General Body Meeting

As we approach the end of this academic year, Persian Panthers and Persian Students Organization (PSO) would like to invite you to this year's annual body meeting. This is the place to share your ideas with us and hear the annual report.

Please note that attending to this meeting is mandatory for all members. So in order to make sure that everybody has the chance to participate, we will be holding this meeting twice. Please RSVP to one of these meetings on April 15 or April 19 to maintain your membership status through next
year.

Membership will give you the advantage of buying subsidized tickets for our events and participating in our exclusive events for the members.

Food will be served at both meetings. Please RSVP through this link.

What: Two general body meetings (you must attend one)

When and Where: Sunday, April 15 at 12 pm, Scaif Hall 125, CMU Campus and Thursday, April 19 at 7:30 pm, Scaif Hall 214, CMU Campus (free parking spot will be available on both days)

Why: Because we are all a part of this community and we should all help and run it together.

Nowruz Celebration - March 24th

We would like to invite you to join Persian Panthers and PSO to celebrate Nowruz, the Persian New Year celebrating the first day of spring! We will be serving authentic Iranian cuisine and pastries from Washington D.C for dinner and dessert. There will also be a series of performances including dance and music, followed by an open dance stage with DJ TT!

Date: Saturday --March 24, 2012
Time: 8:00 p.m. – 1:00 a.m.
Location: University of Pittsburgh, William Pitt Union (building), Assembly Room
Map: http://bit.ly/yFkxMS
Admission Fee: General admission - $40.00
Students - $25.00
Members - $15.00
Note: Each member may purchase one guest ticket for $25.


Tickets:

Students: Each student ticket should be accompanied by a valid student ID.

Members: For members, a promotional code will be emailed to you in order to buy your tickets at the discounted rate. Please allow 24 hours to receive the promotional code.

(NOTE: All University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University students, staff, and faculty are eligible to become a member. To become a member, please fill out the following form: http://bit.ly/A2b`G3i )

*** MARCH 17th WILL BE THE LAST DAY TO PURCHASE YOUR TICKETS.
*** After March 17th, ALL TICKETS WILL BE SOLD AT A FLAT RATE OF $50.00 BASED ON AVAILABILITY.
*** ALL PROMOTIONAL CODES WILL EXPIRE BY MARCH 17th.

To purchase your tickets, please click the following link and choose the correct ticket available for your purchase: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2625077678

Tentative Schedule:
8:00 p.m. Opening Doors & Welcoming
8:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. Iranian Traditional Dinner (Jujeh Kabab, Kabab Koobideh, Baghali Polo-ba-Mahicheh, Fesenjan, Kashk-e-Bademjaan, Mast-O-Khiar, and Salad-e-Shirazi)
9:30 p.m. - 11:00 p.m. Shows & Performances
11:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. Music & Dance

P.S. OCC credit will be given to the undergraduate students of the University of Pittsburgh.
Please feel free to email us with any questions or concerns.
We look forward to seeing you all at the party!

Eids Celebration- Sun, Nov. 13

Persian Panthers and PSO would like to invite you to the Eids Celebration (Ghorban and Ghadeer) that our friends are hosting this weekend on Pitt campus.

When: Sunday, Nov. 13, 2011, 7-10 PM.
Where: Ballroom, William Pitt Union, University of Pittsburgh
Admission fee: Free (But a generous donation of $5 is kindly appreciated)

There will be a traditional music performance (by Mehdi Samadi and Amin Mohaghegh), a documentary, a Short lecture and the last but not the least there will be a nice, all Halal dinner!!

Please RSVP your attendance by clicking here and filling out the form no later than Friday night.

We look forward to seeing you all.

Happy Eids!
PSO

Halloween Party, Persian Style (Oct 29th)

You might have noticed that we at the PSO and Persian Panthers are doing things a little bit differently this year, trying to keep things fresh and interesting, especially for those of you who have been with us for a while. This time, to celebrate our Iranian-American identity, we thought we'd try celebrating an American holiday, but with a Persian twist. Now, can you think of a better holiday to start out with than Halloween? Well, we couldn't either.

Please join us next Saturday for our first Persian-style Halloween Party! The Persian part comes in with the costumes (it is a Halloween party, after all) ... the idea is, you'll want to wear something that's somehow related to Persian culture, either past or present. We're setting the focus on costumes that are javad, jelf, khaz or whatever (if you don't know what those mean, ask an Iranian friend), but you're not limited to that; you can come as a famous Iranian character, dressed in some mahalli outfit, or whatever!

