I, Ezzat Goushegir

Lost

2012-01-25T08:21:00.004-06:00

Lost on the road
I'm not dancing
nor watching the dancers in the crowd

Burning bodies or Exposing...

2012-01-25T03:00:00.001-06:00

An article by Hamid Dabashi

Many young men and women are now protesting by the only means left: using their bodies - whether by burning or exposing.

je veux (I Want)

2012-01-23T21:46:00.003-06:00

Listen, Listen....

I Want

I want love, joy, good spirit
It's not your money that will make me happy
I want to die, a hand on my heart....

Unemployed Moroccan students have set themselves on fire

2012-01-20T20:54:00.003-06:00

"Five unemployed Moroccan men have set themselves on fire in the capital Rabat after demonstrating against a lack of jobs, especially for university graduates.

In videos posted online, the men can clearly be seen dousing themselves in petrol after police prevented them from receiving food from supporters.

The men had been occupying part of the Education Ministry for two weeks.

At least two of the men can be seen running away into the crowd, shrouded in flames."

Stop...stop

2012-01-17T21:50:00.002-06:00

Stop the executions, stop, stop
Stop the assassinations, stop, stop
Stop killing, murdering, torturing. terrorizing...stop, stop
Stop, stop,stop, stop....
Stop, stop,
Stop!

Kaveh Adel's Political Cartoon

2012-01-17T20:30:00.004-06:00

Kaveh Adel's cartoon about Newt Gingrich was published along with an article (translation in English) "Everyday racism of Newt Gingrich and the applause of the public" written by political journalist, Iris Deroeux, on the French Mediapart political blog.

The People, Yes

2012-01-15T12:16:00.008-06:00

Carl Sandburg reading "The People, Yes"

"Here's a virtual movie of Americas "Peoples" poet Carl Sandburg reading his beautiful social commentative poem "The People, Yes". I adore this reading which is filled full of the Pathos and tragedy of the struggles of the laboring classes in this particular case during the "Great Depression" period of 1930's America,but is as relevant to day as it was all those years ago when he wrote it. Sandburg's gentle voice was tinged with an almost musical melancholic Swedish tone handed down by his Swedish born immigrant Mother and father. Sandburg demonstrates in this great reading how just simple non prosaic words delivered with the unique relaxed eloquence and dexterity he possessed can tug at the emotions of the listener. Listening to this takes me on a beautiful emotional journey as I hope it will you. Carl Sandburg (1878 1967) was the "poet of the people." He found beauty in the ordinary language of the people -- the "American lingo," as he called it -- and turned it into poetry. In the 1920s and '30s Sandburg wrote a six-volume biography of Abraham Lincoln, praising Lincoln for exemplifying the American spirit. Four of the six volumes won him the Pulitzer Prize. Late in his life, at age 70, Sandburg wrote his first novel, "Remembrance Rock" (1948), a panoramic epic of America. When Sandburg died in 1967, President Lyndon Johnson stated, "There is no end to the legacy he leaves us." Carl Sandburg reads his ode to the American people "The People, Yes" in this 1950s sound recording from his collection of poetry."

Kind Regards

Jim Clark

"The People Yes"

The people yes
The people will live on.
The learning and blundering people will live on.
They will be tricked and sold and again sold
And go back to the nourishing earth for rootholds,
The people so peculiar in renewal and comeback,
You can't laugh off their capacity to take it.
The mammoth rests between his cyclonic dramas.

The people so often sleepy, weary, enigmatic,
is a vast huddle with many units saying:
"I earn my living.
I make enough to get by
and it takes all my time.
If I had more time
I could do more for myself
and maybe for others.
I could read and study
and talk things over
and find out about things.
It takes time.
I wish I had the time."

The people is a tragic and comic two-face: hero and hoodlum:
phantom and gorilla twisting to moan with a gargoyle mouth:
"They buy me and sell me...it's a game...sometime I'll
break loose..."

Once having marched
Over the margins of animal necessity,
Over the grim line of sheer subsistence
Then man came
To the deeper rituals of his bones,
To the lights lighter than any bones,
To the time for thinking things over,
To the dance, the song, the story,
Or the hours given over to dreaming,
Once having so marched.

Between the finite limitations of the five senses
and the endless yearnings of man for the beyond
the people hold to the humdrum bidding of work and food
while reaching out when it comes their way
for lights beyond the prison of the five senses,
for keepsakes lasting beyond any hunger or death.
This reaching is alive.
The panderers and liars have violated and smutted it.
Yet this reaching is alive yet
for lights and keepsakes.

The people know the salt of the sea
and the strength of the winds
lashing the corners of the earth.
The people take the earth
as a tomb of rest and a cradle of hope.
Who else speaks for the Family of Man?
They are in tune and step
with constellations of universal law.
The people is a polychrome,
a spectrum and a prism
held in a moving monolith,
a console organ of changing themes,
a clavilux of color poems
wherein the sea offers fog
and the fog moves off in rain
and the labrador sunset shortens
to a nocturne of clear stars
serene over the shot spray
of northern lights.

The steel mill sky is alive.
The fire breaks white and zigzag
shot on a gun-metal gloaming.
Man is a long time coming.
Man will yet win.
Brother may yet line up with brother:

This old anvil laughs at many broken hammers.
There are men who can't be bought.
The fireborn are at home in fire.
The stars make no noise,
You can't hinder the wind from blowing.
Time is a great teacher.
Who can live without hope?

In the darkness with a great bundle of grief
the people march.
In the night, and overhead a shovel of stars for keeps, the people
march:
"Where to? what next?"

The People, Yes

By Carl Sandburg

Lincoln?

He was a mystery in smoke and flags

Saying yes to the smoke, yes to the flags,

Yes to the paradoxes of democracy,

Yes to the hopes of government

Of the people by the people for the people,

No to debauchery of the public mind,

No to personal malice nursed and fed,

Yes to the Constitution when a help,

No to the Constitution when a hindrance

Yes to man as a struggler amid illusions,

Each man fated to answer for himself:

Which of the faiths and illusions of mankind

Must I choose for my own sustaining light

To bring me beyond the present wilderness?

Lincoln? Was he a poet?

And did he write verses?

“I have not willingly planted a thorn

in any man’s bosom.”

I shall do nothing through malice: what

I deal with is too vast for malice.”

Death was in the air.

So was birth.

Thank you Professor Franklin Lewis.

The Hammer

2012-01-15T12:13:00.001-06:00

The Hammer

By Carl Sandburg

I have seen

The old gods go

And the new gods come.

Day by day

And year by year

The idols fall

And the idols rise.

Today

I worship the hammer.

Gladiator, The French and Crusaders

2012-01-15T01:44:00.005-06:00

Watch Gladiator and The French and Crusaders by Omid Djalili....

