Features

ART

Head games

Paintings
Davar Yousefi

WAR
Attack on Iran is inevitable
Faramarz Fateh

An attack on Iran, by U.S. or Israel is inevitable. It may happen tomorrow, in October of this year or sometime next year. One thing is certain; the attack will happen before Bush leaves office. Combination of impending U.N. sanctions and an outright military attack on Iran will further devastate the condition of Iranian people. No matter where the attack is launched from, Iran will retaliate by firing missiles towards Israel and you can envisage the rest. A lot of dead Iranians, a fully collapsed economy and basically another decade or so of misery for majority of Iran's 70 million people. What would be the effect on us Iranians living in the U.S. The minor effect is a big jump in the price of gas, inflation and surge in unemployment. And guess what, if your boss needs to layoff an employee, the Iranian employee is the first to go because when the U.S. is at war with Iran, most American would not give a damn about you >>>

FILM
The Spartans are coming... to a theater near you
Siamack Baniameri

On March 9th 2007, Warner Brothers will screen "300" in a theater near you. "300" is based on epic graphic novel by Frank Miller (Sin City) about ancient battle of Thermopylae in which 300 Spartans fought to death against Xerxes and his million-man-army. "300" depicts King Xerxes as a fat homosexual and Persians as deformed and stupid monsters similar to what the Orcs looked like in "The Lord of the Rings". Spartans on the other hand are revealed as rocket scientists trapped in bodies of Greek gods with comic book bravery and constant worry of losing their beloved and hard-earned "freedom and democracy" to the damn Middle Easterners >>>

ZILLIONS OF LETTERS
I can hear God saying to America, "You're too arrogant!"

In response to Jason King's "Letter from America": You are absolutely right Iranians like everyone else in the world want to live in peace and harmony. However, I find it most appropriate to respond to your article by quoting one of the greatest men of our time, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: "In international conflicts, the truth is hard to come by because most nations are deceived about themselves. Rationalizations and the incessant search for scapegoats are the psychological cataracts that blind us to our sins. But the day has passed for superficial patriotism. He who lives with untruth lives in spiritual slavery. Freedom is still the bonus we receive for knowing the truth. 'Ye shall know the truth,' says Jesus, 'and the truth shall set you free.'" This seems quite applicable to you sir, and the President of this country, and the rest of the warmongers who are pressing for greater violence and expansion of war into Iran and Syria >>>
LETTERS PART (3) (2) (1)

COMEDIAN
Too much to ask?

With the politest objection to Pedram Moallemian's recent review with Maz Jobrani, "The Iranian knight"
Bruce Bahmani

Through his brilliant and dedicated efforts behind the "Axis of Evil" comedy tours, and the latest incarnation "The Sultans of Satire", Maz Jobrani has been the brightly shining and hilarious beacon for, to use marketing terminology, "educating and informing the target audience of the benefits, features, and value of our brand." That's the "It" he brings. As I am a fan of Maz, you can start to see the dilemma forming. Wednesdays, around 9pm, on ABC, the new show, "The Knights of Prosperity" has cast yet another shadow through what I am calling the retarded mis-placement of the stereotypical "quirky Indian fellow", using of all people Maz! So allow me to let you get this straight >>>

MOMENTS
Momentary philosopher
Rana Rabei

The secret to invincibility lies in the moment. Life in its entirety is unarguably limited. It comes with an expiration date, today a digital timer, yesterday an hour glass. A moment, like the distance between two points is infinite. You can fit a happily ever after inside each little increment. Segmentation is nature's way of maximizing the use of its resources. A moment is undefined, it is up to your nature to make one last a life-time or live a billion infinities up to your death. The best is when moments overlap. In those transitory times where infinite dimensions of possibilities merge into one reality; you can burn a lot of calories by weighting your options. And if our ultimate goal is essentially to eventually fall into everlasting sleep; I suggest we tire ourselves out with life, so we can have an effortless death

TRAVELERS

A family affair

Photo essay: Spending time with family during Iran visit
Sheila Dadvar

BLUE
That morning
Sheema Kalbasi

I write to you so that you will not leave, so that maybe you will find a way to return, so that perhaps becomes reality. That morning you left at dawn, I was awake, I didn't stop you. I was exhausted beyond words. I asked you to leave, and you left forever. I didn't know I would miss you, that I would wait for your return at 4:30 every afternoon, that you would not return and I would not come to seek. I still have the ring you bought me. The ring you put on my finger to hope in blue >>>

POINT
Reading Bush

The U.S. has declared war
Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich

