Dah-e Shast

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OOBAAMAA

Bay Area Iranian American Democrats (BAIAD) held a special public event featuring Steve Westly, the former candidate for California governor and co-chair of Obama’s campaign as the keynote speaker. The eloquent MC, Lily Sarafan, started the event by welcoming everyone and introducing the agenda for the evening which included a roster of speakers and grassroots community organizers. The first speaker was Ira Ruskin, the California assemblyman from the 21st district who has led key efforts on environmental issues. Ira commended the Iranian American community for taking the lead in becoming one of the fastest politically active ethnic groups in America; according to him it took other immigrant minorities many generations to realize the value of activism and civic participation>>>

The End of the War on Terrorism

We are SO happy to announce that the Cold War is not over after all! The bad guys are still the Russians! Whew! It was a rough patch there, the breakup of the USSR, then the nice-guy premiers they had, old pal Gorbie, Yeltsin drunk but friendly, the oligarchs, it looked like the Russkies were just homeys with a heavy accent. What were we gonna do? Do you remember back twelve years, twenty, what was it? The fall of the Berlin Wall! Détente! Friendship! Mir! Drüg! Hoo boy, what was going to happen to all those unneeded defense dollars? Remember? Nobody knew, the talking heads, Ted Kennedy, the Repubs. For a while there Ronnie Reagan had a Star Wars thing going but then he went to Reykjavik and almost called off the arms race! That’s how close it was.>>>

Sandwiched in Tradition

“Two slices of limp bread with a bland filling, doth not a sandwich make”. Aristotle? Not quite. I hold my hand up to this statement. In a world where time is if the essence and gourmet meals are fast becoming ‘De Rigueur’…I ask you, is the humble sandwich still able to cut the mustard in the cut-throat world of delis and ready-to-eat Gastrodomes? My friends, alas I fear for its extinction. Long gone are the days of a simple sandwich with two slices of normal white bread, a humble yet fresh filling, simply sliced in half and eaten quietly in the tranquil confines of our own homes. These days a sandwich isn’t a sandwich anymore! >>>

Caught in troubles by a few

Translated from the Hebrew by Miriam Shlesinger, this bestselling semi-autobiographical novel, Let it be Morning* by famed 30-year old Israeli-Arab journalist Sayed Kashua, exhibits a haunting and highly-disturbing narrative, comprising a series of political events that revolve around one reporter's brooding introspection of modern day Israel. Rude awakenings promise to seal the character's changed identity permanently and without consent. It is the unnamed character's shock at seeing his township being rapidly stripped away of its familiar Arabic history and territorial links with Israel, that the reader must reluctantly come to terms with>>>

پنبه های فشرده در زمان

دستم را از پنجره ی قطار بیرون می آورم پنبه های زمان را به دست می گیرم فشارش می دهم . چکه های آب به آرامی بیرون می ریزد. کف دستم را باز می کنم در لابه لای شیارهای دستم آب جمع می شود. به داخل کوپه ام می روم _ به آرامی می نوشم . طعمش زبانم را بی حس می کند و روحم را نوازش! دفتر کاغدی ام را باز می کنم. مداد قهوه ای رنگ را از جیب کتم بیرون می آورم دست چپم را سایه بان چشمانم می کنم تا آفتاب سفید کاغذ را نورانی نکند _ چون می خواهم از تو بنویسم. چون می خواهم از نوشته ام نور تو بتابد نه نور خورشید!>>>

Elect is not from Electronic

I read the constitution
from end to end,
not as a lawyer
or looking to find
justification
for my own belief,
but for its simplicity
of passionate words
that strike a chord >>>

Persian Gulf's "occupied territory"

Last month, Tehran announced it was building maritime offices on the Persian Gulf island of Abu Musa, reigniting the long-standing territorial dispute between Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Since 1970, the disagreement over the island and the neighboring Greater and Lesser Tunbs has been mired in legal uncertainty and historical claims and counterclaims, hindering diplomatic relations between Iran and the Gulf Arab states. The recent diplomatic intensity surrounding the issue, however, including the UAE's August 21 formal protest to UN secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon, is a significant break from the past, and may be a forerunner to a future escalation>>>

Albie's Last Confessions

The doctors knew that he had liver cancer. They had done all types of tests and were certain that sixty percent of his liver was covered with cancer cells and he had only days to live. I was very sad and upset that after so many years of knowing and loving him, now I was about to lose him. He and I were very close. I knew everything about him and he knew me well too. One day he and I sat and had a long conversation. I did not know at the time that this was going to be the last time we talk.
- How are you feeling today? >>>

Men 101

Ghouls and goblins
Rostam and dragons
Neo and the sorcerer
Seemorgh and Zahaak
All live in the expanse that is my imagination.
Centerfolds and pole dancers
Sexy vixens and damsels in distress
My mother and my sisters
My first girlfriend and my first lay... >>>

Paper spoon

This night holds me so tightly in its palm,
as if to never love another, but outside
what remains is the inheritance
and an unfriendly notice.
I fumble through the memories, recalling
promises of life, never loving another.
Softly, I wait until the lush beginning
comes to me. I am pale yet ripe, >>>

Diaries & Jallad

I am very upset that I can't find my new notebook and the 100 rupee inside it. I hope no one has stolen it from me. It has got to be somewhere in my room. I was able to finally get through to my mother. Baba is in Tehran trying to get them forgive me so that I could come back. Knowing them, I doubt he will succeed. I am not even sure I want him to succeed. How could I go back to Mohsen? Doesn't Maman know we are absolutely finished with each other? Today I like to sort things out, put everything into proper perspective. That means I have to write about Ahmad. If I had the will I would not bother with it. If.>>>