The Brooklyn Optimist Sounds Off On Eric Gioia

The Optimist played pundit this week, giving his two cents to Katharine Jose of The New York Observer about all-but-announced candidate for Public Advocate Eric Gioia. I first met Gioia in the early days of his first term as Councilman to Sunnyside, Woodside, and Long Island City when I was managing editor of The Queens Courier, and though I no longer cover Queens I have kept up-to-date about Gioia and his two media savvy terms in the Council.

If you aren't familiar with Gioia, you should certainly read Katharine's fine profile of him in today's Observer. Though I'll likely end up supporting Norman Siegel in his bid for Public Advocate (full disclosure: I've already attended one of his fundraisers), I respect Eric Gioia. Unquestionably, he has been a responsive councilman and an effective representative for his constituents - a rarity in this day and age. At the same time, however, Gioia has made sure to never do anything without being noticed by the media for doing so.

For many, these are the qualities of a model politician. As for me, I don't condemn ambition. Often ambition can be a virtue in politics, for it generally compels the politician to take into account the needs of the people - if for no other reason, but to calculate their own self-interest.

Mediocre politicians tend to be as tiny as their aspirations. They maintain the status quo simply out of convenience. In the Bush era, we've not only come to tolerate widespread mediocrity from our elected officials, we've come to embrace it. At a time when everything our President touches turns to dust, we're just happy if an elected official doesn't make things any worse.

Politicans like Eric Gioia, for good or for bad, at least challenge their colleagues in government to do better.

Brooklyn Poet Lynn Chandhok Reads Her Poem "Confetti, Ticker-tape"

Park Slope poet Lynn Aarti Chandhok reads "Confetti, Ticker-tape" from her book The View From Zero Bridge. Along with Wislawa Szymborska's "Photograph from September 11", this is, in my personal estimation, the most powerful poem about 9/11.

Thanks again to the Community Bookstore and Catherine Bohne for making this video recitation possible.

Brooklyn Poet Lynn Chandhok Reads Her Poem "Long Meadow"

Park Slope poet Lynn Aarti Chandhok reads "Long Meadow", a poem set in Prospect Park from her book The View From Zero Bridge. Every parent should feel its gravitational pull. I read it to my fiancée on Valentine's Day.

Thanks again to the Community Bookstore and Catherine Bohne for making this video recitation possible.

The Brooklyn Optimist Interviews Park Slope Poet Lynn Chandhok

When the New York Observer weighed in with its top 100 Brooklyn writers a few weeks ago, one of its most glaring omissions was Park Slope poet Lynn Aarti Chandhok. Chandhok is not just one of my favorite Brooklyn poets, she ranks among the most gifted poets of contemporary American literature.

Perhaps it is presumptuous to make such a grandiose appraisal of a poet's work with only one book of verse under her belt, The View From Zero Bridge (Anhinga Press), but as is the case with my beloved Nobel laureate Wislawa Szymborska, who has only 250 or so published poems to her credit, it is quality that defines a writer's opus, not quantity.

Despite the Observer's myopia, the quality of Chandhok's poetry has not gone overlooked. The View From Zero Bridge was awarded the 2006 Philip Levine Prize for Poetry and, perhaps more impressively in this lyric-less age, it even found a readership, ranking #8 on The New York Times' best-selling, small-press poetry books this past January.

Staged in a noetic realm spanning her ancestral land of Kashmir, India and her home in Park Slope, Chandhok spins lush, tactile tapestries at once traditional and wholly her own. It is her ability to draw us into her silken saffron-hued memories, so carefully observed and imagined, and then to illuminate the universality of her personal reverie that makes Chandhok's poetry justly important. I need only glimpse Zero Bridge for its most vibrant images to reawaken in my mind - fields of marigolds, singed scraps, a leaping magnet - as if they were recollections of times I myself had lived or dreamt.

It is my great pleasure to share this humble interview Lynn was kind enough to grant me. After the video has played, please take a moment to watch the clips above of Chandhok reading her poems "Long Meadow" and "Confetti, Ticker-tape". I requested that she read these two poems, both set in Brooklyn, because I was particularly moved by them. I believe that you will be as well.

Last, but not least, I would like to thank Catherine Bohne profusely for granting me the use of the Park Slope Community Bookstore for this interview. If you have not lost yourself in the cozy confines of the Community Bookstore you have been adrift in Brooklyn.

I'm Running For Office (And So Should You!)

Today I am announcing my candidacy for county committeeman for the Kings County Democratic Party.