Let Me Down Easy

2012-01-14T19:31:00.006-06:00

Watch the full version of Anna Deavere Smith's docudram: Let Me Down Easy
Watch also her interview on this play, written, performed and directed by herself.

"Anna Deavere Smith talks about the process by which her play "Let Me Down Easy" was created. Called "the most exciting individual in American theater" by Newsweek magazine, Anna Deavere Smith ("The West Wing," "Nurse Jackie") turns her theatrical exploration to matters of the human body......"

Marc. B....

2012-01-13T23:06:00.007-06:00

Marc, You're here in this picture with me, although invisible....

Marc. B,
Today is January 13, your birthday, the day you were born in France. I had a dream about you at the age of 13, before I ever knew anything about you! And the dream became a reality.

Why am I still celebrating your birthday when you're not in this world any more? What am I searching for?
Is it because of the rare quality in you which I'm immensely missing? Your CARING?.....Your sensitivity towards human suffering in this unforgiving world?

Last night it was snowing in Chicago....and you were born in a snowy night in France 60 some years ago...60 years ago or just last night?...What's the difference?....TIME is just an illusion....

Bill Moyers is back

2012-01-13T23:04:00.000-06:00

Bill Moyers is back with a new show...

Pride and Prejudice!

2012-01-11T18:34:00.005-06:00

Watch Part 1 of The Persian Ambassador in Pride and Prejudice, Omid Djalili's version!
And Part 2

War on Iran?

2012-01-11T18:16:00.002-06:00

Tha Daily Show with Jon Stewart....

War has already started!

2012-01-11T18:06:00.002-06:00

Today Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, Iranian nuclear scientist died in car bomb...

A War of Words or a war of more?

2012-01-10T01:07:00.002-06:00

A War of Words or a war of more? A discussion by Fareed Zakaria on Iran.

Dream of Love

2012-01-09T23:24:00.002-06:00

Love Dream by Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.

Opium Brides

2012-01-09T23:00:00.001-06:00

Photo: PBS Front line

Opium Brides
Najibullah Quraishi journeys deep into the Afghan countryside to reveal the deadly bargain local farm families have been forced to make with drug smugglers in order to survive.

Looking back (not) in anger

2012-01-04T17:00:00.008-06:00

Esmail Khoi, the prominent Iranian poet on self criticism and critiquing radical, political Iranian intellectuals during and after 1979 revolution.

A sunny day in Chicago

2012-01-04T10:34:00.002-06:00

A sunny day in Chicago, my beloved city!

The Visions of Simone Machard

2012-01-03T22:20:00.004-06:00

The Visions of Simone Machard by Bertolt Brecht
"In the play, an adolescent girl named Simone works at a gas station in central France. Her older brother is a soldier in the army, and the Nazi forces are approaching. While engrossed in a book about Saint Joan, she slips into a series of dreams in which the real persons in her life take on other identities. Her brother appears as an angel, her boss as the coward Connetand, and herself as Saint Joan who helps starving refugees and defies her employer. In real life she sets fire to a secret supply of gasoline before the Germans can get to it. In her dream she is captured and sentenced to death, but in real life she is not yet considered a saboteur. The Germans hand her over to the French as a mere arsonist, and she is led away by nuns to a mental institution."

Sa'id Soltanpur's published works

2012-01-03T21:31:00.005-06:00

Sa'id Soltanpur's published works: Poems, plays, reviews, etc

Abbas Agha, Iran National's emploee

2012-01-02T23:09:00.003-06:00

Sa'id Soltanpur's play: Abbas agha, Iran National factory's employee...

What has happened to my country!

2012-01-02T21:52:00.008-06:00

Sa'id Soltanpur was an Iranian revolutionary poet, playwright and theatre director whose life, art and radical political ideas have influenced many Iranians before and after 1979 Iranian revolution. Three years later, in March1982, Soltanpour was arrested on his wedding night, tortured for 66 days and then executed.

The Persian program of the University of Chicago presents a symposium on Sa'id Soltanpur in commemorate the 30th anniversary of his execution on January 7, 2012 at 6: 30 PM. The speakers are Farrokh Asadi, Hayedeh Torabi, Ezzat Goushegir, Franklin Lewis, and Saeed Yousef.

"What has happened to my country" is the title of one of Soltanpur's poems.

Take it Away

2012-01-02T19:39:00.003-06:00

Take it Away an interesting Persian song with beautiful video by Kiosk...

NDAA

2012-01-01T23:46:00.002-06:00

President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) yesterday, allowing indefinite detention to be codified into law.

The Culture of Narcissism

2011-12-29T16:18:00.002-06:00

A young man was reading this book in the train. I looked at him and the book...He looked at me and the book...We looked at each other without exchanging a word....

The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations is a 1979 book by the cultural historian Christopher Lasch (1932–1994) exploring the roots and ramifications of the normalizing of pathological narcissism in 20th century American culture using psychological, cultural, artistic and historical synthesis.

The Botany of Desire

2011-12-28T14:12:00.007-06:00

"There are four of the most common plants we know that we always have thought we control them. But what if , in fact, they have been shaping us?"

The Botany of Desire , a documentary film based on Michael Pollan's book argues that people have a desire to experience beauty, and that by being especially good at satisfying this desire, one flower, the tulip, has spread itself around the world.

Working in his garden one day, Michael Pollan hit pay dirt in the form of an idea: do plants, he wondered, use humans as much as we use them? While the question is not entirely original, the way Pollan examines this complex coevolution by looking at the natural world from the perspective of plants is unique. The result is a fascinating and engaging look at the true nature of domestication.

In making his point, Pollan focuses on the relationship between humans and four specific plants: apples, tulips, marijuana, and potatoes.

Watch the full length program here.

Dream of Autumn

2011-12-27T18:27:00.013-06:00

Watch this fascinating production of Rêve d’automne (Dream of Autumn) by Jon Fosse the Norwegian playwright in ARTE Live Web in French. This production will be available for 74 more days on the web. The remarkable Mise en scène is by Patrice Chéreau.

Thanks to Mahasti.

I disappear

2011-12-27T17:48:00.011-06:00

Watch a Scene from Je disparais (I disappear) by Arne Lygre , a Norwegian playwright, directed by Stéphane Braunschweig in Paris in November 2011.
Thanks to Mahasti.

Riley on Marketing

2011-12-27T17:30:00.002-06:00

Watch this Beautiful video!!!

Death Sentence

2011-12-27T09:58:00.003-06:00

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani could be hanged in Iran!

Judiciary officials exploring whether woman whose sentence to death by stoning was suspended can be hanged instead...

Dezful

2011-12-26T22:43:00.003-06:00

This building and architecture reminds me of our house in historical city Dezful where I spent my childhood in there and designed the walls inside this arch with Beatles' pictures!!!

