Here and There

Remembering...

Reza Shah (July 26, 1944)

Mohammad Reza Shah ( July 27, 1980)

Dr. Sahpour Bakhtiar (August 7, 1991)

SF State University receives largest individual gift in its history: $10 million From Mr & Mrs. Mashouf

Manny and Neda Mashouf, of bebe stores, help fund new Creative Arts building
SAN FRANCISCO

May 28, 2005 -- San Francisco State University has received the largest private individual gift pledge in its history: a $10 million donation from alumnus Manny Mashouf, founder and chairman of bebe stores inc., and his wife Neda, who also is an SF State alum. The gift, announced today by SFSU President Robert A. Corrigan at the University's Commencement ceremony, will go toward a new performing and electronic media arts building for the SFSU College of Creative Arts.

The gift will provide private funding needed for the new building, which is planned to be named in honor of the Mashouf family. The private funding will enable the building project to be included on a future statewide ballot initiative that would, if passed, fund a variety of capital construction projects in public education through California bonds.

"Neda and I are excited to be a part of an innovative University that understands the changing needs of its community and the impact that technology has on every aspect of life such as music, art and business," said Manny Mashouf, who earned a bachelor's degree in political science from SF State in 1966. "The balance of career-focused education and 'liberal' education is fundamental to SF State. I strongly believe the cultural fabric of our communities, grounded in technology and education, can be enriched by building new platforms for expression and by stimulating academia with consistent support to our educators and students."
The gift is the second largest alumni donation ever to a California State University campus.

"Manny and Neda Mashouf exemplify the San Francisco State spirit with their innovation, accomplishment and commitment to community," SF State President Robert A. Corrigan said. "Their great generosity honors the University, and, coming as it does from two graduates, stands as a testament to their appreciation of their San Francisco State experience. The Mashoufs' landmark gift spearheads development of a state-of-the-art building that will inspire students and faculty to reach new heights in innovation and creativity, and further contribute to the rich cultural life of the Bay Area."

The building will replace the existing Creative Arts building, located on Holloway Avenue between Serrano Drive and Tapia Drive, which can no longer contain the size and energy of its programs. The building held its first class in 1953, when SF State opened its current campus in the southwestern corner of San Francisco.

The new building, to be located at the corner of Font and Lake Merced boulevards, will cover about five and a half acres and 242,000 square feet -- 65,000 square feet larger than the existing building.

The new building will contain instructional and performance spaces -- including a 1,200-seat auditorium, 450-seat theater, 350-seat recital hall and 250-seat "black box" theater -- enhanced by a multi-story, glass-enclosed lobby. The building will house the Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts Department, Theatre Arts Department and School of Music and Dance. The other departments in the College of Creative Arts -- Art, Cinema and Design and Industry -- will remain housed in the Fine Arts building, which was expanded and remodeled in 1993.
Construction is tentatively scheduled to begin in 2009-2010, with doors opening in late 2012.

"I am inspired by the Mashoufs' commitment to the College of Creative Arts and support of our plan to build a new home for our world-class students, faculty and programs," said Keith Morrison, dean of the SFSU College of Creative Arts. "It has been a delight to meet Manny and Neda Mashouf and their family. I look forward to working with them as we develop a cutting-edge building that the entire Bay Area will be able to utilize and enjoy."

The existing Creative Arts building will eventually be demolished. SF State is working to determine a future use for the location that the existing building occupies.

Manny and Neda Mashouf are actively involved in SF State alumni activities and continue to support the University's strategic planning goals. They previously donated more than $200,000 -- primarily to the College of Business to help recruit and hire faculty. Manny Mashouf, a 2003 inductee into the SF State Alumni Hall of Fame, is a member of the College of Business Advisory Board.

Manny and Neda Mashouf are committed to expanding opportunities and accessibility to theatre, music, dance, performance arts, electronic media and other experimental and innovative programs. "It is essential that we keep cultural resources open to the public," Manny Mashouf said. "It is important that we invest in our own communities and inspire the next generation to do the same."

Manny Mashouf is also SF State's 2005 Alumnus of the Year. He received the award at the University's 104th annual Commencement exercises held Saturday, May 28, in Cox Stadium on the SF State campus. Previous winners include E-LOAN co-founder/CEO Chris Larsen, "Frasier" co-creator and executive producer Peter Casey, actress Annette Bening, and physician and NASA astronaut Yvonne Cagle.

