On Monday, Sept. 29, Professor Elizabeth Rodacker invited two students from Iran to talk about a book that her class has been reading, titled “Persepolis”. Rodacker says that she wants to stress how she feels a lot of the information is left out of the media about certain countries like Iran, while many citizens of mentioned areas are “just living ‘regular life’, doing laundry, studying, shopping, cooking, loving.”

Marmareh Ghalambor and Odet Hakhverdian, Muslim and Christian students respectively, were asked questions during the class session regarding several points of their culture, beliefs and religions. Though both born in Iran, Hakhverdian says that she considers her nationality “Iranian-Armenian”, as her ancestry originates in Armenia.

Both of the speakers stated that certain freedoms Americans have, Iranians do not. It was said that any woman in the country must wear a hijab, a traditional veil worn by Muslim women, regardless of their religious affiliation. In addition to this, both of the speakers said that women are not allowed to sing or dance in Iran, though they agreed that these acts, among others, are still done secretly.

Though the women said that freedoms are different from Americas’ in Iran, they both stated that many religions are accepted and practiced throughout the country, something that allowed Hakhverdian to be married in a Christian wedding.