I Want to Ride a Bicycle in a Park in North Tehran

I totally agree....

I have been doing a lot of typing errors due to lack of coffee. Nothing like a good cup of java to brighten a person's day. :o)

Solh va Doosti

Natalia

Benefits of Registration

//iranian.com/main/blog/rosie-t/benefits-registration

Never write before you have coffee running through your blood :)

That was supposed to be trials and tribulations :)

ahhh - the traila and tribulations of communicating via internet

I agree – cyber space is perhaps the most difficult medium as a communication tool; but, it is also the most precious gift bestowed upon human being by the Gods in heaven [Al Gore and company]. It has made this planet a lot smaller than it used to be. Alas, to try to write one's thoughts without the risk of sounding offensive; is an artful skill that has been trifled with throughout human history. Hang in there; eventually, we'll all learn.

Recently, a friend told me about the blog on this site so I decided to check it out; Milani's interview sparked an emotion within me; inevitably, I couldn’t hold back.

As of now, I am not sure of the advantages of being a registered user; but, no doubt, once I figure it out; I’d want to be one.

Happy blogging :)

One would think that after 10 months

on this web site that things would have changed a little. I guess it is difficult to undo centuries.

Solh va Doosti

Natalia

WHY NOT?...I used to be labeled BOTH an IRI agent and a Zionist

agent, in both scenarios with JJ as my employer,  and as you well know jj never gave me a red cent for anything, so...why should you be surprised?

I'm talking about BICYCLES and they're talking about me becoming  a member of the Fashion Police.  Perhaps I'll run for the Majlis as a hardliner.  But seriously, no, they're accusing me of being a Reformist because I think the women should focus on the hospitals and the Fashion Police instead of the park  Ask them, not me. Let the Three Musqueteers explain it.  I'm tired of it.

And why should any of this be surprising?  You just read Rashidian's article accusing all the people on this website of being either Klingons or Vulcans or Bejorans.   And HE is a VERY close friend of mine...

And so the world spins...and the website too...spin spin spin  in the like a pinwheel in space...

Robin....now how on earth did you manager.....?

How on earth did you manage to be labeled an IRI supporter?

Solh va Doosti

Natalia

Yaas,I'm so glad you clarified for me and it's so hard sometimes

to make oneself clear on this medium, there are no visual cues (somehow the smiley emoticons just don't always cut it, do they?), there are no auditory cues, and there is no ability to say "Excuse me what do you mean?" before the whole thing gets derailed.  So in many ways I'net is the WORST form of communication possible.   But in other ways it's this amazing thing, this hope for the future this planetary mind.  Well, soon it will be so commn to choose video type communication that the problem should be resolved.

Using Dr. King as an example really deeply hits home.  And as I keep saying, and as you know, most forms of segregation simply CLOSE people in, this one is a VERY sticky wicket, because it closes and OPENS simultaneously.  I don't know, when both sides of the argument are so crystal clear to anyone who is rational enough to explore them, at a certain point it becomes almost a matter a faith. Doesn't it?  Like flipping a coin of faith. 

I wasn't OFFENDED by your comment about courage, I was actually just SURPRISED and maybe a little....well...peeved.  The things I find offensive I have already explained at length to my three friends, the Musketeers.  Enough about it already.  It doesn't apply to you.

Did you know that you can find all the writings of any registerred user by clicking contributors button bottom home page?  ARE you also a registered user? You mention "us" blogging.  Don't care what your cybername is but I'd REALLY like to know if you're registered.

Anyway, I already HAVE a new blog.  I posted it today.  Well, brace yourself before you read it.  And then...well...submitting itr here...well..courage...whatever.  ..

Catchya later

Rosie       :D   :D   :D

Dear Rosie; Essentially,

Dear Rosie;

Essentially, what I said is that it doesn't take much courage for any one of us to write in a blog; this comment by itself does not imply that you lack courage by any means, sorry, for the misunderstanding.

