culturemash

Ok, taking off for Japan tomorrow to visit the clients we have there and participate in a few things. Mainly, I’ll be attending TAF 2008. Never been to an anime festival in my life, but hey … first time for everything.
Sorry for the scattered and rare postings. It’s been naturally chaotic pulling together the right […]

… because, yes, that’s right … I’m part Russian. Well, more specifcally, my mother’s side of the family hails from Azerbaijan, a part of Iran that borders Russia in a way which I’m sure has been switched back and forth for centuries. So it’s sorta like Irussian… or something. Also, I think my mom loves […]

So here on Culture Mash, I generally try not to get too involved with the political side of things. Not to say that I don’t enjoy talking politics (and yes people, it can be done), it’s just that I want this site to be a place where somehow hopefully it can help everyone learn different […]

I don’t mean to turn this into the Leyla/father relationship blog, but sorry folks, that’s as active as it’s getting here for a bit. It’s a pretty big deal for me to have my 76 year old Dad stuck in the Motherland for over 4 months now, and have it extend another 2, on what […]

So let’s go over some statistics. No , really, there’s a point behind this, and while my writing is terribly indirect and non concise, you’ll be glad you followed in this beginning part.

My mother got married when she was 17, and had her first child when she was 18.
My grandmother got married when she was […]

When I was in my earlier teens, I used to borrow my dad’s clothes to add to my vintage/grunge clothing collection. Needless to say I was sort of a tomboy, but my dad has this incredible 70s wardrobe of stuff he no longer fit in. Clothes, that worn by me were still baggy, but somehow […]

Found through Digg, a brilliant array of photography from a nation you’d never expect to see these from.
I’m amazed still today, how many people think Iran is a barren desert filled with nothing but camels and cloaked toothless people carrying AKs. You know, even I was surprised at some of the photographs from Trek Earth. […]

My father has been in Iran for over one week now. Why does this phase me ? He hasn’t been there for over 23 years since my family sought political asylum in the United States back in the eighties.
He called me the other night, and while I knew in theory things ought to be fine […]

I’ve been wanting to get a place lately. I don’t know if it’s this whole thing about wanting to start anew, with my living situation ending soon, or if it’s because I’m just getting that age. In my younger years, buying a house was just as impossible a wish, only then I had something […]

“So, where are you from?”
This is one of the most annoying questions to me. Not because the idea is annoying, but to me it just can mean so much.
Lately I’ve been saying the West Side. But people want to know more than that. If I tell them I’m American, I don’t think I quite give […]