Bringing cocky back

Iranian youth knowing that the song will be passed around electronically or at parties and clubs, demand the notoriety that comes with a hit, even if they mostly use their first names. The only problem is that using only your first name in Iran these days makes that "Ali" guy an amazingly talented person, because inevitably there is an "Ali" on almost all the songs! Which I think is an adorable miscalculation. Adding your last name is still apparently too risky a choice. Sure, the Techno is often obvious variations lifted from the latest "Ibiza '08" or the harshest versions coming out of southern and eastern Europe these days. But even this makes sense. That this sound in spite of the obvious government, dead set against it, has still made it all the way to Tehran, even through simple shortwave radio>>>

Educating the Waiter

It is a cool summer evening of a young woman with short blue hair in Vancouver. Tattoos on her arm and piercing on her nose and lip, she walks through the doors of a French bistro and takes a table in the front window. The lone waiter throws her an unenthusiastic sidelong glance from his station behind the counter, contemplating the unlikliness of her producing any worthwhile tip, instead concentrating on the elegantly-dressed and potentially far more lucrative middle-aged couple who are whispering tête-à-tête in a far corner of the restaurant>>>

مرغ مهاجر

مرغکی اِسپید چون برف
برگزیده آشیانه در کنارم،
زیر شیروانی اتاقم.
مرغک پرّان یکتا،
برگذشته از ورای کوه و دشت
در هجرت مرغان شیدا،
از شمال سرد غمناک
سوی گرمای دلارای جنوب.
>>>

پنجره ای بسوی بهار

برای برخی از ما ایرانیان مقیم درغربت که از دوستان و فامیل دور هستیم، آن نوروزهای پرهیجان و شادی آور سالهای دور، دیگر تبدیل به رد و بدل چند تلفن تبریک و شش هفت تا تعارف معمولی و خوش بشهای زورکی شده اند. دو روز اول سال نو کم و بیش و بیهوده صرف نشستن و گرفتن شماره تلفنهای ایران میشود. فیزیک ذرات یکطرف و گرفتن چهل و هشت شماره تلفن پشت سرهم یکطرف. این براستی باد در هاون کوبیدن است و اگر گهگاهی هم یک شماره جواب دهد، شخص آنطرف خط میگوید "اشتباه گرفتی جونم!" در یکی از همین شماره گیری های پارسال خانمی خوش صدا گوشی را در تهران برداشت و همان اول کار گفت "جونم"! آنور دنیا در یک کشور اثنی عشری خانمی بیمقدمه میگوید جانم، خوب شما بودید چه میکردید؟ قند در دل آب کردیم که دیگر پنجاه درصد آن درست شد و فقط مانده که کارتهای دعوت چاپ بشوند>>>

Supreme President Khamenei

The decision of former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami not to seek the presidency again has revealed how muddled Iranian presidential politics now is. In trying to sort out this muddle, the most important thing to keep in mind is not so much who will be elected, but what that choice will reveal about the intentions of the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Unfortunately, the most likely outcome will be continuing transformation of the Islamic Republic from a civil government into a garrison state in which the military plays a major role in determining political and economic matters>>>

Bahar Aborted

Islamists tried to cancel the 1979 Nowruz celebrations, in order to maintain their unending cycle of mourning and fighting. The Hezbollah was determined to take over the entire government apparatus, expel the liberal technocrats from the ministries, crush the Kurdistan uprising, and reinvigorate the populace around their banner. However, their mindless repressive tactics (Chomaghdari) had alienated most political activists; and their lack-lustre fundamentalist slogans could not attract the vibrant young population. Since his arrival, ayatollah Khomeini had not helped their cause either, as his Qom lectures were normally tedious and erratic>>>

Child of mine

Aah, child of mine
The music lover
The poetry worshipper
Clever and bright
Handsome and fair
Passionate and kind
I had heard about Gitmo,
I had  heard about Abu Ghraib,
But I knew about Evin,
I knew >>>

بهاریه

۱- رفتیم عید دیدنی خانه یکی از اقوام .تلویزیون روشن است و برنامه نوروزی پخش میکند. هایده پیش درآمد سه گاه میخواند: نوروزززز آمددد . هرم دلپذیر بخاری نفتی ارج به صورتم میزند. یک ظرف پر شکلات کام جلویم است٬از این شکلاتهای چهارگوش با عکس فنجان و نعلبکی و کاغذ طلایی. یواشکی مشتم را پر شکلات میکنم و در جیبم میریزم! صاحبخانه میبیند و لبخندی میزند. خجالت میکشم. موقع بیرون آمدن دوتا ده تومانی عیدی میگیرم از آنهایی که عکس پدر وپسر رویشان است که دارند به دور دستها نگاه میکنند. >>>

Sounds of Spring

The sounds of spring have no reason
To stop
Nature shows off her clout
Unable to anticipate
Her fate
She continues
Her nurturing ways >>>

صد بهتر از دیروز ما

سردی رود، سبزی رسد
همگام با نوروز ما

از جشن عید و فصل نو
خرم شود امروز ما

لبخند و شادی بر ملا
آزار و زاری بر فنا >>>

The Quest for Authenticity

Today inside Iran an altogether more perplexing variant of the tradition of estebdad continues. Iranian dissidents have gone so far as to declare that a form of sultanism, albeit in theocratic garb, continues to stymie Iranians' hopes for a democratic future. Unlike the Shah's dictatorship in which absolute power was amassed by a single individual and then later consolidated with the formation of a one-party state in 1975, however, the situation in Iran today is more intricate and elusive. While undeniably the lion's share of power rests with the Rahbar (Supreme Leader) and the various governmental, military, and parastatal organs under his command, multiple sources of power work against the kind of sultanism typical of the Shah's regime>>>

Eastern Democracy vs Western Democracy?

One of the things that the Left does so well is re-defining terms. By re-defining, the Left has succeeded to take away the essence and spirit of many concepts important in achieving a better world. The most important terms that Left has re-defined are Human Rights, Liberalism and Democracy. It is to be said that the Left does that in hope to devalue the achievements made through enormous sacrifices in Western countries, most specifically U.S, England and France, in Human Rights and Democracy as means to discredit and demonize those countries. This trend started in the Soviet Union, Godfather of Leftism, and later on spread out throughout the world by Leftist thinkers and propaganda machines>>>

Mr. Eskandari

The man who came with Agha Karim. He was fooling around with some pipes in the back of the washing machine. I soon realized he was a plumber who is working on the leaking pipe. In a split second I wanted him. I don't know why but I could feel some mysterious juices flowing throughout my body. I went to my bedroom and tried to digest what I had witnessed. He was a man around forty, with thick beard and moustache and very hairy body. I could see that because in the heat of the bathroom he had taken off his shirt and was working on the pipes in a sleeveless undershirt. I walked up and down the room to dispel any sexy thought but after a few minutes I got out of the room and passed the bathroom again to see him there. He was quite well-built and had muscular arms and biceps >>>