Mahin, our children, and I remained in Iran until one year after the Islamic Revolution and several weeks after the U.S. Embassy takeover. I was forced to remain in hiding until I left the country. If I hadn’t taken refuge in a secluded location, I would have been one of the embassy hostages. During my seclusion, the British discovered my hiding place and pleaded with me to ask one of the leading ayatollahs, Ayatollah Shariatmadari, to intervene on behalf of the hostages, but I could not, in good conscience, ask the religious leader for an intervention. Only weeks earlier, the U.S. Department of State had refused to support him and the Iranian military in a proposed coup d’état against the Khomeini regime. At the end of 1979 I returned to the United States and began a path of varied professional endeavors. My family joined me in 1980, and since that time I have experienced periods of success, as well as periods of disappointment. But throughout, I have continued to search for my “self,” and I feel I have finally found my identity. My recently published memoir entitled The Pepper Tree Kingdom traces my journey from the small, somewhat impoverished town of Wilmington to my time in Iran and our family’s return to the United States. The reported experiences clearly illustrate different levels of maturity and the tenacity with which I have engaged in my identity search. It illustrates my journey from the literal pepper tree kingdom to a sometimes-used virtual kingdom and the ultimate discovery of my “self.”
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Perhaps a short quotation from the poem entitled “The Healing Pepper Tree” that comprises the “Epilogue” of the memoir will give a flavor of the volume: The tree stood alone on an ugly vacant lot, unaware of the healing and solace it brought. Its clusters of pinkish fruit in fall and winter complemented this ferny-leaf, season-weary ginter. Almost every day I sat on my rope throne under its drooping branches, conducting my imaginary court, where I took no chances. Dr. Burroughs now resides in Walnut Creek, California, and The Pepper Tree Kingdom can be found online on Amazon.com and Lulu.com. †
PLEASE CONTACT US FOR MORE INFORMATION Curt A. Portzel (’92), JD, MTS Executive Director Center for Estate and Gift Planning curt.portzel@pepperdine.edu 310.506.4893
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