Firoozeh Dumas

It is the late 1970's and Zomorod/Cindy has moved around a lot, and for this move, her family has settled in Newport Beach, California. She is excited to start middle school but with one detail, she will change her name to Cindy from her favorite tv show, the Brady Bunch. She doesn't want to be just that girl from Iran. That girl always has to translate for her mom who doesn't really speak English and doesn't understand America ways And ,she also is embarrassed about her father's accent, but she is determined to start anew. Cindy/ Zomorod is doing so well until the Ayatollah comes into power. Her friends, teachers, neighbors and have lots of questions and her family has concerns for their relatives in Iran. All Cindy/Zomorod wants to do is have friends and do American things, but she is also proud of where she has come from.… (más)

Firoozeh Dumas, in her memoir Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America, presents a story I would highly recommend for anyone interested in learning the nature of coexistence. It's a unique book that is extremely and enlighteningly ethnically-centralized in its subject, and yet absolutely ethnically indifferent in its themes. It is the story of Dumas' life as a somewhat displaced individual, in a land where "displaced individuals" aren't supposed to exist. The collection of short anecdotes that comprise the book, tell of the exploits of she and her family in America as Iranian immigrants, trying to lead the lives of freedom and opportunity which they know the country can provide, while never losing, or even trying to lose, their identities as native-born Iranians. Its many stories, spanning around the first 30 years of the author's life, display the various emotions of loneliness, bewilderment, frustration, anger, safety, gratitude, jofulness, and all the others, that confront a foreigner in this land that can be both immeasurably kind, and intolerably cruel to what it does not know.
The predominant theme that runs throughout Dumas' stories, is the message for unity. That sounds general, but that's only because the author refers to it on the most general of levels. Behind almost all of the stories, one may find a message that speaks to the importance of family, of community, of ethnicity and country, but most of all, of the importance of togetherness on all levels of our lives, and beyond all restrictions or classifications.
Dumas' book is clearly centered around her culture as an Iranian. But she uses that to show us exactly why culture does not need to separate us. Her family, and its experiences, show us a side of immigrant families that most of us Americans never bother to look at, or as is often the case, never get a chance to look at, simply because our society never really provides he opportunity. This country has the nasty habit of suppressing the human side of people we don't like; or rather, there are some people who do not want to see the human side of those they do not know or understand, and therefore prevent the rest of us from creating understanding between ourselves and whoever this silenced group might be. It is an ugly habit, and one that is frequently pushed into our faces by Dumas' accounts.
But she is, importantly, never vengeful about it. She is at times, most justifiably, hurt by some of the cruelty she and her family encountered, especially when the Iranian Revolution turned them into "enemies" overnight. But she is never bitter or spiteful; this book is the farthest thing from a rant of self-martyrdom. Usually she is just sad about those who were shortsighted enough to be so cruel, and yet so uninformed. And even that is short-lived, for the majority of her storytelling is inspiringly optimistic about the nature of people and America.
I believe it is the purpose of her stories, to show us that it is entirely possible to live a unique life, and be different from the crowd, and be proud of what makes you different- be it race, or religion, or values, or even just looks- and still live in complete harmony with everyone else, and, indeed, realize that we are, at heart, not that different at all. Her story is one that teaches by example; and it shows the world that we do not have to discriminate against others, in order to define ourselves. If anything, accepting and keeping our differences can do nothing but make us stronger as a human race.
And, behind all that, this story shows us just what it means to truly value life, as it's given to us. Dumas, at the end of her book, remarks that it could be seen as unusual how, while most people write memoirs after a major accomplishment or event in their lives puts their name on the public radar, she wrote hers without any such event; her memoir centers, simply, on a fun, unique, and fulfilling- if unspectacular- life. And it's her point to prove to us that even the most unextraordinary existence, is something remarkable in itself. For as important as it is to dream big and live for our freedoms and blaze our own trails through the obstacles of an all-too-often limiting society... to forget that there is something inexplicably wonderful about a pure, simple, human life, is to disregard that most priceless gift of being able to live and love in this world; and if we're lucky, create our own story in one another's lives.… (más)