random posts of pretty: iranian street art

Like many of you, I've been following what's been going on in Iran with a mixture of disgust and awed fascination. Since cable news has proven to be absolutely worthless when it comes to reporting this story, most of my information has come from a combination of blogs and YouTube videos, and although I don't use Twitter as a news source, most American news bloggers have admitted to getting much of their inside information from Iranian tweets. This is a separate source of disgust/fascination - where were the "legitimate" journalists when this story was breaking, and who would have thought that fun social networking tools like Twitter and Facebook could be so essential at picking up the ball when the "real" news drops it?

Apropos, one thing we can learn from the current happenings in Iran is to never underestimate the power of youth. The seasoned can dismiss their hobbies and forms of expression, but they do so at their own peril. Iran's youth are currently showing the world that they are engaged, modern, creative and desirous for change. Proof of this abounds, however, some of the street art that's been springing up on the streets of Tehran only furthers the point:

(Via Andrew Sullivan, Via Frying Pan Fire)