History Summary

2011-12-26T20:17:00.003-06:00

This is a political cartoon byKaveh Adel

“All of History is summarized as such,

War between two soldiers not knowing one another, fighting for

Two others who know one another yet are not fighting.”

I am puzzled, saddened and intrigued all together.

I think and only a drawing comes to me.

And I long for day when there is no war.

or talk of war.

The Little Drummer Boy

2011-12-23T23:48:00.011-06:00

The Little Drummer Boy
"The Little Drummer Boy" is a popular Christmas song, which I heard and was mesmerized by for the first time after two months of my arrival to the U.S. in Iowa City in 1986. This song became my favorite Christmas song ever since.

"The lyrics tell the apocryphal story of a poor young boy who (for the cure of his wounded lamb by the new born Jesus), unable to afford a gift for him, plays his drum for him with the Virgin Mary's approval. Miraculously, the baby, although a newborn, seems to understand and smiles at the boy in gratitude. The story is somewhat similar to an old twelfth-century legend retold by Anatole France as Le jongleur de Notre-Dame (The Juggler of Notre Dame) , which was adapted into an opera in 1902 by Jules Massenet. In the French legend, however, a juggler juggles before the statue of the Virgin Mary, and the statue, according to which version of the legend one reads, either smiles at him or throws him a rose (or both, as in the 1984 made-for-television film)."
Little Drummer Boy: Lyrics
Come they told me, pa rum pum pum pum
A new born King to see, pa rum pum pum pum
Our finest gifts we bring, pa rum pum pum pum
To lay before the King, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,

So to honor Him, pa rum pum pum pum,
When we come.

Little Baby, pa rum pum pum pum
I am a poor boy too, pa rum pum pum pum
I have no gift to bring, pa rum pum pum pum
That's fit to give the King, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,
Shall I play for you, pa rum pum pum pum,
On my drum?

Mary nodded, pa rum pum pum pum
The ox and lamb kept time, pa rum pum pum pum
I played my drum for Him, pa rum pum pum pum
I played my best for Him, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,

Then He smiled at me, pa rum pum pum pum
Me and my drum.

Here is Bob Dylan's 2009 take on this song...

It's a bloody world we live in today!!

2011-12-18T20:59:00.017-06:00

Whose heart doesn't ache when one sees the brutal scenes in the video captured by people's cameras?
The Horror of Egypt's Crackdown is reminiscent of all the revolutions...What revolution, what uprising through history have really been peaceful? Yesterday's friend had become today's enemy...Love had turned into hatred...Conscientious souls had transformed into heartless and the dreams for peace had changed for war....That's the repetitive world we live in!! How easily one forgets that "A Man's a Man" as Bertolt Brecht indicated in his play decades ago....BUT REVOLUTION IN REVOLUTION IS NECESSARY...AND THE COURAGEOUS SOULS ARE THE DYNAMIC FORCES BEHIND THE CHANGES...

It's a bloody world we live in today!!

Every day, every moment such incident happens in any corner of the world. Violence has become ordinary whether it happens in the occupied zones, war zones, in the wide streets or dark alleys of the world....

"All crackdowns are brutal. Stories of violence against women, frequently tinged with sexual aggression, are as common in Egypt's crackdown as they are in every other. The story behind this photo, of a modest young woman stripped down and beaten like an animal, is remarkable precisely because it is ordinary.",...

Christopher Hitchens

2011-12-17T04:24:00.009-06:00

Photograph: Catherine Karnow/Corbis
Christopher Hitchens the author of God is Not Great dies at 62.
"Salman Rushdie took to Twitter to mourn the passing of a "beloved friend", writing "A great voice falls silent. A great heart stops."...."

Christopher Hitchens was the supporter of Iraq war and George Bush's foreign policy!!!

Shakespeare

2011-12-14T23:16:00.005-06:00

"Shakespeare is the tremendous recorder of human pain"

Charlie Rose speaks with Michael Boyd, the artistic director of Royal Shakespeare Theatre...

I will write about the innovative movie "anonymous" soon.

"The flowers of Dingri"

2011-12-14T20:04:00.004-06:00

Watch a Trailer of "The flowers of Dingri" a film by Alen Silva. It's a superb view on Nepal culture... beautiful...sharp... and graceful...

In My Secret Life

2011-12-13T23:43:00.002-06:00

In My Secret Life
Leonard Cohen

I saw you this morning.
You were moving so fast.
Can't seem to loosen my grip
On the past.
And I miss you so much.
There's no one in sight.
And we're still making love
In My Secret Life.

I smile when I'm angry.
I cheat and I lie.
I do what I have to do
To get by.
But I know what is wrong,
And I know what is right.
And I'd die for the truth
In My Secret Life.

Hold on, hold on, my brother.
My sister, hold on tight.
I finally got my orders.
I'll be marching through the morning,
Marching through the night,
Moving cross the borders
Of My Secret Life.

Looked through the paper.
Makes you want to cry.
Nobody cares if the people
Live or die.
And the dealer wants you thinking
That it's either black or white.
Thank G-d it's not that simple
In My Secret Life.

I bite my lip.
I buy what I'm told:
From the latest hit,
To the wisdom of old.
But I'm always alone.
And my heart is like ice.
And it's crowded and cold
In My Secret Life.

War on Iran

2011-12-13T21:33:00.003-06:00

War on Iran has already begun.

If a nation doesn't learn history, political science and poetry, and consequently without an analytical mind, that society will be surrounded by controlling forces. Therefore they will be led to horrible wars, hatred, destruction and violence. Only knowledge and humanity will bring peace. Otherwise like a chess game, the only solution would be the pawns' resistance and rebellious against the authoritarians which make a world a tolerable place.

Smoke, the donkey

2011-12-13T06:27:00.003-06:00

Smoke, the Iraqi donkey....
"Two years after he wandered onto a US military base west of Baghdad and won the hearts of the men stationed there, he’s landed at the center of a cross-cultural custody battle involving marines now back in the United States, a sheikh, and an Iraqi family that has demanded $30,000 to give him up.

It’s unclear who the skinny young donkey originally belonged to. But for the Marine logistics unit that adopted him in 2008, patching up the cuts on his legs and face and nursing him back to health, he quickly became part of their family."
From the facebook

Imagination

2011-12-12T22:06:00.001-06:00

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”

Albert Einstein

War.....

2011-12-11T23:52:00.000-06:00

War....

He Who Says Yes/ He Who Says No

2011-12-09T23:11:00.002-06:00

He Who Says Yes/ He Who Says No
What we must learn above all is consent.
Many say yes, and yet there is no consent.
Many are not asked, and many
Consent to the wrong things. Therefore:
What we must learn above all is consent
Bertolt Brecht

The Lovers

2011-12-07T22:51:00.002-06:00

The Lovers

Has War With Iran Already Begun?

