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MEN & WOMEN
18-Jun-2008 (7 comments)
The main theme of The Fish Fall In Love ("Mahiha ashegh mishavand" directed by Ali Rafii) is so familiar to the Iranian viewer that few of us may complain about its plot making no sense. Or if the viewer is not Iranian, he/she may adopt a post-modern disregard for plot logic and concentrate on the clearest message of the film: suspicion destroys our best hopes. Newly freed political prisoner, Aziz, (Reza Kianian) sneaks back to his Caspian hometown to find his fiancée, Atieh, has been married off. Philosophical about life, he sneaks back out to roam the planet doing we know not what. These events happen years before the movie begins
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PERSEPOLIS
18-Jun-2008 (43 comments)
Marjane Satrapi's film, Persepolis must have made George Bush and his new ally, Nicolas Sarokzy, quite happy. After all, despite Satrapi's rhetoric against the two leaders, her film's core argument is one that Bush and Sarkozy have long been busy constructing: the evil state versus the wonderful people. Aesthetically, Persepolis is a refreshing and beautiful black-and-white animation, but it is also built on a black-and-white viewpoint of Iran. Satrapi's world is divided into two very separate groups: you are either with Marjane, in which case you'd are a nice, warm human being with properly drawn features; or you are against Marjane, and therefore either a black spectre with no human face features or an angry robot who represents the Iranian state>>>
DIASPORA
18-Jun-2008 (10 comments)
I was returning home the other day in a commuter train, suddenly one of the passengers in our car sneezed and many reacted kindly by saying “God bless you”. A few minutes later, I sneezed; not once, three times, no one said anything. After a while, I sneezed again intentionally to assert my hypothesis that people do in fact ignore me. No reaction yet again. Even the thoughtful custom of saying “God bless you” after someone sneezes does not apply to the minorities. This is how overtly we are being ignored by others in this society! I am so used to it after so many years of trying to cope with it. Don’t jump into premature conclusion. No, I am not a timid turned-off bore with geeky attitudes. >>>
STORY
18-Jun-2008
هنوز چند جمله ای نخوانده بودم که سنگینی نگاهی را روی صورتم حس کردم. می دانید که چه می گویم؟ لابد برای شما هم اتفاق افتاده. کسی از پشت سر، یا از پهلو، یا اصلن از روبرو نگاهتان می کند، و شما متوجه نیستید. اما سنگیی آن نگاه را روی صورتتان، کله تان، روی ذهنتان حس می کنید. سرم را بالا کردم، همین خانم بود. با همین آرایش مو. خوب، مد است البته؛ موها را شانه نکرده رها می کنند دور و برشان. از زیر چشم دیده بودم که آمد و نشست. باور کنید همین شلوار جین مشکی هم پایش بود. نگاهم با نگاه آبی عشوه گرش تلاقی کرد. شرم اجازه نداد بیش از چند لحظه نگاهش کنم. برگشتم روی کتاب. خب، خستگی و سرمای بیرون، بعد هم گرمای داخل کوپه و حرکت ننو وار قطار، می دانید که؟ پلک هایم سنگین شدند. سرم را تکیه دادم به پشتی صندلی. ولی آن نگاه آبی سمج آنجا بود. تیز و تحریک کننده!>>>
BLOCKADE
17-Jun-2008 (51 comments)
A U.S. House of Representatives resolution effectively requiring a naval blockade on Iran seems fast tracked for passage, gaining co-sponsors at a remarkable speed, but experts say the measures called for in the resolutions amount to an act of war. H.CON.RES 362 calls on the president to stop all shipments of refined petroleum products from reaching Iran. It also “demands” that the President impose “stringent inspection requirements on all persons, vehicles, ships, planes, trains and cargo entering or departing Iran.” Analysts say that this would require a US naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz. Since its introduction three weeks ago, the resolution has attracted 134 cosponsors. Forty-three members added their names to the bill in the past two days. >>>
