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From Wikipedia:
The past few weeks I have, like everyone else, been riveted by the news from Iran, at least until Michael Jackson’s demise took precedence for so many in the Western world. While it’s tempting to project our own hopes for Iran, we can’t really know for sure who really won the election even if fraud was involved (which I personally think very likely, but I also recognize that Tehran’s young population may not represent all of Iran as much I would like it to.) Regardless, most of us can’t help but support and empathize with the protesters and the longing so many in Iran have for change, whether fully democratic or simply a more tolerant version of the existing republic. A few years ago I worked at UCLA’s International Institute as public information officer, editor and designer. While there, I had the privilege of working with a talented Iranian-American singer. The daughter of a well-known poet and writer, Shahrzad Sepanlou left Iran at 12 after experiencing war, revolution and repression –– themes that crop up in many of her songs. Last night I found this very stirring video set to one of her songs, Azadi (Freedom), and found its strong visuals and Shari’s beautiful voice so compelling I just had to share it.
The iconic tower is Azadi Tower in Azadi Square. For more on her music visit Shahrzad’s webite. The song Azadi is on the album 1001 Nights. Yes, we have a winner Three Wolf Moon Haiku! To those of you who submitted haiku, thank you all — I hope you enjoyed composing them as much I did reading them. All the entries were excellent, from evocative to hilarious, and it was hard to pick a winner. So I dillied and I dallied and hemmed and hawed and in-between all the giggling I finally enlisted the aid of another judge to help me out. So the winner is … Kip, for her haiku below. A very properly haiku-y first line replete with exclamation, a second line that embodies the whole TWM fiasco and that shark line gets me every time.
So lucky Kip gets a tee! (Sorry, no shark tees here.)
A little while ago I was tickled to see some Rotem Gear tops featured in a fashion blog from Spain. When I popped over there in order to add them my blog list and looked around, I found that MundoChica is much more than a shopping blog; it’s plump with some fun looks at fashion throughout the ages and around the world. One video I immediately found on MundoChica shows a maiko, or apprentice geisha, going through the pain-staking process of applying her make-up. It’s a bit long, but the transformation is amazing and quite interesting, if you haven’t seen such a thing before.
By the way, for those who do not know, geisha are not, have never been, prostitutes. The word is generally mis-used. Gei means “art” and sha “person” (hmph, my kanji are not showing up after publishing, must learn how to do that in WordPress) so a geisha is someone who is steeped in the arts, in this case, singing, dancing, tea ceremony, engaging in witty conversation and banter — all activities for which geisha train for years — and making guests feel welcome and happy. A girl can become maiko at around 17 (generations ago it was around 12); modern Japanese law requires children to attend school through age 16.
Sometimes described as tattoo -inspired, henna-like or even art deco, this design always gets comments when I go out with it on. Just last week at a networking event, I was ordering a cuppa in Starbucks when the young guy barista said “Hey, I really like your scarf! Can I see the design?” He was bowled over when I told him it was my design and that I sell them. Do I need to tell you how much this made my day?! Thank you, friendly Barista Guy! Anyway, if scarves are not your thing, or if you’re just feeling like an out-of-the-ordinary top for this fine late-spring weather, take a look, as they are available in a huge range of style, colors and fabrics, including organics. By the way, that networking thing? It was a fun Happy HARO Hour at the Farmer’s Market on Fairfax with the inimitable Peter Shankman of the Help a Reporter Out newsletter, my favorite PR tool! (Um, the newsletter, not Peter.) We drank, we schmoozed, we took bad pictures. It was great to actually meet the guy behind HARO. Maybe you couldn’t find me in the last blog post’s photo, but can you find me in THIS photo?
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) means “freedom, liberty” in Persian, the official and national language of Iran. This Persian word is also borrowed by Kurdish, Urdu, Pashto and Hindi languages.
