Date

CRIME

Dangerous myth

Immigrants are less criminal than native-borne citizens

by Jamshid S. Irani
29-Jul-2007
Immigration has enriched the economy and culture of the United States since the founding of the nation. Yet immigrants long have been scapegoats for many social problems that afflict the nation. As a result, myths and stereotypes about immigrants, rather than established facts, far too often serve as the basis for public perceptions that drive misguided immigration policies. Immigrants from the Moslem countries have had their special share of the pie in the past several years. One of the most pervasive misperceptions about immigrants is that they are more likely to commit predatory crimes than are the native-born.>>>

WAR

Special treatment

Lamenting the absurdity of the UK sailors saga

by Tinoush Moulaie
29-Jul-2007
Oh, the absurdity! The callous disregard for justice, honesty, and fairness is depressing, more so because of the chorus of lofty claims to these values. Well, there is a new twist in the saga involving the 15 British sailors who were captured in (very likely) Iranian waters. There is plenty of evidence to refute the British claim regarding that incident. Now, it turns out that the maps used by the British government to make their case were inaccurate after all, according to a British parliamentary report. These are the very same maps plastered all over Fox, CNN, BBC, etc. usually along with the word “hostage” to add that extra dash of Western righteousness>>>

TRAVELERS

Third western

Turkey, outside Istanbul, is a mix between the Third World and the Western World

by Dario Margeli
29-Jul-2007
I arrived at the airport of Izmir at night time. Usually when you exit customs in any major airport, there is an information desk or better yet an official government tourist information office. In the worst case, signs in English directing you to the buses or trains going to the city center. Well, none of that in Izmir airport! Do you know how I got downtown? A Turkish girl sitting with me on the plane saw that I was peeing in my pants and told me I can come with her. Her brother picked us up in his car. On the way to the city center the car goes through the residential neighborhoods which look depressing, sort of like the low-income, crack-smoking dormitory towns in California. Nothing touristy I can assure you. I am dropped off in a downtown street that is uglier than hell>>>

IMMORAL

Soap opera, Iranian style

Nader, being a romantic and sensitive man, was stunned by Roya's beauty, feminism, and good sex

by Sophie Saviour
29-Jul-2007 (one comment)
She was amazed how easy and fast Nader fell for her. It was much more than she expected. He was totally ready to spend all his time with her and she knew how to keep him interested. Nader's wife, who felt something is wrong, initiated a couple of things: nice dinner tables and new clothes, as they were doing much better money wise. But all her efforts went unnoticed as Nader never came home on time to have dinner with her. Arguments started! She was upset and inexperienced and was taken by shock. How fast my man is leaving me! She couldn't imagine it. All the attempts to keep him were useless as he was already gone! After a few times when dinner went cold and Nader came home after midnight, she accepted the separation. They grew apart and nothing could bring him back to her. Roya's attaraction was very strong! All set! Roya hit the jackpot!>>>

PEOPLE

Khuzestan 1958-60

Photo essay: Close links of kinship made a deep impression, certainly expanding my sense of human possibilities

by Paul Schroeder
29-Jul-2007
These photos, like the group that was posted here in April [see: Memories of an American boy], were taken by my father Charles Schroeder during the time we lived in Abadan, 1958-60. Many of the background details about our stay there were given with the first set. Since that posting we've received many generous and heartfelt responses that encouraged us to bring this new group forward>>>

FILM

Understanding pain

"David and Layla" director has not forgotten the unfair treatment of the people of his origin

by Kamal Artin
29-Jul-2007
After few screenings and revisions, Jalal Jonroy finally released his romantic comedy, David and Layla, to theaters. Like most of his fellow countrymen in Diaspora, Jonroy has not forgotten the unfair treatment of the people of his origin and remains devoted to their plight throughout the movie. To make his case more tangible by general public and entertainment industry in the West, he pairs another maltreated ethnic group with the people of his origin. Both ethnicities have remained preoccupied with their past traumas, fears, and prejudices. While one of them with a population of 15 millions has been represented by a modern state for the past few decades, the other with a population of 30 to 40 millions still remains stateless in the 21st century>>>

