January-March 2006
Archive -- Latest
 POINT
Mohammad va peyrovaane ou
A Marxist-Leninist look at Prophet Mohammad and his followers
Hojjat Barzegar
 ART
Spring in spirit
Norooz art
Maghbooleh Ganjei
Tell them about their mistakes after my smile has long faded away
Anonymous Irooni
Amazing what they have the heart to do to us. A shame that we sit and watch them make choices that will one day turn us into disturbed versions of themselves. Memories flood into my head as I watch the past through my mind’s eye. It’s a strange, peculiar feeling that crashes into me. Knowing that tomorrow can never again bring the same smile of innocence to my face that yesterday brought me. As I write my thoughts, the sorrow slowly drains out of me, or is it the blood that is flowing away from me onto the white tile? It doesn’t really matter. Both are a welcome release. A silent release of pain is what it is. And they will never know. I will never make them feel guilt no matter how much they may deserve it. And they can never know.
 SHORTS
Become your wish
Mozhgan Dadgostar
In response to Mehran Ahmadi's "Religion and Marriage", the majority of us living in the U.S. chose to leave our beloved homeland, so that we could live somewhere where we make our own choices, and not be manipulated by religious boundaries set by others. I agree with you that "religion has been part of our lives", and for most of us these beliefs were developed not through a logical process, but simply through our family and social settings, and we never dared or cared to question those views. We all also know of some truly noble people that choose to put everything, including their lives, on the line to fight against the tyranny of a few trying to rule and manipulate others. Yet, you are living in a free country and are not willing to make a choice, because it "caused a spark", and then you blame that on religion????!!!
 SHORTS
Religion and marriage
Mehran Ahmadi
Religion has been part of our lives if we want to believe it or not. I remember when I was growing up I would wake up to the sound of Azan every morning or the sound of Azan and prayer in middle of the night during the month of Ramadan. Then the summer would come and the Quran study schools just like Bible study clubs. Every morning I had to drag myself to the class yet to hear some of the verses that sounded very interesting. And of course the Revolution increased my exposure more to the religion. Until I moved to the United States about 17 years ago.
There one day, gone the next
Saman Ahmadi
In the year 2000, near the bursting point of what would later be refered to as the stock market bubble, I was ready for a change. I had been working as an environmental engineer for four years. It was fine but it was not something for which I had a passion. Several of my good friends had recently moved to a startup. They had left their jobs at Fujitsu, DSET and EDS to work at Xybridge, a telecom company in Richardson, Texas – better known as Telecom Corridor. They told me to come along. We all knew the number two person in the company – he had left a directorship position at Nortel the previous year to join Xybridge in at its start.
 SHORTS
T.K.C.s
Sanaz Fotouhi
‘My childhood was like ahsh, like soup with beans and noodles and spices and yoghurt and lemon juice -- contradicting tastes and smells and hopes and ideas.’ -- The Fortune Catcher
Diaspora does that to one. Makes one feel like a mess of conflicting and contradictory ideologies and notions. Yes, we try to let the psychologists, counsellors, and sociologists explain these feelings by attaching isms and theorizing them into a phenomenon that is shared across the world by the T.C.Ks (Third Culture Kids). The fact of the matter is that by allowing them to do so we are trying to make ourselves feel better, it’s consolation in which being a Diaspora and not belonging becomes a thing into which we belong. Much has been done on people as such as subjects of behavioural experiments to understand them, and I could sit here until eternity citing and reviews such works.
 BORDERS
Mosaafer
In the back trunk, on the Mexican side of the border
Shahriar Zahedi
Sohrab Eshraghi taxed our tips
Peyvand Khorsandi
Sohrab Eshraghi always wore a suit. A slim cigar between his fingers, he sat in the same corner each night, gazing well past the walls of his restaurant. We worked through the night. At 6.30am I would cycle home to Ealing in West London and sleep. The restaurant, as well as some money, gave me an identity. Arabs and Iranians pit-stopped at the restaurant between nightclubs and casinos. Some tipped, some tipped less. There was a smartly dressed guy who always had a coffee at around one a.m. One night he left without paying. In the glance we exchanged was the tacit acceptance that we wouldn’t give chase. He had always been a friend to the waiters. I wanted to tell him that, coffee aside, I could slip him some cake if he had no money. But he’ll never know.