Not impressed? Never heard of the county committee? You're not alone. This obscure position is the lowest level of elected office in our great nation. Roughly two county committee members (one man and one woman) represent every 700 or so Brooklynites, meaning that there are literally thousands of county committee seats for both the Democratic and Republican parties in our borough.

Why would I run for an unpaid job to represent a territory about the size of 3 city blocks? I owe my enthusiasm to Matt Cowherd and Rachel Lauter, the co-founders of the fledgling New Kings Democrats, a political club that grew out of Brooklyn's Obama campaign. These young Democrats were not content merely to shift the course of national politics, they decided to make an impact locally as well.

That's why they've set about recruiting hundreds of political neophytes like you and me to run for county committee. Our aspiration is to have our say in deciding how the Kings County Democratic Party will operate: which candidates the party will endorse or nominate to serve as our public officials, which judges it will select to rule our courts, and many other issues of great significance to all Brooklynites. Right now, under the iron fist of Brooklyn's Democratic boss Vito Lopez the county committee is a joke; a rubber stamp for his tyrannical rule.

We've set out to change the way politics works in Brooklyn. It is our hope that with strength in numbers, we can build a critical mass that will ensure that the people finally have their voice heard in government.

How will we succeed? We need YOU! Email me immediately at brooklynoptimist@gmail.com to find how how you can join us and run to be a county committee member. I'll tell you everything you need to know. It's a lot easier than you think to run and get elected and the time commitment once in office is little. The New Kings Democrats will train you for FREE on how to run your campaign and provide you resources to help you succeed. The only requirements are that you are a Democrat registered in Brooklyn and that you vote.

So, what are you waiting for? As radio host Thom Hartmann says: "Democracy begins with you. Tag - you're it!"

Brooklyn Blogfest 2008: A Hit For Bloggers and Fans Alike

Congratulations to everyone who participated in last night's gala 2008 Brooklyn Blogfest. The event was an indisputable success, drawing over 250 talented bloggers and their fans to the comfy confines of the Brooklyn Lyceum for a night of presentations, networking, and, of course, libations.

The event's organizer Louise Crawford of Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn deserves the lion's share of the credit for pulling off the largest borough Blogfest ever without a hitch. Special thanks also goes to Louise's stellar team, which included Eleanor Traubman (Creative Times), Adrian Kinloch (Brit in Brooklyn) and Petra Symister (Bed-Stuy Blog), and a host of other talented Brooklynites who donated their services to bring the blogosphere together under one roof.

Despite being given the somewhat harrowing task of handling the evening's video projections (even after I admitted that I am technologically incompetent), I enjoyed myself immensely. Among the individuals I had the pleasure of talking with were local blog giant Bob Guskind (Gowanus Lounge), 2009 City Council candidate and Brooklyn Streets, Carroll Gardens blogger Gary Reilly, the always delightful Katia Kelly of Pardon Me For Asking, Brooklyn Independent TV host Megan Donis, and Brooklyn Paper editor-in-chief Gersh Kuntzman.

Another highlight of Blogfest for me was getting to spend time perusing the work of Brooklyn's wonderfully talented photobloggers. Below is the video I produced for last night's Blogfest entitled "A Photoblog Tribute to Brooklyn". Please feel free to pass it on liberally to help celebrate our borough's prodigious and prolific photographers.

The Mets Go To War

As a lifelong Mets fan, I could wax on endlessly about the wonders of the Amazins.

But this piece is about a quarrel I have had with my team of late. And I'm not talking about their 14-12 record. That, ya gotta believe, will pass.

My problem is with the Mets TV network's new subway ad campaign. In case you haven't noticed it, the series of ads feature action shots of one of the team's stars accompanied by fighting words: Jose Reyes slides into a bag above the caption "Bases, Reloaded"; David Wright swings to the slogan "Not-So-Secret Secret Weapon"; and new ace hurler Johan Santana's headline threatens "Armed and Ready".

I fully admit that I might very well be blowing my concerns out of proportion, but after passing these ads for a couple weeks, I've come to the conclusion that the campaign's rhetoric is uncalled for, if not flat out inappropriate. After five bloody years lost to quagmires in Iraq and Afghanistan, it seems to me in poor taste to rile up Mets fans with military-inspired wordplay.

