We are Iran

Many, many years ago, when I lived in Taiwan as it was beginning to democratize, a new technology, video cameras, came into use in creating an alternative to state-controlled media in documenting what really happened at anti-government protests. Now we have blogs creating an even more rich alternative narrative for many individuals in countries where freedom of expression is challenging. Iranian blogs have been pioneers in this regard. Now there is a book, We are Iran which tells the story of these bloggers. Here's a brief review at Words without Borders . The author, Nasrin Alavi, guest blogs at The Elegant Variation offering a few samples of bloggers reflecting on such topics as wearing the veil.