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Vahshi Bafqi
Dear Subscribers:
There will be no Times tomorrow (Friday).
A very Merry Christmas to all you who believe... and Happy Holidays to
the rest of us. jj
Christmas
Not even a mouse
Mom would always read " 'twas the night before Christmas..."
By Khordad
It seems that every year I reject more and more those things I label
American. In recent years, I have been boycotting the idea of Christmas.
Since I am not Christian, the religious aspects of it have never really
appealed to me. It's the commercialization and the Americanism of Christmas
I have chosen to reject. But inevitably, every year, at the last minute,
I get sucked in.
This Christmas though was a little different. As I was aimlessly attempting
to find my car on the wrong level of the parking garage at Pentagon City,
dragging around this enormous box of dishes I had bought for my sister
and cursing the store clerk for not heeding my command to pack the dishes
in two smaller boxes, I had a stark epiphany.
I should have seen it coming. It had been building up for weeks. You
see, this whole season, I had been remembering a time when Christmas was
nice. Quite a different memory than those I have had since I have been
in the United States. This year, for the first time in a long while, I
remembered Christmas in Iran ... GO TO FEATURE
Outlook
Iranian Christians celebrate Christmas in the middle
of Ramadan
By Kianouche Dorranie
TEHRAN, 24 Dec (AFP) - Nativity scenes, Father Christmases, and pine
trees fill the streets of Tehran as Iran's Christians prepare to celebrate
the birth of Christ in the middle of the holy Moslem month of Ramadan.
While Iran's Moslem majority is spending the daylight hours fasting,
Christians are busily preparing their own ceremonies in Tehran and across
the country.
In the Armenian quarters of Tehran, hundreds of pine trees placed along
the walls of the buildings remind people of the approach of the "January
festivals."
Families are crowding into the centre to buy Christmas presents in shops
with gaily decorated windows, often with a Christmas crib at the centre.
In the city centre and in the Armenian districts, Father Christmases
jostle with the crowd .... GO TO FEATURE
Forwarded by Laleh Khalili
A magician worked on a cruise ship in the Caribbean. The audience was
different each week, so the magician allowed himself to do the same tricks
over and over again. There was only one problem: the captain's parrot saw
the shows each week and began to understand how the magician did every
trick.
Once he understood, he started shouting in middle of the show: "Look,
it's not the same hat!" "Look, he's hiding the flowers under
the table." "Hey, why are all the cards the ace of spades?"
The magician was furious but couldn't do anything. It was, after all, the
captain's parrot.
One day the ship had an accident and sank. Floating over water, the
magician found himself on a piece of wood in the middle of the sea with,
as fate would have it, the parrot.
They stared at each other with hatred but did not utter a word. This
went on for a day and then another.
On the third day, the parrot could not hold back: "Okay, I give
up. Where's the boat?"
Forwarded by Ramin Tabib
More Letters
* More by saying less
Mosalemy writes: ... Mr and Mrs Forouhar, along with the assassinated
writers, are the victim of their own miscalculations. This in no way should
suggest that they deserved to be killed. As a matter of fact these killings
have caused a deep sense of grief among thousands of Iranians inside and
outside of Iran. Yet this pain and anger unfortunately does not qualify
the murdered victims as heroes or people's martyrs.
When reality is complicated and one simply does not hold all the pieces
to the puzzle, the freedom to remain silent ["Freedom
not to react"] can be more informative than repeating whatever
other people and groups are saying about these murders. I myself would
have remained silent on this topic, if Mr Roshanvaran's letter ["Where are the
strategic thinkers?"] had not asked for a public debate about
this issue! ... FULL
TEXT
* Totally nonsense
K. Mirfakh writes: The response of Mr. Mirfendereski ["Freedom
not to react"] to Roshanravan's letter ["Where
are the strategic thinkers?"] is totally nonsense. He could not
give a proper response because he doesn't have a proper response to this
very credible question. My suggestion to him is, you have the freedom to
keep quite, but we know you very well, in other words, you can be a good
KHAR RANG KON, but who is the KHAR?
* Christmas: Party in Washington, DC
C H R I S T M A S N I G H T P E R S I A N B A S H !
FRIDAY Night, December 25th, 1998 9:00pm
With EURO-DJ Ali Sabaii mixing the BEST and NEWEST European, Persian,
Latin, & Arabic Dance Music.
Celebrate The Holidays in STYLE at: P A N G E A Lounge, 2134 Pennsylvania
Avenue, NW, (Between 21st & 22nd Streets), Washington, D.C. Tel: 202.337.0222
Book of the Week
Closed Circuit History
The illustrations of Ardeshir Mohassess
Ardeshir Mohassess is recognized internationally as Iran's leading caricaturist
and graphic artist (see feature in The Iranian). Yet, as the powerful images
on the following pages show, neither appellation fully describes the breadth,
depth, intricacy, and complexity of his art and vision. In his drawings,
be they detailed tableau or simple, primitive sketches, Mohassess quite
literally dissects his characters with his pen and then peels away the
conventional facade to expose the underlying reality of his world... --
Ali Banuazizi
Recent
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More
news
Karbaschi's lawyer will appeal again
December 24, 1998, TEHRAN, Iran (BBC) - An
Iranian appeal court has reduced a prison sentence passed on the mayor of
Tehran, a reformist and close ally of the country's president, Mohammed
Khatami. Gholam-Hossein Karbaschi, convicted of embezzlement in July, had
his sentence cut from five years to two years. Mr Karbaschi's lawyer told
the Reuters newsagency that he would pursue a final appeal to the Supreme
Court... FULL TEXT ... Also: BBC's Jim Muir audio report
Iran says six-month non-oil exports down
seven pct
TEHRAN, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Iran's non-oil
exports, which Tehran has been trying to boost to counter a fall in its
oil income, fell seven percent in the six months to September 22, figures
released on Thursday showed. The Iranian news agency IRNA quoted a report
by Iran's customs as saying the exports amounted to $1.3 billion in the
six-month period, down seven percent year on year ... FULL TEXT
Iran: Leaps to 27th in the world
Tehran, (Hamshahri) - The Iranian national soccer
team has jumped from 44th in the world to 27th, according to the latest
FIFA rankings ... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN
$ Rate
The
dollar now offered at up to 710-713 tomans
Source: Sehaty Exchange (U.S.) Tel: 602-595-0777
Business
news
The Web
Iran
Sadeq
Hedayat
So little about such a great writer. But this site still
has some interesting information including about Hedayat's relatives.
Beyond Iran
Ghirardelli
Chocolate
Domenico "Domingo" Ghirardelli was born in Rapallo,
Italy (near Genoa) in 1817. God bless him!
More
web sites
Quote Unquote
Closer to Noruz
Although, Christmas continues to be a marker in time -- getting me one
step closer to the Iranian new year.
"Not
even a mouse"
Feature by Khordad
The Iranian
December 24, 1995
Photo of the Day
Khorassani boys
More
photos
Music
Musician of the Week
Googoosh
* Kaj Kollah Khan * Hamkhooneh * Khoob meezani * Naameh-haayam
raa bedeh
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