HERITAGE

Committee with a cause

Iranian Cultural and Natural Heritage Year

by Amil Imani
18-Mar-2008 (6 comments)
According to the World Encyclopedia, cultural genocide is a term used to describe the deliberate destruction of the cultural heritage of a people or nation for political or military reasons. Since coming to power twenty-nine years ago, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been in a constant battle with the Iranian people as well as her culture and heritage. Over its life span, the Islamic Republic zealots have tried innumerable times to cleanse the pre-Islamic Persian heritage in the name of Islam. First, they declared war against the Persian New Year or “Nowruz”, and then, they attacked other Persian traditions and customs>>>

SHAHRIAR

ای لبت لعل لاله‌گون دلم

هدیه شهریار به هاشمی رفسنجانی و پاسخ او

by MG
18-Mar-2008 (10 comments)

«استاد شهریار این شعر را كه با صدای خودش روی نوار كاست ضبط كرده بود به آیت‌الله‌ هاشمی رفسنجانی هدیه كرد.  استاد در این شعر استواری و زیبایی خطبه‌های نماز جمعه ایشان را ستوده است.»
ای غریو تو ارغنون دلم
سطوت خطبه‌ات ستون دلم
خطبه‌های نماز جمعه تو
نقشه حمله با قشون دلم

>>>

POETRY

Heavy Norouz
by Setareh Sabety
18-Mar-2008 (9 comments)
I shed tears
Centuries old,
Tears of my ancestors.
All those women
Who cried,
Not so much for their
Loved ones,
but
For their own inability to move >>>

MODERATES

No future for nokhodis

The regime in Iran allows the nokhodi moderate to play in an inconsequential role

by Guive Mirfendereski
17-Mar-2008 (18 comments)
The Iranian parliamentary pseudo- quasi-elections are finally over and, surprise, the “moderates” did not do well. The spring is a few days away and Norouz is around the corner. Here are a few sayings that I find very seasonally a propos regarding the recent non-electoral experience in Iran and the moderates' aspirations One saying is bozak namir bahar miyad, konbozeh ba khiyar miyad. It is a promise to a goat that with spring will arrive the watermelon and cucumber that he desires. The poor “moderates” keep hoping that one day their turn will come at the goodies of power, only to be reminded of another saying. This one is a bit more elaborate: shotor dar khab binad panpeh daneh, gahi lolof khorad, gahi daneh daneh >>>

NOWRUZ

Joy of cooking

Adventures in Nowruz baking, with or without youngsters in tow

by Nazy Kaviani
17-Mar-2008 (2 comments)
This year, by sheer luck, I came across something wonderful, an item that could make a great Nowruz present for young parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and anybody who is in touch with young Iranians. It is Najmieh Batmanglij’s new book, Happy Nowruz: Cooking With Children to Celebrate the Persian New Year. In the tradition of Batmanglij cookbooks, this book offers excellent presentations of beautiful pictures, historical background, nostalgic memories, and of course pretty robust and fool-proof recipes. It is filled with decorating and cooking ideas we can share and do with children, celebrating our traditions and creating new memories. I should say that though I enjoy cooking very much, I have never warmed up to the idea of baking, feeling like a miserable failure every time I have tried it! >>>

PARODY

اين خران خرما نمى‏رينند خاطر جمع دار

در هجو محمدحسين شهريار (سرايندۀ ”آمدى جانم به قربانت ولى حالا چرا“)

by Mohammad Ghazi
17-Mar-2008 (14 comments)
شهريارا اين مديحت‏خوانى ِِ بيجا چرا
هتك حرمت‏كردن از خود اين چنين رسوا چرا
تو كه عمرى شعرهاى نغز و شيرين گفته‏اى‏
حاليا اين گفته‏هاى پوچ و بى‏معنىٰ‏ چرا
خودفروشى در جوانى باز هم حرفى وليك‏
تو كه يك پايت لب گور آمده حالا چرا
آبرو بردى ز شعر و شاعرى با ياوه‏هات‏
آبروريزى چنين بى‏درد و بى‏پروا چرا
>>>

GOODNESS

Man of dialogue

In Memory of Hossein Alikhani

by Kaveh Afrasiabi
17-Mar-2008 (7 comments)
In addition to our shared interest in world peace and global dialogue, Alikhani and I shared something else in common: we had both suffered grievous injustice in America, and we had both brought civil rights law suit against the perpetrators of human rights abuse against us, in his case the US federal agents who abducted him and chained him to a bed for weeks, and in my case the rights abusers at Harvard University who framed me with a fictitious crime story in order to silence me. "We are comrades in suffering," I told Hossein one day and he chuckled, and I always felt he was one of the few people who knew the depth of my emotional pain caused by the blindness of American justice to my cry for justice>>>

STORY

The Spider Killings (9)

They just were not men enough to do anything about prostitution, not like Sharif

by laleh haghighi
17-Mar-2008
A crowd of civilians had gathered around the crime scene, vociferating their complaints to the police officers. Ramin could hear various angry and bitter voices. He did not have the strength to turn around to look at them for now. Leaning against the side of his Jeep, it was taking every ounce of his will not to double over and vomit. His officers thought he had just become queasy at the sight of the dead woman. Little did they know Ramin was still going through the symptoms of opium withdrawal. Even in the awful state he was, Ramin could not help but pay attention to the voices of the men. He was outraged at their cavalier attitude>>>

