Breakfast Before Trip

Breakfast with a nostalgist and His Majesty before taking off with a sociologist.

A Friday To Celebrate

A Berkeley sidewalk in the rain.

It's Friday, and another week comes to an end. To those of my friends and family who fasted during Ramadan, Happy Eid-e Fetr. This video clip, showing a marvelous musical performance of Iranian and orchestral instruments, composed by Javid Afsari Rad and performed by Norwegian Radio Orchestra in Oslo, is for you. I found it on Omid’s blog. We had a big rainstorm last night and all through today. As I dropped him off at the train station, I lent my umbrella to my younger son, who for the first time in his life had decided to use an umbrella to save his work clothes from the rain. It might appear as mundane and unworthy of reporting to you. For me, it was another of the daily revelations I am experiencing with my children, seeing them acting as adults for the first time, each incident worth mentioning and celebrating. Needless to say, I got to work from the parking lot with wet and frizzy hair, smiling like a lunatic!

There will be a Berkeley Lecture Series lecture by my friend, Dr. Jaleh Pirnazar at UC Berkeley's Barrows Hall on Sunday at 4:00 p.m. She will be talking about “The Image of the Jew in Persian Literature.” For the past 20 years Jaleh has been a lecturer and a scholar of Persian literature and Iranian cinema at Berkeley. I’ll be taking a short trip to Los Angeles with my friends tomorrow. If I can come back in time on Sunday, I will go listen to the sweet and knowledgeable and unpretentious Jaleh. The lecture will be in Farsi.

I have found a DVD of a dance performance I attended last spring. Soon I will try Blogspot's new video feature with it and see if I can upload a bit of it for you to see here. I’m looking forward to the challenge.

I wish you a wonderful weekend, full of relaxation and celebration. Enjoy the time with your loved ones, confessing your love to them. Just think: they already know you and accept you exactly as you are, and that is a valuable attribute of long standing relationships and family. That’s why they need to be celebrated--for putting up with you! In return, put up with them and love and understand them as they are. You can’t miss with this advice, I assure you! Be good y’all.

With Hafez

View of San Francisco Bay from Oakland Hills, getting ready for rain.

I read today that there will be a nationwide celebration of Hafez in Iran on Mehr 20th. Hafez is every Iranian's poet. Everyone reads him and believes that Hafez has talked to him/her directly. Every Iranian lives with Hafez and heeds his advice. A poet whose poetry never ages, and for seven hundred years has provided lovers and those in need of advice a poetic way of expression. I live with Hafez. I have a small collection of twelve Hafez books, from a small, travel-sized one to beautiful calligraphy versions. In honor of the upcoming celebration, here's your Hafez invitation. Share your favorite Hafez poetry, or, if you feel like it, please open a Faal for us. I have already made my wish and I'm waiting to hear from you.

پیش ازاینت بیش ازاین اندیشه‌ی عشّاق بود مهرورزی تو با ما شهرهٔ آفاق بود یاد باد آن صحبت شبها که با نوشین‌لبان بحث سرّ عشق و ذکر حلقهٔ عشّاق بود پیش ازین کاین سقف سبز و طاق مینا برکشند منظر چشم مرا ابروی جانان طاق بود سایهٔ معشوق اگر افتاد بر عاشق چه شد ما به او محتاج بودیم او به ما مشتاق بود حسن مهرویان مجلس گرچه دل می‌برد و دین بحث ما در لطف طبع و خوبی اخلاق بود شعر حافظ در زمان آدم اندر باغ خلد دفتر نسرین و گل رازینت اوراق بود

As Is

Pistachio Harvest in Khorasan's Torbat Heydarieh

I really like the way days become shorter on this side of the year, giving way to longer evenings and nights. Evenings and nights are my patch of time in which to think, to do things, and to feel peaceful. My days at work are now filled with meetings and assignments. I never know where the day goes, and before I know it, it's time to head home. This evening my younger son and I went driving. He seems to be a natural, cautious and attentive. I think he will be ready to take the test soon. Dinner served, dishes washed, and everybody winding down, it feels good to know that the night will be long, where I can think and write.

I am working on a long overdue piece on a fabulous Iranian artist, lost to most of us for years. He was born to a family of artists, and was raised to grow and be one of the most famous talents of his time in America. His is a story which will mesmerize you, I'm sure. I just hope that I can write it well to do his remarkable story justice.

