Z E N D A  M A G A Z I N E
[renamed Zinda Magazine in 1999]

Aadaar 10, 6746                   Volume III                       Issue 4            March 10, 1997

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       A Weekly Online Publication of the ZENDA Assyrian Newsagency

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                      T H I S   W E E K   I N   Z E N D A
===========================================================================
The Lighthouse...................... The Nameless Gates of Gods
Good Morning Bet-Nahrain............ More on the Shaqlawa Murder Case
                                            Saddam's Massacre of Shiites
                                            Turkish Premier Gives in
Surfs Up............................ "put these people where they belong."
Surfers Corner...................... Novelist Seeks Information
                                            New Opportunities in Canada
News Digest......................... Pope's Visit to Lebanon
                                            Iran's Presidential Elections
                                            Syria's Political Prisoners
                                            Germany's New Immigration Law
Ziggurat............................ Die "Assyrer" wer sind sie?
Calendar of Events.................. Several New Entries for March & April
Entracte............................ No New Entries
Intelligentsia...................... New Classes in San Jose & Harvard
Assyrian Surfing Posts.............. MIT Videos
Pump up the Volume.................. Editorial & Article
Back to the Future.................. Hammurabi's Year of Ascension
                                            The Assyrian National Petition
Literatus........................... A Sumerian Father & Son Talk
This Week in History................ The First Assyrian School for Girls
Bravo............................... Salma Hayek
The Directory....................... News Sources
Bshena.............................. Software Technologies
Salute.............................. Adrin, Lorine, Esha, & Ramin

                                   :)

[With this issue we introduce the new ZIGGURAT section.  Nearly half of our
readers live in countries where English is not a primary language. We hope
that ZIGGURAT can bring our Latin American and European readers closer to
the readers of ZENDA in their own communities.
 

Another Assyrian Community Networking Conference is scheduled during the
Assyrian State Convention of California in Turlock. Please note the
textfile invitation and registration form entitled "ACNC97.TXT" attached to
ZENDA II.  If  you experience technical difficulty in decoding this file
please contact  us at zenda@ix.netcom.com .  For more information see:
http://www.nineveh.com/acnc97.htm .]
 

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                  THE   L   I   G   H   T   H   O   U   S   E
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                       THE NAMELESS GATES OF GODS
 

Come with me to a land far away into our past.  Leave your stuffy office
room and fly with me to Babylon, the greatest city ever built in the
ancient world. Our Mesopotamian fore-fathers built it in the form of a
crooked rectangle, about a mile and a half from east to west and
four-fifths of a mile from north to south.  The river Euphrates flowed
through this most magical city from north to south, dividing it into the
New City on the west and the Old City on the east.  The bigger streets were
named for the ancient gods of Bet-Nahrain- Marduk Street, Shamash Street,
Adad Street and so on.  The most important street was the so-called
Processional Way, running north and south through the Old City four or five
hundred yards from the river.  Its true name was "The Street on Which May
No Enemy Ever Tread."
 

Processional Way was paved with limestone, sand, and asphalt.  Along this
street, wagons bearing the images of the gods were wheeled during religious
processions.  These parades seem to have been the Babylonians' main public
amusement.  In the city of Ashur, the processional way had a pair of
grooves in the pavement for the wheels of the sacred wagons, to assure the
gods a smooth, safe ride.  This was the world's first railroad track.
 

Eight fortified gates were embedded in the inner wall of Babylon.  The
center gate on the northern side was the famous Ishtar Gate, the grandest
structure of its kind. It comprised a square tower of brick, about 70 feet
high.  Cutting through this tower was a vaulted passage, which could be
closed off by two pairs of huge wooden doors. On the northward side of the
gate, stood two tall and two smaller towers.  The entire structure was
finished with enameled bricks, blue on the towers and green and pink on the
connecting walls decorated with brightly colored animals, driving away
supernatural forces.
 

