The happenings in Iran right now; and Baha'is!

From The New York Times

On Religion..
.. For Bahais, a Crackdown Is Old News..
Published June 26th, 2009


Sometimes during the past two weeks, making her rounds as a hospital resident, Dr. Saughar Samali has caught a glimpse of television news in a patient’s room or heard a bulletin on the radio in the family-practice office. Against her desire, against her better judgment, she has been plunged back into the maelstrom of Iran.

As long as she is on duty, Dr. Samali can suppress what she sees and hears of the marchers, the arrests, the beatings. But when she leaves St. Joseph’s Hospital in Paterson and returns home to nearby Clifton, the present conjures up a terrible past.

She remembers when her father’s factory in Tehran was set afire, leaving him severely scarred and blind in one eye. She remembers her family’s trying to escape to Pakistan, traveling in a smuggler’s Jeep, headlights out on a midnight desert. She remembers the army bullets that shattered the windshield and pierced the tires, and she remembers the months in prison that followed.

It was 1985, and she was 5 years old. In all the years since, even after a subsequent, successful escape and a new life in the United States, Dr. Samali has not forgotten what it meant to be a Bahai in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

“I try to turn my emotions off,” Dr. Samali, 28, said of the current turbulence in Iran. “The Bahais in Iran go through this every day. It’s sad to see this, but maybe this is a way for the truth to come out.”
The Bahais have long served as the proverbial canaries in the coal mine of Iran’s theocracy. Their persecution, as documented over nearly 30 years in numerous human rights reports, has contradicted all the näively hopeful predictions that the hard-line surface of Iran obscures a deeper wellspring of moderation and tolerance.

In 1983, the Iranian government banned all official Bahai activity. Deeming the faith an apostasy, Iran’s fundamentalist Shiite government has denied Bahais higher education, confiscated Bahai property, desecrated Bahai cemeteries and refused to recognize Bahai marriages.

During the recent upheaval, which is essentially a struggle among Shiites over the dubious re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Bahais have again served as scapegoats. Supporters of President Ahmadinejad have recycled the canard that Bahais are American spies and secret Zionists, and have added a new one, claiming the British Broadcasting Corporation stands for the Bahai Broadcasting Company.

The rhetorical attacks have coincided with the government’s decision to put seven Bahai leaders on trial on July 11 in a so-called Revolutionary Court. The leaders, arrested in early 2008, face charges of “espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities and propaganda against the Islamic Republic,” according to official Iranian press reports. Espionage is punishable by death.

So, for the 165,000 Bahais in the United States, at least 10,000 of whom are refugees from Iran, the questionable election and the crackdown on protesters come as grim confirmation of the government’s character.
“I feel a sense of turmoil in my heart,” said Farhad Sabetan, a spokesman for the Bahai International Community, the organization that represents Bahai interests at the United Nations. “Bahais have gone through this kind of pressure for over the last 30 years, and the way they’ve been treated is how the Iranian people are now being treated.”

The Bahai community in Clifton embodies both stirring achievement and unrelenting tragedy. A mixture of American converts and Iranian immigrants and refugees, the group operates a Bahai center for classes and celebrations and elects a nine-member “spiritual assembly.”

One of those nine, Habib Hosseiny, was born and raised in Iran, becoming a professor of English. He was studying for his master’s degree at the School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vt., when the Islamic revolution overthrew the shah in 1979. After hearing of the execution of seven Bahai leaders in 1981 in Hamadan — “all my friends, such beautiful people,” Mr. Hosseiny said — he decided not to return.

In the United States, Mr. Hosseiny built a career teaching English as a second language in colleges and high schools. He and his wife, Ahdieh, raised children, who gave them grandchildren. His Bahai friends in Clifton included doctors, engineers and journalists.

All the while, from afar, Mr. Hosseiny followed the waves of persecution in Iran. His father-in-law was imprisoned three times. A gynecologist who served on the spiritual assembly in Mr. Hosseiny’s home city, Kermanshah, was arrested and killed. The Iranian government seized Mr. Hosseiny’s home and all of his savings.

“When you’re strong in your faith, you accept this as a test,” Mr. Hosseiny, 69, said. “You want to take on important, difficult tests, so you can achieve.”