As for your defense of women's park in Iran, though, your logic is quite valid; however, a segregated park is not a natural progressive first step towards equality. Had Martin Luther King accepted a segregated society back in his time, would Africans Americans ever been freed from the extreme unethical and unjust prejudices imposed upon them?

Iran has a long history, the rule of mullahs is only a small fraction of what this land has gone through in its history. This too will end.

Additionally, as an Iranian, I find it very refreshing that a non-Iranian cares enough to participate in Iranian affairs. Disagreements on issues are an integral part of any debate; please do not be offended by them. This type of discourse only serves to teach us all a little more than we knew before.

I look forward to reading more of your blogs.

Dear Three Musketeers: ABC, Angel from Heaven and Plateau

HERE IS A MEGAPHONE. GO TO THE PARK IN TEHRAN AND BERATE ALL THE WOMEN THERE LIKE YOU DO ME AND WHEN YOU COME BACK BERATE THE IRANIANS ON THIS THREAD WHO AGREEE WITH ME. AND WHEN YOU HAVE PROVEN TO ME THAT YOU TREAT YOUR HAMVATANS AS MISERABLY AS YOU DO ME FOR SIMPLY ARGUING FOR THIS PARK, THEN I WILL GLADLY CONTINUE MY CONVERSATION WITH YOU. BUT DON'T BRING THE MEGAPHONE TO ME.  YOU'RE LOUD ENOUGH ALREADY.

Rosie: You don't have to be

Rosie: You don't have to be belligerent and condescending to prove your point...However, your agenda is crystal clear here and I'm here to tell you that it is unworkable because your means are immoral bordering pompous to achieve a noble end. I'm certain you know what I mean.

Cruelty and obdience to injustice is Not Destiny: The origins of Jewish visions of transcendence.

Gandhi reminds us the means are the ends in the processes of becoming. You do not achieve goodness by evil means. The Islamic republic was founded on lies and blood of innocent people and you want to reform this travesity by aligning yourself with the reformists???

So rosie, you were ..

raised on tales of Holocaust. So please write about that, my dear instead of having verbal dia......h,about defending mullah's ideas against women in Iran.In that case you will be more relevant, it is not cute the way you defend them anymore!!!

Replies to everyone else:

David: Thx,you can usually contact ANY registered user by simply clicking the Contributors button at the bottom of the home page, then the contributor's cybername, then contact button.  It will send a private e-mail immediately. Sometimes they don't choose the contact option but usually they do.

Story:  That was a BEAUTIFUL story.  What can I say?  Khaamoosh. 

Alphabet Soup: I'm not offended and I'm glad we're establishing a dialog. But honestly, saying things like "I know you mean well" is patronizing, although of course I know you mean well. I like your analysis of the target audience, however I was already aware of the target audience. I cannot for the life of me fathom what Saudi Arabia has to do with anything I wrote in this blog, nor do I grasp how I am insulting th intelligence of the expat community.  Again,my opinion here is shared by a sizeable minority of posters. Are they insulting you too?  Finally your  assumptions that the women who use this park did not live through the painful transition from secularism to Khomeinism is baseless.  I personally assumed that the women in the park ranged in age from three weeks old to 90.

Yaas:  Yes, the air is bad and the traffic is terrible and Iran has the highest rate of auto accidents in the world, so they'd best not bike during rush hour.  :D  I'm glad you understand my logic; you and I fundamentally disagree on this issue and I doubt that will change, but as my mother would say, "That's what makes horse racing".

As regards courage, I am totally uninterested in defending my courage (or lack of it). but I AM interested in re-articulating yet AGAIN along with many fellow registered users, that if you go into our accounts as I explained to David how, you will often find our full name, age, and bio. In my case you will also find my city of residence, which means that you can get my phone number and street address if you are so disposed. Because I'm listed with Information.

