POINT
Responding to an Open Letter to Senator Obama on Iran
It deeply saddens me that two women from my native country of Iran have chosen to degrade feminism. Under the misconception that their gender will shield their hatred and deception, Manda Zand-Ervin & Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi hope that even with flawed logic they can dissuade you from seeking dialogue with Iran. Sir, I reach out to you not as a woman, but as one humanitarian to another with a common goal: the imperative for peace. I have to wonder if these hyphenated women and others like them who so loosely use the term ‘appeasement’ are sufficiently familiar with history, or is this a mindless repetition of a word ill-understood? Perhaps these two ought to seek education and reject propaganda
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MIDDLE EAST
The only viable future is one of coexistence and mutual respect
Lebanon breathed a heartfelt sigh of relief last week with the long-awaited election to the presidential office of army Chief of Staff General Michel Suleiman. After a rapid series of diplomatic toing and froing in the Qatari capital of Doha, a number of commentators opined the Levant was saved from relapsing into the clutches of another devastating civil war by a meager hair’s breadth. In hindsight it doesn’t appear that another civil war was on the cards, the domestic balance of power stood overwhelmingly in Hizbullah’s favor, and therefore allowed the vast majority of conflict zones to be quickly subdued and handed back to the army
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LIP-SMACKING
So what are my favourite cheese recipes?
As I enter the fifth week of my diet, I look back and chortle smugly to myself at how simple it has been and how I haven’t had a single craving since I started dieting. But true to form, my brain springs into action with a gentle reminder of the many occasions I have gazed longingly at the cheese sections of various supermarkets, reading and re-reading the labels to see which one has the least fat. Alas, I have come to the conclusion that there are no low-fat cheeses, it’s actually a contradiction in terms. And before I am inundated with comments from people telling me about any type of half-fat, low-fat or fat-free variety, I would like to just say “THAT IS NOT CHEESE!”
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POETRY
I am Hassan, the woodcutter
With the smiling sun on my shoulders
And the crying rain in my ears.
Running in the muddy alleys
I come from Isfahan
Barefoot and half-naked
With two dancing axes on my back
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POETRY
منم حسن تبری
با لبخند آفتاب بر دوش
و مویه ی باران در گوش.
از کوچه های گل آلود اصفهان
می آیم دوان، دوان
پابرهنه و نیمه عریان
با رقص دو تبر بر شانه
و شور یک دیوانه:
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PLEASING
Shahin & Sepehr's new album, "Fields of Change"
Fields of Change is also a definite change in direction from the last couple of albums which according to Sepehr were largely dominantly produced by the labels they used to be with. This effort is their first independent effort and the result of what they think sounds good to them, rather than a result of corporate marketing listener surveys from American-advertising fed New Age stations. Don't get me wrong, you will enjoy owning very single album you buy, the signature S&S sound is always tight, multi-layered, and an elegantly thoughtful, construct of harmonic sounds and encouraging and exotic beats woven together to bring about a convergence that is, in a word, pleasing.
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STORY
رونا تا آن لحظه فکرمیکرد که تنهاست ناگهان متوجه پسر جوان وخوش سیمائی شد
رونا بالباسی که شبیه لباس کولی های دورگرد داره بغل ساحل ایستاده. اونوزاد یک ساله اش رادرون کوله پشتی که باپارچه ساده ای درست کرده درپشت خود قرارداده. رنگ لباس رونابارنگ خاکهای بغل ساحل تطبیق میده وچهره اورادرمقابل آفتاب داغی که همه فضارااحاطه کرده زیباترنشان میده. شنهای داغ زیر پای رونا اورابیاد فیلم ده فرمان میاندازه که آدمهاباپاهای برهنه توی بیابانها سرگردان بودند. آبهای آسمانی رنگ دریا بااینکه آرام آرام بهم برخورد میکنند نشان دهنده یک طوفان درونی است که درعمق دریا بطوردائم مسیری راطی میکند. سنگها وصخره های زیبا وشکست ناپذیرباعث تقویت قلب رونا میشوند.
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