Even after 30 years of official oppression of Bahais, Mr. Hosseiny repeats a mantra that mullahs plainly do not hear: that Bahaism is a religion of peace, that Bahais are not political, that Bahais support the government wherever they live. All the Bahais in Iran want, he said, are the same human rights as other citizens.

As he watches the news, as he tries to call relatives in Iran, as he tracks events as obsessively as Dr. Samali tries to screen them out, Mr. Hosseiny has arrived at a conclusion similar to hers. Maybe the Bahais have achieved some kind of equality at last.

Attacked by the Basij militia and the Revolutionary Guard, assaulted with water cannons and guns, Iranian Muslims, at least the ones who publicly call for fair elections and human rights, are being treated just like Bahais.
E-mail: sgfreedman@nytimes.com

Our Puppy Ahzmand

For anyone who has not met our baby yet : )
this is Ahzmand, born Nov 6th, 2008
(boxer, lab, mastiff mix)

"What a cute little boy in the tulips! Arent you a cutie" - to be read in a sappy voice ; )

My Space

Hey guys, I love you all here, and i come by very very regularly, but I just cant blog on like three places at a time whenever I have one thing to say ; ) So, my blog, if you want to catch up with with (and Id love to hear from you :) then look me up on myspace, thats where I update everything.
Thank, love
Stephanie / Akasha

www.myspace.com/bellydancinboisebahai

extra money to throw away? I dont! how about donate instead? (please read)

So, I hope that there are people out there, friends included, that can understand my rage on this topic. Now, I am a very passionate person, as you all know, and get worked up about things I care about, yes... well, this just made me really pissed off! I think that it is just SO rude right now!!

So, listen to the radio, if youre from any where near Boise, ID, Im sure youve heard this add for this certain lazer hair removal place in town: (paraphrased)
"thanks giving is coming up and we have so much to be thankful for, really, things that we take for granted. [get this!] Things we take for granted like a roof over our head, plenty of food, satellite TV, the internet. Now why dont you add one more thing to be thankful for: never having to shave or wax again."

OMFG! First, of all, I know EXACTLY who they are advertising to: the rich jerk in town. Not just the rich, the rich jerk who doesnt care about people and would rather throw away some money on some pointless, materialistic, vain product instead of helping others in their midst.
K- but here's what really gets me! How rude is this to start airing this commercial right now?! People are getting laid off, its reeeeally bad in Idaho right now - those stores of people getting laid off after 20 years with the company - all the time here! So, you know maybe not everyone has these things, and maybe its a little insensitive to be putting this add on right now? HMM? I think so!!

And : 1 - I dont know about you all - but here's where Im coming from: Yes, I have a roof over my head - for now, and I dont take it for granted, I know that I am lucky compared to many right now.
2 - I havent had "plenty of food" in years!! quite often there is almost nothing to eat! and I have cried because I dont know what to do sometimes when I have no more food and no more money! (thank God for loving relatives that live pretty close).
3 & 4 - K- dont have satalite TV, and can barely affored the internet, and trust me - not taking it for granted

K - so thats my situation, and I know there are many in a similar one, and I know that there are many in a worse one right now! and things are probably only going to get worse for a while!

So, here's my question to those people that this commercial is talking to, and feel that way about life right now... Instead of getting your legs lazered! why not shave once a week and help people - donate some of that extra money you have laying around to people in need! People who can barely, or who cannot, afford food! who have no roof over their head.
Remember - charities all over the country are freaking out right now because their donations are down. Lower income people just dont have any extra money right now; so maybe you should be giving more this year to compensate, hmm? And, if you tell me that you give to charities and still have money for your legs to get lazered - maybe you should be giving still more!

phew - well, got that out. I vented it out to one of my friends on the phone the other day - but its still in there - I feel like I need to share this and hope others feel like speaking up too - or at least more inclined to give (every dollar helps). Ill tell you, many of our friends, us included, will give a dollar if thats all we have - to keep giving.

(feel free to repost anybody.)

Love you all,
and please say prayers and send positive energy to the world in your everyday lives.
my promise to you, is that I will try to let this go and do the same, to think positive and just pray for those that I know need help! (just needed to get it out to some friends.)
Stephanie

Yay! - and some updates!

Everybody remember that big test I was studying for?