Come through the Ishtar Gate; don't be afraid! See, you're standing at the
paved Processional Way now. The two high brick-walls, decorated with
life-sized lions in bright enameled brick relief, are majestic- aren't
they?  Red-maned yellow lions and yellow-maned white lions.  To your right
are the walls of the fortified section of the city. They extends from the
Processional Way to the Euphrates.  Wow, look at the palaces, the barracks,
and the humongous administrative offices.  Imagine this place when if was
brimming with people, everyone speaking Akkadian, all of them proud to be
Bet-Nahranaye.
 

Slowly walk back and turn around! There, aren't they amazing?  I'm always
at a loss for words when I see them. That's right, they're the famous
Hanging Gardens, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.  Trees and shrubs
are planted atop a pleasure house.  The roof over the gardens is
waterproofed by layers of asphalt and sheet lead.  The word "hanging" or
Assyrian "telye" can be misleading as if the gardens were suspended by
chains or cables.  They should really be called "raised" or "elevated."
 

A little further up is the famous bridge over the river Euphrates.  Except
for Sennacherib's aqueduct at Jerwan, this 380 feet long bridge is the
oldest stone bridge of which there is any record.  It was built by King
Nabopolasser. It stood on seven piers of baked brick, stone, and timber.  A
drawbridge is taken up at night to keep outsiders from using the bridge.
 

Let's walk south through the Processional Way. I said "walk" not run! You
almost missed the Ziggurat of Etemenanki.  Did you ever think it was this
beautiful?   As high as a 30-story building back home and hued in all
different colors of rainbow.  To your left are the houses where the
civilians live.  Some of those homes are four stories high.  Let's turn
right on Adad Street and walk toward the river.  I always dream of a day
when I bring my newborn to this river and baptize her in these holiest of
all waters.   That over there is Esagila, the temple of Marduk. If we walk
a little further you'll notice that it's really an L-shaped building. It
occupies a square about 500 feet on each side.  Greek historian, Herodotos,
said that the 18-foot statue of Marduk, housed inside Esagila, was of solid
gold. Our Babylonian parents used to carry it through this same
Processional Way during the New Year's Festival of Akitu, much like the
processional of the Assyrian floats through the streets of Chicago on Kha
b'Neesan Day. In 482 B.C. King Xerxes of Persia attacked this beautiful
city and tore down the great walls.  Babylonians were never again able to
defend themselves against their enemies. That's why Xerxes did it and as a
souvenir he took the golden statue of Marduk to his Persian palace and
melted it down for his treasury.
 

Later a stiff Persian taxation caused the people of Babylon leave this
place.  Even the Babylonian priests could no longer afford to repair their
decaying buildings.  Much like the Assyrian churches throughout the
Christian period, the Babylonian temples crumbled into nothingness.  Let's
sally on away from the inner city and get closer to the narrow alleys,
where the Babylonian children played and sang the Sumerian school rhymes.
Let's end our journey here and head back home away from home!
 

Now let me show you some pictures!  These are the photographs of the gates
and towers built on the ruins of Babylon by a modern conquerer.  He's
trying unsuccessfully to identify himself as the new monarch of Babylon.
But all he has done is to erect some new structures upon the ruins of the
old. Ironically it is said that the Assyrian engineer-king, Sennacherib,
had placed posts along the Processional Way on which was inscribed "Royal
Road. Let No Man Lessen It." He had decreed that any violator should be
slain and his body impaled on a stake before his house.  All seven
conquerers of the world that have passed through the gates or ruins of
Babylon-  the Medes, Persians, Macedonians, Arabs, Mongols, British, and
Germans- have been impaled on the iron pole of history.  Saddam, the new
ruler of Babylon, is no exception.  Until the Golden Statue of Marduk is
returned to the great temple of our conscience, all intruders will continue
to regret their parade along the Processional Way of our forgotten people's
homeland.
 

