TRUST

اعتماد پشت و رو ندارد

چرا با مادرم اینکار را کرد؟ چرا با من—دختر محبوبش اینکار را کرد؟ چرا ما را کشت؟

by nilofar-shidmehr
17-Jul-2011 (4 comments)
عکسی نشانم داد. عکس سیاه و سفید دخترکی چشم و مو سیاه که تولدش بود. پشت سر او پدرم ایستاده بود با یک زن. از این صحنه هیچ چیز یادم نمی آید جز حرف پدر که گفت این عکس توست و این زن هم مادر واقعی ات. هیچ یادم نمی آید چند ساله بودم ولی آنقدر عقل داشتم که بببینم آن دختر توی عکس من نیستم>>>

BOOK

Assassins of the Turquoise Palace

Excerpt from upcoming book

by Roya Hakakian
15-Jul-2011 (one comment)
After two rounds—twenty-six bullets—the barrage ceased. The air was thick with the smell of gunpowder. Of the eight guests, everyone had stooped or fallen, except one. The eldest guest was still in his chair, head slumped, blood tinting his white shirt, blending with the busy pattern of his tie. Another victim was doubled over, breathing noisily, gasping for air. His face was smashed into a mug of beer. The golden liquid was slowly darkening>>>

MUSICIAN

Pop with Style

Gifted Farzin Farhadi teams up with talented Shahrzad Sepanlou

by Ari Siletz
15-Jul-2011 (2 comments)
With its level of sophistication, Shahrzad Sepanlou’s songs can no longer be classified as pop. In fact they don’t quite sound pop because the approach places a heavier burden on the composer than ordinary pop. There will be many places where formula fails, and the composer must have the skill to invent reassuringly so that the easy listener is not too strained by the novelty. I spoke briefly with Sepanlou’s composer and arranger, Farzin Farhadi about the challenges of Sepanlou’s style>>>

FRIEND

Paradise Maker

Maryam Afshar created a paradise for abused creatures

by Houchang Esfandiar Chehabi
15-Jul-2011 (5 comments)
The ancient Persians believed that one could catch a glimpse of paradise in the eyes of a dog. Their contemporary descendents by and large no longer hold this view, far from it. Man’s best friend does not have it easy in Iran: dogs are feared, beaten, merely chased away when they are lucky, and occasionally poisoned. One person who did not share this cynophobia was Maryam Afshar, who died exactly a year ago and whom I had the privilege of calling a friend>>>

AMERICA

My Father's Play

He had written it without hope of ever becoming an American

by siamak vossoughi
08-Jul-2011
My father wrote a play. Before then, I hadn't known that it was possible to be sad about Americans. I hadn't known that it was all right to be sad about Americans, rather. I certainly hadn't known that it was beautiful, although I was beginning to see that sadness and beauty were closely related. In the play, there are men and women divorcing and re-marrying, with a regularity that to us was American>>>

VOTE

If I shall rise...

“... and if you would rise, everyone will.”

by Ghahremani
06-Jul-2011 (3 comments)
Hamid Mosaddegh’s poem points to the fact that change may begin with one, but it will only lasts when a group joins hands. And I am grateful for a life-changing experience that came about through the help of a community. What began as a gift to my best friend, and later became a legacy to my three first generation children, is now the quest of a people. I am referring to my debut novel, Sky of Red Poppies, and to its recent nomination for the next "One Book, One San Diego">>>

INTERVIEW

A bit everywhere

Conversation with emerging Iranian/Kurdish/French artist

by Scott Bohlinger
29-Jun-2011
"I like very much stories that underline the ability or inability of our human nature to compose with the unexpected; revolutions, any form of violence, a break up, a beautiful encounter, torture sessions, death of a loved one, an illness diagnostic, etc. Any events that lead us to walk aside from the trails that we were planning to take because usually 'we just go with the flow'. What I find fascinating is the way we manage to be and remain in harmony with our moral values—or not">>>

