Manjushri Project

I have just learned that the Manjushri Project would like to partner with me to put on a touring version of "picture of you: Images from Iran." How wonderful! This brings "pictures of you: Images from Iran" a full-time staff of four, and the help of many additional members.

The collaboration of the Manjushri Project opens up a long list of possibilities that I have been only imagining until now. The Manjushri Project will assist me in finding venues, financing, and additional collaborators, but will leave the artistic vision up to me! I have already explained to them that in my mind, the venues, financing, and every other piece of the project IS the art of it, as much as my photographs and the ideas that I am hoping to express.

Are you wondering where their name comes from? You're not alone! Manjushri is a Buddhist deity who cuts through illusion to reveal the truth. He does this in order to allow all beings to achieve enlightenment. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manjusri

Know Your Candidates

I believe the upcoming U.S. presidential election will be a pivotal one in Iranian-American relations. Fortunately, current events have required each candidate to articulate a position on Iran. Unfortunately, most candidates express a bellicose attitude toward Iran. Barack Obama seems to be the only candidate expressing an interest in diplomacy, as opposed to inflammatory rhetoric. With U.S. troops on the ground in two of Iran's neighbors, one of which has a Shia majority, the risk of rapid escalation is very real. I fear that candidates who stake out a bellicose position now have not given themselves enough room to maneuver the complex situation as it unfolds.

As always, you can click on the title of this post to see the article which inspired it.