Wilfred Alkhas
Zenda

[Information on the technology advances of ancient Babylon was adapted from
"The Ancient Engineers" by Sprague de Camp, 1993]
 

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     G  O  O  D    M  O  R  N  I  N  G    B  E  T - N  A  H  R  A  I  N
===========================================================================
 

            NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN THE SHAQLAWA MURDERS CASE
 

An Assyrian International News Agency Press Release (Chicago)
March 1, 1997
aina@wwa.com
 

Regarding the most recent killing of the two Assyrians in Shaqlawa, the
Kurd who was found murdered, has been identified as Mohamed Babakir. He was
the kidnapper of the daughter of Lazar Matti, the Assyrian who, along was
with his son Havel Lazar, was butchered by the Kurdish mob. However, it is
generally agreed that the families had met years ago and resolved the
matter. There was reportedly no remaining animosity between them. The local
government has not begun any investigation into the initial killing or the
subsequent massacre.
 

Additionally, the father was born in 1943 and the son in 1972. To his
credit, Barzani came to Shaqlawa and reportedly condemned the killings.
In addition, in his statement, he acknowledged recent acts of violence,
burglaries, and arson by Kurds against Assyrian homes and shops in the
Shaqlawa area.  He noted a pattern of intimidation on the part of Kurds
in the area. As usual, though, neither he nor the local government have
taken any concrete steps to investigate and seek justice in this case of
extrajudicial killings. The Kurds have never punished one of their own
when the victims have been Assyrian.  It is generally believed that the
recent rhetoric is simply that. Only international pressure from
organizations and governments can help to reduce these acts of persistent,
recurrent, and premeditated terror.
 

SADDAM HAS KILLED OVER 250,000 SHIITES SINCE GULF WAR, GERMAN TV REPORTS
 

(ZNUP: London) The Kuwait News Agency says a German TV program has accused
Iraq's government of killing a quarter-million people in southern Iraq
since the Gulf War. The report from Bonn says President Saddam Hussein's
forces target Iraq's Shiite minority in the southeastern marshes with
chemical weapons that ensure the people cannot reestablish their villages.
The agency says the program documented the environmental damage that
government forces have inflicted on the marshes near the Iranian border,
including the effects that chemical arms have had on children. The
report was monitored in London. An escaped woman prisoner told the program
guards in Iraqi jails interrogate Shiite women by day, then torture them by
night with hose beatings and electric shocks. The broadcast aired after the
U.S. State Department said Wednesday that Hussein still intended to
dominate the Gulf region and was hiding weapons to enforce that ambition.
 
 

             TURKEY'S PRIME MINISTER SIGNS SECULARISM LIST
 

(ZNUP: Ankara) Turkish news media says Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan has
signed a list of recommendations on secularism drawn up by the military.
His signature late Wednesday ended his five-day standoff with the strongly
secular Turkish armed forces. Some news reports said Deputy Prime Minister
Tansu Ciller persuaded Erbakan to sign, despite his winning office on a
platform of moving Turkey away from secular rule. Turkey's high command had
drawn up the 20-point list in reaction to what they saw as Erabakan's drift
toward rule by Muslim law, or sharia. The recommendations included:
-- Close supervising of religious instruction
-- Outlawing Muslim groups
-- Enforcing bans on Muslim attire in government offices
Political analysts said these measures would cause considerable political
difficulties for Erbakan among his Welfare Party supporters.
 

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                      S   U   R   F   S     U   P   !
===========================================================================
 

"The letter (who wrote it?) addressed to "Fellow Assyrians...." said the
letter they are going to send to the State Department is reproduced below,
but I did not see it. And a comment to pump up the volume section: to end
in English is the root of the verb, in Assyrian is EQRA and it is the third
person of the verb:
 

        to end  khatem
        to begin        shaareh
 

What you have for the Assyrian are gerunds (a verbal form that functions
as a noun) I think we call them MLAT-SHEMA in Assyrian (should check
with Robi Simono).
 

        ending          khtamta
        beggining       shaareta
 

Rita Pirayou
San Jose, California
 

[The message was sent from the Assyrian International News Agency or AINA,
a Chicago-based group.  At press time ZENDA has not received any further
correspondence.  Our reader is correct in analyzing the different forms of
the verbs.  It must be noted that all verbs mentioned in the PUMP UP THE
VOLUME section are described in their non-root form or in this case the
gerund form.]
 

