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The last sunset of 2007, looking at San Francisco Bay from Oakland/Berkeley hills, 5:00 p.m. today.In these parts of the world, on New Year’s Eve, many people make a New Year’s Resolution. It is a commitment or a promise the individual makes to him/herself for changing or improving something in
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A member of the Andalibi Ensemble tunes her Oud at Fajr Music Festival, Tehran, December 2007.سبزی صد چمنسرخی خون منسپیدی طلوع سحربه پرچمت نشستهای ایران، ایرانListen to Mohammad Nouri's Iran, Iran.* A beautiful song by a remarkable artist. This song feels really good tonight, as I am so homesick
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My sons' friend, Iden, is back from Tehran. My older son went to work early this morning, and his brother went to work at around 1:00 p.m., leaving Iden at home with me again. Kayvan, my sons' other friend, came to keep Iden company at my house. I had
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I had lunch with my remarkable American friend, Heather Rastovac in Berkeley today. I had written something short about Heather in June. She is a dance artist and a researcher of Iranian arts. She is currently a student at the University of Washington pursuing a double major in Near
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Oakland Hills, Last Friday of 2007, 4:00 p.m.One of my readers asked me this week whether it snows in these parts. I said it almost never snows in the San Francisco Bay Area (and a good thing, too, because of all the steep hills in our area!). But this doesn't
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Lily Afshar returns to Tehran to play her magical guitar at the Fajr Music Festival, December 2007.Scanning events and pictures on Iranian news websites, I was delighted to come across this photograph, showing that the world renowned classical guitar master, Lily Afshar, attended Fajr Music Festival in Tehran this
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My American friend says: "I think my husband wants a divorce." I say: "Stop talking about a divorce! You have been married for 25 years. Why are you thinking that?" She says: "He doesn't want to talk to me, doesn't want to touch me, and when I ask him what
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Afternoon Tea at Pleasanton Hotel, Celebrating my friend, Kathleen's Birthday, December 8thThis is ridiculous! For a grown woman, I have shown no willpower over the past month, eating anything offered to me by anyone at any occasion! This is just a small sample of the things I have been
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Christmas in Tehran, BBC Persian, December 24, 2007On my birthday in October, my blogger friends Leva, Mehran, and Bayramali gave me a very special present. It was my very own weblog, with a dot com address! As you can imagine, though I was and continue to be deeply touched
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Christmas Lights in BerkeleySome people believe as Iranians and born Moslems, Christmas is not a celebration for us. I have known Iranian parents who tell their kids "We are not Christian, so we don't celebrate Christmas." I have even known of people who in that same vein, tell their
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Ash-e-Reshteh, courtesy of my older sister.I had my family to my house tonight. Did I tell you that I have many brothers and sisters? Half of us live in this area. The others are scattered in other parts of the world. Though I want to complain about that fact,
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The Yalda Bride (Parts I, II, III, and IV) MortezaYou remember Morteza, the third friend. Morteza gave a talk at the wedding tonight. He said this was one of the happiest nights of his life. He said right next to his own wedding and the days his kids had
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My house has been slow to prepare for Christmas this year. We're getting there, though! I put up my sons' 18-year-old stockings today. Those stockings have traveled all over the world a few times now!My sons and I stayed at the hotel where the wedding was. I went to
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A nut shop in Tehran showcases Yalda nuts (Parts I, II, and III)Amir and Maryam met for the first time for a cup of coffee. They had so much to tell each other, where they had been, what they had done, their losses and failures, ther triumphs and joys,
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I know nothing beats holding my old Hafez book in my alone time, praying my prayer, making a wish, and opening the book to read his words of advice and wisdom to me. But when I received a link for an internet-based Faal-e-Hafez this morning at work, I couldn't
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Snow in Tabriz, December 2007(Parts I, and II)After his divorce, Amir was immersed in memories of his childhood and his first love again. Thoughts of "what if?" and "where is she now?" constantly haunted him. A few days before Yalda in 2001, just like all the other Yalda's before
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Deutsche Welle Radio (Radio Sedaye Alman) has interviewed Ala Hazrat Haj Agha. You can read the interview and listent to it here. This might be a good post to talk about another related topic. I know some of you have been curious about my unlikely friendship with a group
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Maranjab Desert, Iran(Part I here)After the Revolution, Maryam returned to Iran in 1980 to prepare for her university entrance exam (konkoor), but faced the “Cultural Revolution” which would have universities shut down for several years. A few years later she got married and went on to have two children. Her
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Waiting for the arrival of my friends and family earlier tonight. (The photo is dark on purpose.)It's raining. I listen to the drumbeat of raindrops on my roof. My little house feels warm and content in having hosted loved ones tonight. I'm reminded again that the most valuable things