“I’ve put my practice up for sale,” I said and poured him more coffee before adding, “As of next week, I shall follow my dream and do nothing else but write.”
Zohreh Khazai Ghahremani
What would you call it if one chose to work hard, absorb much abuse, grow old at a young age, be disconnected from the society and not gain a penny? No, not insanity, it is called a writer’s life, and I for one, chose that over a lucrative job that had gained me moderate respect in the community. I figured the best time to break the news to my husband would be at breakfast, long before the day’s events had robbed us of our patience and while we enjoyed the first cup of coffee together.
 NOROOZ
Saale no dar Toronto
Photo essay: Norooz in Toronto
Nader Davoodi
 NOROOZ
New year, new bonds
Photo essay: New Year's day with family & friends in Berkeley, northern California
Jahanshah Javid
 DIASPORA
Noruz, my Mother’s Day
My mother was doing exactly what Noruz was about – being Iranian
Pouya Alimagham
Noruz, or the Iranian New Year, was an integral part of my childhood growing up in the United States. Living outside of Iran made it somewhat difficult to celebrate Noruz as a national occurrence. Had we been in Iran during Noruz then it would have been a national holiday for us because we would have experienced it with all of Iran. In other words, Noruz was a private affair for my family since we weren’t in Iran. Our nationally celebrated New Year’s Day was on January 1st with the rest of America. Because we experienced Noruz abroad as a family affair, it wasn't New Year's Day to me but rather it was Mother's Day.
Photo essay: Iranian New Year in New York
Behzad Ahandoost
Norooz e-cards
From friends
I love going to the local Persian stores at this time of the year
Zohreh Khazai Ghahremani
Every year, I promise to be more organized with my Norooz preparations for the following year; and every year as the vernal equinox approaches, left with a long list to do, I’m convinced they must have the date wrong. When we lived in the Midwest, a scarcity of local Persian stores and the cold weather provided sufficient reasons for such procrastination. “It doesn’t feel like spring yet!” Now living in sunny California, where Iranian stores even make the samanoo and grow the sabzeh for you, I’m fresh out of excuses. No matter how early I begin to prepare, the day before Norooz I’m running around with a mile-long list of last minute errands.
 SHIRAZ
Dream come true
Going back to see the beautiful historic city of Shiraz was a dream come true, one which brought back many memories >>> Photos
Fariba Amini
When I returned this last time to Iran and had a chance to travel the country a bit after a decade, I wanted to go back to the city of my childhood and teenage years, where I always wished to ive there permanently. Yes, Shiraz was a dream to me. I remember going with my parents and four brothers, and our driver, Mammad Agha as we called him; my father used to say you must know your own land before you conquer another so in the spring time we would embark on this journey throughout Iran, in our old black Mercedes, from north to south, from east to west, stopping in every city and many villages. My father knew many people, almost one or more persons in one the major cities of Iran.
 PESAR KHAALEH
Saal tahvil
For my cousin, the latre Vahid Rahnamaie
Sheida Kalbasi
Photo essay: Charshanbesoori in southern California
Sourena Mohammadi
Photo essay: Charshanbeh Soori at friends' house in Albany, northern California
Jahanshah Javid
 PARANOIA
From the Shah to Dubai
There is no doubt that Dubai is a friend of America, as the Shah was thirty years before, but the question is the forces that are beyond their control
Mahmoud Ghaffari
In 1976, the Shah of Iran out of good faith and support for United States, decreed the Pahlavi Foundation to probe into purchasing the controlling rights of Pan American World Airways. PanAm had been struggling for a few years as once-lucrative routes, mostly to Europe and South America, had not been generating the kind of cash they had projected. Coupled with some high level purchases from Boeing, namely 747 airliners, the airline had placed itself in a precarious cash poor position. Not surprisingly, Congress got involved and stopped the attempt by legislating the ownership of an airliner by a foreign entity as illegal. Does this sound familiar?
