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My phone display says: Unknown Caller. Most definitely, it’s a call from Tehran. I’m paralyzed with the desire to pick up and talk to a loved one, and the anxiety of what I might hear. I wished I wouldn’t get some of those phone calls from Tehran. I wished
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Without a doubt, Si-o-Seh Pol (which means “33 Bridges”) over Zayandeh River in Isfahan, is one of the most prized national monuments of Iran, a feat of architecture of its own time (built in 1602). Since I was a child and went to visit my aunt and uncle and
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I saw that picture of Mohsen Makhmalbaf and his daughter, Samira, on Radio Zamaneh's "Today's Photograph" section (Akse Emrooz), showing them at the Cannes Film Festival. I suppose by entitling the photograph "Makhmalbaf in 2007," someone wanted to bring attention to how his appearance has changed over the years,
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It’s a cool day in Berkeley, with the typical morning fog gone, and the sun breaking out. Instead of eating lunch, I took a walk around the block to burn about ten of the 50,000 calories I took in this weekend, as my sisters and I took turns to
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Today is Memorial Day in the US. This is the day those who died in wars are remembered. This is a picture of a memorial site in Lafayette, California, remembering all those who have died in Iraq war. As I pulled into the train station parking lot across the
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“Everybody, when they are young, knows what their personal legend is. They yearn for everything they would like to see happen to them. But as time passes, a mysterious force begins to convince them that it will be impossible for them to realize their personal legend. The mysterious force is
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I am off for the weekend, excited to be seeing members of my family after a long time. I found my way to the blog of a dancer who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and specializes in Tajik, Afghan, Uzbek, and Iranian dances. Her name is Aliah
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Well, honored as I am to have been invited by Leva, I now realize what a tough assignment this is! People who have affected my life in profound ways are: Thirty eight people in my immediate family, starting with my parents, who present the mosaic of my identity, all
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Last December*, my friend Kathy and I went to see Eva Yerbabuena Ballet Flamenco perform in Bereley’s Zellerbach. Certainly, as beautiful and moving as I find the flamenco, I understand that appreciating it is an acquired taste. I love the music, which is sad and sweet and full of
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Sweet Leva has invited me to participate in the newest Iranian bloggers' game. I am honored and touched, as I have never been invited to any such thing! For those of you who don't know how this works, a blogger (has to be one of the better-established ones for
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My piece on Identity was published in Iranian.com yesterday. (And at this very moment, quite inadvertently, I just learned how to create a hyperlink! I am so excited! I am ashamed it was so easy, though! That's great--at the dast-afshani & paikoobi levels!).
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I can feel your body When I'm lying in bed There's too much confusion Going around through my head And it makes me so angry To know that the flame still burns Why can't I get over? When will I ever learn? Old love, leave me alone Old love,
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Continuing to seek refuge in images and thoughts that look familiar......This is a picture of Rasht Bazaar--one of the most wonderful places in the world for me. Though I am not Rashti, as you know by now, I am a self-sanctioned "Honarary Rashti," having travelled there tens of times.
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Venus On Hafte Tir Square Crushed, smashed Then vanished from my chest This pain that grows in me I turned a page or two Looking for a relief in words foreign to my soul I looked for you In the greenish ink you’ve never written me with What I
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من زنی با تفکرات حاد فیمینستی نیستم. من از غائله می ترسم. من مانتوی گشاد می پوشم و آرایش نمی کنم. من دلم نمی خواهد کسی از این مردان یا زنان در خیابان آزارم بدهد اما من یک مادرم. چطور می شود نبینم چیزی را که سلامت بچه ام
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I think pictures can be so powerful. If ever I see a disturbing picture, the image haunts me for days. I have brave blogger friends who post pictures and videos of people being tortured, stoned, and executed all the time. I can’t bear to look at them, because I
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My heart weeps and my eyes won't close at night. I feel like the whole world's weight is on my shoulders, pulling me down, keeping me from taking one more step ahead. Who that girl is matters not. She could be me; she could be my daughter, my sister,
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It was an amazing weekend. The performance on Saturday night was AWESOME, and just as soon as I have photographs (which a kind-hearted gentleman in the audience said he would send me, as I had forgotten my clunky camera), I will write about it. I finished my Danny Postel
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Last week I had tea with Hamed Nikpay, a brilliant young Iranian musician, who lives in Northern California. I would very much like to tell you about him, but I have to wait for a piece I wrote on him to be published first. Here's his website if you
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The Ahanchi works are mounted on the wall now. Seeing the pure joy I feel in having the works around me, my children have reacted jovially, having finally understood what it means to be a Hamadani-Tehrani-Iranian-American in their mother. I look at the artwork with happiness and pride. I
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I am off for the weekend. I leave you with the image of hands raised in dance, speaking volumes of words and poetry, I believe*. I hope to be able to go to a special music and dance performance tomorrow night. It is called “Bridges,” and in its announcement
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Eight months ago, I asked my friend who runs a successful interior decorating business in Tehran, whether he could locate any Ahanchi works. Shortly thereafter, I received an email with two pictures as enclosures. One of them was another copy of the same Ahanchi work in my home in
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This is the documentary I went to see last weekend. I use the movie poster for their San Diego showing because, a) I am ashamed to say that Berkeley Lecture Series (in which I am a member) did not have a flyer for the event (nor any other event
