Sara Jamshidi grew up in Iran before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. She remembers when her mother could wear sunglasses and mini-skirts on hot summer days, before the new fundamentalist government made laws about what women could and could not wear.
As an adult Sara became a journalist and wrote often about being a woman in a conservative Muslim society. She worked for newspapers that were shut down by the police, and worked for editors who were arrested and sometimes tortured for publishing things the government did not want in the open. Eventually Sara’s name was blacklisted as an enemy of the state, and she knew that it was time to leave the country.
In this midweek episode of Sound Effect's podcast, we hear Sara's story, and talk with producer Janae Janik about the impression it made on her.
Note: This is part of an experiment with Sound Effect’s podcast: We will feed a condensed version of the full show on Saturdays, withholding an especially memorable story. Then we’ll hear that segment, and some of the story behind the story, in a new weekly podcast installment that will be in your feed on Wednesdays. You can still always catch the full, broadcast-style version of the show on the web site(at the bottom of the page).
We’d love to hear what you think of the new podcast format -- give your feedback in the comments below, or email SoundEffect@knkx.org.
