Archive - 2007 - Article

Azizam, Azat Motenaferam

You arrogant prick!
Thinking of you makes me god damn sick.
How could I, the strong one, be so easily deceived?
You crawled in, little by little, inch by inch...
>>>

Mystic, misfit

lover of longing's songs
and whispered promises
born exile,
homeless at last >>>

L= The Markov Chain

It was an evening in June
When like a monsoon
Liberation came (with the capital L)
With a single name (for which I fell) >>>

Metal Sanaz

Ali Rezai

Get serious

Chomsky’s claim that wild statements made by Iran’s leadership are mistranslated is absolutely correct. That is very easy to check for yourself. And Chomsky would know that because, well, he’s a linguist to put it lightly! He knows where to find the resources for translating it. It should also be mentioned that while Chomsky has pointed out the inaccuracies of the translations of such statements, he has always condemned the nature of these statements. Peyvand Khorsandi gives the impression that Noam Chomsky is pro-Islamic Republic. This is categorically false. Chomsky has always condemned the undemocratic nature of the regime and its violations of human rights. I challenge Mr. Khorsandi to find one example to the contrary.>>>

Death with a smile

A strange trend is unfolding in the Islamic Republic of Iran. True, it would have to be incredibly strange phenomena to be considered as strange in the context of the Allah-land. And yet there it is in color photographs, even in professionally produced videos alongside the grainy mobile phone-video variety from different parts of the country... The advent of a new uniformed “Morality Corp” tasked to oversee populace’s adherence to heavenly prescribed mode of conduct which includes dress code barely worth’s the mention. It is none of those or a laptop full of other listed oddities that are modus operandi for the Islamic Sultanate.>>>

Post-Sept-11 neo-con mentality

To narrow down all Muslims as sheep, and implying that all Muslims do is concern themselves with hatred of Jews and Baha'is, and which hand to use to wash themselves is not only ridiculous, but if it was about Jews it would be slammed down as downright anti-Semitic. I, a practicing Muslim, have both Jewish and Baha'i friends, and even if the myth was true about concerning myself of which hand to use to wash myself (which is not a concern of a Muslim), I would say that it is ridiculous to think that somehow any of this would blind site me of the realities around me.>>>

Sheiky baby, I love you

...>>>

Buying cucumbers

The day I arrived in Paris from Iran, my older sister sent me to buy cucumbers. She told me that I needed to learn to be independent and mature. I was 23 years old. I had never before bought cucumbers. In Iran, I never shopped in grocery stores. Being the youngest daughter still living at home, I was spoiled. I never cleaned my room. I never helped my mother with any chores. I never bought anything for my father. My father was a retired mathematics teacher. He wasn't old in years , but the day he learned he had to retire, a few months after the Revolution, he suddenly became old. He stayed at home and grew bored. I was doing the same thing at that time--nothing! I was accepted to attend the university, but universities were closed.>>>

Adultery vs. savagery

Stoning is a form of human rights violation, it is torture. Even based on Iran's Islamic Penal Code, it should happen in very special circumstances, almost close to none. Jafar Kiani who was stoned to death, well, not in a progressive manner, did not have a fair trial. None of the Penal Code conditions for stoning applied to him. Can you imagine for a second, how it is to be killed that way? Can you imagine the lives of the 2 men and 9 women who are now in prison, nightmaring their life, waiting to be stoned one day?>>>

Reality in contradiction

The nineties were an era of the modern melodrama in Iranian life. Popular concerns included modernity, evolution in family values, and a high order distinction between the private and public selves. The desire to conform to and shadow the rest of the world called for an extreme need to adapt and fast-forward an organic process of familiarization.>>>

Naïve Noam

Don’t you miss the good old days when Noam Chomsky was a humble groundbreaking linguist? These days the MIT professor is increasingly an apologist for Islamists (last year he met with Hizbollah). Now, in an excerpt from Interventions, his latest book, he writes that Washington is bent on “demonising” the Iranian leadership in order to pave the way for US-led assault. How, he must be asked, can you demonise people whose power, after almost three decades, remains pegged to death, torture and imprisonment?>>>

Little Mother of Abadan

Fati is the mother of orphaned beggars of Abadan, and unfortunately Abadan has lots of beggars many of whom are orphans. Passing through any street and back alley you will see hands that are extended towards you and mouths that are glued to your hands. “Fati” the 14-year old girl, who herself has two needy hands, has gathered many of the needy, abandoned, and homeless kids around herself and in effect has formed a small organization of beggars. This organization does not train beggars but rather helps the homeless children, and at times with a bite of food and a pair of shoes saves a life.>>>

More power

As a 39 year old Latina I travel in two worlds, Hispanic and American culture. I speak English and Spanish fluently, my French could use a lot of help. I have decided to learn Farsi and Arabic. I am going to the university and hope to finally graduate this summer. I have made so many great friends from many cultures. Moving from a small city in Texas to a Metropolitan city was the best decision of my life. It was such a relief to leave the narrow minded town I lived in for 16 years. I am amazed at so many of the similarities between the traditional Iranian culture and that of the Hispanic traditional culture. Yes, there does exist a double standard in dating for the different genders>>>