Diaspora

Infinity

Writers often talk about the urge to write their sudden inspirations on whatever comes handy, and frankly, I don’t really care to know how many bestsellers were conceived on a roll of toilet paper. I never experienced such urge, at least not until 4:00 a.m. this morning. Amid allergies that made breathing impossible and reminded me of imminent mortality, a sudden discovery flashed in my mind. Millions of visions of what may come once we die appeared before me, none of which had to do with sorrow, fear, or even regret. In fact, it was a most optimistic moment, so uplifting that by 4:11 I was out of bed and at my computer.>>>

To go or not to go

I don’t know maybe I have some serious mental problems, I mean, there are other young Iranians here who are all too bikhiyaal and haven’t been to Iran for years. When I ask them if they miss it at all they shrug and say the old “I miss my family I guess”. Or maybe it’s because everytime I go back, I have such a good time with baahaal people and then come back here to this boring, soccer-crazy, whisky-drinking freckled-faced, freak of a country. I don’t know. I asked my mamman about it a couple of days ago and she said the same old “you just think it’s like that because you were there for a short time” crap. Which may be true for some people but not me.>>>

آه، کلادیوسِ ایرانی، کجایی؟!

هنگام خواندن صفحات زرین زندگی کالیگولا، بعضی تشبهاتِ او و دکترِ عزیزمان احمدی نژاد، توجه ام را جلب نمود! هر دو مدت زمانی را در ارتش (سپاه) گذراندند. هر دو در آغاز قدرت، قول رفاه و عدالت دادند. هر دو در آغاز سخاوتمندی بسیاری (به خصوص به نیروهای نظامی) نشان دادند. هر دو بعد از مدت کوتاهی، نشانه هایی از ضعف و عدم تعادل روانی نشان دادند (اعمالی که به سادگی قابلِ توجیهِ منطقی نبود)! و بالاخره، به نظر می رسد که احمدی نژاد جان هم، مثل کالیگولا، فقط چهار سال در قدرت بماند! جالب تر از همه اینکه، احمدی نژاد هم در تلاش دادن درجۀ کنسول به اسبهاست >>>

There is something special happening here

At times, the crowd’s noise overwhelmed the huge amplifiers and the sound system. It was unbelievable! There was a lot of good energy but it seemed that Kiosk didn’t expect such an active crowd and lost focus here and there. Overall, they played very well and performed the songs different from their studio version. There were very good solo performances by almost all of the band members, especially Babak who knocked the socks off the crowd with his guitar solos.>>>

Benedictus

Only 72 hours before a scheduled US attack on Iran. Two estranged childhood friends, one Jewish and one Muslim, born in the same town in Iran, agree to a secret meeting in a Benedictine monastery in Rome to negotiate a price for safety and freedom. The above synopsis is the main plot for the upcoming play Benedictus, an ambitious international collaboration between artists from Iran, Israel and the United States. The collaborators -- Motti Lerner, one of Israel's most provocative contemporary playwrights; Torange Yeghiazarian, Artistic Director of Golden Thread Productions in San Francisco; Iranian-American director Mahmood Karimi-Hakak of Siena College... >>>

My real Iranian

Forty-three days ago, my wife and I buried our only son. Although he was a teenager, he was our baby. He was his mother's bright and shining angel and he was my best friend. I feel so broken and empty because now that I have had time to replay his short life in my mind a hundred thousand times, I don't think that I told him enough just how much I loved him and how very much he meant to me. The thing that hurts the most is that I know that there's nothing I can ever do to change any of that now. If God would give me just an hour to sit with my son and tell him goodbye, I would be willing to pay any price, but I know that is not going to happen.>>>

End of the world

I asked the young Russian woman who was my translator whether they were saying anything about Ahmad Shah Massoud’s health after the explosion. She listened and said: “Some say he is still alive. Americans say he is dead.” In the afternoon, as we were driving back into the city, I asked her again if there was any news about Ahmad Shah Massoud. She listened and said: “No news about Shah Massoud. But they say an airplane ran into the World Trade Center in New York.” I didn’t believe her. She had made some mistakes with her English earlier that week, and I was sure she didn’t know what she was talking about. She was quiet and I kept quiet, too.>>>

Then and now

Much has happened in the world since September 11th, 2001. For one the terrorists seem to be winning the war on terror. They are more prominent, more popular and more active than before. They now have a new base in Iraq and “the liberation” of Afghanistan and Iraq is nothing but a joke. Iran was the only victor in the war with Iraq. The U.S. did such a bad job of occupying Iraq that anyone, like Ahmadinejad, who resists her in the region is deemed a hero. The Americans learned the hard way that it was much more difficult to bomb an ideology or a belief system than cities, towns and villages. The U.S. and her allies found out that unlike Saddam Hussein, fundamentalist Islam cannot be chased out of its entrenchment with guns.>>>

Wrap it right

One has to have nerves made of copper wires to unwrap some of these holiday gift packages imported from China. These packages are put together in such a way to withstand the elements, constant mishandling by porters, impacts against cargo containers, and onslaught of buyers who constantly try to inspect the items before purchasing them. Let’s be honest, when was the last time you purchased an item that was already manhandled. Somehow, we don’t like to buy things when their wrappings have been torn already. There must be a sociological reason for this, maybe fear of missing parts, I suppose. >>>

Nature's oasis

"What is so special about your flowers?" I ask. "Je besoin (I need) le nature," she replied eagerly. When I was a small child, I used to visit the Jura (mountains) and I took in the colors of the flowers. They gave me a kind of therapeutic feeling. I tried to bring this organic calmness to this village we call Geneva." Nicole enlightened me with stories of her youth, free in the mountains, surrounded by a bounty of soft flowers. She explained how privileged she was to be able to spend every day these past six years seeing, touching and breathing flowers. >>>

شرافت کاری و اخلاق حرفه ای

حسین درخشان ...دست به جعل زده است و از خود چیزی ساخته و به من بسته است. برای من جالب است که کسی که فحاشی مردم را به خود منتشر می کند تا مثلا آزادمنشی خود را به رخ بکشد تذکر حقوقی مرا ادیت می کند. او نگران است که روشهای غیراخلاقی اش با نقد حقوقی و اخلاقی همان اندک تاثیری را هم که ممکن است در بعضی اذهان داشته باشد از دست بدهد. بسیار با معنی است که او اگر هر کامنتی در هر جای وب بر خلاف خواست و نفع او باشد رسما می نویسد و اعتراض می کند و خواهان برداشتن آن می شود اما کامنتی را که در برابر رفتار ناجوانمردانه او گذاشته می شود و در آن هیج اصلی از آزادی بیان و احترام به مخاطب مخدوش نشده کوتاه می کند.>>>