Assistant history professor Reza Pirbhai stood in front of a mass of incoming freshmen in the PMAC on Friday and challenged them to see the similarities in people of  different cultures. “Who has not cut class to hang out with friends?” Pirbhai asked the crowd. “How many of us has snuck a cigarette here or there? Who has had a crush or two, and who has not felt alienated or awkward amongst friends? A show of hands. Does any of this relate to you?”Hundreds of uncertain students raised their hands in the air. “Good,” Pirbhai said. “Now I won’t have to bring up [Marjane] Satrapi’s stories of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll to drive home the point.”The University held its Academic Convocation for the class of 2012 on Friday to discuss “The Complete Persepolis,” a graphic novel selected for the Summer Reading Program. Satrapi’s novel is a “graphic memoir combining text and black and white sequential art to relate the story of growing up in revolutionary Iran,” according to the Summer Reading Program’s Web site. Pirbhai said Satrapi’s message is “we are all human beings.” “Satrapi does us the favor of reminding us how the histories of different cultures and countries are bound,” Pirbhai said. “Grievances certainly exist on both sides, but good guys and bad guys are not as easy to discern when political rhetoric is cast aside.”Lillian Bridwell-Bowles, English professor and director of Communication Across the Curriculum, asked students to consider what they would include in their own memoir. “Consider yourself an advocate and witness to world affairs … one ordinary person watching history unfold,” Bridwell-Bowles said. “What details will you remember to put into your memoir?”After the convocation, students split into groups to talk about the book in greater detail.Victoria Yu, mass communication freshman, said she benefited more from the discussion groups.”The discussion was better than all of the speakers,” Yu said. “The speeches were so long that I got distracted.”The University will host a free showing of the movie version of “The Complete Persepolis” on Nov. 13 in the Cox Communication Center for Student Athletes. Satrapi will visit campus April 14. –Contact Katie Kennedy at [email protected]