11/13/2007

Kafka, Pink, Nacht, and Soroush

1. My older son is learning some things about what it means to own a car. Enough said on that topic, I had to give him a ride to the train station after a long time this morning. As I pulled into my parking spot in Berkeley, I called him to see if he had made it on the 7:30 train. He had, but he didn’t want to talk about trains (which less than 2 hours ago was all he had wanted to talk about). Instead, he wanted to talk about Kafka, which he is reading right now, and as reading Kafka goes, he is shocked and a little frightened by what he is reading. In between the things he was saying he said: “I read my first Kafka story when I was 15. It was in a book of short horror stories you bought me. What was going through your mind when you bought that collection of dark stories for me? What if I’m permanently damaged as a result of my exposure to Kafka when I was only 15?!” I told him to keep on reading his Kafka, until he has read them all, and then he should read some other books which I’ll tell him about later, and then see some ballets and operas which I will also recommend, before he is done. He said: “Done with what?” I said to him: “What you need to be a good date, where you can talk about a broad range of topics and things.” For the first time, he didn’t tell me to mind my own business.
2. I’m going to an event on Thursday. If you live in this area, I highly recommend your attendance. Foreign policy: Future of American-Iranian relations; Thursday, November 15 7:30-9 p.m. 2060 Valley Life Sciences Bldg., UC Berkeley. Here's the lecture description: "Regardless of sanctions and diplomatic alienation, Iran has not backed down from the claim that it has a right to its own nuclear program. As tensions heat up and the our position in the Middle East grows more complicated, we are faced with a number of choices. Michael Nacht, dean of the Goldman School of Public Policy, and Darren Zook, professor of International and Area Studies, will discuss the the probable and preferable futures of American-Iranian relations."
3. My friend, Dr. Zari Taheri, has sent me the link to this song by Pink. It's called "Dear Mr. President." Here are the lyrics.
4. Dr. Abdolkarim Soroush will be giving a lecture on "Molana va Ghiaymate Eshgh" at Oakland's Islamic Cultural Center of Northern Califonia on Saturday November 17, 2007at 6:30PM. The program is in Farsi. ICCNC's address is 1433 Madison Avenue, Oakland, CA.
5. Tomorrow at 12:00 noon, there will be a protest by Iranians against a possible US attack on Iran at UC Berkeley's Sproul Plaza. It will last for one hour. I am attending this protest. If you live in this area, come join us.

10 comments:

Marzieh said...

Thank you so much!
kiss and love

Siah said...

Hear, hear! I read the Metamorphosis and never understood, later I read the "Trial" and the story is still with me. I don't think kafka gives good pick up lines though :)

That pink video was really interesting thanks

Unknown said...

Nazy Jan,
The Pink Video was great, but I don't know about Ostad Soroush's speech!! we can have a long conversation on that subject and also "Kafka" next time we meet( which I hope it is going to be soon! )
Sorry missing you today.
Farrokh

midnight/... said...

I love to come to Mr. Soroush's program. I will try my best and hope to see you there then.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm! I was already in college when I read Metamorphosis. It never helped my dating life, as far as I can remember. I hope it helps your son.
That pink clip does not play any more.

Nazy said...

Salam Marzieh Jan. Thank you for coming to visit, and kisses and love right back at you! Be good my friend.

Nazy said...

Salam Siah Jan. I personally don't like Kafka and his dark literature. My son has been reading books all his life and very serious books recently. I laughed reading your remark about Kafka's "pick-up lines!" I couldn't agree with you more. The idea I was trying to present to my son, is that he needs to read many more books and be familiar with a diverse range of topics, so that he can be a good conversationalist as a young adult. I may not have conveyed my meaning very well. Be good Siah Jan.

Nazy said...

Salam Farrokh Jan:

I am honored you took the time to leave me a comment this time. Certainly my conversations with you are all very interesting and I look forward to them. When I learn about events in our area, I let my readers know. I don't know if I'll be able to attend Dr. Soroush's lecture on Saturday, due to a schedule conflict. I have read his books on Masnavi and on Molana and would love to hear him talk on the topic. I hope your art projects are coming along well and that you are happy.

Nazy said...

Salam Nimeh Shab Jan. It's great to see you here again. I have a scheduling conflict with the Soroush lecture and I will have to see what I can do. I would love to see you again soon, my intelligent and sweet friend. Be happy and kisses to sweet Arman.

Nazy said...

Salam Ehsan Jan:

Try the Pink clip again. It seems to be in order.

Hee Hee, it's not the Kafka that will help young people in their dating skills. It is the worldliness and well-roundedness of one's personal education and learnings that will help him or her. At least that's my belief! Knowing about books, films, music, the environment, and politics enables anyone in any age and in any stage of their lives to be more interesting, and to participate in dialogues and discussions. That's what I was using a rare moment of advice to tell my son. It is not every day that advice from a mother is regarded as noteworthy by children, you will agree. Anyhow, as things stand, neither one of my two boys feel they need dating advice from me, so my damage is limited at best!

Incidentally, whatever you learned in college and whatever help you sought in wooing a wonderful young woman, it obviously worked! Your Maryam is a breath of fresh air. Be happy Ehsan Jan.