PARAZIT

اگر آزاد باشیم

گفتگوی پارازیتی با کامبیز حسینی و سامان اربابی

by Ari Siletz
21-Jun-2011 (8 comments)
اینطور نبود که ‌ مثلا یک گروهی از دولت آمریکا نشستند در زیر زمین کنگرۀ آمریکا و تصمیم گرفتند که این دلقک را با آن دلقک قاطی کنند و پارازیت را تولید کنند. نه، اینطور نبود. طرحِ ایده مال ماست ، هیچ ربطی‌ به دولت آمریکا نداره، تنها کاری که دولت آمریکا میکنه اینه که این سکو را فراهم کرده و دارد به ما حقوق میدهد، امکانات میدهد که ما بتوانیم برنامه ای را که دوست داریم اجرا کنیم. که ما البته سپاسگزاریم که این فرصت به ما داده شده>>>

PROTEST

Paris Flashmob

Metro station performance to draw attention to human rights abuses

by Ghormeh Sabzi
14-Jun-2011 (49 comments)
...>>>

IMPACT

Unintended Consequences

As sanctions ratchet up, Iranian Americans bear increasing burdens

by jamal.abdi
13-Jun-2011 (43 comments)
The civil rights organization Asian Law Caucus has released its latest guide, The Impact of U.S. Sanctions Against Iran on You, which lays out some of the effects of sanctions on ordinary Iranian Americans and provides guidance for how to navigate the maze of new and existing restrictions. Last year, when Iranian-American Mahmoud Reza Banki was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for facilitating remittances between families in the U.S. and Iran, shockwaves rippled through the Iranian-American community>>>

LEGACY

The Jewish MP

Manoochehr Nikrouz tolerance and nobility in public service

by Omid Nikrouz
13-Jun-2011 (one comment)
Upon the request of many citizens and his passion for assisting public, Dr. Manoochehr Nikrooz further decided to get involved in socio politics. In 1984, he was therefore chosen as the Jewish lawmaker of Iranian parliament (Majlis) with 99% of the elected votes at the age of 35. He was also relected for a second term as this made him the only Jewish lawmaker ever being elected to Iranian parliament post revolution for total of 8 years with consecutive approval rate of above 95%>>>

IRANIAN-AMERICANS

500,000 or 5 Million?

Don't get your hopes up for the numbers you've been led to believe we are

by bahmani
04-Jun-2011 (5 comments)
If you go with the official count (which is the one that counts for anything you want or think you deserve from the US government), then off or accurate, like it or not, the 400k number is going to be it. And that makes us 0.13% (or 1 tenth of one percent) of the US population. Or, smaller than the Viet-Namese, the Filipinos, and of course much smaller than the Chinese. All the Asians combined are less than 7% of the US population>>>

THANK YOU

Fathers

Being more sensitive, most women know their men’s dilemma

by Ghahremani
01-Jun-2011 (6 comments)
God bless the typical Iranian fathers for they are far better than they seem, far less appreciated than they deserve, and are changing so fast that they could qualify as an endangered species. In Iran, we didn’t have a Father’s Day because back then, every day seemed to belong to him. In our family, my father was God and my brothers the saints, sent down to save the rest of us. We obeyed, showed respect and showered him with love all the time, but celebrate him one day a year? You must be kidding>>>

PARAZIT

Transmuting anger into laughter

VOA's Kambiz Hosseini and Saman Arbabi

by Ari Siletz
27-May-2011 (10 comments)
I’m guessing VOA’s new Perisan news network director, Ramin Asgard, was among the crowd at Kambiz Hosseini’s Berkeley talk for the same reason I was: to see what Parazit’s US fan base looked like. For one thing the crowd looked really big. The Iranian-American themed Berkeley Lecture Series usually doesn’t fill a 500-seat theater, and normally you don’t see teenagers sitting on the aisle steps playing Pokemon>>>

NIAC

Working for Us

Advocacy in Iranian American community

by Ari Siletz
25-May-2011 (30 comments)
Hillary Clinton’s announcement last week regarding a change in US visa policy was welcome news to Iranian students coming to America to study. With the old single entry visas there was no guarantee that Iranian students would be able to return to class if they left the US to, say, visit a sick parent. But from now on, new students will receive two year multiple entry visas. This compassionate policy change was announced a few weeks after Huffingtonpost published an article by Jamal Abdi and Trita Paris titled, “How Obama Can Reach the Iranian People: Start With Visas...">>>
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