Category Archives: Iran

Everyone Who Reads Rumi in English Should Read This New Yorker Article

Posted on January 22, 2017 by Richard Jeffrey Newman

Written by Rozina Ali, the article is called “The Erasure of Islam from the Poetry of Rumi,” and it says something that Iranians I know have been saying for a very long time—something that I learned from them, in fact. … Continue reading →

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One Reason It’s Important to Pay Attention to the Elections in Iran

Posted on February 29, 2016 by Richard Jeffrey Newman

  This is important to pay attention to not because it means women are suddenly free of discrimination and oppression in Iran, but because it demonstrates that Iranian women are not the helpless, powerless victims they are often portrayed as in … Continue reading →

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Would You Believe I’m a Woman from Iran?

Posted on June 23, 2015 by Richard Jeffrey Newman

From Women in the World:

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This is a Remarkable Story

Posted on May 31, 2015 by Richard Jeffrey Newman

I will let the video speak for itself.

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“Our Man in Tehran” – A Really Interesting Series from The New York Times

Posted on April 1, 2015 by Richard Jeffrey Newman

The New York Times is running a really interesting series on its website called Our Man in Tehran (the link will take you to episode one). Thomas Erdbrink, the paper’s bureau chief in Tehran has made seven brief videos meant to capture … Continue reading →

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What Do You Do When Your Student Tells You Her Father Threatened Her Life? 2

Posted on September 19, 2014 by Richard Jeffrey Newman

In my last post, I told you about a former student who came to my office distraught because her father had threatened her life. It’s now more than two weeks since I walked her over to the counseling center on … Continue reading →

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What do you do when your student tells you her father threatened her life?

Posted on September 12, 2014 by Richard Jeffrey Newman

Well, if you’re a K–12 teacher and you believe the student is at all credible (or maybe her credibility doesn’t matter), you have very specific reporting requirements, and there are protocols for that reporting that you have to follow, and … Continue reading →

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Workplace Politics: Is the Risk Worth the Danger?

Posted on September 2, 2014 by Richard Jeffrey Newman

In “Story 16” in “Padeshahan,” or “Kings,” the first chapter of Sa’di’s Golestan—the stories are simply numbered; they are not given titles—the protagonist is having a hard time earning enough money to support his family. He has become so poor, … Continue reading →

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I’ve Lived Until The End of My Desires

Posted on August 8, 2014 by Richard Jeffrey Newman

I’ve heard more than a few jokes about men who, after finding the proverbial genie in a bottle, manage to screw up their three wishes. The one that comes to me now involves a man who walks into a bar … Continue reading →

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The Viper Strikes, and Lives

Posted on August 1, 2014 by Richard Jeffrey Newman

I have been fascinated by metaphor since I was an undergraduate linguistics major, when one of my professors assigned parts of Metaphors We Live By, by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson. In that book, Lakoff and Johnson argue that, as … Continue reading →

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