QUESTIONS

The Picture of Taraneh

A victim is a victim no matter where they hail from

by Fehmida Bholat
08-Sep-2009 (8 comments)
We must ask ourselves, why is it different with an Iranian woman? Why does the media feel it is not appropriate to release the identities of rape victims within their own country, but do so freely with victims from abroad? This woman has been terribly violated in the worst way possible, and to spread her picture and information around the world violates her again. There is still a terrible stigma attached to rape and it’s victims in many countries, including Iran>>>

OPEN LETTER

به دوستان زندانی

آنها که پس از مقاومت "اعتراف" کرده اند و آنها که هنوز مقاومت می کنند

by Mahmoud Sadri
08-Sep-2009 (one comment)
بسیاری از شما را از نزدیک می شناسم و برخی را نیز دورادور. بگذارید در ابتدای کلام باور قلبی خود را بیان کنم که آنچه بر شما در دوران اسارت گذشته و می گذرد، چه در بند 209 زندان اوین و چه در سایر بازداشتگاهای بی نام و نشان در سرتاسر کشور، به یک اعتبار از همۀ جنایاتی که این نظام پس از انتخابات اخیر مرتکب شده، حتی از آزار های جسمی و جنسی و قتل خود سرانۀ انسانهای بیگناه نیز سنگین تر و ننگین تراست، چرا که عالماً و عامداً، در بلند مدت و با برنامه ریزی گسترده و مرکزی صورت پذیرفته است و جای حاشا هم ندارد>>>

STORY

The Ascension (3)

Whoosh! Whoosh! It was the sound of cymbals from the procession of mourners, commemorating Ashura

by Ari Siletz
08-Sep-2009 (15 comments)
“No smiling today. It’s Ashura... First you have to tear your shirt.” He yanked off some of my buttons and put them in my shirt pocket. “Your mom can sew them back on later,” he said. Then he reached down and grabbed a fistful of dust and poured it on my head. Standing back to admire his work he said, “Excellent, now run all the way to the back of the dasteh with the other kids, and they’ll show you how to beat your chest and chant.” I thanked him for tearing my shirt and putting dirt on my head, then I ran back and joined the procession>>>

STORY

A Father is Bigger Than a King

I kept waiting for the Shah to become as big as my father

by siamak vossoughi
08-Sep-2009 (3 comments)
When I was seven years old, there were two men. There was my father and there was the Shah. Everyone else was waiting to see what would happen, even if they didn't know it. I knew it at least, and I considered myself an authority on the struggle between them. I knew the number-one rule, which was that you stayed humble in the face of the struggle. You didn't ask too many questions, and if you did, you asked third parties. You didn't ask my father because he was in it. It would be like asking Magic Johnson about basketball in the middle of a game>>>

POETRY

One husband and three wives
by Farhad Zaltash
08-Sep-2009 (2 comments)
My heart has two birds
Cohabiting its nest, a beast
And a prince.

One chases a flame, not
Knowing it is in pursuit of lust;
The other free-falls in fire,
Royal blood maturing through burning scars >>>

LATE

Persian Delay Factor (PDF)

What makes us be late? Is it a cultural thing?

by hossein.hosseini
06-Sep-2009 (3 comments)
Majid and his wife Goli are planning an Iranian Dinner party (Mehmooni). As is the case, they have to deal with the date, time, guest list, and all the details that go along with such a party. The guest list starts with eight but somehow they end up with a list of over thirty people. Having such a large number of people at the house requires lots of cooking and cleaning; neither Majid nor his wife Goli are up to the task, so they agree the food will be catered.The date is set for Saturday night and the time is set to be at 7 p.m. Dinner will be served at 8 p.m., and if all goes as planned, the party should end at midnight. So they hope>>>

TANZ

عشق پوسیده

حزب توده با خیانت، جمهوری اسلامی با جنایت - قسمت اول

by Shazde Asdola Mirza
06-Sep-2009 (48 comments)
فیلم "دزدان دریایی کارائیب" را به خاطر آورید و کشتی "مروارید سیاه" را ایران فرض کنید، و همه مان را نفرین زده‌های ابدی! به گناه حرکتی که در ابتدا عشق و گرمی‌ به وجودمان داد، و به لعنتی تاریخی‌ یا جبری جغرافیایی، که از آغاز جنبش مان را محکوم به شکست نمود. حالا، چه مثل نود و پنج در صدی که در ایران هستند و بر آن‌ "کشتی‌ سیاه" زجر میکشند و برای اربابانش فعلگی میکنند، و چه مانند پنج در صدی که اینور آب به زور و زحمت لقمه نانی در می‌‌آورند؛ مذاق جملگی تلخ است و طعم شیرینی‌ و عشق نمی‌‌بیند. پس، از عشق نمی‌‌نویسم؛ چون در دل‌ نسل ما سالهاست که مرده و پوسیده است. >>>

CANDIDATE

It's Easy, Vote Azizi

Iranian-American has eye on Atlanta’s City Council seat

by PAAIA
06-Sep-2009 (5 comments)
If asked, Bahareh Azizi would be quick to tell you that “tolerance” and “acceptance” are two of her personality traits that she values the most. Having received her Ph.D. in biochemistry from the Georgia Institute of Technology, this successful Iranian American scientist has now turned her sights on politics. In July of this year, Azizi announced that she will be running for the District 6 seat in Atlanta’s City Council. According to Azizi, “I believe in Atlanta, and I know that we can work towards moving her one step closer to reaching her true potential.”>>>

