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Epic Tour of the Aegean--Part 2 Ayvalık
We and the rental car leave Bozca Ada early in the morning. From the ferry port, we head South toward Assos, winding through more fields of giant. Assos is dramatic and beautiful—I’ve never seen...
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Ode to an Istanbul Autumn Night
The boza seller--whose somber night buskings herald the Istanbul autumnIn Istanbul’s deep November, the boza man wanders far and wee. He only appears after 9PM, like a chuck-wills-widow. And the autumn...
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Aegean Odyssey--part 3: Pergamon, the Greatest Ruins in Turkey
It’s been a while since I’ve written—I know. I would like to start up again by concluding the travel log I’d started about our October trip to the Aegean coast and the fabulous city of Pergamon. The...
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The Kurd and the Cracker in Thailand--Part 1
Title makes it sound like breakfast somehow, curds and crackers.Anyway...To be honest, I find myself often questioning the worth of travel blogs these days. It’s eye catching, people might ping a...
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GACHO!!!! Kurdish Baseball/Kurdish Cricket
Gacho (Gaço)It’s a cold February winter night. Outside is about an inch of slush and snow, with more falling. We have Dede (Delal’s grandfather) over a visit and he is explaining some of the summer...
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New Spring, New Day, Newroz and Easter
Newroz Eggs/Easter EggsIt's been a long time since I've posted anything, so this is going to be short--just to get my feet wet again. Yesterday, Delal and colored eggs for Easter, or Paskalya as they...
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DANCE LESSONS--HOW TO DANCE THE GOVEND: PART 1 DELİLO, DUZ, GOVEND
“Her-reeeeeee!!!!”At the height of excitment, when the music is so frenetic you need quantum equations to describe all the things your feet are doing, you shout this word if you’re a man. It means...
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Dance Lessons--How to Dance the Govend, part 2
Sorry for the long delay--it was a busy Spring.The govend at our weddingSo let's begin with another dance essential to know, the şemamê. This is a relatively new dance cooked up by youngsters and based...
View ArticleDefineciler Defolun!!! Get the hell out, plunderers
I haven’t had the heart to write anything on this blog for a while. Before summer vacation even started, I stumbled on a website with information about the Urartu castle in Yayladere/Xolxol that I...
View ArticleNO PICTURES The Boys on the Beach
(I am not including the pictures on this blog--they're everywhere. I think you can find them if you want to see.)JuxtapositionsTwo pictures of kids on a beach—the dead Syrian Kurdish boy (I can’t look...
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Photo Essay--What I Found in Karaca Ahmet Cemetery
Today, after a visit to Zeynep Kamil hospital for some routine blood tests, I decided to walk home through the Karaca Ahmet Cemetery—a necropolis big enough and sprawling enough to get me halfway to...
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Two portraits of Istanbul--another mini photo essay
Recently, I've need to reminding of what's special about Istanbul, but even in the midst of the best of the city's charm, there are reminders of what's happening around us.Beyoğlu, EuropeThere's a new...
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Wandering the abandoned mansions--the Bienal on Büyük Ada
I had a dream when I was a freshman in college, the culmination of a lifetime of recurring dreams of haunted houses. I wandered lost inside a wood mansion, full of stairways and panels in the wall, and...
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The Bienal: Part 2
On Saturday, we went to Beyoğlu and Karaköy for Bienal exhibits. As I explained in my last entry, most of the installations are inside the city, not in a museum or a special venue but in the old...
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10/10/2015 Ankara. After such knowledge, what forgiveness?
Whatever I write will fail. But something has to be written, though the words have all been gutted. People say “massacre”, “murderer”, “barbarous”, “genocide”, “liar”, but we have been using those...
View ArticleThe Turkish Election--Observations from the Voting Precincts
After last night, I have to write something about this election. I am no political analyst, but it’s hard to know what to analyze anyway. The majority of the media is in the government’s...
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Diyarbekir Diaries – Rojnivîska Amedê, Day One
Diyarbekir Diaries – Rojnivîska AmedêFall break has begun, and we have come to Diyarbekir to visit my sister-in-law who is working in the city as a translator. Inspired by her ”Boston Diaries”, I have...
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Diyarbekir Diaries – Rojnivîska Amedê Day Two
Diyarbekir Diaries – Rojnivîska AmedêWe awoke early this morning--around nine or so, to full on summer level sunlight. It poured in from all directions and was warm enough for me to walk around in a...
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Diyarbekir Diaries – Rojnivîska Amedê Day 3
Diyarbekir Diaries – Rojnivîska Amedê Day 3My mother-in-law and her sister arrived last night--making us a party of five.From about 10 PM on, the roar F16s filled the air and almost managed to drown...
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Diyarbekir Diaries – Rojnivîska Amedê Day 4
Diyarbekir Diaries – Rojnivîska Amedê 4The Kurdish PantheonToday we woke up with no new world crisis and a simple breakfast on the balcony overlooking the park. I spent a long time watching a little...
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Diyarbekir Diaries – Rojnivîska Amedê 5
Acacia in Ekim Park-Diclekent--this park is where the teens go to make outDay 5 Maybe you have noticed that I have called this city three different names. One is Amed, the Kurdish name of...
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A Small Murder of Empathy-Diyarbakır Now
Diyarbakır' old district (SUR) before the full war started At the end of last November, I took a trip to Diyarbakir and documented it on this blog, day by day, in a series I called “The Diyarbakır...
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The Murders We Commit--The Orlando Massacre, a letter home
“Call them mommy, now.”“I’m tell I’m bathroom.”“He’s coming.”“I’m gonna die.”I have been thinking on these words all day, the last of a series of texts from Eddie Justice to his mother, Mina. They...
View ArticleA long time
Greetings. I have not posted in forever and I don't even know if I still have followers or if I ever did, but I would like to announce I have a webpage now showcasing my published writing. It's...
View ArticleMorning in Kadıköy
My window in the tiny Kadıköy apartment looks out onto the wall of the neighboring building, just three feet away across a small deck of sloppily placed tar paper. From the bedroom looking out, it...
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