Mr. Bush is calling to his friends in the region, all of whom happen to be ruled by dictators, to cooperate in the war against Iran, the next war he has planned for the region. The stability of Iraq has never been his concern, nor the death of the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. Did he have these thoughts as the Mother Of All Bombs (MOAB) were sent to Iraq as part of the arsenal? Iraqis are irrelevant. Mr. Bush now needs the cooperation of Saudi Arabia. A country which due to its authoritarian rule and relationship with the United States gave birth to al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden’s hatred of the West. Is Mr. Bush’s love of Saudi Arabia simply the oil or is it the fact that the Sunni insurgents killing American soldiers, the al- Qaeda network that is spread over 60 countries, stemmed from Saudi Arabia and need to be controlled by Mr. Bush’s Saudi allies? Maybe it is their hatred of and rivalry with Iranians or simply it’s their fondness of democracy! >>>

SANCTIONS
Spreading a sheer fallacy

Portraying Iran as a threat and the duplicity of the UN Security Council
Ardeshir Ommani

As if all those restrictions were not enough, the U.S. plans for strangulation of Iran go far beyond the formal decisions of the UN Security Council. Immediately after the Council’s votes, U.S. Secretary of State for Political Affairs R. Nicholas Burns impatiently said, “We’re certainly not going to put all our eggs in the UN basket ... We’d like to see countries stop doing business as usual with Iran ... We would like countries to stop selling arms to Iran. We would like countries to try to limit export credits to Iran.” On a self-congratulatory note, he boasted that the U.S. already has in place “full-scope sanctions on Iran in every conceivable area” since the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Finally, Mr. Burns showed his hand and clearly stated that the United States’ differences with Iran go far beyond its nuclear issue >>>

SECTARIAN
Sokhanaane tafraghe-angize Khamenei

Sectarian intonations of Khamenei's call for Moslem unity
Esmail Nooriala

POETRY
Civility

I value diversity and dissent
Sasan Seifikar

TENDER
A day
Sheema Kalbasi

Night arrives, sun rises, and we live the sealed envelope. Snow flocks but then spring drives the reaming sighs to their tender homes. Your coast has brought grace to the mute words of the present and the future. It is unfortunate that I can't visit your heart, and you can't visit mine. You are not my known place of peace. You make me nervous beyond words. You may think I am a rebellion against my own kind, the poets. That I find loneliness in poetry and I reach an existence in your words. What you don't know is you are glazing on my day-end and you are through me teaching me a new fate. You are the evening delight, the star's twilight, and through you I discover a new language to understand the world. You relieve me to want to relive the pain and to come to know your inspirations that now spread in my soul >>>

PHOTOGRAPHY

Timeless portraits

19th century Iran photographs
Antoin Sevruguin

FILM
The good (domestic) woman

In Kambuzia Partovi's "Café Transit", feminism lies in his expanding the traditional concept of home, not in expanding the traditional concept of woman
Ari Siletz

Having already won best screenplay at Iran's Fajr Film Festival, Café Transit is now that country's official entry for the Oscars. How did director/screenwriter Kambuzia Partovi go from having his works banned in Iran to becoming the artistic pride of his country? The answer is that Café Transit is cleverly written so that its domestic message says one thing while its foreign message says the opposite. The Western audience sees a romance between a sensuously forthright European truck driver and an enterprising Iranian widow. We are heartbroken as their love is made impossible by a nightmarish, apparently Islamic custom. Native Iranian audiences, on the other hand, know that the practice of widows having to marry their dead husband's brother isn't particularly Islamic or Iranian >>>

THREATS
Letter from America

We the American people will stop at nothing to stop madmen from obtaining nuclear weapons
Jason King

I know most Iranians are like everyone else in the world.  They just want to raise a family and live in peace.  It is the small percentage of radicals in Iran that will cause all the hardships to the normal citizens.  God gives all humans the free will to choose which god they serve even if it is not him.  Only God will judge each and every person that has ever lived.  Although no one likes war, I believe it is just. I will pray for the innocent Iranians as the US takes care of individuals, organizations and countries that support terrorism.  President Bush has warned Iran and Syria and I hope they do not take his threats lightly.  Ask Saddam Hussein what happens when you do that.  War in Iran would be a bloodbath for all involved, but don't ever underestimate the will of the American people.  Some may not agree with the government and the war, but one thing is for sure.  If you mess with our country, you will live to regret it >>>

