Archive - Dec 16, 2007 - Article

Break from tradition

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.>>>

Ancestral soil

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. >>>

Soft war

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. >>>

«گرد» و «گردو»

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!>>>

پرسپولیس

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
>>>