Life

Silence coming to an end soon

In anticipation of President Ahmadinejad’s annual trip to the UN General Assembly, the Iranian Mission to UN has asked Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) to invite representatives of the peace movement in the US to meet with him in NYC. Fellowship of Reconciliation is a faith based peace and justice organization, which for several years has been active in the movement against a war on Iran. They have organized many citizen delegation tours to Iran in recent years. President Ahmadinejad has traditionally met with interfaith groups every year in NY and it appeared more natural for them to ask FOR to facilitate the meeting with representatives of the peace movement as oppose to more secular groups. Subsequently, FOR prepared an invitation and sent it to all the peace organizations and individuals that they had identified as being interested in such meeting with the Iranian President>>>

For the Love of Faloodeh

“Did you bring me Faloodeh?” I demand, skipping all the common pleasantries and zealous Iranian courtesies. Enjoyably exasperated, she plays along and hands me a bag of Ajil to shut me up. And while I am stuffing my face, with me in tow, she concentrates on maneuvering through the crowd to reach the baggage claim and fetch her luggage. As long as my mouth is full, she sets a new record every year! The long ride home takes us through America’s fertile plateau and farm land. Once the Ajil is finished, she offers me a bag of dried Tut and Nochod, and then comes out a piece of Lavashak, followed by Tokhmeh, and finally a hardened Gaz. Meanwhile, she keeps talking, bringing me up-to-date with new births and recent deaths: >>>

Beginning of the end?

The news of a directive to all Iranian judiciary officials to commute the death sentences of juvenile offenders to life imprisonment, and then in a second stage to 15 years was happily but cautiously welcomed by Stop Child Executions and the human rights activists and organizations worldwide. The announcement by Iran’s Attorney General for Judicial Affairs was made on the eve of the UN General Assembly‘s annual debate on the Rights of the Child. The General Assembly was asked by Stop Child Executions and more than 300 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) from 82 countries to fully implement the absolute ban on the juvenile death penalty, as required by customary law, the Convention on the Rights of the child, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights>>>

The Story of Mohammad

Mohammad worked for nearly a decade in the Roman trade route and became very familiar with both the Christian and the Jewish traditions of the Near East. As an intelligent young man, although illiterate, he absorbed most of the biblical stories, which put his life in a much more appealing prospective. He found solace in the hardship stories of Job and Moses, but perhaps was most influenced by Abraham, a Semitic prophet who recanted his own town and traditions, to build a new Utopia and create a new way of life. At the age of 40, after marrying a wealthy business woman, Mohammad found some spare time to contemplate his past and future, his beliefs and doubts.>>>

What Role Religion Can Play

America is a nation of highly religious citizens and Americans seems to have retained their spiritual life “Full 92 percent of Americans say they believe in God, 85 percent in heaven and 82 percent in miracles, according to the latest FOX News poll. Though belief in God has remained at about the same level, belief in the devil has increased slightly over the last few years — from 63 percent in 1997 to 71 percent today” (2004). Such information, however, should not be viewed as an indication of the status of religion in public life. When it comes to public life, this nation pretends that religion does not really matter. We are not supposed to let our religious believes interfere with our public life>>>

«هیچ‌ چیز خطرناک‌تر از زنی نیست که می‌‌نویسد»

اگر به زبان من دقت کرده باشی، می‌بینی چیزی که می‌نویسم، جنسی یا اروتیک نیست. کلمات جنسی که استفاده می‌کنم به‌هیچ‌وجه اروتیک نیست. قصد من از استفاده کس، کون، کیر، کونی، بارونی و کلمه‌هایی از این دست، واژگون کردن معنای منفی و کارکردهای تاریخی این واژه‌ها و آوردن آن‌ها در یک سطح متفاوت است. وقتی این‌ها را می‌نویسم یک اجراگری کلاسیک زنانه نیست. یعنی قصد نوشته‌ من تحریک امیال جنسی مرد دگرجنس‌گرا نیست. بنابراین خطرناک است. این در بالاترین می‌آید. مردم می‌گویند این‌که نوشتی کس، بی‌ادبی است. می‌گویم چرا بی‌ادبی است؟ دارم کلمه را در معنای کاملاً متفاوتی استفاده‌ می‌کنم. دیدن این تفاوت‌ها برای کسی که ذهنش به مردسالاری در زبان، عادت کرده، سخت است. >>>

Eminent Persians

As the 25th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution approached, Abbas Milani realized that very little, if any, attention had been given to the entire prerevolutionary generation. Political upheavals and a tradition of neglecting the history of past regimes have resulted in a cultural memory loss, erasing the contributions of a generation of individuals. Eminent Persians seeks to rectify that loss. Consisting of 150 profiles of the most important innovators in Iran between World War II and the Islamic Revolution, the book includes politicians, entrepreneurs, poets, artists, and thinkers who brought Iran into the modern era with brilliant success and sometimes terrible consequences>>>

Transit Tehran

Things are never what they seem in the art of Sadegh Tirafkan, the new feminist journalism of Asieh Amini, and the romance Shi'a-style by new fiction talent Alireza Mahmoodi- Iranmehr. Other contributors include Newsha Tavakolian, named Best Young Photographer of 2006 by National Geographic, Abbas Kowsari, Javad Montazeri and Omid Salehi, who have continued to document the social transformation of their country in the face of mass closures of newspapers and magazines by the government. Above all, Transit Tehran celebrates the country's long tradition of artistic and cultural resistance that has influenced young Iranians, noticeably in the work of veteran editor and journalist Masoud Behnoud, photojournalist Kaveh Golestan, premier satirist and illustrator Ardeshir Mohassess, and photographer Mohsen Rastani.>>>

