We have attempted to take on envy’s ambiguities in this issue. Tirdad Zolghadr pleads for a reevaluation of envy with a curious set of observations as to its political relevance. Negar Azimi explores present day experiments in selling America via the state department and otherwise. In a series commissioned for Bidoun, Shirana Shahbazi presents photographs that muddle fantasy, power and envy. Approaches to envy range from the mystical (the evil eye) to the humorous (fast food in Tehran). Our architecture section takes on ambitious modernist experiments and their broken legacy from Algiers to Cairo. We hope you like what we done.

—Lisa Farjam

PS We especially hope you enjoy this issue’s coloring book (crayons not included).