TRAVELER

Gmelin's Persia & Persians

Young German scientist and explorer's 1770 journey to northern Persia

by SamuelGottlieb Gmel
29-Jul-2007
Further, music is never played if the singers do not sing along. Often a dance is added, but this dance neither represents German nor French taste. Those who perform them only have in mind how they may express the power of the music by the wonderful turns and rotations of their bodies. It is due to this that they then bend backwards and then again fall down headlong with their arms outstretched on the ground, and often also clap their hands together over the head, until they finally get up to again make the most violent movements by another theme of the music, turn around in twirls and yes even tumble with their head over their bodies, all the while hand-clapping>>>

POETRY

Arrival

A new day

by Baharak Sedigh
29-Jul-2007

the wind whistles its arrival
as dawn returns
from its night travels

>>>

POETRY

Ah, Los Angeles

I accept you as my city

by Majid Naficy
29-Jul-2007
This is the revised version of my Poem, "Ah, Los Angeles" first published in Persian in "Daftar-haye Shanbeh" No. 2, 1994 and then in English in Muddy Shoes (Beyond Baroque Books) 1999. The City of Venice, California engraved one of the stanzas of this poem on a wall in Venice beach at Boardwalk-Brooks in 2000.>>>

POETRY

For Shirin Neshat

Your little black holes are too small for my bullets

by Brett
29-Jul-2007
Youssef and Zuleika have nothing on us
My love
Your little black holes are too small for my bullets >>>

POETRY

The earthquake

Nap time in the heat flattens you out to extract the most comfortable dream

by Jam Hamidi
29-Jul-2007
The earthquake
drunkenly rolled into town.
A town that, seen from above >>>

POETRY

Eclipsing the sun

We kill and kill and kill, that all may come to believe

by Dara Esfandiary
29-Jul-2007

The Sun rises because we will her to rise.

Her rays are made beautiful by our eyes.

In the microcosm, perception forges our reality:


>>>

TURKEY

East meets West at their best

Photo essay: Istanbul and more...

by Fariba Amini
29-Jul-2007
Turkey has advanced in many ways in the last quarter century. Istanbul continues to be a city of amazing historic sites, Byzantine churches, Ottoman mosques, palaces and bathhouses, and splendid museums. But instead of the somewhat drab, downtrodden place that it used to be, it also has become a cosmopolitan city filled with color, life, and modern amenities, where restaurants and cafes serving great food and beer are overflowing until late at night, and where tourists from all over the world are made to feel welcome >>>

FILM

Good spirit

Given today’s political and social climate, artistic efforts and films like "Daivd and Layla" need to be supported

by Shirin Bazleh
29-Jul-2007
Done with watching the mega-budget summer movies: Harry Potter, Hairspray and Transformer? Now what about a small independent romantic comedy about a Jewish New Yorker in love with a Moslem-Kurd refugee? Interesting subject, isn’t it? David and Layla’s Kurdish director Jay Jonroy takes the monumental task of balancing the complexities of a cross-cultural love story against its political and religious contradictions. Two hours of cheery entertainment to discover that there really aren’t any contradictions after all. We have more similarities than differences>>>

UNPOPULAR

Dial 1 for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Although Ahmadinejad is unpopular, the West must not think that it has a blank to check to do what it wants in Iran

by Meir Javedanfar
29-Jul-2007
While Ahmadinejad owes his initial success to polls, his presidency has since to come to rightly fear them. Although many have ruled out polls in Iran as an objective yardstick, the very fact that politicians are nevertheless scared of them shows that they do present some valid information. This was demonstrated recently when Radio Javan, an Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) owned radio station, asked its listeners, on the second anniversary of Ahamadinejad’s victory, to SMS the candidate they would vote for if the election were held again. The listeners had the same seven candidates to choose from as they did in 2005. The results of this poll were never publicized. According to reports from Iran, this was due to pressure from Ahmadinejad, who had been informed of his performance>>>
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