Archive - 2008 - Article

Mi vida es como un Tango

I surrender to my destiny like the way I surrender to her, and let her decide the next move . Just as in life, when it only seems that we are in charge, in Tango it is the woman deciding the next step … not the man. The man is merely executing those moves … despite its reputation of being so macho - both the man and the dance itself. And so I let my destiny to carve out my path and if I encounter adversaries on that journey, I now know how to dance them away … instead of grabbing them by their hair flooring them, putting my foot on their throat as I used to do>>>

Eminent Persians

As the 25th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution approached, Abbas Milani realized that very little, if any, attention had been given to the entire prerevolutionary generation. Political upheavals and a tradition of neglecting the history of past regimes have resulted in a cultural memory loss, erasing the contributions of a generation of individuals. Eminent Persians seeks to rectify that loss. Consisting of 150 profiles of the most important innovators in Iran between World War II and the Islamic Revolution, the book includes politicians, entrepreneurs, poets, artists, and thinkers who brought Iran into the modern era with brilliant success and sometimes terrible consequences>>>

Transit Tehran

Things are never what they seem in the art of Sadegh Tirafkan, the new feminist journalism of Asieh Amini, and the romance Shi'a-style by new fiction talent Alireza Mahmoodi- Iranmehr. Other contributors include Newsha Tavakolian, named Best Young Photographer of 2006 by National Geographic, Abbas Kowsari, Javad Montazeri and Omid Salehi, who have continued to document the social transformation of their country in the face of mass closures of newspapers and magazines by the government. Above all, Transit Tehran celebrates the country's long tradition of artistic and cultural resistance that has influenced young Iranians, noticeably in the work of veteran editor and journalist Masoud Behnoud, photojournalist Kaveh Golestan, premier satirist and illustrator Ardeshir Mohassess, and photographer Mohsen Rastani.>>>

The Newlyweds (5)

Dear Khaleh Joon, I hope this letter finds you, Amir Khan and my dear cousins, all well. Forgive me if I always seem nervous and cut our telephone conversations short. I am so paranoid that Shahab is going to walk in on us or that he will somehow find out just by looking at me or by a slip of my tongue that I have been in contact with you. Also, when you pose me all your questions so fast, one after the other, I can’t gather my thoughts to answer them properly on the spot. It is as if Shahab is sitting in front of me, his eyes fixed on me, repeating the cardinal rule that he loves to repeat so much: >>>

راه گلشیفته را باز نگه داریم

من کی باشم که بخواهم برای یک دختر بالغ و عاقل و باهوش مثل گلشیفته‌ی فراهانی تکلیف تعیین کنم که چه کند یا نکند، چه بپوشد یا نپوشد، موهایش را چکار کند یا چکار نکند. ولی می‌خواهم به همه‌مان یادآوری کنم که ذوق‌زدگی‌مان از اینکه یک هنرپیشه‌ی جوان و با استعداد ایرانی در یک فیلم متوسط و در یک نقش درجه سه‌ی کلیشه‌ای اورینتالیستی (بقول گایاتری اسپیواک، زن سبزه و مومشکی‌ای که توسط یک مرد فداکار سفید چشم آبی از دست مردان مو‌مشکی وحشی نجات پیدا می‌کند، یا هر ورسیون دیگری از آن) کمی زیادی است. هالیوود مگر چه گهی است جز اینکه ۹۵ درصد محصولاتش مزخرفاتی است که برای سن عقلی ۱۲ تا ۱۶ سال ساخته می‌شود؟ یا دی کاپریو مگر کدام خری است که قرار است همبازی بودن با او به من یا شما یا گلشیفته افتخاری بدهد؟>>>

خلاصی

امروز سرانجام کوچه و آفتاب
و کوههای نامحرم البرز
سلطنت خانم را می بینند
بهشت زهرایی ها آمده اند مادربزرگم را ببرند
 و او درختها را خواهد دید
مغازه ها را، خانه اش را از بیرون
و یگانه فرصتی را که دارد
تا محو شود بین در حیاط و آمبولانس >>>

I Ran Into Myself in the Street and Asked

I performed a creative piece at the gathering of the Society for Human Rights in Iran, Southern California, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the 1988 Political Prisoner's Massacre in Iran. My piece was intended to promote the participation of Iranian youth, as well as give those unfamiliar with the atrocities in Iran an idea of what we are remembering. The event was held at UCLA and was not affiliated with any political organizations, and simply wished to remember the thousands of innocent people who were tortured and executed in the 1980s by the Islamic Republic of Iran's regime and promote the need for Human Rights organizations around the world to make sure that such travesty never occurs again. >>>

Saturday Night Hooka

When you called you sounded tired
I was too from the night before
And although we both felt an obligation
To the twilight of our twenties to do something...
Something significant, on this Saturday night
We decided against it and instead to smoke a hooka
When we sat down at the cafe you complained of work
That the nurses had done this or that
Of a patient who had been especially sick >>>