راه گلشیفته را باز نگه داریم

من کی باشم که بخواهم برای یک دختر بالغ و عاقل و باهوش مثل گلشیفته‌ی فراهانی تکلیف تعیین کنم که چه کند یا نکند، چه بپوشد یا نپوشد، موهایش را چکار کند یا چکار نکند. ولی می‌خواهم به همه‌مان یادآوری کنم که ذوق‌زدگی‌مان از اینکه یک هنرپیشه‌ی جوان و با استعداد ایرانی در یک فیلم متوسط و در یک نقش درجه سه‌ی کلیشه‌ای اورینتالیستی (بقول گایاتری اسپیواک، زن سبزه و مومشکی‌ای که توسط یک مرد فداکار سفید چشم آبی از دست مردان مو‌مشکی وحشی نجات پیدا می‌کند، یا هر ورسیون دیگری از آن) کمی زیادی است. هالیوود مگر چه گهی است جز اینکه ۹۵ درصد محصولاتش مزخرفاتی است که برای سن عقلی ۱۲ تا ۱۶ سال ساخته می‌شود؟ یا دی کاپریو مگر کدام خری است که قرار است همبازی بودن با او به من یا شما یا گلشیفته افتخاری بدهد؟>>>

I Ran Into Myself in the Street and Asked

I performed a creative piece at the gathering of the Society for Human Rights in Iran, Southern California, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the 1988 Political Prisoner's Massacre in Iran. My piece was intended to promote the participation of Iranian youth, as well as give those unfamiliar with the atrocities in Iran an idea of what we are remembering. The event was held at UCLA and was not affiliated with any political organizations, and simply wished to remember the thousands of innocent people who were tortured and executed in the 1980s by the Islamic Republic of Iran's regime and promote the need for Human Rights organizations around the world to make sure that such travesty never occurs again. >>>

Saturday Night Hooka

When you called you sounded tired
I was too from the night before
And although we both felt an obligation
To the twilight of our twenties to do something...
Something significant, on this Saturday night
We decided against it and instead to smoke a hooka
When we sat down at the cafe you complained of work
That the nurses had done this or that
Of a patient who had been especially sick >>>

An American Friend

I could have traveled all over, I could have read every book and heard every song, I could have made it my object of study, and none of it would have helped me love the America I wanted to love as much as one good American friend. I already wanted to know what everything was, so just to hear Jack say that he was hungry, I would think, 'There it is - America, contained in one American man's hunger.' All of a sudden, the America that was somebody's home came through to me through him. There was a love that an outsider had for America and there was a love that an insider had for it. I knew the first one through and through, because of watching and listening, and making the America that I wanted to love on my own.>>>

از یادشان نمی کاهیم

در این مراسم که در سالن "اوکوهاوس" برگزار شد سخنرانانی از شهرهای مختلف آلمان و سوئد در آن به بازگویی تجربیات خویش پرداختند. در ساعت 6 عصرسالن مملو از جمعیتی بود که به دعوت "فعالین سیاسی چپ شهر فرانکفورت" پاسخ گفته و برای ابراز همبستگی با خانواده ی جانباختگان و اعلام ادعا نامه علیه رژیم جمهوری اسلامی در رابطه با این جنایات، در آنجا حضور به هم رسانده بودند. در محوطه ی ورودی سالن، نمایشگاه عکسی از جنایات رژیم جمهوری اسلامی توجه حاضرین را به ابعاد این فجایع جلب می کرد و در گوشه ای مقداری خاک که روی آن با گل و شمع تزئین شده بود و عکسهایی از خاوران در کنار آن به طور سمبلیک تصویر خاوران را در اذهان زنده می کرد و ستاره ی بزرگی از گل رزسرخ نشان از مقاومت و ادامه ی مبارزه داشت. در داخل سالن نیز توماری از اسامی جانباختگان که با گل و نور زیبایی تزئین شده بود ، حکایت از وسعت این کشتارها داشت. >>>

راه دور و درازی در پیش داریم

راستش وقتی فکرش را می کنم بین ایرانیان، کسانی که حتی توان نوشتن یک صفحه بدون غلط را ندارند با چه تحقیری از نویسندگان پرفروش و محبوب مردم، نویسندگانی مانند محمد حجازی یا ر. اعتمادی و فتانه سید جوادی و فهیمه رحیمی حرف می زنند در حالی که خودشان از فرط تنبلی، حتی عرضه پاکنویس کردن یک کتاب این نویسندگان را ندارند، وقتی می بینم کسی که از همان جمله ی اولش غلط املایی و دستوری دارد و بلد نیست قلم به دست بگیرد تا لاف های غربت خود را به روی کاغذ بیاورد و برای هر کاری با انواع شگردها و حقه ها مدام از این و آن کمک می خواهد با چه حس نفرت و تحقیری نسبت به انواع ادبیات و تولیدات نویسندگان و هنرمندان محبوب دوران خود که حافظه ی جامعه را تشکیل می دهند حرف می زند، از کوته فکری ایرانیان چه در خارج از کشور و چه در داخل کشور شرمنده می شوم >>>