I am a citizen of this planet, who believes there is a purpose and mission to our existence. I pursue that mission and try to enjoy every lesson, every day, and every last drop of the pain and joy we drink when we live. I live a mostly regret-free life, with each failure quickly becoming a valuable experience and something to laugh about, and every success something about which to be thankful and celebrative. I do all of this in and around my beloved Berkeley, California.
Do you remember the family wedding I told you about in September? The one my sons and I attended with some of my other siblings? I already told you briefly about the gathering on the night before the wedding, the Hana Bandan. I went to a Pagosha party for that couple at my older sister's house this afternoon. A Pagosha is when a family honors the newly-married couple by throwing a party for them shortly after the wedding. In a way, the brand new couple's new status as "a family" is celebrated this way. In Iran, where families are a lot bigger and there are more of them around to throw parties, it is usually a very exciting and exhausting time for families of the bride and the groom who are invited to one Pagosha after another for several weeks following a wedding. In these parts a family wedding and a Pagosha are novelties for us! My sweet niece (she is my "naveh amoo") and her lovely husband make such a perfect couple. Spending time visiting with them and the family and celebrating the love and joy a newly-married couple's presence exudes was really a great thing to do on a Sunday! As is always the case with formal Iranian occasions, the food was fabulous and elaborate, and I ate entirely too much! After our early dinner we sat around and talked about all kinds of things including, but not limited to the upcoming elections. As I have said before, when we are near our families, we don't really need to do or say very much to send and receive loving energies from one another. All we have to do is to be in the same room with them and the vibes start flowing by themselves! I'm not surprised, therefore, to be feeling really peaceful and calm tonight after the recent turmoils and stresses I have been experiencing. Life is beautiful. (And I need to go on a diet.)
"Iranian composer Farshid Amin has writen a great song called 'Pray with me' which was performed at a gala for Barack Obama two weeks ago. Lionel Richie and The Pointer Sisters also submited songs but Farshid's was chosen. He has been invited to perform the song on election night at the Democratic Victory Gala in Orange County. He is the first Iranian singer ever to perform on election night. Please watch the clip and pass it to all your friends who want a positive change." From my friend, Souri.I just love that Farshid Amin whom we all know for his 6/8 songs to which I have personally danced endlessly (!), has written such a beautiful song, reaching a world audience. Good for him. Share this with others if you can!
And while I'm at it, I would like to invite you all to read Obama's Call on my friend Mina's blogs. It is a brilliant piece, full of hope about what America would be like after Obama is elected.
Iranian film director Dariush Mehrjui and author and Berkeley resident Anita Amirrezvani.
Dariush Mehrjui and Fereshteh Davaran.
I met up with friends to go see two Dariush Mehrjui films in Berkeley this evening. I loved his movie, ThePear Tree. It is a movie based on a Goli Taraghi story about a middle-aged author who returns to his Damavand fruit orchard to overcome his writer's block, coming head-on with the lost love story of his childhood. It was a beautiful movie, moving and reminiscent of so much about my own childhood. We also saw his short film, The Lost Cousin, this one a bit more surreal and dark for my taste. He then answered questions and spent a little time signing a book about his films. Professor Ardavan Davaran, a college classmate of Dariush Mehrjui's, introduced him and shared some sweet and funny memories of their college years at UCLA as young students. He said Mehrjui knew he wanted to be a film director back then, but chose to study philosophy. When his friend asked him why he was going to study philosophy if he wanted to make movies, he said because I will learn all the technical stuff in time, but in order to make good movies I will need to learn about philosophy first. Well, he learned well! From his movie, The Cow, to his latest films, I have seen quite a few of this gifted director's films, but truth be told, the one movie he made which I believe was the funniest Iranian movie I ever saw in my life, was The Tenants (ejareh neshin-ha). I have that movie and sometimes when I feel low, I watch it to cheer me up! I saw Mehdi, Nasim and Jay, Shadi, and a whole bunch of my other Bay Area friends to my endless delight! Mehran and Bayramali and I went to dinner afterwards, laughing and talking about life. I was reminded again of how fortunate I am to be living in this area and to have such superb friends. It was a perfect thing to do to bring sunshine into my Saturday, even if the rain poured relentlessly. Have a good Sunday everybody!
"Road to World Cup 2006," a video clip of a group of Iranians in Europe who travelled to Germany to see the games. One of the directors is M. R. Heydari, who lives in Sweden. This clip really moved me. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Happy Halloween and Happy Friday! I spent a solitary Halloween back at my house. My older son stayed in Santa Cruz to join the other 30,000 young people partying in Santa Cruz tonight. My younger son and Iden have gone to San Francisco to party at a friend's house. Did I tell you Iden is our house guest again for a couple of weeks? I am glad they are celebrating their youth, and I pray that they are safe. I had many trick or treaters at the door again this year. Treats were the order of the evening, so no tricks at this house! By now all is quiet in my neighborhood again and I get a chance to do some work.
