Date
manesh
16-Dec-2007 (one comment)
YAWN! Just what the world need now.  Another TRUE story of Alexander the Great called "The True Story of Alexander the Great by Professor Peter Woodward" on History International.  >>>

CHRISTMAS

Break from tradition

Turkey wasn’t always the meat of choice

16-Dec-2007 (4 comments)
The wreaths are up, the tree is decorated to perfection and the big day is a week away! Whether your main family meal is dinner on Christmas Eve or lunch on Christmas Day, it’s going to be a long one. But I’m not going to re-invent the wheel for you and tell you how to cook a turkey. If you want to know about cooking times for turkey, read my Thanksgiving article. But stay with me if you want to do something DIFFERENT and a little more original this year. I used to make turkey, every single year, in fact. Until one year I confronted the family because I grew sick and tired of slaving for 7 hours preparing a big turkey feast and begged them to perhaps consider beef instead.>>>

SARZAMIN

Ancestral soil

A strong mystical connection exists between the soul and soil

16-Dec-2007 (4 comments)
Ancestral soil – I don’t mean “the fatherland”, the nation-state, the racial or linguistic group to which a person belongs. I mean the dirt and soil upon which you walk, composed of the blood and pulverized bones of your ancestors. Our forebears (those who supported themselves by agriculture) had an intimate and spiritual relationship with the land about them. Living in mainly settled communities, they rarely strayed far from their villages. Houses and farmsteads were passed down from father to son; generations of the same family came to be buried in the same earth, eventually dissolving and becoming a part of it. >>>

SANCTIONS

Soft war

Preparation for massive bombing of Iran

16-Dec-2007 (13 comments)
Hands Off the People of Iran (HOPI) held a successful launch conference on earlier this month. Nearly 90 members and observers packed the Somerstown Community Centre in central London. Comrades from many different political organisations and persuasions ensured that the conference was lively, with a wide range of views expressed and amendments and motions voted on. Iranian comrades played an active role in the discussions, helping provide the basic understanding of the situation to enable informed debates. >>>

IDEAS

 «گرد» و «گردو»

رابطهء ايده و ايدئولوژی

16-Dec-2007 (5 comments)
خوانندگان ثابت مقالات من می دانند که من تا چه حد نسبت به واژه های مربوط به مفاهيمی که بکار می برم و نحوهء تحول تاريخی ـ معناشناسی آنها حساسيت دارم. من، در کنار اين حساسيت بر اين اعتقاد هم هستم که اغلب ما ايرانی ها کمتر به اين جوانب الفاظ و مفاهيمی که بکار می بريم توجه داريم و ذر بسياری اوقات آنها را بصورت هردمبيل و گتره ای بکار می گيريم و، مثلاً، به صرف نزديکی الفبائی دو واژه می کوشيم با فهم خود از يکی، آن ديگری را نيز تعريف و تبيين کنيم. فکر می کنم بی اساس هم نيست که برخی از ما ايرانی ها مخترع اين ضرب المثل مشهور بوده ايم که « هر "گرد" ی "گردو" نيست»، لابد، به قصد هشدار و تنزيه!>>>

POETRY

پرسپولیس
16-Dec-2007 (6 comments)
درهمهمه ی جمعیت
در پرسپولیس
تصویر شاه، سایه ی خدا،
خط خطی شد
در آن شلوغی
کلاغ بر تخت نشست
قارقار ِ کلاغلان
پُر کرد کوچه وُ خیابان را
>>>
SCE Campaign
16-Dec-2007

"I want the children in the cold prison cells in Iran to know that they are not forgotten"

>>>
Ali Mahin Torabi
16-Dec-2007
به خدا من بی گناهم . به جوانی ام رحم کنید . همین >>>
alia
16-Dec-2007 (14 comments)
Troneg
16-Dec-2007 (11 comments)
ضرب المثل پنج مرغ همسایه غازه >>>
SCE Campaign
15-Dec-2007
16 yr old Reza Padashi's file was sent for retrial after having been sentenced to death despite the diagnosis of medical officials >>>

TRAVELER

Memories of Mashhad

Memories of Mashhad

Photo essay

by shahireh sharif
15-Dec-2007 (7 comments)

>>>

HEAVEN

It was a pomegranate

... -- not an apple -- depicted in the biblical Garden of Eden (Part I)

15-Dec-2007 (4 comments)
Pomegranate fruit has a fascinating history of traditional use as a food, as a medicine, and as a cultural icon, which dates back thousands of years. The pomegranate originated from Persia and has been cultivated in Georgia, Armenia and the Mediterranean region for several millennia. Pomegranates were one of the earliest fruits to be domesticated and their range now includes the Far East, India, the Mediterranean, and the Americas. The wild pomegranate did not grow natively it originated in eastern Iran and came to the Aegean world along the same cultural pathways that brought the goddess whom the Anatolians worshipped as Cybele and the Mesopotamians as Ishtar>>>

POETRY

To only dream
15-Dec-2007 (one comment)
In my dream
The lover – no longer- plants his seed
In Earth’s womb bringing life to all
Who lie in peace

In my dream
A walk down childhood’s alley
A knock on the cracked wooden door laced with grace
Opens to tales as long as “a thousand and one nights”
Where Deeve rides the white horse and saves us all
From the Prince’s claws >>>

YALDA

فردای يلدا

تا تو را نمی شناختم پاييز را دوست نداشتم.

15-Dec-2007 (one comment)
آتشکده ام برفراز بلندايي بود؛ همانجا که گلِشاه مهربان هر روز می نشست و ساعت ها با خاک و آب و هوا گِل درست می کرد و آدم می ساخت، نيلوفر آبی می ساخت، گاو بزرگ می ساخت و پرنده هايی با بال های زرد و سبز و سرخ. آدم ها دو تا که می شدند برمی خاستند و رقص کنان می دويدند، نيلوفرها به رنگ زر می شدند و بر آب های آسمان حرکت می کردند، و گاو بزرگ از عشق بارور می شد و به تنهايي همه ی گندم های جهان را می زاييد تا پرنده ها از ازل تا به ابد بر سر گندم ها پرواز کنند.>>>