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Your Sound, Your space

Eid nights I sat listening and watching, like so many
Iranians across the country
To our smooth shaved and small-nosed "brethren" in Los
Angeles and their last minute Pari rice plug on
television
Wheat grass planted in the late winter
My aunt, my second cousin, my parents
Look for every possible last-minute ingredient
the white fish and green rice could possibly need >>>

Three Kings

I watched the PBS documentary on the three kings and their travels to Bethlehem. Although well presented, it is interesting to note how much one's perspective, in this case the Christian world view, clouds the lens. Before I start, let me assure you that in no way I'm making parallels to the current situation, countries or people. These events occurred when the world was a different place altogether. That the travelers came from Persia, that they were Zoroastrian Magi following a dream interpretation, conjectured the astrological heavens and brought gifts is straightforward. But the historical setting was touched upon gently. The impression that these priests were acting on their own or at least in isolation, however, is not plausible.>>>

مسالهء خرافات

باید پرسید که چرا مخالفان دین بهائی که مقام و قدرت و منبر و رزق یومی خود را در خطر می دیدند دست به دامن نقد چپ شدند و از آن زاویه به دین بهائی حمله کردند. البته دلیل آن آشکار است و چاره ای دیگر نیز نداشتند. بهائی ستیزان شیعه چون در بحثهای پایه و فلسفه دین و آموزه های اجتماعی کم آوردند و بی پایی آنان برای خودشان آشکار شده بود ناچار به دست آویزی الهام گرفته از چپ به عنوان آخرین راه نجات خود دل بستند. از این رو بود که گندم نماهای جو فروش با تقلید از آن نقدها کوشیدند مردم را از آموزه های بهائی که راهکارهای اساسی برای زنده کردن ایران و پاک کردن آن از لوث خرافات مطرح می کرد دور نگاه دارند. >>>

Wanting more out of life

The novel takes place in revolutionary times, in fact about a couple of years after the Islamic Revolution of 1979. It was the time that major aspects of the society underwent pretty drastic transformations. Attacks on basic freedoms of the people had already started and the mere audacity of the regime to go places that no other dictatorship had gone before (to borrow from Star Trek) had created a funny and ironic situation. People couldn't believe that not only were they not getting the things for which they had fought so hard, but they were losing some of the things that they had pretty much taken for granted for such a long time. That gave people sort of that deer caught in the headlights look. It was the time of major interruptions in the people's lives>>>

Interruptions

Farzin Rouhani would remember the last day of spring 1981 as the first time reality warped. He would recall that Tehran’s air was so hot and immobile a dropped feather fell like a rock. By then he had developed the habit of going over to see Bijan in his apartment halfway across town. Farzin had the route memorized by then. Turn the corner from Vali-e Asr onto Shaheed Beheshti Avenue, and he would be but five blocks away from wicked bliss. Only on June 20, 1981, the baking street indulged more people than usual, and the sun staked sharp streaks of pain into his skull. The heat was treacherous, dry, and scorching. >>>

PandaHeat

Stepping out of the shower and drying, I stare at my nakedness in the steamy mirror and admit with a shy but satisfied smile: Pirooz, you were a dirty old man when you were born, and you will be a naughty boy when you die. I have always been a victim of my passions, not only the passion of my loins, mind you, but also the passion of my mind. From my untimely pre-pubescent erection in the women's bathhouse in my native Tehran, when I was just five years old -- I will tell you about that later --to my current basketful of predicaments here at Ohio Eastern, where I have landed as a Professor of Political Economy. >>>

گفتگوی حسین درخشان با کیهان خیالی

حسین، جواني است پرنشاط و کلّه شق، سخت كوش، غیر فداكار و غیر وفادار ولی کمی باهوش... از دوران بچّگی در مکتبخانهء نیکان در جوار فرزندان بزرگان نظام پرورش یافت و آیت الله ... در نخستین فراش، برایش صیغه عقد جاری کرد، امّا بدلیل همان نا پختگی های جوانی، غیر وفاداری و کلّه شقی مفرط، دل از دامان اسلام برید و به آغوش باز فرهنگ غرب رفت؛ حسین درخشان نویسنده جلد دوّم کتاب «ناتوی فرهنگی» قرار است به جمع ما در کیهان بپیوندد، از نبوغ و هوش او در این فضای مجازی کسی نیست که چیزی نداند>>>

