Inside and out

I think a woman is beautiful inside and out. We do not have to be a beauty queen to be beautiful. We are strong, intelligent, hard working, compassionate, caring, energetic, assertive, and so on. We have an openness, agreeableness, extraversion and positive conscientiousness about us that if raised in a non nulling environment at school and at home will be brought out. I do not see the majority of women as neurotic. However, if they are raised in an authoritarian, nulling environment, and patriarchal family I can show you a neurotic individual regardless of gender.>>>

عقل، دین و خشونت

پاپ بندیکت شانزدهم (کاردینال راتزینگر سابق) در سخنرانی پارسال خود ( تحت عنوان ایمان، عقل و دانشگاه) در روزنبرگ تلازمی بین دین غیر عقلانی (به زعم او: اسلام) و خشونت دینی قائل شد. فحوای این سخنرانی بخودی خود اسلام را به چالش میخواند ولی آنچه موجب بر انگیختن احساسات فراوان شد اشاره او به امپراطور بیزانسی مانوئل پالیو لوگوس دوم (1350-1425 میلادی) بود که علی ما نُقِل در مباحثه ای (که به سبک رایچ در تمدن یونانی بشکل دیالوگ نوشته شده و واقعیت تاریخی آن محل تشکیک است) به یک عالم مسلمان ایرانی میگوید: >>>

Democratic culture

Finding itself in a new environment, the women’s movement had to look for new tactics and strategies compatible to the narrow avenues available within a theocratic system. Under such circumstances, the movement found success galvanizing support around grievances affecting a broad array of the female population—not simply single constituency issues. Given that women comprise nearly half of the Iranian population, relying on group identity and grievances offered a smart approach to building solidarity and mobilization. Issues such as custody for children, the right to divorce, legal equality, and opposition to violence against women were as important to secular, educated middle-class women as to poor, conservative, and working women.>>>

Supermodel terrorist

The US’s recent mega-sale of arms to Saudi Arabia seems to have made the whispers of bombing Iran grow louder, but so have Iranian-Americans in their pursuance of the “American Dream”. Realizing the trance of opportunity and freedom that brought them to the US in the first place, Iranian-Americans are arriving on a multitude of industries with great amplitude. Kayvon Zand, a surging model, musician, and promising supplementary to the eruption of current young Iranian-American artists making a name in their niche, is a witty superstar in the making. With his bewitching lucent-azure eyes and original style, Kayvon should be on everyone’s watch list.>>>

Chef groupie

On occasion, I’m sometimes asked by certain Chefs or my industry peers to review a restaurant, or act as a Mystery Customer and review a restaurant for it’s food and service etc. Try and visualise a hot-tempered Chef asking you to go ‘undercover’ to review his own food! Surely it’s a contradiction in terms, but foolishly, I seem to always accept! I find the challenge lies in phrasing the review carefully, so not to infuriate the Chef, but get my point across. (I feel another skill listing coming on for my Resume... “Shabnam the Diplomat”) And I didn’t even have to study politics to get it!>>>

Javoonaa

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Caspian rain

FROM THE STREET, all you can see is the red brick wall that surrounds the garden, the giant mulberry and persimmon trees, and the top floor of the house, which rises higher than the wall. Inside are three bedrooms, a living room with a gold-leaf painted ceiling, a dining room with a round balcony that overlooks the yard. There are porcelain tubs in the bathrooms, a fireplace in the kitchen, sunlight everywhere you look: all the doors, even the one leading into the kitchen, are made of etched and mirrored glass. They reflect not only the inside of each room and the light from all the windows, but also the images cast in the other doors -- creating an endless echo of shapes and colors that go on for as far as the eye can see.>>>

Only option

For more than 3 years now, the same arguments have been traded and recycled in US policy talking/making circles regarding Iran's nuclear program and what must be done to stop it. Most "analyzes" go something like this: Iran can't have nuclear weapons because it would upset the balance of power in the Middle East (thus revoking Israel's cart blanche uses of force against whomever, wherever), would trigger an arms race (in which arms dealers would make a killing), and would destabilize the entire region (since it is so stable right now in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Lebanon, etc...). The conversation has boiled down to 3 options--do nothing, attack Iran, or sanction now and try to negotiate. Two of which are pointless in my opinion (guess which ones!), leaving only one viable option on the table.>>>

What matters is her work

This is the second time in as many months that someone has written a piece attacking poor Parsipur and defending Mahshid Amirshahi on the grounds of the former's personal opinions on certain issues. Grow up, people. And this nonsense is coming from individuals obviously living abroad. Who cares what a writer thinks about this or that issue, what matters is her work. If we were to disqualify writers and filmmakers and poets based on their politics or positions on social issues then T.S. Elliot or Ezra Pound should never be read.>>>

Coming to getcha

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Time traveler’s nightmare

Sometimes a loss is best left alone because looking back may entail a whole new defeat we can no longer handle. That’s how I felt when I visited Turkey, a land with an uncanny resemblance to Iran of forty years ago>>>

Juvie court

Today is my first time appearing at Juvenile Court. Juvenile Court or "Juvie", as some in-crowd criminal defense attorneys call it, is different than a regular courtroom. This one especially is a trip... it's next to a golf course and looks like an elementary school>>>