Making contact

Dear S,

I know we have never met before. My father is Y--your husband A's cousin (A's father was my father's mother's brother). I am sorry to bother you, but I don't know how to write in Farsi (I can only speak) and I asked my dad for A's father's phone-number and he said I could ask you instead. I don't think my father has good relations with A's father, but I would like to see A's father when I come to Iran shortly and to contact him to see if that is possible.

My grandmother was a whore and so am I

This is really a girls-only post, but I'll keep it open for the guys out there who pluck/shave/wax their uni-brows (and I know you do it, even though you claim otherwise).

Having been born and raised in Seattle, I never really caught onto makeup because it's a pretty granola city where wearing jeans and fleece is kind of the norm. In general, growing up, nobody really wore makeup, so I didn't either. Every time I went to visit relatives in Iran though, it was clear that I was out of place. They asked me if I was a "hippie" and wondered why I was acting more Islamic than they were acting in the Islamic Republic. They were totally confused: If I was an American, why the fuck did I not "look" like one (i.e. the typical chick on MTV). I mostly just judged them and went about my business, feeling superior and "feminist."