FOOD

Mangia mangia!

Mangia mangia!

Experiencing Italy's amazing range of food in our recent trip

by Farah Ravon
15-Aug-2007

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LOVE

Afternoon delight

She smiled as she moved her hips around the floor seductively

14-Aug-2007
The other day I had received a call from a friend, a dear and a wonderful friend from my college years, a person who brings a gentile smile on my face when I just remember her, for her free spirit and the passionate unconditional caring attitude she displays. She wanted to see me that afternoon, I took the train to the city and in no time I was with her, in her tiny but cozy apartment. I love to be in her place particularly in the kitchen with her, it’s so narrow that one has to touch the other person in order to move around, and it often leads to hugs to satisfy the first personal touch that triggered it, the hugs that are filled with love and creativity. She hugs back with all her heart, I feel her breast on my chest, it's personal and affectionate, every cell of my body is pleased to feel her; she is warm, kind and blissful.>>>

RIGHTS

What happened?

Why is the Middle East stuck in the Middle Ages?

14-Aug-2007 (one comment)
Sometimes comparing Iranians, Arabs, Turks and other Middle-Easterners to Westerners I thought there may be something wrong with Middle-Eastern genes or something that makes people be so much more aggressive, so much less honest, and altogether far more impulsive. Just an innocent thought! Never reached any conclusion to prove the hypothesis. However it is a fact that peoples of the Middle East are not usually trustworthy, get angry very quickly and usually act emotionally. This is all beside other defects such as arrogance combined with gullibility and so on>>>

AROOSI

A night to remember

A night to remember

Photo essay: Amir and Halé's wedding

by Jahanshah Javid
13-Aug-2007

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PERSIAN

No, you're Iranian

Facebook culture wars

13-Aug-2007
There are more people from Persia than Iran on Facebook. Yup... Many young people of Iranian origin in the US construct 'Persian' as an alter-ego to being 'Iranian' because Iran has been reconstructed as something unattractive, backward, alien, and terrifyingly Muslim by their families, other Iranians in their social networks, and not least by American media and foreign policy ever since the Revolution. It is a defense mechanism against the (perceived) enormous social cost that comes with identifying as Iranian. I am fully open to the prospect that maybe it's not an "either-or" proposition, and some use the terms interchangeably-but looking at some of these group names, there seem to be a significant number of people that have crystallized Persian vs. Iranian into a dichotomous cultural struggle>>>

FREE SPEECH

A threat to all of us

If someone could silence whatever he or she didn't like we are all going to be in big trouble soon

13-Aug-2007
While everyone is on holidays, a new blow to online free speech has taken place and I would like to share it with you and ask for help. Last Friday, my blog was shut down by my hosting company (Florida-based Hosting Matters), as a result of a legal notice sent by Mehdi Khalaji, an Iranian fellow at a neo-conservative think-tank (Washington Institute for the Near East Policy with Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz and James Woolsey on its advisory board). Khalaji's lawyer has sent a notice to my hosting company and also my domain registrar, Go Daddy, asking them to a) remove any 'defamatory' material about him, b) make me publish an apology, and c) pay $10,000 for the claimed damages>>>

HODER

Price of baseless accusations

Hoder was not aware of the terms and conditions of writing on the web

13-Aug-2007
TORONTO -- One of the most controversial and maybe most read Persian blogs has finally been shut down. It belonged to Hossein Derakhsan, aka Hoder. No doubt, many of his enemies and those who did not like him very much may be very happy. But only a few may even ask why this has happened. The following is a brief account about the rise and fall of the so called THE GODFATHER OF PERSIAN BLOG. I think one of his biggest mistakes was lack of knowledge and skill in the field of journalism and professional writing. Hoder was not aware of the terms and conditions of writing on the web. He simply accused anyone who did not think like him. Maybe this is why he called his blog: EDITOR MYSELF.>>>

TRAVELERS

On nature's edge

On nature's edge

The village of Calcata, Italy

by Farah Ravon
12-Aug-2007

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FREE SPEECH

Stalin alive and well!

These people are bringing Iranians Democracy?

12-Aug-2007
Hossein Derakhshan's blog is suspended by Mehdi Khalaji! Apparently Khalaji having had worked for and under the current regime of Iran before he was revolutionized has brought his Mullah mindset to the United States. I by no means defend Derakhshan for I have observed his actions and his support for the current regime of Iran but am surprised at Khalaji. He is supposedly promoting a democratic Iran?! He too can write and express his opinion but to shut down a blog is nothing short what we observe in today's Iran where newspapers and blogs are shut down or filtered every day>>>

RIGHTS

All this hoopla over nothing

All in all, the NIAC human rights conference was definitely not sympathetic to the mullahs

12-Aug-2007
Recently, I have over and over again heard a small group of Iranians attack the National Iranian American Council (NIAC); each time with a new charge. At an information meeting about Goli Ameri's new lobby group, they accused NIAC of being too critical of the Bush Administration. Iranian monarchists have for several years accused the organization of being a front for the mullahs. And of course, pro-Israeli neo-conservatives like Kenneth Timmerman have been on NIAC's case for calling for diplomacy with Iran. So far so good. Any group that infuriates Goli Ameri, the neo-cons and the monarchists must be doing something right.>>>

LIFE

 In search of ...