LIFE
17-Jun-2008 (10 comments)
دوست جوانی از ایران برگشته است؛ او بی خبر دیشب آمده بود به محل کارم تا غافلگیرم کند. از دیدنش خوشحال و غافلگیر شدم و خلاصه اول از همه از "ایران" پرسیدم. از گرانی برنج حرفی نزد ولی با خوشحالی گفت: "خبر دارین که دیه زن و مرد برابر شد؟" لبم را گاز گرفتم که جوش نیاورم چون این دختر جوان از تولیدات پس از جمهوری اسلامی است. بیست و چند ساله است و جز جمهوری اسلامی چیزی به چشم ندیده، کودکی اش در سالهای سیاه جنگ بوده و در سالهای پس از جنگ، احتمالاً تازه نفس راحت و بی دغدغه ای کشیده اند و حالا هم با نگاهی مطابق با آن موازین دارد به مسایل می نگردد. "یواش یواش داره درست می شه" خیال جوش آوردن در برابر سنجاقک شکننده را نداشتم چون او مرا به سالهای پر شور خودم می اندازد و توی چشمانش چیزی است شبیه خواهرم مرجان. اینجا اسمش را می گذارم: "شاپرک"! >>>
EQUALITY
17-Jun-2008 (3 comments)
While the global community marks the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with a year long celebration of “Dignity and Justice for All “ there is neither dignity nor rights or justice for women in Iran. On June 12th for the occasion of the third anniversary of National Day of Solidarity of Iranian Women, nine women's rights activists were arrested outside of the Rahe Abrisham (Silk Road) Gallery just prior to a small, peaceful assembly planned to commemorate the day. Aida Saadat, Nahid Mirhaj, Nafiseh Azad, Nasrin Sotoodeh, Jelve Javaheri, Jila Baniyagoub, Sarah Loghmani, Farideh Ghaeb, were arrested by Tehran security police along with photographer and reporter Aliyeh Mohtalebzadeh.>>>
DIET
17-Jun-2008 (6 comments)
My bid to pour myself into a suitably va-va-voom “Knock-em-dead” party dress for an event this summer, continues unphazed. “I’ll show him” I think… “Him” is the dreaded Ex… Breaker of hearts, king of all tale-tellers and my sole reason (initially) for embarking on a diet… In the unrealistic hope of showing him what he is missing. Fully aware that my motivation is pathetic, predictable and the embodiment of Bridget Jones herself, I carry on regardless in a flurry of blind idiocy… Although I still hold one small pearl of wisdom that I find comforting and that is that no matter what impression I leave with The Ex, when all is said and done, it is myself I am doing this for now and no one else>>>
LIFE
17-Jun-2008 (20 comments)
The other day I went to one of those places that make burgers in a hurry, to order a cheeseburger meal. I don’t want to mention their name because I don’t want to be liable for defamation, but this place in one of those In and Out places that are really fast. I noticed they had a signed posted at the cash register that they are not using any tomatoes in their burgers as a precaution because of the FDA tomato recall (even though their tomatoes were not from any of the suspected areas in question). After I made my order I noticed the price of my meal without tomatoes was exactly the same as ever before. I asked the cashier if I was entitled to a reduced price since I was not getting any tomatoes>>>
IRAN
16-Jun-2008 (27 comments)
The Islamic Republic would actually welcome either of two misguided U.S. strategies — negotiations or war. Both strategies will strengthen their repressive control over Iran and will allow them to extend their strategic hegemony over much of the Middle East, into parts of Central Asia and the Indian Ocean region. The Islamic Republic has a long record of using negotiations as a tactic of buying time to further its illicit policies. Besides, official negotiation means officially recognizing the legitimacy of the other side — which is something the clerical regime has longed for. Official negotiations will also be interpreted as the U.S. government’s concession to the clerical regime. Do the prime supporters of global terrorism deserve rewarding?>>>
AFGHANISTAN
16-Jun-2008 (15 comments)