 PHILANTHROPY
Reinvesting in our communities
Interview with Azadeh Hariri, an Iranian American philanthropist
Hamid Karimi
Azadeh Hariri was born in Iran, went to boarding school in England and pursued her higher education in Lausanne, Switzerland and Indiana, USA. She spent her early years in Iran and belonged to a rather traditional family. Since 1979 Hariri has lived in California, creating and managing the state’s second largest food distributor, which was later sold. Her humble attitude and appearance is in contrast with her business acumen and sharp sense of presence. More importantly, Hariri is busy making a positive difference in the lives of academically gifted yet financially constrained Iranians who wish to further themselves in America. She has been an active philanthropist for years and now Hariri is taking on a new challenge by establishing the Iranian Scholarship Foundation to give away scholarships to young Iranian students. I recently spent an hour with her at a café in Menlo Park, California to talk about her vision and perspective on Iranian American philanthropy.
 LIFE
A double-decker life
It was the last bus home, alone with my thoughts under the dim ceiling light, savoring the day, the dance, the last kiss goodnight, and musing about the future across the ocean
A.S. Mostafanejad
As we turned into the flower bedecked Lalehzar Boulevard, I immediately noticed a change. There approaching us on the other side was the red behemoth - a double-decker bus. This was as amazing to me as Tehran’s first escalator in the Firdowsi department store, or the first viewing of the Lone Ranger on Tehran’s first TV station or even my first taste of Pepsi Cola at the public baths after a hot shower and a rub down by the Dalak. I strained to keep it in view as it passed us by and slowly disappeared above the afternoon traffic into the distance.
 SHORTS
Lousy shot
Guive Mirfendereski
On Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar's "Crazy call" minutes after hitting several students with a Jeep on University of North Carolina's Chapel Hill campus: I am not curious about Taheri-azar's state of mental health. Like Afshin [See: Like we need more bad publicity], I am worried about what inference others may draw about Iranians based on his actions. I truly am saddened by the sheer incompetence of this Iranian SUV-bomber. Here is a guy who drove a multi-ton SUV into a crowd of sittinnnnnnnnnnnnng duckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkks, like firing a shot gun into a barrel full of fish, but managed to injure just a few. The inference that others -- like the US military -- may draw from this is that the sons of the Resolute Nation are lousy shots.
Forty people chanting across CNN Center in downtown Atlanta were not going to change a thing in Iran, but I still felt good
Tahereh Aghdassifar
Perhaps simply being reminded that other Iranians do care and do make an effort to attend such events made me feel less alone, despite sharp reminders as I looked around that it was only a very small number of Iranians that felt compelled to show up. Over the two hour period we stood yelling slogans and waving signs, a few cars honked in agreement, many people gawked from across the street and inside the CNN center, I caught a group of men snickering and muttering inaudible comments and twice, from what my friend and I witnessed at least, we were flicked off by passing cars.
 IDENTITY
Who da man
Disadvantages of having an Iranian name in America
Houman Jazaeri
When I was born in Abadan, southwestern Iran. My parents proudly named me Houman. They picked this beautiful name out of thousands and I will always be thankful that my name is not something more complicated. My cousin Farbod after being tormented for years in elementary school changed his name to Peter so he didn't have to deal with spelling and pronunciation of it. But in 1973 Iran, my parents never imagined that in the future they would immigrate to the United States. Or my dad who is named Mohammad would have come up with a cool nick name back then. Calling himself Mo or Mike just to get the traction going; I could just see him pulling into the driveway of NIOC and asking the guard to call him Mo from now on.
 MISSING LINK
Crazy call
"Uh, yes, sir, I just hit several people with a vehicle, and, uh..."
911 call
Chapel Hill Police arrested Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar, 22, minutes after a Jeep hit several students on University of North Carolina's Chapel Hill's campus Friday, March 3. The university released a four-minute recording Monday of the 911 call that followed...
 LIFE
Forward and backwards
I started passing the thread through the needle’s hole while drifting into the magical past
Mohsen
It’d been in back of my mind forever to sew the bottom ends of my pants. The same pants my mom sent me couple years ago from Iran. I went upstairs to find our lost and found box in the forgotten corner of the bathroom, the same place that we pile up our sewing instrumentations. I got what I needed, a spool of black thread and a needle. Sewing wasn’t as frightening as what I imagined. I sat a little and started to think for a while to remember things from the past. I remembered years ago in Tehran around this time when my mom and I would go out for the New Year’s shopping.
