Book Excerpt

... our next stop was the tomb of a famous Sufi poet. Famous, that is, to Iranians. I’d never heard of the man. As luck would have it though we walked up to the facility only to see a TV crew interviewing people for a special on this ‘world-famous’ poet. They saw me and it evidently occurred to them that it might be interesting to get a foreigner’s perspective. The next thing I knew they were asking Professor if it would be ok to do an interview and if he could interpret. I told him fine, but he first needed to fill me in real quick on who this poet was. I used to make my living doing radio and TV so that part didn’t bother me – I just needed enough info to rustle up a respectable comment.

Professor quickly gave me a little background while the camera and lighting guys got set up. I knew a little about Sufism from research before the trip but still needed some specifics on the gentleman buried inside. Professor told me not to worry, they wouldn’t be able to understand what I was saying so he’d fill in any holes or correct any mistakes. Though he did warn me not to say anything “controversial” that could get someone in trouble. I could tell he was also thinking, “and no dumb comparisons with North Korea,” but he left that part out ...