June 2007

Contents Of This Issue:

Quote

American-Lebanese Profile: Tarek Saab  www.tsaab.com
Rags to Riches Story
 

Tarek, 27, raised in the public housing projects and tenements of New Bedford, MA, is a wunderkind of sorts who credits his mother with fostering his desire to become more than
his surroundings.

After earning a scholarship to an elite boarding school in Massachusetts, Tarek went on to receive a B.A. in liberal arts from St. Anselm College and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the Catholic University of America. In addition to being a member of MENSA, Tarek played rugby for the Dallas Harlequins of the U.S. Super League and rowed crew in the Henley Royal Regatta in England. He is currently a global product marketing manager at a Fortune 500 company. He is constantly closing multi-million dollar deals while traveling throughout Asia, Europe, and the U.S. In addition to his travels, Tarek has been widely published in technical journals and magazines around the world.  He participated on the apprentice 5th season.

Tarek is writing a book for young men called "GUT CHECK: Confronting Love, Work, and Manhood in Your Twenties" due out in spring 2007. It's a semi-autobiographical look at the difficulties of discovering true manhood and happiness in your twenties. He also created Lionheart Apparel www.lionheartapparel.com , which will launch on August 15th.  Mr. Saab
will be added to our prominent American-Lebanese list under the business section.

You can read an interview with Mr. Saab.  Below is the link and excerpts:
http://www.nbc.com/The_Apprentice_5/candidates/int_exit_tarek.shtml

For an updated biography please visit his excellent website at www.tsaab.com

Featured Book- I Will Prove you Perfect
www.iwillproveyouperfect.com

The Wise Man handed the book to the couple and said:

You only read this book, if you think you know what you want to accomplish and there is a strong belief in you that you would be able to do it.

You only read this book, if you refuse to do what you think is wrongful even if everyone around you is convinced otherwise.

You must only read this book if you almost are what this book represents.

Do not read this book if you think, that the people around you should be changing to accommodate you, instead of believing in working on a better you.

The author, Lara Bechwati is an (American-Lebanese) architect who lives in New Jersey.  Please check the website for more information and to order a copy of the book.  www.iwillproveyouperfect.com

You can read about other books on our book page.  If you know of any American-Lebanese Authors please send us the info to include in our book section.

House of Lebanon Annual Banquet
A Bridge to Our Roots

Dear Friends,

Please mark your calendars, November 3, 2007 at 7:30pm, the Lebanese American Foundation will hold its House of Lebanon Annual Banquet at the Beverly Hills Hotel. The highlight of this event will be the "Ray R. Irani Pride of Heritage Award", presented this year to Mr. Mohamed Ahmar, a pioneer in the field of graphic and imaging systems distribution. Mr. Ahmar, just out college in 1985, founded International Computer Graphics, ICG . Twenty years later in 2005 ICG was ranked 67 on the list of top 100 private California companies, with seven nation-wide distribution centers .

Mr. Mohamed Ahmar is the third distinguished recipient of the "Ray R. Irani Pride of Heritage Award". The first Award was presented in 2005 to the International Industrialist Ambassador Gilbert Chagoury. The second award was presented in 2006 to Mr. George Hage, founder of Hetron USA, a leading international manufacturer of security systems.

The House of Lebanon Ray R. Irani “Pride of Heritage” Award is given annually by the House of Lebanon to an individual who best exemplifies those qualities that have distinguished Lebanese Americans - Love of family and country, generosity of spirit, dedication to the community, excellence in business or profession, and is supportive to the mission and purposes of the Lebanese American Foundation.

We are fortunate this year, that LAF Director Dr. Nabil Feghali and his capable wife Mrs. Fairouz Fegahli have accepted to be the Co-chairs of this event. They will present to you on November 3rd, 2007 a most interesting program rich in entertainment and culture. The House of Lebanon "Artists Group" will exhibit works of art and literature.