Ebi-joon: Thx. The slideshow you sent me was gorgeous and I couldn't believe Iran was shown five times.  I REALLY did NOT know HOW magnificent....I'll contact you soon as we discussed, the problem is the situation I alluded to has worsened and it has taken all my time and energy to deal with it.  Best, Ugly  ;o)

Nadia:  Mi luz, mi sol, no solo te quiero sino que te NECESITO.  Loco, loco como un chivo. to-tal-men-te tras-tor-na-do...sigh...

Dear Rosie - Is that a Real Pic of You!

My dear Rosie, You aren't Iranian, you say? Regardless, I don't think your piece deserves a reply, but since it amused me, I am replying and do hope you try to go and live in the Islamic Republic of Iran for at least a few years. Do try to ride your bicycle as often as you want in that Park you mention. Or simply try to rid something! And, try to put forward your "perspective" to the ayatollahs. Make sure you convince the Zeynab sisterhood too. Perhaps you should become part of the sisterhood, you seem to propagate well on their behalf. Make sure you wear your black Chador too, not the gear you got on in that pic my friend. Other than that I find your "piece" genuinely ridiculous. Happy fantasies.

Best Regards,
Plateau of Iran

To All and to Fereshteh

Thanks to all who responded.  My perspective on this site is  inherently different from yours, because you are the actors in the play while I have a front row seat.  And because it is front row, there is usually some ivalidity to what I say..  And I always appreciate those posters who acknowledge this.  

Now to Fereshteh’s post because, though brief, it encapsulates core issues here.  Please excuse my frustrated tone and the length.  I am frustrated, Fereshteh, because first of all, your post is extremely patronizing.  You’re not going to be harsh with me?  Why not?  Be as harsh with me as you please as long as you are fair and honest.  I can take care of myself.

You are not being fair and honest with me because we all know that there is a sizeable minority opinion on this site in agreement with me.  As well, the women in the park agree with me. If  you find my opinion “strange” you must find their opinion strange too.  So, ironically. it seems I understand those Iranians far better than you

Moving on.  You claim I’m saying:”slavery is bad but let’s make the poor slaves happy. “ .I did not talk about slaves, I talked about bicycles.  And yes, I used the word “freedom” because all  human beings have an inalienable right to air and sunshine.  And this is why prisoners in jails are granted one hour outdoors each day.  This is precisely what makes the issue of this park so complex and problematic Were we concerned here with women in  understaffed hospitals, the issue would be simple.  I said in the blog that unlike most cases of oppression of females in Iran, this BOTH gives and takes away.  What is so difficult to understand about that? 

You indicate that I have never had “first hand experience with the regime: and seem to imply that this renders my opinions irrelevant. So I will point out  that there are many second- generation Iranian- Americans, Britons, etc. on this site who haven't had that experience either.  You may reply that they have been raised on stories of their elders' experience, and I will reply that I was raised on tales of pogroms and the Holocaust. So much for that.

And as long as you keep on implying that I'm the only person who could possibly have this"strange"opinion" ,. you are not only being unfair with me but with yourself. Who is this “we” you speak of?”.  To perceive yourself as the official spokesperson of all Iranians worldwide is unfair to yourself because first of all you are allowing yourself to fall into delusion, and because such grandiosity of belief is at the root of all totaliatranism, and totalitararion is slavery, and so you are becoming the perpetrator of that which you most abhor. And that  is unfair to yourself.  

Were this park not controversial, I would not have even bothered to blog it.  So please don't tell me to "wait a minute'.  YOU wait a minute.  A long minute.   Until you can be fair and honest with me.  And with your hamvatans. And yourself.

Best regards,

Rosie

Lack of adequate medical facilities.....

I want to focus on the quality of  medical treatment for the women in Iran due to this impending, if not already implemented segregation of genders.

If women in the U.S. run the risk of dying while giving birth, I am certain that the death toll would be much higher in Iran. This is only one of the health concerns for women due to lack of adequate medical treatment.

Solh va Doosti

Nadia

Rosie , I have a hard time understanding you.

