Life

Two thousand five hundred years old

The last time I saw Dr. Khanlari was in 1987 when he told me that studying literature belonged to another time. “It is a different world now,” he said. At the time I was a graduate student in literature and his advice to me was to start on a different path while I was still young. Parviz Natel Khanlari was a great man—so great, in fact, that a mere listing of his accomplishments does him no justice. People still argue whether his most important contribution was his journal Sokhan (unparalleled to this day in the talent and rigor it fostered), his country-wide literacy projects (leading to a considerable hike in literacy rates), his role in standardizing and producing text books (the accessibility and quality of which we all took for granted)...>>>

Who cares?

“I AM ANGRY?” Is it even important how I feel? What I want? What I write about? Does my anger even matter when Britney Spears’ 16-year-old sister is pregnant? Could I possibly have something provoking to say when Paris Hilton just lost all of her inheritance to charity? Can I possibly have something more enraging to be angry about when so and so just got engaged and the other couple from last year's wedding filed for a divorce? I mean who cares what I have to say? Everyone has so much to worry about already. JC Penny's “16-hour post holiday sale” is ticking down and Macy's has that “two days only end of the year, new year special” going on right now so why would anyone in their right mind be reading this instead?>>>

Hallucinations

- Like always you have forgotten to cook rice for dinner, no?
- Who cares? Don’t stress me out. I still have time.
It is nighttime. It is cold. All day I have wandered around the house. I counted all the pieces of furniture in the house: the brown coaches, our dining table, the Piano, our carpets, our phones, all those paintings and books, my desk, my bed, my parents’ bed, our lights…
- Are you crying?
- No, but I wish I could cry for hours. Have you ever been invaded by the flood of memories?>>>

نیاوران، فرمانیه و مادام ساعی

عاشق رانندگی در اتوبانهای شلوغ تهران بودم .ساعت یازده ی هر روز صبح دوباره به مادام ساعی زنگ می زدم تا از تو خبر بگیرم و تو همیشه به پای تلفن می آمدی و با صدای معصومت می گفتی هنوز ساعت دو نشده که تو بیایی ؟ این عقربه های ساعت هر روز دیر تکان می خورد و من در تب و تاب آمدن برای در آغوش کشیدنت پر و بال می زدم . >>>

Ditch the diet!

Yet another year goes by and I find myself tracing the same familiar steps I have taken in years gone by. Know the feeling? First, we overdose at Christmas, promising to diet in January, then we make New Years resolutions, normally including some form of diet or exercise commitment, which we solemnly swear to uphold, but by the second week of January, we’re back to our old ways and that extra holiday weight is hanging off our midriffs looking like it’s ready to set up permanent residence. Deja vu? Nice try, but I think we all know it is nothing but pure laziness that holds us back.>>>

Sense of rebellion

A new generation of Iranian artists are striving for the mutation of our music. For those who have been waiting for a change, the time is now and there is a new wave of talented Rock and Hip-Hop artists reaching out to us. This goes a long way toward explaining the large majority of our Iranian pop music culture. However, every once in a while an album will make its way past reviewer after reviewer and deservedly earn high marks with nary a scratch. I believe this will be the story with Iran’s hip-hop messiah, Erfan, and his debut Album, “Az Khaneh ta Goor”>>>

A visit to see Amma

Alexandra Palace in north London on a grey morning in December – a Thursday. An Indian-looking man in a bright orange parka is guarding the driveway to the grand Victorian exhibition centre at the top of Alexandra Park. A banner next to him announces the presence of Amma – born Mata Amritanandamayi – "The hugging saint." White women in white saris, men clad in white, wearing beards, smiles, or looks of utter seriousness, make their way in and out of the main hall which, as their feet testify, you can only enter in socks>>>

Happiness in slavery

We live in (here in America) what has been referred to as a fast food culture. If president Bush ordered all eateries closed tomorrow the American people would have him impeached in an hour. We don’t seem to care about our own lives, not to mention the lives of Muslims. The American people are being oppressed in the worst possible way, pacification. The same can be said about the Islamists as they are also being pacified, in their case the pacifier is Islam. In our case its comfort. What is my point? My point is this... Greed>>>

Culture shock

For those readers who are not in their 20s, back in the 1970s, the Iranian parents wanted their children to become either medical doctors or engineers (ya doctor besho, ya mohandes!!), I was sent to a university in Europe where they fully concentrated only in one subject during the 4 years of undergraduate studies. My father refused to send me to the US because he thought the freedom of choosing courses in a variety of subjects was too much of a “wishy-washy” upbringing to focus on becoming a professional Engineer or a Medical Doctor. >>>