An American Friend

I could have traveled all over, I could have read every book and heard every song, I could have made it my object of study, and none of it would have helped me love the America I wanted to love as much as one good American friend. I already wanted to know what everything was, so just to hear Jack say that he was hungry, I would think, 'There it is - America, contained in one American man's hunger.' All of a sudden, the America that was somebody's home came through to me through him. There was a love that an outsider had for America and there was a love that an insider had for it. I knew the first one through and through, because of watching and listening, and making the America that I wanted to love on my own.>>>

از یادشان نمی کاهیم

در این مراسم که در سالن "اوکوهاوس" برگزار شد سخنرانانی از شهرهای مختلف آلمان و سوئد در آن به بازگویی تجربیات خویش پرداختند. در ساعت 6 عصرسالن مملو از جمعیتی بود که به دعوت "فعالین سیاسی چپ شهر فرانکفورت" پاسخ گفته و برای ابراز همبستگی با خانواده ی جانباختگان و اعلام ادعا نامه علیه رژیم جمهوری اسلامی در رابطه با این جنایات، در آنجا حضور به هم رسانده بودند. در محوطه ی ورودی سالن، نمایشگاه عکسی از جنایات رژیم جمهوری اسلامی توجه حاضرین را به ابعاد این فجایع جلب می کرد و در گوشه ای مقداری خاک که روی آن با گل و شمع تزئین شده بود و عکسهایی از خاوران در کنار آن به طور سمبلیک تصویر خاوران را در اذهان زنده می کرد و ستاره ی بزرگی از گل رزسرخ نشان از مقاومت و ادامه ی مبارزه داشت. در داخل سالن نیز توماری از اسامی جانباختگان که با گل و نور زیبایی تزئین شده بود ، حکایت از وسعت این کشتارها داشت. >>>

هویت اصلی داوود لشگری

نام اصلی این جنایتکار نه داوود لشگری که تقی عادلی است. متولد ۱۳۳۶-۳۷ و بچه‌ی امام زاده حسن، خیابان دکتر اقبال سابق (اقبال لاهوری) است. قدی نسبتاً بلند و هیکلی درشت داشت. صورتش تقریباً کوسه با ریشی کم پشت بود. او را از سال ۶۱ می‌شناختم. او پاسدار سالن یک آموزشگاه بود. در تاریخ ۲۴ مهرماه ۶۱ من جزو اولین سری زندانیانی بودم که از اوین به گوهردشت منتقل شدیم. زندان ظاهراً با ورود ما افتتاح شد و هنوز سیستم‌های خدماتی زندان راه اندازی نشده بودند. یادم هست اولین صبحانه‌ای را که در زندان گوهردشت خوردیم محمدی معاون زندان پخش کرد. معلوم بود نان آن را از نانوایی بیرون زندان تهیه کرده‌اند. داوود لشکری، عباس کولی وند، پاسداری که در سالن یک آموزشگاه اوین نام فلورانس نایتینگل را روی او گذاشته بودیم، مجتبی، رامین و ... پاسدارانی بودند که برای اداره زندان و نگهبانی از اوین با ما به گوهردشت منتقل شدند. >>>

The Newlyweds (4)

Dear Brother, our telephone conversation a few days ago was so brief and repeatedly interrupted by this or that relative that I am not even sure I got to wish you a happy new year in the midst of all the chaos. Obviously, speaking to you long distance in front of an army of relatives is not exactly the best scenario for a meaningful conversation. That is why I relish these late hours in the night when I have the peace and quiet to gather my thoughts and write to you from my heart. Nightime has always been a respite for me from the cacophony of daily life. The same holds true of my new home. Or rather, the home that belongs to Nassim’s parents and where they have generously let us live>>>

What's the rush?

Amid the country's financial and economic crisis the U.S. military has sped up the deployment of a most powerful and therefore expensive long-range radar system in Israel, called AN/TPY-2 forward-based X-band, a year earlier than it was scheduled previously. Why? The X-band system, deployed to Israel on September 26th, was originally scheduled for delivery in 2009 for joint training exercises, according to the U.S. European Command mission (EUCOM). For reasons not explained by the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, the ownership of Army/Navy Transportable Radar Surveillance remains with Washington and will be installed and operated permanently by 120 U.S. military personnel drawn from U.S. units stationed in Germany and across the rest of Europe.>>>

Circus reaching climax

An unprecedented, yet serious degree of cynical pessimism and ignorance that has been inserted into the apathetic culture of malaise in the U.S., then allows such ill-conceived policies in our name. And if one ever rarely dares speaks his conscience for the good of the nation and humanity, he is immediately discounted as one committing treason and treachery under the fifth column by schizophrenic government organs, the media or even ignorant people themselves who wrap themselves in the flag to demonstrate they are the far more patriotic and loyal Americans? By the same taken, the patriotism and loyalty of the unpatriotic mega-corporations cheapening and selling America and wasting its precious resources are never questioned, but instead constantly rewarded from our pockets.>>>

Casino Capitalism

With the fall of communism
Those who are motivated by self-interest
Won the day and raised their flag
Now the fortunate need no apology
To dominate the unfortunate
So we live under the tyranny of consumers
Of rational misers and social climbers
Anybody can be a millionaire >>>