Gone is the tender amiability of "Meet the Mets", the audacious hope of "The Magic is Back", even the fatalistic gravity of "The Team. The Time. The Mets." and "Your Season Has Come". Instead, the Mets holster up this season with an arsenal of aggression aimed oratorically at gunning down their adversaries. Replace Wright and Santana with photos of Ted Nugent and Charlton Heston and you've got perfect publicity for the N.R.A.

Many of you may be confounded, if not appalled, by this conclusion, but as someone who teaches advertising copywriting I understand the potent craft behind headlines and how they are carefully composed to provoke the public. I am not inferring that the Mets have deliberately unleashed a barrage of stealth pro-war propaganda. I understand that the hostility of the campaign's tone was likely conceived to combat the stinging memory of the team's ignominious collapse last season. Nonetheless, words carry great influence, especially with children. The terminology we employ to describe something inevitably plays a part in defining its nature. To some degree, this ad campaign glorifies baseball as a shootout and the Mets as soldiers. For many this might mean nothing, but to me I'd rather keep blood lust out of the ballpark.

I am reminded of George Carlin's classic stand-up bit about the differences between baseball and football. In sum, Carlin characterizes the language of baseball as portraying a genteel game of beauty, while football's delineates a brutal battle to annihilate. Those who feel passionately like I do about baseball know that the sport is far from as innocuous as Carlin jokes, but we also know that what makes baseball special is its humanity. The heroes of baseball aren't famed for meting out the most concussions or firing slap shots past hapless defenders. They are idolized for immortalizing our childhood dreams in a world so otherwise ruthlessly determined to crush them.

America's pastime isn't war. When I go to Shea, I ask nothing more for my price of admission than a few hours of peace. That 50,000 New Yorkers can find this tranquility together 81 times a year is the true miracle of the Mets.

Air America WWRL 1600 Suddenly in Shambles

What is going on at Air America?

First, Richard Bey leaves the morning show. OK, no biggie.

Then all of a sudden last week, the progressive radio station's New York City affiliate WWRL 1600 inexplicably drops their best host Thom Hartmann from the station (his Friday brunch with Senator Bernie Sanders was reason enough to tune in), as well as The Lionel Show, just when I had finally come around to listening to the latter.

For what superior programming did WWRL bump Thom and Lionel? A daily two-hour infomercial, faux left wing host Ed Schultz, and none other than Al Sharpton.

Just as my ears were still ringing from WWRL's abrupt overhaul, Raw Story announced today that Randi Rhodes has quit Air America in the wake of her temporary suspension for calling Hillary Clinton by an inappropriate epithet (mind you, not on the air). As a longtime listener, I fully admit that Randi can be irksomely repetitive at times, but her audience benefits greatly every day from the depth of her knowledge and insistence upon fact over the Administration's pervasive fictions. New Yorkers are worse off without her.

I expected more from Air America's President Mark Green, but apparently he is determined to run his family's station as competently as his failed bid for Mayor in 2000.

I haven't looked at how these changes have effected WWRL's ratings, but I know for certain the station has lost one loyal listener from Brooklyn. The Optimist will miss left-wing talk, but at least the Mets have 155 more games this season for their fans to listen to and enjoy.

Diane Gordon Goes Down

Paging Mr. Barron.

The last time The Optimist weighed in on the saga of disgraced Assemblywoman Diane Gordon, I speculated that were Gordon convicted on the litany of charges brought against her that Councilman Charles Barron would abandon the race for Brooklyn Borough President and seek her Assembly seat instead.

Well, yesterday the inevitable finally came to pass. Though Gordon escaped the most serious charge brought against her, the Assemblywoman was convicted on eight other counts, which could add up to 10 years in prison at her sentencing hearing next month. For anyone who has watched the videotape of Gordon soliciting a bribe from developer Ranjan Batheja, the verdict was a foregone conclusion. Caught redhanded violating the public trust to get herself a new house and new doors for her office (!), Gordon's crimes demand severe punishment, if for no other reason than to strike fear into the hearts of politicians with likeminded designs. Clearly, the example made of her convicted former colleagues in the Assembly, Clarence Norman and Roger Green, was inadequate to deter Gordon from following in their shameful footsteps.

So, what's next for the too-often abused residents of East New York, Brownsville, and Canarsie, who are finally rid of Gordon's dubious service? No word yet from Charles Barron. But come September's primary don't be surprised to see the Councilman slip into her seat.

As for Gordon, here's the YouTube video that made her an internet sensation one more time for your viewing displeasure:

Brooklyn For Peace: Protesting Iraq 5 Years Later

Remember that war everyone used to talk about? There were two of them actually, one in Iraq and the other in Afghanistan. Well, five years and over 4000 American lives later we're still fighting them and despite some successful recent propoganda from the Bush Administration about last year's surge, they're still not going too well.

