Celebrating a Milestone

My Persian Corner turns 10!

Photo by Cristian Escobar on Unsplash

How it all started

Ten years ago this month I started My Persian Corner, and it all came about thanks to a little bit of heartbreak and a whole lot of research. The research was for a project, and the more I researched and wrote, the more ideas and questions I had. So I wrote about those ideas in my free time in an effort to distract myself from matters of the heart. But also because I liked to write. You see, years earlier, I had a blog and wrote essays about my travels: anecdotes from trains in Italy (which for some unknown reason I had many- not unlike my anecdotes of transportation in Iran nowadays). Or my navy puffy coat or a pair of Adidas who were my constant travel companions. (I refused to ever give up the shoes, but I felt an overwhelming sense of guilt when I replaced my coat.) I wrote about my first encounter with the statue of David (which took my breath away). Those posts I can remember, but I can’t for the life of me remember if/where I have copies of these and the others. I’m curious to reread them.

Writing served as a good distraction, but it also helped me understand my identity better and gave me the freedom to explore the Persian language and Iranian culture, so I thought it might help others too. I didn’t give the name My Persian Corner much thought. To be honest, sometimes I still don’t like it and wish I had come up with something more creative. For some reason, I wanted a “my” in there. I remember thinking, “My Persian Corner. Yeah, whatever, that’s fine.” I wanted to start already, and I didn’t care about the name because, just like my first blog, no one would ever read it anyway, so what did it matter?

To my surprise, you did read it! So I kept writing, which eventually led to my wanting to spend more time in Iran. The rest is history.

When I think about my pre-Iran posts, I have to laugh. I knew nothing. My perspective has changed so much, and while I think I understand my people, culture, and country better than ever, I know the paradoxes will forever stand in the way of understanding it the way I want to. Or maybe I’m overthinking it, as I tend to do.

The most popular posts

For now, I wanted to look back over these 10 years- popular posts, search terms, and my personal favorites.

According to my stats, it seems that more than anything, the meaning of jân/joon and why Iranians say it after a name was the most popular search. Others were related to Persian idioms, azizam, terms of endearment, romantic phrases, thank you and goodbye, and superstitions. Nothing too crazy. Although the search phrase “why iranies eat raw onion” caught my eye. Original. While I can’t say that I remember writing about that, it does seem like something I would do.

My top 5 most popular posts:

18 Poetic Persian Phrases You’ll Wish English Had

10 Sweet Persian Terms of Endearment to Call Your Loved Ones

8 Uses of the Persian Word Joon

11 Simple Persian Words That Will Make You Sound More Fluent

11 Ways to Say Thank You in Persian

I feel it’s necessary to mention 6th place, Death to America Explained & Other Persian Phrases Related to Death, a lowly post that suddenly made the rounds in 2020 thanks to… politics. It was shared as a source of “offering context,” which is all I can hope to do. Coincidentally that week, my blog was featured in WordPress editor’s picks. While I was excited and grateful for this ever-so-brief spike in views, I do wish such things weren’t always politically motivated.

Personal favorites

While those listicles are fine and practical, my favorites are actually the posts SEO couldn’t do much for because I was certain absolutely no one would ever search for them. I’ve been told it’s hard to really “get” them if you’ve never been to Iran. I understand, but regardless, it’s the subtleties and randomness that I’m entertained by and enjoy writing about most. Here are my favorites:

Guidelines for Crossing the Street in Tehran

Tehran’s Tiniest Teahouse (selected as one of the top 5 best posts from April 2018 for Lonely Planet Pathfinders- back when that was a thing)

My Persian Name Problems

Encounters with Strangers: 5 Stories from Iran

A Trip Down Memory Lane: My Tehran Summers

7 Tales of Iranian Hospitality

And any post from the “Magical Moments” or “Quirks”/“Random Differences” series, my Lalezar Street post (also selected as a top 5 by Lonely Planet), and the [sort-of] follow-up which was a dream come true for me, A Rare Look Inside Tehran’s Nasr Theater- A Photo Essay.

Finally, my favorite freelance piece for Roads and Kingdoms, A one-item brunch menu actually sounds like a good idea.

And I wonder, do you have a favorite piece or topic?

When I sat down to write this post, it took different directions. There’s a lot I want to say and personal things I need to explore, but I’m not ready yet. Not privately, much less publicly. So in the end, I decided some highlights were best. Thank you all for your support over the years and for spending your precious time reading my content. I hope you’ve found value in it. Some things only become clear later on down the road, and when I think back to the heartbreak that put me on this path, I’m nothing but grateful.