Diaspora
THANKSGIVING
17-Nov-2009 (13 comments)
Every year on Thanksgiving Day I give thanks that Iran’s problems with the West are gravy compared to what the Indian chief Massasoit faced when English settlers landed at Plymouth Rock in1620. As the story goes, the newcomers were starving that first winter in America and the Indians helped them survive. The outcome was pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce, leftover turkey sandwiches, and the United States of America. Also, the Native American way of life was demolished. Massasoit was a great and wise chief. Undoubtedly he saw the threat these foreigners posed. >>>
NUMBERS
17-Nov-2009 (10 comments)
In August of 2008, the Public Affairs of Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA) commissioned Zogby International to conduct a national public opinion survey of Iranian Americans to gather, for the first time, accurate and timely information about the demographics and views of the Iranian American community. The purpose of the 2008 survey was to provide PAAIA with the knowledge required to more effectively represent the Iranian American community, and to further inform and educate the American public at large, as well as U.S. policy makers and opinion makers about Iranian Americans>>>
JOY
11-Nov-2009 (23 comments)
Orhan Pamuk walked into the stage and the excitement of hearing him reading from his new book took over my breathing system, inside my veins, my stomach, my eyes, and I felt enchanted by his tall silhouette and the shine in his silver hair. I couldn’t decide which one of his little gestures were the most charming; his subtle smile as he glanced at the audience, or his obvious difficulty in pronouncing some words? At the end, I was particularly captivated by his inquisitive eyes, as if he could still look at the world with amazement>>>
EXHIBITION
11-Nov-2009 (2 comments)
One day, strolling down the streets of Tehran, I noticed that somethings are near and somethings are far. Big deal, I said to myself. Everybody knows there is a here and a there. But why did this thought feel like a find? Why was I inspired by it as though I had just heard a Hafez verse? For some reason, I felt compelled to give life to the sensation so that it can trot out on its own and share itself with other people? Fortunately, I am a Hafez of sorts myself. I work in a different medium, photographs that hang in a gallery instead of verses written in a book>>>
IRANIANS
09-Nov-2009 (8 comments)
ما ایرانیان عزیز که در اقصی نقاط دنیا سکنی گزیده ایم با آشنایی با جوامع غربی و نوع نگاه آنان به زندگی – توانسته ایم به عرصه های جدیدی دسترسی پیدا کنیم. بخشی از هم وطنان ما در ایران هم توانسته اند به بخشهای سرگرم کننده زندگی غربی مانند فیلم و سریال ها (از طریق دی وی دی دوبله شده و نه با تماشای کانالهای ماهواره ای انگلیسی زبان و دیگر زبانها) و شوهای رقص و غیره آشنا شوند بی آنکه بتوانند در آن کشور ها زندگی کرده و نوع زندگی اجتماعی و سیاسی آن کشور های دموکراتیک را تجربه کرده و حتی با آن نوع نگاه آشنا شوند>>>
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>>>
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