On Tuesday April 19, 2016, I attended an event that was
organized by the IC Alumni DC Chapter.
IC also known as International College is a school in Beirut, Lebanon
where my mom attended. My mom is the
president of the DC Chapter, so I was especially motivated to attend since she
organized it. The event was a book
reading of “Crossing”, a book by Zeina Kassem.
She wrote the book about her son, Talal Kassem (also an IC student), who
was killed by a reckless driver in Beirut at the age of 17.
This event was unlike any event I hade ever attended, and
although the book was a very sad telling of Zeina’s journey of mourning her
son’s death, the event itself allowed for a lot of mingling. The event was held at Star Nut Café in
Mclean, VA. Although café’s may not be
considered very popular event spaces, this café has a separate “library” room
where it can be reserved and there are several food and beverage packages to
choose from when reserving the room.
This room was a great size for a book reading such as this one. Although there were around 30 (maybe less)
attendees, the space made it seem full, however, not over packed. This allowed for us to all be comfortable and
not feel awkward. This event differed
from many other, more career-oriented events that I had attended in the
past. Everyone at this event had a
common link, which was that either they or a family member had attended IC.
The event itself ended up being very inexpensive because the
owner of Star Nut café is Lebanese and sympathized with out cause, which was to
share Talal’s story and encourage change.
The café gave the alumni organization the event space free of charge and
only charged $100 for the coffee, cookies, and nuts that were available for us
at a buffet table in the room.
In conclusion, I believe this event was a great success
because thanks to the great response to the RSVP email, we knew exactly how
many people were going to show up so we can plan accordingly. The venue was also a perfect choice for a
book reading.
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