Mazloom just kindly translated his recent blog for me which posted a satire tracing Obama’s Iranian descent back to the days of the Qajars.
Since the conversation lately has been so much about sex and relationships here, I couldn’t help but remember an article I read on this website four years ago about the Qajar courtier Vali Khan’s memoirs of his outrageous sexual exploits, and other topics in Persian literature of equally ambiguous male sexuality.
This is a very special article for me because it was actually the VERY FIRST ONE I ever read on this site and it was recommended to me by a really straight-laced Iranian insurance salesman in Los Angeles who I was in contact with by e-mail and phone that summer while I was studying Persian in (of all places) Columbus, Ohio. And just how did Rosie, that wild and crazy New Yorker who had not long ago begun her Persian studies, wind up in contact with this man?
Yep, you guessed it. On IranianPersonals.com, Only I wasn’t Rosie then. I was fellinlovewithiran.
My friend and suitor was very disturbed one day and he sent me an e-mail saying, you MUST read this. What IS this? IS this possible? I didn’t know people DID such things! I didn’t know people WROTE about such things! Especially Persian people. And on THIS website! Robin, is this good? Is this bad? What do you think? What should I think?
I read the article and laughed and assured him that the sun would still rise tomorrow. He believed me.
I’m happy to be ABLE to recommend it to you, both because it’s so nostalgic for me and such a GOOD article, and because FINALLY since the institution of blogging, we actually have built a community where we can publish thiese types of things again and discuss them as adults without gettng death threats.
The issue of pornography and censorship has always existed and in the Internet Age it poses problems which for parents and others seem insurmountable. And although I often satirize them I understand full well that these issues are CRITICAL. Actually I plan to write an article on it in the not-so-distant future.
I believe in the Internet. I believe in it becaue I have to, because I believe we have no other choice. I believe five thousand years of progressively more destructive technologies have finally provided a technology which, if we use it wisely, can help establish truly democratic global communities and processes which erode conventional hierarchies and bring true power to the people, for the very first time in our history. And power to the people is power to the future of the planet.
And the first step toward that power is the ability to be able to discuss these serious issues as adults in an environment of safety. We’ve all worked hard to achieve this, especially Jahanshan, and we’ve succeeded. So let’s celebrate today with a toast to Vali Khan, the Qajar courtier who “busted my cherry” when I was still a virgin to iranian.com
Oh yes and, of course, if you are under eighteen years of age, Rosie recommends: ask Mom first before you read it. :o)
Enjoy.