شهید بوتو

یکی نبود به بینظیر بوتو بگه تو هم از این فرح خانوم خودمون یاد بگیر. الان سی ساله آزگار توی آمریکا و اروپا پرسه میزنه، کیفشو میکنه، کنسرت میره، به این موزه پول میده، از اون یکی خرید میکنه، عشق میکنه، روسری هم سرش نمیکنه! هرچند سال یکبار هم یکدونه ازون نطقهای چیزم به طاقی غم انگیز میکنه، که آدم دلش کباب میشه که چطور زنی با داشتن میلیارد، میلیارد دلار پول نقد، باز میتونه صداشو اونجور گه مرغی کنه>>>

آنجا که زنان برای آزادی دو بار می ميرند

درست همزمان با وقتی که خانم هيلری کلينتون، زيبا و درخشان، از پله های محل سخنرانی سالن نورانی يکی از کمپين های انتخاباتی خود بالا می رفت تا در مقابل ده ها دوربين فيلمبرداری و صدها طرفدار خوش لباس و سر حال خويش از فردايي بهتر بگويد، زن ديگری، به همان زيبايي و درخشش، در ميدان بويناک محله ای در راولپندی در مقابل هزاران زن و مردی که برخی شان روی صندلی های تاشو نشسته بودند و برخی ديگر پا برهنه از سر و کول هم بالا می رفتند، ايستاده بود تا او نيز سخن از فردايي بگويد که سال هاست بسيارانی از آن مردم در انتظارش نشسته اند.>>>

God and religion business

Benazir Bhutto's assassination reminds me of the number of rednecks and misogynists in the US who are ready to bet that if either Hillary or Obama are elected next year, they'll be assassinated by January 2010. It also makes me wonder when will the Iranians wake up and separate Disneyland/God/Religion from the State? Proud of their 2500 years history, will the Iranians ever wake up to realize that the whole concept of “God” is nothing but a mere figment of human imagination – no matter whether it is marketed by the Bible, Torah, Qoran, or any other fairy tale -- and no matter how many billions in South America or Africa believe in such BS>>>

تولدت مبارک

این چند خط را برای تو، پدر عزیزم، بهرام بیضایی و به پاس تلاشهای خستگی ناپذیرت در عرصه ی فرهنگ و هنر کشورم ایران می نویسم . می دانم که بسیار خسته ای و بسیار رنجدیده و می دانم که زخمهای بسیار بر روح و روان داری از سوی آنها که گمان می کنند آمده اند تا برای ابد بمانند، اما نمی دانند که ضدیت با جریان رونده و شونده ی فرهنگ ایران امری است گذرا و آنچه می ماند، فکر است و اندیشه و نیروی خلاقه ی انسانی که خود خالق است. نیز بسیاری در لباس دوست و دوستدار که پنهانی و از سر تنگ نظری زخم می زنند، گاه از سر بخل و گاه از سر خودشیرینی برای این و یا آن دستگاه قدرت.>>>

Nobody's enemy

In the face of hostility, recently more and more Iranians find themselves stuttering when asked a very simple question: Where are you from? A proud people whose heritage has heavily influenced the Western culture, they become stuck somewhere between the I and the P: Many Iranians, in fear of retaliation or being scorn refuse to identify themselves as Iranians unless necessary; some opt to use the alternative Persian (the Greek, historical, transitory word for Iranian,) few even go as far as introducing themselves as Italian, Greek, Armenian, or Northern Iranians who fit the profile, as Irish, or other. This is a deeply disturbing phenomenon that is very typical and indicative of their existence in the United States, and one that is a growing trend, elongating parallel to the strange animosity that is brewing against them>>>

شباهت های ناگزیر!

مقایسه و همسان دانستن هرشخص و حکومتی با اسدالله لاجوردی و حکومت اسلامی ایران , شاید توهین به آن شخص و آن حکومت تلقی شود , من اما قصد چنین توهینی ,حتی به مایکل هایدن , و حکومتی چون حکومت جرج بوش ندارم , ضمن اینکه نمی توان بر شباهت های ناگزیر اینان , که در نگاه من شباهت های ناگزیر نوعی ازقلدری سیاسی , و تفکر و رفتار ارتجاعی ترین جناح مسیحیت و اسلام است , چشم پوشید. برای نمونه کاربرد و تایید شکنجه و شکنجه گری یکی از این شباهت هاست.>>>