Monday:
She came to campus and spoke to the freshman in the morning. Her presentation to them was on the history of Iran which she tied into Persepolis (the first-year common book). I met her for the first time shortly after she spoke to the first-years. Professor Eichhorn, my FYS professor from last year, called me and informed me Kayla, my Writing Fellow from last year, and some first-years were talking Firoozeh to the PUB for lunch and I should join them. I did and we had a grand old time. This only pumped me up for her presentation (the formal Marquis Series' presentation) I was going to later that night.
Her presentation was fantastic that night. Firoozeh is very funny and this speech was more about how she ended up publishing two books: Funny in Farsi and Laughing Without an Accent. (Side note: She's currently working on a third tween fiction book!) Both books are memoirs about her life adventures. Funny in Farsi deals with her and her family moving to America from Iran and the various things they run into, such as the language barrier. This book is also filled with anecdotes about her family members. The message I really got out of her speech was to never give up. She started writing her stories down when she was in her 30s and it took many years and a few rejections before she found a literary agent who wanted to help her publish her books. As someone who hopes to be published someday, that was inspiring and encouraging to hear.
I of course bought her book after her presentation and had her sign it for me. We briefly discussed my name and the abundance of "l"s.Tuesday:
I woke up early, as usual, and went to Topics in Composition (the Writing Center development/staff training class) which I'm not actually enrolled in this semester but Firoozeh was going to be there so I wasn't going to miss it. This was an open question and answer session where we hit on a lot of different topics. Firoozeh was extremely personable and friendly; we learned a lot about her and I'm sure she learned a lot about us. I think my favorite moment during this session was when Firoozeh was talking about her love of libraries (I'm sure some of my readers are saying, "Of course Hailley loves this section." You know me too well). She was telling us about this one book she read about a girl who dives with horses (part of a circus like show) and then the girl became blind but she still continued this stunt. This true story takes place during the Great Depression. As Firoozeh was telling us this, I remembered I had seen the movie version of this story which is called Wild Hearts Can't be Broken. I raised my hand and said, "You know that's a movie, right?" Firoozeh didn't know a movie (made in 1991) existed and was quite excited to see it.
I went to class, worked in Admissions, and then went to the Writing Center to have tea with Firoozeh. There were about 10 girls, Dr. Bob, and Firoozeh. This time we went around, introduced ourselves and talked about our life dreams and goals. It was a casual yet exciting conversation. We laughed a lot and shared a lot of stories. It was decided that I'm the unofficial mayor of Coe because apparently I know a lot of things on campus. Which is good because then I can let you know on this blog and keep my friends on campus in the loop. An hour went by and unfortunately, tea was over and Nicki (freshman Writing Center consultant and also my 6th floor neighbor) had to take Firoozeh back to her hotel. We said our goodbyes (I even got a hug!).
In my opinion, Firoozeh is so inspirational. As a writer and as a person, I felt rejuvenated Tuesday afternoon as I walked back to Murray; I was ready for anything (which to me last night meant a lot of reading for my classes). I think my favorite part of the whole experience was just getting to know her in a short span of 24 hours. She called me by name Tuesday morning and gave me a hug when she was leaving. She was just so great and personable, I’ve come to admire her a lot.
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