* The Armenian Ambassador to Egypt Rouben Karapetian presided over the launch of Armenians in Egypt: Contributions of the Armenians to Medieval and Modern Egypt, written by Sona Zeitlian at the Mubarak Public Library in Giza. Among the attendees were Karapetian 's wife Mariam, Zeitlian 's son Hraztan and her daughter Heghnar, Egyptian Ambassador to United States Nabil Fahmi and head of the Mubarak Library Abdel-Raouf El-Reedi. photo: Khatchig Wanis * The Nas (People) Organisation for Advisement, Training and Assessment for Persons with Special Needs held an honorary party for all the participants in the project of raising the Social awareness of the Rights of Persons with special needs, dears. And their wonderful party at the Police Officers' Club, Gezira, was yet another occasion for my lovely colleague Ghada Abd El-Kader to deprive me of what is rightfully mine as well. Now for a brief list of the organisations represented and those who, in the presence of Chairman of the Board of Nas Ashraf Marei, represented them: the National Council for Motherhood and Childhood, the National Council for Human Rights, America-MidEast Educational and Training Services (AMidEast, represented by Executive Director Stephen Hanchey ), the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES, represented by Senior Elections Advisor Adam Schmidt and Voter Education and Civic Dialogue Specialist Ban Saraf, the German University in Cairo (GUC), the American University in Cairo (AUC), the International Human Rights Law Outreach Programme (IHRLOP, represented by director Heather Gillies ), the Faculty of Mass Communication of Cairo University, the Faculty of Sports Education of Helwan University and Egypt Language Schools (represented by my friend the headmistress Magda Moussa, dears). Besides which, Abd El-Kader gleefully reported seeing SOE head Ismail Othman, husband of the aforementioned headmistress, former minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Amr Ezzat Salama and Deputy of the People's Assembly Abdel-Aziz Mustafa. *The head of the TV News Sector Gamal El-Sayed, editor of Kafr Al-Sheikh newspaper Ibrahim Abdel-Aziz and members of the community of Desouq warmly received my drop-dead-gorgeous friend US Counsellor for Public Affairs Haynes Mahoney dears. The occasion? Well, they wanted to know about US policy in Iraq, Iran and Egypt, about visas to America and English language courses at the American Embassy. And he lived up to all expectations, providing satisfactory answers to all questions. Mahoney was accompanied by John Buzbee from the US Embassy's Cultural Affairs Department and Manal Rezkalla from the Press Department. * Spanish Cultural Attaché and Director of the Cervantes Institute (Spanish Cultural Centre) Louis Moratinos was at the centre of a farewell party at the Faculty of Al-Alson, Ain Shams University. Sad but heartening, dears, especially in the presence of my very good friend faculty dean Makaram El-Ghamri, who handed Moratinos the university emblem. The Faculty of Mass Communication at Cairo University recently celebrated the graduation of the 2005 class. Held at the main university hall, the celebration featured our very, very own Editor-in-Chief Assem El-Kersh, scholar Hani Helal, Minister of Information Anas El-Feqi and the President of Cairo University Ali Abdel-Rahman. * Speaking of which, dears, the Cairo Opera House held a press conference on occasion of the seventh Festival for Dance Theatre, which will be held in both Cairo and Alexandria from 14 April to 30 May. The Opera's Dance Company Director Walid Aouni along with his creative choreographer Karine Saporta displayed tremendous confidence during the conference, my lovelies. Involved as well is the French Cultural attaché and Director of the French Cultural Centre Bernard Huguenot, and the head of the Opera Media Office Mohamed Hosni. With participants from France, Belgium, Spain and Italy as well as Egypt, the event will feature four new local talents: Reda Abdel-Aziz, Dalia El-Abd, Mohamed Habib, and Mohamed Ali. The opening will be with that breathtaking work by Saporta entitled "In the Eyes of the Night", with music by Jean-Marie Sénia performed by the Arab Music Ensemble of the Cairo Opera House. There was no end of musical festivity this week, dears, what with the Egyptian Centre for International Cultural Cooperation hosting my friend Iraqi oud virtuoso Alfred Al-Babli. He gave a brilliant performance to the accompaniment of Khaled Niazi 's double bass and Mohamed Bahaaeddin 's percussion. Al-Babli is an innovator who has added two strings to the traditional lute to widen its range, and although apparently unaffected by the Iraqi tragedy, as he says, his work displays a penchant for melancholia. Thus was the case with his choice of tunes when it came to representing the greats, dears: Farid Al-Atrash, Um Kulthoum and Mohamed Abdel-Wahab. * Poet Jay Parini, my lovelies, professor at Middlebury College in Vermont, USA, author of the most comprehensive biography of the great Robert Frost -- 25 years' worth of work -- lectured at Ain Shams University during a recent visit to Egypt, when he said he was honoured to visit the country and meet Egyptian writers, expressing admiration of the centrality of the Word in Arabic culture. Following the lecture, on the invitation of Al-Hanager Theatre Director Hoda Wasfi, he gave a talk there on "How Biographies Get Written".
