annually working with up to a thousand international students, mostly on short-term programs. In 1993, she joined the Pitzer College
External Studies Office, advising students on study abroad opportunities. Currently she is
the director of Off-Campus Studies at Scripps College, which includes internship options
in Washington, D.C. and Silicon Valley, as well as programs overseas. Her job enables her
to travel regularly to visit and review programs; her most recent trip was to Durban and Cape Town, South Africa.
Once her three children were grown, Neva became a host parent for students studying at Pitzer College, first
welcoming a Japanese student for several months and then a second young woman from Japan for the full seven
month stay. She has also hosted students from Hong Kong, the Netherlands,
Morocco, and Thailand through the I-Place Host Family Welcome program.
One of Neva’s passions involves arranging and photographing flowers, and
she enjoyed making floral crowns in the PACE flower booth at the International
Festival for several years. In 2005, she received an Avery Adventure Grant
through the Claremont Colleges which enabled her to travel to China for five
weeks, visiting flower markets in Beijing and attending a Peony Festival in
Luoyang, where she caught this darling boy and his father posing among the
blooms. She is excited to be part of the Community Friends of International
Students and to join them in welcoming our international visitors to Claremont,
just as she was made welcome by so many of the people she met in China.
Page 8
Meet Your New CFIS Board
Members continued….
CATHERINE AND FRANK D’EMILIO –
Co-Chairs, Electronic Commications
Catherine and Frank D'Emilio are delighted to be
the new Electronic Communications Coordinators on
the CFIS Board. They moved to Claremont in 1988, although Catherine is a Claremont “native,” having
attended Claremont schools K-12. Frank just began his
30th year in elementary school education and his 27th
year with the Claremont Unified School District, this
year, teaching 3rd grade at Vista del Valle School. For
the past eight years, Catherine has worked at Scripps
College where she presently is Program Coordinator in
the Dean of Faculty office. They have three grown
children Joseph (25 years) and Lara (19 years), both of
whom live in San Francisco, and Michael (23 years)
who is currently living in Costa Rica teaching English.
This is their first year hosting a 5C international
student; however they have a German “daughter” as
they were an AFS (American Field Service) host family
for Lille, a high school student from Norden, Germany,
who lived with their family during the 2010 – 2011
academic year. This very rewarding experience remains
a highlight for their family and created new international
“family” ties. Two years ago Lille returned to Claremont
to spend her summer, and this past July, son Joseph
visited Lille in Berlin, Germany. This fall, Frank and
Catherine are for the second time serving as a Friendship Family for US Department of State’s Teaching
Excellence and Achievement (TEA) program hosted by
Claremont Graduate University. This program brings
international teachers to CGU for eight weeks of intensive training and hands-on teaching experience in local
public schools. Through this experience the D’Emilio
family has enjoyed friendships with teachers from
Rwanda, South Africa, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Bulgaria,
and India, and are currently hosting Mohammad from
Jordan and Kamola from Uzbekistan.
This past summer, Frank, Catherine, and daughter
Lara traveled to eastern Canada touring the provinces of
Quebec, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island – a
trip prompted by Lara’s love of L.M. Montgomery’s
“Anne of Green Gables” stories. The D’Emilios are
looking forward to visiting their son in Costa Rica later
this fall, and plan a return trip to Europe during their
daughter’s junior year semester abroad. Included in that
trip will be a long overdue visit to Germany to meet
their “German daughter’s” family.
TAMARA LINDVALL - Member at Large
I have been involved with Community Friends and
International Place since the mid-1980s when I came to
Claremont to study international relations. I had been
interested in other countries and cultures since I was
about 9 years old.
We were living in Ohio, our lives happily revolving
around bridge, The Monkees, Hoola-hoops, VW bugs,
The Rolling Stones, Jean-Claude Killy and The Ed
Sullivan Show, when my father decided that he would
apply for a job with the French Geological Survey. He
got the job, but was surprised to find out it was not in
Paris, but in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Dad left in the spring of 1968 for Jeddah, and my
mother and brother and I joined him in the fall. That
experience was so rich and dramatic that it shaped my
view of the world forever. My father and I felt very
invigorated by the whole experience, he because he was
like a kid in the sandbox getting to do geology, and I
because I was quite literally a kid in the sandbox. We
went to the beach every weekend, we had fun shopping
in the Sooq for everything from gold bangle bracelets, to
gorgeous cloth to make-shift items that we could take
home and fashion into "Christmas decorations" for our
designated palm tree. We associated with people from
many other countries. My father encouraged me to learn
words in Arabic and also French, Spanish and Italian. I
was really thrilled when he arranged for me to tutor a
Syrian man in English!
At the same time, my mother and brother
experienced serious culture shock so badly they were
both reeling. So as I watched them struggle while Dad
and I thrived, I really wanted to understand. In the end I
decided that it would be extremely valuable for anyone
to live in Saudi Arabia for a year and that whether you
thrived or struggled, it would teach you more than you
had ever learned about people, the world and your place
in it.
I studied history in college and came to
Claremont to study international relations. I met
Neepa Chowdhury right away and Charlene soon
after that. They both included me in all the fun of the
new and growing International Place. I had the great
pleasure of working for Charlene and with Neepa for
many years as the assistant director. My nest here at
home is empty now, and so I look forward to being
very involved with Community Friends again, and
taking part in all the joy and learning that is involved.
