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Requiem
Fish out of water
A moment to remember Shamlou
By Asghar Massombagi
August 1, 2000
The Iranian
So I'm on the phone with this friend in Tehran a few days ago and after
the obligatory pleasantries he casually says "oh, Shamlou died today"
and I feel a cringe in some buried region of my brain; the region where
long forgotten memories of childhood resides and the snap shots of old
neighborhoods and the first days of school and the crisp bills you got
for Noruz >>>
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Funeral
Only ey Iran
Nationalism at Shamlou's funeral
August 1, 2000
The Iranian
Email is from a friend in Iran who was at Shamlou's funeral. I found
it beautiful and informative. It shows an atmosphere very different from
the kind you read in the papers. -- Sourena Mohammadi >>>
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Outlook
Can women be judges?
BBC Persian Service
Two leading Ayatullahs, Mousavi Bojnordi and Nasser Makarem have come
up with conflicting views over the issue. Sadeq Saba explores this theological
debate that has divided the faithful. >>>
LISTEN HERE
More than votes count in Iran reform bid
TEHRAN, Aug 1 (Reuters) - The leader of Iran's biggest pro- reform faction
says his bloc enjoys a comfortable majority in the new parliament but its
agenda for change faces serious institutional and political obstacles.
Mohammad Reza Khatami, head of the Islamic Iran Participation Front
and brother of the Iranian president, estimated reformist forces could
count on up to 216 MPs in the 290-seat chamber but said numbers alone were
not enough >>>
FULL TEXT
U.S oil's anti-sanctions drive aided by Cheney run
NEW YORK, August 1 (Reuters) - Big U.S. Oil is turning up the heat on
Washington to scrap sanctions that have kept American energy firms out
of the race for prize prospects in Iran and Libya.
They have a powerful ally in new Republican vice-presidential candidate
Richard Cheney -- who just six weeks ago called on the U.S. government
to allow its companies to resume business in Iran >>>
FULL TEXT
Online Ayatollah: Isolated Iranian Dissident Speaks
Out on Web
By Geneive Abdo
International Herald Tribune
July 29, 2000
QOM, Iran - Under house arrest in the Islamic Republic he helped establish,
Iran's most prominent dissident, Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, has broken
out of seclusion via cyberspace. His site on the World Wide Web, www.montazeri.com,
offers everything from a portrait of the cleric standing on a scenic hilltop
with his cane, to his latest declarations, in Persian, on politics and
religion >>>
FULL TEXT
Good films
Go see The
Kid, Starring Bruce Willis. Also see What
Lies Beneath, starring Michelle Pfeifer and Harrison Ford. One
is about regaining the joys of life as adults, and the other about how
evil we can be when we grow up.
More Letters
* Void left by Shamlou
H. Vandad, writes:
I want to share my feelings with each one of you regarding Shamlou's
sad departure ["Prophet
of light"]. There are times when we feel the need to express ourselves,
times when a voice rising from within cannot be ignored any longer, when
an event hits too close to home!
Since Shamlou's death I have felt such a void. A passionate voice in
me echoes in the language of love, of his poetry. A longing, a sense of
loss, an anxiety that evades detection and leaves farther and farther out
is lingering in my mind. That's why I feel compelled to write these few
words>>>
FULL TEXT
* No benefit to free enterprise
Hooshid writes: I
noticed that none of the U.S. media even mentioned Shamlou's death , even
in passing, except the Washington Post with a few lines in the obituaries!
Maybe because his death does nothing to advance the cause of free enterprise.
* Good cry
Aghdas writes: Thanks so much for writing about Googoosh ["Standing
ovation"]. I read it all over again and enjoyed it. Even though
I couldn't go to her concert to have a good cry, I cried reading your article.
I missed her so much. I wish she would come to Montréal, too.
* Best entertainer -- ever
Max Rofougar
writes: Like Termeh ["Like
holding my pillow"], my wife and I made the trip from Washington
to see Googoosh in Toronto. Even though I had to drive 10 hours the night
before the concert and 10 hours the day after, I am not a bit sorry.
As the matter of fact if the driving was twice as much I would have
still done it. I got home 3 o'clock in the morning and had to be at work
at 8. I made it and I was not a bit tired.
Googoosh is for sure the best entertainer Iran has ever produced. I
just wished I could meet her to tell her how grateful I was to her for
bringing back all the memories.
Vote: Online registration for U.S. elections
Voting is the only sure and effective way of expressing your opinion
in a democracy. If you are an American citizen and have not yet registered
to vote, please do so conveniently online. Here is the address: //www.beavoter.com/register.html
Please distribute this to friends and family.
Hamid Zangeneh, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics
Widener University
Books
THE IRANIAN
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Translation of today's poem by Zara
Houshmand:
I'm tangled, like the curls of my love's hair;
Like a snake encharmed, I turn and twist.
What is this knot, this dizzy maze, this snare?
All I know: if I'm not tangled here, I don't exist.
-- Rumi
Previous
translations
Copyright © Abadan Publishing Co. All Rights Reserved.
May not be duplicated or distributed in any form
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Australian Companies May Invest In Iranian
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NOTE: BBC link content changes every 24 hours
BBC Persian
Service
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Updated July 27
Buying: 812 to 817 tomans per dollar
Selling: 825 to 830 tomans per dollar
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Beyond Iran
The Symphony: An Interactive Guide
Take an absorbing "journey into the great
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by two Queensland, Australia, teens as part of the Thinkquest project. The
Quick Tour guided us from the Baroque to the early classical sonata form
and on to Joseph Haydn, whose vast opus and innovative treatment of the
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Quote Unquote
Shamlou
That day I went home and dusted off my old collection of
Shamlou's poems and leafed through it. All that struggle, blood, rage, love,
sacrifice, betrayal, longing, trembling of lovers at the touch of their
hands, the pain of breaking down, the violent beauty of the early morning
fog in the desert and the unbearable fragility of life.
-- Asghar Massombagi
"Fish
out of water"
The Iranian
August 1, 2000
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