built out of three panels from old james bond movie. we wanted people to feel like i am not supposed to be in this room. this is the one that is supposed to be barred off and locked up. >> the ole andersonner -- oleander. this popular shrub is popular in warm climates. it has been implicated in a surprising number of murders and accidental deaths. children are at risk because it takes only a few leaves to kill them. a southern california woman tried to collect on her husband's life insurance by putting the leaves in his food. she is now one of 15 women on california's death rowan the only one who attempted to murder with a plant. >> people who may haven't been to their cons tore or been to

-- do serve tore or their botanical garden, it gives them a reason to come back. you think let's go and look at the pretty flowers. these are pretty flowers, but they are flowers with weird and fascinating stories behind them. that is really fun and really not what people normally think of when they come to a horticultural institution. >> "wicked plants" is now showing at the san francisco conserve tore of flowers. unless next time, get out and play.

>> good evening, everybody. my name is michael farrah. i'm the senior advisor to mayor newsom, and i want to welcome you all to city hall to celebrate the second -- what will hopefully be forever -- arab heritage month celebration at city hall, so thank you all for coming. [applause] as you probably know, tonight is a difficult night for many people. the world series is going on, and i'm here to report to you aid is 0-0 so far, in the second inning. we will have it on during the reception. before we get started, i wanted to recognize and bring up two elected officials to speak briefly, supervisors avalos and mayor, who have always stood with the community -- supervisors avalos and mirkarimi, who have always stood with the community. they have consistently had their

offices open when we had an issue. they're being here means a lot to us -- their being here means a lot to us. now more than ever, we need to be friends with government, and knowing their door is open to us is appreciated. [applause] supervisor mirkarimi: good evening. i'm ross mirkarimi. i represent the fifth district, and i'm delighted to be standing up here with my colleague who will speak in a moment. i want to thank mike farrah for his leadership and mayor newsom for helping facilitate this gathering. i'm iranian american, persians, and throughout my -- [applause] throughout my life, my family had always had very close relationships with the arab and arab-american community. i spent a fair amount of time working in the middle east in jordan and iraq and traveling through loud the milk --

throughout the middle eastern areas, so i feel very much at home, and it is important that feeling is well represented in city hall. i look at the flags that are well illustrated year. it amplifies the need that much more that san franciscans, californians should understand and become more acquainted with the arab-american culture. if the census proves me right, when the numbers come out next year officially, we will see a significant growth of the arab- american population in the san francisco bay area but also throughout the state of california. that is critical because it means that much more that arab- americans have the right and the reason to want to make sure that their interests are being well represented in local government and city government, and, of course, in federal government. i continue to look forward to working with everyone here. thank you for the contribution

you make to making our city one of the most majestic on this planet. have a great festival. thank you. [applause] supervisor avalos: good evening. i represent district 11 in san francisco, and as i became a candidate for supervisor and had been supervisor, i got to realize and learn more about the contributions of the arab- american community here in san francisco and the bay area. it is profound. i also got to really understand the link between the bay area and the middle east and how the conflict there affects us here locally as well, and we all live with this and strive for a world with peace, and part of that is a real understanding about the cultures of this world. we need to have a greater understanding and appreciation of the arab-american culture, the arab culture in the united states and in san francisco as well. this celebration is an important

part of that work we have ahead of us together. i want to always say that my office is always open to hear from members of the community and to be invited to events in the community as well. i look forward to a partnership that lasts many years, and that we will all live together in a peaceful world. thank you. [applause] >> we as a community have had really an amazing year, from the hearings about the flotilla at the board of supervisors to the hearings at the human rights commission about racial profiling. it has been a profound year for us, and it has raised a tremendous amount of awareness, not only in city hall, but in northern california and the nation about the issues we face as a community, but it has not just been those issues we have faced. we also had what i think is probably the most successful

