Reality Has Become So Intolerable,

When I First Left Iran At The Age Of 13, Iran Had Become Such A Shining Star - It Was The Point To Which All My Desires And Dreams Returned.

Once Evil Is Individualized, Becoming Part Of Everyday Life, The Way Of Resisting It Also Becomes Individual. How Does The Soul Survive? Is The Essential Question. And The Response Is: Through Love And Imagination.

I Would Like To Say How Much I Resent People Who Say Of The Islamic Republic That This Is Our Culture - As If Women Like To Be Stoned To Death, Or As If They Like To Be Married At The Age Of Nine.

I Believe In Empathy. I Believe In The Kind Of Empathy That Is Created Through Imagination And Through Intimate, Personal Relationships. I Am A Writer And A Teacher, So Much Of My Time Is Spent Interpreting Stories And Connecting To Other Individuals. It Is The Urge To Know More About Ourselves And Others That Creates Empathy. Through Imagination And Our Desire For Rapport, We Transcend Our Limitations, Freshen Our Eyes, And Are Able To Look At Ourselves And The World Through A New And Alternative Lens.

I Eat My Heart Out Alone.