We look forward to seeing you with us. More details to come soon.
www.houseoflebanon.com

Click on events to see other events planned for this year.

ALNM Leadership Conference

American Lebanese National Mission
Cordially Invites you to a Leadership conference Designed to bring together leaders in Medicine, Aerospace, Business, Education, and Non-profit organization for a weekend of fun and brainstorming.  
When/where  Aug 25-26 @ Houston, TX
Contact: leadershipconference@alnm.net   or www.alnm.net

MIT Honors Lebanese Club as "Agent of Change"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Cambridge, May 21—  At its annual Student Leader Awards ceremony, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) presented the 2007 Agent of Change award to the Lebanese Club at MIT (LCM).

The club was honored for their work in providing assistant to Lebanon and credited as "the highest deposit ever by a student group after a single event".  Also , the club and an LCM member Mesrob Ohannessian, a PhD candidate was recognized for their event TECHLEB 06.

Please click here to read the complete article including additional information and photos.  Also, please take time to congratulate the club and their members for their accomplishments.  http://web.mit.edu/lebanon

Congratulations to the Lebanese Club at MIT

The Lebanese Matchmaker
Introducing: The Successful Lebanese Matchmaking
Nada - A Lebanese Matchmaker

 
L.C.N.J. at www.lcnj.com  promotes a true sense of Lebanese Community in the US, Canada and worldwide.

L.C.N.J. and, now Cedars USA, are helping the good Lebanese matchmaking initiative of Nada, a selfless Lebanese woman living happily in France with her Lebanese husband and two young daughters.

Following her success story finding a wonderful Lebanese wife for her Lebanese cousin, and after seeing the struggle that so many good Lebanese men and women outside Lebanon encounter in finding a good, down to earth, Lebanese spouse, she decided to take the initiative to start a Free and Confidential Lebanese Matchmaking service based on traditional Lebanese core values.

You can read the full article about this good matchmaker on www.lcnj.com at this link http://www.lcnj.com/Lebanese_Matchmaker.htm  Where you will find tips and advice and much more. You will also enjoy reading the article entitled "The wrong choices Lebanese women make” post on this page http://www.lcnj.com/Women-Issues.htm  as well as progress updates and future related articles.

We hope this sparks an interest in the subject and starts some discussion.

Shakira Video Clips

World cup performance and other clips- Exellent

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ws-BBJ3i2A&mode=related&search=

Doors to Aspiration (DTA)

D.T.A is an independent Modern Rock band whose songs express love, sadness, energy and hope. Their song lyrics deal with the subjects of social Issues, such as Love, Faithfulness, Patriotism and Joyfulness.

D.T.A's songs represent a mix of fast and powerful as well as slow and dynamic songs,
in order to set them apart from the mainstream.  These guys are down to earth and are true Lebanese who are very humble.  Their songs include:

- No Place Like Home (Running Free In Lebanon)
- Lebanon Will Always Be Free
- Don't Leave Me Dad  (you can click below to listen to this song, it is moving) http://artistlaunch.com/play.asp?songid=30083&artistid=5987&songref=http://www.artistlaunch.com/artists/songs/m3u/Doors_To_Aspiration_-_Don_t_Leave_Me_Dad.mp3.m3u&caller=http://artistlaunch.com/chartsx_cat.asp?p1=Rock


You can listen to their songs here
http://www.artistlaunch.com/artist4.asp?artistid=5987 

Here are some websites about the group.
http://www.artistlaunch.com/artist4.asp?artistid=5987

For all of you Music Lovers and Enthusiasts, D.T.A=Doors To Aspiration's
"Art From A Heart" Debut CD is a must have.
You can buy it at  www.artistlaunch.com/artist4.asp?artistid=5987 
You'll enjoy listening to it for years to come.

Please support the artists, authors and clubs featured in the newsletter
even by sending an encouraging word or passing on the information, or
buying products as gifts. 