Afghanistan remains in deep turmoil and the situation appears to be deteriorating with every passing day. Two recent events should crystallize the evermore deleterious situation which is currently unfolding. First, is the most recent of assassination attempt on the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, at the end of April, in which he barely escaped with his life. And second, last week’s assault by Taliban forces on a prison in Kandahar, which the authorities were helpless to thwart and resulted in the return to the dusty and forlorn battlefields of southern Afghanistan of some 400 hardened Taliban fighters. These events mark the most recent in a string of incidents which have dogged the Afghan government and its beleaguered president>>>
STORY
16-Jun-2008 (8 comments)
Then the guard throws me in the cold room and the metallic sound of the closing door echoes in the darkness. My foot gets stuck to an object and I fall on something warm. It feels like a leg. It’s a room full of black shadows. I can’t see anything. “Hi,” somebody whispers. “Where are you?” I reply. “Who are you? I don’t see you.” Someone moans. Someone else laughs. “He’s crazy,” a voice says. “He isn’t one of us.” I touch the ground. I feel toes, I feel hands, I feel warm skin, and bones. “Someone died last month,” the voice says. Still, I feel like a blind. I don’t see the dead or the living.>>>
STORY
15-Jun-2008
First I took my nightly medication with a sip of water just before I went to bed. If I drink more than a sip, I wake up in the middle of the night for a trip to bathroom and a tormenting insomnia afterward is inevitable. So I’ve learned by experience that water at night epitomizes shattered dreams and painful awakening. After I tucked myself in bed and before closing my eyes, I gazed at the image of myself victoriously parading my prized catch dangling from my fishing line wrapped around my hand.>>>
POETRY
15-Jun-2008 (2 comments)
Hello Majid-Agha, what happen here?
Why is the glass on the front door shattered?
Oh, seek shelter in god, we were held up!
It was a young man and he had a gun
He was wearing a mask
He locked us in and took the money and the keys >>>
Why is the glass on the front door shattered?
Oh, seek shelter in god, we were held up!
It was a young man and he had a gun
He was wearing a mask
He locked us in and took the money and the keys >>>
WRITERS
14-Jun-2008 (5 comments)
Over 60 Iranian American writers and members of the community have gathered to launch the Association of Iranian American Writers (AIAW) at a conference hosted by Professors Nasrin Rahimieh (UC Irvine) and Persis Karim (San Jose State University). Held at the University of California at Irvine and sponsored by the Dr. Samuel M. Jordan Center for Persian Studies and Culture, the event featured panels on topics ranging from fiction in the post-9/11 world to writing contemporary poetry to innovations in self-representation. With more Iranian Americans writing and publishing in English than ever before, the conference was an opportunity for dialogue about issues that are central to the development of what has become a formidable literary force in the US>>>
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IRANIANS OF THE DAY
| Person | About | Day |
|---|---|---|
| نسرین ستوده: زندانی روز | Dec 04 | |
| Saeed Malekpour: Prisoner of the day | Lawyer says death sentence suspended | Dec 03 |
| Majid Tavakoli: Prisoner of the day | Iterview with mother | Dec 02 |
| احسان نراقی: جامعه شناس و نویسنده ۱۳۰۵-۱۳۹۱ | Dec 02 | |
| Nasrin Sotoudeh: Prisoner of the day | 46 days on hunger strike | Dec 01 |
| Nasrin Sotoudeh: Graffiti | In Barcelona | Nov 30 |
| گوهر عشقی: مادر ستار بهشتی | Nov 30 | |
| Abdollah Momeni: Prisoner of the day | Activist denied leave and family visits for 1.5 years | Nov 30 |
| محمد کلالی: یکی از حمله کنندگان به سفارت ایران در برلین | Nov 29 | |
| Habibollah Golparipour: Prisoner of the day | Kurdish Activist on Death Row | Nov 28 |