" Dear Stephanie,
You have passed the Intensive Behavioral Intervention (IBI) Professional examination with a score of 82%. "

Yay!! Im really excited; now I have to do a bog 6 month project, which is basically like a paid internship. And then after that I will be fully certified and will also get a 2 dollar raise. So, what is IBI you ask? Intensive Behavioral Intervension. I will be working with developmentally disabled children, to help them work through problem behaviors, learn better behaviors, and learn to communicate better and manage their emtions, etc. Its such a specialized, involved approach however that the state will only pay for the children to have this service for 3 years, then they are stuck with developmental therapy their wholes lives, so hopefully you have taught them enough in that time.

I am really excited. I know that some times this will be a very stressful carreer, but it really feels right!! finally, huh. I really like I wanted to work with children and have always been drawn to helping children with exceptionalities - well, I think that this will be even more me that working with the mentally ill children. (one reason it will be so rewarding is that in this field you more often have the support of the parents, it will be a nice change. Many of the children I work with now that are "mentally ill" have thediagnosis of "bad parenting" in my opinion and nothing more... but then that is the world today - so many social ills and so little conscience...)

So - other updates while Im at it. I also just finished my yoga certificate testing - another dream of mine - and have to wait a couple weeks for this test as well - to see if I passed my practicle exam. I already finished the other two with A+ s : D. So, some of you should come to my classes when I start them ; ) and I plan to center them around kundalini yoga if you are interested.

This summer we had the kids, my wonderful, kids, step-kids, though I do not think of them that way when they are here. My step-son, Lestat, so good to see him again!! and to see my husband so happy to see his son again. But also this year, we had the pleasure of bonding with Raine, Lestat's sister. I love that little girl with such a feirceness!! I miss both of them sooo much as they just left for the fall to go home to mama Jocie in AZ, Tyler's ex-wife. But I will talk to them soon, and it should be our Christmas, I think, so hopefully you can all meet them then, if you did not this time. (there are many pics of course ;)

Sean, my brother-in-law with MMR and austism, but the sweetest man I know, is living with us now. He moved in a week before the kids left, though the house is still in turmoil. This has been a weeks process of getting out roommate Lynsea's last stuff moved out, the kids moved out and packed up, Sean packed up and moved in, and Sean and Tylers mother packed up and moved! Our kitchen looks like a storage unit atm. Yes, Tyler's mom moved as well. She moved to AZ to live with her bf. She will be closer to the grandkids and their mother as well, whom she is close with, so that's good. But I already miss her - more than I expected, and Sean does as well. But it is going to be nice to have him living with us. In some ways its having another ward, we will guide him and sometimes be like parents to him; but then sometimes he is so grown that Ty and I will be able to leave him a while and have time alone. Its good.

And! on top of all that - we have had an intensive teaching project going for the Baha'i Faith in the valley! it starts near my house and heads toward Sheri's and we are door-to-door teaching to find those out there waiting for the promised day, the world uniting Message, Messager, and religion. It has been wonderful, teaching, meeting new people so touch, but also exahsting. Another thing thats more work, but also very neat about the whole process is that the Baha'is are keeping careful track of where we have been - we do not want to bug someone again who has already said 'no thanks.' Baha'is are forbidden to prostelitize, and we will not be pushy - after all our religion is based on and the purpose of which is to unite the world! Using the Writings of the more recent Manifestation of God: Baha'u'llah. (feel free to ask more of course ;)

So, at least things have calmed down some now that I have finished both those tests I was working on- and passed the IBI part, and now that we have finished moving Ty's mom and Sean. but things have a little more to go to normal, We need to figure out this house again, and get caught up financially, though it is happening steadily, though slowly, and we need to go for drives, or take some time off! And, man I miss the kids! ...
I wish they would call...
Or even my husband for that matter! so in love with the infernal man, but he cannot remember to call me! makes me feal not very missed, and very frustrated - but I am sure there are many other women out thee who feel the same.

Love you all,
Alla'u'Abha,
Good night,
Stephanie

My Dragon soul

What dragon soul do you have?
You scored as a Blue Dragon
You're a blue dragon. You're loaded with tenderness and love. You're easily able to say how you feel and understand people's feelings. When someone is sad, you give them tender loving care. You're a true charmer.
Blue Dragon
83%
Green Dragon
83%
Indigo Dragon
77%
Sun Dragon
74%
Red Dragon
66%
Purple Dragon
57%
White Dragon
54%
Black Dragon
51%

Nature events!

