We have more synagogues and more freedom to use them here in Los Angeles than we did in Iran, but that doesn\’t mean we\’re any closer to fulfilling the true purpose of gathering in a house of worship.
I don\’t know what will become of the legacy of Iranian Jews outside of Iran, how history will judge us in the context of the opportunities we had and the extent to which we helped make the world a better place with what we were given.
Maybe all the layoffs and buyouts have cut just a little too deeply into the newsroom, or Mr. Zell is purposely dumbing down his newspaper in hopes of making it more profitable
Are we electing a candidate based on his or her ability to lead the country, or are we crowning a king who looks good in pictures and who is above criticism, examination and challenge?
I don\’t think Obama is a bigot or malicious. I think he\’s someone who\’s risen too high too fast, on the merit of some exceptional oratorical skills and some natural charm and charisma, at a time when this nation is hard-pressed to find a person in whom it can put its faith. I think he hasn\’t even had a chance to examine his own loyalties and politics enough to know where he has stood up to now and how he can reconcile his \”base\” — the Louis Farrakhans and the Rev. Wrights of the world — with his new, much wider constituency.
Last Thursday night at LACMA, I was treated to a reading of my own works by the very talented and beautiful actress Bahar Soumekh, and by UC Irvine professor Nasrin Rahimieh. Outside the Bing Theater, rain poured in sheets, and traffic on Wilshire was at a standstill because all the lights had been blown out by the wind and — this being Los Angeles where even the mildest winter storm is dealt with like Armageddon — I was rather astonished that anyone had shown up at all.
Do you write from memory? Someone always asks, and I become tongue-tied and uncertain, scrambling for the words, the ways to make believable what I know will sound bizarre — a too-complicated response where all that is required is a simple \”Yes\” or \”No\” or \”Sometimes; the rest is research.\”
I lived in Iran for only 13 years. I remember very little — a handful of places, a couple of dozen friends and relatives. Yet, I\’ve spent my entire career writing about the country and its people, and I\’ve written it all — this is the part that\’s difficult to explain — from memory.
t is true that Gunter Grass has brought much good into the world by his writings. It is also true that his late-in-life revelation calls into question or, depending on your point of view, entirely invalidates his right to the high moral ground he has for so long occupied. But in doing so, he has proven to those of us who have followed his life and career what he says he learned as a POW after the war: That no truth is ever entirely true, that what we revere today may become indefensible tomorrow, that the wisest path through life is to distrust certainty and instead to walk, in Grass\’ own words, \”the long route, paved with doubts.\”
It\’s 8 p.m. on a Wednesday, and I\’m at the studios of KIRN — a Persian-language AM radio station on Barham Boulevard near Universal Studios. I\’m a guest on a program called \”Live From Hollywood.\”
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.