Frequently Asked Questions

What inspired you to start Life Goes on in Tehran?

When I was leaving Los Angeles, many of my friends were worried for me. They thought I was jumping into a war zone. Soon after moving to Iran I shared a few photos with them and assured them that all is safe and normal. But I soon realized how little they knew about Iran. Their fears and lack of knowledge about Iran is justified and a result of the negative portrayal of this country in Western media -- as well as sound bites from a certain controversial President. So I decided to start a site to remind them (and the rest of the world) that life goes on in Tehran and elsewhere in Iran.

Are you afraid of being arrested and or put in prison?

The whole idea behind my site is to show that Iran is not a dangerous country. To show that for the most part it's a beautiful country with kind, loving and hospitable people. If I were to constrain myself and not say everything that needs to be said then I would imply that I am afraid, and being afraid would mean that this is in fact a dangerous country and in doing so I would defeat my whole purpose! That said, if I were to be arrested or in any way reprimanded for this site, I would take back everything I just said. If I get arrested for a site that captures daily life in Tehran, then this country must be in deep trouble and suffering from an extreme case of paranoia. If this happens, I will invite all my visitors to raise hell. Update: A visitor once pointed out during the Bush years that I was more likely to be arrested by the US government and, without being charged or the right to an attorney, be put either in a secret CIA prison and or Guantanamo Bay.

What kind of a camera phone do you use?

I used a Motorola RAZR v3i camera phone for the first 17 months. It had 1.3 megapixels. But halfway through the September 2008 issue I upgraded to a Nokia N82 that features a 5 megapixels camera. Almost every photo is taken into Adobe Photoshop where minor adjustments are made. Adjustments aren't anything more than simple cropping, color correction and saturation control.

Why do the pages appear all out of whack?!

Chances are you are using Internet Explorer 6.0 on a PC. Since I am designing these pages on a Macintosh and I don't have and don't plan on ever owning Internet Explorer, I may not notice the out-of-whackness of the pages. My only recommendation is that you download and use Firefox.

Why do you continue the blog when you're outside of Iran?

Because by doing so I get the opportunity to share my thoughts and insights on what may be a more familiar setting for those visitors who have never been to Iran. Surely it will help them get a better sense for my perspective as they will have a point of reference. Also, I think doing so helps remind everyone that Tehran is only a plane ride away. I feel that most people in the West think that Tehran is a faraway city on some other planet! But the truth is that you could be eating a doner kabob for lunch in Cologne and have a burger in Tehran for dinner.