Friday, September 28, 2007


Recently I was interviewed by Tehelka. Here are three of those questions and my answers.

Q) After September 11 attack, often heard that people from Middle East and Asia are under suspicion in US and Europe? Do you feel so?

A) Yes. I do feel so when I go to the airport. Last month my husband, the director of a research center in Washington, D.C. was humiliated on the airplane and his safety was put in danger by the flight attendant. He could easily have been shot by US air marshals. But truth be said the United States is where we can voice our concern.

Q) How you evaluate the governments in Iran and US.

A) There is no comparison between the Iranian regime and the U.S. government. The Iranian regime commits crimes against its own people and supports terrorism around the world. The United States has a democratic government and if people are dissatisfied with one political group they have the chance to elect a different one four years later. When the U.S. committed war crimes in Abu Gharib prison in Iraq we did hear and read about it and people get convicted. The same doesn’t apply to the ruling regime of Iran.

Q) Lot of Iranian writers are now in exile? What is their contribution generally? Exile literature has any major role in total.

A) Exiled writers are contributing a lot, not only to the Persian literature but to the world literature as well. Exiled and immigrant writers and poets have, throughout history, had an important role to play in discovering new frontiers in articulating experience and finding new means of expressions. Think of Russian exiles like Marian Tsvetaeva or Josef Brodsky. Think of German exiles like Paul Celan. The same applies to Persian literature. Not many people might know the bright exiled Iranian writers now. But in time they will.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

We sit in the car waiting for the buffalo wings and carrot juice. She asks why we are born to die. I answer laughing at the fact she is 5 and I am 34 and neither have a clue. I tell her I don't know. But I thought moms know everything. Love, moms don't know everything.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007


Ahmadinejad

Iranian people are arrested, executed, and public hangings are the norm of the society. Women are bruised in the streets and at home without much rights and legal protection. However the Islamic Republic representatives shamelessly say: "The freest women in the world are women in Iran and our people are the freest people in the world" and "We have no homosexuals in Iran." Perhaps inviting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak at Columbia University is Hamid Dabashi’s greatest contribution to date. The Islamic Republic is on full display in the Western Media and more people get to see the true nature of the regime.

Thursday, September 20, 2007


An Iranian-Canadian has made one of the most successful short films of all times. In the meantime other Iranian-Canadians
Hassan Daoleslam: "The National Iranian American Council (NIAC) and its president Trita Parsi plan to organize a panel in the US House of Representatives on July 26th, 2007, titled “Human Rights in Iran and US Foreign Policy Options”. According to the published agenda, representatives from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch will participate. The sponsors of the program (NIAC and Trita Parsi) are key players in the lobby enterprise of Tehran’s ayatollahs in the United States. The Iranian regime’s violations of human rights have reached unprecedented levels. Its barbaric suppression of women, workers, students and dissidents, and the stoning of a man after 11 years of imprisonment, have been the subject of broad international condemnation."

FREE SPEECH
Stalin alive and well!
Shemma Kalbasi
August 12, 2007
Hossein Derakhshan's blog is suspended by Mehdi Khalaji! Apparently Khalaji having had worked for and under the current regime of Iran before he was revolutionized has brought his Mullah mindset to the United States.
I by no means defend Derakhshan for I have observed his actions and his support for the current regime of Iran but am surprised at Khalaji. He is supposedly promoting a democratic Iran?! He too can write and express his opinion but to shut down a blog is nothing short what we observe in today's Iran where newspapers and blogs are shut down or filtered every day.
I am sorry to see Khalaji and his like minded friend Trita Parsi do nothing but sue and threaten people for their ideas and writings. It was last month that Parsi threatened to sue Voice of America for re-inviting Hassan Daoleslam and calling him MKO member and a supporter of war on Iran without facts to support his accusations.
These people are Iran and Iranians lobbyists? These people are bringing Iranians Democracy? These people are human rights advocates? Well I for one say such democracy, such lobbyists, and these people who seem to have the mindset of dictators, these people who can't stand their opponents, yes these people are only good as their actions are!




Wednesday, September 19, 2007


Is Haleh Esfandiari the ambassador of Iran's PR group now?

Within fifty three days there have been seventy nine executions in Iran. Twenty seven of those were public hangings. Twelve of those broadcast on the Iranian TV and Haleh Esfandiari comes on the U.S. TV and tells us how polite and friendly the regime has been to her! Is she the ambassador of Iran's PR group now or she simply can’t care less to discuss prisoners, hangings, human abuses, and women's conditions in Iran.

Monday, September 10, 2007



Lemon Trees

I am sick with vomiting and nausea and physically and emotionally exhausted with this pregnancy. Back when I was pregnant with my little girl, the sound of crickets, rain, and the smell of summer had become unpleasant to me.

Today as I write down these words all I want is to to squeeze the leaves off lemon trees and have the scent ride on my fingers. I want the air to be spiced up with the smell of lemons and limes.

Friday, September 07, 2007


Is NIAC calling for a Jihad?


Ah! Who knows what comes next with these NIACies and the rest of these Iranian regime appeasers! Depending what they have had for dinner they wake up to a whole new horizon the morning after! I guess freedom of expression is limited to what they think is right or wrong and not what Freedom of Expression is about! In addition to these entire why do they speak on my behalf? They have so boldly spoken for each and every Iranian-American as if they really believe each and every Iranian-American supports their actions!

Thursday, September 06, 2007


Yesterday

Despite my sever nausea and vomiting I managed to accompany my husband and our little girl on her first day of kindergarten. I was excited and smiling so big that my husband said it feels more like my first day of school. That’s true. I loved my first day of KG where as my husband had cried the whole day so that he could stay home and go canoe riding with his mom! Anyway back at home my day got better. I had received a box full of beautiful gifts from my poet-painter friend Katayoon Zandvakili. Ah, I was so excited that I felt I have my hands in a jar of cookies! To make my day even better -- and despite the fact I had my mouth and half my head hidden in a plastic bag while being driven-- I managed to meet Kellye Kathyrn Betancourt later that afternoon and saw her at home exhibition. The night ended while trying to answer my daughter’s question about the creation. I drew Creation versus Evolution on a napkin and she said she likes the Evolution theory more because of the monkeys but both theories seem interesting!