 SHORTS
Free hate against Muslims?
Nema Milaninia
A Republican student organization at the University of California Irvine displayed the caricatures of Mohammad at an event concerning “Islamic terrorism.” [See] From the looks of it, the student organization made no efforts to incorporate Muslim students on campus or even gauge their opinion. When a large group of students protested against the depiction and its use in the event, they were branded as “fascists” and “traitors.” While we should all support freedom of speech, is there any doubt that use of such caricatures in this event and promoting it under the notion of “freedom of speech” simply a justified method of attacking, ridiculing, and displaying hate against Muslims? As a friend of mine most eloquently noted:
 LIFE
Mistaken identity
You see, I have an unfortunate habit of walking up to complete strangers I think I know, and doing something embarrassing
Parissa Sohie
My little (ok, not so little) ego is intact. I grow older, notice little wrinkles on my face and more gray hair in my hair -- but my ego is exactly as I left it. I stayed home yesterday because I wasn’t feeling well. However, some time around 5, I realized that eating what was in our fridge was not an option (mostly because we only had condiments in the fridge). So I went to the Vons down the hill from our house, nursing my little headache and trying to figure out what I would buy and subsequently make for dinner. As I got out of the car, I realized I was wearing brown cords, with a white t-shirt, denim jacket, black shoes and a red purse. Now individually, each one of those items are kind of cute (I have a particular fondness for my little red purse), but the combination was less than dazzling.
 LIFE
An unfinished affair
Conversation
Amir Nooriala
-- “I can not afford a confrontation. My reputation has already been ruined by the last time we went public. Can you not just leave him?”
-- “No I can not leave him.”
-- “He doesn’t even love you. Look at you now, he’s stifled you, you are covered up. It’s like he’s ashamed of you. I remember when you were proud and not ashamed to show your beauty”
-- “Did you say this to the other women too? Did you try and flatter them into doing what you want?”
 AMERICA
Home is a blur
When I first put the Iranian flag in my car my family told me I was being idiotic
Tahereh Aghdassifar
On Tuesday of last week I took our university shuttle to the parking deck where I leave my car while I am in classes. I approached my car from the back, so only when I sat inside did I see something stuffed under my windshield wiper. I figured it was a flyer for something until I paid attention and saw it was a sheet of notebook paper, I thought perhaps a friend had left a note for me on my car: "Go back home terorist". 1. It is spelled "terrorist." You'd think after seeing it day in and day out on television, in newspapers, in magazines, in textbooks that people would learn how to properly spell the word. 2. Who the hell carries an orange marker at a university?
 LIFE
Worth living for
Birthday party at the height of war
Alireza Tarighian
Last Saturday, I was talking to my son about my birthday party on February 28, 1988, back in Tehran, Iran. The war between Iran and Iraq had been going on for almost 8 years and there was no sign of peace. My brother, the only sibling I have, had been stationed at the frontline for his obligatory military service for one and a half years by that time. I had been excused because of my student status. The whole country was depressed from war and brutal acts, which had been running us for a decade. Under their relatively new religious rules, every type of fun had been banned, from music to love!
 BACKGAMMON
Double six
More than a game
Pouya Alimagham
Backgammon, or Takhteh Nard (Battle on Wood) in Persian, is not just a game; it’s a culture, a history, and part of the Iranian identity. People all across Asia claim the game as their own and Iranians are no exception. The game has evolved throughout time and many believe that it is the oldest recorded game in history - even more ancient than chess - and despite all the churches and mosques banning it at various points throughout history, the game has survived and is more widespread now than ever before. The game is a growing phenomenon played by Iranians, Greeks, Arabs, Turks, Chinese, Russians and many more in cafes, hooka bars, and homes all across the world.
