Editor's note: Actor Rainn Wilson plays paper salesman Dwight Schrute in the television comedy "The Office."

(CNN) -- Why is Rainn Wilson, "Dwight" on "The Office," writing a news commentary for CNN? Good question.

It's a bit strange for me, to say the least; a comic character actor best known for playing weirdos with bad haircuts getting all serious to talk about the persecution of the fellow members of his religious faith.

Dear readers of CNN, I assure you that what I'm writing about is no joking matter or some hoax perpetrated by a paper-sellin', bear-fearin', Battlestar-Galactica obsessed beet farmer.

I am a member of the Baha'i faith. What is that, you ask? Well, long story short, it's an independent world religion that began in the mid-1800s in Iran. Baha'is believe that there is only one God and therefore only one religion.

All of the world's divine teachers (Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, Moses, Abraham, Krishna, etc.) bring essentially the same message -- one of unity, love and knowledge of God or the divine.

This constantly updated faith of God, Baha'is believe, has been refreshed for this day and age by our founder, Baha'u'llah. There. Nutshell version.

Now, as I mentioned, this all happened in Iran, and needless to say the Muslim authorities did not like the Baha'is very much, accusing them of heresy and apostasy. Tens of thousands were killed in the early years of the faith, and the persecutions have continued off and on for the past 150 years.

Why write about all this now? Well, I'm glad you asked. You see there's a 'trial' going on very soon for seven Baha'i national leaders in Iran.

They've been accused of all manner of things including being "spies for Israel," "insulting religious sanctities" and "propaganda against the Islamic Republic."

They've been held for a year in Evin Prison in Tehran without any access to their lawyer (the Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi) and with zero evidence of any of these charges.

When a similar thing happened in 1980, the national leadership of the Iranian Baha'i community disappeared. And this was repeated again in 1981.

In fact, since 1979, more than 200 Baha'is have been killed, holy places and cemeteries desecrated, homes burned, civil rights taken away and secret lists compiled of Baha'is (and even Muslims who associate with them) by government agencies.

It's bad right now for all the peace-loving Baha'is in Iran who want only to practice their religion and follow their beliefs. It's especially bad for these seven. Here's a link to their bios. They're teachers, and engineers, and optometrists and social workers just like us.

This thought has become kind of a cliché', but we take our rights for granted here in America. Imagine if a group of people were rounded up and imprisoned and then disappeared not for anything they'd done, but because they wanted to worship differently than the majority.

There is a resolution on the situation of the Baha'is in Iran being sent to Congress. Please ask your representatives to support it. And ask them to speak out about this terrible situation.

Thanks for reading. Now back to bears, paper and beets!

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Rainn Wilson.
SOURCE: http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/02/17/wilson.faith/index.html

From the Blogmaster:  Sorry I haven't posted in a while. 
I came to Los Angeles for  pilot season and I've been very
busy getting new headshots, updating my demo reel,
taking acting classes and improv classes, finding the
right temporary lodging while I'm  here, etc. 
Just now going out on a few auditions, which feels good. 
THE POWER CONNECTION    ACTING TIPS 


Just wanted to update you on my progess here in Tinseltown.

I just filmed the little comedic role I wrote you about, on Ned's
Declassified.  It may be quite a while before it actually airs though.

I had an audition for one of my favorite shows yesterday, "The Office".

I'm not sure I got small enough for them.  They really like the
"less is more" approach.  We will see. 

I wanted to take a moment to share a bit about living in L.A.
for those of you who might be thinking of coming here.  I honestly
encourage you to come out for a couple of months before moving
here.  It is such a shock for me, every time I come, that I realize
how much I've blocked out about it when I leave.

One thing that is just unrelenting and challenging is the traffic.
If you now live in a smaller city or town, be prepared for traffic
that just never lets up.

The first time I drove down the little streets of Burbank and realized
that I had to go at least 35 miles an hour on city streets to keep from
being honked at, yelled at, and passed in a dangerous way.  Back
home, we go about 10 miles down crowded city streets.  Not here.

And back home, the freeway is the fastest way to go.  Here, the
freeway is bumper to bumper traffic at least twice a day, if not more.

What does this mean to you as an actor?  It means that once you start
going out for auditions, and booking work, you can count on being in
your car about 4 to 8 hours per day.  That is not hyperbole. 

When I was here two years ago, I heard two different industry professionals
say the same thing......they both said that your job is driving.  Acting is the
reward you occasionally get for driving all the time.

That's the reality.  I would never buy a car in L.A.  I'd rent one.  This stop
and go, stop and go, stop and go in very high heat, most of the time, is terribly
hard on a car.  Add to that the fact that they have pot holes here that can swallow
young children.  It's cheaper to rent or lease.

And then there is rent, of course.  If you are planning a trip to L.A. for pilot season,
plan also to spend a minimum of $3,000 a month and if you really want to do it right
(classes, new headshots, new demo reels, etc.) plan on about $5,000 a month.  That's
what this trip is costing me.

