Archive - Oct 22, 2010 - Article

I believe in Dog

Most of us have been taught to stay away from discussing politics and religion, so as not to disturb the dinner guests. Well, as most of you know, I've been covering politics for so long I can barely discuss anything else. And the freedom Time Goes By gives me in writing these little essays compels me to confess that I do not recall when it was that I came out of the closet. That's when I acknowledged that I'm an atheist, that I do not believe there is a God. In fact I don't know why I capitalized the "G." Although it may be blasphemous, I have had a bumper sticker that says, "I believe in Dog...">>>

واکسن کُشنده

آقای خامنه‌ای در سفر قم گفته است که «فتنه ۸۸ ... موجب واكسينه شدن كشور و مردم در مقابل ميكروب‌های سياسی و اجتماعی» شده است. در این که جنبش سبز که او آن را «فتنه» می‌نامد شوک بی‌سابقه‌ای به پیکره نظام حاکم وارد کرده بحثی نیست. ميكروب‌های سياسی و اجتماعی‌ای که او از آن‌ها یاد می‌کند نیز در فرهنگ حاکمیت شناخته شده است. این میکروب‌ها چیزی جز آزادی، دموکراسی، نفی تبعیض، آزاداندیشی، حقوق بشر و مفاهیمی از این قبیل نیستند>>>

از شیلی تا جمکران

عالیجناب رئیس سباستیان پینیـِرا اِکنیکه: مشاهده آن متـّه عظیم شما که صدها گَز سنگ کوه را سوراخ کرده و به صورت چاهی به محل عمله های معدنچی رسید، هیئت دولت منتظرالظهور ما را اجماعاً به به این فکر انداخت که ما نیز با استفاده از این متـّه محیّرالعقول، چاه جمکران را عمیق تر کرده و با رسیدن به آقایمان مهدی (عج) علّت تاٌخیر حضرتشان را جویا شویم>>>

Henning - Taqizadeh Letter

During my visit to Tehran in the summer of 1999, Iraj Afshar showed me a series of letters between the great Iranist, W.B. Henning and the Iranian scholar and statesman S.H. Taqizadeh. He asked me what can be done with these letters and whether they were important enough to be published. After looking through the correspondences I realized that they are important as they shed light on a discipline that I was educated in. While there are many stories circulating about the great Iranists and Orientalists, very little has been done on the history of the discipline and the role of those involved in the progress of Iranian Studies>>>

The Sins of Parenthood

My son is a natural musician. Not like the ones who take instructions and occasionally stop their routine to practice, but the kind who are forced to stop their music so that they may tend to what the rest of us call life. Towards the end of senior year, he was overwhelmed to be admitted to Berklee School of Music in Boston, his dreamland. Following the example of concerned parents, and proud of our left-brain deficiency, we insisted that he earn his BA and major in a mainstream subject, just in case he should ever need a desk job>>>