The City of Tehran
Dear Friends,
Thank you for you warm reception of my update on Iran. I started responding to you individually but soon realized that I have to quit my job to handle the volume of correspondence. After the first ten or so, I only answered messages with questions. If you sent a kind note, asked for your e-mail address to be changed with a different one, or provided
a friend’s address for the list, please forgive me for not writing back. You will notice that I have made the necessary adjustment.
A note before the updates: I do not wish to give an impression of a trouble free Iran. The civil society that is forming in the country has
a long way to go. Iranians continue to make sacrifices for that to
happen. What I would like to do is to correct misinformation, give a
taste of the social and cultural complexity of Iran, and supply the
parts of the picture that are missing.
* Speaking of pictures, I would like to begin with a slide show of
Tehran: The city of Tehran (forgive some obvious captions, i.e. street!).
* I would like to introduce to you the First Family of Iranian
Cinema: the Makhmalbaf family. The family includes Mohsen
(father), Marzieh (mother), and their children Samira, Maysam,
and Hana To visit the Makhmalbaf Film House, please click on:
http://www.makhmalbaf.com/ . While the bulk of the reviews and publications
about the work of these artists is in Persian, you will find photo
galleries and short descriptions for each of their films in
English. Please be sure to visit the personal photo gallery , and
the awards, for each artist.
* For this week, I also have an excellent recent article on Iran
by Marcia C. Inhorn, professor of public Health at the University
of Michigan. Professor Inhorn describes Iran as a country to watch
on many levels. She declares “The Iran I encountered is far from
the medieval theocracy often portrayed in American media.” The
article is called “A More Open Mind Toward Iran.” (The Chronicle
of Higher Education, June 06). You will find the article on google
or at: www.sph.umich.edu/new_events/pdf/inhorm%20iran.pdf
Have a great weekend.
Fatemeh Keshavarz
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Fatemeh Keshavarz, Professor and Chair
Dept. of Asian and Near Eastern Languages and Literatuares
Washington University in St. Louis
Tel: (314) 935-5156
Fax: (314) 935-4399
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Windows on Iran 