I am going to break these walls

I am going to break these walls
I am going to be the fuel of fire
Watch me dancing seductively
I am the flame of a wild burning candle
These nights are begging…
Begging for my heat

These long kept emotions are begging
Begging for me to set them free >>>

Me and Persian businesses

Persian culture has never ceased to surprise me. Ever since I came to Los Angeles, the number of such cases has increased exponentially!!! And so has been the fun of ever increasing shock! When I first came to Los Angeles, I learned that Iranians are an integral part of the business in the society. Any normal person would think:” Oh wonderful! I'm sure people of my land are more sympathetic, as we experience the same feelings in exile.“ Alas I was so damned wrong! I don’t want to bore you by going through the details of my unfortunate events with Iranian-based businesses, so I confine myself to the world of beautification.>>>

بالاخره روسپیان مارکز قربانی شدند

اخرین کتاب مارکز در سال 2004 با سر و صدای فراوان در نماشگاه کتاب بوگوتا در کلمبیا رونمائی شد هرچند از یکی دو روز قبل از آن میشد نسخه قاچاق آنرا با دو سه هزار پزو ارزان تر در مرکز شهربوگوتا از دست فروش ها خرید. کتابی است حدود صدو چند صفحه که روایت عشق پیرانه سر مردی نود ساله است به جمال معشوقی نو جوان و باکره و اثرات این عشق در زندگی به بیراهه رفته او. نوعی عرفان یادآور شیخ صنعان عطار است البته به زبان مارکز و ذهنیت کارائیبی او و لزومی به تاکید نیست که مارکز\ پورنونویس نیست.>>>

Uncertain future

For the past few months, a plan has been going around in the Presidential Office in Kabul, as well as the corridors of certain Western foreign ministries. Some Western countries have reached this conclusion that they must sit at the negotiating table with Taliban in Afghanistan, and reintegrate some of the more moderate forces of this group into the current Afghani government’s political structure. The officials of these western nations have even succeeded in convincing Afghanistan’s President, Hamed Karzai, to consider this plan. Britain is possibly at the forefront of designing and promoting this plan>>>

How time flies

...>>>

Subprime loans, my foot!

That subprime fiasco, which is likely to mount losses between one-half and one trillion dollars, is just a small part of the true real estate problem which little by little is starting to take shape; a problem that Wall Street, politicians, economists, and the public at large have been unwilling to talk about, much less confront. And that is, the multi-trillion dollar excess valuation of real estate in the nation, in both residential and commercial markets; something which for the next 3 to 5 years, at a minimum, will have the US immersed in a recession, a modified version of the one experienced in Japan throughout the 90's and the first 2 years of the new millennium.>>>

بهنود، کیهان، آوینی

راستش نامردی است اگر درباره‌ی اتهاماتی که کهیان چند روز است با بی‌انصافی و بی‌احتیاطی محض به یک سری از آدم‌هایی که با آنها مخالف است می‌زند، سکوت کنم. نه تنها بخاطر اینکه با یک سری از این افراد نشست و برخاست یا دوستی داشته‌ام، بلکه بخاطر اینکه اصل نقدش را که در خیلی جاها هم موجه است منحرف می‌کند. من مدتهاست آقای مسعود بهنود را ندیده‌ام و هر چه هم گذشته است و من از آن ذهنیت حزبی و ساده‌انگارانه‌ و غیر انتقادی خودم دور شده ام با او و همفکرانش اختلاف فکری‌ام زاویه‌ی بیشتری گرفته اس>>>

Being Iranian.com

When a site grows as large as Iranian.com, it is only a matter of time before some archive rat comes along to dig out long-forgotten pieces to see the light of day again. And what the rat drags out we will call “Best of Iranian.com.” This archive rat started digging in 2006. My idea was to put together a “Best of…” covering the site to the end of that year – which I did. By 2007 the new site was going to be up and running “any day” and it made sense to wait and inaugurate “Best of…” in the new site. Well… that took a while. >>>