 CIVIL RIGHTS
Prime suspect
Looking Middle Eastern in America
Pirouz Azadi
The nearly three million Iranians in Diaspora, particularly those in the US have had to face the unpleasant day-to-day feeling of being watched, interrogated, and discriminated. Deja vue all over again. Many Iranian, albeit Middle Eastern Americans now feel they have a much deeper, more sympathetic empathy with the Japanese American interments, and the persecutions of the German Jews leading to the Holocaust in the forty's. The dilemma is practically the same, if not worse, among Americans with Arab, North African, and Indo-Pakistani heritage. This has in turn led to a self-imposed conscious decision of lowering one's aspirations, and retreating from a social environment in the society at large in despair. Ironically, the fear and apprehension from both the old and the new countries of origin lingers on.
 ADVICE
Abandoning dad
Shokooh's Couch
Shokooh Miry
Responsible Persian Daughter writers: My 78-year old father was diagnosed with Alzheimerís last year. He moved in with me shortly after the diagnosis and I am now his sole caregiver and happy to take care of him. My problem is my own family -- my mother has passed away and my two brothers refuse to spent time with dad. They havenít visited our father in two months and call very infrequently. I am growing angry with my selfish brothers. Our fatherís health is declining rapidly and he misses his sons a great deal. They used to be so close to him but have absolutely abandoned him since he became sick! I have nagged and nagged and had dozens of go nowhere arguments, but nothing changes. What can I do to get through to my brothers? Why are they acting this way?
 DIASPORA
I wonder
Perhaps one day I will receive the privilege of practicing in Iran and serving my people
Salomeh Mohajer
I sit here and wonder why so many of the Iranian community have now participated in what appears to be a forced diasporas of sorts, whether it's by physical distance, or a loss of a sense of Iranian identity. I truly enjoy living in Canada and while my adopted homeland is kind enough to grant me citizenship, I have to be honest and say that my heart belongs to another nation, Iran.
TESTOSTERONE
Baab ol-shavat
Mariah Carey looks real good -- I think
Shahriar Zahedi
 SPORTS
Hole in the ice
No matter how cold, stormy or dark, Mina is always there dressed to go
Mehrdad Pishehgar
My wife Mina used to suffer from continuous and horrible pains and aches all over her body. At one time we thought that she is just imagining and these are just in her head and do not really exist. After almost a year of seeing different doctors and specialist she was diagnosed with Fibromyalgy. This is simply put a kind of rheumatism, but of course much more complicated. Nobody knows what causes it and how to cure it.
 COMEDY
Axis of evil comedy show
Maz Jobrani, Aron Kader, and Ahmed Ahmed
Jasmin Darznik
With about a week to go before the “Axis of Evil Comedy Show” comes to the Bay Area, the Iranian-American actor and comedian Maz Jobrani is getting ready to lay on his thickest Iranian accent—this time for laughs. In movies and on TV, Jobrani has been a terrorist, a spy, and an imam. He’s worn turbans and he’s owned a donut shop. More than once he’s ditched his perfect English and put on a heavy Middle Eastern brogue. And he’s died so many times that his own mother has begged him to kill the other guys in the movie for a change. But that’s not all. Maz Jobrani is one of a trio of Middle Easterners responsible for the riotously funny “Axis of Evil Comedy Show,” which will have its Northern California premiere on February 9th at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco and February 12th at Santa Clara’s Avalon Nightclub.
 ABORTION
Family first
Once we are responsible for bringing another life into this world, it is essential to understand that it is no longer about us
Sarah
Many pro-choice believers mistakingly assume that conservatives point a condemning and intolerant judgmental finger to those who either have had abortions or believe in the right to have them. Tolerance has only acceptable if it is directed to the liberal left. It is famously known that there is no such thing as tolerance for conservative-minded people in our society. Speaking the truth about a procedure that is physically and mentally harmful and life threatening to women is not condemnation. We are women and life givers in every sense of the word. To deny that ability or to disregard the pain that is caused when we defraud ourselves as women of that right, is not natural.
 CHOICE
My body, my choice
Pro-choice rally in Orange, California
Shahla Bebe
On January 22nd the National Organization for Women (NOW) commemorated the 33rd anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, which legalized a woman's right to abortion in the United States. At dusk, women's rights supporters gathered for NOW Orange County's annual rally and candlelight vigil in City of Orange.
