Archive - Apr 19, 2008 - Article

The Spider Killings (16)

Roxanne went straight to Peyman’s house after checking in at her hotel in Mashad. Though she had telephoned Ramin from Tehran about her friend’s disappearance, she found that she could not sit by the telephone, idly awaiting news from the Brigadier-General. She must be there in person. There had been another row with Manou but Roxanne was used to that. What she was more upset about was leaving Setareh again. She would tell her daughter about everything once she got back to Tehran. It was high time she knew the details of her mother’s work. It would help her to understand. When she reached Peyman’s home, the door was slightly ajar. She pushed it open and walked in. No sign of Peyman.>>>

The Pomegranate Path (2)

It was exactly 5:03 when Ollie walked in the door. “Ali joon, is that you?” his mother called out from the kitchen. “Baleh, maman! Kohjahee?” Ollie answered. “I’m in the kitchen,” she hollered back. He didn’t need to ask her what she was doing because he could smell the sweet, yet pungent aroma of pomegranate paste in the air, and he knew in an instant that this could mean only one thing – khoreste fesenjan, or simply fesenjan, for short! Ollie never could figure out why his mother and other Iranians spelled fesenjan in English the way they did, f-e-s-e-n-j-a-n; the way they pronounced it when speaking Persian was f-e-s-e-n-j-o-o-n. Fesenjan was Ollie’s favorite Persian food>>>

آزادی و تنوع

معمولاً معنا و تعريف واقعی يک مفهوم می تواند بوسيله معناها و تعاريف «کناری» و دست دوم آن از نظر پنهان مانده و برخی معانی دور از مرکز آن بيشتر در اذهان حضور و بروز داشته باشند. يکی از اين موارد را می توان در مورد «سکولاريسم» بررسی کرد. بی شک اينکه سکولاريسم را به معنای «جدائی دين از قدرت حکومتی» بگيريم برداشت غلطی نيست، اما در اين «تعريف» چيزی از چرائی اصلی و کارکردی اين «جداسازی» بيان نمی شود، و همين امر، موجب آن می گردد که معناها و تعريف های ثانويه، هدف و غرض اصلی از اين جدا سازی را پنهان کنند و راه را بر سوء تعبيرهای گوناگون بگشايند. >>>