Life

My Dear Son

From the onset of my journey to this country, I had to work hard because I knew that was the only way for me to support myself and to continue my education. I had to do odd jobs ranging from janitorial, car hopping, dishwashing, truck driving, and pizza delivering to support myself and my education. I did them all. Did I like them? No. I hated them, but I didn’t have much choices. I did not let the feeling of despair to overwhelm me. I considered those odd jobs as the temporary sources of income I needed to support my long-term goal which was to have a good education. Surviving might be easy; succeeding is not. I managed to climb my way up inch by inch through perseverance and hard work. This is not to claim that I am a very successful person. Given the circumstances, I think I have done well>>>

‏برگشتن روزگار سهل است

روز پنجشنبه ۱۸ ارديبهشت ۱۳۵۹ روزنامه کيهان نوشت: "ساعت يک و نيم بامداد امروز فرخ‌رو پارساي تيرباران ‏شد". مرده‌شوي‌ها از شستن جسد وي خودداري کردند زيرا وي به نام "مفسد في‌الارض" اعدام شده بود. زنان خانواده ‏بودند که پيکر وي را شستند و ديدند که سه تير به زير سينه‌اش اصابت کرده و از پشت بدنش خارج شده است. اين ‏سرنوشت زني بود که در خانه مادري چون فخرآفاق پاراسي ناشر مجله "جهان زنان" و پدري چون فرخ‌دين پارساي از ‏روزنامه‌نگاران بنام زمانه خود پرورش يافته بود. پدر و مادري که تلخي توقيف و تبعيد را در کشاکش تناقضات دوراني ‏که ايران راهي نوين را در پيش گرفته بود، چشيده بودند. مادر از پيشتازان مبارزه براي حقوق زنان و از ياران صديقه ‏دولت‌آبادي بود و پدر در شمار کساني که زبان خود را نگاه نمي‌توانستند داشت.‏>>>

Pebble Beach – Half a Sandwich

I call his room from the hotel lobby. It wakes him up. A brief silence. He asks me whether I want to go up. Hesitation. I respond that I will wait for him in the lobby. I am not in the least bit offended; surprised a little; flattered somewhat, but interested, I am not. I grab a cup of coffee and the local paper, and settle into one of the plush chairs in the foyer. I pore over the Carmel news with gusto. A local resident has come across a $20 counterfeit bill at Dolores and Ocean which he dutifully turns in to the local authorities. A squirrel has munched his way through the front seat of a car parked at Mission and 7th. A resident on San Antonio finds the tires of her car missing. The culprit turns out to be an ex-boyfriend who has disabled her mode of transportation in exchange for the money she owes him>>>

ستیز با سانسور

گفته می شود واژه سانسور (ممیزی) یاحذف کلام و سخن, از زمان ناصرالدین شاه و توسط اعتماد السلطنه به زبان فارسی راه یافت و مورد استفاده قرار گرفت. پیش از آن که این واژه در میان واژگان فارسی جا باز کند, حذف کلام تحت عنوان ممیزی به بهانه ی حفظ حرمت " اخلاق و شریعت " در قانون اساسی حکومت مشروطه جا داده شد : "تمامه مطبوعات , غیر از کتب ضلال و مواد مضره به دین مبین , آزاد و ممیزی در آن ها ممنوع است و هر گاه چیزی مخالف قانون مطبوعات در آن ها مشاهده شود نشر دهنده یا نویسنده بر طبق قانون مطبوعات مجازات می شود. اگر نویسنده معروف و مقیم ایران باشد ناشر و طابع و موزع از تعرض مصون هستند." و کتب ضلال هم شامل " آثاری که با دین مباینت دارند" و مواد مضره به دین مبین هم "آثاری که در انتقاد از دین و مراسم و سنن دینی باشد" تعریف شدن>>>

Lessons from inside the ring

I understand that there is great political sensitivity when it comes to addressing women’s needs and rights in Iran and which with the increased activism on the part of women in demand of their rights is also on the rise, making it difficult for the UN and even some sympathetic government officials to work with women’s rights groups in addressing women’s needs. But certainly I believe that at a minimum there should be efforts expended to understand, take into account and build upon the innovative work which women’s rights activists in Iran have done. In fact, this should be a prerequisite for anyone wanting to address women’s rights and issues>>>

حریق

وجدی موواد در زمینه تئاتر، نمایشنامه نویس و کارگردان و بازیگر است و جوایز بسیاری دریافت کرده که یکی از آنها جایزه مولیر در سال 2005 است که آن را به دلیل بی توجهی ناشران به کار نمایشنامه نویسان جوان در فرانسه رد کرد. او در فرانسه بسیار محبوب است و در سالهای اخیر نمایشنامه هایش مرتب در سالنها به روی صحنه رفته است و یا در جشنواره های فرانسه اجرا می شود. نمایشنامه "حریق"، با مرگ زنی آغاز می شود و با خواندن وصیت نامه اش. او برای هر یک از دو فرزند بازمانده (یک دختر و پسر دوقلو)، نامه ای گذاشته است که در آن نامه از هر دوشان می خواهد به جستجوی پدر و برادر خود بروند و نامه ای از مادر خود را به او بدهند. "حریق" بازتاب جنگ و پرتاب شدن در جهانی سوزان و در میان شعله های آتش است.>>>

Got Depression?

