Archive - 2007 - Article

لبخند

گاهی هجوم صبح
گاهی میان حادثه  
گاهی من از فرط این همه راه
گاهی کنار ویرانه های گلدان
گاهی کنار چشمه های عسل
...
هنوز می بینم
کمی ترانه در باغ روییده است >>>

دفتر شعرم گاهواره نام توست

جاری ام
هرروز
از ارتفاع شیدایی
با نور آفتاب
بر شانه ی دیوار خانه ات
نشسته ام
به تماشای بوی سیب >>>

Despotism, colonialism, federalism, and...

Anyone who has a child knows that you can never make a 4 year old do anything they don't want to. The best you can hope for is that they stop just long enough, to notice the example you have to set for them. So goes the war in Iraq now in it's 4th full year. Rather than set a proper example for this 4 year old 3rd world child to follow, the US and the greater Western 1st world is guilty of nothing short of child abuse and endangerment.>>>

To the last Baiji Dolphin

Hang in there, buddy
Swim on, no matter how much the river burns
People worshiped you for millenia
You were loved by old, young, strong and weak
But Three Gorges took over
It happens to the best of us. >>>

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... >>>

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...

>>>

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.>>>

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
>>>

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.>>>

End of the world

I asked the young Russian woman who was my translator whether they were saying anything about Ahmad Shah Massoud’s health after the explosion. She listened and said: “Some say he is still alive. Americans say he is dead.” In the afternoon, as we were driving back into the city, I asked her again if there was any news about Ahmad Shah Massoud. She listened and said: “No news about Shah Massoud. But they say an airplane ran into the World Trade Center in New York.” I didn’t believe her. She had made some mistakes with her English earlier that week, and I was sure she didn’t know what she was talking about. She was quiet and I kept quiet, too.>>>

خیال بهار

اینجا هنوز
زمستان در هوا موج می­زند
دست­ها
سرما را
تا مغز استخوان رسم می­کنند
قاصدک
گویی خیال رساندن پیام بهار را ندارد
>>>

Your wish has come true

You need the greatest amount of freedom for the greatest possible diversity. So I am happy to announce that from this moment on EVERYBODY can leave a comment below articles, photos, cartoons, etc. You do not need to register. We were hoping that most people would see value in registering. But since the launch of the new design, it has become apparent that the registration process has not appealed to average users. I got lots of feedback about this and the number one complaint was the need to register. >>>

Then and now

Much has happened in the world since September 11th, 2001. For one the terrorists seem to be winning the war on terror. They are more prominent, more popular and more active than before. They now have a new base in Iraq and “the liberation” of Afghanistan and Iraq is nothing but a joke. Iran was the only victor in the war with Iraq. The U.S. did such a bad job of occupying Iraq that anyone, like Ahmadinejad, who resists her in the region is deemed a hero. The Americans learned the hard way that it was much more difficult to bomb an ideology or a belief system than cities, towns and villages. The U.S. and her allies found out that unlike Saddam Hussein, fundamentalist Islam cannot be chased out of its entrenchment with guns.>>>