2011-12-07T21:55:00.002-06:00

Has War With Iran Already Begun?
"The Iranian people are being squeezed from both sides suffering from the repression and brutality of the Iranian government the reckless sanctions imposed by the U.S. Iranian-Americans are also suffering, fearing the threat of war, loss of lives and the way sanctions criminalize having ties to family in Iran."
Trita Parsi

Colonialism in the name of Civilization

2011-12-07T21:11:00.010-06:00

Who Is Sara Baartman?

Sarah Baartman had big dreams, instead she was fooled, humiliated and displayed as a freak by colonialists........

Saartjie Baartman

2011-12-06T21:54:00.016-06:00

Saartjie Baartman

"Sarah Baartman was born to a Khoisan family in the vicinity of the Gamtoos River in what is now the Eastern Cape of South Africa. She was orphaned in a commando raid. Saartjie, pronounced "Sahr-kee", is the diminutive form of her name; in Afrikaans the use of the diminutive form commonly indicates familiarity or endearment rather than a literally short stature. Her birth name is unknown.

Baartman was a slave of Dutch farmers near Cape Town when Hendrick Cezar, the brother of her slave owner, suggested that she travel to England for exhibition, promising her that she would become wealthy. Lord Caledon, governor of the Cape, gave permission for the trip, but later regretted it after he fully learned its purpose. She left for London in 1810.." Wikipedia And ....her painful, torturous journey started in the European countries...She was sold several times, suffered immensely from brutal exploitation and died in horrible condition. Her body was slaughtered ruthlessly yet her soul remained strong....

A poem for Saartjie Baartman
By Diana Ferrus

“I’ve come to take you home –
home, remember the veld?
the lush green grass beneath the big oak trees
the air is cool there and the sun does not burn.
I have made your bed at the foot of the hill,
your blankets are covered in buchu and mint,
the proteas stand in yellow and white
and the water in the stream chuckle sing-songs
as it hobbles along over little stones.

I have come to wretch you away –
away from the poking eyes
of the man-made monster
who lives in the dark
with his clutches of imperialism
who dissects your body bit by bit
who likens your soul to that of Satan
and declares himself the ultimate god!

I have come to soothe your heavy heart
I offer my bosom to your weary soul
I will cover your face with the palms of my hands
I will run my lips over lines in your neck
I will feast my eyes on the beauty of you
and I will sing for you
for I have come to bring you peace.

I have come to take you home
where the ancient mountains shout your name.
I have made your bed at the foot of the hill,
your blankets are covered in buchu and mint,
the proteas stand in yellow and white –
I have come to take you home
where I will sing for you
for you have brought me peace.”

Immigration and Women

2011-12-05T22:45:00.006-06:00

Immigration and Women: Understanding the American Experience is a book written by Susan C. Pearce, Assistant Professor of Sociology at East Carolina University, Elizabeth Clifford, Associate Professor of Sociology at Towson University and Reena Tandon who teaches South Asian Studies at University of Toronto.

"By examining and confronting both psychoanalysis' strengths and its blind spots, this beautifully written and visionary book points the way toward a posthumanistic psychoanalysis characterized by self-reflectiveness, diversity, and an enormous emancipatory potential. A Psychoanalysis for Our Time is a breath of fresh air for all who are interested in the revitalization of contemporary psychoanalysis."-Robert D. Stolorow, co-author of "Working Intersubjectively"

Sanctions

2011-12-05T18:50:00.002-06:00

Senate Passes Sanctions Despite White House Objections...
And Why the UK Embassy in Iran Was Attacked...

Soviet Political Posters and Cartoons

2011-12-05T11:46:00.007-06:00

Views and Re-Views: Soviet Political Posters and Cartoons. It was a timely exhibition at Mary and Leigh Block museum of art at Northwestern University in Chicago.

Kulagia
One room was allocated to Women's Artists

"You will not strangle the freedom of the Arab people" 1950, by Viktor Koretsky

This Morning

2011-12-04T17:49:00.002-06:00

This Morning
News
a cup of tea
and a cup of tears

A poem by Azam Houle

Differences...

2011-12-04T17:22:00.003-06:00

"When you cried, it was for yourself, and not the admirable impossibilities of reaching her through the differences that separates you..."
Yes, that's it.
That's exactly it!
From the film Cet Amour-La.

Perseptive lies

2011-12-04T16:41:00.005-06:00

Since Otar Left

As Eka (Esther Gorintin) pines for her beloved son Otar, a physician-turned construction worker in Paris, her daughter Marina (Nino Khomasuridze) and granddaughter (Dinara Drukarova) keep the truth about his sudden death...
A trenchant, heartfelt film by Julie Burtuccelli...

The muse of trouville

2011-11-30T19:00:00.007-06:00

The muse of trouville

By Victoria Best

"In 1979, aged 65, the iconic French writer Marguerite Duras was exhausted, creatively emptied out and drinking herself to death. For many months, the only thing that had sustained her was writing fragments of letters to an imagined addressee, perhaps as notes to be turned into an epistolary novel but mostly because she needed a confidante and would have to create one if he didn’t exist....."

Cet Amour-La

2011-11-29T21:28:00.017-06:00

As the world is turning upside down and the big countries occupy small ones and Iranian protesters attacking British Embassy, in protest against new sanctions imposed by London and Washington, I'm watching movies about love to get strength and ease the pain of violent realities.

Cet Amour-La is a timeless story of the love affair between Marguerite Duras, the major French literary figure and Yan Adrea, her much younger muse and apprentice whose unique love inspired and tormented her heart and mind and burst into affluent creativity.

Cet Amour-La is directed and adapted from Yann Andrea's novel Cet Amour by Josée Dayan, with brilliant acting of Jeanne Moreau and Aymeric Demarigny.

My Name is Inanna in Chinese language

2011-11-29T17:03:00.010-06:00

Poster of My Name is Inanna

See some clips of my One Woman play My Name is Inanna in China production. The play was translated into Chinese and directed by Xiaoqing Hu for "Wind, Horse and Cow" Theatre Festival and acted by Qi Shaoyuan.

In Chinese language, there is an idiom which says: “ Wind, Horse and Cow are thousand miles apart". This fringe festival encouraged uniquely different theatrical voices and provided a platform for theatre artists to display their creativity. This year’s theme was “Understanding of Space”.
My Name is Inanna was performed in Trojan Theatre from November 2 thru 6.

See some pictures here.
Read information about my play in Chinese language.

More information...
All the pictures and video clips courtesy of my great friend Hossein Khandan. With deepest appreciation to you Hossein: Thank you

A Man and A Woman

2011-11-29T16:48:00.003-06:00

A Man and A Woman, one of the beautiful movies made in 1966 by Claude Lelouch. starred Jean-Louis Trintignant and Anouk Aimée, music by Francis Lai.