When a bird can't fly it wouldn't know what she is missing but she knows something is missing

12-Aug-2007
I came home, took off my suite and took a cold shower hoping it would change my mood. It didn't so I drove to the nearest bar to have a drink and play a little. I was hoping it would be quite so I can just sit in a corner and no one would notice me but being Saturday night I thought wishful thoughts. The bar was full but I realized quickly the patrons were all regulars because they all looked like serious gamblers. That was perfect because they don't bother others and don't like to be bothered, after all they are there to "take the house down!" So I sat in the far end of he bar and ordered me a Stoley on the rocks with some olives on the side.>>>

LIFE

Lena the bank teller

Her skin is choorook, her hands are shaking

11-Aug-2007
She has all white hair. Her skin is choorook, her hands are shaking. A tiny lady at least 80 years old, no joke. Her name is Lena. And she is working as a bank teller at Bank of America. I wonder how old she was when she first learned to use the computer? I am not comfortable when she calls me to her window because I have never dealt with a teller her age. I almost feel like she should not be here, that it's wrong and cruel for her to be working. But she is pretty quick, knows the job well and we move quickly. Of course I don't have a BofA account, and I am cashing a check, so she gets a chance to make a sales pitch to me.>>>

LIFE

Una noche de desierto

I will bury my face into your hair and smell it as if I am strolling in a rose garden

11-Aug-2007
One day we will make a journey to Iran together ... we will travel to Kerman and I will locate a little place with a particular energy level that I know of in the desert; a place where the falcon-hearted beings lay down to rest and draw energy form mother earth making their wings leaner and their hearts beat faster. Under the moon light, sounded by the desert spirits and our own genies as the witness for our passion, I will take my linen jacket off so you can lay on it ... and then ... I will feast on you as a desert lion feasts on a gazelle! I will look into your eyes and drown in the river of their sparkle, then gently kiss you.>>>

ITALY

Bellissimo

Bellissimo

Photo essay: Italians and their pets

by Farah Ravon
10-Aug-2007 (2 comments)

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TRAVELERS

Barbari capital

Barbari capital

Photo essay: Tehran snapshots

by Ben Bagheri
10-Aug-2007

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FRIEND

Azita, where are you?

Five years after Azita left Iran, I left for France; the war still was going on in Iran

10-Aug-2007
Azita was my best friend. No, actually she was my only friend in high school. Or the only one I cared about. She was Jewish, and when the Islamic revolution happened, she and her family left Iran for Israel. We were forbidden from sending mail to Israel, so I had to send my letters through another country. Her address changed a lot, and it was in Hebrew, an alphabet that looked to me like modern art or bent nails. My last letter to her returned as a lost letter after having traveled through many different countries. I always wondered what letters or numbers I had missed in writing her address.>>>

GENDER

Inside and out

I prefer to see positive qualities attributed to both genders

10-Aug-2007
I think a woman is beautiful inside and out. We do not have to be a beauty queen to be beautiful. We are strong, intelligent, hard working, compassionate, caring, energetic, assertive, and so on. We have an openness, agreeableness, extraversion and positive conscientiousness about us that if raised in a non nulling environment at school and at home will be brought out. I do not see the majority of women as neurotic. However, if they are raised in an authoritarian, nulling environment, and patriarchal family I can show you a neurotic individual regardless of gender.>>>

WOMEN

Democratic culture

A campaign for equality

08-Aug-2007
Finding itself in a new environment, the women’s movement had to look for new tactics and strategies compatible to the narrow avenues available within a theocratic system. Under such circumstances, the movement found success galvanizing support around grievances affecting a broad array of the female population—not simply single constituency issues. Given that women comprise nearly half of the Iranian population, relying on group identity and grievances offered a smart approach to building solidarity and mobilization. Issues such as custody for children, the right to divorce, legal equality, and opposition to violence against women were as important to secular, educated middle-class women as to poor, conservative, and working women.>>>

FLIGHT

A perfect day

A perfect day

Photo essay: Flying school and club North of London

by Hamid Behzadi
08-Aug-2007

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COOL

Supermodel terrorist

Kayvon Zand should be on everyone’s watch list

08-Aug-2007
The US’s recent mega-sale of arms to Saudi Arabia seems to have made the whispers of bombing Iran grow louder, but so have Iranian-Americans in their pursuance of the “American Dream”. Realizing the trance of opportunity and freedom that brought them to the US in the first place, Iranian-Americans are arriving on a multitude of industries with great amplitude. Kayvon Zand, a surging model, musician, and promising supplementary to the eruption of current young Iranian-American artists making a name in their niche, is a witty superstar in the making. With his bewitching lucent-azure eyes and original style, Kayvon should be on everyone’s watch list.>>>