Here DTA's  website- Contact them and send them an encouraging word if you
like their music. http://www.dtarocks.com/

Los Angeles Cedars Rotary Club

An orientation meeting to learn about the newly formed Los Angeles Cedars Rotary Club was held April 21st. This club’s mission is to do International Projects with Lebanon , increase our participation in our local communities, and have fun, fellowship and networking. A list of projects was reviewed.  For more information email ferris@hlrsh.com.
 

Southern Federation Convention

This year the convention will be held in Houston, Texas from from July 4th to the 8th.  Here is the link for more information.
http://www.sfslac.org/midwinter.htm

ALES Annual Meeting and Election

The ALES Board of Directors respectfully calls on you to join us at the ALES Annual Meeting that will take place on Thursday June 07, 2007 at 7:00PM at Sabra Restaurant at 57 Langley Road in Newton MA [617-964-9275, map].

The meeting agenda mainly consists of the following items:

1- Overview of ALES accomplishments in 2006-2007
Please find a summary of ALES accomplishments in 2006-2007 (as well as 2005-2006) at http://www.alesonline.org/about/ALES-Summary_2005-2007.pdf.

2- Election of a new ALES Board for a 2-year term: a president, a vice president, a treasurer, a secretary, and 4 directors
ALES members who submitted a membership application and paid the membership dues for 2007 are welcome to run for election and/or send their nominations to the ALES Nominating Committee at ales-nominating-list@alesonline.org.
Also, please note that nominations may be accepted from the floor of the Annual Meeting.

3- Open discussion regarding ALES and engineering-related topics

We look forward to seeing you at this meeting and kindly ask you to reply to this email to confirm attendance.

Sincerely,
Hani Al-Dayaa  ALES, President
email: haldayaa@gmail.com website: www.alesonline.org
 

ALES Employment Pages

We have created a new section on the ALES website to help students, fresh graduates, as well as professionals who are seeking employment.

If you are currently seeking employment, please send your resume and cover letter to ales@alesonline.org  . If you are an employer, please feel free to contact the candidates directly.

To help The Employment Pages be more effective and useful, I kindly ask you, even if you are not an employer, to review the resumes there and forward them to your connections in the specific field.

URL: http://www.alesonline.org/initiatives/employment.html
 

LA-Beirut Sister City News
Unveiling ceremony for the Beirut sign, Concert and Farewell Party

I would like the honor of your presence in attending the Unveiling ceremony of the Beirut Sign downtown at City Hall. Series of events will take place afterwards that will highlight our heritage in positive ways. Please forward this message to your family, friends and colleagues.

Friday, May 18
- Unveiling of the Beirut Sign on first and Main
- Walk to the brief ceremony at the Council Chambers
- Entertainment by the Notre Dame University Students Choir

Dignitaries that will be participating in this event
Ambassador Charbel Wehbi and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
City Council President Eric Garcetti
City Councilmember Dennis P. Zine
City Councilmember Tom LaBonge
Please RSVP to this event by email to ferris@labeirut.org

Date: Saturday May 19
LOS ANGELES DEBUT of the Notre Dame University Chorale from Beirut , Lebanon . This cultural exchange marks our first official collaboration with Lebanon . The performance will feature 180 singers from El Camino College, California Academy of Math and Science, Los Cancioneros Master Chorale, and our visiting chorale from Lebanon . We will perform Mozart’s “Coronation Mass” with the ECC Symphony and then selections from our Carnegie Hall selections and Lebanese Folk songs

Date: Sunday May 20
Farewell Party for Notre Dame University Chorale from Beirut , Lebanon
Phoenicia Restaurant in Glendale 343 Central Avenue , Glendale CA 91203
Cost: $25.00-$30.00 per person
Please RSVP to the restaurant directly by calling 818-956-7800
Website:  www.labeirut.org     Email: ferris@labeirut.org 

Lebanese Diaspora Map from www.iloubnan.com

Notes and Disclaimer
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