Wisteria

Rare flowers blossom in cold,
Like the Wisteria at my front gate
that blooms just before Spring declares its arrival
and decrees her season.
Wisteria welcomes those who enter,
with mesmerizing scent
of fragrance that takes you back to alleys in "Shemron",
or, the delightful drive on a winding road
overlooking the olive orchards of the Northern hills of "Gilan". >>>

رجز خوانی

تمام راه را میگریستم
و به چشمانم آب قرض میدادم
ستاره ها یک نفس نور می خواستند
کتاب که می خواﻨﺪﻡ
کلمات رجز خوانی میکردند >>>

Hands Off Iran!

The view from our fourth floor living room windows looking out at the mountain range surrounding Shiraz is a joy to see, as the sun rises and sets over the mountains. Ellie has become somewhat of a weather-predictor, as when the low, dark clouds with wind roll in over the range, she excitedly points out that "baran miad" (rain is coming!). Our family jokes that we have come from the U.S. and brought lots of rain to Shiraz, which is so welcomed, after a couple of years of drought. Even the tiny little plants and shrubs on the mountain are turning into bright green decorations! Ellie will try to attach one picture, but because dial up is incredibly slow, we cannot send more at a time. We spent a bit of extra money on purchasing a satellite dish for atop our apartment building>>>

Justice not Shame

The first time I got to know a Baha’i was in Sa’di High School in Isfahan, when I was in the seventh grade. His name was Golestan Mossafaei, and he was in the eleventh grade. I met him at our school’s Literature Club. The club was managed by Mohammad Hoquqi, our teacher and resident poet. This club did not last long; it shut down under the pressure imposed by prejudiced school officials. Golestan always had a sweet smile, and sometimes he composed poems. A few times I went to his house, which was located close to a stream in Darvazeh Hasanabad. It was a modest house with one room. Even that room was barely furnished. Golestan explained how their house had been set on fire a few times, by an anti-Baha’i group called Hojjatiyeh>>>

A bird in love

Getting away from the madness of every day’s life I retreat to my small sailing boat moored in MDR almost every weekends, it’s quite refreshing to sleep in the boat with latch open above your head, gazing at the star at night or watching the birds fly over during the day while the bed rocks gently, it’s a lullaby by itself, it reminds me of my childhood memories of sleeping on poshtebaam (rooftop) during the summer time. One day while reading my favorite book I saw a couple of tiny birds arrived and sat on the boat next to mine, I didn’t think of it much until I noticed one is chirping his heart out while the other is carrying small sticks to making a nest under the main sail cover, wow, I was amazingly surprised to have couple lovers in my neighborhood>>>

حساب قرض الحسنه

دفترچه قرض الحسنه اسم دفترچه ای است که فعلا توش لیست بدهی هایم را نوشته ام. اینکه به چه کسی و چه قدر بدهی دارم. عمده بدهی هایم معطوف به شرکت های بزرگ سوپر مارکت ها و فروشگاههای معتبر است. می پرسید چه طوری؟ آهان. الان بهتان می گویم. این شرکت ها و سوپر مارکت ها که مثل کاسبهای ایران حساب دفتری و مرام و معرفت ندارند که وقتی پول نداری ازشان نسیه بگیری و بعدا بهشان پس بدهی برای همین این حقیر در اقدامی خودجوش و انتحاری اقدام به انجام عمل خداپسندانه نسیه به شیوه حرفه ای گرفته ام تا در اسرع وقت، زمانی که از زیر دیون وبدهی های کردیت و بانک خلاص شدم، حساب آنها را صاف کنم.>>>