Anyone else notice all the happenings in the world of nature lately?? it makes me wonder about what is coming. Now, Ill tell you, Im a pretty intuitive person, and last year I felt all year that some big things were coming this year. hmm, especially around April and May! All through those two months, I kept writing '08 already, last year, and it would give me a creepy feeling. Now, I know not all my wonderful friends out there believe in this, but nature sure has been calling out to us as well!

So, lets see, we have a bright huge meteor that hit in Washington, then the next day a lunar eclipse on a full moon, which turned it a beautiful orange at one point, and early this morning an earthquake in Idaho!!

If anyone has any idea what any of this might mean, let me know! Im super curious and, though I beleive in Science too, I try to stay balanced in science and mystisism, I definitely believe there are sometimes signs from nature, or at least maybe they are responding to things...

Let me know if you know anything about it, feel something from it, or have any other ideas about it : D thanks,

love,

Stephanie

Changes, improvements, and updates on life

So, it all worked about wonderfully for my hubby, thank you all so much for any prayers, I truely believe they made a huge difference!

So, lotsa things been goin on, saw I hadnt posted in a while :) I got a new job at a Hospice place, working in the office and supervising the staff :) I hired my first person the other day, and the owner is really into feng shui (spelling?) so its cool, theres a little pond and waterfall in the building with big coy in it, and a bright blue parrott named Bob :)
Ty and I have been doing great lately! been figuring out the marriage thing I think : D I got my first v-day card with "wife" on it! yay, it was very special!

I have chicken pocks! yep, second time in my life, but they are mild this time, as they were the first, weird huh?

Ty finally started working too, so hopefully we wont be soooo damn broke all the time! and taxes are coming back soon, yay, i might splurge on the tattoo ive been wanting really bad for years, the pegasus with the star i talk about on my back :)

I got in a car accident when there was all that black ice, on that day when all the schools were closed and many business too it was so bad. Yeah, i was just driving around a little jaunt in the road, going veeery slow, im smart about the roads, and my car just kept going straight. yep. it sucked. and ive been driving on snow since i started, and i know the tricks you know with turning, and with breaking, when to, when not to, there was simply nothing i could do! So, I hit a guard rail, and my car is probably totalled, but you know I think it will work out great in the end, (I had insurance Thank God) and so when we get the money, will just get two less nice cars instead of one, cause our truck is diiiieing.

Im almost done with my yooooga certificate! yay! and I might be able to teach it at work once a week! that would be sooo fun!

I feel lately, like I am really getting belly dance more, and its so excited and fulfilling, like Ive recommitted myself, I think im improving again, where maybe I wasnt for a while, I just looooove this dance, really its a part of me! and it fills so good to be doing so much of it, and practicing, and improving, I want to be wonderful, so I can express all that is , and its soo beautiful and fun!
And I love you sisters so much! you have all made my life better too!

We got our pilgrimage dates for our religion, the Baha'i Faith!! Im so excited! We will be going to Haifa, Isreal in April 2009! Peeerfect time of the year, not too hot yet, and everything is in bloom! we get to visit most of the holy places there! its a 9 day spiritual adventure, and Im so excited its here now, its like 5-6 year waiting list, all Baha'is try to go at least once in their lives. And if we're lucky and can save up enough by then, we'll take a longer trip and stay at the layovers a few days, prob in Germany one way and France the other! yay, it makes my heart smile so much, and we will be there during several holy days, its going to be so awesome! The Baha'i world center is there, on Mnt Carmel. : D

Modeling is slowly starting to happen! Ive got a couple more promotions coming up! :) my pics arent up yet, but they wil be soon i hope on www.urbantalent.com. after they are posted, hopefully, ill get some add work! that would be so fun!

Oh, guess what! after the heart Hafla on Saturday I have my first party that im dancing at, you outside of Baha'i and my family stuff! yay, and im gonna get paid and everything, its so excited, dancing for a family persian birfday party : D

Losta pictures!!

check out if you like, there are many new ones, not just Goddess Fest. I even finally got wedding pics up ;)
Enjoy : )
If Goddess Fest not up there when you read this, it will be shortly ; )