The Iranian Times

Thursday, November 19, 1998 / Aban 28, 1377, No. 609


Sehaty Foreign Exchange

Shahin & Sepehr


    Baba Taher


Poetry

The males are pregnant
The poetry of Katayoon Zandvakili

From the back cover of Katayoon Zandvakili's Deer Table Legs (University of Georgia Press, 1998):

Few first books of the last decade have attempted such a delicate challenge as this one. A subtle variation on Romeo and Juliet, Deer Table legs is multicultural in the widest, most generous use of that term. Sometimes locating her poems in the Iran of her birth, Katayoon Zandvakili tells more than one kind of love story in narrative filled with irony and tenderness. In "the Boy & the Girl," the face of the beloved is "the kind of face that sits by the fireplace, / listens into the night, wears the sleeve of years." But in "Jerkfish," "Your face came into mine / with the brilliance of teeth, loud water promises." With titles as enigmatic and illusive as those of Wallace Stevens, these poems verge on the dreamlike but hold always to a dramatic clarity.... FULL TEXT


Outlook

Will Germany Help?

Hamburg Bild
13 November 98

First southeast Asia and Russia -- and now Iran is facing bankruptcy. As the Wall Street Journal reported, the country quickly needs $3 billion to meet its liabilities. France has already provided $1.45 billion. The mullah regime is holding secret talks Japan, Italy -- and Germany. This matter is extremely delicate because it is threatening to lead to diplomatic complications. Iran is considered the arch enemy of the United States, our most important ally. The reason for the financial crisis: the decline of the oil price to $11 per barrel. Oil accounts for 80 percent of Iran's public revenue. The country had based its budget calculations on a price of $16.


    Anyway

No more

From a friend:

I am back in California. My father died last week -- unexpectedly. He died five hours before I could get here.

More Letters

* Love will re-emerge, in time

Nargess Shahmanesh writes: The language you use in "Marrying an Iranian woman" is truly beautiful; "love floating in a nation that has been so unfortunate, nothing but a divine gift."...

In many ways Iran has become a hard nation, its inhabitants sharp, tough, often ruthless (zebr-o-zerang) ... they are survivors. All this is completely essential (or natural) given our recent history. In this new world, the love you talk about, the innocent love is still part of the soul of Iran, but it has changed shape, hiding behind a mask. Through time, when the country is relaxed politically and economically, maybe the old love will re-emerge... FULL TEXT

* Mohammad can't become a "real" American

Ocmike1 writes: I read "How to become an American." It's truly clever and thought-provoking.

As an Iranian who grew up in the U.S. and joined the military to constantly prove my love for America, I've learned that no matter how long you live in this country or how much you have done for it -- as long as people know you were born in Iran and your real name is Mohammad -- you will never be a "real" American.

God bless Iran and Iranians

* Politics: Payman in Los Angeles

Dr. Habibollah Peyman is giving a talk at University of California, Los Angeles, (UCLA), Dodd Hall 147, on Saturday Nov. 21 from 5-10 pm.

Subject: The current intellectual trend in teh Islamic Republic of Iran


Book of the Week

Deer Table Legs

Poems by Katayoon Zandvakili

The University of Georgia Press, 1998

Zandvakili lives in Piedmont, California, and writes for Publishers Weekly. Her poems have appeared in The Massachusetts Review, Five Fingers Review, Hawai'i Review, and the anthology A World Betwee: Poems, Short Stories, and Essays by Iranian-Americans.

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More news

Iran rebuked on executions, religious intolerance

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A U.N. panel adopted a resolution Wednesday rebuking Iran for executions without due process of law and for discrimination against women and religious minorities such as the Baha'is. The resolution was approved by the General Assembly's social, humanitarian and cultural committee by a vote of 63 to 35 with 60 abstentions. A vote by the committee, which includes all U.N. members, is tantamount to formal adoption by the General Assembly, which last year adopted a similar resolution by 74 to 32 ... FULL TEXT

Iran condemns UN rights resolution for "ignoring reality"

TEHRAN, Nov 19 (AFP)-Iran on Thursday denounced a UN resolution welcoming moves towards openness by the Islamic republic's government but expressed concern about continuing threats against Salman Rushdie. "The resolution is a political move targeting political interests above human rights considerations," said Mostafa Alai, Iran's ambassador at the United Nations ... FULL TEXT

Egypt will improve ties with Iran - FM

Tehran, (HAMSHAHRI) - Egypt will continue to normalize relations with Iran despite U.S. objections, said the Egyptian foreign minister to a group of visiting Iranian journalists FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN

U.S. oil firms again frozen out of big Iran business

WASHINGTON, Nov 19 (Reuters) - American oil companies will again have to sit on the sidelines while foreign competitors bid for Iranian business this month, locked out by unilateral sanctions imposed by the U.S. government. Though American companies need not apply, Iran has set a Nov. 30 deadline for the rest of the world to bid on 29 oil and natural gas projects worth several billion dollars... FULL TEXT

Iran welcomes "change" in U.S. oil policy

London, Nov. 19, IRNA - iran's deputy oil minister for international affairs mehdi husseini wednesday welcomed u.s energy secretary bill richrdson's commitment for the free flow of oil across international borders as a positive signal. "if true, it represents a change in policy," he said. iran is "happy" to hear that the u.s. supports the non-interruption of oil supplies, devoid from all political impediments, he told an international oil confrence in london... FULL TEXT

New military service buy-out plan

Tehran, (HAMSHAHRI) - New regulations allowing young adults to buy out their military service requirements have gone into effect ... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN

Lari: Government determined to hold council elections

Tehran, Nov. 19, IRNA - interior minister, hojatoleslam abdolvahed mousavi lari, wednesday evening underlined importance of the elections for city and village councils and described it a key social issue... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN

London film fest award for young Makhmalbaf

Tehran, (HAMSHAHRI) - An international film festival in London has given the best film award to Samira Makhmalbaf for her first film, "Seeb" ("The Apple")... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN

Azizi and Abdezadeh may join team

Tehran, (HAMSHAHRI) - In the ongoing Iranian national team soap opera, it now seems Khodadad Azizi and Ahmadreza Abedzadeh will NOT be left out of the team ... FULL TEXT IN PERSIAN



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Quote Unquote

The men I met

The men I met fell from the tops of sentences. They promised hot-air balloon rides, would've stolen sheep. On the way up the mountain they held silent. (Silence is power, the book said.)

Katayoon Zandvakili
"Deer Table Legs"
The Iranian
November 19, 1998


Photo of the Day

Nice to be nice

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Music

Musician of the Week

Farid Farjad

Classic Iranian tunes played witgh a violin. Beautiful!

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