Archive - Aug 2008 - Article

We finally did it...

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Boycotting Ahmadinejad's U.S. Visit?

For most of the last two decades, I felt strange when I was asked if my sons speak Farsi. When it was too late to change anything, I felt vaguely embarrassed for not having taught them my native language. I wondered silently if I'd cheated them or betrayed my heritage by not sending them to weekend Persian language schools that exist in my city, Washington. But I'm getting over those feelings lately, and it's not only because they are delightful young adults now. Rather, I'm comforted because I look around me in the expatriate community and I realize that my sons have learned something equally valuable, if less tangible. Their social consciousness goes well beyond accepting superficial tales of American virtue. Like me, they want this country to move towards its professed ideals before issuing judgment on human rights elsewhere>>>

Fatigue Is My Bliss

There used to be a time when exercise, hard work and especially running were parts of normal daily functions. Being late meant you had to run, and muscles were there to lift. A full day was followed by a full night’s sleep when the only concern would be waking up in time for another busy day. Now, as I go about the heroic tasks of my life, such as walking down the block, housework or taking a shower, with each move I feel like a champion. The recollections of a time when I single-handedly dug a flowerbed, moved furniture and carried my not-too-skinny babies up the stairs is fast turning into a legend. Was it really me who invited a crowd of more than fifty to dinner? Where was the Vietnamese nail salon to remind me that God had created these hands for manicure and not for pealing eggplants? >>>

Forgotten where we came from

I remember, those days life had its own built-in music. When we woke up in the morning there was the shouting of adasi salesman, what an aromatic essence and yummy taste. After that, the calling of others street vendors appearing one after another, vegetable seller, ice cream man, laboo (cooked beets) sellers, ab housi, knife and scissor sharpeners, china repair man (chini band zan). Even the squeaking noises of the horse-driven carts, Gaary, had their own soothing rhythmic sounds. At night, there were the irksome sounds of frogs, roaches, crickets, and other insects that, like the ministers of the Shah’s regime, could always be heard but never be seen. In his famous poem, Molana Rumi describes the pain of the past memories and the suffering of the divisive separations best through the tale of a reed>>>

Let's Be Fair

Every four years, at the conclusion of the Olympics, many nations feel proud, ecstatic and joyous, and many others, like Iranians, feel down, dejected and poignant. Many observers, including this author, believe that the ranking of Olympics medals IS NOT a FAIR indication of countries' focus on sports, and on training athletes. It's after all, logical to assume that a country like China with 1.3 billion "human" resources, produces more athletes, and among them "Super" Medal-wining World-class athletes, than a country like Jamaica with only 3 million inhabitants. There are several ways to create a more "fair" ranking of countries' true athletic-development abilities and attention to competitive sports>>>

اوج فن آوری "فوق هسته" ای در نزد عشایر

فکرش را بکن، در عشایر و روستا و حتی در بسیاری نقاط در شهرها هم، جیش کردن در حیاط یا معابر و کوچه و خیابان نه تنها مانعی ندارد، بلکه مساله ای عادی و روزمره است. پس فلسفه ی آویزان کردن آن سطل حلبی یا "سانتریفیوژ" در انتهای لوله ای که به چومبول بچه وصل است، چیست؟ فکر نمی کنی این آلات و ادوات برای حفظ مواد تولیدی و "غنی کردن" بعدی باشد؟ (قابل توجه آژانس هسته ای در وین!) به ابتدای لوله دقت کن! چرا "چومبول بچه"اینقدر بالا، و تقریبن جای ناف بچه قرار گرفته؟ فکر نمی کنی بچه را دانشمندان جمهوری از "سلول پایه" درست کرده اند و در پروسه ی عمل، کمی نور دیده و چومبول مربوطه چند سانتی متری بالاتر زده بیرون؟ >>>

غرور ملی

در چهارمين سالگشت ايجاد «کميتهء بين المللی دشت پاسارگاد (29 اگوست) من، به عنوان يکی از پيوستگان آن، دوست دارم اين مقاله را، همچون هديه ای کوچک، به کميته ای تقديم کنم که شاهد تأثير شگرف آن در نوزائی هويت و غرور ملی مان بوده ام. نيز همين جا بگويم که از من چندان عمر گذشته است که ديگر تهمت ها و برچسب های ظاهراً روشنفکرانه ای همچون «ناسيوناليست» و «شوونيست» بتوانند دلم را خالی کنند و دهانم را ببندند. چرا که من اکنون از واقعيتی عاطفی ـ تجربی سخن می گويم که در جان من وجود دارد و من از آن آهنگ زندگی و سربلندی می شنوم و، در نتيجه، از اينکه ديگران بدان چه نامی دهند باکيم نيست.>>>

