Life

Know thy challenger

For geopolitical as well as geostrategic reasons any Middle East policy which does not encompass a detailed long term policy vis-à-vis the Islamic Republic is a costly exercise in futility. This hypothesis can best be validated by a simple dissection of the events in Lebanon, Israel, including the territories, Afghanistan and Iraq. In every instance the clash of the Islamic Republic’s agenda with those of the West has bogged down any meaningful progress. So the germane question that comes to mind is why such a knowledge deficit about a country as important as Iran?>>>

…و

"من شعر نمی‌نویسم: واقعیت‌ها را می‌نویسم". روژه‌ویچ می گفت. روژه‌ویچ آزرده و عاصی. ۱۹۶۹. تقریبن چهل سال گذشته است و این حرف او هنوز طنین سنگینی دارد. در جهان مصنوع ما، جایی که هر چیزی بر صحنه‌‌ای آراسته می‌شود تا "واقعی" جلوه کند، مردم به ناظران بی‌تفاوت و ناتوان واقعیت فروکاسته‌اند. بمباران اطلاعاتی و تسلط تکنولوژی بر بیشترعرصه‌های زندگی اجتماعی (ماشین مَجاز‌سازی) کمتر رمقی برای درگیری رگی و خونی با واقعیت باقی گذاشته است. در این جهان بازگشت به واقعیت شرط اساسی بازگشت به خویشتن و در نهایت کشف دوباره‌ی شعر است. >>>

Premonition

“Would you like another one?” The man sitting at the bar offered the woman next to him.
“Are you trying to get me drunk?” Uma replied in a seductive tone while playing with the empty glass in her hand.
“I enjoy your company. I like to prolong our exciting conversation.” He responded.
“I have every reason to be skeptical of your intentions.” She sneered.
“That’s because you’re cynical. I like that in a woman.” >>>

Shrinkage

There have always been lots of talk about Iran's present, and past, sizes. Which size is the true size of this country, or empire, called Iran, or Persia as it used to be called internationally? Iranians seem to feel sorry for having lost large territories that used to belong to the Persian Empire. Many Iranians blame the Qajar for having lost the territories. Others hate the Arabs for having invaded the Sassanian Empire some 1300 years ago, for having started it all. There are many Iranians who blame almost everybody for Iran's present size, from its past rulers to its neighbours, and to Western powers in general. There is a lot of myth to all this contention and lost pride!>>>

Same job, same pay

Women in the United State , working full-time, year-round earn only about 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. The median annual earnings of women ages 15 and older are $31,858, compared to $41,386 for their male counterparts. (Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States). The gap between the earning of minority women and white men is significantly worse. An African American woman earns just 64 cents for every dollar earned by a white man, while a Hispanic woman earns only 52 cents on the dollar compared to her white male counterpart.>>>

The Knock of Love

In a late afternoon, at a spacious hotel room with a large balcony facing the high rising waves of ‘Coogee Beach’, making surfers looking like driftwood, in Sydney, I heard a knock on my door. Immediately, a smile broke upon my face as I was getting to the door, just to confirm that no one was out there. You see…for a few moments prior to that knock, my ‘Heart’ and my ‘Mind’, accompanied by my ‘Intuition’ had gotten together on an intimate chat (that soon would become almost a public chat forum among all the elements of my Being), discussing the arrival of my beloved>>>

آدميت، پدر تاريخنگاری مدرن ايران

آثار آدميت نشانه از يک نظم فکري، شيوه ي علمي، و دقت و سنجش حرفه اي برخوردار است. آدميت نخستين ايراني ای است که تاريخنگاري و تاريخشناسي را با آموزش حرفه اي آموخت، و نه” الله بختکي “چون بسياری که نام مورخ گرفته اند. در عين حال، او تنها مورخ عصر خود است که از ارثيه تاريخنگاري مورخاني پروسواس چون بيهقي بي بهره نمانده است. او تداوم تاريخنگاري علميِ سنتي و پيوند آن با تاريخنگاري مدرن است. >>>

Saving the Death

Mary secretly moves her air mattress and blanket to the Red Cross tent, where the corpses are laid out in plastic bags. Since there is no running water to give them a proper Islamic wash, someone will come tomorrow to give them ablution by earth before they are buried in a mass grave. She sets her cot by the opening of the tent and lies with her back to the dead; It is better to breathe the freezing air of the desert winter, than the odour of decaying bodies. Two corpses—a young woman and a young man partly wrapped in white cotton sheets—share a plastic bag as if asleep side by side. Mary feels a pang in her breast and gasps.>>>

How I Became My Older Brother

I am sure there is a problem that can hopefully be rectified, said my sixth grade teacher. While he was patting my back gently as the sign of support, he told me you should be able to take the final exams when we correct the mistake. After nearly fifty nine years of age, I still think about the boyhood memories and cherish them with an open heart. May be the weird and wonderful stories that happened in my life in a very distant past are reawakening my mind to the childhood era. Past memories appear like crystal clear drops of water providing me with interesting subjects to write about. They are like burning clean natural gas creating clear blue flames; they are like acid reflux at the middle of night keeping you awake and thinking>>>

یک سوزن به خودت بزن یک جوال دوز به مردم

خیلی ازایرانیها میگویند که خارجیها (اروپائی و آمریکائها) نژاد پرست هستند و ما مهمان دوستیم. من تا حالا افغانی ندیدم که از مهمان نوازی ایرانیها تعریف کند! از لحنی که درباره اعراب صحبت میکنیم که نمیگم. قبول اونام به ما میگن عجم ولی این هر دوش نژاد پرستی است. تا حال چند نفر ایرانی دهید ه اید که با یک سیاه پو ست یا عرب ازدواج کرده باشه؟ چاپلوسی به خارجیان پولدار را بجای مهمان نوازی جلوه دادن هنریست که نزد ایرانیان است و بس.>>>

Normal, in a weird way

Today was the first day of Spring, which is also the Persian New Year. I've been trying to adjust to the time difference and get my sleep pattern back in order but otherwise, it hasn't really been difficult acclimating to Iran. Although the Islamic regime is still the ruling governing body, a lot of things have changed since my last trip 5 years ago. I haven't felt weird about being here since I arrived and it's actually a little strange that I haven't felt that way. It feels very normal...as normal as when I would fly to L.A. from NY to visit my family...like being at home even though I didn't grow up here.>>>

The Pomegranate Path

The sun was just beginning to rise over the March horizon as Ollie’s new alarm clock began to ring. He struggled to open his eyes, but with the room still dark and the bed so invitingly warm, he fought to resist the temptation to lay back down for just a few minutes more. The last time that he closed his eyes for just a few minutes more, he ended up being an hour and a half late for school. This is the reason why his mother bought him this damn new monstrosity. As he struggled to consciousness, the fleeting thought popped into his groggy head that this was no ordinary clock; no, this was Big Ben!>>>

لرزه های تن تو

می دانی وقتی به تو فکر می کنم
پیراهن روحم را از تنم بیرون می کنم
تا به تو بیاویزم من
لبان صورتی ات را به دهانم می دوزم
ودر جسم تو حل می شوم
تا تنمانمان در هم دوخته شود
>>>