« March 2007 | Main | May 2007 »

More...
Ceasefire My children are talking again. That is such a relief to me. In their brotherly business, most days they are thick as thieves! They support each other, cover up for each other, and stand up to me or anybody else who is criticizing one of them. But as
More...
I am off for the weekend, ending a hard week. I leave you with the image of a young Iranian woman, dancing at a Nowrooz Celebration this past March in Philadelphia. Isn’t she just beautiful? If you look at all the pictures, you will see better photos of the
More...
It's been a roller-coaster of a week, I'll say. I have gone through what probably is the widest range of emotions someone could have in just a week! You guys must be exhausted just reading about me (and you don't know some of the things I didn't report!). I
More...
Thursday Night My beautiful, gentle, and competent co-worker, Phyllis, died today. I am so sad. She was 60 years old, a quiet, non-pretentious soul. The tragedy that has enveloped us today is because Phyllis lived alone and had not come to work, nor answered her telephone all day yesterday,
More...
I have a friend I have never met, but who is now very dear to me. His name is Ali Tehrani. He is a Ph.D. engineer by profession, and a musician by heart and soul. He has a website in which he painstakingly and lovingly picks poems, writes music,
More...
I had a nice co-worker who left our office and moved to a job in the City a few months ago. In February, he called me to schedule a dinner to “celebrate our new jobs.” Since then, our appointment has been moved around three times by virtue of scheduling
More...
I am writing some technical documentation. I have to interview a co-worker and document the procedures she follows in performing a complicated task. Itchy fingers are writing less-than-original and, well, let’s face it, boring things all day today and tomorrow. If only I could find a way to add
More...
I went to see my friend, Professor Lotfi Zadeh for lunch yesterday (which explains why I was falling asleep in that afternoon meeting). He is so sweet and so alert. He is 86 years old, but you wouldn’t know it looking at him. We talked about politics, the University,
More...
I went to a meeting with the bigwigs. I had prepared my presentation carefully, as my boss and another colleague who knew a lot about the subject could not be there, and I was representing my unit for the first time, feeling anxious that I might say the wrong
More...
My friend’s mother passed away in Mashad. I asked him whether there will be a memorial for her here. I offered to hold a ceremony for his mother at my house, if he likes. He said no. He and his brother want to mourn their mother’s passing in private
More...
If you can’t fix the economy, If you can’t figure out the way to shine in a good light around the globe, If your friends are the least loved people in the world, If you don’t know what to do with the minds that think, If you don’t like
More...
During the last year I lived in Tehran, I was involved in a major environmental activism project to save some trees in northern Tehran neighborhood of Elahieh, where the last trees standing in Tehran lived. It was a valiant effort, and increased much awareness, but our group of a
More...
And continuing on the subject of National Dance Week, I saw these gorgeous photographs on Iranian.com, and am sharing them with you. They are the works of an amazing Iranian woman named Shahla Bebe in Los Angeles, and they are a visual feast. Take a look: http://www.iranian.com/Arts/2007/April/Bebe/index.html If you
More...
This is the first day of the National Dance Week (April 20th-27th). My friend, Aileen, who is a dancer, participated in an improvised dance performance with several other dancers on a street corner in downtown Berkeley this afternoon. It didn't last very long, but it pulled a good crowd,
More...
Dear Faculty, Staff and Students: Today has been declared a Day of Mourning in Virginia. In sympathy with our colleagues at Virginia Tech, we are dedicating today's noon playing of the Campanile to those who died in Monday's tragic events. We ask you all to pause in what you
More...
My head is bursting with a migraine headache. It feels like a ton, and the pain seems to be sending daggers into my eyes. It is a miserable and sorry state to be in if you still have to drag yourself around to tend the multitude of responsibilities to
More...
I arrived early to meet someone at the train station. I pulled into a parking space to wait. I noticed a young couple across the way in a loving embrace by their parked car. All around the world, two people embracing each other like that in a train station
More...

More...
I live and work in a university community, full of the life and energy of its young students. Some days I go to Sproul Plaza at lunch, and sit on a bench and look at the thousands of brilliant young men and women who walk about, talking, laughing, and
More...
Last week I went to see Karim Sadjadpour[1] give a lecture at Berkeley. Karim Sadjadpour is an associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The Religion, Politics, and Globalization Program at UC Berkeley sponsored the event. Sajadpour is an articulate and approachable young man. He presented his analysis
More...

