Absolute Random Nonsense

Marjan Sarshar was born and raised in Tehran before coming to the U.S. as a teenager. Marjan’s journey as a refugee and immigrant has brought many obstacles; however, she considers them a blessing and positive learning experience. Marjan is now putting her lifelong dreams into action by giving back to the community through providing healthy, local, environmentally sustainable options. Kreation Organic was born out of the love of a single mother raising two daughters and a mission to put their well-being first, which transcended into a larger passion to nurture her community and herself. "In my family food is everything. If you respect someone, you make them good food. Growing up, my Dad’s way of expressing love was through cooking for me and my siblings. He often made vegetarian rice with lots of fresh herbs and lentils. My Mom was also a wonderful cook. Fresh and healthy home-cooked meals have been a top priority for my children. I love entertaining and creating a sense of fa...

There was a time that I truly walked on egg shells. Every time I would approach home I would slow down to check if the coast was clear and if anyone was waiting for me. I absolutely found any excuse possible to be away from home where others might have expected me to be. When home I would periodically peek through the curtains to see if anyone was outside. I lost a lot of weight due to these stressful circumstances. It took a long time for life to get back to somewhat normal.  

Donia Bijan is an Iranian-American author and chef based in California. She is the author of the book Maman’s Homesick Pie: A Persian Heart in an American Kitchen (2011) and the novel The Last Days of Café Leila (2017). “Strange things happened when I returned to Tehran in 2010 after thirty-two years in exile,” writes Donia Bijan in her recent essay, “The Women’s Hour.” Traveling with her sister, she found her childhood home – the hospital their father built in the 1950s, on an avenue that was once named after him. On the top floor was where Bijan was born, and where the family lived. In the yard was the final resting place for the family dog. The pool, in which Bijan learned to swim, was still there. "In 2010, I went back to Iran for a short visit after 32 years in exile. It was an incredibly moving experience. I was a stranger. I didn’t even know how to tie a headscarf properly. I spoke like the awkward 15-year-old who had left three decades ago, and yet, I felt the very earth w...

A team which I have wanted to see for more than 40 years is the Cosmos. The Cosmos at one point had players like Pele, Beckenbauer, Carlos Alberto and even Andranik Eskandarian. What I saw was the third version of them after they went bankrupt in 1984 and came back to life from 2013 to 2020 and then again this year. They are a far cry from their heyday and play in the US third division. Their stadium is much smaller holding only 10,000. On this day I estimated about 1,000 people there and it was announced as 1,174. They had a supporter's section that was loud throughout the game with their chants, drums and smoke bombs although it was maybe only about 50 people. There were still many people present who were wearing a Cosmos jersey with number 10 and Pele's name on the back. I bought a $20 ticket although I cold have bought the $17 one because no one checked where anyone sat as much of the stadium was empty and you could move around anywhere. I was surprised they had such an equ...

In what appears to be a national first, Texas students will be required to read Bible passages as part of a new statewide reading list. The State Board of Education gave final approval to updated Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills – known as TEKS – on Friday, capping off a week of meetings and often tense public discussion. The board also approved rewritten K-8 social studies lessons that narrow the view of history from a global one to a focus on U.S. and Texas history. The state will begin rolling out the new standards beginning in the 2030-31 school year. Attorney Niloufar Hafizi, who identified as an Iranian Muslim, said she sees in the social studies lessons about Muslims a “subtext telling students whose histories, which civilizations, and ultimately which people count. “Rather than present balanced and accurate standards, the proposed TEKS tell a selective narrative that elevates Protestant Christianity and Western civilization while downplaying other religions and civilization...

At the end of Ardi’s street was a boy named Reza, commonly known as Reza Allaf. When we were younger he came off as one of the thugs of the neighborhood although now that we were older he willingly socialized with us. He walked with a limp and crutches, the result of a motorcycle accident for which he was going through treatment and physiotherapy while fighting to get the other party in the accident to pay for his medical bills. Due to his limited mobility we would all just gather around him as he told us various tales of adventures that he had had. When describing them, he would also add sound effects when appropriate although he never seemed to get the sound effect right. For example he would be describing how a police car would be chasing him with its siren wailing and then make sounds of a cat meowing. Each night at the conclusion of his tales he would readily admit that half of the things he said he had made up although he would then justify it by saying as long as we were enterta...

Raised and educated on the East Coast, Dr. Matt Rostami decided he didn’t want to endure the cold or high taxes, so he moved to Texas to start his own medical practice. Before medical school, he majored in Middle Eastern studies at Rutgers University in New Jersey.  He went viral mocking Muslims at a heated McKinney mosque meeting returned to City Hall —but this time, he dropped the fake beard and oversized turban. He removed the same beard and turban he used during his previous appearance, when he leaned into exaggerated stereotypes about Muslims, Sharia law and immigration. The bit drew boos along with shouts from members of the public to "go back home," before a McKinney City Council ultimately (and unanimously) approved the mosque project 7-0.  "The video was satire for those of you who didn't get it," he told council members and the public before showing his real face. "I know it looks funny because I make it look funny, but yeah that was me last week....

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...