Journalist and author of Lipstick Jihad
Posted in Journal on Jun 1st, 2008
TEHRAN On a recent afternoon, while riding a rickety bus down Vali Asr Avenue, Tehran’s main thoroughfare, I overheard two women discussing the grim state of Iranian politics. One of them had reached a rather desperate conclusion. “Let the Americans come,” she said loudly. “Let them sort things out for us once and for all.” Everyone in the women’s section of the bus absorbed this casually, and her friend nodded in assent.
Posted in Journal on Mar 9th, 2008
Stunning. Long, but rather beautifully crafted and just as charming as the novel. The credit must go in part to Adel Imam, who plays the part of the dissolute, aging Pasha masterfully. Downtown Cairo is almost a characterful itself, and the aerial, loving shots of its faded, elegant streets and maidans are striking.
Posted in Journal on Feb 7th, 2008
I did not know that Ahmad Bourghani was a seyyed, but I always considered him one of the very few gentlemen produced by the Islamic Republic. The former reformist MP died this past Saturday, February 5, of a heart attack in Tehran, a fact I only learned moments ago and relate with great sadness.
Posted in Journal on Jan 9th, 2008
It is a rare movie that puts me to sleep twice. I first went to see The Day I Became a Woman in Tehran when it debuted, and promptly snoozed off during the interminable, irritating first segment of the triptych. I attempted the film once again last week, having forgotten in the intervening years just how disappointing and soporific it was.
Posted in Journal on Jan 5th, 2008
At a recent grand fete thrown by the ambassador of a prominent European nation, Iranian guests mingled with foreigners and both munched on tartlets and sipped fruit juice. A crowd began to gather around one particular Iranian male, who reluctantly began signing autographs.
Posted in Journal on Dec 31st, 2007
Anyone who’s interested in knowing more about contemporary Shiism and especially its role in Middle Eastern politics should stop what they’re doing and immediately buy this book. Vali Nasr has written a truly superb account of the split between Islam’s two sects, and how this ancient divide manifests itself in the political rivalries and religious identity politics we’re witnessing in the region today.
Posted in Journal on Dec 30th, 2007
I’ve been following the Benazir Bhutto coverage in the Western press with some dismay, and the piece by William Dalrymple finally irked me enough to say something. What I find objectionable in these rather predictable Benazir-as-Westernized-princess analyses is two things. First, the unattractive anti-female strain in the writing that masquerades as blunt talk about her privileged background.
Posted in Journal on Nov 17th, 2007
I’ve just finished the Yacoubian Building, by Alaa al-Aswany, and I’m desolate that it’s over. I loved it for its storytelling, its scathing indictment of Egyptian dictatorship, its sumptuous descriptions of downtown Cairo in all its shabby splendor. It took less than a week to read, which, given that I have a small baby, should tell you something about the novel’s irresistability.
Posted in Journal on Oct 19th, 2007
All sorts of things have me thinking about US-Iran relations lately. The other week I was on NPR’s Talk of the Nation discussing Ahmadinejad, and I realized (or perhaps a caller helped me realize), that because the Iranian president makes such spectacle of thumbing his nose at the US, it has become very easy to forget that as recently as 2003, it was Iran that was reaching out to the US, and it was Washington doing the nose thumbing.
Posted in Journal on Sep 29th, 2007
The chatter surrounding Ahmadinejad’s visit to the United States simply won’t stop, so at risk of ignoring the gigantic fil in the room, here are my immediate thoughts. Firstly, the president should pay heed to Hugo Chavez’s PR tactics. That particular populist manages to capture international headlines and warm the hearts of anti-globalization college students [...]