DEATH PENALITY
Aspiring to higher moral standards

Is capital punishment justified?
Babak Eskandari

The execution of Saddam Hussein on Saturday, December 30th, 2006, once again brings to light the old debate about the effectiveness of capital punishment. The reasons why he was executed in such haste and the secrets he might have taken to grave is the subject of another article. But is capital punishment an effective tool and is it a moral approach in deterring crime? Advocates of capital punishment argue that by executing criminals others will think twice about committing the same crime. That it can be a public lesson in the consequences for violent or immoral behavior.   Hence the extreme example of public executions in some countries around the world. But, is it effective? Many reports by international organizations such as the United Nations, Amnesty International, and the Human Rights Watch have indicated that in countries such China or the United States, crime rates have not been affected by capital punishment whether the executions were public or not >>>

PARENTING
Vive la difference

Iranians are loving parents, but love has nothing to do with spanking
Zohreh Khazai Ghahremani

My American friend and I are talking about kids. She’s upset over her son’s body piercing and is shocked to hear me mention the value of good spanking. “I’ve never raised a hand to him,” she says. “That would be a violation of his rights.” “I’ve heard of that,” I say, but am unable to sympathize. “My daughter tells me none of her friends have experienced physical punishment, either.” Now, there’s the mother of all cultural shocks! Since when did parenthood and spanking stop going hand in hand? You mean to tell me there are parents who’ve never even slapped a kid, not to mention beating the hell out of him? Next we’re going to be told kids have a right to select their careers, move out before being married, and choose just whom they’re going to marry! I’m telling you, the world is indeed coming to an end >>>

IDEAS
Kolonializm va Imperializm

To achieve peace and security, people have no choice but to confront colonialism and imperialism
Houshang Pirnazar

FASHION

East kisses West

New York City's underground fashion scene and Iran's young movie stars
Nima Behnoud

IDEAS
Dar setaayeshe tanhaaie

In praise of solitude
Peyman Vahabzadeh

USA
A new nation

Something seems missing both in internal and foreign policy of the Bush government
Seed Shirazi

How can the United States of America who upholds fundamental values such as pursuit of happiness and individualism be entangled with killing of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis inside their country? Wasn't The United States built entirely on the solid plateau of equality of man and free market? The confederate United States was born in recent history through the mighty power of the American people. It all began after October 12, 1492 when Christopher Columbus accidentally landed on the Caribbean island of San Salvador. His plan was to reach the Indies and to bring into Europe the spices of the Indies and also help his sponsors’ wish of converting these new people into Christianity >>>

POETRY
Morality

Try to do good
Kathy Koupai

STREAM
Eternity
Sheema Kalbasi

Knowing you, the keel-man who slides against time and doesn't keep his promise of return, where will the river take me? Will there be a draft, necklaces made of leaves, benders and bows, realms of virgin rocks, or these waves are the awakening before merging with a stream, surrounded by the highlands to form a lake, or perhaps flow into an ocean? Everything about you makes me conscious. You withhold, vanish, gasp, appear then disappear. Let me hold your hand. Spirits understand thirst. Dreams pave out shadows and nature is taking away my veil. Vanity, and dignity are the source of every unity. Upon your hands I deliver the mist. Sip >>>

SATIRE
Google God

Google proves the importance of working
Bruce Bahmani

Google was recently named the top company to work for in the US. Most of the news Google released in order to emphasize this by releasing this news, has emphasized this. Google makes one thing that it charges money for, namely that tiny Google text ad that you are ignoring while you are reading this fake news story. As a result and apparently, most of the employees at Google don't actually do anything, hopefully and including getting the attempt at satire here. While the actual contribution of Google employees towards keeping Google the juggernaut it has become, or exactly what makes the company so successful, is largely unknown, it hasn't stopped the company from continually hiring more and more people, who in turn do not know what Google does. Thereby ensuring it's continued success >>>

COMEDIAN
The Iranian knight

Our very own Maz Jobrani stars in a new national network sitcom
Pedram Moallemian

Last July 23rd, a friend asked us to join him at a party in a trendy West Hollywood restaurant. Since we had already committed to another event, I apologized. But then he said that it was a Good-Bye Party for Maz Jobrani. Good-Bye Party? Oh No! Where is he going? In our own small universe, we had just “discovered” the man and even exchanged pleasantries about our common hairstylist at a couple of events. Now he’s leaving? Fast forward to last Wednesday and we are invited by Namak magazine to a semi-private party organized by Maz’ agent Ray Moheet to watch the premier of the new sitcom, now called The Knights of Prosperity with two of the show’s stars Kevin Michael Richardson and Maz Jobrani in attendance >>>

TRAVELERS

Island hopping

Photo essay: The expanse of sky is almost heart-stopping. The expanse of ocean stops it.
Fereshteh Saheli

