A Letter from the Editors

A Letter from the Editors

Dear Reader,

It is with both excitement and careful thought that we present this semester’s issue of Perspective magazine, a semester fraught with tragedy, tension, and trauma. We have seen the righteous anger, grief, and sacrifice of the Iranian people as they fought, and keep fighting, for a better future — a fight that is eerily familiar but also entirely new. Watching from the outside with admiration and anxiety has been an experience that is not new for those in the diaspora, but those feelings, as well as the sensation of helplessness and the fear of speaking out, have reached a climax in the past few months. In the making of this issue, our writers sought community in one another, and our meetings frequently fostered broader conversations about our country. Though many of the articles do not feature the ongoing protests in Iran, they have been constantly on our mind this semester and provide a permanent undercurrent in any of our thoughts about the country and the culture. It is not this magazine’s prerogative, nor anyone’s outside of Iran, to declare what is best for the people there; the best we can do is to support them and to keep the conversation going.

Our cover for this issue is a photograph of an Iranian woman farming saffron, since we wanted to highlight the role of working class Iranian women as the driving force behind these nationwide protests. Farming saffron is incredibly labor-intensive; so too is rebuilding a country. The colors of Iran’s fields of saffron are strong and vibrant; so too are its women.

The challenge for Perspective this semester was picking up where we had left off before the pandemic. With so much turnover of editors and writers since the last time we had been fully in person, it was important for us to be rigorous about recruiting writers. We ended up with brilliant articles and dedicated people who helped us navigate the editing and laying out of this issue, which we could not have done without their help. We thank the staff endlessly for their work this semester.

This issue is dedicated to Zhina “Mahsa” Amini, as well as the people of Iran, both the martyrs and the surviving. The loss of life that we as a community have witnessed in the fight for liberation, over the past years and the past decades, is devastating. However, the Iranian people have shown and continue to show us what it means to be steadfast in the rejection of all kinds of oppression. They are, as always, incredibly resilient in the face of hardship, be it political, economic, or societal. We hope you keep the people of Iran in your mind as we do, as we all watch and hope for the rallying cry to come to fruition: woman, life, freedom.

Yours,

M. Rastgoo

Neda Nasseri

Editors-in-Chief