“That, really, was why I wanted to go to . To see whether the ties that bound me were real, or flimsy threads of inherited nostalgia.”

—from Lipstick Jihad

TornTorn betweenbetween twotwo culturesculturesby Jennifer McNulty cooper james patrick Azadeh Moaveni sonal and political awakening in inspiring her to practice “engaged self perfectly situated to report her tenure. Her prose is almost Middle Easterners were lost,” says B.A. Politics, 1998 the that launched her journalism.” It was David Dodson, on Iranian life for an American impressionistic, weaving report- Moaveni, who covered the war career as a journalist and became her Oakes College core course in- audience. For the first time, her age, anecdote, and analysis into a in and wrote Lipstick Jihad Oakes College the heart of her first book, Lipstick structor, she says, who “taught me background and her ability to silken textile. before returning to Time. Based Jihad: A Memoir of Growing Up how to reflect on personal identity speak Farsi were assets. She began The book has been well-received today in Beirut, she can’t imagine rowing up in San Iranian in America and American fruitfully.” reporting for Time, gaining ac- by critics and readers, including living outside the Middle East. Jose, Azadeh Moaveni in Iran. “I wanted to go to a UC that cess to top government officials as young Iranian Americans who, like “It’s where I want to be right now lived what felt like a At 28, Moaveni has already was like a private school,” she says. well as the educated young people Moaveni, were raised in the United because of my work,” she says. double life. As the achieved a level of success most “I wanted to go somewhere smaller whose yearnings were convulsing States and feel cut off from Iran. During a recent reporting trip Gdaughter of Iranian exiles, twentysomethings only dream of. that paid a lot of attention to stu- the nation. With its descriptions of the “youth to Iran, Moaveni detected more Moaveni served tea to her elders, She covered the war in Iraq for dents, and that’s exactly the experi- In Lipstick Jihad, Moaveni rebellion from below,” Lipstick alienation and apathy in the coun- listened as they spoke of the “year the Los Angeles ence I had.” describes the appearance of inde- Jihad fills a void experienced by try than she felt in 2001. “Young of the great catastrophe” when Times, just After graduating pendent newspapers for the first the children of exiles. “They find people who were active politically the Shah was ousted in 1979, finished col- with a B.A. in time since Islamic fundamentalists it encouraging, heartening, because have turned off politics,” she says. and savored the flavors of Persia: laborating with politics in 1998, took over the country 20 years it gives them something to relate At the same time, Iranians are fluffy rice with cinnamon, raisins Iranian human Moaveni won earlier. Student activists began to,” says Moaveni. enjoying greater social freedoms drizzled with saffron, and pome- rights activist a Fulbright to demanding greater civil liberties. The end of Moaveni’s sojourn as the regime tries to keep discon- granates and sour cherry juice. and 2003 Nobel study in Cairo. Women appeared in public wear- in Iran coincided with a govern- tent from spilling over into revolt. But Moaveni, like all Iranian Peace Prize win- It was, she re- ing colorful veils, and their delicate ment crackdown. Her reporting “Rock bands are even allowed to Americans, lived in the shadow of ner alizes now, a sandals exposed pedicured toes. activities were coming under perform in cafés,” she adds. the 1979 hostage crisis. She tried on her memoir, rest stop that In , lovers strolled arm in greater scrutiny, and she began to Moaveni, who considers herself for years to avoid any mention of and now covers allowed her to arm, and crowds of young people fear for her personal safety. She Iranian American, says growing her background. She recalls cring- Middle Eastern work up her refashioned religious holidays into left the country abruptly after riot up in the has never ing on the first day of school each affairs for Time courage to make occasions to party in the streets. police clubbed her during a post- made her the target of hostility year, waiting for the teacher to magazine. the leap to Iran. Moaveni likens this “cultural soccer-match street celebration. in the Middle East. “It’s like I’m mispronounce her name. Trying to Moaveni cred- When the rebellion” to a silent coup, saying It was the summer of 2001, and in a hybrid category,” she explains. blend in, she listened to Madonna, its UCSC profes- first headlines government reformers’ inability Moaveni returned to the United “I’m one of the lucky few Iranian practiced yoga, and flirted with sors Edmund about stu- to turn around rampant corrup- States—before September 11, be- Americans with the ability to go courtesy publicaffairs, a member of perseus books group a member of perseus publicaffairs, courtesy boyfriends. “Terry” Burke dent unrest tion, economic suffering, and fore the war on , before back and forth. It’s not about It was, Moaveni writes in her of history and Isebill “Ronnie” in Tehran appeared in 1999, lawlessness led to “society evolv- President Bush declared Iran part being aligned with the govern- new memoir about growing up Gruhn of politics with preparing Moaveni felt a powerful urge to ing from the bottom up.” It was of the “Axis of Evil.” ment or with the exile group in between two cultures, a burden to her to ask the right questions, and bear witness. Ignoring the warn- a heady time, and Moaveni uses a “After 9/11, terrorism became America. I’m one of a small but be Iranian in America. And so she writing instructor Conn Hallinan, ings of family and friends, she light touch to convey the undula- reattached to the entire Middle growing number of Iranians who left, beginning an odyssey of per- her adviser at City on a Hill, with moved to Tehran and found her- tions that marked Iran during East, and distinctions among exist somewhere in the middle.”

20 UC Santa Cruz Review / Fall 2005 UC Santa Cruz Review / Fall 2005 21