                              **************
 

"It really breaks my heart to see well educated Assyrians putting so much
energy into hurting each others , I just can not imagin myself going to bed
and resting my head in peace knowing that I with something I did have hurt
another Assyrian somehow someway. You the educated ones are the best breed
of us, and this nation's hope for prosperity & wellbeing. Instead of being
the creaters &  worthy leaders of united  orgnizations, you are turning to
followers of some unworthy, selfish & careless people who are doing so much
damage to this nation that the next generations of Assyrians will suffer as
the result of their actions, a damage may be beyond repair if we let this
to continue. The time is now to put these people where they belong , the
time is now my friends to create that environment where all Assyrians can
live together united so our children can be proud of being Assyrians. And
God help us all if we just stood there & watched this division tearing this
small nation apart."
 

Frederick Aprim
 

 
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                  S  U  R  F  E  R  S      C  O  R  N  E  R
===========================================================================
 

ZENDA readers are invited to respond to the following request(s) by either
directly writing to the author or sending a reply to ZENDA.
***************************************************************************
 

            NOVELIST SEEKS INFORMATION ON ASSYRIANS AND SAMARITANS
 

My name is Dale Blanchard, I'm a member of the Religious Society of Friends
in the US.  For several months I've been doing research for a fictionalized
story I am writing about the woman at the well, John 4:1-42.  Because she
was a Samaritan, and because Samaria had been taken over in the centuries
preceding Christ's coming, I am searching for information about the
Assyrians (pre-Christianity) and more specifically, the beliefs and
practices of the early Samaritans.  Would you have any suggestion as to
where I could find such information? I've found a little in the library,
but precious little. If you can help, I thank you in advance.  If not,
thank you for reading my message.
 

Dale Anne Blanchard
DaleAnne@aol.com
 
 
 

IN CANADA...
 

Would you like to help in forming an Assyrian Student Association at either
McMaster University or Mohawk College?  Please contact Christine Sarkis
 

McMaster:  Contact Christine Sarkis at   sarkisc@muss.cis.mcmaster.ca
Mohawk:    Contact Simon Malek at   ashour@ican.net
 
 

Volunteers are needed for the two-hour Assyrian Voice of Canada radio
program.  Contact Simon Malek at (905) 318-8283 or  ashour@ican.net
 

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                  N   E   W  S       D   I   G   E   S   T
===========================================================================
 

                  POPE JOHN PAUL II's VISIT TO LEBANON
 

(ZNRU: Vatican City) Pope John Paul II will make a long-awaited visit to
Lebanon on May 10-11, three years after cancelling a planned trip for
security reasons in the wake of a church bombing. The visit will be the
first by a Pope to the country in modern times. The Pope would preside over
the ceremonial close of a synod of the Lebanese Church held at the Vatican
in 1995 during his two-day weekend visit to Beirut. The Vatican called off
a planned five-day Papal trip in May 1994 after the bombing of a Maronite
church north of Beirut in which 11 Sunday worshippers were killed and 59
injured. The Pope had been expected to visit the Biblical cities of
Tyre and Sidon during the coming trip. The visit would include a mass and a
meeting with young people.  The Polish Pope, who often speaks out in favor
of Middle East peace and dreams of visiting the Holy Land by the year
2000, is expected to call for a comprehensive settlement. The Vatican is
opposed to both the Israeli and Syrian military presence in Lebanon.
 

               IRAN'S MAY 23rd PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
 

(ZNRU: Tehran) Iran will hold the seventh presidential elections since the
1979 Islamic Revolution on May 23 to elect a successor to President Akbar
Hashemi Rafsanjani.  Conservative Parliament Speaker Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri
appears to be the front-running candidate in the elections, in which
Rafsanjani is constitutionally barred from running after serving two
consecutive four-year terms. Hardline conservative Mohammad Mohammadi
Reyshahri, a former internal security minister, and former Minister of
Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Khatami, who is backed by radical
Islamist intellectuals, are among others who have announced their
candidacy. Rafsanjani's centrist backers are still to announce a candidate
in the polls to replace the outgoing president, whose term ends August 3.
All Iranians, including Assyrians, aged 15 and older in the country of
about 60 million are eligible to vote.  The candidates still have to be
approved by the Guardian Council, a body of lawyers and Shiite Muslim
clerics that supervises elections.
 

           INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF SYRIAN POLITICAL PRISONERS
 

(ZNRU: Paris) The Committee for the Defense of Democratic Freedoms and
Human Rights in its annual report for 1996 notes that the number of
political prisoners in Syrian jails rose to 2,800 in 1996, about a hundred
more than the previous year.  The increase was the first since 1989 in the
number of political prisoners in Syria, which had steadily fallen for the
previous six years.  The increase was due to the arrest of more than 100
individuals during the year due to their political beliefs, while just five
were released, said the Paris-based group. Those being held included
Lebanese and Palestinians, as well as Syrians, it said. Under martial law
in effect since 1963, Syrian citizens "do not have the right to form
associations, organizations or political parties in order to express or
defend their opinions." The Assyrian Democratic Organization (Takasta), has
been operating under such conditions since its establishment in the late
1950's.
 

      GERMANY IMPOSES NEW IMMIGRATION RULE ON FOREIGN CHILDREN
 

(ZNUP: Berlin) Under a new German rule, children under 16 from Turkey,
Tunisia, Morocco and former Yugoslavia now have to apply for visas to visit
relatives in Germany and those already living in Germany must obtain a
residence permit. The 2.2 million members of Germany's Turkish community do
not have German citizenship, meaning their children now have to apply as
"foreigners" for permits. The law equally applies on all Assyrian children
from Turkey, both born in Turkey or those escaping Iran, Syria and Iraq.
The government insists the measure was necessary because foreigners were
abusing its previously relaxed stance on children visiting relatives in
Germany by staying permanently. Protest organizers said students in
Recklingshausen, Bielefeld, Aschaffenburg and Essen had taken part in the
schools boycott.

===========================================================================
                       Z   I   G   G   U   R   A   T
===========================================================================
 

                        DIE "ASSYRER" WER SIND SIE?
 

Die "Assyrer" wer sind sie? Wo und wie leben sie? Das sind Fragen, die mich
schon meinen ganzen Lebenslang beschaeftigten. Diese Fragen zu beantworten
ist doch ein Kinderspiel und darum brauche ich doch keine Buecher lesen,
dachte ich, denn ich bin schliesslich selst eine Assyrerin!!
 

Im Laufe meines Lebens lernte ich aber, dass ich mich getaescht habe. Als
ich nach Deutschland kam und das erste Mal jemanden erzelte, dass ich eine
Assyrerin bin, sah er mich so an, als ob er eine Verrueckte vor sich haette
und meinte: ja, ja, schon gut, warum bist Du dann nicht in einem Museum?
Als ich aber nicht aufgab und darauf beharrte, dass ich es ernst
meine,betrachtete er mich so wie ein Objekt, das man in einem Museum
betrachten wuerde. Denn er war davon ueberzeugt, dass die Assyrer schon
lange ausgestorben sind, und dass man den Rest ihrer reichen Kultur nur
noch in Museen, wie das Pergamon beobachten koennte.
 

Leider ist dies aber nich mein einziges Erlebniss geblieben. Nach und nach
bin ich darauf gekommen, dass ich noch sehr viel zum Nachholen hab. Ich
lernte weiterhin, dass ich noch sehr viel lesen und lernen muesste, bevor
ich mich in der Oeffentlichkeit als Assyrerin aussern und behaupten duerfte.
 