TRAVELERS

For better or worse

Photo essay: Yazd
Afshin Deyhimpanah

MUSEUMS

Home sweet home

Photo essay & video clips: Visiting the Guggenheim and MoMA in New York City
Jahanshah Javid

FICTION
Conversation in the park

Short story
Saeed Tavakkol

The entire week I worried about the tasks I planned to do on my day off, Friday. Chores I’d postponed for months. The gutter was falling off the wall, letting rain to seep under the foundation. The worse were our lack luster antique dining chairs. I’d already bought sandpaper, a paintbrush, thinner and varnish to tackle them. And Friday was the assigned day. But I just couldn’t bring myself to do anything. I debated which was more urgent, the gutter or the chairs? A broken gutter could cost us dearly as the rainy season was approaching. I even tried to clear my head by doing a crossword puzzle but the name of Napoleon’s lover crashed my hope all together. The entire morning wasted! All I had done was smoke and monitor the time >>>

STORY
Enshallah

As I pulled the scarf back on my head, I felt the black and bleak circumstances once again cover me from the outside in
Mahtab Gibbs

The day after I graduated from New York University, I decided I would go to Iran. I wasn't sure exactly how I would pay for the ticket, nor of the logistics involved in getting my passport, but I knew that I wanted to go visit the land where I was born. I called my father and asked him what to do. He informed me that I had to go to Washington DC and get a passport there. We no longer had an American embassy, for obvious reasons, but the Islamic Republic had established a small office within the Embassy of Pakistan. So on a Tuesday evening, I loaded up my rental car and drove the four hours from New York to Washington DC. I arrived outside the embassy at midnight. I had three hours to go before they opened the doors to give out numbers -- then we'd have to line up at six a.m. to wait our turns. It was a nasty process, but I was well-prepared. I had my hijab in my knapsack and all my papers indicating that I would be traveling to visit my aunt and to do a bit of writing >>>

SELF
The only age
Sheema Kalbasi

I had an incident yesterday. I was a pulse away but I pass through these senses without strangeness. I like familiarity. Having a bite from a green apple, a cup that I have bought in Musée olympique de Lausanne for limiting the pen and pencils on my desk, or a plant that was my mother's. To have a cold shower, a conditioner to smoothen out the hair, or when you touch my hair to smell it unpredictably. To hear your voice, the laughter, and my heart each time recognizing its weakness. The pleasure is worth a life view >>>

FILM
Beh bahaaneye "Atashbas"

Tahmineh Milani's "Cease-Fire" is is riddled with cliches
Afsaneh Najmabadi

TRAVELERS

The royal shack

Photo essay: Niavaran Palace
Afshin Deyhimpanah

ADVICE
Take control of your future

Women and retirement
Bianca Zahrai

I have known Bita and Afshin for over twenty years. We all went to high school together. Bita and Afshin were childhood friends and started dating in high school. They went to college together and got married shortly after graduation. The other day though, I got an email from Bita telling me that she and Afshin are getting a divorce and it’s anything but amiable. There are many issues of contention, among which is Afshin’s retirement accounts. Although equally educated, because of their children, the couple had decided from the onset that they could live on Afshin’s salary alone. Bita’s email got me thinking, how many other couples out there are going through this exact same thing,  and that got me thinking about writing this article. After all, how many of us generation “X-ers”, “Y-ers”, both better known as the  “Boomerang” generation are even thinking about retirement?  >>>

MIDDLE EAST
Jurasic Park

The horrific extent of Shia-Sunni brutality is evidence of the opening of historic rifts
Esmail Nooriala

OUR IMAGE
Mutual respect

We are loosing to the Western media that continuously portray us as their bad “others”
Farid Adibhashemi

A few days ago while I was helping an elderly American lady in a drug store in a wealthy city in the United States, she asked me “where did you get this German accent?” I replied “In Germany!” However, her surprised facial expressions were telling me that “this black hair and dark skin can’t be from Germany?” I immediately corrected myself and said: “Mam, I was kidding, I’m an Iranian”. She said: “Iran ... You should say Persian instead; Iran is not good these days”. And when I explained that Iranians are good people and Iran is a good country with a very rich culture and ancient history, she replied: “I know that Iranians are good people ... I have some Persian Rugs in my home ... but they have bad leaders!” Well, we know that the “image war” between the East and the West has a long history that has contributed to the concept of “us” versus “them” >>>

SADDAM
Common fallacy
Sara Z.

