by AnnSheybani | Apr 18, 2016 | Life
How much of your life do you consider blind luck, and how much do you attribute to the choices that you’ve made? Muslims are by their very nature fatalists. They believe that what is ordained is ordained; and no one but God can alter anything. Each event, small or...
by AnnSheybani | Apr 14, 2016 | Life
Pull myself out of the U.S, drop myself in a totally different environment, and I’ve created for myself a clean slate. A chance to slip into a different routine, and commit to some much better rituals. Question is, where can you go to interrupt your bad habits...
by AnnSheybani | Mar 14, 2016 | Life, Reading
The last time I came back to the States for vacation while living in Iran, I got together with some old friends and regaled them with my latest in-law stories. I recounted the one about my mother-in-law, who, when staying with us in our tiny dorm room for months on...
by AnnSheybani | Feb 26, 2016 | Life
Walt and I have been spent the last week lying around poolside. (BTW, I have to look up laying vs lying every goddamn time. Here’s a link that explains the difference, for your convenience.) On the surface, this sounds pretty dreamy, but after a few days of...
by AnnSheybani | Feb 8, 2016 | Life, Reading, Writing, writing lessons
When I first began writing and presenting my short stories about Iran, people in my workshop class looked nervous. No doubt remembering the fatwa placed on Salmon Rushdie’s head for his Satanic Verses, they asked me, “Don’t you think Iranians might...
by AnnSheybani | Jan 25, 2016 | Life, life transitions, tenacity
Walt and I are finally cleaning out the basements (yes, that’s a plural); and the over-stuffed three-car garage; and the attics (again, the plural); and all of the closets; and each of the seven, count them, seven bedrooms. I’m not following Marie...
