Scott Simon and I recently took a trip to the Los Angeles Farmers Market as it celebrates its 75th anniversary. On the show today you'll hear about a group of guys -- and the occasional woman -- who meet there every weekday for a leisurely breakfast. They started the tradition 25 years ago.

Tourists often flock to this market in hopes of spotting a celebrity sorting through the cucumbers or weighing the tomatoes. But our interns, Patrick De Oliveira and Brent Baughman, have put together a slideshow of some of the market's less famous characters.

In early June, the State Department instructed U.S. embassies to invite Iranian diplomats to July 4th festivities around the world. But after the violent crackdown on Iranian protestors, the so-called "hotdog diplomacy" is off the table and the invitations have been withdrawn.

The international press was thrown out of Tehran after the election, and government leaders have been refusing interviews. But this week, we were able to reach Marzieh Hashemi in Tehran. She reports for Iran's English-language Press TV, and supports President Ahmadinejad. She was born in New Orleans and says that she moved to Iran last year. She believes that much of the world has a distorted view of popular opinion in Iran. Below is a partial transcript of the interview. A shorter version airs on Weekend Edition today.

You know, right or wrong or whatever, this was their call. And it was a call that was made -- there was a lot of pressure being put on the government by a lot of the average Iranians who felt that the security was deteriorating rapidly. And they wanted them to crack down, they wanted their country secure. And they wanted life to get back to normal, you know, whatever the government felt it would take, within reasonable limits, they wanted them to do it.

And you know, if throwing out the foreign press... if that's what it took to get the country back under control and stability and life back to normal, then so be it. And so I think that the average Iranians you would talk to right now, for example, now that life has turned back to normal, it's like Ok, fine, you know if that's what it took or whatever it took, within reasonable limits, it's fine, because they wanted life to turn back to normal.

Scott Simon: And human rights organizations, I don't have to tell you -- - around the world are alarmed at the arrest detentions of people identified as politicians and journalists and bloggers and human rights activists. I realize those are all different categories, but why is it necessary to arrest people like that?

Marzieh Hashemi: Well once again, I'm just speaking on my own, I don't know what was in the minds of those who made the decision or whatever, I'm assuming that they felt that again, that it was a security issue. There are individuals that they felt that were masterminding a lot of, for example -- it wasn't just demonstrations, it was total destruction. I think that a lot of people don't know the other side of the spectrum, is that buses were being burned, ordinary people were being beaten, ATMS, banks were being burnt down.

It was very, very destructive, and what was happening. So, if they felt that these individuals, via emails, through blogging, via whatever, that they were behind it or organizing it, then they detained them. You know, rightly or wrongly, I don't know how many of them have been charged, I don't know how many of them have been released right now, whatever. But I'm just saying the reason behind the arrest was because they felt that it was them adding to insecurity in the country.

Scott Simon: So you don't feel freedom of expression is being stifled in Iran?

Marzieh Hashemi: I think the average Iranian feels very free to express themselves, ok? But I think that within the framework of the laws in this country -- and each country has its own rules, and its own laws. So freedom of expression, I think that through time, there's certain times, especially in emergency situations, difficult situations that governments all around the world are going to make certain decisions.

Now, perhaps in a regular situation, regular times, no that decision would not have been made. But they felt that it was necessary to do what they had to do in order to have the country, you know, secure. And to have stability in the country.

Each Sunday, I try to bring listeners a bit of news about the economy -- and explain how it might affect average Americans. Now I thought I'd ask YOU to tell me what YOU'D like to hear us discuss, whether it's economic fallout or personal finance tips. Just post your suggestions right here!

The folks over at YouTube asked Scott to contribute a video to their new initiative, the Reporters' Center. The idea is to help aspiring journalists with their work out in the field. Scott shares a few thoughts on how to tell a good story:

It's also worth nothing that the Weekend Edition YouTube channel is merging with the overall NPR channel. We're creating playlists of both Scott's videos and Liane's videos.

Remember the time Daniel Schorr gave Liane Hansen a few pointers about tweeting? Or how about the time Naturally 7 dropped by the studio and demonstrated all the instruments they could imitate vocally? Or when Scott tried to find coffee in Second Life? Now you can relive every moment -- all in one place.