As I sit here, getting ready to start writing, a thought hangs warmly on my mind. Too often, we look for happiness in things other than the ones we have, places other than the ones we have visited, and people we have never met. It is interesting to have new experiences. It is exciting to acquire new things. However, it is infinitely rewarding to occasionally stop and look at our achievements as represented in the life we have. I believe happiness is here and now, wherever we are, with whatever we have, and around whomever we already know. It feels good sometimes to stop and appreciate all for which we tried hard on days gone by. Tonight I am loving my life as is.

Freed At Last

Ali Farahbakhsh, the Iranian journalist who was in prison for close to a year was just released, according to his sister, Helaleh's post in her blog. I never knew him before his imprisonment. He writes about economy, which most people don't follow with interest, and which also made his arrest and imprisonment so bizarre. I was very sad for a young journalist who was unfairly accused and treated to a long jail term. I wrote something about it in April. His freedom is very good news, indeed. I am glad he goes home to his toddler and wife and to his aging parents. I met his worried sister at the Internet gathering last month. She must be so happy for his freedom, and I am happy, too.

Ms. Wisdom Fails

Looking out the window at work today.

My older son has been experiencing office politics lately. The whole story of rivalry, gossip, and potential backstabbing is finding its way into his so far inexperienced work life. He calls to "consult" with me. I listen, ask some questions, and give him my opinion. In his funny and sarcastic way, he says: "Thanks for the fortune cookie, Mom," and we hang up. Though he appears to have learned his fundamental lessons about honesty and integrity, he appears unwilling to learn about self preservation and conflict management. I can't convince him to walk up to someone and discuss his feelings openly, seeking a mutually satisfying solution. Part of me thinks that this is because he is young and as yet inexperienced. Part of me, though, thinks that he is having a "typical male" approach to his predicament, staying uncompromising and bullish when he feels he hasn't done anything wrong, and that there really couldn't be a better way for bringing harmony to his environment. As I sit at my desk and feel inadequate in helping him, I also feel for both my sons today. They are men who are trying to find their way through life with a woman as their only present consultant, confidant, and teacher. I suppose telling him "to try and work it out with your coworker before escalating it to your manager," might sound like a fortune cookie piece of advice. Sigh.

Happy Mehregan

Today is Mehregan Day, 16th day of the month of Mehr, celebrating the emergence of Mitra, the sun. "On Mehregan Day, angels came to the aid of Kaveh, the ironsmith, Fereidoon was crowned, and Zahhak was imprisoned in Damavand Mountain, freeing people of his tyranny..." Abu Reihan Birooni

فریدون چو شد بر جهان کامکار............ ندانست جز خویشتن شهریار

به رســم کیان تاج و تخت مهی.............. بیاراست با کاخ شاهنشهی

به روز خجسته ســر مهر ماه................به سر بر نهاد آن کیانی کلاه

زمانه بی اندوه گشـت از بدی................ گرفتند هر کــس ره بـخردی

دل از داوری­هـا بپرداخـتـنـد ..................به آیین، یکی، جشن نو ساختند

نـشـسـتـنـد فرزانگان، شادکام.................گـرفتند هـر یک ز ياقوت، جام

می روشن و چهره ی شاه نـَو............... جهان نو ز داد از سر ِماه نـَو

بـفـرمـود تا آتش افـروخـتـنـد................. همه عنبر و زعفران سوختند

پـرسـتـیـدن مهرگان دیـن اوسـت.............. تن آسانی و خوردن آیین اوست

کنون یادگارست از و ماه مهر................ به کوش و به رنج ایچ منمای چهر

شاهنامه­ی فردوسی

Source: Aryaboom

Abadan On My Mind

Photo by Amir Parstabar.

Our weather has turned cool. My feet are cold all the time now, and I have to wear socks, my least favorite item of clothing! I made my Sunday morning cup of tea, and sit here watching the steam making a pretty dance escaping the cup. I took care of chores yesterday. It was a solitary day for me, where by accident or by choice, I didn't get to talk to too many people.

Quite by accident I ran into a blog in Iran, and when I read its latest post, I felt good. The post is really a letter to Mayor of Abadan, asking him why Abadan has not been fixed and repaired in all the years since the war. It is an intelligent and responsible piece of writing, filled with love for Iran, without hate for anyone. I would like to think it would be the type of thing I would write if I were smart and brave enough. Alas, living outside Iran, many people believe that I don't have the right to write such a letter, even if I had the intelligence and courage! Well, I'm glad someone who lives inside Iran and went to visit Abadan recently wrote it. As many of you know by now, I am not from Gilan, Mazandaran, Khorasan, Boushehr, Abadan, Shiraz, Isfahan, Baluchistan, Azerbaijan, or most of the other cities and villages I write about. I am from Iran. I belong to all of Iran, and all of it belongs to me, regardless of what anyone might say to the contrary.