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Chattanooga Restaurant, Tehran, in its days of grandeur Life can be amusing! A group of my extended family who live in Europe are in our area for their winter vacation, attending our family reunion. The amusing thing about this family of four brothers and two sisters is that they
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Pari Saberi's Shams-e-Parandeh, the story of Molana's life, re-staged November 2007, Tehran.It's Friday. My work life has turned harder and more complicated, and more rewarding as a result. I enjoy working hard at a job I like. It is a life long habit for me now. I wouldn't know
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Isfahan's Ghalamkar Textile After much hard work on their part and a lot of anxiety on mine, my kids finished their semester this week. Boy, I am relieved. Living with college students has its own trials and tribulations. Each term, from their slow start to the frenzy of activity,
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Music Players, Ashayer Festival, Lorestan, November 2007.In a quiet middle-class suburb of Tehran in 1975, three friends attended a co-ed middle school. Amir, Maryam, and Morteza were 13. Inseparable at school and after school, the three friends were known as “The Three Musketeers,” creating havoc at school, playing games and
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From Berkeley Marina, looking at Berkeley hills, 2:00 p.m. today.My friend, Kay, is retiring from university employment next week. We had a retirement party for her at H’s Lordships Restaurant in Berkeley Marina. Kay is one of those people you seldom meet and never forget. She is full of
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Mehran: Chetori Nazy Joon? Me: I'm O.K. A bit melancholic today. Mehran: Oh no, it's been a while since you were melancholic last. What's going on? Me: I don't know, I'm confused by men again. Mehran: Oh no, what happened? Me: In that big party on Friday night, there were
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I attended a lecture by Ladan Boroumand in Berkeley this afternoon. I will write about the lecture later. I saw my friend, Shahrnush Parsipur , who is a well-known Iranian author, there. She looked good and peaceful, as usual. We chatted some about Azar Nafisi's recent tour of the Bay
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Theater Festival, Tehran, November 2007It's Friday. Life is passing by entirely too fast. Sometimes I get dizzy watching the parade of days, people, and events before me. Someday very soon, I will take a few days off to be by myself and to sort myself out. Those days are
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I was running up the street in Downtown Berkeley the other day, when I saw my boss (right) and her boss (left) engrossed in a discussion on a street corner. Their faces looked so intent and interesting as they were conducting their business, unaware of the traffic and the
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Ashayer woman displaying Gilim weaving at Middle East Tourism Expo in Shiraz, November 2007.I went to see a preview of the film, No End In Sight, at UC Berkeley tonight. The movie is about Iraq war and what went wrong to make one mistake into thousands of others, killing
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My "artistic" picture of a Christmas tree, decorating Oldtown Sacramento, taken during my recent trip up there to attend a training class.American neighborhoods are preparing for Christmas. Many houses are decorated in colorful electric lights, and it is a common occurrence these days to drive by cars on the
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با هر نگاهبر آسمان اين خاک هزار بوسه ميزنمنفسم را از رود سپيد و آسمان خزر و خليج هميشگي فارس ميگيرممن نگاهم از تنب بزرگ و کوچک و ابوموسي نور ميگيردمن عشقم را در کوه گواتر در سرخس و خرمشهر به زبان مادري فرياد خواهم زدفرياد خواهم زدتفنگم در دست
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Persian Gulf from Kish Island. Photo by Arash Ashoorinia.From Wikipedia: "In the world map of Diseark (285-347 B.C.) too, Persian Gulf and Arabian Gulf have been clearly distinct. At the same time, many maps and deeds prepared up to the 8th century by the historians such as Arrian, Hecataeus,
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They sit as President and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran at the GCC Summit in Doha, under a sign that reads "The Arabian Gulf Cooperation Council." Did something happen over the past 24 hours to change 3000 years of history for Iran? Has Mr. Ahmadinejad accepted that it
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My good friend, Hamed Nikpay, a talented young Iranian composer, instrumentalist, and singer will be appearing at the 1st Winter "Solh" Fest on Friday, December 6th, 2007 at 7:00 p.m. at San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts. The event also features the Kiosk band as well as a new
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Berkeley is winding down for the winter break. This is probably the last week of the year during which events will be taking place on campus. There are some interesting things happening which I think might be of interest to those in the area. I will try to attend if
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Have you ever felt the presence of someone in a room even after that person has left? I had a guest in my house for a few days last weekend. I continue to feel her warmth and good spirit in my house. It's as though she is still around.
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I went to Ehsan and Maryam's house for dinner last night. They had invited us a while back and I had been looking forward to going to their home. Leva and Vahid came and took me there. I was not a very good guest, I'm afraid, as I was talking
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