Yara

//www.abreesham.com/

I just found out about this interesting new project, started by two young Iranian-Americans, and I would like to share it here:

Abreesham was created in October 2012, with aspirations of becoming a large-scale media collective for those of Middle Eastern descent who wish to delve into subjects like culture, politics and diaspora, using a variety of mediums. The site was founded based on the belief that each individual’s story is entirely unique, but also part of a larger puzzle– the more pieces we get, the clearer the picture. Ergo, Abreesham is submission based, and our readers are also our writers. Anyone can submit anything– just view the guidelines on our Submissions page.

It seems that each year it gets harder and harder to be of Middle Eastern heritage in the Western world. Oftentimes people can be harsh and mistake political operations with cultural standpoints, and countries with an Islamic population are misunderstood and mistreated. Growing up, founders Azora Paknad and Layla Moheimani wished that they had access to a resource where they could share their experiences and learn from the experiences of others in their community without the passing of judgement. Thus, Abreesham was created. At Abreesham we understand that sometimes you can’t make it all on your own– perhaps you need the support or motivation of knowing that someone has had a similar experience to your own, or the ability to achieve the cathartic release that comes with sharing something that is important to you. We strive to create a forum in which everybody’s work holds the same gravity, a safe haven in which we are all stripped of class, gender, or age denominations. Abreesham is based out of an Iranian community in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, but we encourage readers and Middle Eastern culture enthusiasts to submit, regardless of where they live or are from. As we are entirely reliant on submissions, we urge you to submit any and all forms of work that you have created, and are always passionate about learning from your experiences and input. Our hope is that in creating Abreesham, we will have created that which we yearned for in the past, and can share this valuable resource with the younger half of our generation as they embark on their journey through what may be a treacherous political period of time. We hope to support them, and each other; to allow them the opportunity to learn from what we share here, as well as to afford ourselves the privilege to learn from them.

Thank you for joining us and taking the time and effort to be a part of Abreesham. We’d really like to take the opportunity to encourage you to comment on or reply to the work you see here, as well as contribute your own. We would appreciate it, as would our other contributors, and we guarantee that you won’t regret investing your time here.

Best wishes,

Azora Paknad & Layla Moheimani