شرف انسان

هانا آرنت متفکر و فیلسوف یهودی تبار در سال ١٩٠٦ در شهر هانوفر آلمان به دنیا آمد. پدرش را در هفت سالگی از دست داد. مادرش به سوسیال دموکراسى گرایش داشت و مذهبی نبود. با به قدرت رسیدن حزب ناسیونال- سوسیالیست آلمان و تشدید آزار یهودیان در آلمان، در سال ١٩٣٣ به فرانسه گریخت و در آنجا به همکاری با سازمان‌های یهودی برای مهاجرت کودکان یهودی پناهنده به فلسطین مشغول شد. درسال ١٩٤١ در حالیکه بخشی از کشور فرانسه تحت اشغال قوای آلمان بود، به آمریکا مهاجرت کرد. شرایط تاریخی و دوران سیاه نظام توتالیتر که شاخص نیمۀ اوٌل قرن بیستم بود، هانا آرنت را که علاقه‌ای به سیاست نداشت، به وادى اندیشه و نظریه پردازی سیاسی کشاند. او اعتقاد داشت که تنها با تحلیل دقیق و درک کامل فجایع نازیسم و کمونیسم می‌توان با طبیعت این نظام‌ها آشنا شد و علل رشدشان را کشف نمود.>>>

A permenant mistress

If anguish were to choose
A permanent mistress,
Forgiveness must own the night,
Vengeance has no chance.
If truth’s pill must be swallowed
So sparrows can take that flight,
Bitter taste is the wine,
Not out of a candy jar >>>

The faithers and thinkers

The new Prophet stands lightly
On top of Her chosen books
Stacked up as high as the moon.
They are the books of sciences,
The books of true poems, stories and arts
And different holy books.
Of different nations, times and. Lands.
The people are waiting for the Prophet to speak >>>

Common humanity

In the fall of 2004, at a time when the American and European governments were threatening Iran with retribution over the nuclear program, the municipality of Tabriz unveiled a new statue of Howard Baskerville. It may seem unusual that in a country ruled by Shiite clerics, an American Christian missionary who came to Muslim lands would be honoured by of all things, a statue, which is a form of bodily representation that Islam traditionally considered idolatrous. Yet, the fact that Baskerville was an American, or a Christian, or a missionary, is not as important as the fact that he was a courageous and selfless individual who battled for the betterment of his fellow human beings>>>

The Lady of Qalat

Thirty miles or so south of Shiraz, lies the little village of Qalat, situated among rich orchards of pomegranates and figs. It is a narrow, cramped Sassanian village, constructed on the side of a steep mountain streaked with horizontal lines, as if mauled by a gigantic lion. It was a place, I had been told, where nothing remarkable had ever taken place, where poetry has been written and roses had fallen from their stems in silence, a place whose inhabitants had disguised their missions of love and hate behind the privacy of high walls and closed lips for centuries. There was really nothing to interest anyone there>>>

شعارها و وعده‌ها

بازار تبلیغات انتخاباتی در ایران روز به روز گرم‌تر می‌شود و نامزدهای ریاست جمهوری در رقابت با یكدیگر به صف‌آرایی پرداخته‌اند. در این تبلیغات، هر یك از نامزدها تلاش دارند به مردم وعده تازه‌ای ‌بدهند تا شاید در طیف عظیم مردم بی‌تفاوت هیجانی بیآفرینند و در روز رأی‌گیری تعداد هرچه بیشتری از آنان را به هواداری از خود به پای صندوق‌های رأی‌ بكشانند. این مسابقه در «وعده ‌دادن»‌ به خصوص در بین دو نامزد اصلی جناح اصلاح‌طلب یعنی آقایان كروبی و موسوی شدید تر است. اظهارات و وعده‌های این دو نامزد مسایل متعددی از توقف گشت‌های ارشاد تا تغییر در قانون اساسی را در بر گرفته است. برخی از این اظهارات در قاموس جمهوری ‌اسلامی تابو شكنی تلقی‌ می‌شود. ولی چه انگیزه‌ای در پشت این وعده‌ها خوابیده است؟ آیا نامزدها خود به آن‌چه می‌گویند اعتقاد دارند و واقعا به دنبال اجرای این وعده‌ها هستند؟>>>