Submitted by Migael Scherer

Special to The Weekly

After a hopping busy summer, the Lopez Center launches into Labor Day weekend with two events on Friday, Sept. 2: the Artist Studio Tour preview reception from 5–7:30 p.m.; and at 8 p.m., a travel presentation that will open your eyes to starkly beautiful and unexpectedly friendly Iran.

“I like traveling to places before they’re changed by crowds of tourists,” Ian Lange explains of his choice to visit a country most would avoid. The U.S. embargo had been recently lifted and small tours had just began.

“Iran hasn’t yet been changed by a large influx of outsiders,” he says. “I didn’t want to wait.”

Lange and his wife travelled with Journeys International, a company that specializes in cross-cultural explorations that are intellectually ambitious. The group of 13 began and ended their tour in Tehran, Iran’s traffic-clogged capital city. Their route took them as far south as Shiraz, the ancient birthplace of what was regarded as the finest wine in the Middle East and whose vineyards now legally produce only table grapes and raisins.

What Lange saw throughout Iran reminded him of his experiences traveling in Cuba in 2003: a beautiful country filled with people who like Americans.

“They wanted pictures taken of us with their cameras, and then wanted us to take photos of them on ours, too,” said Lange.

Despite the restrictions since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Lange met many Iranian men and women who think and speak up for themselves.

Lange is a retired professor of geology from the University of Montana. He has travelled extensively through South America, Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa. Spotlight on Lopezians describes him as “a world traveler who knows the Earth literally inside and out.”

Extend your evening of culture and community by joining him after the Studio Tour preview reception. Donations, which benefit the Lopez Center, are welcome.