About

“We cannot hold a torch to light another’s path without brightening our own.”
-Ben Sweetland

Iris is a magazine written and published by Iranian students abroad. The hard copy is published quarterly in Southern California, while the online version gets updated on a regular basis. Iris authors, designers and editors reside in North America, Europe, and Iran.

We think of Iris as a medium for Iranian students everywhere to share their thoughts and strengthen their bonds with each other. Although we are geographically diverse and come from different educational, political and religious backgrounds, many of us share similar concerns which can potentially bring us together. We strongly believe in listening to every contrarian voice and then being courageous enough to reassess our own belief system. We believe in taking professional approaches to social and economic problems. And last but not least, we care to maintain our Iranian identity although we live far away from our country.
Here in Iris, we want to open the door to the “attic of our minds.” For years and years, all of us have stored many boxes in our respective attics, without any intention to return to them later. Some of these boxes are a few years old, while others are inherited from thousands of years ago. We want to bring all these boxes out, remove the layer of dust covering them, open them, and check once again what we have stored in them. Many of the boxes may be just trash, but in many others we may find very useful tools which have long been forgotten.
To this end, we hope to provide an environment that acts as a “safe space,” reflecting the many different opinions of all those who are willing to speak out. In practice, this is not as simple as it sounds. There are people who find ideas and viewpoints different than their own insulting and threatening. However, we appreciate our readers for their skill in being able to read our articles and consider a different opinion. We want this magazine to be a place where plurality and tolerance are practiced and where all opinions may be expressed freely.
We would also like to mention that Iris will have a very heterogeneous nature in the beginning. This is intentional. We have begun from many different starting points in order to see how and where Iris will naturally converge. Whichever direction Iris takes, we believe that as the magazine develops, it will provide insight into the most important issues we all must deal with. Please support Iris and help it to grow. All of your feedback will be considered and will certainly affect the path Iris ultimately follows. Furthermore, we welcome all contributions to Iris. Articles should contain an address at which you can be reached. Please contact us at:

info@isauna.org

اگر چراغی برای روشن کردن راه دیگران بلند کنی، ناگزیر راه خودت را هم روشن کرده ای
بن سوییتلند

آیریس مجله‌ای است که دانشجویان ایرانی ساکن خارج تهیه می کنند. آیریس هر سه ماه یک بار در کالیفرنیای جنوبی چاپ می شود. ولی نسخه اینترنتی آن به طور مرتب به روز خواهد شد. نویسندگان، طراحان و سردبیران آیریس در نقاط مختلف دنیا پراکنده اند، آمریکای شمالی، اروپا، و ایران.

تهیه کنندگان آیریس می‌کوشند که این مجله محملی برای هم‌اندیشی و هم‌گرایی دانشجویان ایرانی در سراسر جهان باشد. علیرغم فاصله جغرافیایی، تفاوت رشته، و اختلاف عقیده، بسیاری از ما نگرانی‌های مشترکی داریم که علی‌الاصول می توانند ما را دور هم گرد آورند. ما در آیریس اعتقاد کامل به شنیدن تمامی نظرات مخالف و شهامت بازنگری در باورها و روش های‌مان را داریم. دست اندکاران آیریس معتقد به در پیش گرفتن راه حل‌های حرفه‌ای و دانشگاهی در مورد مشکلات اقتصادی و اجتماعی جامعه ایران در سراسر دنیا هستند. و مهم‌تر از همه این‌ که ما می‌خواهیم دوری از ایران باعث کمرنگی هویت ابرانی‌مان نگردد.