Roxana Saberi and Easter recap

Yesterday I particularly enjoyed going in to my internship. After a full morning of interviews, Roxana Saberi stopped by in the early afternoon for an informal Q&A with the staff and anyone who wanted to attend. She made some very interesting points in response to a few questions:

What should the U.S. government be doing to encourage the respect for human rights in Iran/how do we create a better dialogue with that country?

As she pointed out, the U.S. is not exactly on top of the human rights pedestal at the moment. When Roxana explained to the prosecutor that she was pressured to make a false confession, one of the prison guards argued that she made the confession while they were having an informal conversation, and that "this isn't the United States; we don't waterboard here." In short, before we can expect to gain any headway with a state that is vehemently opposed to our culture and government, we must embody in the best way the ideal that we claim to represent/aim to spread throughout the world. Another political tool they used against us, in response to denunciations of secret prisoners/illegal detention is...dun dun dun...Guantanamo...surprise!

What coping mechanisms did you use to maintain sanity during your captivity?

She said that during solitary confinement, she would sing quietly to herself, pretend to play the piano on the wall, and try to do some exercise in the tiny space she was given. After making her confession, she was moved to a cell with other political prisoners, including a member of the Baha'i leadership (who was charged with spreading corruption). There, they helped each other cope by praying together, except for the atheist in their cell who would watch, apparently. Also, her cellmates were interested in learning English, so she gave them some instruction each day. They also told each other jokes. I can't even imagine having that sort of mental fortitude, especially when your arrest is arbitrary and your future totally uncertain, although having cellmates who are actually not hardened criminals would help as well.

This brings me to another interesting point she made:

She said that in virtually every interview, she was asked whether she didn't know that what she was doing was dangerous, and if she knew she could be arrested for it. I don't believe this is the way she answered them, but she said to us that it is more important to consider why those things could be considered risky--not just whether they are or not...As she said, "Do you expect people to just sit around in their homes picking their noses all day?" To be a real, fulfilled human in that country seems to carry an inherent risk, and this is what she is trying to say. We all know that those who were arrested in similar circumstances are not really guilty, but we still expect, from our Western perspective, that the people over there should still try to follow random, unpredictable, and fluid laws, while it seems that the only way to do that successfully is to either be a hermit or work for the government.


And now to talk a little about part of the reason we garner so much hatred from those cultures in the first place...or, How I Spent My Easter

Because everyone was a little groggy from the previous evening, "brunch" began around 4 PM. I had been up for a long time because of dog-duty, and C and I went to visit her new apartment in Bushwick. Her neighborhood is really great and has a wonderful communal feel, perhaps because it was warm, sunny, and everyone seemed to be on the streets, yelling or playing cards. Afterward, we went to Chez Sheep, where her roommate, M, whose birthday was celebrated the night before, was cooking up a storm. The spread was amazing: cold black bean salad, oriental salad, hot zucchini stuffing (I'm generally not a fan of either zucchini or stuffing, but this was amazing!!), pancakes, homefries and, for the non-veggies, sloppy joes. We also had mimosas and a ton of margaritas. We spent the remainder of the daylight hours on the front stoop enjoying the weather and watching little kids go by in their fancy church get-ups.

I am hoping to get the stuffing recipe...