MUSIC VIDEO

Mirim o Mirim

New band "Ballgard" with imaginative songs about everyday life

by Afshean Hessam
16-Mar-2008 (6 comments)
...>>>

PUNISHMENT

Heritage on a store shelf

U.S. federal court threatens Iranian-American heritage

by Arash Hadjialiloo
16-Mar-2008 (22 comments)
Tempers between the United States and Iran have flared over Iran’s nuclear program and its alleged intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many have wondered if the two countries would ever find common ground. However, several controversial rulings in the United States federal court have resulted in just that: the United States’ Justice and State Departments have momentarily put aside their differences with Iran in order to protect several thousand Iranian cultural artifacts. The current situation that has Iran and the United States temporarily burying the hatchet is a delicate and controversial issue>>>

LEADING MAN

Frankly, I do give a damn

Darius Danesh succeeds Clark Gable as Rhett Butler

by Darius Kadivar
16-Mar-2008 (one comment)
British Iranian Darius Danesh has been cast as Rhett Butler in Trevor Nunn’s musical production of Margaret Mitchell’s classic novel, Gone With The Wind, which opens at the New London Theatre 22 April 2008, following previews from 4 April – booking (*) to 27 Sep 2008. He joins Jill Paice (Scarlett O'Hara), Madeleine Worrall (Melanie), and Edward Baker-Duly (Ashley Wilkes). Danesh was born in Glasgow and educated at Glasgow Academy. He then went on to study English and Philosophy at Edinburgh University. His father, Dr. Booth Danesh, is Iranian and his mother, Dr. Avril Danesh, is Scottish. He has two younger brothers; all three were named after Persian Kings.>>>

STORY

How the sun came to be

[The writer is 10-years old]

by Jina Falahati
16-Mar-2008 (14 comments)
Long, long ago, before time began, before you or I were in the world yet, before your parent’s, parent’s parents were born, in the deep forest Foofoo, in the heart of New Zealand, there was quarrel between the lion, the zebra, the kangaroo, the elephant, and all the other animals in the deep forest Foofoo. It was all about the sun, they didn’t have on. Mind you, they didn’t even know what it was, until the lion declared: “Why can’t I see my beautiful feathers, it’s no good having no light.”>>>

AIRPORT

در فرودگاه

کاری که آمریکا و انگلیس و اسراییل و فرانسه دارند با کشور من و شما امروز می‌کنند.

by hoder
15-Mar-2008 (39 comments)
قرار است سوار هواپیما شوید. در نتیجه باید از قسمت بازدید بدنی امنیتی و دستگاه‌های بمب‌یاب و فلزیاب فرودگاه رد شوید. همه‌چیزتان را درمی‌آورید و در دستگاه اشعه ایکس می‌گذارید و از زیر دروازه‌ی آهنی فلزیاب رد می‌شوید. موفقیت آمیز است و چراغ سبز به شما می‌دهد. ولی یک مامور لباس‌شخصی از دور یک دفعه می‌آید و نمی‌گذارد ماموران عادی امنیت فرودگاه به شما اجازه بدهند بروید به طرف گیت‌تان. می‌گوید که این کافی نیست و شما باید ثابت کنید که اسلحه با خودتان ندارید. می‌گویید: بابا، دستگاه خودتان چک کرد و گفت من هیچ فلزی با خودم ندارم. تو دیگر چه می‌گویی؟ او اصرار دارد که شما باید لخت شوید و تنها با شورت دوباره از زیر دروازه‌ی فلزیاب رد شوید.>>>

VIEW

Are you prepared for some truth?

A silent majority exists in Iran and beneath that silence lies a deep hatred for this regime

by Mohammad Alireza
15-Mar-2008 (26 comments)
Voting for the Majlis was a pointless exercise and by participating one has cast a vote for this farce, this hoax, this kolah bardaari. The act of voting means that one's vote could contribute to change. The fact that whichever way Iranians vote will have no effect on the situation in Iran means there is no point in voting. There is no such thing as democracy in Iran as the form of political Islam practiced in Iran is inherently a totalitarian belief structure created to control a society through superstition, violence, and brainwashing>>>

WORDS

فرهنگ شخصی : ج

اگر از جمعیت ایرن جاهلان، جلادان و جاسوسان را کم کنید چندتا جنازه باقی خواهد ماند؟.

by Troneg
15-Mar-2008 (2 comments)
جهنم : محلی در آن دنیا خیلی گرم که آدم را شکنجه میدهند و بر گفته ادیان همه آدمهای گناهکار به آنجا میروند. مشکل این است که در این دنیا هم همچنین محلها وجود دارد ولی برای آدمهای بیگناه و اگر برگفته ادیان هر کس که میرقصد و آواز میخواند گناهکار است و به جهنم میروند . من ترجیح میدهم برم آنجا که همه آدمهای با حال هستند. جمهوری: حکومتی که در آن همه مردم حق و حقوق برابری دارند. معمولآ بهترین رژیم است ولی اگر به آن یک صفت اضافه کنند مثل جمهوری اسلامی منظور این است که همه با هم برابرند ولی مسلمانان برابر ترند و اینجاست که خراب میشود. >>>
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