My brother called the other day. I was a bit surprised. We don’t talk much. Life has been busy and our relationship has been reduced to quick chitchats, consisting of a few words and not much content. We sometimes go for months without talking. Dealing with kids, wives, demanding jobs, the in-laws, and everything in between, leave us both with no time or energy to keep the communication channels open. He sounded stressed on the phone. “What’s wrong?” I asked him. “Well, you know, shit hit the fan with Kami. We got issues,” My brother said. Kami is my brother’s teenaged son. The kid is a bit strange and very shy. He is one them kids who wear only black and walk around in long trench coats and military boots. He scares me.>>>

A Dead Man, a Wife, a Mistress, and a Daughter

Last March I went to see Darvag Theater’s play, In Memory of Kazem Ashtari with dear friends in Berkeley. I was blown away by the play’s original storyline, the crisp and clever dialogue, and the stellar performances of its cast. I found the whirlwind of plot twists and developments dazzling and so entertaining! Sepideh Khosrowjah’s dialogues all through a complex plot were exquisitely simple, yet thought provoking. What would a woman do when her husband dies suddenly? What would she and her late husband’s mistress tell each other if they were to meet? This story is delicious!>>>

The perfect home

“The Woman of Willendorf”, is the oldest human figurine known to the mankind. The 11-centimeter statute shows a faceless female body with out-of-proportionally large breasts, large tummy and accentuated reproductive organ. This ornament that was made in Austria about 30,000 years ago is neither a representation of a typical prehistoric female body nor comparable to Roman and Greek art in which women are subject to the wild fantasies. You might ask what the heck is it then? One of the strongest theories suggests that it is the symbol of Earth. Having this in mind makes it easier to understand that the large body parts are strictly symbolizing the concept of fertility. From Willendorf village 30,000 years ago to Las Vegas metro in 2006, we hear one voice. The mother earth for thousands of years has provided us with an infinite amount of resources>>>

Twin Adventures

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For young readers

This project started more than a decade ago when I was searching the public libraries for books for children on Iranian culture and history. While there was ample information on many ancient civilizations like Egypt, China, India, Mesopotamia, Greece and Rome, there was virtually nothing to be found on Iran. I was saddened by the lack of material and always dreamed of the day all kinds of books on Iran would be available for all young readers around the world. My dream was realized mainly because of the revolutionary new technology that has emerged with digital photography and new advances in book publishing. Thirty years ago publishing a pictorial history with 264 high quality images would have been the task for professional and established publishers with resources and lots of money>>>

The Riddle of Natanz

I have always been drawn to those who are dangerous in some way: those who love too passionately, who think (and act) too radically, whose imaginations are easily heated to incandescence. So I should not complain when I get burned and lose everything. We need to experience the “Grand Passions” at least once in our lives. We need to live life at white-hot heat to feel that we are truly alive and human. “I am alive, therefore I bleed. I am human, therefore I weep”. But what I value more than the “grand passions” of Life is a subtler form of emotion that is paradoxically more potent than passion. I hesitate to call it “tenderness” because that word has other implications, but I have no other word large or clean enough to describe it. Physical consummation is no more than a crude metaphor for this Love. It flows from the most vulnerable places in us, those of least resistance which, I suppose, we have to call the “soul”.>>>

Forbidden Love

The Persian romance of Vis and Ramin, which has influenced the European legend of Tristan and Isolde and the Georgian tale of Visramiani, was composed in 1050's by Fakhraddin Asa'd Gorgani in Isfahan, Iran. It is one of the oldest examples of forbidden love in Persian literature in which a man passionately falls in love with his sister-in-law. For this reason, Vis and Ramin has not been welcome by the Persian literati in the past and present. Nezami Ganjavi (1141-1209), who wrote his romance Khosrow and Shirin, more than one century after Vis and Ramin tries to distance himself from Gorgani as follows>>>

The End of Racism

The end of racism that I have seen has been a piece of paper and a group of white men in suits announcing that the end of racism is hereby decreed. The end of racism that I haven't seen has been those same white men looking at each other with tears in their eyes. The end of racism that I have seen has been let me tell you about the end of racism. The end of racism that I haven't seen has been let me listen to the years and years of it. The end of racism that I have seen has been Martin Luther King Day. The end of racism that I haven't seen has been What in the hell is really happening, I mean really happening, and why does one more child have to be born into this Day>>>