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Source: http://www.salamiran.org/CT/Tourism/Map/hamadan/
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Source: http://www.persia.org/imagemap/hamedan.html
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I lived in Tehran and got used to being a Hamadani-Tehrani Iranian. Through a succession of events, I came to know an artist named Mehdi Ahanchi. Ahanchi creates impressive works of art by combining copper and cold ceramic, covering the entire creation with polyester glaze. He is considered a
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Our weather has been very strange this week. Take a look at what it looked like around 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday on Berkeley’s University Avenue, looking at the fog-covered Berkeley Hills-- a day as cold as a winter day! The other picture was taken this morning at around 11:00
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I have learned that we live again through our children. As they learn and grow, so do we. Our children provide us with a full-length mirror, in which we see ourselves again. Our pretenses and half-truths about ourselves come head to head with reality in our children’s presence. It
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I was born in Amirieh neighborhood of Tehran. Before my first birthday, my parents moved us into a huge villa style house in suburban Tehran. I grew up in that suburb of Tehran, attended schools nearby and eventually went to Kharazmi High School from which I graduated. I was
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Where else in the world would you see such a prominent sign on the road, giving you advice about life? I believe that instead of trying to be what we once were and will never be again in the history, as Iranians we should try to appreciate the things
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When I bought the house, my wonderful realtor gave me a gift—a handyman’s services for a few hours to help me do the harder fix-ups and tasks around the house. I worked it out with her to send the guy, a Vietnamese man named Ken, to my home on
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(a.k.a. karevani az sher o moosighi) The boys and I listened to Marvin Gaye this weekend. I love his song Heard it through the grapevine. It is such a soulful song and I never get tired of it, not to mention the fact that once upon a time when
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This is a picture of Sama*, the spiritual dance of what is now widely referred to in the West as “whirling dervishes.” A few years ago, I made the pilgrimage to Konya (Ghouniyeh) in Turkey to attend the annual Resurrection (orooj) ceremonies of Molana (better known as Rumi in
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I dreamt of you and Baba again. You were both all dressed up again, going to yet another party! You both seemed in good health and good spirit, as you always do in my dreams. Something exciting is always happening around the two of you in my dreams, as
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I stayed up late working on some volunteer material with a deadline, and had to wake up early to get ready and get the boys off to work. I also had an appointment with my good friend, Nahid, first thing in the morning. I had begged her to come
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I forgot to ask my blogger friends if this was a significant thing, like an 18th birthday or something, because it certainly feels special to me! Well, it isn’t really my 100th post, because one time by mistake I deleted a bunch of things I had written in December
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Today I had to run to San Francisco Airport to pick up a dear package, containing two works of art for which I have been waiting for months (I will say no more, because I want to tell you about it in a happy piece soon, containing pictures, words,
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I am working on a hard speech for Miss Phyllis’ memorial service which will be tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. I have already started writing it, but will continue working on it tonight. I so want to do a good job for my friend, and I hope it is a
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At the last hours of the weekend, I went to see Spiderman III with my sons. As young boys born in the US, exposure to comic heroes is inevitable and begins at a very early age. Spiderman has had a presence in our family’s imagination and dialogue for as
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A friend of mine is going through a divorce. Mature and brave as he sounds in the decision he and his partner have made, I cannot help but notice the agony he seems to be experiencing. This agony presents itself as an occasional short remark, or the way he
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Women dancing at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance. It has been a hard couple of weeks. I have been a little depressed, a little confused, a little under the weather, and very lucky, as I had a major car accident yesterday and along with the guy in the
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My sons are on a train to work. My younger son calls me. The minute I pick up the phone I realize I am on his speaker—a bad sign, which means that they are having an argument and I have been called as a referee, and they don’t trust
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شام ونهار نداریم..................جاش میخوریم کیک زرد Photo by Jahanshah Javid ( http://www.iranian.com/JahanshahJavid/2007/May/Concert/73.html)
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خط سهراب سپهري «. . . آدم چه دير مي‌فهمد. من چه دير فهميدم که انسان يعني عجالتا.» From: http://www.parand.se
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He continues to remain imprisoned after five months. Let's not forget about him. Here's my previous post and article about him: http://nazykaviani.blogspot.com/2007/04/for-ali-farahbakhsh.html Photo from Hanif Mazrooee Blog: http://hanif.ir/
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Former President, and Noble Peace Prize Laureate Jimmy Carter came to Berkeley this afternoon. He was promoting his new book: Palestine Peace Not Apartheid. In a packed Zellerbach Auditorium, he talked to an audience of mostly students (only 150 seats were made available to faculty and staff). He received
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I stepped out to go to lunch, and I noticed that just outside our office building the police had closed the streets leading to Berkeley City Hall. I looked across, and found a group of demonstrators standing near the City Hall building. They were "immigrant rights activists" who were
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The first time I went to a Japanese Drums concert in Berkeley, my children were very young, so they couldn’t come with me; but I played the tape I bought that day for them for many years (on many Friday mornings in Tehran, this is what I played to
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