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(As I write this piece this evening with my itchy fingers at their worst longing, I wonder whether my younger son, The Traveler, would object to my telling you about it. If you are reading this, it means that he has given me his permission.) My children were growing
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I didn’t want to post anything this weekend, but I couldn’t resist this photograph and wanted you all to see it, too! My unmet blogger friend, Tameshk, is traveling in Italy this summer. Roja is a graduate Art History & Criticism student at Brooklyn College, CUNY, and lives in
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I am off for the weekend. It was a fun and busy week, leaving me feeling somewhat accomplished! This week I received phone calls, emails, and visits I didn’t expect, and they all made me so happy. I know I must sound like a broken record to you all,
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Her name is Professor Minoo Derayeh, currently of York University of Toronto, and formerly of McGill University. She is an author and a scholar, frequently traveling all over the world, delivering speeches and papers, as scholars do. She is famous and prominent, just as I had expected her to
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In one of his latest posts in his blog, Touka Neyestani talks of his love and respect for the famous Iranian Assyrian painter, Hannibal Alkhas, as an artist and as a teacher. The latest post is of Mr. Alkhas' immediate reply email to Touka. Some other day, I will
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My friend in Tehran, Rahnavard (The Traveler), who blogs in Farsi, is a very sweet and intelligent young woman, an engineer, and a capable writer. Today she has a funny post about "Khastegari," or the introduction ceremony of marriage suitors in Iran. I continue to be mesmerized with how
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On a Friday in May, I went to Radio Zamaneh’s website , as I frequently do. There was an interview with a scholar about women in Iranian history, a topic which I would normally devour upon spotting! I couldn’t believe it! There she was in the photograph, being interviewed
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I thought about her so many times during the years and decades since. Where was she and what was she doing? Did she fare better in life than I did? Did she find a man who deserved her, loved her, and made her happy? Did she have children? Did
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I have been missing my girlfriends for a few days now. I wished I could take a walk with them and talk about nothing and everything. I miss talking to those who know so much about me, I don't need to explain anything, to introduce anyone, and to divulge
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We would ride the same bus from Istgah Hammam on the boarder of Tehran Pars and Tehran No, where our high school was located. She would get off at Istgah Masjed, and I would have to go on for many other stops before I could reach my home. I
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I found yet another excuse to leave the classroom, quickly and quietly running up the stairs two at a time into the second floor landing, and holding my breath as my heart was pounding with excitement, I slowly pushed open the door to the auditorium, just enough for my
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She looked beautiful, simple and honest in that white dress. Her small bouquet of white roses, which you had lovingly made for her, was a sincere reminder of the love and honesty with which this young union had commenced, amidst the love and support of family and friends. You
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Some days I think I am slowly getting too old for all the ups and downs and the ranges of emotion to which I am subjected in this phase of my life! When all in the same week I see floods and famine, disease and displacement, fear and injustice,
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I opened my Hafez and made a wish. I was full of hope to hear some of Khajeh's usual wisdom and his prophetic advice for myself. It opened to a poem that had many romantic memories for me, hitting me with a flood of reminiscences of a place and
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Last night I went to see Roger Waters in Oakland's Oracle Arena with three coooool guys, and had an unforgettable time. Pink Floyd and Roger Waters are legends needless of too much description. You either know the man or you don't, and if you do, you either love him
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It is another cold and overcast morning in Berkeley. As I run from parking to work, late as usual, she walks up to me with urgency. She is about sixty years old, is not grungy like some of the others I have seen, but does look very poor. As
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Asieh Amini, a women's and children's rights activist in Tehran, says in her blog that two people will be stoned in Iran on Thursday. My heart weeps. ........... Update: Wednesday, June 20th, 2007 P.S. I am happy to hear that the stoning scheduled for Thursday has been suspended, according