The Mashoufs live in Southern California. Neda Mashouf serves as director of bebe stores and general merchandise manager of design for the company's BEBE SPORT brand. She earned a bachelor's degree in computer science from SF State in 1984. Manny Mashouf's son Karim earned a bachelor's degree in marketing from SF State in 2002.
bebe stores inc. designs, develops and produces a distinctive line of contemporary women's apparel and accessories, which it markets under the bebe, bebe O and BEBE SPORT brand names. bebe operates 206 stores in the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. The publicly held company earned net sales of $103.1 million in the first quarter of the 2005 fiscal year, up 23.3 percent from $83.6 million reported for the first quarter a year ago.

The SF State College of Creative Arts has the largest academic program devoted to the broadest array of artistic disciplines in Northern California. Under the direction of Dean Morrison, an internationally acclaimed faculty directs more than 3,000 undergraduate and graduate students in seven disciplines: art, cinema, broadcasting, music, dance, theatre arts and design.

Painting unearthed in Tehran vault

Gerard Seenan - Guardian

A rarely seen painting by Francis Bacon is to go on display in an Edinburgh exhibition after nearly 30 years in storage in an Iranian museum vault.

Forming the centrepiece of Francis Bacon: Portraits and Heads, the first exhibition devoted to the painter's portraits, Reclining Man with Sculpture, will go on display at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art on Saturday.

The painting was bought by the last Shah of Iran in the mid 70s.

He had intended for it to be displayed in the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, which he commissioned in 1977, but following his downfall in the Iranian Islamic revolution it was stored in a vault in the museum.

This is the first time it will have been seen in the west since the fall of the shah.

Andrea Rose, director of visual arts at the British Council, spotted the painting in 2003 when she was in Tehran negotiating a British sculpture exhibition.

The Tehran museum's director, Ali Reza Sami Azar, helped persuade the Iranian authorities to allow the painting to be brought to Britain.

Ms Rose said: "I am delighted that the Iranian authorities have agreed to lend to Britain this rarely seen early painting by Bacon, having agreed last year to lend a Bacon triptych to Tate Britain, brought out by the British Council."

Most of Bacon's portraits were close-up studies of his lovers, friends and fellow artists. But Reclining Man with Sculpture is unusual and depicts a man lying on a sofa with a sculpted head sitting on a coffee table in front.

The man has some resemblance to Peter Lacy, Bacon's lover when he painted the picture in 1960-61, but the figure is thought to be a composite of many people whom the artist knew, including himself.

Born in Dublin in 1909, Bacon started painting in 1930 and from then until his death in 1992 portrayed the human form in a distinctive, often disturbing style.

As well as the newly rediscovered piece, the exhibition will be focused around a series of small portraits of Bacon's friends, acquaintances and lovers - Lucian Freud, Henrietta Moraes, Isabel Rawsthorne, George Dyer and Lacy.

An eccentric character who disdained and even destroyed much of his work throughout his life, Bacon once commented: "I have left my mark; my work is hung in museums, but maybe one day the Tate Gallery or the other museums will banish me to the cellar ... you never know."

Painting unearthed in Tehran vault

Gerard Seenan

Thursday June 2, 2005

Guardian

A rarely seen painting by Francis Bacon is to go on display in an Edinburgh exhibition after nearly 30 years in storage in an Iranian museum vault.

Forming the centrepiece of Francis Bacon: Portraits and Heads, the first exhibition devoted to the painter's portraits, Reclining Man with Sculpture, will go on display at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art on Saturday.

The painting was bought by the last Shah of Iran in the mid 70s.

He had intended for it to be displayed in the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, which he commissioned in 1977, but following his downfall in the Iranian Islamic revolution it was stored in a vault in the museum.

This is the first time it will have been seen in the west since the fall of the shah.

Andrea Rose, director of visual arts at the British Council, spotted the painting in 2003 when she was in Tehran negotiating a British sculpture exhibition.

The Tehran museum's director, Ali Reza Sami Azar, helped persuade the Iranian authorities to allow the painting to be brought to Britain.

Ms Rose said: "I am delighted that the Iranian authorities have agreed to lend to Britain this rarely seen early painting by Bacon, having agreed last year to lend a Bacon triptych to Tate Britain, brought out by the British Council."