I continue my solitary weekend today, taking care of more things and doing some work for Peyk, clearing my plate. I hope you are having a peaceful day, too.

Friday Thoughts

I bring another week to an end, a week full of mixed feelings, longings, good news and bad. As of this week, we will have a new "driver in training" in our household. My younger son passed his written test this week and a new round of anxiety-filled driving lessons will start with him! To his credit, he seems to be a lot more cautious than his older brother who in three months, has had a major accident and several fender benders! We shall see. Looks like I might be able to take a trip to go see my friends at the end of this month. A Decemer wedding is being planned in my family and I'm getting excited about that. This month I also hope to be able to see a blogger friend who might be coming to our parts. Work has been exciting, too, with a huge new project on the horizon, which will keep me engaged for about two years. I'm really enthusiastic about that.

This week I went to listen to a retired British diplomat in Berkeley's Graduate School of Public Policy. Berkeley's GSPP is very reputable and students attending this school will be delivered to jobs in politics and public service. Her name is Honorable Shirley Williams and a Liberal Democrat, she has served as Member of Parliament, a cabinet member, a member of the House of Lords, and most recently as an advisor to Gordon Brown on NPT. She shared her experiences in British politics as a woman, and her reflections on what is happening in the world these days. All of her talk was very interesting, but the most profound thing she said was that the world is at a turning point and the next eight years will be pivotal years in determining the shape and state of our world for this century.

I leave you wih a short clip of a sweet Mazandarani folk song. I hope you have a good weekend, full of relaxation, love, and hope. Go for walks in the nature, look at the leaves and for each beautifully shaped and colored leaf, think of a reason to thank God, if you believe. If you don't, just remember the universal order into which we are born, and marvel at its complexity. Be super good to those who matter most to you, hug them, celebrate them, and confess your love for them. Be good ya'll.

The Lights in Taleghan Nights

A cottage in the village of Gouran, Taleghan. More Taleghan photos by Fatameh Farajmandi here.

It's Friday in Tehran. I remember my Friday excursions into villages near Tehran. At this time of the year, Taleghan must be gorgeous, with walnut and fruit trees slowly shedding their leaves which have already turned into hundreds of beautiful colors. Harvest time has come and gone in those parts by now, my Taleghani friend tells me. He says walnuts and fruits and honey have already been shipped to their destinations. Now Taleghan rests and gears up for the snowy winter ahead. He says Taleghanis love to keep lights on in their homes, and on special occasions, such as Nowrooz, they keep the lights on all night. The air must have turned cool, urging locals to heat up their homes. I remember the prestine and cool sheets and blanket (lahaf) I was given in which to sleep one cold night when I was a guest of a Taleghani family. It was so welcoming to know that they had expected guests in their house, and that I was the lucky one! Their simple breakfast the next day was so delicious, I remember it still. Life goes on. For now, mine goes on some of the time with my memories. Thankfully, the rest of the time I am making new memories. No complaints.

مستان سلامت می کنند

رو آن ربابی را بگو مستان سلامت می کنند

وان مرغ آبی را بگو مستان سلامت می کنند

وان میر ساقی را بگو مستان سلامت می کنند

وان عمر باقی را بگو مستان سلامت می کنند

وان میر غوغا را بگو مستان سلامت می کنند

وان شور و سودا را بگو مستان سلامت می کنند

ای مه ز رخسارت خجل، مستان سلامت می کنند

وی راحت و آرام دل، مستان سلامت می کنند

ای جان جان، ای جان جان، مستان سلامت می کنند

اینجا یکی با خویش نیست، مستان سلامت می کنند

یک مست اینجا بیش نیست، مستان سلامت می کنند

ای آرزوی آرزو، مستان سلامت می کنند

آن پرده را بردار زو، مستان سلامت می کنند

(برای هشتصدمین سالگرد تولد مولانا)

Berkeleyans Protest the War & Iran Attack Plans

The protestors posed for me! Click on photos for a more detailed view.

My boss and I were walking on Shattuck Avenue in downtown Berkeley this afternoon when we saw this group of protestors getting ready to protest the Iraq war, as well as plans to attack Iran. They were representatives of an organization named CODEPINK, initiated by American women. They were standing outside US Marine Corps' recruitment office in Berkeley, protesting recruitment efforts going on at colleges and particularly at Berkeley. They had a sign which encouraged drivers passing by to honk their horns in support of their protest. It was very noisy. Visit this organization's website, and learn more about them.