Arts and Literature

باران سنگ

کوچه را باران سنگ است
و هوای خاطره خالیست،
غباری در میانه و
انسانی‌در برابر،
چراغ "فریضه" بیدار است!
و شعله‌های گناه
که در هوای نفس جاریست >>>

If she was alive now

Discussing an article we had read about the Iranian legendary singer, Ghamar-ol-Mokook, my friend said, “I wonder what would happen if she were alive today?” Indeed. What would happen to a great performer, a lover of music, not to mention a woman with Ghamar’s free spirit in the Islamic Iran? The thought wouldn’t leave me for the rest of the day. In a twisted way, I realized that she did live in today’s Iran, albeit a hundred years ago! The article clearly indicated to such fact. “In those days, any woman without a proper hejab would be arrested.”>>>

خالی بندان

مسافرانی که از فلات ایندولند میگذشتند آوازه خالیبندی ایندولندی ها را به سراسر جهان می بردند. خالی بندی درایندولند تبدیل به روش موفقی در ارتباطات گردید. پادشاهان ایندولندی بر سنگ نوشته های زیادی داستان هایی از پیروزیهای خود را نوشتند که بعد ها ثابت گردید هیچکدام درست نبوده و بیشتر خالی بندی شاهانه اند تا حقیقت. برخی از این سنگ نوشته ها هم بعد از شکست های موهن بوده و پادشاهان ایندولندی برای اینکه ایز گم کنند، خود را پیروز میدان معرفی میکردند>>>

فاصله های بعید

زیر سیگاری را از روی میز بغلی ام برداشتم و با کبریت سیگار گربه را روشن کردم. همان طور که دود بالای سرش درست می کرد رو به من کرد و گفت: رفیق جان باید فکری به حال سقف خانه بکنیم چند روز است که چکه می کند. اگر مارسیا بود به کمک پرنده ها حتما چکه اش را درست می کرد.>>>

Scriptures and Science

Those who search and often find scientific facts and nuggets in scriptures are not aware of the absurdity of their claims. For the simple reason that these books are ancient and having been written thousands of years ago can not keep up with ever changing of scientific paradigms. Despite the fact that our phenomenological understanding of nature remains the same (water is always wet, fire burns, sun is bright yellow, etc) our theoretical understanding evolves with time>>>

Dancing Alone

Dancing alone in your kitchen
Why do you do it, ma belle?
Why so alone, all alonely?
You move with the music so well.
Up to the sink
Back to the stove
Spoon in the pot, stir, stir >>>

وطنم ، دخترم

قلب من می دهد گواهی ها
می رود این همه سیاهی ها

می رسد صبح سبز وروشن، باز
می شود روزِ نازنین،آغاز >>>

Half and Half

There is a dark cloud
Looming over you
Fair weather is out of sight
But I won’t forget you
Not even for a moment >>>

In Defense of English

As far back as January 9 1978 native English speakers used the word “Farsi” to denote the language spoken in Iran. I make this assertion because I contacted the Library of Congress for references to the word “Farsi” in general interest American newspapers prior to the 1979 Iranian revolution. The top image above is of page E10 of the Chicago Tribune dated January 9 1978. The writer says in the column on Iran, “The official language, Farsi, is spoken by only about 60% of the people.”>>>

Tehran Zoo

...>>>

Falling short

The author decided to write this book when the events of September 11, 2001, created a distorted image of the life aspirations and loyalties of Muslim-Americans in the minds of many. This is clearly a worthy goal that has been addressed by other writers, and filmmakers, with mixed results. The author approaches her subject by presenting the life stories of 12 individuals: 7 women, 5 men. Those chosen include the author herself, her husband, and several very close friends. As such, these 12 people do not represent an unbiased cross-section of the Muslim-American community>>>

There's nothing like it

I wish people would stop comparing Namjoo to Bob Dylan. As much as I love and enjoy Bob's music I do not find this a fair comparison. To start with, Namjoo has a great voice that poor Bob could only sound like in his dreams. Also, Bob followed a musical path that Woody Guthrie had paved before his death in 1931, and then entered Woodstock’s highway to fame. Namjoo has created his own style of music against all odds. He learned different styles of music, before fusing them in to what he presents to us today>>>

قصه تنهائی ما

پیرمر د را لقمه نانی بدهیم
بیمار را شفائی بخریم
و بدانیم
خدا در درون ما آدم ها
عشق را جاری کرد >>>

Farsi or Persian? Again.

Within the past few years there has been a tendency to replace the adjective "Persian" by "Farsi" when it refers to the Persian language. The practice seems to have originated within the Iranian community in the United States and out of good will. However, the provenance and the initial intention are not important, as the practice has backfired and developed into a widespread usage that is detrimental to the status of Persian language and literature. Quite often we come across absurd combinations of the two alternatives, such as "BBC Persian Section broadcast this item of news in its Farsi programme">>>

فردوسی منتقد نه ناسیونالیست

فردوسی این باور رایج را كه شاه چون فره ایزدی دارد و به اصطلاح سایه یا نماینده‌ی خداست با انتقادگرائی روشنی كه در برابر مفاسد برخی پادشاهان بزرگ مانند كیكاووس و گشتاسب بكار می‌گیرد متزلزل می‌كند و از عمومیت می‌اندازد. انتقادگرائی شاهنامه نه تنها پرده‌ی ابهام را از روی خشونت‌ها و مفاسد برخی پادشاهان كنار می‌زند بلكه نقطه‌ ضعف‌های رستم را نیز برای خواننده برجسته می‌كند>>>