Watch a scene in the car.

Scott Olsen

2011-11-28T23:09:00.001-06:00

Scott Olsen Interviewed After Release From Hospital.

Capri c'est fini

2011-11-28T13:12:00.014-06:00

Capri c'est fini by Hervé Villard, the French singer.

In 2005, in his autobiography The Soul alone, Vilard mentions Marguerite Duras : "She wrote me several letters and told me that Capri c'est fini was the most beautiful love song for her ". In 1992 Duras referred to this song in her novel , Yann Andrea Steiner :

"Yes. One day it will happen. One day you will regret it abominable that you describe of "unbearable", that is to say what has been attempted by you and me the summer 80, for rain and wind .
Sometimes it is in the sea when the beach is empty, at dusk. After the departure of colonial children. All over the sands suddenly she screams that it's over Capri. What was the city of our first love but now it's over. FINISHED.
It's terrible all at once. Terrible. Each time to cry, to flee, to die because Capri turned to the land, to the neglect of love. "

Here is the Lyrics

Nous n'irons plus jamais, où tu m'as dit je t'aime,
Nous n'irons plus jamais, tu viens de décider;
Nous n'irons plus jamais, ce soir s'est plus la peine,
Nous n'irons plus jamais, comme les autres années.

Capri, c'est fini, et dire que c'était la ville de mon premier amour.
Capri, c'est fini, je ne crois pas que j'y retournerais un jour.
Capri, c'est fini, et dire que c'était la ville de mon premier amour.
Capri, c'est fini, je ne crois pas que j'y retournerais un jour.

Nous n'irons plus jamais, où tu m'as dit je t'aime,
Nous n'irons plus jamais, comme les autres années;
Parfois je voudrais bien, te dire recommençons,
Mais je perds le courage, sachant tu diras non.

http://www.6lyrics.com/capri_c_est_fini1-lyrics-herve_vilard.aspx

Capri, c'est fini, et dire que c'était la ville de mon premier amour.
Capri, c'est fini, je ne crois pas que j'y retournerais un jour.
Capri, c'est fini, et dire que c'était la ville de mon premier amour.
Capri, c'est fini, je ne crois pas que j'y retournerais un jour.

Nous n'irons plus jamais, mais je me souviendrais,
Du premier rendez-vous, que tu m'avais donné,
Nous n'irons plus jamais, comme les autres années,
Nous n'irons plus jamais, plus jamais, plus jamais.

Capri, c'est fini, et dire que c'était la ville de mon premier amour.
Capri, c'est fini, je ne crois pas que j'y retournerais un jour.
Capri, oh c'est fini, et dire que c'était la ville de mon premier amour.
Capri, oh c'est fini, je ne crois pas que j'y retournerais un jour.

Oh Capri, oh c'est fini, et dire que c'était la ville de mon premier amour.
Capri, c'est fini, je ne crois pas que j'y retournerais un jour.
Oh Capri, oh c'est fini, et dire que c'était la ville de mon premier amour.
Capri, c'est fini, je ne crois pas que j'y retournerais un jour.

Translation:

CAPRI IS OVER

We will never stay where you said I love you,
We will never stay, you have to decide;
We will never stay that night was the trouble,
We will never stay, like other years.

Capri is finished, and that it was the city of my first love.
Capri is finished, I do not think I would return one day.
Capri is finished, and that it was the city of my first love.
Capri is finished, I do not think I would return one day.

We will never stay where you said I love you,
We will never stay, like the other years;
sometimes I'd like, tell you start again,
but I lose the courage, knowing you will say no.

Capri is finished, and that it was the city of my first love.
Capri is finished, I do not think I would return one day.
Capri is finished, and that it was the city of my first love.
Capri is finished, I do not think I would return one day.

We will never stay, but I would remember,
the first date that you gave me,
We will never stay, like other years,
We will never stay again, never, never again.

Capri is finished, and that it was the city of my first love.
Capri is finished, I do not think I would return one day.
Capri, oh it's over, and say it was the city of my first love.
Capri, oh it's over, I do not think I would return one day.

Capri Oh, oh it's over, and say it was the city of my first love.
Capri is finished, I do not think I would return one day.
Capri Oh, oh it's over, and say it was the city of my first love.
Capri is finished, I do not think I would return one day.

Fallujah

2011-11-23T20:06:00.001-06:00

The story of Fallujah
"Seven years after the U.S. invasion of Fallujah, there are reports of an alarming rise in the rates of birth defects and cancer. But the crisis, and its possible connection to weapons deployed by the United States during the war, remains woefully under-examined...."

Throw it Away

2011-11-21T22:27:00.005-06:00

To ease the pain of losing, "A" suggested I should listen to "Throw it Away" by Abbey Lincoln
Throw it Away

I think about the life I live
A figure made of clay
And think about the things I lost
The things I gave away

And when I'm in a certain mood
I search the house and look
One night I found these magic words
In a magic book

Throw it away
Throw it away
Give your love, live your life
Each and every day

And keep your hand wide open
Let the sun shine through
'Cause you can never lose a thing
If it belongs to you

There's a hand to rock the cradle
And a hand to help us stand
With a gentle kind of motion
As it moves across the land

And the hand's unclenched and open
Gifts of life and love it brings
So keep your hand wide open
If you're needing anything

Throw it away
Throw it away
Give your love, live your life
Each and every day

And keep your hand wide open
Let the sun shine through
'Cause you can never lose a thing
If it belongs to you

Throw it away
Throw it away
Give your love, live your life
Each and every day

And keep your hand wide open
Let the sun shine through
'Cause you can never lose a thing
If it belongs to you

'Cause you can never lose a thing
If it belongs to you
You can never ever lose a thing
If it belongs to you

You can never ever lose a thing
If it belongs to you
You can never ever lose a thing
If it belongs to you

Lost

2011-11-21T22:10:00.003-06:00

I lost two years of my life in Redline train on Saturday evening around 6: PM! My writings! The original copies of my diaries, 30 pages re-writing, one article, a book review and many notes and poems-- all unpublished! Lost and Found office was closed on weekends! No one was around to take the lost items, only the exhausted conductors in their dark, isolated cubes...
I called today no one has turned them in yet! A CTA personnel said: “IF you're LUCKY, you'll find them!”

I feel something in me is dead!

One Art
by Elizabeth Bishop

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.

--Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

My Name is Inanna in China

2011-11-13T19:10:00.011-06:00

In production of My Name is Inanna, Qi Shaoyuan 祁劭媛 stars as Inanna.
The play is directed and translated into Chinese by Xiaoqing Hu.
Pictures courtesy of Hossein Khandan

Inanna:....in 82, I couldn’t gaze into the eyes of the police guards or the interrogators…because I was blindfolded…covered from top to toes…my mouth was the only part of my body which was exposed!