festival we have had in a long time with the arab cultural center, and each year, the film festival gets better and better. it continues to tell the story of our community and change people's minds based on our -- on art. it is with that pleasure that i bring of our awardee for this year's arab heritage month certificate. michel, could you come up real quick? [applause] his work every year really changes people's hearts and minds. if you could just speak for a few minutes about the festival and the success you faced this year. here is the award for this year's fair of heritage month. thank you. [applause] -- this year's arab heritage month. thank you. [applause] >> find the executive director

of the arab festival. -- i'm the executive director. will i accept this proclamation on behalf of the arab-american community in sentences go with deep gratitude and affection -- the arab-american community in san francisco with deep gratitude and affection. allow me to thank our mayor, gavin newsom, for establishing arab heritage month, which will always be proudly remembered by our community and future generations. [applause] our thanks and appreciation also goes to mike farrah, a community member, leader, and representatives who worked diligently to make this a reality for our community. lastly shadi elkarra, who tirelessly

put the details for this event together to make it materialize on the ground. thank you for your dedication to our community. most of all, i would like to thank each and every one of you for being here to support this important occasion. this is an occasion that should become the space and base where the community comes together to address all our differences, whether real or perceived. the job of making our communities solid, relevant, prosperous comes from each one of us where we can make us successful individuals. one successful community, one voice, to proudly served our community's higher interest to collectively served our city and our country.

arab-americans are not the other. our community is not to be feared. our community is to be relied on. it is a rich community in culture and talent and heritage. we are the defendants of people who build great cities like casa blogging, baghdad, cairo, jerusalem, damascus -- casa blanca. we are the people of the world who have given the world great profits and religions. -- great prophets and religions. thank you. [applause] >> every year that i have been in city hall, i have tried to take an intern from the community and try to teach them the ways of politics to make sure we have leadership that keeps coming, so eventually, we have candidates for office.

like when a friend on the school board. is she here? -- like winifred on the school board. a couple of years back, i was wise enough to bring on an intern that has made all the difference for our community, especially with arab heritage month. he worked so hard for last year's event and has made this year a success. we were really concerned about timing, and we were not sure he would get to it, and shadi came to me and said that we had to do it, had to continue the tradition. without his work, this never would have happened. shadi, can i introduce you and have you say a few words? >> thank you, everyone, for being here. i apologize about the delay, but it would not be an arab even if it started on time. thank you for coming to the 2nd

annual arab heritage month celebration. there is a lot going on in the city. the giants are in the world series, it is game two, and you guys are here. but we do have a tv set up in the reception room. i want to thank supervisors mirkarimi and avalos, from day one -- i remember meeting ross years ago in district 5, and he was one of the only people that came out to the arab cultural festival. he had a table, and nobody would have known then that he would be one of our community of's strongest allies. and supervisor avalos, who has truly been there for our community. once i told him that i would love for them to come, they did not hesitate. can we give them a round of applause for being here tonight? [applause] like mike said, we were not sure if we were going to do it this year. there was a lot of things going

on during the month of october, especially during the city, but i felt it was very important, not for us personally, but for the sake of the community. last year, we had an inaugural celebration, which was crucial and very historic in san francisco, so we owe it to the community to continue this event because this is your city hall and our city hall, and the arab community is the dynamic community that has been here for generations and has contributed significantly to the vitality of this city. like michael said, giving the award to the arab film festival -- it is the premier arab film festival in the nation. for over 15 years, they have been portraying films that do not only represent our rich heritage but kind of dispel myths and stereotypes of the arab people, who they are, and giving these films an audience

that would not usually see them. even though it is through the art and fun, it is a powerful and strong message, and i urge you all to support the arab film festival because they do so much work for our community, and we do not really realize that. we have a fun program for you guys tonight. first of all, like i said, asserting our narrative as arab- americans is very important. through our historic legacy, we have had poetry being a crucial and historic part of our culture. old tradition is a very important part of arab culture, so we will be starting with two pieces from two arab-american women that are students at uc- berkeley. the creme de la creme. they are both brilliant individuals. they will do a co-written peace