And so far, I've made about $300. 

If you have talent AND persistence of a type that is usually
reserved for award winning  athletes, you can make it in
Hollywood.  A good friend of mine worked 20 times last year
and has also worked 5 times this year (It is March 4 as I write
this so she has worked 5  times since January).  That is truly
remarkable but if you asked her if she felt she had more talent
than other actors who have been here just as long, she'd say
no.  She knows the difference is persistence.

How long has she been here, working
on her craft every day and dropping headshots
EVERY day and following up on leads
and networking EVERY day? 

For thirteen years.

Am I saying this to discourage you?  Yes. 
If there is something else you can do that you
will enjoy, do that.  If not, nothing I say can
discourage you anyway and it's better you go
forward with your acting plans knowing the
score here.

Best to you,
Neva

1)  The following is an email from one of my favorite people on the planet, Jay.  Jay has entered a contest remixing a Mariah Carey song.  I think he wins a chance to work with Mariah if he wins; basically, this is a HUGE DEAL, and he needs all the help he can get!:

Hey guys,

The voting has officially begun! PuHLEEEEz click on the following link to vote for my remix!

http://www.indabamusic.com/submissions/show/1750

Once you vote, they'll send you an email and you just have to confirm your vote by clicking on the link in that email! Please vote for my remix everyone, especially if you like it =)   Also, you can only vote ONCE (per email account, hee-hee)

Love,
Jay

*Please help this kid out.  He's good people, and a really talented musician/producer who deserves some recognition*

2)  I'M OFFICIALLY A GROWN UP, TOMORROW AT 8:30 AM.  They're trusting me with kids, whut?  Three of them, if I haven't written about it; a 4th grader, a 5th grader, and a 6th grader, and I have a co-teacher.  That means that my days are going to be VERY interesting.  Possibly a little dangerous (they're working on getting Claudia and I restraint training, which is indicative of NEEDING to restrain one or all three of my kids), but definitely interesting, and a good learning experience.  I know that I didn't do NEARLY enough prep work (I only planned out tomorrow, but that's mainly because I don't know these kids and would have hated to plan the whole unit for many subjects and then found out it was too high or too low...), but I'm going to roll with the punches and make it work.

3) The trees are starting to change colors up here, and that makes me MORE than sad.

2b) *yeah, I know it's out of order, SUE ME.*  I created another username on here to document my time teaching.  It will be the right mix of detailed and honest and then still respectful of my kids/coworkers and their lives.  You can read about how I'm doing at 1styearteacher .  I don't know if I'll update it EVERYday, but I sort of want to keep this journal separate from my work life; I want to still be a person outside of teaching, even if I'm definitely a teacher outside of teaching (it's one of those jobs you don't leave at the door when the day ends).

14) (just to piss somebody off).  Is it possible 'The Office' has finally worn me down and I want to watch it?!?!  I watched this youtube video of Jim and Dwight and all the stuff Jim does to Dwight, and it was actually really funny.  Hmm.  I don't forsee it every climbing into the 'My Favorite Shows' category (ala Friends, My Boys, Daria, CSI, SVU, Scrubs...), but I'd consider watching it. 

Either way, these are the 2 videos that got me going:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts9geuPWQvs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7PHL4HXm1o

Q)  Has anyone ever SOLD anything on Ebay before?  The operative word here is SOLD.  I have 2 tickets to a concert I would have sold my soul for, but now that I'm not in New York, a concert on a Tuesday night in New Jersey just...it's not going to happen.  I can't tell you how PISSED I am that I have to miss seeing New Kids on the Block in concert (something I've wanted to do since I was um...SIX YEARS OLD?), but I spent $110 dollars on them (stupid fees) and I would love to sell them.  Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Here's a great interview with Rainn Wilson, one of the stars of NBC's TV show The Office and his new movie (in which he stars) The Rocker.  Listen here:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93060074

4. I squee over fictional characters on my favorite TV shows when they wear golf clothes and have long-term plans and drink beer and make out with their girlfriends in the middle of the office as their co-workers do the "Bow-chicka-bow-wow" music and their boss creepily stares at them.

Speaking of boss, boy was Michael's douche meter dialed up in this episode. I wanted to punch him in the face. Though I did love this little number when Pam stood up to him: "You said, 'Pam, Pam, Pam, Pam,' then sneezed in my tea and said it doesn't matter 'cause it was just allergies. Do you remember that?" The mental picture on that one is great.

Hour-long season finale next week. Lotsa things to wrap-up here (Michael/Jan relationship, Toby leaving for Costa Rica, Dwight/Angela/Andy triangle, Jim/Pam proposal, cokehead Ryan...). Gonna be a good one!

*ahem* Anyway, we now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.


iFeel: anxious
iTunes: "ER"