- Fuck you!
- Excuse me?
- Fuck you bitch! I’m going to report you for insulting the customer!
- I’m sorry!
- You’ll be fired in two days. I buy the most expensive creams for around my eyes from this store and you…What’s your name?

Inanna: I’m in love…I’m in love…I’m in love…

Inanna:... Mirrors all around me…I look at myself on one of them…I don’t know who this woman is! Who is this plastic woman who is staring at me?

A lonely tree

2011-11-13T18:58:00.004-06:00

Young and stimulus
Like a tree
She extended her branches for an embrace
To share her richly breasts
And wild laughter
Now,
Aged and wise,
She looks at you passing by without remembering
her lips reciting poetry to you
And dancing with you
To the end of Fall season.

Joan of Arc looking through the window

2011-11-09T19:25:00.003-06:00

A few days ago, when the weather was KIND and pleasant, in my way to go to work, I looked from the bus window at sharp yellow, red and fuschia mums flowers in baskets, arranged on the sidewalks, under dazzling bright Chicago sun.

Zealous and in awe of beauty of the moment, I felt an ecstatic near death experience… I yearned eagerly for the last embrace…and the warmth of touching hands… Like Joan of Arc going through fire, I tenderly whispered “I’m tired of the war”…I'm tired of...

Joan of Arc is interrogated by the Cardinal of Winchester in her prison (1824) by Paul Delaroche (1797-1856)

technique of ecstasy

2011-11-06T19:19:00.003-06:00

Shamanism is an anthropological term referencing a range of beliefs and practices regarding communication with the spiritual world. To quote Eliade: "A first definition of this complex phenomenon, and perhaps the least hazardous, will be: shamanism = technique of ecstasy." Shamanism encompasses the belief that shamans are intermediaries or messengers between the human world and the spirit worlds.

Earthquake and a dream

2011-11-06T09:48:00.005-06:00

Last night, in midnight, I was having a nightmare about a horrible earthquake. The earth suddenly split apart like a wounded body hit by a shrapnel. I was clenching into two children’s hands beside me. And other people were in the other side of the valley, separated from me!

Horrified I opened my eyes. My bedroom was shaking rapidly. I knew it’s an earthquake and it’s going to rumble for a while. The sound of rattling wood…and muttering of my computer made me perplexed! Muted and motionless I looked at the ceiling…I could hear what earth was saying to me…I just found out that in the same time there was an earthquake in Oklahoma City.

Cat Duet

2011-11-05T15:52:00.003-05:00

Cat Duet
Another version of Rossini's duetto

General Strike in Oakland

2011-11-03T15:35:00.002-05:00

Watch this Video Report from Streets of Oakland: First General Strike in City Since 1946 Shuts Down Major Port... Democracy Now

Not to forget, not to forgive, but to understand

2011-11-03T13:07:00.004-05:00

Courtesy of "Cartooning in conflict"

Listen to a great conversation in Worldview WBEZ. "Jewish Israeli Robi Damelin and Palestinian Seham Abu-Awwad have both lost close family members to the conflict. Together, Robi and Seham tell us about their involvement in a group dedicated to sharing the common humanity between warring factions in Israel and Palestine. They also talk to us about Cartooning in Conflict, a new exhibit of editorial cartoons that explores the absurdities of the Israeli-Palistinian conflict and the potential for peace. It opens in Chicago this weekend."

No War on Iran!!

2011-11-03T10:20:00.006-05:00

Today!
The National Iranian American Council is deeply concerned that the “Iran Threat Reduction Act,” as passed by the House Foreign Affairs Committee today, will make Americans less safe and will hurt the Iranian people – not the regime – by making sanctions even more indiscriminate.“Iran Threat Reduction Act” is passed!!

Yesterday!
Don't Punish the Iranian People, Say No to Broad Sanctions.

Under current Iran sanctions, if you send money to family in Iran, you could go to jail. If you travel by plane in Iran, you are putting your life at risk—over 1,000 people have died in plane crashes in Iran over the past decade...

My Name is Inanna in Beijing, China

2011-11-02T01:03:00.007-05:00

My play My Name is Inanna is being produced in Beijing, China, as a part of a fringe festival in Beijing, China called “Wind-Horse-Cow” from November 2nd to 6 at Trojan Theatre.
Director: Xiaoqing Hu
In Chinese idiom, there is a saying that “wind, horse and cow are thousand miles apart". This fringe festival encourages uniquely different theatrical voices and provides a platform for theatre artists to display. This year’s theme is “Understanding of Space”.

The main character Inanna, retrieved from the historical texts, the Sumerian goddess of love, justice and civilization, is a modern Middle Eastern woman who is in search of identity, justice and freedom.

The Bride of Acacias in London

2011-10-31T15:23:00.013-05:00

These are some pictures of scenes from my play The Bride of Acacias acted in London by I.
Pictures courtesy of Ali Karamali.

Forough: Lies… Lies… Lies…

Forough: No love, but… lies…

Forough: Hi… It’s me! I arrived today. Yes right now… As I promised…(Pause)why are you silent?

Forough:Is love shameful?

Forough: Oh… What have I done?!... In this dark,
Silent room?...

Two Iranian Children in London

2011-10-30T21:57:00.014-05:00

These are some pictures of a scene from my play Two Iranian Children acted in London by Parvaneh Soltani, Nahid Nazemi and I.
Pictures courtesy of Ali Karamali.

Mina: ...Why are you still holding onto your scarf? You passed the red zone! Take it off! (She closes the window)
Mina: Let me see your beautiful hair!

Mother: Would you like some more tea Melody?
Melody: Yes mom I would!... thanks!

Mina: I think you forgot about dad!
Melody: No, I didn’t!
Mina: Do you know how our dad was executed? Do you know where he is buried now? Not buried actually, but treated worse than trash!
Melody: Dad is only an image to me! A heart which was beating once when I was a little child!

Nahid Nazemi in a rehearsal scene of Two Iranian Children
Mother: And… I only wished that I was executed by this ferocious savage regime than being there in the middle of nowhere alive with my little daughter...

Parvaneh Soltani, and I in a rehearsal scene of Two Iranian Children

Mina: ...I dyed my hair just yesterday to look like you, blonde and stylish! Let me see your hair…

Parvaneh Soltani, I and Nahid Nazemi in a rehearsal scene of Two Iranian Children

Mina: We have the same eyes…
Melody: The same?
Mina: A little bit different!

October 29, Cyrus the Great Day

2011-10-30T15:17:00.004-05:00

October 29, is the day of Cyrus the Great, fonder of Human Rights of Nations.

