Cover story
Don't say cheese
Paintings by Nemat Lalei
March 19, 2001
The Iranian
Nemat Lalei, born in Rasht in 1952, dropped out of school when he was
fifteen. Before turning to painting in 1979, he traveled in Iran as well
as in Europe, where he visited museums. He started painting by making copies
of works by Picasso, Dega and Braque. Obviously, he doesn't need to any
more. He has found his voice. And a powerful one it is >>>
GO TO FEATURE
Language
Chicken scratch
In perfecting my English I forgot Farsi
By Mahsa Tousi
March 19, 2001
The Iranian
I never thought I had lost so much of myself until I sat down to write
a card to my cousin, whom I haven't seen in 15 years. I wanted to congratulate
him on the birth of his first child. I stopped short of writing "Dear
Shahrouz" in English.
I slid my hand across the page to the right side and prepared to write
in Farsi. I practiced writing his name in the air a couple of times, but
>>>
GO TO FEATURE
Language
Persianism
Modernization through reforming the Persian language
By Kamran Talatoff
March 19, 2001
The Iranian
Modern Persian literature emerged during the nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries as a secular activity and has since demonstrated close affinity
to such diverse ideological paradigms as nationalism, Marxism, Islamism,
and feminism >>>
GO TO FEATURE
Outlook
Judiciary leads battle against reform
BBC Persian Service
Iran's judiciary launchd a major offensive against president Khatami's
reforms as he started the last year of his term of office as president,
with the closure of scores of reformist newspapers. The move continued
with the trial of several pro-reform intellectuals. Sadeq Saba in this
report reviews the long running battle between the judiciary and reformists:
UPDATED March 19 2001 >>>
LISTEN
Iran bans more newspapers
(New York, March 19, 2001) - In an open letter sent today to Leader
of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Khamene'i, Human Rights Watch
protested further closure orders against independent newspapers, the closure
of an independent political party and the continued detention without access
to lawyers or their families of independent political activists >>> FULL TEXT
Noruz gift
This joke is a Noruz gift from one of the loyal readers of iranian.com.
It has nothing to do with Noruz itself. But I had a good laugh anyway.
Hope you will too:
The madam opened the brothel door to see an elderly man.
His clothes were all disheveled and he looked not so neat. "Can
I help you?" the madam asked.
"I vant Natalie," the old man replied >>>
FULL TEXT
Thanks to R
More Letters
* Caricature not a treatise
Mahmood Kanani writes:
I read the article by Mr. Baniameri about his despair on Valentine's
Day ["The
hell with romance"] and found it a highly amusing and funny take
on some of Iranian men's negative stereotypes.
I was surprised to see the letters by some Iranian women bashing him
as a sexist or calling him gay! Where has your sense of humor gone?! Sarcasm,
a very great tool in comedic writing, is oozing out of this articles ears.
It makes discussion of these difficult issues easier.
It's a caricature not a treatise on what men or women should do. Laugh
at it, as I think many of the men and women reading it did, and let it
raise a few questions in your mind as I think was the intent of the writer.
* Real artist
Azin writes: I emailed you a few months ago and I was amazed
by Saman's art work.
He is extremely talented. I was so excited that finally I know someone
in the U.S. who is a real artist and a real human being. I used the word
"know" because I think I know him through his artwork. Not only
is he an artist, but also he has felt something that not many people have
felt and that is the way women live in Iran >>>
FULL TEXT
* How about someting new?
Babak Behnia
writes: I think the cartoons
by Sman could improve if he uses more color and variations in the theme.
so far all of his cartoons have the same exact looking molla and the same
punchline.
His cartoons say the same thing all the time: "mollas and women
in chadoor are silly and Iran is hell". Okay, enough of that. We all
knoww hat life is like in Iran. How about someting new?
I don't see any other opinions noted in his cartons and the characters
too remain the same for the most part. This is just a comment / suggestion.
I do admire all artists.
* Most sublimely beautiful
SY writes: I wanted to tell you that Zara Houshmand's poem "Earth
and water" is probably the most sublimely beautiful writing I
have ever read on Iranian.com.
I often visit this website to read poems because it helps me make sense
of my own minute dilemmas as an Iranian-American "living in exile".
I can't explain it but I often feel as if I am listening to a large group
of children yelling and fighting when I read many of the poems on the website.
But your poem moved me deeply and was the first one that I read and
reread several times. Thank you for sharing your art with us. I hope you
continue to create such wonderful work.
Noruz: U.S.
politicians at AIC Noruz event
Poem
Translation of today's poem by Zara
Houshmand:
Came spring, and the garden made me blossom
And bloomed itself, displayed at my demand.
When it handed me luck's cup and poured it deep,
I laid my head down, drunk, and fell asleep.
* Also see more Rumi
translations
Rumi book
Rumi:
The Life Teachings and Poetry of Jalal al-Din Rumi
By Frankin D. Lewis
Copyright © Abadan Publishing Co. All Rights Reserved.
May not be duplicated or distributed in any form
|
News
The news section is under construction. Meanwhile go to
>>> IRANMANIA
The Web
Iranian
More Noruz
cards: Iranmania
Still haven't sent your Noruz greeting card? Iranmania has
a nice selection, including animated cards.
Beyond Iran
The Dead Letter
Office
You are dead. You don't know how you got to this point,
but life as you know it is over. And now you have to chance to write a letter
from beyond the grave to the world. That's the premise behind this morbidly
entertaining site.
More
web sites
Quote Unquote
Ringing
Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out wild bells and let him die.
Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
-- Lord Tennyson
"In Memoriam"
Photo of the Day
Noruzi
fish
Iranian of the Day
Fereshteh
Ahmadi Lewin: Sociologist, Sweden
Music
Persian
Risk
Music
artists index
Art
Jamshid Haghighat-Shenas
Untitled
Books
Iranian
Islam
The Concept of the Individual
By Nader Ahmadi, Fereshteh Ahmadi
Dokhtaram
Farah
By Farideh Diba
Books
this week
THE IRANIAN
Bookstore
Music store
Staff
* Publisher/Editor: Jahanshah
Javid -- jj@iranian.com
* News & the Web: Payman
Arabshahi -- payman@neda.com
* The Web: Pedram Missaghi, webmaster "Iran
Media" -- info@nima3.com | 