Because you are saying slavery is bad ,but lets make the poor slaves happy!
I am not going to be harsh with you because your strange opinion as a woman who has never been oppressed by IRI,is the result of your lack of first hand experience with the regime. We call it here naivety!!!!
Oh yes lets make a big golden cage for all the beautiful things, and keep them happy there, instead of getting freedom for them . Wait a minute cage was called by you "freedom".

Yaas jan: XOXO Kissing your

Yaas jan: XOXO

Kissing your right back. LOL

Rosie Jaan !!

Great piece! Thanks

Dear abc

WELL SAID!

I could kiss you right now, cyberly speaking, of course :)

What you said reminded me of the comment Tahmineh made about being educated in a coed school and how while attending college her perception toward men was genderless in comparison to her counter parts who were educated in an all girls school... Enough said !

Thanks again :)

I like to ride a bicycle all over Tehran but the air is not good

Segregation bad - very bad; women's park good - very good; and me confused - very confused.......

Dear Rosie; even though, I understand your logic for defending a women's park for the sake of those women who would not otherwise get a chance to feel a ray of sunshine on their always covered skin; however, it should be noted that all movements towards healthy solutions to a diseased society require sacrifices; snubbing a segregated park is probably a good example of demanding equal rights as opposed to accepting being jailed in a golden cage.

BTW – Dear David R; it does not take much courage to write in a blog anonymously; if you’d like to flirt with Rosie, I recommend complimenting her picture; I guarantee you, you’ll get better results :)

Dear Rosie: The autor of

Dear Rosie:

The autor of this blog has a great piece on the status of women in Iran. It's informative and full of new revelation. The author is a zoroastrian.

status of women in Iran:

//plateauofiran.wordpress.com/

Rosie jan: I too admire your

Rosie jan: I too admire your passion for Iran and Iranians. I know you mean well by writing about Iranian issues, however, you also need to understand your target audience. If you had written this wonderful piece for the Iranians inside Iran (those who had never lived in a secular society and were born after the revolution), you would have made perfect sense to them.

But note that your target audience in the West is the ex-pat community who mostly grew up in a secular society before the revolution. My grandmother never had to wear hijab. My mother grew up not wearing hejab until after the Hejab became compulsory. Her daughters grew up never wearing hijab until after the revolution.

What I'm trying to convey here is that our collective point of reference in the ex-pat community is our secular past not what the Left keeps telling us what it should be, which is Saudi Arabia or other middle eastern countries. That frankly, is an insult to our intelligence. We don't compare ourselves to Saudi Arabia or other Middle Eastern/muslim countries, we never have and we never will. We are Iranians defined by our Iranianness not our religion. We have never lived under an Islamic government in our recent history; it is only been 29 years since we have had to live under strict sharia laws. I hope this helps. I hope you're not offended because that is not my intention. I know you mean well and I appreciate your generous spirit.

Please read this link below. Read the entire site if you can; valuable info.

//plateauofiran.wordpress.com/2008/06/13/isla...

A true story for you...

It was very early in the morning that I arrived at tehran airport after many years of not seeing the country. The sun had just barely shown her face when we drove "home" to northern tehran. The sky looked "gorg and meesh" as we say (wolf and sheep -- the time of the day when wolves hunt for sheep - or when the sun starts to come up, neither dark nor light).

We were speeding through the narrow streets of north tehran when a flash light brought us to a stop with few soldiers looking into the car as we were passing by some foreign embassies.

Then the car sped up again, but going slowly when another break shook the car...

And there she was, a young girl, in her late teens or early twenties, in full islamic hejab, on a bike in the middle of the street as if the whole street belonged to her, swirling around our car to avoid collision...

I was puzzled, fascinated, and encouraged, as if droplets of tear wanted to pour out of my eyes to see this young lady on a bike in the first few hours of my visit to tehran...

Hey Rosie T., I enjoy

Hey Rosie T., I enjoy reading your stuff. I admire your courage in expressing your point of view. How can one reach you by email? Sometimes people want to send their reactions to you privately.