Archive - Apr 8, 2008 - Article

Salt of the earth

In Shidmehr’s vastly imaginative novella, Shirin and Salt Man, a modern day Iranian woman named Shirin plans to elope with the mummy of an ancient salt miner preserved in brine and discovered in 1993 in Iran. She is not as fortunate as Nezami’s Farhad. Her insanity is not from love, but from neglect. She married the abusive Khosro, and now remorse has driven her to adultery with the pile of salted bones she imagines to be Farhad. Shidmehr’s Khosro is not a king like Nezami’s Khosro. Though the romantically obsessed heroine married him for his kingly name, he really just works at the ministry of Islamic Guidance >>>

The Presence

God has no desires. I do. I, who makes love with her flesh and writes by hand so that you read me and recount the neon lights alongside Vakil Bazaar: the courtyards, old shops, and late night summer breeze through the mosquito nets. After all what is life but a wretched mirror if I don't write for you and you don't read me? Beloved! Your presence may be a swelled pulse, a modern consumption, or a collectible antique to possessive souls but to me it is the manifestation and the revealing compassion>>>

Freedom of hate speech

Hey people...you want to become famous and get attention? Well, it seems that one of the easiest way to fame in 2008 is Islam bashing. Recent attempts at fear mongering, hate, and uneducated characterizations of Islam include the newly released Dutch films, "Fitna the Movie: Geert Wilders' film about the Quran" and the cartoon, "The life of Mohammad," by Iranian-Dutch politician Ehsan Jami. Both of these directors are public figures in the Netherlands. It seems that anyone who once dreamed of gaining fame can simply generalize Islam as a hateful religion and make negative and offensive comments>>>

چوب حراج بر مهمترين اثر تاريخ

به دنبال تخريب های هر دم افزاينده ی ميراث های فرهنگی، تاريخی و طبيعی ايران، و به خصوص آثار غير مذهبی آن، اکنون خبر فرود آمدن بلايی تازه بر سر اين آثار به گوش می رسد. خبر در مورد فروش و واگذاری محوطه های فرهنگي، تاريخی، و طبيعی برای استفاده هتل دارها، کارخانه دارها، و ديگر مراکز تجاری خصوصی است. در واقع روند خصوصی سازی خودسرانه ی ميراث های فرهنگي، تاريخی، و طبيعی مردمان اين سرزمين، که دير زمانی است صحبت آن اينجا و آنجا پيش می آمده اکنون شکلی واقعی به خود می گيرد.>>>