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HomeEventsTTN Ohio Pop-up-(P) Road Between Two Hearts – Learning About Another Culture with Dr. Leslie Ahmadi

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TTN Ohio Pop-up-(P) Road Between Two Hearts – Learning About Another Culture with Dr. Leslie Ahmadi




ahmadi-collage
TTN Ohio Pop-up 
Thursday, September 28
6:00 - 8:00 p.m.

"Road Between Two Hearts -
Learning About Another Culture"
with Dr. Leslie Ahmadi

Host: Mary Smithson
Date: Thursday, September 28, 2023 
Time: Dinner at 6:00 P.M.; Speaker from 6:30 to 8:00 P.M.
Location: Columbus Museum of Art (Community Room), 480 E. Broad St., Columbus, Ohio.
Cost: No cost to TTN Members; Non-members: $10; Both Members and Non-members - Dinner is at your own expense, if you choose to eat with us at CMOA.  
Parking: The  parking is in the back. If you are a CMOA member or if you spend $7 or more in the Cafe or Gift Shop, they will validate your parking; otherwise parking is $7 per vehicle.   



Join us in the CMOA's beautiful Community Room for a fascinating look into Dr. Leslie Powell Ahmadi's experience of living in Iran, and her book, Road Between Two Hearts: A Black American Bride Discovers Iran (soon to be published).  

The book is the only personal account of Iran written by an African American. It depicts the life of her husband's family extending over several generations and reveals a side of everyday people yet to be known by most Americans.
 
Leslie's close friend, TTN member Mary Smithson, says you won't want to miss hearing from this gentle woman with a beautiful soul who will also play guitar and sing a couple of songs for us.

Leslie's book is a fascinating and informative memoir about her intercultural, interracial, and interfaith journey in Iran from 1992-1996, and her ongoing interactions with Iranians to the present day. 

She will discuss living and working in post-revolutionary Iran, getting to know and love her husband's family, and how she was treated as a woman, a Christian, and a Black American living in Iran.

The following excerpt from Chapter One describes Leslie's dreams and the worries she had before moving to Iran, a country where she found the people loving, humorous and hospitable:

"I never told Mahmoud about the dreams: those ghastly, shadowy figures that infiltrated my sleep for weeks before we took that first flight from Columbus, Ohio to what eventually would be our new life together in his homeland, Iran. Why couldn't I bring myself to tell him, or anyone else, about the dreams? I barely wanted to admit to their existence myself. Besides, I didn't' feel the need to consult with anyone. I had a good enough sense of what the billowing figures, veiled in somber tones and drifting back and forth over linoleum tiles, revealed about the state of my psyche regarding the move."

Leslie has a Ph.D. in foreign language and culture education from OSU. At OSU, she met her future husband Mahmoud, a doctoral student in agronomy.  Since 1996, she has worked in America and abroad in academic, corporate, and nonprofit settings and is fluent in English, Spanish, and Persian (Farsi). Her website is leslieahmadi.com.

This evening will be in person in the lovely Community Room at the Columbus Museum of Art. Members can buy dinner in the CMOA café and take it across the hall to the meeting room where we can all eat together. If you don't want to buy dinner in the café, please come to hear the speaker!

This presentation will appeal to all TTN  members and especially those in the Justice for All group.



When:
Thursday, September 28, 2023, 6:00 PM until 8:00 PM Eastern Time (US & Canada) (UTC-05:00)
Where:
Columbus Museum of Art (Community room)
Columbus Museum of Art
 480 E. Broad St.
Columbus, OH  43215
Additional Info:
Event Contact(s):
Donna E Kayne
Chapter Chair
 
Mary F Smithson
Host
Category:
Chapter
Registration is required
Payment In Full In Advance Only
No Fee
$10.00
$10.00
No Fee