Kosher meets Halal

Shiva Rose Gharibafshar, daughter of Iran’s beloved talk show host, Parviz Gharibafshar with first wife Rose, is a fascinating Iranian American actress once married to Dylan McDermott. Shiva has prevailed as a devoted Mom, a fashion magnate, a die hard political activist (who’s even been arrested twice for anti war protests --once with her baby!) maintains a regular blog on the Huffington Post, and managed to squeeze out a movie recently in only 23 days! The movie, David and Layla, which opened in New York LAST WEEK (Feb. 15th) has already won 6 awards at various film festivals>>>

One and the same

Humanity is one race. As Sa'adi said in his famous poem, people are parts of one body. When one body part is in pain, the other body parts are in agony. The hardworking people in every grouping in our world have the same human needs, aspirations and hopes as others. The Arab people have the same pains and sufferings and hardships as the Iranians, the Jewish people, the Germans, the Turks, the Slavs or the Latins. They all want food, shelter, clothing, peace and prosperity for themselves, their families, their neighbors and their peers>>>

29 Years of Cantankerism

You'd think that Iranians who thrive on disagreeing, arguing, and disbelieving anyone trying to make the slightest point (as you will no doubt see in the comments after this piece), would have perfected some sort of logical process to distill it by now. Given the conditions these past 29 years, which have been riper than a honeydew (kharbozeh?) melon in the late-summer Esfahan sun, you'd think that by now, some sort of conclusive voice of the opposition, would have been heard, over all the praying and braying. But even after 29 years it's still eerily silent>>>

Friendship

I look through the misty windows of distance
and I know
you will talk of your loneliness to no one but me
I listen
to the solid walls of time and place falling to pieces
in the air of joint feelings and thoughts >>>

Islamic Democracy, indeed

This is not a regime for all Iranians. It doesn't even pretend to be one. But we need to acknowledge its merits too. It is a ystem that works so well. Don't be surprised to find the same old regime in power for decades to come! I won't be surprised. Especially knowing the FACT how irrational, emotional, disunited and weak the opposition is. We all know that the economy is doing poorly, because it is quite simple, the Islamists seem not to be good economists! They also know that having a good economy implies completely opening the doors to American and other democratic powers' investments inside Iran and this might create more sympathy among Iranians for the West, and its DEMOCRATIC values. Human rights record is horrible>>>

An(other) Inconvenient Truth

It's time we learnt the truth about all the issues that surround the food we consume. How much do we really know about origins, farming, environmental implications and all the other issues that we cause an impact on, every single time we take a trip to a supermarket. So how well informed are we? Not as much as you would think! Ultimately we only know what the government are pressured into allowing us to know and the odd ‘Expose’ by the media. So how are we to make informed and socially conscious decisions? Well, in essence, we can’t. We are not equipped to make well-informed decisions when it comes to the food we consume as we just don’t have enough knowledge and education on the key issues affecting the global food, farming and agriculture industry>>>

قدرت و شوق

چه ارتباطی میان حقوق زنان و ارگاسم وجود دارد؟ از نظر فیلمساز و فمینیست های کارکشته و موفقی مثل وندی اسلیک و امیکو امری، همه جور ارتباطی! داستان از کتاب "تکنولوژی ارگاسم" نوشته دکترریچل مینز شروع شد . این کتاب به تاریخ اختراع وایبریتورهای الکترو مغناطیسی می پردازد که از دهه 1880 برای درمان هیستری زنان به کار گرفته می شدند. این فیلم مستند Power and Passion در واقع داستان این کتاب را پی می گیرد که تاریخ این اختراع ساده و ارتباط آن با یکی از رفتارهای پیچیده انسان یعنی ارگاسم را بررسی می کند. دکتر مینز مسیر گاه شهوت انگیز و گاه خنده دار زنان "هیستریک" و تلاششان برای آرامش جنسی را از روزهای ریاکاری ویکتوریایی تا امروز نشان می دهد>>>

Stand up and be counted

Along with millions of Americans of Middle Eastern ancestry, the Iranian-Americans feel particularly singled out with the enduring and agonizing deterioration of their civil and constitutional rights, rights violations that have only been exacerbated after September 11 when the U.S. was despicably attacked by a group of fanatical terrorists from abroad. I tend to mainly focus herein on the particular plight of the nearly one million law abiding Americans of Iranian/Persian heritage, who make an annual contribution to the American economy approaching hundreds of billions of dollars and with educational achievements that are at least twice the national average>>>

Walking Along The Caspian

Meandering Through the Woods
Along The "River" ..
From The Mountains "On" High ..
Valleys Catapulting The Cry Of Wild ..
As The Leopard Growls Through The Forest ..
Assuming The safety of Cover ..
Lions Finding Prey Unabashed ..
The jealousy Of The Weak But "Obvious" ..

>>>

Reng

Video>>>

Reviving the Iranian revolt

Twenty nine winters later, the Islamic Republic of Iran is more independent, stable, confident and technologically advanced than ever, while it has remained as the most serious and continuous challenge to the U.S. hegemony in the world. But what can explain the survival of the outcome of such revolt? What will the future look like for Iran, whose most of its young population now have no first-hand experience of that revolt? The rise of the first non-cleric president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, can point to some answers.>>>

The High School Theory

We all know that we physiologically stop growing around the age of eighteen. This is a scientific fact but based on my observation, many of us also stop maturing psychologically around the same time. It seems regardless of all the experiences we have gained after the age of eighteen and we should have come across them as a valuable lesson, we still mange to end up saying, “I should’ve learned that the first time around”. To make you feel good I should say you are not in it alone. There are many of us doing the same thing everyday. Another reason that shouldn’t have felt bad about it is that you can’t even start reading the history without seeing that it repeats itself over and over>>>