Powerful political flashmob in Paris

Soon my Iranian grandmere will be here in Athens. Last year she brought me some gifts including 2 carpets of my very own. I hope she'll bring me some gifts this year too. In the meantime, here is a video that I think you, my friends & fans will enjoy:

This video shows a flash mob in Paris that quietly but powerfully takes a stand against oppression in Iran and read the of it on You tube.

Song of Tehran, Rejoicing, Part 2

Song of Tehran, Rejoicing, Part 2

Now it's time: Mehrabad to Ahvaz.
Iranian Airlines serves a hot meal on china.
And landing one hour later, the oil fields, haze of 100-degrees farenheit mingle with the
pollution that supports the city. Ahvaz.

Foremost, Mamajun, mother-in-law, sisters, brothers, nephews,
nieces. Rejoice cousins, aunts, uncles, boys & girls, teens and parents and all you
children, rejoice.
In the midst of flowers and food and years of talk, rejoice.

Dare I name each? Let's begin:
Manijeh
Saeid
Massoud & Manujher &Fariba & Shireen & Katy & Mushtaba,
Ali, Ashkan, Shakiba, Sharia, Sharzad!
(The infamous) Parsa & Golsa.
And begin again: Amu Hassan Aragh, with the '38 Vespa & Ameh Pooran his wife.,
Mother of Dariush who's married to Fariba, step mom of Pegah, mother of Parisa.
And my friend Mossein with his hip shop, "Hello!"
Nikoo who paints with a deep-light touch.
Trippy Ali Yazdanian, latterly of India and now publishing his works of art stled
as 21st century "revolutionary spectrums."

Only 75% omitted.
Tehran, Ahvaz, Brougherd, Doorod, the mountains in between and
Isfahan.
Over 75% omitted.

Faithful Readers, please return soon to read the concluding verse of my poem about Iran & my Persian family written from the perspective of an arm-chair traveler. As you already know Part 1 appears in the previous entry.

Cheers, from your friend, Mercury

Manijeh Arrives

The trip began at Tehran's new international airport, Imam Kohomeini, and the 1st leg ended at Charles de Gaulle, Paris. From there to Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson. The flight was booked through Air France, operated by Delta and total air hours, more than I can calculate. [It should be noted, I never did excel at math.]

Manijeh Kalantari is my Papa's Mama, my paternal grandmere. Here is her picture with the beautiful flowers that my maternal grandmere et grandpere sent Manijeh to welcome her to the USA.

Manijeh lives in Ahvaz, Iran as do Papa's brothers, sister, MamaJune, and his neices, nephews, cousins, uncles and aunts. In fact, my paternal family is quite large, a complete constrast to the petite family on Mama's side.

Manijeh likes me very much; she thinks I'm well-behaved and clever. I love Manijeh; when I'm with her I smile and wag. We are fortunate that Manijeh made the long trip to spend some time with us in Athens.

Re/search and Re/visit

This shot shows me, sitting at my desk, with none of the usual toys, treats, fawning attention, and etc. [read numerous of the entries below] to distract me.

Today, I first revisited one of Mama's most significant, if underappreciated, works:
"The Dark Side of Comparative Research," Elli Lester-massman. In Journal of Communication Inquiry, 15:2

In it, she argues that [social] science is a rhetoric deeply embedded in culture and that comparative research in particular replicates, implicitly and often explicitly, a power structure that maintains a specific world system of dominance and exploitation.

Next I opened the current issue of the same journal. Imagine my surprise when amongst the table of contents the name Fred Vultee leapt out. Note the black and white photo above and you'll see the authors of the 3 articles of today's reading. [the third figure, centered, is Andy Lester: see entry, July 9, 06 below]

Mr. Vultee, a doctoral student at the University of Mississippi, authored: "Fatwa on the Bunny" News Language and the Creation of Meaning about the Middle East. [Journal of Communication Inquiry, 30:4] Vultee's article supports Edward Said's thesis that "a pervasive Western discourse" cements a "fundamental ideology of difference."

Thus I was reminded of Mama's article in 28:1:
"Chimera Veil of 'Iranian Woman' and Processes of U.S. Textual Commodification: How U.S. Print Media Represent Iran," Elli Lester Roushanzamir.
Here Mama investigates how U.S. print media construct a specific commodified version and vision of Iran by using consistent and iconic images of Iranian women....[how] Iran itself is gendered female....[and how the] veil, prolific of meaning, parsimonious of form, is a global product symbol.

Finally, exhausted but exhilarated by these three fine examples of scholarly arguments and insights, I retired to my seat on the porch to reconsider my own position on a number of the issues raised.