Causecast

By Nahal Zarnighian,

Last night my Causecast family and I went to Matthew Modine’s Save the Alpacas at the Geffen Playhouse located in Westwood. The satire was a clear message of Modine’s thought on celebrity humanitariasm. The opening scene presented a woman getting shot with botox left and right when a man runs in suggesting adopting an African child in order to make a come back in Hollywood. Britney and Madonna served as celebrities who were put in the limelight for “going to a hair salon in the valley and cutting all of her hair” and becoming a believer of “Kabbalah”. Although the play was a comedy it didn’t fail to get me thinking about Hollywood and the Los Angeles “bubble” and how it’s much different than anywhere else. I’ve been living in the “city of angels” for around eleven years now, and prior to that I lived in Tehran up until the age of seven.  You can imagine what a dramatic shift it was for me moving from a strict regime to a liberal society.

I often look back and wonder what kind of a person I would’ve been had I not moved out here, had I not been exposed to my unlimited text messaging and blackberry messenger package on my phone, had I not been exposed to Pinkberry that you can’t go without at least once a week, had I not been exposed to my caramel macchiato, had I not been exposed to Los Angeles. While I’d like to think of myself as an open minded person, I notice a lot of times that in the big picture I’ve been sheltered inside of Los Angeles for a while now and I’ve become I guess what you would call an LA girl. Anywhere I go, that’s clear from the way I speak, dress, and think. So I’m wondering, is this a bad thing or just who I am. I mean, they say you should stay true to who are, but is this really me? Would I have been like this were it still in Tehran? Who are we individually, and how does that change depending on our environment. I’m not sure Modine wanted this much analyzation out of a satirical play, but it definitely got me thinking.

To not become a part of this Los Angeles stereotype, I think it’s important to find the perfect balance of selfish and selflessness. With that in mind, I’ve made a goal to become a more selfless person by giving back to my community. I’ll use my unlimited texting, BBM, eat my pinkberry and sip on my macchiato – but I won’t forget that there are those less fortunate out there that need my help. If that means giving up my luxuries every now and then, then that’s something I’m willing to do. My goal will be easy because here at Causecast there’s always something you can do to help. To start, I’m going to start a Breast Cancer “Save Lids to Save Lives” collection campaign with my friend Erica Liepmann in the office. I’ll keep you posted on that in the days to come. Stay tuned and post comments, I’d love to hear your thoughts !

Until next time,

Nahal