Ist es Dir auch mal so ergangen? Bist Du auch ein Assyrer, eine Assyrerin,
der/die in Deutschland lebt? Moechtest Du Deine Erlebnisse uns mitteilen?
Ich denke, dass dieser internationale Teil ZENDAs uns eine gute
Moeglichkeit anbiettet, miteinder auch mal auf Deutsch zu sprechen und von
einander zu lernen, uns ueber die Situation unsere Volkes in Deutschland
auszutauschen, usw. Heir moechte ich deshalb mich bei dem Zustaendigen, bzw
"ZENDA STAFF" bedanken.
 

Zum Schluss bitte ich um Verzeihung, da ich noch kein Sofware habe, der es
mir ermoeglich die Umlaute ueber E-mail zu schicken, muesste ich wie auf
Schreibmaschine schreiben, aber hoffentlich habe ich ihn fuer das naechste
Mal.
 

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      C   A   L   E   N   D   A   R     OF     E   V   E   N   T   S
===========================================================================
 
 

Thru Mar 10             Art & Empire: Treasures from Assyria in the British
                                         Museum
                        National Gallery of Victoria
                        Melbourne, Australia
                        Admission: $10.00
 

Thru Apr 6      The Ain Ghazal Exhibit
                        Smithsonian Institute
                        Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
                Washington D.C.
                        AAA of Southern CA      (818) 506-7577
 

Thru April 27           Masterpieces from the Pierpot Morgan Libray:
                        A collection of relics 3300 B.C. to 1800 B.C.
                        Cylindrical Seals
                        From Uruk, Akkadian, Babylonia and Assyria
                        California Palace of the Legion of Honor
                        Lincoln Park, San Francisco.
                        (415)863-3330
 

Thru Fall 1997  Ancient Mesopotamia: The Royal Tombs of Ur
                        2650-2550 B.C.
                        Third Floor
 

--------------------------------------------------------------
 

Mar 12                  Guardians of the Gate:  The Assyrian Winged Colossi
                        Lecturer:  A. Harrak
                        Near and Middle Eastern Civilization
                        University of Toronto
                        St. George campus
                        Toronto, Canada
                        8:00 p.m
 

Mar 16                  A Program in Honor of Nimrod (Benva) Simono
                        Assyrian Church of the East Hall (Awana)
                        680 Minnesota Avenue
                        5:30 pm
 

Mar 25                  The Discovery of a 3rd Millennium BCE Trading Post
                        in Northern Mesopotamia
                        A Hagop Kevorkian Lecture
 

                        Lecture by Dr. Michel Fortin
                        of the Department of History, Laval University, Quebec
 

                        The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology
                        33rd and Spruce Streets,
                        Philadelphia, PA 19104
                        6 p.m.
                        Reception follows
                        Rainey Auditorium.
                        Free (215) 898-4890
 

Apr 9                   Recent Excavations at Gordion, Turkey:
                        An Achaemenid Persian Imperial Town in Central Anatolia
                        Lecturer:  T.C. Young, Jr.
                        Royal Ontario Museum
                        Toronto, Canada
                        8:00 p.m
 

Apr 11-13               Big Bear Ski Trip
                        Skiing, hiking, Mountain biking, etc.
                        Assyrian Student Union Big Bear Trip
                        Members $40  non-members $65
                        Includes lodging, transportation, and first night's food. There will be
                        Contact Sargon Gewargis:  fishtale@juno.com
                                                      s8913705@mail.themall.net
 

Apr 24                  Beginning of Settled Village Life in Eastern Anatolia
 

                        Dr. Michael Rosenberg
                        Associate Professor, University of Delaware
 

                        6:00 p.m.
                        Reception Follows
                        Rainey Auditorium
                        Free (215) 898-4890
 

May 4                   "Near Eastern Archeology"
                        Speaker:  Dr. Thomas E. Levy
                        University of California, San Diago
 

                        Location:  Westchester, New York
                        Call Hugo Vandenwall Bake (914) 472-0874
 

May 5                   "Near Eastern Archeology"
                        Speaker:  Dr. Thomas E. Levy
                        University of California, San Diego
 

                        Location:  Tufts University, Boston
                        Call Jodi Magness (617) 628-5000 x2680
                        http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/classicsDept/aia.html
 

May 23-26               Assyrian State Convention of California
                        Turlock, California
 

May 24                  A C N C '97
                        The Third Assyrian Community Networking Conference
                        The Assyrian State Convention of California
                        Turlock, California
                    Organized by The Assyrian Community Networking Society
 

Aug 26-Sept 2           Assyrian American National Convention
                        Hyatt Regency Dearborn
                        Fairlane Town Center
                        Detroit, Michigan
                        All Single,double,triple,quad rooms: $95 per day
                        Reservations: (313) 982-6880
                        Reservations must be made by August 7.
 
