* My loneliness has no depths
Hello,
It's 12:45 AM, November 24, 2003. I have spent my entire
day brooding over recent incidents that have occured in my life,
contemplated my life, and questioned my existence. My history
book is in front of me and I haven't reviewed for tomorrow's
history test. Gangstarr's 'Next Time' has been playing
while I've been attempting to find a website like this.
I
read through the 'Letters' section and was surprised to see
something that I've
recently been intrigued by: People with command of a language. But
that is not what I want to write about.
I live in the New
York Area and am experiencing loneliness because there aren't
any Iranians
in my area. Throughout my entire life, I've always
been the only Iranian in school. My general feeling
- My loneliness has no depths. I say this not because
of a lack of social interaction, but rather a lack of relation
to society. I
was wondering if anyone else has experienced similar feelings. E-mail
me.
-- Honestly Aryan Khani
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* Microcosm of
the Persian mind
It's such a pleasure to read your "letters" section.
Each week, I wait with impatience to read and study
these letters. The majority of their writers use English,
maybe the most sophisticated and civilized language,
after the French. But it's remarkable
to see how much trash and vulgarity the Persians throw
at each other through these letters.
This letters section
of yours is indeed a microcosm of Iran's society and
the Persian mind eveywhere. Each contribution contains
at least 2 or 3 four-letter words plus the usual references
to human
excrement.
Nothing can stop the flow of insulting words:
critique of art, critique of literature, critique of
photography, critique of politics... nothing can force
the writers to be more matter-of-fact
and human in their judgment and writing.
Nevertheless the writers of these letters
are mostly living in civilized European and North American
countries. They lash out at mullahs and at the same
time they use the same tyrannical language used by
the black despots in Iran.
It's wonderful !
Freedom of speach reveals the black
stains of
our minds and the reason why we have become a horde
in diaspora (educated or not!). Reading these letters gives
the impression that each of us Persians has got the potential
of becoming
an efficient guard in a concentration camp or a
perfect "pasdar-e-eslami".
-- Hormoz
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* Memories from a Tehran apartment
A wild dog, four times your size foaming
from the mouth, growls and bears his teeth. He storms
toward you, gets a hold, and with his powerful jaws,
and snap of the neck, he throws you across the room.
The carcass of your three-year-old body
flies through the air. Your emaciated elbows and knees
smack the cold marble floor. This goes on for what seems
an eternity. Your face is on fire yet numb with pain.
Then, your mother brings you a bowl of
water to cool you off as if you've just completed a round
in a boxing match. From above, a single light bulb throws
it's harsh light. The audience is small; mom and your
two older sisters lean against the wall of a small Tehran
apartment, and watch with astonished but entertained
eyes. Round two.
-- Ali
Sadr
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* A poem by Rumi
I hold to no religion or creed,
am neither Eastern nor Western,
Muslim or infidel,
Zoroastrian, Christian, Jew or Gentile.
I come from neither the land nor sea,
am not related to those above or below,
was not born nearby or far away,
do not live either in Paradise or on this Earth,
claim descent not from Adam and Eve or the Angels above.
I transcend body and soul.
My home is beyond place and name.
It is with the beloved, in a space beyond space.
I embrace all and am part of all.
-- Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi, 1207
- 1273 AD
-- Elham Gheytanchi
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