Tomorrow evening I will go to UC Berkeley to see two of Dariush Mehrjui's films and attend a Q/A session where he will answer questions about his films. Here's the information in case you live in these parts and are interested to attend the program:
Berkeley Lecture Series Presents: An evening with Dariush Mehrjui; showing of “Derakht-e Golabi”, The Pear Tree, and “Dokhtar Dayi-e Gomshodeh”, The Lost Cousin (with Khosrow Shakibayie), followed by Q & A with Mr. Mehrjui; Saturday, November 1, 2008, 6:00 p.m.; 100 GPB (Genetics & Plant Biology), University of California, Berkeley, map.
I hope you all have a very good weekend ahead of you, full of joy, relaxation, and love. Remember to hold those who are dear to you tightly, kissing them often, and confessing your love to them! You have nothing to lose and something to gain when you pay close attention to those who are in your lives for a reason. Never take them for granted and in doing so, they will also take note not to take you for granted. So, fess up and be good y'all!
My friends were going to Japan for three weeks. They asked me to look after their house and their cat, Ray. I had been feeling tired and stressed out, needing to take a break without having to get too far from my life. I agreed. I figured since I really love cats and miss my cat, Asghar, whom I had left behind when I moved from Tehran three years ago, I would have a good chance to bond with a furry feline and re-energize.
I have known Kerry for more than twenty years and was fortunate enough to attend Kerry and Mark’s wedding many years ago. Kerry, is the epitome of an organized individual. Her beautiful house perfectly clean and tidy, her house cat, Ray, a dream of a cat, and her binder full of typed instructions on EVERYTHING about her house and her cat, were welcoming and encouraging signs that I was about to arrive at my oasis of sanity and peace for three weeks. I went to get introduced and oriented to the cat and Kerry and Mark’s house three times prior to their departure. I learned the elaborate lighting, sound, and alarm systems of their gorgeous house near Berkeley. Ray seemed shy but he did warm up to me some during my visits. Kerry even took me and introduced me to a few of her neighbors who had all been informed about a woman who would be living at her house for a few weeks.
I told Kerry I had prior plans to have dear guests on the first Sunday they were gone and whether it was alright with her if I entertained my friends at her house. The sweet woman was happy at the prospect of a party at her house, even if she wasn’t in it! I had invited my friends to our usual monthly get-together which I regularly host, except this time a dear friend of mine, Jahanshah, who was planning to leave the area was our low-key “guest of honor.” I call it low-key because he had made it clear he didn’t want a farewell party. I knew and everybody else knew that this would be the last time we would get together like this for a while.
Kerry and Mark left on a Thursday and I moved in and became house-mate with Ray, the cat. Everything went very well, including our bedtimes, when Ray would sleep at the bottom of my bed, just like Kerry had said he would. Things were going on really well with the two of us.
I returned to my house on that first Saturday night, cooked up a storm, and the next day, on Sunday, I took all the food and a lot of other things with me to my friends’ house where I expected my friends. A couple of days before the party, I had received emails and phone calls from a couple of my friends whom I hadn’t invited to the party. They said they had heard about the party and wanted to come, too. This is not unusual among my friends. I have many many friends and it is not possible to invite all of them to my house at the same time, so I take turns on whom to invite. All through my life, though, it has happened that I would get calls from people just before a party, inviting themselves over. It gives me great joy to accept and welcome my friends when they really want to come. (To Be Continued...)
Kayvan Saket leads a musical and choral ensemble in a live performance in Tehran. I have posted this before, so forgive the repetition and the fact that I still don't know the musical piece's name, the other artists' names, and where and when this is happening. Enjoy it just the same as I do quite frequently!
I am at my friends' house, cleaning up and packing my stuff to leave tomorrow after they return. I will write a better post tomorrow night when I'm back where I belong! Have a fabulous Thursday everybody. (I am listening to this music, also by people to whom I belong as I'm working, loving it!)
Some of my writing has been pouring out of me in the form of poetry, even though I had never written poetry before. I don't know how this all got started, but all of a sudden, words jump out of my head with almost volcanic force and hop onto the keyboard and the result looks like poetry. This has been a scary and at the same time exciting thing for me. This last Sunday, I read a poem I had written to a group of writers, my friends. There was discussion of my poem after the reading. As I was carefully listening to the other poets and writers talk about my poem, taking notes on how to make it better, one of them whose opinion I really respect said: "That was a very devastating poem. It conveyed devastating thoughts and feelings." Heeh! I had conveyed "very devastating thoughts and feelings?!" I must have, for my kind and sensitive friend, a published author himself, wouldn't have said so if I hadn't! I thought I had just written about some memories and of some feelings, albeit sad feelings. I was actually amused until he said: "How do women do that? How can they be so kind and generous to men who have hurt them and why do women remember those men with love even after they have left them?" All of a sudden, I wasn't amused anymore. I was sad.
