Archive - May 2008 - Article

Natural Born Grillers

One of the most endearing things for me personally, when it comes to BBQ’ing, is when suddenly the men get all territorial and caveman-ish about the grilling. It’s absolutely hilarious to watch… Sometimes if there are several men present, it becomes a competitive sport and it makes great entertainment… “Me man…me cook food, me feed family” I’m not exaggerating, this is a direct quote from my a friend of mine who undergoes a strange character transformation the second the BBQ is lit. Personally, I’m all for letting the men folk do the grilling, as my talents tend to lie more in the food preparation and table-laying. I’m quite girly in this sense and the idea of standing over a hot grill prodding hunks of meat prompts all kinds of thoughts like “What if I burn myself?”>>>

Behind the Garden Door - Love

For the most part it was the circumstances – we were literally thrown together by the restrictions imposed on us from the outside and, like prisoners in a jail cell, we turned to each other out of necessity. It was really quite ironic – the very things that should have kept us apart: our different religions, the tyrannical nature of the regime and its constant attempt to control intermingling between man and woman, the political intrigues, our very cultures and mindsets – all these were washed away in the tidal wave of the revolution like matchsticks, causing us to become closer, and, having no one but each other to turn to, ever closer still>>>

برنامه ی یکسان

ویدیو با این جمله هیلاری کلینتون آغاز می شود که «ایرانیان باید بدانند که اگر من رییس جمهور شوم به ایران حمله می کنم.» چه جمله ترسناکی که واقعا خون را به چهره همه ما ایرانی ها می دواند. ولی به عنوان یک شهروند مطلع باید بتوانیم بعد از این که خشم خود رو فرو خوردیم درباره این موضوع با دید کنجکاوانه تری قضاوت کنیم. مثلا این که باعث تعجب است که کسی که تا به حال بر دیپلماسی با ایران تاکید داشت به این صراحت می گوید که حتما به ایران حمله خواهد کرد. و چقدر بیشتر مایه تعجب که گروه های ضد جنگ درباره این کاری نکردند و بلافاصله هیچ عکس العملی نشان ندادند و از آن عجیب تر این که سوالی که توسط مجری برنامه پرسیده شده از این ویدیو کاملا حذف شده است. چرا>>>

"دل بسته اي ؟‌"

درچشمهی ِ ديوانگي
در زجر ِ ناهنجار ِ اين آوارگي
در ساحت ِ بيگانگي
پايان ِ دورافتادگي
برديده اي ؟
برعمق ِ اين گم گشتگي
خنديده اي ؟ >>>

We, Who Have No Country…

"Istanbul" has always been associated in my mind with two themes: the city which was the destination of thousands of Persians fleeing the 8-year War, and the city which is the residence of Samin Baghcheban, the famous Persian immigrant composer. In the spring of 2006, when all of a sudden I had the chance to visit Istanbul, what preoccupied my mind more than anything else was: Is it possible that Samin Baghchehban will accept a visit from me? … I could not wait to arrive in Istanbul. I called him before my departure, and without any introduction, I said, "Mr. Baghcheban, I am coming to Istanbul. I would be very happy if I could see you!">>>

پرسپوليس، نامی که آخوندها از آن می ترسند!

براستی چرا بايد حکومتی، عليرغم ميل اعضاء يک باشگاه ورزشی و عموم مردم هواخواه يا حتی مخالف آن، بکوشد اينگونه کار به کار نام آن داشته باشد و بخواهد با اعمال زور نامش را عوض نمايد و رسانه ها را تهديد کند که از نام واقعی باشگاه ذکری نکنند؟ به نظر من (حتی به قيمت آنکه بگويند غلو می کنم و شعار می دهم) پاسخ اين پرسش روشن است: «پرسپوليس» ديگر يک نام نيست، يک ميدان است، ميدان مبارزه برای باز پس گرفتن آزادی و عزت ملتی که گرفتار حکومتی ضد انسان و شادی و رفاه است. «پرسپوليس» فشردهء يک تاريخ است، يک داستان بلند چهارده قرنی از مبارزهء فرهنگی ملتی که نمی خواهد زير بار زور بيگانگان مهاجم و پس مانده های امروزشان برود. >>>

عدم تحمل

با اتکا و به اعتبارصدها شاهد و سند , بار ها و بارها گفته , نوشته و نشان داده شده است که تاریخ حدود سه هزار ساله ی ما ( و به روایاتی بیش از هفت هزار ساله ) , تاریخ عدم تحمل و کشتار دگراندیشان بوده و هست. بخش اعظم همین شواهد و اسناد گواه اند که شیعیان اثنی عشری در زمره ی بی تحمل ترین ها و بیرحم ترین ها بوده و هستند. دودمان های صفویه و قاجاریه , و المثنی شان " جمهوری اسلامی " نمونه اند . در میان دگراندیشان عقیدتی ( مذهبی) ستمی که بر بابیان و بهاییان روا داشته شده است بیش از ستمی ست که بر دیگر اقلیت های مذهبی رفته است. برگ هایی از کارنامه ی شرم آور سلسله قاجاریه و حکومت اسلامی نشان از رفتار ضد انسانی این دو دودمان با رهبران و پیروان این اقلیت مذهبی دارند. >>>