Now, be as creative as you'd like with the costume, because there will be a costume contest and you can model your costume on the catwalk! There will also be a dance contest; however, it's not about how well you dance, it's about how javad you dance. The winner of each contest will take home a gift card.

Here are the details:

Date: Saturday, October 29th, 2011
Time: 8:00 PM - 11:30 PM
Location: Peter's Pub (116 Oakland Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15213), Second Floor
Admission fee: $5 (collected at the door)
Dress code: Persian-style costume is highly recommended
Food: Beverages (alcoholic and otherwise) and light refreshments will be provided
RSVP: Required by Thursday, Oct. 27th,

here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFZvVGdxTkdVSkhUZkJMUTBESV90d0E6MQ

Note: Please bring proof-of-age ID, as this is a pub

See you at the party!

Keyhan Kalhor in concert

Please mark your calenders and join us for this performance in Kresge Recital Hall, College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University:

Kayhan Kalhor, master of the kamancheh, on Saturday, May 14, 2011, 8:00 PM

Come and spend an evening listening to beautiful music while supporting this highly talented Iranian musician.

For tickets, contact Dr. Bijan Elyaderani at:
Tel:724-799-2067
m_elyaderani@yahoo.com

Pittsburgh Folk Festival

The 54th annual Pittsburgh Folk Festival will be taking place this weekend, from Friday, May 13th (beginning at 4:00 PM) until Sunday, May 15th (ending at 6:00 PM). We think you might be particularly interested because, in addition to all the other cultural exposure regularly offered by the Festival, the Iranian presence this year will be much expanded compared to years past. Please click on the above image for details on what will be featured and when, and how you can buy tickets (you can save $2 by buying them in advance).

Nowruz Celebration

Please join us in our Nowruz ceremony, the ancient (and modern) Persian New Year celebrating the first day of Spring. There will be Persian traditional dinner, a series of very entertaining performances and afterwards we will get to dance till we drop. Here are the details:

Date: Friday March 25th, 2011
Time: 6pm till midnight
Location: Assembly Room, William Pitt Union, University of Pittsburgh
Admission fee: $10 for students, $20 for non-students
Tickets: See below

Please note: as opposed to most of our events, you must purchase your tickets in advance (by March 19th); there will be no at-the-door tickets sales due to the University restrictions. We realize that this is a bit more inconvenient, so we have set up as many purchase methods as possible:

1. On-line: http://www.showclix.com/event/NowruzCelebration. Please note that a convenience fee will be charged for online sales.

2. In person: Tickets will be available for purchase on-campus at both Pitt and CMU, from March 7th until 18th. More detail follows:

Pitt:
You can visit the Box Office on the first floor of the William Pitt Union (just beside the Information Desk). Please note that the Box Office will be closed the week of 7th-11th for Spring Break.

CMU:
You can go to the Information Desk on the first floor of the University Center (near Kirr Commons, a.k.a. the black chairs).

Representatives:
You can also get in touch with the following people to purchase tickets:

* Anahita Khojandi (Pitt, Swanson School of Engineering): ank83@pitt.edu
* Behdad Beheshti (Pitt, Swanson School of Engineering): beb65@pitt.edu
* Omid Moghimi (Pitt, School of Arts and Sciences): omm3@pitt.edu
* Rava Vivian Allahyari (Pitt, School of Arts and Sciences): vra2@pitt.edu
* Hassan Takabi (Pitt, School of Information Sciences): hat26@pitt.edu
* Bahar Laderian (Pitt, School of Medicine): bal73@pitt.edu
* Narges Sharif Razavian (CMU, School of Computer Science): razavian@cmu.edu
* Yasaman Torabi (CMU, Heinz College): ytorabim@andrew.cmu.edu
* Amin Aghaei (CMU, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering):aghaei@cmu.edu

3. Mail: To purchase your ticket(s) by mail, please mail your check (no other payment method can be accepted, sorry) to:

Omid Moghimi
257 Melwood Ave, Apt 1
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Checks must be made payable to "Omid Moghimi". Please enclose a note indicating your name and the number of student and/or non-student tickets you would like to purchase (corresponding, of course, to the amount of the check).

* Tickets purchased by mail or online will be available for pick-up at the door.

The tentative schedule is as follows:

6:15-7:00 Screening the movie “Babak & Friends: A First Norooz” (IMDB link)
7:00-8:30 Persian traditional dinner (including Sabzi polo Mahi)
8:30-10:00 Shows & performances (including a performance by a dance group from Washington, DC)
10:00-12:00 Music & Dance

Thank you and we look forward to seeing you all at the party!