Most of Bacon's portraits were close-up studies of his lovers, friends and fellow artists. But Reclining Man with Sculpture is unusual and depicts a man lying on a sofa with a sculpted head sitting on a coffee table in front.

The man has some resemblance to Peter Lacy, Bacon's lover when he painted the picture in 1960-61, but the figure is thought to be a composite of many people whom the artist knew, including himself.

Born in Dublin in 1909, Bacon started painting in 1930 and from then until his death in 1992 portrayed the human form in a distinctive, often disturbing style.

As well as the newly rediscovered piece, the exhibition will be focused around a series of small portraits of Bacon's friends, acquaintances and lovers - Lucian Freud, Henrietta Moraes, Isabel Rawsthorne, George Dyer and Lacy.

An eccentric character who disdained and even destroyed much of his work throughout his life, Bacon once commented: "I have left my mark; my work is hung in museums, but maybe one day the Tate Gallery or the other museums will banish me to the cellar ... you never know."

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Iranian Reza Deghati Photographer Receives Legion d'Honneur

Tehran, 6 June 200 , Reza Deghati, the Iranian-born photojournalist, has been awarded with the chevalier medal of France's highest honorary decoration, Legion d'Honour.

Reza Deghati has been selected for the honor by French President, Jacques Chirac, because of his attempts to revive the freedom of press, to develop the freedom of speech around the world, and to help revive children?s rights.

Deghati was born in 1952 in Tabriz, northeast of Iran, and was introduced to photography when he was just 14 years old. His life as a professional photojournalist started in 1978 with his cooperation with Agence France-Press (AFP) and Newsweek magazine. He now works with the National Geography.

He worked several years of his life to picture war in different regions of the world including Afghanistan and was an acquaintance of Ahmad Shah Masoud, the great Afghan militant. After the conclusion of war between Russia and Afghanistan, Deghati accepted the responsibility of distributing the international aids in the war-stricken country. He moreover founded the non-profit cultural foundation of A?na in Kabol, Afghanistan, aiming at the revival of media, the establishment of free press, and the dissemination of culture there. So far, the institute has educated more than hundreds of Afghans girls and boys in journalism, photography, drawing, and cinematography, sending them out to the professional world.

Reza Deghati's photos of the Caspian Sea region which were May 1999?s main feature in National Geographic magazine were the outcome of his spending more than three years on this project -- the largest ever regarding the Caspian Sea -- including six months of actual shooting in the Republics of Azerbaijan, Daghestan, Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. A few of his photos are from Iran taken some 20 years before the project.

Deghati is also the founder of the website Webistan which can be reached at http://www.webistan.com.

The Legion d'Honneur is France's highest decoration. It was created by Napoleon Bonaparte in May 1802 and first bestowed on July 15, 1804. It is awarded to the French or foreigners for gallantry in military action or distinguished service in military or civilian life for work that enhances the reputation of France through scholarship, arts, sciences, politics, etc. The award consists of five classes, including (in descending order): 1. Grand Cross; 2. Grand Officer; 3. Commander; 4. Officer; and 5. Chevalier (Knight). It is one of the most prestigious French awards and the country's highest civilian honor.

Last year, the Iranian theatre director, Pari Saberi, was also awarded with the decoration.


Reza Deghati at France's Senate site:
www.senat.fr/evenement/reza/index.html

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Roses for Farah created by horticulturist Mr. Georges Delbard (Year 2005)

Sent by: Darius Kadivar

The Empress admires a Basket of Farah Roses presented by
by famed French horticulturist Mr. Georges Delbard (Year 2005)

Nature designers love to create roses for the people they admire. Above, Empress Farah who loves to hugs trees, receives a basket of roses from Monsieur Delbard.
The photos are from the colorful book of journalist Nadia Malika Souyah "Créateur de Nature," 2005 France. By kind permission.

Back in 1973, Empress Farah while visiting France was invited to preside a ceremony at the Grand Trianon in Versailles where the Rose of the Year was shown.
Monsieur Georges Delbard presented the Empress of Iran with a basket of flowers from his celebrated gardens (see photo above.) The Empress spoke for a long time with him and during the conversation the Empress asked for the help of the French horticulturist to develop different essences of flowers in Iran. Later on, in 1975, it was decided to launch in Dashte Moghan in the Nort East of Iran a 6000 hectares model fruit orchard. More than three millions fruit trees were planted under the direction of Mr. Delbard, alas the 1979 revolution put an unfortunate end to this useful and spectacular agricultural program which benefited the entire nation.
From the Web:

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An Iranian playwright's story of life behind the razor wire

Shahin Shafaei plays himself in Through the Wire

An Iranian playwright's story of life behind the razor wire is part of a new theatre work, writes Jill Stark.