More...
I leave you all with this beautiful image of my amazing young friend, and her friends, dancing on stage in Tehran, during the Fajr Theater Festival's closing ceremonies in Tehran last February. This performance was described as "harakaat nemaayeshi", which is the "Islamic" way of describing dance (raqs). You
More...
I have unpacked most of my books and music. Something about their sitting in those dark tight boxes was bothering me. I set them free, dusted them, and put them on the shelves with love, looking at every one of them, looking inside for reminisces of where, when, and
More...
A few days before Seyyed Ebrahim Nabavi wrote “Dear Hossein, You Are Not an Israeli Spy” in his website, I tried to convey more or less the same message in an article published in Iranian.com. Hossein Derakhshan is not a spy, a traitor, or a snitch, as he has
More...
I don’t watch TV anymore. My kids watch things I don’t like to watch and I get so busy surfing the net for news and such, that there really is no time left to feel bad that I don’t get a chance to watch even five minutes of TV
More...
And since I am usually in a pretty cheerful mood, and today I am obviously overtaken by this rare dark bad mood, I should also take this opportunity to say that I wished the person who keeps calling me and can't understand why I won't return his phone calls
More...
Mani: Hi! Chetori? Mani: Ding Mani: Helllllllllllloooooooooooooo! Mani: Are you there? I have good news. Mani: Ding Mani: Naaaaaaaaaazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzyyyyyyyyyy! Mani: Ding Nazy: Yes, I’m here. Sorry. I was downstairs. I was waiting for you to come online. How are you? What’s the good news? Give it here, I could
More...
I have a project on which I have worked since August. It’s not going my way at all. I’m at that pivotal point where I must surrender, but I don’t want to give up. A small part of what I proposed has been implemented and the rest, which requires
More...
I can’t find anything. My kids can’t find anything, either. Their dilemma is understandable—they didn’t pack anything. My dilemma is three-fold, because I packed for three people and now I don’t know where anything is. I wore strange clothes to work today. Tomorrow isn’t going to be that much
More...
So, O.K. She is not as pretty as Mona Lisa, but could Mona Lisa play music? This one quite obviously could, AND, to look at da Vinci’s Mona Lisa I will have to travel to The Louvre, but this one, she lives with me! Of course like many other
More...
I have officially moved to a new home! More than relocation, the past few days had an amazing amount of reflection time for me. I came face to face with many memories, some of which made me happy, like running into my son’s baby book, complete with his first
More...
Over the next three days, I will be moving into a new home. Though 25 boxes of books, CD’s, plates, and pictures have already been packed and moved, it is glaringly clear now that I am way behind my schedule (and to think that I made a living as
More...
Light Bulbs Nails Picture Hooks Glue White Caulk Duct Tape Ladder ......
More...
I went to listen to Reese Erlich, a famous journalist and author, who was giving a lecture in Berkeley’s School of Journalism last night. He is a very interesting man and is working on a new book about Iran. He is funny and witty and has so much to
More...
Nazy: Salam Hamid Jan. Sale now mobarak! Eid khosh gozasht? Hamid: Salam. Na. Ma aslan eid nadashtim. Na haft sin dashtim, na jaee raftim… Nazy: Ba Pendar ashti kardi? Hamid: Na hanuz…. Nazy: ...... :( .....
More...
This morning at 10:15, Au Coquelet Cafe, Berkeley.
More...
During all the years I have lived in the US, I have taken pains to learn about the people who have so kindly let me live my life here. I pay attention to their traditions and participate whenever I am honored with an invitation. I think a good host
More...
Last Saturday, after sleeping for only 4 hours, my son woke me up at 7:00 a.m., frantic with worry because we had overslept. I had to drive him to the train station. We took longer than expected to leave, so at 7:25, thinking that I will just have to
More...

More...
I wrote this last Friday, but with the move and all, couldn't get it posted. http://www.iranian.com/Kaviani/2007/April/Farahbakhsh/index.html Over the past few months, I have come to know a name I had never heard before, Ali Farahbakhsh. While everyone was hoping to see him finally freed, this young Iranian journalist, who
More...