Thankfully, the grassroots organization Brooklyn for Peace hasn't succumbed to the fatigue that has lulled our media's coverage of the war to sleep. This Wednesday, March 19th, Brooklyn for Peace is holding two rallies to mark the fifth anniversary of George Bush's "preemptive and unjustified war against Iraq".

The first will be held at 12 Noon at the Brooklyn office of "War-Hawk" Republican Congressman Vito Fossella: 8505 4th Ave. (at the corner of 85th St. and Bay Ridge).

The second event, the "Brooklyn Says No To War" March, will begin at Grand Army Plaza at 6 p.m. and continue on to the U.S. Army Recruiting Station at Flatbush Ave. & Livingston St.

Finally, there is a citywide protest organized for 12 Noon this Saturday, March 22nd. Protesters will aim to form a human chain from the East River to the Hudson River across 14th Street in Manhattan.

For more details on any of these rallies or how you can get involved in the anti-war movement in our borough, call Brooklyn For Peace at 718.624.5921 or go to their website: www.brooklynpeace.org.

March (Midterm) Madness

As many of you have written me to point out, I have been a bad blogger this past week. This time the culprit was a mountain of midterms and other assorted assignments that demanded my attention. My mind has been so fixed in grading mode that even now I can't help wondering to myself what mark this blog entry deserves. I'm leaning toward a C+.

How much better our education system would run if only teachers and students could switch places for a day! I remember as an undergraduate thinking my professors slackers if they did not promptly return my assignments. It was a recollection that came vividly back to mind this week as my students asked with barely masked contempt if I had their papers yet. Shaking my head, I could not help but whither for a moment beneath the weight of their tacit condemnations.

But those of you who have taught can empathize with my travails of late. Students think only of their own work, embittered at their teachers for their sadistic affinity for doling out homework. If only they took a moment to reason through our arithmetic! With 60 students, every time I assign homework, I brace myself for at least 60 times the amount of work I require of them. Multiply that out to three classes a week and you already get a sense of the deluge. Moreover, I teach writing, which means that I must meticulously edit each paper, or my students will be deprived of the personalized nuance of instruction.

It's almost enough to make you long for standardized tests (which, incidentally, are the cornerstone of the lazy man's curriculum - not an attempt at educational parity as the Board of Ed would like to dupe parents into thinking they are).

But enough about me. There's a lot more important things going on in the world. Let's get to 'em.

Two Missed Morsels in the Spitzer Feeding Frenzy

Among the deluge of articles about the Spitzer scandal in the last three days, two tasty tidbits have been overlooked.

1. If Spitzer does get his wet dream (er, not that one) of the Democrats at last taking control of the State Senate, but the Dems only do so by a slim margin, then none other than Spitzer's arch-enemy and soon-to-be Lieuntenant Governor Joe Bruno would be the tie-breaker in close votes. Can you imagine? As bad as Spitzer's personal fall must be hitting him, the realization that he is going to be responsible for getting Joe Bruno a promotion must be nearly as despicable.

2. Before David Patterson lucked into the Governor mansion, it was widely speculated that he was the frontrunner for Hillary Clinton's Senate seat if she is elected President. With Hillary's surge and Patterson certain to stay in Albany, all of a sudden there must be a flock of powerful New York Democrats salivating over the job of Junior Senator.

Spitzer Shocker: Another Moralist Bites The Dust

There's a simple formula for determining which politician will be the next to fall in disgrace. All you have to do is to listen for who is hooting and hollering the most sanctimoniously about immorality. Whether it's Larry Craig on homosexuality, Newt Gingrich on infidelity, or Eliot Spitzer on prostitution, whatever they're railing against in public is likely what they're doing behind closed doors.

Personally, I have nothing against prostitution. It's certainly a scummy thing to get involved in as a married man, but it's by no means inherently evil. In fact, it would be a whole lot more sensible and safer for everyone involved were prostitution legalized. Unfortunately, for Governor Spitzer, however, it hasn't been (nor would he have ever pushed for it to be on his "law and order" watch).

In my eyes, Spitzer's crime - for which he should and will resign - is not solicitation, but hypocrisy. Spitzer framed himself as a moralist in the model of Plato's Euthyphro - a man who would even prosecute his own father in the name of right. He embraced the image of caped crusader, intimating that only he could clean up our wayward Empire State. Well, anyone who has paid attention to Spitzer's brief Administration knows just how poorly he has performed as a crime-fighter in Albany - long before yesterday.

