Diaspora
IDENTITY
26-Oct-2009 (2 comments)
I started writing plays and doing theatre long before I had heard the term Diaspora. To me, the most important motivation for doing theatre was being part of the efforts to build a community in Berkeley. A few years after the revolution, many of us in the Iranian community were politically active. We all met on a weekly basis to discuss political issues. Typically, close to 40 of us gathered in one of UC Berkeley’s classrooms to discuss an abstract subject, like how many stages the future Iranian revolution would have or what mode of production was dominant in the Soviet Union>>>
SAINT
22-Oct-2009 (2 comments)
My ex-girlfriend Sandra got married. Last Saturday, she and her groom Joe vowed to look after each other “in credit and in overdraft” even “when you are grumpy”. It was a wedding filled with humour in a room – in Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre – overlooking the River Thames, with a view of St Paul’s Cathedral, on a sunny (if chilly) day. I stood at the back, pondering how our lives had changed. Well, mine in particular – weddings are a time to navel-gaze. Twelve years ago finding a pair of socks that matched was difficult for me. Today things are no different>>>
CHANGE
12-Oct-2009 (5 comments)
Our parents’ generation had a question, or a dream: how to build a utopia. Different groups had different answers to that question; some thought the answer is Communism, or as a friend of mine always corrects me, Marxist-Leninism. Some thought the path to Utopia was going through the gates of civilization. Some thought religion was the only way to redemption. Some mixed up a couple of these and came up with new ideas, like Islamic Marxism! There was a common question that people were trying to answer, and even though they had different answers to it, they had something in common: believing in Utopia>>>
QUESTION
30-Sep-2009 (19 comments)
The Mojahedin (MEK), Saltanat Talab monarchists, the Tudeh Party, etc. — would like to believe that they are the ones who after thirty years of impatiently waiting, now finally have a chance to go back and rule. They have lived in foreign lands and witnessed the Western democracy in action, and have access to foreign capital as well as free media which can be beamed to Iran—so they are the ones, they hope, who are best positioned to win power after the Akhoonda. In my opinion, none of them are fit for this purpose>>>
HUMOR
23-Sep-2009 (one comment)
شوتها در 20 سالگی و حتا 30 سالگی هم، وقتی شلیک میشوند، مانند گلوله سوت میکشند، اما در حوالی 48 بیشتر در هوا پرسه میزنند. و در نزدیکی 60 سالگی تنها با آهی کوتاه از خیر همه چیز میگذرند. به همین دلیل میتوان به راحتی شمار افراد شرور و غیرقانونی را که هر تیم به نسبت بیکلاسیاش از آنها بهره میبرد، شناسائی نمود. مسابقهها از لس آنجلس باید به جای دیگری منتقل شوند چون انگیزهی بازیکنان برای باخت، با هر برد، بیشتر میشود: استراحت در سواحل جنوب کالیفرنیا + چلو کباب.
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DANCE
21-Sep-2009 (5 comments)
A wine color silk fabric hanging on the back curtain with golden calligraphy of Omar Khayam’s poetry, hundreds of vines hanging from the ceiling all over the stage with a discrete lighting on each leaf and grape, candles surrounding the stage… Paradise on earth was the scenery of this Persian ballet called Omar Khayam presented at the majestic Palace of Fine Arts of San Francisco on September 12th 2009. The choreographer and dancer Shahrokh Moshkin Ghalam was the Iranian poet and philosopher Omar Khayam himself traveling through time and space, both physically and by the spirit expressed in his movements>>>
LIFE
18-Sep-2009
I am uninterested in writing a book that introduces Iranians to Western audiences, because I think the need is greater for Western audiences to be introduced to themselves. This is not as offensive a statement as it might seem. Any writer has to be interested in introducing his or her readers to themselves. It is supposed to be an intimate relationship, not one in which a shared intellectual interest is the thing keeping it going. I would rather that Western audiences and I have all kinds of trouble, the kind in which I am saying that I know what is really going on inside them>>>
THE MIND
10-Sep-2009
For many years, I was fascinated by our ability as a human race to shift our thinking. One of the main elements that define us from other species is this ability to “think,” and to decide and redirect our minds to what we always knew we could do! Look at our collective recorded human history, and you will find all those wonderful, brilliant and fascinating human beings who directed their thinking to an area or topic, producing unprecedented results, incredible inventions and so many amazing creations that we can barely keep count. Now, you and I are taking advantage of the outcome of those brilliant thinkers!>>>
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