 ADVENTURE
Devil's maiden
Short story
Azam Nemati
It was one of those winter afternoons I could not t decide whether to hate or love. I had to stop at the bookstore to pick up a book I had ordered and then go to the Whole Foods store to pick up some groceries. I was in a state of sweet melancholy as I was listening to one of my favorite Iranian singers. As I pulled in the shopping center I decided to sit there for a while and listen to my favorite song in peace and savor the moment. I selected a faraway spot to make sure I would not draw any attention and parked. Opened the door to my side and turned off the engine halfway so I could continue to listen. I rested my head on my small pillow, which supports my neck and closed my eyes.
 LIFE
Little alley of memories
Halfway around the globe, I am once more linked to my little snowy alley
Zohreh Khazai Ghahremani
Just one photograph and I feel as if thirty years have just been taken off me. The white alley reminds me of a fresh canvas where I can imagine my wildest colors. Branches of a honeysuckle drape over a wall and the snow clusters on it resemble new blossoms as if having appeared overnight. There’s a garden behind that wall and I know it well. For years, I’ve washed my hands at its little pond, played endless summer afternoons in its shades, and picked gladiolas from its flower beds. So many winter mornings I have opened my curtains to marvel at the glistening snow that had fallen the night before and imagined how it would taste.
 WOMEN
Good is not good enough
It is not possible to be truly morally good without acknowledging a higher deity to help us attain that goodness
Sarah
It is unfortunate that many people do abandon their religion because of forced dogmatism mixed with politics. True religion and spirituality was never intended to be used as a political tool to control people. From my experience as an American with a Persian (non religious) father and an American (devout Christian) mother, I have to say that 90% of my interactions with other Persians have concluded contempt and indifference for religious and spiritual matters. I do not know if this is a direct result of living in an Iranian culture where religion and politics are not so openly discussed, or if it is a reflection of a generation with a dwindling sense of spiritual and religious desire.
 WOMEN
Common good
Instilling universal principles of behaivor
Faye Farhang
Your essay makes the point that since religion, more specifically, Islam is rejected in one form or another by the majority of secular Iranians in the West, there's no other means to instill moral values into the children of Iranians living abroad. The latter is not only false but completely negates the very plausible idea that as Iranians or any other nationality, one can instill positive, and dignified morals into ones children without abiding by any religious persuasion. The possibility of living an absolutely moral life exists without practicing any religion.
 WOMEN
You're joking, right?
To judge all Iranian women because you haven't met one that is religious enough for you is juvenile
Tahereh Aghdassifar
Why is it that if you cannot find an Iranian woman you are "compatible" with after dating five of them, that it is their fault for not being what you wanted? What gives you the right to generalize all, or even a majority of Iranian women, as those who don't care about their own culture and all purposely seek to marry outside of their ethnicity? Have you ever considered the fact that at least one of the five Iranian women you have dated have sat on a date and listened to you ramble and decided you were a judgmental fool who wasn't really seeking a true Iranian woman, who instead was really just searching for a religious Muslim?
 LIFE
Lying down
They had come together and found something that had worked
Siamak Vossoughi
"I like it when we're lying down," he said, "because that's where you stop being sarcastic." He had arrived at her apartment twenty minutes ago. "Not that there's anything wrong with being sarcastic. It's as reasonable as anything else. You're good at it too. I just like the way you don't need it when we're lying down. What actually happens when we're lying down can come later. Or it can come not at all. It's okay either way." The young woman looked at him and thought that she had never known anyone like him, that the feeling around him was so bright and so dark at the same time.
 WOMEN
Don't blame them
Really, is it any wonder that many Iranian women want to shun religion?
Lance Raheem
On one hand, you stated that Iranian girls are free to marry whomever they wish, on the other hand,however, you suggested repeatedly that "good religious Iranian girls" marry their "own kind." I take from this that you meant to say that Iranian men, whether good or bad, are free to marry "whatever kind they like." This sure looks like a double standard to me, but whose counting. There have been so many cruel and unfair double standards heaped upon our nation's women by the government of the Islamic Republic, whose going to notice that you've added one more to the pile. Really, is it any wonder that many of them want to shun religion?
e-LIFE
Invisible woman
That is the little mixed blessing I have of my past, a blank slate that I can write anything on
Parissa Sohie
My lack of memorableness was really bothering me. Was I (and am I still) that forgettable. WHY? HOW? I was speechless--almost. The good news was, that it was really entertaining M. He’d walk around the house saying, “You look familiar. I know your friends, but I don’t think I know you ... Who are you again?” Clearly, the man was asking for it. When I stopped reacting to his obvious lack of humor, he encouraged me to find more friends from my past on Orkut. He needed new material, and I couldn’t help but laugh at him -- because even in my mind there was a tragic-comedic twist to all this.
