بوی تبعید

پدرم باران بود
همره چرخش دریا چرخید؛
با سخاوت بارید.
و چو در پهنه گسترده خاک
،چهره اش پنهان شد
چشمه ها جوشیدند
شاخه ها گل دادند؛
سبزه ها رقصیدند؛
لاله ها خندیدند.

>>>

The Spider Killings (16)

Roxanne went straight to Peyman’s house after checking in at her hotel in Mashad. Though she had telephoned Ramin from Tehran about her friend’s disappearance, she found that she could not sit by the telephone, idly awaiting news from the Brigadier-General. She must be there in person. There had been another row with Manou but Roxanne was used to that. What she was more upset about was leaving Setareh again. She would tell her daughter about everything once she got back to Tehran. It was high time she knew the details of her mother’s work. It would help her to understand. When she reached Peyman’s home, the door was slightly ajar. She pushed it open and walked in. No sign of Peyman.>>>

The Pomegranate Path (2)

It was exactly 5:03 when Ollie walked in the door. “Ali joon, is that you?” his mother called out from the kitchen. “Baleh, maman! Kohjahee?” Ollie answered. “I’m in the kitchen,” she hollered back. He didn’t need to ask her what she was doing because he could smell the sweet, yet pungent aroma of pomegranate paste in the air, and he knew in an instant that this could mean only one thing – khoreste fesenjan, or simply fesenjan, for short! Ollie never could figure out why his mother and other Iranians spelled fesenjan in English the way they did, f-e-s-e-n-j-a-n; the way they pronounced it when speaking Persian was f-e-s-e-n-j-o-o-n. Fesenjan was Ollie’s favorite Persian food>>>

آزادی و تنوع

معمولاً معنا و تعريف واقعی يک مفهوم می تواند بوسيله معناها و تعاريف «کناری» و دست دوم آن از نظر پنهان مانده و برخی معانی دور از مرکز آن بيشتر در اذهان حضور و بروز داشته باشند. يکی از اين موارد را می توان در مورد «سکولاريسم» بررسی کرد. بی شک اينکه سکولاريسم را به معنای «جدائی دين از قدرت حکومتی» بگيريم برداشت غلطی نيست، اما در اين «تعريف» چيزی از چرائی اصلی و کارکردی اين «جداسازی» بيان نمی شود، و همين امر، موجب آن می گردد که معناها و تعريف های ثانويه، هدف و غرض اصلی از اين جدا سازی را پنهان کنند و راه را بر سوء تعبيرهای گوناگون بگشايند. >>>

Saving the Death

Mary secretly moves her air mattress and blanket to the Red Cross tent, where the corpses are laid out in plastic bags. Since there is no running water to give them a proper Islamic wash, someone will come tomorrow to give them ablution by earth before they are buried in a mass grave. She sets her cot by the opening of the tent and lies with her back to the dead; It is better to breathe the freezing air of the desert winter, than the odour of decaying bodies. Two corpses—a young woman and a young man partly wrapped in white cotton sheets—share a plastic bag as if asleep side by side. Mary feels a pang in her breast and gasps.>>>

How I Became My Older Brother

I am sure there is a problem that can hopefully be rectified, said my sixth grade teacher. While he was patting my back gently as the sign of support, he told me you should be able to take the final exams when we correct the mistake. After nearly fifty nine years of age, I still think about the boyhood memories and cherish them with an open heart. May be the weird and wonderful stories that happened in my life in a very distant past are reawakening my mind to the childhood era. Past memories appear like crystal clear drops of water providing me with interesting subjects to write about. They are like burning clean natural gas creating clear blue flames; they are like acid reflux at the middle of night keeping you awake and thinking>>>

یک سوزن به خودت بزن یک جوال دوز به مردم

خیلی ازایرانیها میگویند که خارجیها (اروپائی و آمریکائها) نژاد پرست هستند و ما مهمان دوستیم. من تا حالا افغانی ندیدم که از مهمان نوازی ایرانیها تعریف کند! از لحنی که درباره اعراب صحبت میکنیم که نمیگم. قبول اونام به ما میگن عجم ولی این هر دوش نژاد پرستی است. تا حال چند نفر ایرانی دهید ه اید که با یک سیاه پو ست یا عرب ازدواج کرده باشه؟ چاپلوسی به خارجیان پولدار را بجای مهمان نوازی جلوه دادن هنریست که نزد ایرانیان است و بس.>>>

Pomegranates

When I was a child
Living in Shiraz
I never had one or two
Pomegranates
Eating pomegranates
Was about having
5 or 6 large fruits
In one sitting >>>

Normal, in a weird way

Today was the first day of Spring, which is also the Persian New Year. I've been trying to adjust to the time difference and get my sleep pattern back in order but otherwise, it hasn't really been difficult acclimating to Iran. Although the Islamic regime is still the ruling governing body, a lot of things have changed since my last trip 5 years ago. I haven't felt weird about being here since I arrived and it's actually a little strange that I haven't felt that way. It feels very normal...as normal as when I would fly to L.A. from NY to visit my family...like being at home even though I didn't grow up here.>>>

The Dangerous Slope

The fact is, is that we don’t like to think that western governments could be either involved or complicit in torture; if anything it seems counterintuitive to suggest that liberal and democratic societies could be responsible for the heinous acts we usually associate with so-called third world dictatorships scattered throughout the Middle East and Africa. The conventional wisdom of late however has come under increasing attack in both the media and academia. Last year for instance, Professor of Political Science at Reed College, Darius Rejali published his prolific and critically acclaimed tome Torture and Democracy, which argued for two central theses, which irrevocably transform the way we view the role and development of torture in modernity and democratic societies in particular>>>

Ahmadinejad Phenomenon

Among the IRI's seniors, president Ahmadinejad is more famous for his fierce rhetoric and odd behaviour. His absurd comments, lack of rationality, revolting habits and odd gestures suggest personal immaturity or even abnormality. In his speeches, he usually sinks himself into a hectic and incoherent stance in which his words go so beyond the limits of decorum that even some of his companions feel embarrassed about him.--even the most inexperienced and insecure politicians rarely engage in spontaneous outbursts like him.>>>