Since taking office, Spitzer has acted like the laws he so zealously trumpets apply to everyone but himself. While condemning the credibility of his allies and enemies alike on the one hand, he has flagrantly abused his power on the other, stooping to such deplorable machinations as illegal wire-tapping and flaunting the campaign finance laws he allegedly held sacrosanct. His embarrassments were so many that only a few months after his landslide victory, Spitzer was already being written off by some as a one-term governor.

With this latest scandal, in one fell stoke Spitzer has humiliated his family, scuttled his reformist political agenda (as well as any else's in New York State for the time being), maligned his party, created negative fodder for the presidential race, and ruined his own career. Oh, and most ironically, even paved the way for his arch-nemesis Joe Bruno to get a promotion. And why? Not because of any sexual indiscretion, but because he thought he thought he was special. He thought that what was good and just was whatever he pronounced it to be, and so he could never do wrong.

Had Spitzer been any less self-righteous, he would have friends coming to his defense. He would have been able to slither away like Senator David Vitter of Louisiana did a few months ago. As it is, now he has no one. But unlike the lone sheriff Gary Cooper played in High Noon, Spitzer can't even take solace in his own virtue. He's just as bad as the outlaws coming for revenge.

Polytechnic University OKs Merger With NYU

Apparently not satisfied with just gobbling up Lower Manhattan, NYU has set its sights on expanding to Brooklyn. Yesterday, according to the Daily Eagle, the Board of Trustees of downtown Brooklyn's Polytechnic University voted overwhelmingly to approve a merger with NYU.

The Department of Education and New York State Board of Regents still need to sign off on the deal to make it official, but NYU's trustees have already voted in favor of the merger and it seems unlikely that any impediment to its completion will arise. Talk of the merger first surfaced three years ago, but faculty concerns and, more recently, suspicions of conflict of interest between members of the universities' two boards postponed the arrangement. Those obstacles appear to have since been surmounted to the satisfaction of all the parties involved.

On the surface, the merger would seem to benefit both schools, even though NYU is roughly 10 times larger than Polytechnic. Polytechnic will now have access to the vast wealth of resources and facilities held by NYU, while NYU will get to add an engineering school to their academic portfolio.

Colbert Report Slams Six-Year-Old Park Slope "Graffiti Punk"

Nothing gets by Stephen Colbert. Just look how he takes six-year-old Park Slope resident Natalie Shea to task for writing in chalk on the sidewalk in front of her house.

Brooklyn Losing Power in the U.S. House, but Strong in Senate

According to Congress.org's recently released 2008 Power Rankings for the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, Brooklyn's Congressional delegation doesn't have as much weight to throw around as borough residents might think. Out of the nation's 435 members of the House, only one Brooklyn Congressman, Rep. Edolphus Towns, slips into the top 50 most powerful at #43 on the list. Despite his prominent placement, Towns is still likely disappointed by his Power Ranking. In 2007, he came in at #18 on the list.

Rep. Anthony Weiner, who comes in next at #63, also lost influence from last year according to Congress.org, which ranked him as #43 last year. As did Jerrold Nadler, who went from #128 in 2007 to #162 in 2008. Brooklyn's sole Republican member of the House, Vito Fossella, tumbled precipitously from #116 in the 2005 Power Rankings to #315 this year, though his decline reflects the fact that his party is now in the minority, rather than his performance. Fossella actually bettered his 2007 ranking of #365.

The only other member of the Brooklyn delegation to ascend the list was my congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, who leapt to #96 from #180 last year.

Our borough's newest member of Congress, Rep. Yvette Clarke, who won her seat in 2006, almost doesn't register in the rankings. After premiering at #366 on the list last year, Clarke has fallen to #402, giving her the dubious distinction of the 5th LEAST influential Democrat in the House.

Despite our decline in the House, Brooklynites can console ourselves with our seniority in the U.S. Senate. Both New York Senators Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton place in the Top 10 most powerful members, Chuck at #5 and Hillary at #9.

Could Gore Broker Peace...Between Barack and Hillary?

As we continue to head toward a brokered convention, Clinton and Obama supporters alike are confronting more seriously our worst fear - that the only thing that can beat the Democrats in 2008 is a division in our own party.