 SATIRE
Chocolate god
Surely chocolate moose has a higher water content, and therefore would be a better representative of Jesus' body than some dry crackers
Behrouz Joon
Alireza’s claim that Iranian girls have a “lack of religious and moral values” due to their non-traditional upbringing outside of Iran by their parents (Islam-bashing or not), as well as noting the inability of Iranian girls to balance “freedom with modesty” shows just how ignorant he is of the first-generation experience. Of course Iranians who are raised in America and elsewhere are different from Iranians raised in Iran. We have a completely different reality to deal with outside of the household, and many of us had to do this with parents who knew just as little about how to navigate through American culture as we did.
 RADIO
Jasmin Darznik writes: I recorded a short portion of my last article "Our cousins, our selves" for KQED radio. It airs this Thursday and Friday (Jan. 12-13) at 7:37 a.m. They podcast them over the website (www.kqed.org) and the normal broadcast comes through 88.5 F.M. in the San Francisco Bay Area. Anyway, give a listen if you have a chance.
 LIFE
That'll teach me
Woes of over-eating
Siamack Salari
That'll teach me gorge myself when I wasn't even that hungry. That'll teach me to leave frozen burgers in the back of my freezer for 18 months. That'll teach to stick those same burgers into the oven without defrosting them. That'll teach me to eat so many burgers in one go. The first inkling I had that something wasn't quite tight was when I was on the phone to my cousin Reza. He had discovered a site called pamtv.com. I was listening but becoming increasingly distracted by a queasy sensation in my stomach. This was less that 2 hours after finishing the last burger.
 DATING
Where are our good girls?
When you don't believe in a religion you don't care as much about morals
Alireza M.
Reality states that for various reasons Iranian women have changed since the generation of our parents and grandparents; whether it be the 1) current regime, 2) lack of religious and moral values (Iranians raised or born outside of Iran), social problems, Iranian women in western societies not being able to balance freedom with modesty, mardaye Iraani badan, ect, it still doesn't change the fact that they have changed.
 CHOICE
Stuck in the middle
America vs. Iran: National interests and identity
Mazi Bahadori
It would be impossible to find two Iranians who describe their identity equally. Whether you came here twenty-five years ago or yesterday, at the age of two or thirty, how much "Iranian" you put in the "Iranian-American" is ever changing. I do my best to keep it 50/50. My culture and values come from my family -- which, for me, is synonymous with Iran. Though I was raised in the United States, my parents and their parents came of age in Iran. And the principles they've passed along to their children come from a long, several millennia old tradition of Iranian culture and heritage. It's something most every Iranian is proud of and has served as a unifier in Iranian history and the many Iranian Diasporas around the world.
LIFE
Red state
Distracted by the promising color of cherries -- and other fruits
Parissa Sohie
If you walked into my cozy little home tonight -- right now -- you’d see my life splashed with red. My red couch, resting against a beige wall; me on my little chair, wearing a red shirt, leaning against my red cushions; the red kitchen with white tiles; the red tablecloth on our dark wooden dining table. A little bit of red almost everywhere. And among these splashes of color, one particular splash of misplaced caught my attention and made me a little discombobulated. I was relishing a bowl of cherries with my eager accomplice of a husband, and their sweet redness got me thinking.
PROPOSAL
13-Bedar
An international day of remembrance
Guive Mirfendereski
The day shall celebrate the survivors and honor the memory of the souls perished in episodic cruelty of man upon man, but above all the day shall promote harmony among the races and religions within national boundaries. One need not delude oneself ever again with such hollow refrains as “Never Again” as it is uttered about one particular race or religion when unspeakable horrors have been and continue to be committed throughout the world on a daily basis. Perhaps the mantra should be a more realistic call for “Forever Less Savagery, Please.”