The Girl Who Didn't Know About All This

The girl who didn't know about all this knew something. I didn't even know if it was all this that she didn't know about. It may have been some of this. It seemed like it was all of it for me because it didn't matter where I went - around the campus or in the neighborhood of the university or downtown to the heart of the city, it seemed like it was the same questions about life and what was going to happen with it and whether the way I felt about people was full of love or full of something else. But it looked like she didn't know about all this because she had a notebook in front of her, and she had it in front of her sitting on a step in the city square>>>

A call to love with Zarbang

Sorry for the short notice, but there are certain occasions that you just can NOT afford to miss. Yes, that applies to even us, spoiled residents of southern California, who are enticed with a new event each week. We are a privileged community to drink from this continuous stream of entertainment that temporarily satisfies our eagerness for all things Iranian, but tell me … If you woke up one morning to find that the ocean had come to you instead, running itself into your little stream, would you not run out to meet it and perhaps quench your ripened thirst? >>>

Diet & Stardom

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Are you Persian?

Are you Persian? Asked the lady bank teller with dyed blond hair and otherwise very Iranian complexion. I answered “Baale Khanoom, Haletoon Khoobeh?”. Other times I have been asked “Are you Iranian?” It kind of dawned on me that as Iranians living in America, we might be facing an ‘identity’ crisis. Are we Persians, Iranians, Iranian Americans, Persian Americans, or Americans? I have seen all variations used many times. With our beloved homeland country Iran being in the news so often and almost always negatively, perhaps we want to somehow disassociate our selves from anything Iranian thus referring to ourselves as Persians or Persian Americans>>>

دوقلوهای به هم چسبیده

از روزی كه اسلامگراها محض ارتقای خمینی به مقام بزرگترین مرجع سیاسی و مذهبی به وی لقب امام دادند تا به امروز كه جسته و گریخته صحبت از تغییر كاركرد مجلس خبرگان و تحدید اختیارات رهبر شده است، این نظام مشكلی اصلی و اساسی داشته كه هنوز موفق به حل آن نشده و هرگز هم نخواهد شد: یكی شمردن دو اقتدار سیاسی و مذهبی. در حقیقت ماهیت نظام اسلامی از این پیوند ناساز شكل گرفته است و روشن است كه جدایی اجتناب ناپذیر این دو رشتهٌ حیات آنرا خواهد گسیخت. تا آن زمان اصرار در یكی دانستن ، دو اقتداری كه یكی نیست دو پیامد داشته كه شاهدیم: تنش در رابطهٌ این دو قدرت ناسازگار و ابهامی كه این رابطه را احاطه كرده است. این مشکلات در مورد رهبر نظام به بارزترین شکل هویداست. >>>

Myths of Separatism

Many Iranians fear separatism. They truly fear it and they act just like football fans, though their activities have so far been limited to talks and writings. An anonymous commentator in my previous article made a link to a video, and I clicked to watch it. I am sorry that I cannot call the guy on the video an idiot because (beside being also sorry for having used the word) I would be insulting idiots. Anyway, watching that video, and also many writings and talks on the Internet, I started to think that actually many Iranians have genuine fear that Iranian regions may some day separate from the rest (whatever would remain) of Iran. So, let's analyse the realities and see what is at stake beside football-like hooliganism and emotional wasteland>>>

خبرت هست که از خویش خبر نیست مرا

روزهایی را به یاد می آورم که خیس از عرق بودم تمام دیوارهای اتاقم مملو از نم و آب بودند اتاقم را برای ساعتها می بستند تا روح و جسمم عرق کنند و آزارم دهند تا اعتراف کنم به همه آنچه که انجام نداده ام .سالهاست از هر چه اعتراف حالم به هم می خورد اعتراف به کرده ها و نکرده ها ، ولی از پس این همه سال این را به خوبی یاد گرفته ام که تنها اعتراف به عاشقی کنم اعتراف به سبکی تحمل ناپذیر هستی ام .اعتراف به اینکه تنها این قلب در هم فشرده از درد و اشتیاق برایم باقی مانده است . >>>

Seizing the moment

The troubled history of the Islamic Republic is largely due to its flawed constitution, which privileges unelected theocrats over democratically elected leaders. The scion of genuine democratic sentiments, Iran's undemocratic constitution, is evidence of the importance of historical accidents in Iranian history. For all their complaining, Iranians are also good at seizing the moment on rare occasions when their stars do line up. It is well known that the political idealism of Ayatollah Khomeini was the reason Iranians continued to fight against Iraq years after it was clear that they could not prevail>>>