Archive - Apr 2008 - Article

Same job, same pay

Women in the United State , working full-time, year-round earn only about 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. The median annual earnings of women ages 15 and older are $31,858, compared to $41,386 for their male counterparts. (Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States). The gap between the earning of minority women and white men is significantly worse. An African American woman earns just 64 cents for every dollar earned by a white man, while a Hispanic woman earns only 52 cents on the dollar compared to her white male counterpart.>>>

lounging in the curve of my lips

something about life seduces my bones
twisting my hair in its grip
rooting me to the moment
something in the elusive nature
digs every finger of time into my heart
how my insignificant body contains such vastness
i ask

>>>

Flying at your own risk

The political relations and animosity between the U.S. administration and the Islamic government is besides the point of this article and would not be discussed here. This article is about the people, the real innocent and simple human beings, about the mothers and fathers who, every now and then, tragically lose their sons and daughters in an air-crash in Iran, in a series of disastrous incidents that there would be no end to it, unless some drastic actions are taken. The people in mind here are the men, women and children who have been and still are being deprived of safe air travel>>>

The Knock of Love

In a late afternoon, at a spacious hotel room with a large balcony facing the high rising waves of ‘Coogee Beach’, making surfers looking like driftwood, in Sydney, I heard a knock on my door. Immediately, a smile broke upon my face as I was getting to the door, just to confirm that no one was out there. You see…for a few moments prior to that knock, my ‘Heart’ and my ‘Mind’, accompanied by my ‘Intuition’ had gotten together on an intimate chat (that soon would become almost a public chat forum among all the elements of my Being), discussing the arrival of my beloved>>>

آدميت، پدر تاريخنگاری مدرن ايران

آثار آدميت نشانه از يک نظم فکري، شيوه ي علمي، و دقت و سنجش حرفه اي برخوردار است. آدميت نخستين ايراني ای است که تاريخنگاري و تاريخشناسي را با آموزش حرفه اي آموخت، و نه” الله بختکي “چون بسياری که نام مورخ گرفته اند. در عين حال، او تنها مورخ عصر خود است که از ارثيه تاريخنگاري مورخاني پروسواس چون بيهقي بي بهره نمانده است. او تداوم تاريخنگاري علميِ سنتي و پيوند آن با تاريخنگاري مدرن است. >>>

Not So Big Fat Persian wedding

We all know that Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is an extremist politician. He knows it, and is in fact proud of it. He sees radical conservatism as part of his character, and speaking his mind, no matter who he offends, as part of his job. This is why Ahmadinejad has repeatedly denied the Holocaust, despite the fact that it offended the world's Jewish population. This is also why he cast doubts on the US version of September 11, despite the fact that many Iranians sent messages of condolence to American people on that sad occasion, as means of sympathizing with them in their hour of pain. What we don't know is that the same Ahmadinejad prides himself on being a good father>>>

بوی تبعید

پدرم باران بود
همره چرخش دریا چرخید؛
با سخاوت بارید.
و چو در پهنه گسترده خاک
،چهره اش پنهان شد
چشمه ها جوشیدند
شاخه ها گل دادند؛
سبزه ها رقصیدند؛
لاله ها خندیدند.

>>>

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. >>>

Saving the Death

Mary secretly moves her air mattress and blanket to the Red Cross tent, where the corpses are laid out in plastic bags. Since there is no running water to give them a proper Islamic wash, someone will come tomorrow to give them ablution by earth before they are buried in a mass grave. She sets her cot by the opening of the tent and lies with her back to the dead; It is better to breathe the freezing air of the desert winter, than the odour of decaying bodies. Two corpses—a young woman and a young man partly wrapped in white cotton sheets—share a plastic bag as if asleep side by side. Mary feels a pang in her breast and gasps.>>>

How I Became My Older Brother

I am sure there is a problem that can hopefully be rectified, said my sixth grade teacher. While he was patting my back gently as the sign of support, he told me you should be able to take the final exams when we correct the mistake. After nearly fifty nine years of age, I still think about the boyhood memories and cherish them with an open heart. May be the weird and wonderful stories that happened in my life in a very distant past are reawakening my mind to the childhood era. Past memories appear like crystal clear drops of water providing me with interesting subjects to write about. They are like burning clean natural gas creating clear blue flames; they are like acid reflux at the middle of night keeping you awake and thinking>>>

یک سوزن به خودت بزن یک جوال دوز به مردم

خیلی ازایرانیها میگویند که خارجیها (اروپائی و آمریکائها) نژاد پرست هستند و ما مهمان دوستیم. من تا حالا افغانی ندیدم که از مهمان نوازی ایرانیها تعریف کند! از لحنی که درباره اعراب صحبت میکنیم که نمیگم. قبول اونام به ما میگن عجم ولی این هر دوش نژاد پرستی است. تا حال چند نفر ایرانی دهید ه اید که با یک سیاه پو ست یا عرب ازدواج کرده باشه؟ چاپلوسی به خارجیان پولدار را بجای مهمان نوازی جلوه دادن هنریست که نزد ایرانیان است و بس.>>>

Pomegranates

When I was a child
Living in Shiraz
I never had one or two
Pomegranates
Eating pomegranates
Was about having
5 or 6 large fruits
In one sitting >>>

Normal, in a weird way

Today was the first day of Spring, which is also the Persian New Year. I've been trying to adjust to the time difference and get my sleep pattern back in order but otherwise, it hasn't really been difficult acclimating to Iran. Although the Islamic regime is still the ruling governing body, a lot of things have changed since my last trip 5 years ago. I haven't felt weird about being here since I arrived and it's actually a little strange that I haven't felt that way. It feels very normal...as normal as when I would fly to L.A. from NY to visit my family...like being at home even though I didn't grow up here.>>>