 IMMIGRATION
Wide of the mark
Sweeping new U.S. immigration laws are coming?
Afshin Pishevar
The U.S. House of Representatives just passed this major immigration reform bill. The intent is clearly to control illegal immigration and secure the nation’'ss borders. The bill funds additional border fences. The bill also stops the "catch and release" policy. Currently, illegal aliens caught at the border are released, many times inside the United States. This bill would also require businesses to substantiate that their workers are authorized to work. Astonishingly, the House rejected President Bush’'ss call for the guest worker program. This would have legalized approximately 15 million illegal aliens presently in the United States.
 LIFE
Amazing ambassador
She walked in and I could feel the cloud of despair lift from the room
Courtney Susemiehl
I first met Dr. Parviz in my stepdad's hospital room in the days before his surgery. She walked in and I could feel the cloud of despair lift from the room, followed by a breath of hope. Her warmth and gentle manner eased my anxiety immediately. She joked with my stepdad about his lovely yellow skin tone-evoking laughter from everyone, including my stepdad. Then, she calmly spoke about what we could expect with the surgery and beyond. I had researched the surgical options ahead of time, so I understood when she started explaining the intricate procedure she would perform.
 CINEMA
The seducer
Omid Djalili in "Casanova"
Behrouz Bahmani
Omid Djalili plays his role perfectly in "Casanova" and adds his usual extra Persian flair to the part, little gems of facial expression, or body twitches, here and there, subtle but as an Iranian watching, you can see them, as if he put them there for us only to enjoy. Hilarious facial expressions, and possibly some of his best physical humor to date, Omid often carried the comedic scene as needed, occasionally outdoing the star Ledger handily.
 CHILDHOOD
Sad and happy
Photo essay: Childhood in Tehran & a new song
Shahrzad Sepanlou
LIFE
Our cousins, our selves
While I collected imaginary cousins in America, in Iran they had the real thing, a whole country’s worth
Jasmin Darznik
Because just about every story I heard about Iran featured a huge cast of cousins, I concluded that it was a place made up entirely of cousins. Boy cousins tormenting girl cousins. Giggling, whispering cliques of teenage girl cousins. Packs of up-to-no good teenage boy cousins. Cousins were often closer than siblings. Cousins flirted. Sometimes they even got married. There were the regular kind of first cousins, but also two sets -- maternal and paternal -- of second and third and fourth cousins. Cousins by blood and cousins by marriage. Cousins next door, on the next block, all around town.
 LIFE
Marriage advice
Why some work and some don't
Mahnaz Zardoust-Ahari
Marriage is a two way street. If you treat your partner with respect and are honest with them (yes it does hurt sometime) you are one step ahead of a lot of people. The ones who have no respect or continuously lie to each other (no it can be about anything not just the big ones the little ones hurt too) have no hope for a future of love and happiness. They will either continue to live this way or end it in divorce after two or three kids and God only knows how many affairs. If they do stay together they begin to resent one another and then the snide remarks start.
SHORTS
I met a very interesting person today
Reza T. Saberi writes: I had a nice experience today that I want to tell you all about.I was waiting in line in a local sandwich shop with my son when I saw a familiar face. For a while I was thinking about who this tall frail old guy could be, and then suddenly I recognized him as the first American who went to space.
I went to this old man sitting and waiting for his sandwich with two other old women. I went straight toward him and when he saw me smiled kindly. I asked him,"Are you John Glenn?" He extended his hand and said "Yes." I shook his hand and said, "Nice to meet you." He asked "What is your name?" I said, "Reza," and then I added, "I was in Iran when I saw you on T.V. in the space and I am very happy to see you." He was so surprised and asked with wide eyes, "Iran?" I shook my head and said "Yes, I was a young man then."
I enjoyed seeing him in person and shaking the hand of such a great man. For a man who went to space twice (the second time in his seventies for research on the effect of space on aging) Iran seemed as outlandish and far away place as the moon and his eyes seemed as though they were looking at a space alien.
>>> Diaspora Archive -- Latest
>>> Top
|