I hate to be the one to stop the show but let's quit wishful thinking. The truth is this is not how dictators end, not at least in the last few centuries and certainly not in the Middle East. The majority of dictators have died in peace. More than often they have died in bed with enough care and medicine provided so they have a painless departure. Dictators have had access to the best medical facilities provided by western governments and have had enough financial resources to but any expensive service. In fact, all things considered more than often, this is the ending for democrat and non-dictator leaders ruling in Middle East. I can't think of a single democrat leader in Middle East who has had a happy life >>>

SADDAM
Revenge does not mean justice

Iraqi Shias took their first major step NOT toward a future of tolerance or justice, but toward vengeance and brutality
Ben Madadi

The execution of Saddam was one pf the most disturbing videos I had ever seen in my life. It was so disturbing I felt almost like losing my balance and vomiting. Maybe I am just a more sensitive type of person, but that was how I felt. Is this the justice the Iraqi people longed for while Saddam was in power? As far as I know they didn't need to get rid of his regime to have this sort of justice. The only thing that seems to have changed is that Sunni justice has turned Shia justice. Saddam's regime used to have executions just like the one Saddam himself suffered. Did he deserve it? This execution was not about what Saddam, the man, deserved. I think death was what Saddam was praying for, just second to a miracle to escape. Saddam would have suffered far more if he had stayed in prison for life. Afterall unless there was hell waiting for Saddam in afterlife there was hell lived by Saddam in life. And if there is no hell in afterlife, or there is no afterlife, then the conclusion is that Saddam actually evaded a living hell. He just got away >>>

CLEFT LIP
Chance to smile

Let these children’s suffering touch your heart; help us help them
Masoud Saman

Normally, long before a child is born, the right and left sides of the lip and the roof of the mouth fuse. Occasionally, those sections do not completely come together. In such cases, the child is born with a disconnection in the upper lip called a Cleft Lip. A related congenital defect in the palate is referred to as Cleft Palate. Since the development of lip and the palate are separate entities, some children can develop, or mal-develop, with a cleft lip, a cleft palate, or variations of both. One out of every 700 child is born with a cleft. In addition to the facial deformities, early in life these children have to deal with many psychosocial issues such as social anxiety, loneliness, depression, and alienation from their peers >>>

POETRY
Rambrandt

Noor kam ast
Mahasti Shahrokhi

TEEN

Seema's room

Photo essay: An Iranian-American teenager's room in Santa Monica, southern California
Jahanshah Javid

NUCLEAR
Media deception and the coming nuclear holocaust
Daniel M Pourkesali

Forty five years ago in October 1962, people watched in horror as the superpowers went to the brink of a global nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis when the Soviets attempted to place nuclear missiles in Cuba, to match U.S. deployments in Europe near the Soviet border. What followed next was nearly 30 years of constant fear of a nuclear holocaust. But 15 years after the fall of the Soviet Union the threat of a new nuclear disaster still remains. The recent report by the Sunday Times that 'Israel has drawn up secret plans to destroy Iran's uranium enrichment facilities with tactical nuclear weapons' may have come as little surprise to those closely following these reports first hint of which surfaced during an MSNBC Interview with U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney in January 2005 when he literally gave U.S. approval of a unilateral Israeli attack on Iran: >>>

VELAYATE FAGHIH
The face of moderation?
Shahriar Azadmanesh

Now that the UN Scurity Counsel has unanimously passed resolution 1737 to sanction Iran, the "moderate" sect of the IRI is becoming prominent again and talking about defusing tensions by putting on hold, Uranium enrichment. This crafty game of cat and mouse has deceived the world previously and will undoubtedly manage to win more longevity for the Islamic Republic. But in the end, as long as the governing body is under the dictates and mandates of one man with the dogma and the religious mindset of a medieval tyrant, then any rejoicing in the so called elections, or the moderate appearance of the serving body, is the false and compromising feeling of safety that the proverbial servant felt, sitting on the ledge >>>

RESOLUTIONS
All set for 2007
Jeesh Daram

Recall the nostalgia of homeland, when Christmas was only an Armenian celebration and the rest of us were just distant admirers of the glittering decorations on the shop windows in downtown Tehran? All things considered I like the way the communists give each other New Year gifts -- everyone gives a roll of toilet tissue and receives one. They, however, express their emotions by the choice of color, some give white, some blue and some with flowers printed on the roll. Simple and utilitarian, nobody has to get up and go to the mall to return some of the stupid gifts hoping to get some cash in exchange. As for the returning items, I think Costco will eventually discontinue the leniency on their return policy, because most Iranians think that Costco is only there so that they buy items and return in six months with their innocent look saying "Eye espeek wery wery leetle Ingeeleesh!" while I know for fact that most of them hold at least a doctorate degree in something >>>

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