How much of the world can I see?

How much of the world can I see?
Through my window
How much of the sky?
How much of the horizon?
And how many trees  
And how many clouds floating in my sky
And how many people love each other
And how many separate
And how many reconciliate 

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The comfortable generation

My generation doesn’t understand social justice. Not in the same unified or practical way your generation did. We are scattered around the world and our daily acts of organized or individual charity doesn’t go any where. And for the most part, we don’t care, I’m being honest. It doesn’t bother us that giving some old clothes to Salvation Army doesn’t do much for anyone. We don’t mind what is going on in Iran (talk in mehmoonis, or blogs on Iranian.com don’t count). We do nothing practical. We don’t organize. We’re too busy with ourselves>>>

Boom & bust

The new economic stimuli of President Bush is not likely to produce the promised effects in terms of preventing the further slowing down of economic growth and negative structural adjustment in the U.S. economy. Though reduced growth is a given, we may even see negative growth in the next two years in the U.S. economy and greater falls in the long term value of the dollar. The reasons for this inefficacy are>>>

Model women

The Islamic Republic's first directive was to order women to wear the veil. It happened on 8 March 1979, one month after it came to power. This started a whole new women's movement, a movement that has increasingly become more vibrant, dynamic, expressive and resilient. The women's rights movement in Iran is very large and widespread. I believe it is at the moment the most active and strongest women's movement in the world. It has deep roots in the society and not only among women but men as well. I am certain that this movement will have a great impact on the situation of women in the Middle East. Its fight against political Islam will cross the borders and influence women's struggle in countries under the rule of Islam>>>

انتخابات آمريکا و انتخاب های ما

در روزگار ما اگرچه ممکن است اکثريت بالائی از مردم آمريکا حاضر نباشند به زنی يا سياه پوستی يا اهل مذهبی اقليتی رأی داده و او را به رياست جمهوری انتخاب کنند اما، در عين حال، هيج کس نمی تواند آن زن و آن سياه پوست و آن مرد مذهبی را از اعلام نامزدی و تبليغ برای جمع آوری آراء بسود خود باز دارد. بی شک برای اينکه آن «اکثريت مردم» به روزگاری برسند که جنسيت و رنگ پوست و مذهب رئيس جمهورشان تأثيری در تصميمشان نداشته باشد وقت لازم است، اما اگر قانون همچون موتور محرکهء راهپيمائی بسوی «ناکجا آباد بی تبعيض» عمل نکند و جامعه را در اين شاهراه به پيش نراند زمان رسيدن جامعه به نخستين سرمنزل های راه نيز بسيار ديرتر اتفاق می افتد؛ اگر اصلاً چنين امری ممکن شود >>>

Here to stay

The problem at the heart of the current controversy over the Iranian nuclear issue is not one of knowledge but of regulation. Believe it or not, at exactly 08:15 local time, August 6, 1945, “Little Boy” opened Pandora’s box of nuclear knowledge and all hell broke loose over Hiroshima. The world woke up to a new technology; steam and internal combustion were old; “fission” and “fusion” were the new buzzwords. The mysterious “unknown” atom had become “known” and engineers everywhere started looking at its potential utility and destructive ability. Now, some 60 years later, some people think that they can turn back the clock to that pre-Hiroshima era of mystery. It cannot be done.>>>

Modern maturity

We should be grateful to the publishers of this journal for providing this public forum so that fellow Iranians and others can express their opinions and post their comments. We should certainly be able to do that with outmost respect for each other and no verbal harassment. Those who responded to my article with their thoughtfully crafted comments, I appreciate your sincerity. Those who were agitated by my arguments and made hostile remarks merely revealed a lack of analytical capacity to engage the topic. I intentionally didn’t respond to individuals because I didn’t want to legitimize their ad hominem attacks>>>

Freedom to explore

"I ended up discovering how many things we all share - especially in music. I first thought about doing these beautiful songs in their original languages but I soon realized that I can express myself more openly and effectively in my native language, Farsi. So I married the work of some Persian master poets such as Rumi and Shamloo to the melodies. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to use musicians from Iran as well as non-Iranian musicians and I am so thrilled with the combination of players on this album from folk traditions, contemporary world music and from the jazz scene">>>

یک اسرائیلی ویک ایرانی

در نوشته (من دلم فرار میخواهد)، درد دلهای مشکلات و مسائل خاورمیانه را با یاد راشل زرگریان، دوست یهودی دوران کودکی ام در میان گذاشتم. 35 سال پیش قبل از اینکه دست سرنوشت مارا ازهم جدا کند، ما یار ودوست و همکلاسی دوران کودکی هم بودیم. من فقط این را میدانستم که اواز ایران رفته واحتمالا در اسرائیل زندگی میکند. اما او بطور اتفاقی نوشته مرا در سایتی اینترنتی میخواند و بلافاصله در جستجوی من از اسرائیل با من تماس میگیرد و باهیجان و اشتیاق غیر قابل وصفی برای دیداری با من درلندن، بار سفر میبندد.>>>

Set that heart straight

Set that heart straight
So all else aligns,
Stars line up,
Cloud breaks down,
Desert gives up,
welcoming carnation under its sky.
Set that heart straight,
So reckless child calms down >>>

Good old days

I don’t remember problems when I lived in Iran during the Shah. I remember that we were not wealthy but had everything that we wanted. I guess the reason was that Shah took care of the government employees. My father was a teacher. We lived in a one bedroom apartment, four of us. The school was about 10 minutes from our apartment. At the time I thought that we are living in a backward nation. I thought if we had such happy life in Iran, how life would be in the west, especially in the United States. I envied the kids that were born in the west. To me, going to the west was an impossible dream>>>