Iran, a hope

After talking with another site contributor, in July I invited the iranian.com community to join us in writing about their reflections on Iran after the June uprising. I had no idea people would respond so overwhelmingly to the call. I am filled with pride about our community of loving and thinking people who wrote a total of 29 blogs (from 25 contributors) in response to this call. The pieces which were both in Farsi and in English were some of the most thought provoking pieces of poetry, prose, music, and art. Thank you all for your thoughtful and heartfelt contributions. You can see a list of the series below, as well as in my original blog. Thank you!

I would like to invite you all to indulge me in another invitation. As Iran goes through a tumultuous time with expected and unexpected news of courage and devotion, ignorance and hate, these days most of us are preoccupied with conflicting thoughts, fears and hopes about Iran’s future. What are your hopes for Iran? What would you like to see happen there? What is your ultimate idea of what a good and happy Iran is? Do you have any ideas on how to reach those goals? I would like to invite you all to write about those thoughts and contribute to a new collection of work by iranian.com contributors.

Let me remind you again that this is not a writing contest, just a forum for expression in a loose format. You can write in English or Farsi, poetry or prose, art or music, just as you did the last time. The simple rules are as follow:

1. To mark the group effort, everyone’s piece should start with the following words “One day… .”
2. Your written pieces should be no more than 750 words.
3. Please choose the following title for your blog so everyone knows it is a part of the hope series: “Iran, a hope.”
4. Your piece can be in Farsi. In that case please start your blog with the word “roozi…”.

5. At the top of your blogs, please put in the following phrase: “For the Iran, a hope series.”

Thank you in advance for considering this invitation and for your participation.

List of pieces contributed to the Iran, a reflection series.  Thank you all!

1. “Iran, a reflection”: Olympiad of images in our minds , and Iran, a reflection: “it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness” , and “Iran, a reflection: یاد آر ز شمع مرده، یاد آر”  by Anahid Hojjati
2. Iran, a reflection: fear , and Iran, a reflection: Will they come?, and Iran, a reflection: I confess by Multiple Personality Disorder
3. Iran, a reflection: Superman by Melika
4. Iran, a reflection:  امید by Ari Siletz
5. Iran, a reflection: آزادی by  Javad Yassari
6. این همان پس-کوچه است by persian westender
7. IRAN, A REFLECTION: The war inside me by Assal_B
8. Iran, a reflection: همه میدانند by Orang Gholikhani
9. Iran, a reflection: Names by Niki Tehranchi
10. Cartoon, Everyone knows rahbar is a caveman by Omid Hast
11. “Iran, A Reflection”. How Are We Coping?” by minadadvar
12. Iran, A Reflection: Shot in the heart by Iranian Reader
13. Iran, a reflection: آواز سوزناک by Moorche
14. Iran, a reflection: سهراب by Azarin Sadegh
15. Iran: A Reflection — Action Confessional by sima
16. Iran, a reflection: Constriction by Monda
17. Iran a reflection; Vanity by Anonymouse
18. We’re Not Gonna Take It by Robert
19. Devastating! by Azadeh Azad
20. Iran, a reflection: “boro baba!” , and Iran, a reflection: Last seen wearing a green ribbon by Nazy Kaviani
21. The future is bright by Jahanshah Javid
22. Iran, a reflection: نگاه by Literary Critic
23. Iran, A Reflection: Beyond Polished Nails and Gender Divide by desideratum.anthropomorph…
24. Iran, A Reflection: Days of War and Heat by Baroness Dudevant
25. Iran, a reflection – Absolute Power by Mehrban