Absolute Random Nonsense

Truth is not to be found in facts b ecause facts took place in the past.  And for each fact there's a counter-fact.  Truth can only lie in the future.  The only truth is a cri, or belief, a  belief in a better future, eliminating crime and anti-social behavior a nd aiming at the improvement of the human race and  by voting for those political candidates w ho do have these goals in  a world where power shifts and hidden truths are revealed, all set against the backdrop of a political event, a collective struggle, a shared burden that binds individuals to the larger forces at play during the intensity of the moment, the pressure of choice, and the weight of expectation. The tension between intimacy and public spectacle evoke a sense of movement and connection and hints at the unpredictable nature of both love and politics, a moment of reckoning, where personal and political paths converge.  

Payam Banifaz is an Iranian actor and comedian out of Los Angeles. He was born in Tehran and immigrated to the US with his family at the age of 8. Some of his credits include a recurring role on Shameless as well as roles on Veep, Silicon Valley, Brooklyn Nine-Nine as well as many others. "My whole family is from Tabriz. So when I was growing up, most of what I remember is the war, unfortunately. And yeah, so like, you know, a lot of the stuff that was happening in, like, Ukraine, a lot of the footage of, like, people sort of huddled in cellars and like huddled in like subways. Like that really took me back and to my own childhood because I remember before we left Iran like four days a week, we were just in our cellar, in our apartment complex during the bomb ratings. Yeah, I completely remember that too. "I remember going with my mom and the dad and stuff to this like friendly soccer match between the Iran national team and the U.S. And there was like people in the stands ho...

I am told that when I was a kid I was pretty rambunctious especially when I got together with others my own age. The one method that would work on me that would get me quiet was if someone told me to come over so they could read my palm and tell me my future. During the palm reading I would get extremely quiet and listen attentively. It would be 40 something years later that I would realize that during those palm reading sessions I was experiencing ASMR.  

Parisa Tashakori is an award-winning Iranian graphic designer and educator specializing in branding design and visual communication. Tashakori has collaborated with ad agencies, publishers, art centers, and design festivals worldwide, providing visual branding, workshops, and lectures. While Tashakori has applied her skills across various industries, her true passion lies in projects related to art and culture, as well as those with a social and environmental focus. "They were arresting everyone and anyone", she explained, for politics, hair covering, whatever excuse they could find. She did not see her reason of arrest or her activism as extraordinary, but she exhibited signs that her behavior was outside of social norms. When she returned home from college, her family was shocked at how political she had become. Parisa explained the circumstances of her arrest and torture in mechanical terms, as if she were explaining a historical event that happened to other people. She la...

My introduction to the 80s was a McDonalds calendar that we got in December of 1978. For each month it had a coded phrase that you could read if you used the decoder tool. For December, with the year coming to a close, it included a message that said "See you in 1980". I might be confusing this with a different calendar because looking at pictures online of the McDonalds calendar I don't see it on the December page. Or perhaps it was on a different page of it. My last memory in the 80s was approximately November 20th, 1989.  As  we sat in chemistry class waiting for the professor to arrive, I began talking to Arash, a classmate from high school and an equally passionate soccer fan. We went over the games that were scheduled the day before and discussed possible outcomes and the subsequent impact on World Cup qualification. He asked me if the US had made it and I told him they had had a game with Trinidad and Tobago that would determine their fate. I also (incorrectly) add...

Elina Shirazi is a multi-lingual Iranian journalist and Washington, DC based correspondent for NewsNation. Her previous experience included working for Fox News Channel.  “My father was on the very last Pan Am flight to leave the capital following the Iranian Revolution of 1979. A full flight of over 200 Iranians who landed in a foreign country not knowing the language, leaving everything and everyone that they knew behind. He was sent away alone, by parents who saw no other way to save him and give him a better future. My mother was a refugee who fled across Europe with her five siblings before they finally reached the U.S. Growing up with their stories, I’ve always understood that for Iranians, home is often something you’re forced to carry with you. Also, my life could have been completely different had they stayed.” 

In the late 80s and early 90s, before leaving Iran, I read Chariots of the Gods, The Gold of the Gods, The Teachings of Don Juan and other ones that dealt with non-ordinary realities and allegorical work. Later on, thinking back to that time, I kept remembering the sentence "When life is too short, we live it too long" but I couldn't figure out which book it came from. I eventually caved in and googled it.  I discovered it was from Samantha Fox's 1987 song My True Devotion.  

Two more Barca Residency Academy talents have been called up to the U.S. Soccer U-15 Boys National Team for an upcoming training camp taking place March 16-23rd in West Palm Beach, FL. Forward Arman Alagha and goalkeeper London Stern have been named to the 24-player camp roster, once again continuing Barca’s strong representation within the national team system. The camp is led by U.S. U-15 Boys’ National Team head coach Brady Short and is a part of the Federation’s continued focus on the U.S. Way philosophy. An initiative that emphasizes increased programming for Youth National Teams to create more opportunities for young players to advance through the pathway to the senior National Team, with the goal of representing their country at a world championship. This is Alagha and Stern’s first USYNT call-up at this level, the result of their strong seasons and continued work U.S. Soccer Talent ID Centers.  Arman is a technical and versatile attacker who can play centrally or out w...

When I was in the second grade, one time at a gathering at our house, a teenage boy asked another one if they were a girl. When the girl responded yes, the boy asked that she prove it. Everyone snickered although I didn't quite understand the punchline. When I went back to school I tried the joke on a girl in class. The first one just brushed me off. The second one, Liz, held her face in her hands and pretended to cry. I told her that did not prove it. I'm not sure what response I would have found acceptable.