Absolute Random Nonsense

Sheida Soleimani Iranian artist raised in Cincinnati. Her upcoming solo show will feature multi-media installations centering on her parents’ escape from Iran, memory, identity, and transnational experience. "And I remember my dad was like, really excited about that at the moment and was like, “Oh, Papa, we should find a ghostwriter to write a story about our life.” And I knew that he would never do it. And lo and behold, he never did. And so I remember calling them and asking them, after a lot of thought, “Is it OK if I ghostwrite your story and photograph? And they said, “Yeah.” And they said under one condition: our faces remain anonymous. And I said, absolutely. You know, thinking about also how I experience and think about the medium of photography, the faces aren’t important to me. People don’t need to see faces to understand, like, you know, the trauma that they’ve experienced or their pain or their stories."   

Googling people from my past is both good and bad. On one hand I can get updates on people I was close with but haven't heard from in a long time. On the other hand I sometimes find out that they are dead. Some of them died way too soon. Victoria R. (aged 25) - college classmate/friend Allen A. (aged 38) - elementary school classmate/friend Benjamin B. (aged 42) - college classmate/friend Jennifer H. (aged 45) - coaching course classmate Kathi M. (aged 53) - college friend

The head of OU’s Center for Middle East Studies says federal immigration officers detained an Iranian studies professor while he was traveling to a conference.  Joshua Landis said Doctor Vahid Abedini, the Farzaneh Family Assistant Professor of Iranian Studies, was taken into custody Saturday while boarding a flight to Washington, D.C. Landis said Abedini was wrongfully detained because he holds a valid H-1B visa, a visa category commonly used for university faculty. State Representative Jacob Rosecrants wrote on Facebook that no one appears to know where Abedini is being held. He said he has been in contact with the professor’s family. It is unclear why he was arrested or what he has been charged with, as ICE have not released any information on his status or whereabouts. Abedini came to the US after being expelled from graduate school in Iran for opposing the government and supporting the 2009 Green Revolution. He did his PhD at Florida International University on elite formatio...

We returned the very next day, a few hours earlier, and while my mom quickly went to find a luggage cart, we drove around to find a parking spot. Having found one we then walked around the parking lot to find my mom. Irene commented to me, “Look for something big and gray.” I initially assumed she was referring to the luggage carts but she clarified she was talking about mom. The extra few hours made it a little easier to proceed although at one point we realized we hadn’t had breakfast. My dad bought a few raisin-sprinkled cakes for 7.5 tomans each which did not go too well with me as I did not like raisins. I chose not to say anything in order to not hurt my dad’s feelings and quietly left my cake on a napkin in the spot we had been sitting outside the airport, hoping that one of us would assume it’s theirs and finish it. Some time later I checked on the spot and saw that a janitor whom had started his sweeping route further ahead had reached our spot and in the process discarded o...

The son of two Jewish Persian immigrants who owned an antiques business, Mike Amiri grew up first in Hollywood, then Beverly Hills. The middle of three boys, Mike spent a big part of his childhood in a dreamworld. “Oftentimes, I created things, adventures, by myself, in my head… At some point, I realized that my brain was just geared for creating things that don’t exist and the possibilities that may exist. It wasn’t necessarily about clothing. It was just more storylines, or narratives, or looking at things a little bit differently than other people saw them.” Amiri broke through by fusing the aesthetics of rock ‘n’ roll with contemporary streetwear. Now, Amiri’s brand is taking on the world of sports with a more buttoned-up approach. Amiri and La Liga football club FC Barcelona announced a new deal on Monday to make the brand its official formalwear partner. Several football clubs have named official formalwear partners as the worlds of fashion and sports continue to grow clo...

As far as star searching was concerned, it would be totally impossible due to the daytime light.   This produced another problem as the telescope was firmly pointed towards the sky.   They were not sure if they would be able to rotate it or lower its angle.   Upon testing, they realized that it was firmly locked in place.   Callahan hadn’t come all this way to see the telescope itself, and therefore began pondering with the surrounding buttons and levers, hoping to unlock or loosen the firm grip.   Not before long he managed to partially succeed as Janina was now able to move the telescope to a limited degree.   It was not known to Callahan which button or lever, or combination of the two, had done the job – if in fact it was accomplished by him and not by a mere coincidence – and thus the confined movements of the telescope were enough to satisfy them both. Because of the location of their campus, even the current maximum turn of the telescope would no...

It was his tight, white jeans, snakeskin shoes and the fairy that Nima Daivari wore on a chain around his neck that prompted a stranger to call him a faggot and attack him. And it was Daivari’s boxing training that led him to pound back at his assailant, headlocking him until police arrived at the scene on the 16th Street Mall. What happened next is tougher to explain. A Denver cop not only refused to press charges, but he wouldn’t investigate the hate crime or even bother to take the attacker’s name. In the end, the bad guy slipped away, the officer was slapped on the wrist and now Daivari has lost his civil-rights case because the city says Daivari, as a gay man, has no constitutional right to require an arrest. Something is wrong with this story. “So basically anyone can walk up, assault a gay man on a crowded street and Denver essentially ignores it. That’s messed up, and people there should know it,” says Daivari, 26, a recent law school graduate in New York City. On St. Patrick’s...

One Tuesday 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) added that even a tie would be sufficient for them to advance. We ended the conversation with Arash stating, “I think last night was the end of the qualification games.” That day after classes I walked towards Azadi Square with Sharestani and a friend of his. As we approached a newspaper stand I excused myself and bought a copy of Pahlevan, a sports newspaper. On the cover in large and bold font it read “The final 24 teams for the 1990 World Cup have been determined.” I quickly turned to the page it indicated and began to skim thro...

“My work forever will be dedicated to my father Kazem Kazemaini whose guidance has shaped the pillars of my living.”  Ali Kazemaini, the Iranian forward who was a 2-time All American at Cleveland State University and was drafted by both the NASL (San Diego Sockers) and MISL (Cleveland Force) in 1984 but chose to go indoors, and scored 117 goals in  9 seasons with the Force (1984-88), the Tacoma Stars (1988-90), Cleveland Crunch (1990-91) and Baltimore Blast (1991-92), winning the 1985 MISL Rookie of the Year Award, making the MISL All-Star Team in 1986 and only missing out on a berth on the 1984 U.S. Olympic team due to a delay in gaining U.S. citizenship. For Kazemaini, life has been a soccer adventure which began in streets of Tehran (Born June 21, 1963), and sunny beaches of Southern California. As a young man, he was often referred to on the field as a "Persian Cat.” Distinguished, Unpredictable and even moody at times. A fan favorite of the Cleveland Force professional so...

We were given each day’s schedule the day before and after a few weeks of seeing reoccurring schedules, we were convinced that this ultimately would be our permanent schedule. However one week, as they announced the following day’s schedule, the first and third period followed their previous pattern but the middle period, which had been history in the previous weeks, was left blank. Realizing we didn’t have to cram that night, celebrations broke out in class. The absolute joy we all felt was evident in everyone’s words and/or actions. “This is a historical day!” one exclaimed, to which another, fully intending the pun responded, “No, in fact it is very unhistorical!” It was a lame joke but it didn’t matter as long as one said something to celebrate the fact that we wouldn’t be having history the next day. Of course the following day for second period Mr. Maleknejad did show up. As soon as he pulled out his grade book we all protested, correctly pointing out that we were not told we w...