STORY

The Lady of Qalat

Every village has its secrets

16-Apr-2009 (7 comments)
Thirty miles or so south of Shiraz, lies the little village of Qalat, situated among rich orchards of pomegranates and figs. It is a narrow, cramped Sassanian village, constructed on the side of a steep mountain streaked with horizontal lines, as if mauled by a gigantic lion. It was a place, I had been told, where nothing remarkable had ever taken place, where poetry has been written and roses had fallen from their stems in silence, a place whose inhabitants had disguised their missions of love and hate behind the privacy of high walls and closed lips for centuries. There was really nothing to interest anyone there>>>

CHARACTER

War on Ignorance

Is being a know-it-all only an Iranian trait?

12-Apr-2009 (7 comments)
A few days ago on this site Mr. Hossein Hosseini in his stimulating article seemed to imply that we Iranians have the most know-it-all people! Do we really? I respectfully doubt that. I used to fault friends, and I lost some because I did not approve of their pretending to be what they were not. That went on until I took some courses in modern psychology and discovered that what I or we consider pretension, is often benign and is a part of our defense mechanism as humans in order to save face in emergencies. In other words, what I discovered was that I should forgive the people as long as their pretension was temporary, for self preservation>>>

SPRING

Blooming capital

Blooming capital

Photo essay: Cherry blossoms in Washington, DC, and Maryland

by ebi amirhosseini
11-Apr-2009 (16 comments)

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NOVEL

Rooftops of Tehran

First novel I read by an Iranian-American male. I found it refreshing and unique.

06-Apr-2009 (3 comments)
Rooftops of Tehran touches on every human experience from love to loss. Seraji unabashedly poses the questions for which answers simply did not exist. His deep awareness of the human spirit shows through Pasha’s character, who while naïve, is a logical and extremely emotional character trying desperately to make sense of the insanity around him. The reader is lost in the tale just as Pasha is lost and thus finds himself more than simply empathizing with the protagonist. The reader feels the emotions just as deeply as Pasha does – thanks to the brilliant story-telling of Seraji. Seraji captures the delicate and poignant action of Pasha to plant a rose bush in the street for the martyr from the neighborhood>>>

PEOPLE

The Hero and Heroin

A war veteran loses the drug battle

03-Apr-2009 (8 comments)
Iran borders Afghanistan, the world's largest producer of opium and the drugs come through Iran on their way to lucrative western markets. Historically there has been a tradition of opium smoking in Iran in which older men would gather at home to talk and share an opium pipe. This was a social activity and the opium smoking wouldn't interfere with their lives. The big change is the move to intravenous heroin use, a change that can be partly attributed to opium prices skyrocketing after the Taliban's ban on growing the poppy and heroin became cheap and available instead -- a hit of heroin costs less than a packet of cigarettes. Add to this the largely young population of Iran, living with high unemployment rates>>>

NUMBERS

Simple truth

The importance of math

03-Apr-2009 (23 comments)
There’s a reason why we learn math. It’s not just to know how to do basic arithmetic or calculating the speed of train A and train B. Mathematics is important to us on a much deeper level. Philosophically speaking, math can explain the building blocks of existence and giving us the answers to the questions that we seek. Like what is the meaning of life? Yet being apart of the answer to those problems is essential to what we are without realizing it. Being an Architecture student, I’ve taken into account how many structures, objects and things can be broken down into simple shapes that are much simpler than their complexity portrays>>>

CELEBRATION

Nowruz in New York

Nowruz in New York

photo essay: 5th annual Persian Parade

by javad fakharzadeh
01-Apr-2009 (23 comments)

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PARADE

Persian Party in New York

Persian Party in New York

Photo essay: Norooz street festival

by Ali Ameri
30-Mar-2009 (65 comments)

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NOROOZ

All ages, all faiths

All ages, all faiths

Photo essay: Thousands of Iranians gather in Westwood, Los Angeles

by Mojgan & Mehrdad
30-Mar-2009 (21 comments)

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IRAN

Rainbow of colors

Rainbow of colors

Photo essay: Colorful Norooz in Tehran

by Kiomars Ehdaivand
26-Mar-2009 (15 comments)

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MASTERS

Namâd

Namâd

Photo essay: Persian poetry of rebellion hits a classical note

by Mersedeh
26-Mar-2009

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MARVELOUS

Namâd

Persian poetry of rebellion hits a classical note

26-Mar-2009 (18 comments)
Namâd Ensemble is once again touring, delivering commendable performances at each venue. If you are already familiar with them, you understand what makes them worthy of praise. If, these musicians are unknown to you, however, you may wonder what genre their music falls under and what exactly sets them apart. Mentioning that these five men collectively play Tombak, Frame Drums, Daf, Udu, Kamanche, Queychak, Setar and Shourangiz, may automatically invoke images of a traditional Iranian group; but Namâd is more than that. Before we jump to labels, perhaps we should pause to consider that while a performance is a transitory experience for the audience, for the musicians it is the culmination of months and years of struggle to render the extract of their essence into the language of composition>>>

NOROOZ

سال نو در کنار کورش

سال نو در کنار کورش

Photo essay: Cyrus the Great showered with flowers

by Farzad
24-Mar-2009 (130 comments)

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NOROOZ

I'll call it NOWRUZ, if you call him OWBAWMO

NOROOZ is the most phonetically correct spelling

24-Mar-2009 (75 comments)
One of the signs that the new year is upon us, is the continued debate surrounding the Yarshater camp (more on that later) spelling of NOWRUZ. And every year it seems, someone brings me flawed data to support this aberration and attempt to amend common English phonetic rules. Now don't get me wrong. Here's my point:
- I am in no way suggesting you must spell it my way or that I even have a "way".
- I say that NOWRUZ isn't as successful a spelling as is possible.
- I do not think we need to have one correct spelling. Just look at Hannukah >>>

NOROOZ

پنجره ای بسوی بهار

دوباره بهار و نوروز آمدند و زنگار از مینای کاشیکاری خاطرات میزدائیم

20-Mar-2009 (24 comments)
برای برخی از ما ایرانیان مقیم درغربت که از دوستان و فامیل دور هستیم، آن نوروزهای پرهیجان و شادی آور سالهای دور، دیگر تبدیل به رد و بدل چند تلفن تبریک و شش هفت تا تعارف معمولی و خوش بشهای زورکی شده اند. دو روز اول سال نو کم و بیش و بیهوده صرف نشستن و گرفتن شماره تلفنهای ایران میشود. فیزیک ذرات یکطرف و گرفتن چهل و هشت شماره تلفن پشت سرهم یکطرف. این براستی باد در هاون کوبیدن است و اگر گهگاهی هم یک شماره جواب دهد، شخص آنطرف خط میگوید "اشتباه گرفتی جونم!" در یکی از همین شماره گیری های پارسال خانمی خوش صدا گوشی را در تهران برداشت و همان اول کار گفت "جونم"! آنور دنیا در یک کشور اثنی عشری خانمی بیمقدمه میگوید جانم، خوب شما بودید چه میکردید؟ قند در دل آب کردیم که دیگر پنجاه درصد آن درست شد و فقط مانده که کارتهای دعوت چاپ بشوند>>>