The Cyrus the Great Cylinder is the first charter of right of nations in the world. It is a baked-clay cyliner in Akkadian language with cuneiform script. This cylinder was excavated in 1879 by the Assyro-British archaeologist Hormuzd Rassam in the foundations of the Esagila (the Marduk temple of Babylon) and is kept today in the British Museum in London.
Read a new translation of the Cyrus Cylinder by Irving Finkel, Assistant Keeper, Department of the Middle East, London.

Iranian Poster Arts

2011-10-30T09:10:00.001-05:00

Iranian Poster Arts
For over one hundred years, posters have acted as effective tools to disseminate various ideological messages during periods of revolution and war. Designed for mass distribution and aimed towards a large public audience, they embed social, political, and religious concerns that frequently are articulated through both text and image. Perhaps more so than at any other moment in recent history, posters served as powerful modalities for mobilization and communication during the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88).
These are only a few posters of many...

Occupy Song

2011-10-26T19:15:00.001-05:00

Occupy Song...

Endless Tyranny...Endless Resistance...

2011-10-26T12:04:00.036-05:00

I believe those who are capable of committing violence are not much different than dictators! The disturbing images of Qaddafi’s last moments of his life made me think about Puyi, The Last Emperor of China who was treated rather humanely as a gardener than being tortured and executed!
The real Power is when you remain human even in the peak of your triumph. With the death of a dictator, tyranny does not end. The ferocious, invisible tyrants are governing the world with their democratic slogans from their glorious offices, standing beside those dictators who are visible.

Hillary Clinton says: We Came, We saw, he died!

Watch a scene of Bernardo Bertolucci's film The Last Emperor

Puyi: You saved me because I'm useful to you!
The Governor of the prison: Is that so terrible to be useful?

Last scene of The Last Emperor.

A clip on Romanian Dictator Nicolae and Elena ceausescu's execution.

And the execution of the last Tzar and his family...Nicholas II of Russia...

The Exception and the Rule

2011-10-21T12:33:00.002-05:00

Let nothing be called natural
In an age of bloody confusion,
Ordered disorder, planned caprice,
And dehumanized humanity, lest all things
Be held unalterable!

Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956), German dramatist, poet. The Exception and the Rule, Prologue (1937).

A gift

2011-10-10T20:33:00.009-05:00

At Shakespeare Globe Theatre
My friend Parvaneh made a touching video for my birthday after my two shows in London: The Bride of Acacias and Two Iranian Children.

With Darwin at Natural History Museum in London

Youth in a suspect society

2011-10-10T20:18:00.004-05:00

Youth Movement in a Culture of Hopelessness
An interview with Henry Giroux

Giroux is the author of, among others, Youth in a suspect society: Democracy or disposability and Politics after hope: Obama and the crisis of youth, race, and democracy, and is a professor at McMaster University.

Al Jazeera English: I want to get into the nitty-gritty of your analysis of the anger that we're seeing in the growing 'Occupy' protest movement, but first, could you describe your first or gut reaction to the protests?

Henry Giroux: This was, for me, very exciting, because while it doesn't guarantee anything, it certainly marks a beginning that upsets, and, in many ways, challenged a liberal-conservative position that young people in the United States are utterly depoliticised, self absorbed and incapable of engaging in collective politics.

Read more...

The Bride of Acacias & Two Iranian Children in London

2011-09-27T01:39:00.004-05:00

I will have two plays in London: The Bride of Acacias & Two Iranian Children

Saturday, October 1, 2011
Time: 7: 00 PM to 9: 30 PM
Location: Omid Cultural Society
45 Queens Walk London, W5 1TL,
United Kingdom

The Bride of Acacias: A one woman show, based on life of the prominent Iranian poet Forugh Farrokhzad, whose poetry made a significant impact on men and women in Iran.

Two Iranian Children: A play about two Iranian twin sisters reuniting after twenty two years of separation where their life turned into completely opposite directions.

Poster by Kaveh Adel

100 Thousand Poets for Change in Chicago

2011-09-24T14:12:00.005-05:00

Today we will have a reading at Red Rover Series.

Bad Date America

A special event with 100 Thousand Poets for Change

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24th
7-9pm

Featuring:
Kaveh Adel
Barbara Barg
Jen Besemer
Dan Godston
Laura Goldstein
Ezzat Goushegir
Philip Jenks
Jennifer Karmin
Francesco Levato
Toni Asante Lightfoot
Monica Long
Anthony Madrid
Mario
Ario Mashayekhi
Charlie Newman
Ladan Osman
Roger Reeves
Timothy David Rey
Kenyatta Rogers
Jacob Saenz
Larry Sawyer
Don Share
Keli Stewart
Tony Trigilio
Lina Ramona Vitkauskas

at Outer Space Studio
1474 N. Milwaukee Ave
suggested donation $4

logistics --
near CTA Damen blue line
third floor walk up
not wheelchair accessible

BAD DATE AMERICA is the Chicago event of 100 Thousand Poets for Change. In the spirit of community-building, guest curators Larry Sawyer and Lina Ramona Vitkauskas are asking local poets to go on a hypothetical “date” with America. Has your relationship with America started to seem like a bad date? See -- http://baddateamerica.wordpress.com

100 THOUSAND POETS FOR CHANGE is a global initiative of poetry readings, political demonstrations, community picnics, awareness events, and parades that will take place in 450 cities across the planet on September 24, 2011 to promote serious social, environmental, and political change. See -- http://www.100tpc.org

MESS HALL is a Chicago-based experimental cultural center and collaborated with Red Rover Series on Bad Date America. Mess Hall is a place where visual art, radical politics, creative urban planning, applied ecological design and other things intersect and inform each other. They host exhibitions, discussions, film screenings, brunchlucks (brunch + potluck), workshops, concerts, campaigns, meetings (both closed and open) and more. See -- http://messhall.org

RED ROVER SERIES is curated by Laura Goldstein and Jennifer Karmin. Each event is designed as a reading experiment with participation by local, national, and international writers, artists, and performers. The series was founded in 2005 by Amina Cain and Jennifer Karmin.

To Posterity

2011-09-24T14:05:00.001-05:00

To Posterity

1.

Indeed I live in the dark ages!
A guileless word is an absurdity. A smooth forehead betokens
A hard heart. He who laughs
Has not yet heard
The terrible tidings.

Ah, what an age it is
When to speak of trees is almost a crime
For it is a kind of silence about injustice!
And he who walks calmly across the street,
Is he not out of reach of his friends
In trouble?
Bertolt Brecht

Dark Times....Dark Times...

2011-09-21T22:49:00.005-05:00

Georgia executed Troy Davis!
"The state of Georgia executed convicted murderer Troy Davis on Wednesday in a case that drew international attention because of claims by his advocates that he may have been innocent.
"Strapped to a gurney in Georgia's death chamber, Troy Davis lifted his head and declared one last time that he did not kill police officer Mark MacPhail. Just a few feet away behind a glass window, MacPhail's son and brother watched in silence."