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I am home and homesick again. Ironically, I remember days when I walked in a park in Tehran, feeling home and homesick. Such is the life that I lead, a constant contradiction in terms and actions, interspersed with realities and longings. I look at this woman, who has probably
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P.S. Latest on the subject: Siamak Ghassemi, Mehrvarzi baraye hameye Iranian; Shargh Newspaper Report . .......................... A human catastrophe of the most devastating dimensions is taking place in Sistan and Baluchestan provinces of Iran. Earlier this month, Gono, a tropical storm hit Oman and swept through Sistan & Baluchestan,
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As I was reminding my father’s namesake to be sure and call his father this morning, I told him “I miss my Dad.” He said “I know.” I wonder how he knows, because we don’t talk about my father much. It must be that he himself misses his grandfather
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Heather Rastovac in 2005 This was a good week for me. Life returned to relative normalcy for me and my family, and I visited many wonderful new and old friends. Yesterday I met a fascinating young Iranian mother who is an educated engineer, and also a successful blogger. She
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O.K. It is a long story, and for those of you who can access Iranian.com, you can read the whole story here. Those of you who are in Iran and cannot access Iranian.com, please let me know and I will continue posting it in parts next week. I had
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As we sat there thinking about what to do, he offered that if we waited for a few minutes, he could call his friend in Ghassem Abad Olya to see if he could arrange a “viewing” of chadorshabs for us. We thanked him and waited while he went into
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It all started one day when I walked into Rasht Museum. An old house converted into a modest museum, it took under an hour to view everything in the collection. Through my travels inside Iran, I had visited similar museums in other cities, Tabriz, Hamadan, Zanjan, Isfahan, Kashan, Mashad,
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Late last summer the three of us went to see Carlos Santana in a concert in Concord. Concord Pavillion is home to hundreds of concerts every summer, where the audience sits in open air in Diablo Valley Canyon’s balmy and wonderful summer’s nights. We packed a picnic dinner and
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For Fariba.
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I swear he grew taller and hairier in two weeks! His older brother asks him: “So, how did you introduce yourself to people from other countries?” I suppose he is referring to his Iranian-American identity…I’m pretending not to be paying attention, but I’m listening intently...The Traveler replies, “Well it
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My friend, Fariba, sent me a picture of a small bouquet of Gol-e-Sad Tomani, or Peonies, sitting on her living room table, directly across from where she was typing a note to me. It is not a very high quality picture, as she took it with her cell phone,
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Life has been a little out of control of late, and it finally looks like I might be pulling it together again. After a whole month in the shop, my poor little scrunched up car, my Shabdiz*, was fixed and came home to me this week. Phewww! Who would
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"Silence brims with the unsaid!"* In memory of the Forouhars *From a poem by Ahmad Shamloo Photo by Ali Khaligh in Iranian.com (photo dated April 11, 2007)
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I was once invited to go visit someone in Lahijan*. We found the property just by the lake in the city, and drove through what was a deserted tea plantation, heading for the huge main house (actually, a feudal mansion) on top of the hill. As we drove through
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Source: Mehr News
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This article was published this morning in Iranian.com (http://www.iranian.com/Kaviani/2007/June/Berkeley/index.html) I went to see Aleph Null perform in Berkeley’s Anna’s Jazz Island last Sunday. As I was ending a week of melancholy, which in me always results in inconsolable homesickness for Iran, a co-worker’s tip about the event took me
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My older son turned 21 yesterday. I am not usually overtly inquisitive (read "nosey") to people who live around me. I usually wait until they are ready to talk about what they are thinking, and I have been particularly appreciated by men for this trait! My son’s 21st birthday,
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I am off for the weekend. It was a rather melancholic week, so I’m glad it’s over. In the requisite quiet of melancholy, I did accomplish many chores and deadlines which I had put off for a long time, relieving me of some constant low-grade stress. I also met
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Ali Farahbakhsh remains imprisoned. This week there were reports of a rapid deterioration of his mental and physical health in his six-month-long solitary confinement (read this and this). Imprisonment and torture of a journalist on unfounded and unsubstantiated charges, and denying him proper medical care is a crime and
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