STORY

S & M Iranian style

If I had not come to the US at a young age I would not have had distorted ideas about sex

by Lili
06-Sep-2009 (13 comments)
Nazy joon is 40-years old going on 13 and often says she’s in her early 30s. She considers herself a virgin [I mean virgin-like] after 5 years of marriage to a man in his early 60s who brought her to LA from Iran. After arriving in LA, she told her newly wed husband that she's a virgin and so afraid of having sex that he has to wait til she’s comfortable. So he said fine and he waited and waited till she disappointedly gave up (after 2 weeks) her virginity that had won a bid of 1349-gold-coins worth>>>

STORY

Coffee and Conversation (3)

"Let’s face it, there are no decent unmarried men left.”

by Flying Solo
06-Sep-2009 (6 comments)
There is a red phone that sits on the countertop in my small kitchen. There are, precisely, three people who have access to the number. When it rings; which is not that often, I generally go into an immediate panic for the loud and rude bell can mean only one thing – an emergency. On this fateful Saturday morning; when I had hoped to lie in for a while; the red phone rings. I cover the space between my bed and the kitchen in a few seconds, all the while imagining the absolute worst. I pick up the phone to hear Mira’s jovial voice>>>

POETRY

The Ultimate Freedom

For Ladan and Laleh Bijani

by Persis Karim
06-Sep-2009 (4 comments)
The two couldn’t have been more
different, even if they were attached
like the stem of a plant
that grows two distinct
flowers; no, they were more
like a double-hipped cherry—
two pits with the fleshy mass joining
them at the center. >>>

PRISON

A Place Called Evin

Over four decades Iran’s most notorious prison has been home to hundreds of political prisoners

by Fariba Amini
04-Sep-2009 (14 comments)
Evin, which derives its name from a village in the northern Alborz Mountains of Tehran, was built in 1971 during the reign of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. Previously, it had been the home of Seyyed Zia’eddin Tabatabee, a pro-British politician who was a PM under Ahmad Shah, the last Qajar Shah. After his death, the ownership of his property was transferred over to SAVAK and was then converted into what is today known as Evin Prison. It is a large compound of a few acres and has a wall built all around it. If you go to northern Tehran from the center of the city there is a good chance you will pass by Evin Prison. There are always guards outside, and families waiting to see their loved ones>>>

RAINBOW

جنبش سبز رنگین کمان

در حمایت از جنبش سبز چه می‌توان کرد؟

by Hossein Bagher Zadeh
04-Sep-2009 (3 comments)
جنبش سبز در تیول فرد یا نیروی خاصی نیست و هیچ کس نمی‌تواند به خود اجازه دهد که افراد یا گروه‌هایی را به دلیل گرایش‌های آنان از شرکت در این جنبش منع کند. این جنبش هنوز حتا از رهبری واحد برخوردار نیست و کسی نمی‌تواند سخنگویی آن را به خود اختصاص دهد. این جنبش البته رهبری خود را پیدا خواهد کرد، ولی این رهبری را کسی می‌تواند به عهده بگیرد که همه نیروها و گرایشهای سیاسی شرکت کننده در جنبش را نمایندگی کند و بیان کننده خواست محوری جنبش سبز و مشترک بین این نیروها باشد.>>>

ISLAM

اسلام واقعی همین است

اسلام راستین و روشنفکران ایرانی دانشگاه نشین در امریکا

by sudabeh_siavashan
04-Sep-2009 (72 comments)
پیش درآمد: به نظر من به اندازه کافی تحلیل و بررسی در مورد حوادث اخیر ایران از طرف روشنفکران دانشگاه نشین امریکا و کلا جریانات به اصطلاح پیشرو این مملکت شنیده ایم و به گمان من اکثر قریب به اتفاق تحلیل های دانشگاه نشینان بیشتر در خدمت تعریف هویت خود است تا دوا کردن دردی از کسی. و فکر کنم به همین دلیل است که بسیاری سوالات واضح و ابتدایی در این تحلیل ها بی پاسخ مانده است. شاید هم به خاطر اینکه جواب چنین سوال هایی را نمی شود در محافل محافظه کاران ه دانشگاهی/روشنفکری امریکا—که خودشان را در ردای چپ و پیشرو و . . . پوشانده اند—پیدا کرد. اما از قدیم گفته اند پرسیدن سوال نصف جواب است>>>

GENIUS

Beyond the Old and the New

The Wondrous World of Sadeq Hedayat

by Homa Katouzian
04-Sep-2009 (4 comments)
Sadeq Hedayat was born on 17 February 1903 and died on 9 April 1951. He was descended from Rezaqoli Khan Hedayat, a notable 19th century poet, historian, and historian of Persian literature, and author of Majm‘ al-Fosaha, Riyaz al-‘Arefin and Rawza al-Safa-e Naseri. Many members of his extended family were important state officials, political leaders and army generals, both in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including Mokhber al-Dawleh, Nayyer al-Molk I (Hedayat’s grand-father), Sani‘ al-Dawleh, and Mokhber al-Saltaneh, who was prime minister between 1928 and 1933>>>
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