Mindful of this chilling scenario, The Post has an interesting editorial this morning arguing that the only person who might be able to find a peaceful resolution to the battle between Barack and Hillary is Al Gore. Now I'm usually hesitant to agree with the Post, but this strikes me as right. Except for a joint ticket, any other resolution to the pending superdelegate crisis will leave the losing candidates' legions of supporters feeling cheated.

But were Al Gore to negotiate a compromise between the two campaigns it would have a sense of legitimacy far more difficult to assail. Gore has become the sole figure in our party respected by all Democrats and no one in the country can accuse him of being insensitive to the nuances of a stolen election.

Explosion Wakes Up Times Square

Around 3:43 a.m. this morning, a homemade explosive device detonated in the heart of Times Square, right in front of the Armed Forces Career Center. The recruitment office was damaged, but thankfully no one was injured.

According to this breaking story in The New York Times, the police and F.B.I. are investigating whether there is any connection between this latest explosion and two earlier bombings in the City - the 2005 blast outside the British Consulate on Third Avenue and the two dummy grenades that rocked the Mexican Consulate on 39th Street in October 2007.

The government has yet to declare this morning's bombing a terrorist attack - meaning that they can't link it to al-Qaeda - but, given the targets, there is no question that the perpetrator or perpetrators of these attacks had a political agenda. Personally, these bombings seem a lot less to me the work of Muslim extremists than the acts of domestic terrorists - like what Brooklyn Heights resident Ivaylo Ivanov may have had in mind for his arsenal on Remsen Street. Let us not forget that before 9/11 the deadliest act of terrorism on U.S. soil - the 1995 bombing in Oklahoma City - was perpetrated by disaffected Americans who deluded themselves into believing they were revolutionaries.

The Optimist Hosts "A Walk Around The Blog" on Brooklyn Independent Television

Apparently it's been on for a week, but it was only yesterday afternoon that I saw the latest segment of "A Walk Around The Blog" from Brooklyn Independent Television. If you haven't seen the show, it's probably because it's new to Time Warner Cable Channel 56 and Cablevision Channel 69.

Each episode a different borough blogger leads a short stroll through an area of Brooklyn life. I had the honor of being selected as the show's third host, following in the esteemed footsteps of Robert Guskind of The Gowanus Lounge and Robin Lester of Clinton Hill Blog.

For my segment, I chose to focus on the proposed Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway, a sweeping 14-mile park project that would stretch along the entire length of the East River from Bay Ridge to Greenpoint. In the video I interview Milton Puryear, co-founder of the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative, the organization spearheading the push for this ambitious, eco-friendly expanse.

With the Greenway borough residents would finally be able to access a waterfront we lost long ago to commercial and industrial interests. In place of powerplants and other eyesores, pedestrians, bicyclists and families would have an ambitious multi-use green space to enjoy much like the series of wonderful parks which now span the West Side of Manhattan. I hope my "Walk Around the Blog" will inspire you to advocate on behalf of the Greenway.

For more information how you can donate your time and money to the not-for-profit Brooklyn Greenway Initiative, check out the organization's website. To tune into "A Walk Around the Blog", check your local cable listings or go to the show's blip.tv site.

Court Orders Husband to Give Wife 124,000 Roses

Usually any wire story that begins with "An Iranian court..." ends up being horrific news, more often than not about some woman unjustly punished for, well, being a woman. But for once, this morning, I was happy to read a piece via Raw Story about a wife prevailing over her husband - albeit in a very bizarre way.

A woman, identified only by the first name of Hengameh, filed a complaint against her husband to collect her dowry, which, by Iranian law, a wife can claim at any time during the marriage. According to the article, the woman's lawsuit was precipitated by how stingy her husband is - apparently so stingy that he would even refuse to pay for a cup of coffee when they went out together.

Finding in the woman's favor, the court ordered the husband to pay his promised dowry: 124,000 roses. Although the verdict seems like a purely poetic punishment for romantic hyperbole, it is serious stuff. To ensure that the man complies, the court has seized his apartment - worth $64,000 - until he delivers all 124,000 roses.

Not unexpectedly, the man is now crying poverty, claiming that he can't afford to give his wife more than 5 roses a day (roses cost an average $2 a piece in Iran). But he might not have much of a choice but to fork over the 100,000+ long-stemmed apologies. A man who fails to hand over the dowry he pledged at marriage can be sentenced to prison.

On a related note, those interested in learning more about Iran's recent history and the country's treatment of women should watch the Academy Award-nominated film Persepolis, The Brooklyn Optimist's vote for the Best Picture of last year.