BASE

A Couple of Days in San Diego

The entire area feels like a military camp. Or maybe like an occupied territory

by QRStuve
17-Jul-2008 (39 comments)
Maybe statistics would prove me wrong, but the economy feels like a military economy. The major things you see being manufactured and built are border walls and military facilities. You see battleships and carriers in the bay, bases and naval air stations along the freeways, soldiers in camouflage sitting in the backs of trucks or on gates in fences at freeway exits in the countryside with nothing around, tattoo parlors and strip joints on the main streets of National City, Imperial Beach, Chula Vista, the immense retired officers community of Coronado, jeeps and Humvees and SUVs on the highways, black with tinted windows, driven by young men with buzz cuts>>>

QUESTIONS

Hopes & concerns

Several questions and concerns must be put to rest for PAAIA to live up to its full potential

by Soudabeh Bashirrad
17-Jul-2008 (19 comments)
The founding of PAAIA, the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian-Americans, is in many ways a milestone for the Iranian-American community. Seldom have Iranian-Americans of such diverse backgrounds come together and invested in an organization. For that alone, the organization should be applauded. Yet, in many ways, PAAIA has also been a major disappointment. Its less than open nature, its unwillingness to clarify its positions and reluctance to shed light on its decision making processes have left many potential Iranian-American supporters like myself skeptical. >>>

POETRY

Soul to Soul
by Cameron A. Batmanghlich
17-Jul-2008 (4 comments)
Surrounded by two pillars of ivory
The gate is opening up
The path to her being is becoming visible
Her soul is calling
A crescent as bent as the moon
Occupies my vision form above
A crescent as white as the ivory pillars gently hugging my ears >>>

DIASPORA

Forgetting monsters

Are virtual monsters comparable to real ones I read about in the news or to the real war my generation endured?

by Azarin Sadegh
17-Jul-2008 (5 comments)
I forget my own exile that isn’t an exile, because I can return if I want to, and yet, I know I will never want to go back? Perhaps I am entitled to the pity I sometimes feel for myself, to the self-righteousness, to the sweet joy I taste in the bitterness of the news, to this feeling of being at the top, a place my father and grandfather never reached. But is it really true? How would I know whether they felt this enjoyment or not? Who am I to declare so baldly that they never stood at this same place where I am standing?>>>