When You Are a Hyphenate-American

Michelle Bazargan’s earliest memories are not the kind parents want for their children. Her mother ushering her quickly down to their cellar. The bombs going off. Her grandfather crying when her mother told him: she needed to leave, for her daughter’s sake. Packing her one bag; no room for toys. Waving forlornly to her grandfather as the bombs continued and the bus pulled away into the freezing cold of who knew where.

Michelle and her parents fled Iran in 1979, during the Islamic revolution in Tehran. But, says Michelle, “the real journey started when we came here”—to the United States, and Miami. (In the photo, a young Michelle is with her mother in Tehran, during happier days.)

 

Today Michelle is a successful technologist with a college degree and a TED Talk under her belt. She is also an Iranian-American and, as she will happily tell you, “so proud of it.”

Her language story of Farsi and English does not follow the common trajectory of loss and gain. And it includes a pivotal moment that occurred in that most iconic of American symbols, McDonald’s. Hear her story, and some Farsi, in Episode 6 of my American the Bilingual podcast, “Little Ketchup Girl.” 

Listen on iTunes by clicking here: America the Bilingual by Steve Leveen on iTunes. Or on SoundCloud, by clicking here.

Iranian-Americans in literature

So many talented authors have written about the American immigrant experience. One of these is Andre Dubus III, the author of House of Sand and Fog, a book that, although I read it 15 years ago, still lives in me, and still shakes me. Written in the author’s car in the dark early morning hours before he began his “real” job, House of Sand and Fog became a finalist for the 1999 National Book Award in fiction. It also became an Oscar-nominated movie starring Ben Kingsley, Jennifer Connelly and Iranian actress Shohreh Aghdashloo, who won an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress. I recommend both.

Comments

[sally bobbitt]

Hi Steve,
This comment is a book recommendation based on your note re Andre Dubus III. I love House of Sand and Fog, and highly recommend that you read Townie, another of Andre's books. This one (that I read and re-read) took my breath away.