-- piece, so i'm going to hand it to them. thank you. [applause] >> is this working? ok. we are students at the university of california berkeley, and we would like to share some poetry with you guys. [speaking foreign language] we circled the dark path was slow, deliberate steps eyes fixed in pain, confusion, and grief we are the ambling madmen

we are grievants an insanity we are fragments of broken people >> this is a funeral hymn we sing about our mothers history is lost the struggles of our fathers >> i can sit in the aromas of my past four days in the morning coffee stains my consciousness coffee was once the morning silence, a moment of lists' whose light shine in don it is but a memory for forgetfulness the sense of coffee circles the room -- the scents of coffee circles the room my grandmother's perfume was of another era the memory of a memory when

perfume smells of hope and shakes the room to tears the perfume circles encircles the room i can sit in the aromas of my past for days. >> the circles of boulevards built by napoleon and palestinian children the circumvent the circulation of air the life-giving water damage children sit smoking teargas circles the air blood runs, and it is the only thing that runs freely in the -- in this place i can sit in the aromas of my past for days >> my fingers circle the golden rim of the china cup i never knew what to make of

dead leaves in boiling water i do not know what tomorrow holds >> or if we will continue running in circles and circles all i know is around comfort where we put forward our offerings >> linen sheets, the contents of the nail, so together families interleaving boundaries we passed the yemeni coffee and the slices of watermelon >> which still grow from palestinian soil >> it is moments like these and the roundness of my father's smiling cheeks the line at my cousin's wedding is these moments that i have hope there is hope in the strength and beauty of our mothers the resilience of our children the belly laughs of our huddles

>> there is hope in our joint -- joy >> extending god's blessings >> [speaking foreign language] >> because what goes around comes around [applause] thank you guys. that is it for us. [applause] >> thank you, ladies. give them another round of applause. [applause] when i first approached them with the idea of reading poetry, both of them look through some classic arabic poetry, but i

told them they were both amazing goes, so we should hear their own original work. those are two women in our community that are amazing poets and will probably do amazing things with their lives. so thank you very much. our next thing on the program -- another very rich part of our culture -- is obviously our dress. through our clothing, i think that represents our diversity because throughout the arab world, i think the diversity of our clothing really shows how diverse the arab people are. beyond and and that bond, it is the cultural linguistics and political ties that we share -- beyond an ethnic bond. we put together, just from arab- americans in the bay area -- we said, "why don't we showcase our clothing?" this is the first time i have ever put a production like this

together, so we will start shortly. let me just said of the music. thank you. -- let me just set up the music. thank you. ♪

the first pieces of the north african region. kate on the right wearing a dress found in tunisia, morocco, and the western area part of north africa. a traditional dress from algeria, which is from an

indigenous ethnic group in north africa that exists throughout the arab world and is a traditional form of a tire. [applause] -- form of attire. more of the moroccan style. a lot of it is the embroidery on the sides. thank you, lina. [applause] another example that is more towards moroccan dress attire. thank you. this is the algerian dress which is an indigenous dress for algeria. thank you. [applause]

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these three pieces are from the gulf region of the arab world, which is saudi arabia, yemen, and oman. kate is wearing a heavier velvet dress with embroidery on the top and kind of going down through the arms. sama this is more toward the saudi, yemen region of the gulf. susan is wearing a traditional yemeni dress from a mountain region. this is a traditional form of a tire -- attire.

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♪ >> this is the last part of our show. this is the part of the show

that features lebanon, jordan. she is wearing traditional garb from damascus. i do not know if you can tell but there is a lot of handstitched detail at the top. lena is wearing a traditional jordanian start out with handstitched work. these stars represent different countries. this dress is more of a jordanian style. this is a palestinian dress with hand importers from the top to bottom. -- embroidery from the top to

bottom. this is all handstitched. could the other models join the girls on the floor? [applause] >> let's have another round of applause for the models. thank you for participating and showing not only the diversity of our cultund