Diaries & Jallad

In the morning, K. woke up to the warmth of pleasant sunshine; a few minutes chat with his mother (who was resting her back on the living room sofa with a book of prayer, mafatih-ol jenah, to her side and sounded ill), and then after a lonely breakfast, consisting of tea, bread and cheese, he showered for about ten minutes, far less than usual. It was a small part of his new design for life to which he had woken up: to listen to the serpent-like, discordant, shriveling voices of the anti-writing self in him for once and do something different, at least for a day or two; rejected the notion of even a small indulgence by writing a postcard to his sister in Europe; was prepared for more powerful tests in the near future, tests that would agitate his determination to restore whatever equilibrium he had lost in life. He lay down on the bed naked and stared at the ceiling, breathing deeply>>>

Things Not Talked About

there is something else strange going on. We all know there’s a consensus among leaders and the media to not talk about certain things: labor movements, anti-war and anti-nuclear power demonstrations, the privatization of natural resources and local utilities, and resistance thereunto. Bosses everywhere are for privatization and against popular movements, and media everywhere either belong to the bosses or operate at their sufferance, so it’s not surprising they don’t cover these subjects. Media don’t cover what the bosses want kept quiet. This is so well known that to learn what the ruling class fears and suppresses, you only have to learn what isn’t broadcast. Would you have guessed that the media don’t talk about torture? >>>

Can I go? Can I come back?

I am sure that you believe in this massage and hope you consider my tragic situation. I know you receive tons of emails each day and you may be very busy at the moment to continue reading my email. But, I hope you take a few minutes and read this email to the end. Your time is greatly appreciated. I am an Iranian woman, perusing my Ph.D at Brown University. I came to this country 7 years a go hoping for a better education and future which was denied to me in my home country... Not long a go, my mother, whom I have not seen for 7 years was diagnosed with cancer. I was devastated hearing the news but again, did not go back to Iran hoping and praying that through chemotherapy she can overcome it>>>

به همين سادگي

مدير سايت خبري پويا نيوز ابوالفضل جهاندار، عضو سابق انجمن اسلامي دانشگاه علامه طباطبايي و عضو شوراي ‏عمومي دفتر تحکيم وحدت در دومين سالگرد زنداني شدنش، در نامه اي از درون زندان اوين که آن جا را "ميعادگاه ‏عاشقان ايران زمين" خوانده نوشته است‎:‎‏ "نه سلطان شکرم نه سلطان آهن و سيمان، نه اسکله قاچاق داشتم، نه‎ ‎گوشت ‏آلوده وارد کردم، نه رشوه دادم، نه اختلاس کردم، نه قاچاقچي کالا‎ ‎و ارز، نه توي خانه ام اسناد طبقه بندي شده و ‏محرمانه داشتم، نه‏‎ ‎جوانهاي مملکت را آلوده به چيزي کردم‏‎.‎‏"‏ وي ادعا کرده که اگر اتهامش هر کدام از اين ها بود با وي "خيلي بهتر برخورد ميشد" و اضافه کرده "شايد به جرم ‏نفرت از اسارت و استبداد بايد اين وضعيت را تحمل‎ ‎کنم، شايد به >>>

Scheherazade's legacy

Meninists are men who recognize and support the principles of women's political, social, and economic equality. Meninist men do not need women, as once Virginia Woolf pointed out, to reflect themselves back to themselves twice as large as they really are. Exit man who, to paraphrase Phyllis Chesler, says, : "Listen, children, here are the facts: Your real Mother is me--your Father!" Enter Scheherazade (Shahrzad) who, to paraphrase Phyllis Chesler, once again, says: "Listen, children, here are the facts: Never will man find a woman as able as willing, to give birth to him again." >>>

Driving American

I first saw America from a silver Buick that called to my mother from a dealership along the New Jersey turnpike. We'd been in this country less than a week and were no more committed to America than to the rental car we'd picked up at the airport. Then she spied the Buick. I imagine something about its width and breadth and the regal redness of its plush interior put her in mind of "Charlie's Angels," a big hit back then and also the inspiration for the fringe she was sporting that year. It was ours that very day.In all the years since, I've wondered about that car and its role in all that happened afterward.>>>

Will America Tolerate China's Rise?

This Olympiad was not that much different, and the medal race approach was simply the passing of the supremacy baton from the United States to China, even if the United States resorted to “its own way” of counting success by giving equal weight to gold, silver and bronze medals, instead of granting the appropriate relevance to the gold as it is done in most of the world. As for the forty billion dollars spent by China preparing for the Olympics, much of it in building superior installations, such sum may seem as politically pretentious and overbearing for a nation still emerging out of a developing world and a population four times that of the United States>>>

The Democratic Republic of Qazvin

Before there was the Internet or even the steam engine and alike, there was a dynasty ruling over Iran, the Qazar dynasty. And there was a nice chap, a king, named Qazanfareddin Shah Qazar, who inherited the kingdom from his father, Mammad Quli Bay Mirza Zulfaqar Oghlu. Times were peaceful, as the neighbouring kingdoms were fighting each other, so Iran was spared the fuss! Qazanfareddin Shah was very thoughtful of his subjects. He always listened to his subjects. He was a good king. He was kind to his subjects, but he could not be kind to all his subjects, so he always tried to have some middle ground, some reasonable approach to handling the affairs of the state>>>