Page 9
International Parent Dinner
On August 25, 2014, Community Friends and I-Place sponsored an
International Parent Dinner at the lovely home of John Faranda, with 63
parents attending and 8 CFIS members serving food and conversation. Every
picture of John had him serving wine!
Elena, from Quito, Ecuador, with her husband, Miguel Pienknagura
said, “We feel more comfortable leaving our son here now, because of this
chance to meet all these people.” They had plenty to worry about because
last year their son spent the summer abroad in Lyons, France, but got
extremely sick and spent a full month in the hospital there: very scary. She
faced the frustration of applying for a visa to France, a slow process on her
Ecuadorean passport, but her husband, on a Polish passport, was able to get
to France immediately. They have always encouraged world travel for their children, but that was a scary time.
The son’s host family was kind enough to welcome them into their home while they shuttled back and forth to the
hospital. The kindness of strangers, indeed.
Murli and Usha Kadaba invited Donald Delgado, the International
Place Director, into their home last summer in Delhi, India, with many
parents and students from Vasant Valley School, the school where their
son, Shreyas, just graduated. Shreyas is now a freshman at Pomona
College and the only student from his high school to be accepted to
Pomona. With her social event in Delhi, Usha hopes that other students
will apply to Pomona and be accepted. Shreyas could then be a “big
brother” to them the following year. She also hopes that her son will
display his talent on the tabla, a percussion instrument he studied for 8
years. About our I-Place Director, Donald, Usha stated, “He is a lovely
person: amazingly cheerful.”
Murli and Usha Kadaba, parents of
Pomona College student
Shreyas Kadaba.
Page 10
Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing up Iranian in America
By Firoozeh Dumas Random House, 2003
Book Review by Barbara Rugeley
This is a delightful book, written by a woman who
came to the US as a 7 year old, in 1972, returned to
Iran at 9, then returned to the US at 11, and stayed
through high school, college and marriage. To give you
the flavor, I have quoted a few paragraphs:
Page 31-2: I was lucky to have come to America
[to Whittier, CA] years before the political upheaval in
Iran. The Americans we encountered were kind and
curious, unafraid to ask questions and willing to listen.
As soon as I spoke enough English to communicate, I
found myself being interviewed nonstop by children
and adults alike. My life became one long-running
Oprah show, minus the free luxury accommodations in
Chicago, and Oprah.
On the topic of Iran, American minds were
tabulae rasae. Judging from the questions asked, it was
clear that most American in 1972 had never heard of
Iran. We did our best to educate. “You know Asia?
Well, you go south at the Soviet Union and there we
are.”
In Iran, geography is a requirement in every grade.
Since the government issues textbooks, every student
studies the same material in the same grade. In firstgrade geography, I had to learn the shape of Iran and
the location of its capital, Tehran. I had to memorize
that we shared borders with Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and the USSR. I also knew that I lived on
the continent of Asia.
None of the kids in Whittier, a city an hour
outside of Los Angeles, ever asked me about
geography. They wanted to know about more
important things, such as camels….How many did we
own back home? What did we feed them? Was it a
bumpy ride? ...We were also asked about electricity,
tents, and the Sahara. Once again, we disappointed,
admitting that we had electricity, that we did not own a
tent, and that the Sahara was on another continent.
Page 128: Through my friend Marilyn, I found
out that the local movie theater was looking for
summer help. I was hired to work at the concession
stand, where I was responsible for selling the type of
food that should come with a free angiogram.
Page 144: Perhaps the people we think we know
best are the ones who surprise us most. Once my
mother realized that I wanted to marry Francois, she
said, “He will be like a third son to me,” and wiped the
tears off her face. At that very moment, my mother
threw aside everything she and her generation knew
about marriage and entered a new world where
daughters select their own husbands. She became a
pioneer.
Page 145: In contrast to Francois’ family [4 came
to the wedding], mine were busy making plans for a
joyous occasion…. “We can’t possibly leave them out”
became a regular refrain. I didn’t know half the people
on the list….”They invited us to their daughter’s
wedding last year. Plus, they live in Australia. They
won’t come.” They came, and they brought a niece
with them….We invited 140 people, 163 accepted; 181
showed up.
Several cities have chosen this book, or her
second book, Laughing without an Accent (2008), for
their All City Read: Orange County Reads 2004;
Whittier 2005; Cape Ann, (Massachusetts) in 2006;
Palo Alto and Berkeley 2006, among others. Funny in
Farsi is now on the California Recommended Reading
List and is used in many junior highs, high schools and
universities across the country. You may have also
heard Firoozeh’s commentaries on NPR or read her
pieces in the NY Times, LA Times, Wall Street Journal,
Good Housekeeping, Gourmet, SF Chronicle or
Lifetime Magazine. This is a perceptive and humorous
book – I thoroughly recommend it!
Electronic News
You may view the CFIS newsletter on the
I-Place website at http://iplace.claremont.edu.
Click on the link for "Community Friends of
International Students.”
If you want to receive the newsletter in print,
or prefer not to receive the newsletter at all, please
let us know by sending a message to
[email protected] or phone us at 909-607-4571.
Page 11
Community Friends of International Students
390 East 9th Street
Claremont, CA 91711-5905
International Autumn Gala
SA
VE
TH
E
DA
TE
Cultural performances and cuisine from around the world
Saturday, November 22, 2014
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Bridges Auditorium - Pomona College
Tickets available through International Place
No tickets at the door
International Place of The Claremont Colleges
Phone (909) 607-3910 or (909) 607-4571 E-mail: [email protected]
I-Place office at 390 East 9th Street, Claremont
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