Persians are known for their poetry. So it is not surprising that as recent dramatic events have unfolded in Iran, so many Iranians who have been alerting the world have written poetically -- even in their tweets. Meet 26-year-old Parham Baghestani. I reached Baghestani in the fabled Iranian city of Isfahan, where he lives.

His tweets range from the mundane to the spiritual, and offer a window into the psyche and everyday life of an Iranian.

"My love has gone underground," he writes, "The taste of night is nothing but awareness."

We've translated more of his tweets. Read them here.

Chappy Hardy, filmmaker and New Orleans man-about-town, died this week at the age of 63. Listeners may remember him from a series of interviews he did with Weekend Edition host Scott Simon in 2005 about his culinary tour of the East Coast's best and most affordable dining places. He liked to call himself, "The Man from H.U.N.G.E.R." -- that's "Helping Uninhibited Nibblers Get Exact Results" -- as he roamed from Alabama to New York and back. He leaves behind one son, Zephyr Hardy, who is a cameraman for ESPN.

And here's Andy's response:

What do you think? Does the "comedy math" add up? Let us know. And listen to the full conversation between Scott and Andy Richter on Saturday, June 27 on Weekend Edition, or online at NPR.org.

NPR's Davar Ardalan interviewed Simin Behbahani, Iran's national poet, today from Tehran. She's 82 years-old and one of the most respected figures in modern Iran. She recites two poems inspired by recent events -- one dedicated to the people of Iran and another to Neda, the woman whose death during the protests was viewed by millions on the web and on TV.

The last time I saw the great Pan-Africanist and intellectual C.L.R. James, I was in London. I sat by his bed while some of the Race Today folks were having a party downstairs. After asking how I was doing, James talked about Michael Jackson. He felt "this young man" was the greatest entertainer he had ever seen. I think from that moment on, I had a different take on Jackson. His ability to change was remarkable, and I took all of his changes to be nothing but a work of art. In many ways he represented the future. In a sex-starved world maybe it's good that someone looks androgynous. In a world filled with Pirates, maybe it's good that someone believes in Peter Pan. In a world where reality shows compete with reality, maybe our only escape is into animation and Never Never Land.

Michael Jackson was dangerous, because we live in dangerous times. The violence around us is often cartoonish. Consider all the car bombs that explode in the world. Shouldn't all the victims be able to get up and run again? When I think of Michael Jackson's little outfits, his pants raised so that we see his cute socks, all I can see is Disney. Jackson's moonwalking was so surreal that it was almost pure animation.

I saw him perform once. It was the Victory Tour with his brothers. The sound system was awful that night but I didn't care. I was thrilled just watching the guy perform. Thrill is the word that will probably always be attached to him. His album Thriller changed music and music videos.

I never liked the title "King of Pop:" it sounded too much like some leader in a third world nation. Some place where the leader's pictures are more developed than the leader. I never wanted to compare Michael to Elvis. I'm still trying to understand the marriage to his daughter. If there is one positive note to come out of tonight's sadness, it's that we won't have to remember Michael Jackson as a 50 year old entertainer trying to reclaim stardust or pay the bills.

Maybe the sudden loss of this great performer will force all of us to look at our own lives. We judged Michael Jackson too often and we laughed at him and thought that he was wacko. He was tabloid material but aren't we all? Don't we all have some crazy Disney soundtrack playing in our heads? How else to explain our behavior towards our fellow human beings.

I think I'll remember Michael Jackson the way I remember Peter Pan. I don't want his singing and dancing to end.

Photo courtesy of Mike Lang.

We've been asking for your grilled dessert recipes, and we've seen some pretty interesting ones so far: fruit kebabs, chocolate pizzas, bacon-wrapped bananas, and even an orange chocolate cake prepared entirely on the grill. Impressive.

You've got one more week to submit your own recipe. You can send an email or you can just leave a comment below.

All submissions will be reviewed by a pastry chef. And then our panel of chefs and food critics will taste the top three and pick a winner.

Happy grilling!

Listen to Weekend Edition Sunday tomorrow to hear some of Ben's stories about growing up in a famous military family, and about visit our website after the show for family photos and links to a documentary he produced about his father and grandfather.