Archive

W's "mission accomplished"

W's press release of the famous "mission accomplished" still up on the white house site: "HE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. Admiral Kelly, Captain Card, officers and sailors of the USS Abraham Lincoln, my fellow Americans: Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed..." >>>

There is something special happening here

At times, the crowd’s noise overwhelmed the huge amplifiers and the sound system. It was unbelievable! There was a lot of good energy but it seemed that Kiosk didn’t expect such an active crowd and lost focus here and there. Overall, they played very well and performed the songs different from their studio version. There were very good solo performances by almost all of the band members, especially Babak who knocked the socks off the crowd with his guitar solos.>>>

Benedictus

Only 72 hours before a scheduled US attack on Iran. Two estranged childhood friends, one Jewish and one Muslim, born in the same town in Iran, agree to a secret meeting in a Benedictine monastery in Rome to negotiate a price for safety and freedom. The above synopsis is the main plot for the upcoming play Benedictus, an ambitious international collaboration between artists from Iran, Israel and the United States. The collaborators -- Motti Lerner, one of Israel's most provocative contemporary playwrights; Torange Yeghiazarian, Artistic Director of Golden Thread Productions in San Francisco; Iranian-American director Mahmood Karimi-Hakak of Siena College... >>>

بردگی با دستمزد؟

بسیاری از ما -چه پناهجو، چه پناهنده و چه مهاجر قانونی- که ایران را با هدف شروع یک زندگی بهتر در غرب ترک کرده‌ایم در یک مرحله از این سفر دور و دراز، تن به انجام کارهایی داده‌ایم که ترجیح می‌دهیم با هموطنان خود مخصوصا آنهایی که در ایران هستند و از زندگی ما در اینجا می‌پرسند راجع به این تجربه‌ها صحبت نکنیم. >>>

احضار

"....فردا ساعت هشت صبح باید دادگاه مستقر در زندان " اوین " باشم. چند دقیقه پیش تلفنی اطلاع دادند. من تنها نمی روم. رئیس توئی، تصمیم گیری های نهائی با توست. فردا با هم می رویم...."

مثل برق گرفته ها تکان خورد. رنگش پرید، و بر عکس همیشه که چکشی حرف می زد تقریبن با ناله گفت:

" ...من چرا؟ تو را احضار کرده اند. آمدن من کمکی نمی کند..."

حرفش را بُریدم...

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این مردم

این مردم
آقا از این مردم چی بگم
هرچی بگم کم گفتم
از آقا که تو بازار حاجی
به زمین و آسمون شاکی
میخره روح با نماز
میفروشه خون رو به دلار
آقا این مردم دین ندارند >>>

Insects infect cultural understanding

Research has shown that in most cases Americans’ attitude toward other nations is a reflection of our government’s foreign policy. This is ever more the case when there are hostilities between two countries and the lives of ordinary people are affected by such hostility. Media frenzy and sensationalism can further reinforce such hostilities and adds fire to the flames of stereotyping, stigmatizing, dehumanizing, and even war-mongering. Unfortunately, this has been the case for the United States and Iran since Nov. 4, 1979, when Iranian students took American diplomats as hostages and held them for 444 days.>>>

Ledeen's Lies

Michael Ledeen, the neo-conservative enforcer of war on Iran, has continously made outlandish remarks in supporting war against. And yet despite the fact that he has never been to Iran, nor has an academic background in the area, nor does he speak farsi, he is classified as an "expert" by conservative media outlets like Fox News, and even some Iranians in the United States, including Amir Abbas Fakhravar, particularly those who support regime change.

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Life in two nations

While I found myself concerned about this being another nostalgic look back at Iran through the eyes of an Iranian woman’s memoir, instead I encountered A Mirror Garden as a bildungsroman—a tale of growing up and self-realization—and of the ways that a woman’s perseverance, vision, and good fortune, lead not necessarily to a fairy tale ending, but a rather, a clear sense of being and acting in the world. This is a narrative that indeed runs against the notion what has been so regularly drummed into Americans—that women of Middle Eastern cultures — whether Iranian or Arab — are merely being acted upon and have no agency.>>>

نیاز

دوستت دارم
اما تنها به اندازه ی آن نیاز سراپا مستی
که در رگهایم هست سرشار
به قدر آن شعبده ی ظریفی که در لبخنده ات پیداست
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My real Iranian

Forty-three days ago, my wife and I buried our only son. Although he was a teenager, he was our baby. He was his mother's bright and shining angel and he was my best friend. I feel so broken and empty because now that I have had time to replay his short life in my mind a hundred thousand times, I don't think that I told him enough just how much I loved him and how very much he meant to me. The thing that hurts the most is that I know that there's nothing I can ever do to change any of that now. If God would give me just an hour to sit with my son and tell him goodbye, I would be willing to pay any price, but I know that is not going to happen.>>>

همسایه

گاه حوادثی هست که اگرچه ما نقشی در انجامشان نداشته‌ایم اما بار سنگین گناهشان را مجبوریم به دوش بکشیم. مانند میراث خونی که برخی پادشاهان گذشته‌مان در لشگرکشی‌هایشان به اینور و آنور به جا گذاشتند و هنوز لکه ننگ خون‌ریزی‌شان در کتابهای تاریخ خشک نشده است. یا آنچه امروز برخی سردمداران‌مان می‌کنند و نام ایرانی را می‌آلایند. این هم یکی دیگر مانند همانها٬ کمی دم دستی‌تر اما تلخ تر و تلخ‌تر از همه...

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