Blog

Liar, liar, pants on fire!

Folks, meet the chakhanest of the chakhan on Islamic Republic of Iran’s cultural and political scene.  The culprit is no other than Mehdi Kalhor, a

Read More »

What is Folklore?

FOLKLORE is the traditional art, literature, knowledge, and practice that is disseminated largely through oral communication and behavioral example. Though FOLKLORE connects people to their

Read More »

درخت انار

یکی بود، یکی نبود یکی آمد یکی رفت یکی نموند، یکی موند موند و موند و موند موند تا رسید به درختی درخت انار بود

Read More »

Cash Kills

The government announced that it had defeated an American effort to stir up a “soft revolution” among young and educated Iranians. Victory over American espionage

Read More »

Nightwalk by Rick Braun

Rick’s trumpet sounds are soothing and relaxing as in Nightwalk, one of his popular pieces.  I played the trumpet as a child so I can appreciate the

Read More »

Gentle giant

PHOTOGRAPHERS Babak A. Tafreshi was born in 1978 in Tehran, Iran. He is a science journalist and educator, an active amateur astronomer, nature and night

Read More »

Too Much of a Good Thing

Manufactured smells that permeate in public used to be limited to occasional wafts of smoke, industrial fumes and/or fragrances. That’s changed. Nowadays, if it isn’t

Read More »

Fooled, several times

Like many other Iranian-Americans, I was so proud and happy to see one of our own, Goli Ameri, first run for Congress and then later

Read More »

Rehabilitating the Shah

A common narrative concerning the Shah and the Pahlavi legacy unites much of Iran’s intelligentsia with liberal-left opinion in the West. According to this narrative,

Read More »