Jaleh Etemad's "Girl Sobs," from the Spark of Life series, Iranian.com, September 27, 2008.
My little sister laughed. Her lips and her tongue were purple with the stain of the mulberries (toot), picked fresh from the towering trees in our front yard. The sun's reflection on her auburn hair created the image of her beautiful hair in flames of changing colors as her small frame kept moving, bending and shifting. She was laughing and telling me something, when time stopped long enough to file her image in my head among other images there, filed under "Love," and then catapulting us forward by several decades, landing us in October 2008. I watched her now from across the room, as her face lit up in a big smile and her auburn hair caught the reflections of light from the window, seeing the purple lips in my mind.
One day last week I had Chinese takeout at my desk for lunch. I found a fortune cookie in the plastic bag containing my food. This is what it said: "The next few days are a lucky time for you. You can take a chance." Though not terribly superstitious, something about this unsolicited advice and message of hope really touched me. I felt energized to do something about a few things in my life which have not been going really well. I used the energy to do things I had been putting off for a while. Now I wait to see whether "luck" would come my way as a result of the chances I took last week! I'll let you know if the hopeful prediction comes through. In the meantime, I think the best way to approach life's challenges is through optimism and hope and hard work. Of course any good vibes and idea you could send my way are most welcome as usual! Have a good Monday everybody!
As promised, here is a picture of the creature I have been spending time with over the past 2.5 weeks. My work with him will be finished on Thursday, when my friends return from their trip. I was thinking yesterday that I will miss him so much. I'm not ready to adopt another pet, though. I will do it when my current responsibilities subside and I have less to worry about. Just the same, it has been great spending time with this sweet cat. I hope you all are enjoying your Sunday.
A traditional coffee shop, ghahveh khooneh, in Karaj. Photo by Faranak Ravon, Iranian.com. A salute to my memories!
I took off my shoes and climbed on top of the wooden bed covered with rugs. I sat in the corner, where a huge carpet pillow, Mokhaddeh, was invitingly waiting for me. I couldn't fold my feet under, something I never learned to do. So I sat with my legs pointing forward. We asked for the village breakfast of fresh eggs, bread, cheese, and hot tea served in transparent short cups, estekan. The clean plastic spread, Sofreh, held the most delicious feast on the earth for me. The two of us sat there, under those shady trees in the summer's early morning breeze, listenning to the river beneath go by, having our breakfast and talking, laughing, and talking some more. Today, if anyone asks me where I think is the most romantic place in the world, I would say a small coffeeshop just outside of Tehran on Chaloos Road, where they served a delicious breakfast and a chance to love.
Fresh barberries, zereshk, in Karaj, Iran. Photo by Faranak Ravon, Iranian.com, October 22, 2008.
Ray the cat, and I are getting along well. I think he has come to like me! I am looking for a chance to photograph him during the day and show you his picture. He is a sweet cat, a lap cat, which means he loves hanging out on my lap! This could be a challenge as I work on the computer a lot, and his sitting on my lap means that my access to the keyboard gets somewhat restricted! Sometimes he touches the keyboard, too, typing something! All things considered, we are doing well together. Today I completed my second week living with him. With just one more week to go, I was thinking how I might miss having a cat around when I'm back at my house again! I miss my cat, Asghar. He lives in Karaj now, where the above photograph was taken by Farah.
I could use your good vibes for a professional project I am undertaking. I really need this project to go well. Please send good thoughts my way you guys! I'll give you a good shirini if it goes well! Have a good Friday you all!
Do you remember the family wedding I told you about in September? The one my sons and I attended with some of my other siblings? I already told you briefly about the gathering on the night before the wedding, the Hana Bandan. I went to a Pagosha party for that couple at my older sister's house this afternoon. A Pagosha is when a family honors the newly-married couple by throwing a party for them shortly after the wedding. In a way, the brand new couple's new status as "a family" is celebrated this way. In Iran, where families are a lot bigger and there are more of them around to throw parties, it is usually a very exciting and exhausting time for families of the bride and the groom who are invited to one Pagosha after another for several weeks following a wedding. In these parts a family wedding and a Pagosha are novelties for us! My sweet niece (she is my "naveh amoo") and her lovely husband make such a perfect couple. Spending time visiting with them and the family and celebrating the love and joy a newly-married couple's presence exudes was really a great thing to do on a Sunday! 
As is always the case with formal Iranian occasions, the food was fabulous and elaborate, and I ate entirely too much! After our early dinner we sat around and talked about all kinds of things including, but not limited to the upcoming elections. As I have said before, when we are near our families, we don't really need to do or say very much to send and receive loving energies from one another. All we have to do is to be in the same room with them and the vibes start flowing by themselves! I'm not surprised, therefore, to be feeling really peaceful and calm tonight after the recent turmoils and stresses I have been experiencing. Life is beautiful. (And I need to go on a diet.)
