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Fiction The servant By Goli Taraghi The following six pages are an excerpt from "Khedmatkaar" ("The servant") from Goli Taragi's collected short stories, Khaateraat-e Paraakandeh (Bagh-e Ayeneh Publishers, Tehran, 1994). In Persian... GO TO FEATURE
xAle's Corner First snow ... The little girl in me gave into temptation and I began to run around in the snow that was by then about three or four inches deep. I rolled, I slid, I fell, and I sat in the middle looking up at the sky and trees. I ran from one end of the court yard to the other and then stopped suddenly to pick up a handful of snow and throw it in the air. Years of wonderment and anticipation; years of waiting and wondering had finally ended and I was fully enjoying every flake of snow, body and soul. I had no idea how long I was sitting around enjoying the beauty around me when one of the school janitors called my name and told me that the Dean wants to see me in his office on the 4th floor right away. I started to think about why he wanted to see me. He was a very knowledgeable person but somewhat cold and old fashioned when dealing with students. Nervous and cold, I rushed to his office shivering, thinking about what could I have done wrong to be called into his office... GO TO FEATURE
Idenity Beyond culture and race By Mahtab Kanani had been young after all, when we had come to the United States, and adjusting was easier for me, I'm sure, than it has been for many. But it took time to no longer feel that I had something to hide, and to finally feel proud of who I was, and actually enjoy the fact that I was not like everyone else. I must have been shy, reserved, for I had kept all of my confusion and shame inside. My parents, who have always been supportive, would have been eager to help, had they been aware of a problem, though I'm sure for them, the adjustment was more difficult and they must have been preoccupied and burdened. Today, ironically, I teach English at a high school for at-risk students. Despite their troubles, and what may be construed by society as their academic and social failures, my students are quick to stand up for who they are, quick to defend themselves against any attack, whether blatant or subtle. They have, at such a young age, a sense of confidence that I have only acquired in recent years. Some of their confidence and assurance stems from sources that are not so positive, however. They are confident of their ethnic identity often because they live in a community which consists mainly of their own, and they feel the strength and security of numbers, though they are isolated in a way, and sheltered from diversity. They are in gangs with members only of their own ethnicity, and from this they gain a sense of family and identity and confidence... GO TO FEATURE
Iranians People of extremes By eRoTuS TIn essence, yes, Iranians are a people of extremes where one can find the best of people and the worst. In nature, this is truly the case -- The capacity for good equals the capacity for evil. The greater good something can do, it can in turn do the equivalent level of harm. Let us now examine your comments as well as that of Mrs. Mohammadi. Mrs. Mohammadi says "Iranian people, in general, are on the surface overly hospital and friendly. However, underneath they are power hungry, money hungry, backstabbing, critical, and extremely superficial." I would say that this is only partially true and it does not apply to all Iranians. Iranians are hospitable and friendly by most standards and exhibit this friendliness genuinely. I do agree, that there is a segment of Iranian society that is definitely not genuine underneath and this segment, not the whole, is what we are discussing... GO TO FEATURE). (In Persian):... GO TO FEATURE
Cover Story All is calm The Persian Garden: Echoes of Paradise From the preface by Gerard Grandval: An exercise in remembrance - and particularly this voyage on which we are invited, to a land of sleeping gardens - demands a kind of silence and restraint before these remarkable examples of survival. Life there seems fragile, improbable, always in question. If travelers' accounts are sometimes all that remain of once-mighty temples and cities, what traces can there be of these places that are vulnerable to the wind, the sand, erosion, drought, and the indifference of man?... GO TO FEATURE WITH IMAGES |
Cover Story Gol Aqa * Cover stories |
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