An Iranian playwright's story of life behind the razor wire

His story is not an easy one to hear. It's a stark account of life in an Australian detention centre, a story that puts a human face to phrases such as "queue jumpers" and "children overboard".

Shafaei, an Iranian playwright, fled his homeland after his plays were banned. He found himself facing imprisonment. Leaving friends and family behind, he crammed into a tiny boat with 112 other refugees and sailed for eight days, before being intercepted on Ashmore Reef and taken to Curtin detention centre in Western Australia. He was held for two years behind razor wire and red tape.

The experience forms part of a provocative play, Through the Wire, opening in Melbourne tomorrow.

Shafaei plays himself, detailing the incredible journey that saw him fall in love with an Australian prison guard, and the part she played in restoring his humanity.

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Through the Wire is a rare chance for refugees to tell their real stories in their own words. For 10 months Shafaei, like many others, had no contact with the outside world. He says he wasn't allowed telephone access, newspapers or magazines, not even a pen and paper.

"Imagine the isolation. After protesting for a long time about the situation, they brought us a TV with video to our compound," says Shafaei. "We were not allowed to see any Australian television channels, even the Olympic Games, but eventually they let us watch videos.

"The first time we got a video, this kid came on screen, and a three-year-old boy, who hadn't seen another child for 10 months, just ran to the screen and started touching the kid on the TV. That will break anyone's heart. You feel that — why should this kid feel like that? It's very bizarre.

People cut themselves to feel that they are still alive. They feel that they are not accepted as human.

"The people who would go on hunger strike, they would tell you that this is a situation where you have no choice. There's no power of making decisions. You have to eat at the time they tell you, sleep in the place they tell you. That's the only decision you can make — to go on hunger strike. People cut themselves to feel that they were still alive. They feel that they are not any more accepted as human."

Despite witnessing the emotional disintegration of his fellow detainees, Shafaei says it was the incredible resilience of the human spirit that helped him remain positive — plus the support of prison guard Gaby Schultz, whom he cites as playing the "biggest role" in his survival. After moving to the main compound at the detention centre, after lodging an immigration application, he spoke to her every day.

Writer and director Ros Horin, who "was interested in what helped (the refugees) survive".
Photo:Estelle Grunberg

"Those kind of conversations made me really deeply feel for her, and also to be able to survive in that kind of situation."

The couple now live together in Sydney after Shafaei was granted a temporary protection visa in 2002. The visa ran out in February this year and he's awaiting a decision on his application to stay permanently in Australia.

However, his continued activism, onstage in Through the Wire, could be seen as prejudicial to his case.

"I was doing the same kind of things in Iran in a country where I knew something would happen to me, but because I believed in it, I did it," he says. "I had family, I had land, I had a backyard, I had nationality, but I lost all of them. It's better to do the things I believe in and be happy with the face I see in the mirror."

Through the Wire writer and director Ros Horin wrote the play based on interviews with the detainees and the ordinary Australians who touched their lives.

"I don't make any judgements around it in the play; people just speak in their own words," she says. "It's not criticising the government. You get into their lives in their own countries, their hopes and dreams and the moment that transformed their life — how they got here and the experience of detention. I was interested in what helped them survive.

"There's a great deal of hope and courage and friendship and humour in the work, and you can come out of it really feeling — although you're shocked by what's happening in this country — inspired by what individuals can do to make a difference."

Shafaei's future is again in limbo, but he remains remarkably optimistic.

"I try to just be the everyday person and not think about what's going to happen, because the reality is, if you think about that uncertain future you would be every day in trouble. The way for me is to live the moment. I look at a lot of things very positively. The great gift I brought with myself out of detention was hope and being patient."

Women's fashion in Tehran, Iran

An Iranian woman selects lipsticks in a shop in Tehran June 21, 2005. It is young women's nature to dress up beautifully despite strict regulations on female dressing in Iran. Presidential candidates have promised to ease bans on women's dressing if they win the ongoing election.

An Iranian woman selects fashionable shoes in a shop in Tehran June 21, 2005.