 
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Mar 21                  Kha b'Neesan Cocktail Dance Party
                        Assyrian American Association of San Jose
                        San Jose Athletic Club
                        196 North 3rd Street  (408) 292-1281
                        7:30 pm
                        Donation:  $30.00
                        "Hot Hord d'oevres!"
                        No tickets sold at the door/no reservations
                        For tickets call:
                                Caroline Nasseri        (408) 268-7990
                                Ellen Sayad             (408) 997-0392
                                Jaleh Atniel            (408) 927-8881
 
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CHICAGO         Assyrian Athletic Club Soccer Development Program
                        Ages 7-14
                        7:45-9:45 pm
                        Mondays
                        Weber Park Gymnasium
                        Western Avenue & Devon Street
 

HARVARD UNIVERSITY      1997-98 Syriac Classes Taught by Dr. J.F. Coakley
 

                        Elementary Syriac
                        Instructor:  J. F. Coakley
                        Basic Syriac grammar and syntax
                        with selected readings from the Syriac Bible and
                        other early texts.
 

                        Readings in Syriac I
                        Historical and theological texts, and early poetry
 

                        Readings in Syriac II
                        Special attention to exegetical texts and to reading                    manuscripts.
 

MODESTO         Assyrian Educational & Cultural Club at
                        Modesto Junior College
                        1:00 pm
                        Fridays
                        Founders Hall 108
                        Modesto, U.S.A.
 

NORTH HOLLYWOOD     Assyrian Boy Scouts
                        Assyrian American Association of Southern California
                        Assyrian Club
                        5901 Cahuenga Blvd
                        North Hollywood, California
                        9:30am  to 12:30pm
                        Sundays
                        Contact Sargon Gewargis @ fishtale@juno.com
                        (818) 891-3705 after 7:30 pm
 

                        Assyrian Student Union
                        California State University, Northridge
                        Assyrian American Association of Southern California
                        Assyrian Club
                        5901 Cahuenga Blvd
                        North Hollywood, California
                        6:00pm
                        Contact Sargon Gewargis @ fishtale@juno.com
                        (818) 891-3705 after 7:30 pm
 

SAN JOSE                Nisibin School
                        Assyrian Language Classes
                        Ages 5-14
                        10:00-1:00 pm
                        Saturdays
                        AAA of San Jose BETA
                        20000 Almaden Road
 

                        Raabie Nimrod Simono's Intermediate Grammar Class
                        AAA of San Jose BETA
                        ONLY IN MARCH
                        Class Days Vary (Contact ZENDA for more information)
 

                        Maestro Nebu Issabey's Nineveh Choir Practice
                        AAA of San Jose BETA
                        8:00 pm
                        Thursdays
 

TORONTO         Nisibis School
                        10:30-1:30
                        Saturdays
                        The Church of the East
                        Toronto, Canada
 
 

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      A  S  S  Y  R  I  A  N     S  U  R  F  I  N  G     P  O  S  T  S
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Here are a few titles found in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology:
ANCIENT CULTURES OF MESOPOTAMIA video collection:
 

     Assurnasirpal--The Assyrian King
     Babylon-The Gate of the Gods
     Hatra
     Mesopotamian Heritage of Islamic Architecture
     Sumerian Kingdom of Ur
 

For more information see The Rotch Library Visual Collections website:
 

                http://nimrod.mit.edu/depts/rvc/
 

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                     P  U  M  P    UP THE   V O L U M E
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                English         Modern Assyrian
 

                Editorial               Sia/mo/na               [F]
                Article         mam/la                  [F]
___________________________________________________________________________
F = Feminine     M = Masculine      P = Plural
 
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                B  A  C  K     TO THE      F  U  T  U  R  E
===========================================================================
B.C. (1792)     Some scholars believe that this was the year Hammurabi, king of
Babylon rose to power on the basis of observations of the planet Venus,
recorded in the reign of one king Hammurabi's successors.
 