Davis, convicted of the 1989 killing of a police officer, was put to death by lethal injection at 11.08 local time Thursday at a prison in central Georgia after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a final appeal, a prison official said...."

People want change

2011-09-18T23:11:00.002-05:00

For months the protesters had planned to descend on Wall Street on a Saturday and occupy parts of it as an expression of anger over a financial system that they say favors the rich and powerful at the expense of ordinary citizens.

Serenity

2011-09-18T22:49:00.003-05:00

Mina Hsing's painting has a serene, colorful beauty of Chinese culture and American style.

I Shall Not Live In Vain

2011-09-14T20:45:00.002-05:00

I Shall Not Live In Vain
Emily Dickinson

If I can stop one Heart from breaking
I shall not live in vain
If I can ease one Life the Aching
Or cool one Pain
Or help one fainting Robin
Unto his Nest again
I shall not live in Vain.

100 Thousand poets for change

2011-09-14T19:45:00.009-05:00

100 Thousand Poets for Change is one of the largest poetry events in the world history.
Founder of this event is Michael Rothenberg who is a widely known poet, editor of the online literary magazine Bigbridge.org and an environmental activist based in Northern California.
Read more...

More to come....

Two Plays in London

2011-09-14T19:13:00.006-05:00

Two of my plays Bride of Acacias and Two Iranian Children will have staged readings in London, in October 1st at Omid Cultural Society.
Poster made by artist Kaveh Adel.

Two Iranian Children

2011-09-11T22:26:00.012-05:00

"Use your imagination! Imagine on these two empty chairs, on my right and left, are sitting two twin sisters, age 27!"

Yesterday, I had a strange experience! I had to read a scene from my play "Two Iranian Children" at Evanston Public Library as a part of a larger event. For the first time, I had to perform a scene with three completely different characters, a mother with her two daughters, short dialogues, short amount of time, all by myself...I was emotionally exhausted at the end! But....I always learn ....

.......
Mina: What?
Melody: I’m the product of heresy and apostasy!
Mother: Melody?(Laughs) What are you talking about?
Mina: Is it a funny joke?
Mother: What a sophisticated product of heresy you are!
Melody: I’m not joking!
Mother: You've always had a very special sense of humor!
Melody: I believe you and dad by turning your back on god by embracing Marxist ideology not only brought...................................................

Two Women

2011-09-11T00:20:00.005-05:00

Two Women is a 1960 Italian film which tells the story of a woman trying to protect her teenaged daughter from the horror of war. The film stars Sophia Loren, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Eleonora Brown Carlo Ninchi, and was directed by Vittorio De Sica.
Watch the whole movie here.

Gavin Bantock, the Prominent Poet

2011-09-07T13:11:00.010-05:00

Reading my diary, I was provoked once again by remembering "Ichor" a provocative poem by Gavin Bantock!
Is Bantock a forgotten poet?

Gavin Bantock has written four extensive poems, of which two, `Ichor' and `Hiroshima', appeared in magazines and one, `Juggernaut', as a pamphlet (Anvil Press Poetry, 1968). In these his poetic discipline has tautened, though as Kevin Crossley-Holland wrote he `is not afraid to think big, to stick out his neck, and to write of man's fragile vanity'.

This book contains what we consider to be the finest of these poems, `Person', a sustained and moving exploration of the nature of human identity and suffering; together with eleven short poems displaying a sure technique which is sensitive to a range of ideas and experience.

Gavin Bantock was born in 1939. He was educated at King's Norton GS, Birmingham and New College, Oxford where he wrote his long poem `Christ' (Donald Parsons, Oxford, 1965) which shared the Richard Hillary Award for 1964 and the Poetry Society's Alice Hunt-Bartlett Award for 1966.

Pornography and Obscenity

2011-09-05T22:59:00.007-05:00

I recently read a translation of "Pornography and Obscenity" a remarkable essay by D. H. Lawrence which I found enormously beneficial for all kind of Puritanical societies with democratic masks. Lawrence unmasks the untruth and defines the truth about sex, pornography and Obscenity.
Lawrence notes: "Nobody quite knows what the word “obscene” itself means, or what it is intended to mean: but gradually all the old words that belong to the body below navel, have come to be judge obscene."
Lawrence did not support pornography, which he defined. “But even I would censor genuine pornography, rigorously . . . you can recognize it by the insult it offers, invariably, to sex, and to the human spirit.” The common man degrades sex, according to Lawrence, and has “as great a hate and contempt of sex as the greyest Puritan . . . they have the grey disease of sex-hatred, coupled with the yellow disease of dirt-lust.”

The Sower

2011-09-01T15:19:00.016-05:00

I discovered The Sower by Albin Polasek three weeks ago in a rainy day in Chicago Botanic Garden. It revived the memory of my fascination with masterpieces as well as Michelangelo's marble statue of David at the dome of Florence's Accademia Gallery, Italy.

Read a perspective on this statue.

Here I am! A live statue hand in hand with the sower, spreading seeds for humanity...

Drunk Enough to Say I Love You?

2011-08-31T08:58:00.003-05:00

Read my review of Drunk Enough to Say I Love You
In a dream, in 2006, I abruptly opened a door where in the room I saw a large brown table. Under the table was GWB kissing a young blonde man in a suit. Embarrassed, he smiled and changed his position. I closed the door.
Caryl Churchill's play "Drunk Enough to Say I Love You?" is as if an exploration of my dream.

In "Drunk Enough to Say I Love You?" Churchill in a minimalistic form creates two characters Sam as a country and Guy as a man who falls in love with him, to lucidly portray her political view of our time. Although the play is short and contains of eight brief scenes, it takes the reader into a long journey through history of domination, invasion, covert operations to overthrowing governments by using certain torture technics as well as the usage of chemical and biological weapons to control most of the third world countries. Read more...

Watch an excerpt of the play produced in Berlin. In German.

Roger Sedarat on Iranian-American writing

2011-08-28T22:26:00.012-05:00

Roger Sedarat, an Iranian American poet, the author of Dear Regime: Letters to the Islamic Republic, which won Ohio University Press's Hollis Summers' Prize, and Ghazal Games his collection of poems , recently wrote an article on Iranian-American writing in The Best American Poetry. He mentioned some publications by Iranian American writers and genuinely suggested the readers to "add on in the comments section with other recommendations."

In addition to teaching creative writing (poetry and literary translation) in the MFA program at Queens College, City University of New York, Sedarat also teaches and writes on such academic interests as 19th and 20th century American literature as well as Middle Eastern-American literature.

Gore Vidal's latest interview

2011-08-28T09:58:00.006-05:00

Listen to the latest interview with greatest American author, playwright and political commentator: Gore Vidal