So for the week of February 19th to February 25th, here is the Good News:
**Best news of the week**
On Tuesday, when a Jewish Cemetery in St Louis announced it had been vandalized, a Muslim group set up a Fund site to help fix what was damaged. Not only did they manage the $20,000 they wanted to raise in only three hours that day, but the number keeps rising. They have now stated they will use excess funds to help other damaged cemeteries. Check their funding page to see the current news and total.
News story at Reuters
Sunday:
The Stand Up for Science rally was held in Copley Square in Boston, Massachusetts, with hundreds in attendance.
News story at the Boston Globe
Wednesday:
The Texas Supreme Court ruled that Texas cannot defund Planned Parenthood. The fight is not over, but it is a serious blow to those who would deny women access to medical help.
News story at New York Times
NASA announced that they have found seven new earth sized planets found in a nearby solar system. Three of them are in the habitable zone of their star. The system is called Trappist-1.
News story at BBC News
A kindergartener transforms into notable black women for Black History Month. The photos are amazing, as are the stories.
See the photos here at KOMO News
Thursday:
Washington's Governor Jay Inslee signed an executive order protecting immigrant rights in Washington State.
News story at the Hill
Feel free to link anyone you'd like to this. And if you have any Good News links in the coming week that you'd like to share, feel free to send them my way. I can definitely use more.
American Immigrant Highlights: Iran
The earliest known immigrants from Iran, or what was then called Persia, came here in the 1920s. Their numbers slowly grew until the 1970s. When the Iranian Revolution began in 1979, immigration sped up greatly, staying at peak until the early 2000s through the many wars in their country and that part of the world.
Most prefer to be referred to as Persians, not Iranians, likely to disassociate themselves from the culture so many Americans believe is evil. Their major area of concentration is in California, though there are also significant populations in New York, New Jersey, Texas, Maryland, Virginia, Washington DC, and Illinois. They are known for their contributions in business, academia, science, arts and entertainment, though they have kept away from politics and other civic activities for obvious political reasons.
Persian food takes a lot from the same influences as its neighbors, Turkey, Greece, and India. Because of this, many of their foods are familiar to us from other cultures. They have many different stews and meat dishes, including meat kebabs, which are very popular in American cities. They also make regular use of yogurt, naan, and chai, as well as rice pilaf and rice dishes in general.
Notable Persian Americans:
- Pierre Omidyar, the founder & CEO of eBay
- Salar Kamangar, CEO of YouTube
- Shahram Dabiri, Lead Producer of World of Warcraft
- Firouz Naderi, director at NASA
- Christiane Amanpour of ABC News and CNN
- Daron Bakhtiar from System of a Down
- Shohreh Aghdashloo, Academy and Emmy-award winning actress
- Catherine Bell, actress
- Sarah Shahi, actress
- Bahar Soomekh, actress
- Adrian Pasdar, actor
- Andre Agassi, tennis player
- David Bakhtiari, football player for the Green Bay Packers
This is by no means a complete list. For more interesting Persian Americans, look at this list on Wikipedia.
Sources
Iranian immigrants >> Immigration to the United States
Iranian Americans
Culture of Iran: Persian Cuisine, a Brief History
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