<< Sumer and the Sumerians, Crawford >>
 
 

A.D. (1945) The Assyrian National Petition was presented to the World
Security Conference at San Francisco.
 

<< The Assyrian National Question, Dadesho >>
 

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                    L    I    T    E    R    A    T    U    S
===========================================================================
 

               A 5000-Year-Old "Father & Son: Discussion
 
 

"Where did you go?"
"I did not go anywhere."
"If you did not go anywhere, why do you idle about?
Go to school, stand before your school-father,
write your tablet, let your big-brother write your new tablet for you.
After you have finished your assignment and reported to your monitor,
come to me, and do not wander about in the street.
Come now, do you know what I said?"
"I know, I'll tell it to you."
"Come now, repeat it to me."
"I'll repeat it to you."
"Tell it to me."
"come on, tell it to me."
"You told me to go to school, recite my assignment, open my schoolbag,
write my tablet, while my big-brother is to write my new tablet.
After finishing my assignment, I am to proceed to my work
and to come to you after I have reported to my monitor.
That's what you told me."
 

<< History Begins at Sumer, Kramer >>
 

===========================================================================
           T  H  I  S    W  E  E  K     I  N    H  I  S  T  O  R  Y
===========================================================================
March 12, 1838:  The first Assyrian school for girls, with only four
registered students, is inaugurated in Urmie, Iran.
 
===========================================================================
                         B     R    A     V     O
===========================================================================
 

                                    SALMA HAYEK
 

Born in 1968 in Mexico Salma Hayek is a film star throughout much of Latin
America.  Salma (Assyrian "image") is of Lebanese Assyrian-Maronite
descent, was educated by nuns and completed her studies in International
Relations in Mexico City.  As star of a Spanish-language soap opera she
came to Hollywood in 1990 and began her acting career in such films as
"Fled" with Laurence Fishburne and in Quentin Tarantino's "From Dusk Till
Dawn."  She was also in "Desperado" with Antonio Banderas.  She can be seen
this week (March 16) on cable TV as Esmeralda in TNT's production of "The
Hunchback" (of Notre Dame).  Salma is single and lives in the Hollywood Hills.
 
 
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                         the   D I  R  E  C  T  O  R  Y
===========================================================================
ZNAD (Assyrian Democratic Organization)
ZNAM (Archeology Magazine)
ZNAP (Associated Press International)
ZNBN (Bet-Nahrain Inc/ KBSV-TV "AssyriaVision")
ZNDA (Zenda: zenda@ix.netcom.com)
ZNMN (San Jose Mercury News)
ZNNQ (Nabu Quarterly)
ZNNV (Nineveh Magazine)
ZNRU (Reuters)
ZNSJ (San Jose Mercury News)
ZNTM (Time Magazine)
ZNUP (United Press International)
ZNUS (US News & World Report)
 

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             W   E   L   C   O   M   E     T O     Z   E   N   D   A
===========================================================================
Zenda welcomes our new on-line subscribers from:
 

CORPORATE ACCOUNTS
                        Software Technologies
UNIVERSITY ACCOUNTS
 
PERSONAL ACCOUNTS
 
 
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                     S     A     L     U     T     E
===========================================================================
Zenda wishes to thank the following individuals & organizations whose
contributions appear in this issue:
 

                        Adrin Taksh             Berlin, Germany
                        Lorine Merza            San Jose, California
                        Esha Tamras             San Jose, California
 

and the following individual(s) for introducing ZENDA to our new readers:
 

                        Ramin Daniels           San Jose, California
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