Archive - 2011 - Article

Mother and Child

One summer I worked at a summer school. It was a good job, because there were kids. There was also a young mother of one of the boys who had to stay in the class in the morning otherwise the boy would feel too terrible. The boy was five. His name was Benny. He was a great man when his mother stayed in the class. He never got in anybody's way and he could join in with what anybody was doing. He didn't draw any distinctions, between boys and girls, between the boys who played sports outside and the ones who looked for ants>>>

كشورم ايران

كشورم ايران است
زادگاه كورش و اردشير بابكان
روسيه از دوستان و
چين هم از خودمان
غرب جزء دشمنان است
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Norooz Blues

...>>>

Reza Joon, man up or get out!

Pahlavi strikes me as a person who genuinely believes and respects personal freedoms. He displays a high degree of intelligence and great love for his country. He also seems to be an opportunistic politician who gets his moments in the spotlight as they come. He is not a risk-taker and does not seem to have the killer instinct that his grandfather had. And ultimately, he does not strike me as someone who can satisfy Iranians’ “Rostam Syndrome.” Maybe someday he will prove me wrong... but it’s highly unlikely>>>

That won't fly

Gaddafi is a tyrant and he should be removed from power through legitimate means, one of which is revolution, armed insurrection. But one gets the sense, this antipathetic personality is being attacked because he is so unappealing. If his lunacy was ever an issue, then what has taken the West all this time to remove him from power? If his attack on the insurrection is cause for protecting the civilian population, the U.N. needs to clarify if the protection of civilian innocents is really the same as protecting the insurrection from losing the struggle for power>>>

Killing Qaddafi

Edward Said was of the opinion that Orientalist scholarship was and continues to be inseparably tied to the imperialist societies that produced it... It is under the spell of such demeaning ideologies as Orientalism, humanitarian intervention, defense of democracy, free trade, glorification of military power and patriotism, which is currently ingrained in the mainstream American psyche, the U.S. ruling class and its allies savagely threaten, invade, massacre and plunder the material resources of other nations>>>

What About Them?

My understanding is that the operational goal of the military ass-kicking being meted out against Gaddafi is to stop him from slaughtering his people that oppose him and want him out of power. That is a noble goal that I have no argument against... What I am concerned about though, is that Libya isn’t the only Muslim country where the natives opposed to the government are being killed en masse by the government guns. In Bahrain and Yemen also, the opposition has been mowed down by government troops like it’s nobody’s business!>>>

شیرینی‌ عید با معلم نقاشی‌

در این اوضاع و احوال، تهران فقط در ایام عید قابل بازدید است. سال پیش، هوا ملایم و لطیف بود؛ مثل همان موقع که آقا محمد خان عاشق پایتخت جدیدش شد! همه زده بودند بیرون، و جمعیت شهر رسیده بود به حداکثر ظرفیت مجاز برای زیست انسانی‌ - یعنی‌ چیزی حدود دو میلیون. مسیر سرازیری از پارک ساعی تا کافه نادری را پیاده آمدم؛ که بنظر من، بهترین روش برای لذت بردن و شناختن هر شهری ست>>>

یاد ‬‬

‫انبوه قلب ترا‫
باد ترانه میخواند‫
در ذهن پوک زمان‫
 و قلب خیس تو
در کوچه ها ی خلوت درد میگذرد ‫ ‫ >>>

بهار تهران

باوركنید شیرینی نوروز
خشكید بر سفرۀ رؤیا:
چندین بهار رفت و
خرسِ زمان
در آستینِ اللْه خواب.
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Dear Freedom

Traditional Nowruz celebrations include the preparation of a Haft Sin table which literally means the seven s’s. Seven items beginning with the Persian letter sin (equivalent to the English s) and which represent spring time are set out. To honor this tradition, this year Amnesty International has selected seven cases, all of them prisoners of conscience who have been identified by Amnesty International as “individuals at risk” and are therefore targeted for intensified campaigning>>>

We Can

Today a new dawn, a new era, is prevailing over the shores of Middle East and North Africa. It feels like a new life, a new beginning, even though for us Iranians our path may be longer to reach the dawn. Nevertheless, the end of this long, dark and torturous night is near. Soon everyone will witness the rays of the rising sun in the East. The recent out pours in the Middle East and North Africa for democracy are perhaps the result of what brave and undeniably courageous Iranians did in June 2009 - standing up against the most brutal regime, our region has ever seen>>>

Norooz Pirooz

I try to look at the positive side. The error in that puzzle seems to have been the kick I needed in my guts. It has told me that even if the world is not celebrating, it’s up to me to make a small haft seen, light Norooz candles, and pray for mankind. After all, this ancient feast is all that’s left of my Iranian-ness, it will forever define my identity and is the legacy I shall leave to my children. I can’t allow anger or sorrow to mar the optimism of vernal equinox>>>

We are butterflies

Ruffled Mother-Earth
Rattles unworried islands
Obliterates lives
Vicious ocean waves
Carry more catastrophes
Jolted Japan aches >>>

نرگس مست

چار تکبیر بدنیا زدم و هر چه به دنیاست
دیده را بستم و جز مهر تو از جمله گسستم

چون سیه مستی ام از نرگس مست تو مرا بس
دل گسستم ز سوای تو و در پای تو بستم
>>>