I recently attended a discussion as part of Philadelphia’s Art Sanctuary Celebration of Writing 2010 festival. The discussion was about black blogging as a tool for social change. The panelists were distinguished and avid bloggers – including frequent CNN guest, Dr. Marc Lamont Hill – and they each said that whether you have 1 reader or 1,000, you blog because you are moved, because you are compelled to write.

Well, I feel compelled. I am compelled because every day, I read one article after another that makes me think, “Do people know this is happening?” or “What would happen if more people knew about this?” What would happen, for example, if instead of lambasting Helen Thomas’s remarks (which come at a rather interesting time, following as they do the recent Israeli attacks on the activist flotillas and the United States’ ambivalent reaction, hinting therefore at some tensions in U.S.-Israeli affections) we spent more time thinking and talking about how it is that an elected official can call the President of the United States a “rag head”? What if rather than publicly shame detractors of Israel (and stalwart defenders of democracy as Ms. Thomas has been for so many years) we hold accountable those who disparage and demean citizens of our own nation?

But what moved me most from the Art Sanctuary discussion was that these excellent bloggers are part of something larger than themselves. They are part of a conversation. And I too wish to join.

I’ve also learned, through working with documentary filmmaker and avid blogger Therese Shechter that blogging is an excellent way of creating a community, bringing together people of like minds who can, united, more effectively advocate for social change. *(Therese is currently blogging at The American Virgin, companion site to her documentary film about the meaning of virginity in U.S. American culture, How to Lose your Virginity).

So I will try, as imperfect as my attempts might be, to get some of my thoughts out there, to share them with my mom and her friends, and perhaps with you, a stranger who stumbled into this hidden corner of the webbed forest that is becoming the primary habitat of our lives.

Please look around, read, then read some more, follow the links, find new links, read as much as you can, and please join in the conversation with me.

Examples:
When my dad says we have burritos for dinner it really mean aab khoost wrapped in noon lavaash. MLIP

today, i realized my TA is Persian when I arrived 20 mins late to class and he wasnt there yet. MLIP

Today, I changed my default picture on facebook to a casual one of me and my best male friend. Within the hour, I received a message from my dad on facebook saying “what is this beetarbyat picture?” MLIP
(beetarbyat is the term parents use to refer to children who have gone astray, have lost all moral code, and are on the verge of being disowned by the family)

Today, I asked my parents when I can date. They said after I get married. MLIP.

Today, my mom bought shoes at Ross and told all her friends she got them from Nordstrom. MLIP

Today i told my parents i want to be a doctor… my mom started to cry tears of joy. MLIP (next time, MLIP, you should try telling them that you want to become a filmmaker. They will cry – different tears, of course, but cry nonetheless!)

Though I do wonder sometimes why he takes on some of the acting roles he does. I’ve seen him portray violent or cartoonish figures and wonder what he thinks about it: does he feel like he is perpetuating certain stereotypes of Iranians or does he feel like he is trying to debunk them? Anyway this video is funny

Quick video to introduce an amazing project intended to bridge cultural understanding of the Middle East through media literacy education. Leave a comment if you have any questions!

Let’s make it happen Sara Zia and Niknaz

Download the song for free at the Freedom Glory Project website.

Read more about him in an interview with Diane Tucker of Huffington Post.