The majority of days around here are overcast more often than not due to our proximity to Lake Michigan, about twenty miles to the west. Crisp, sunny days are worth chasing.
Friday morning was one of those rare days that reminded me of Colorado, crisp sun reflecting off of the downtown buildings, great visibility. Downtown South Bend isn't much, but it still has a collection of early twentieth century buildings which were constructed to aesthetic standards that makes looking at today's architecture difficult. The tile and ceramic mosaics and ornamentation that adorn the top edges of the older buildings stood out like optical illusions. I'm still a bit nearsighted after vision correction some years back and smoke dope (marijuana) daily. My eyes were glued to the top of the buildings as I contemplated the artisans on scaffolds putting those mosaics in place.
I used to drink cheap beer by the case until I couldn't touch it without ruining my life within twenty four hours. That kind of alcoholic. Work, beer and television consumed the better part of fifteen years. I thought that was normal.
While I don't think that comercial marijuana is any cure all, smoking for the past two years has definitely heightened my basic visual acuity which had suffered after years of drink and pharmaceuticals. I never would have noticed those mosaics on the sofa.
I am grateful that you posted this content for everyone. No one else writes in the way you do. Thank you.
It is easy to understand your feelings and thoughts about re-reading your old writings. It is inevitable that any scribbler creates regrettably mediocre prose from time to time. That said, the piece you published today certainly deserves to be read, and re-read.
Many of us don't think about the lives of refugees, their particular situations. Some don't ever see them, or look away if they do glimpse them. Your reminder of reality is welcome. Thank you again.
Justin McCarthy's book Turks and Armenians: Nationalism and Conflict in the Ottoman Empire presents a necessary counter balance to the official narrative of the first genocide of the 20th century. The NYT covered critically as it was happening. Jews and Armenians are usually sympathetic allies except where the world's greatest Holocaust is concerned.
Cannabis v alcohol as it relates to culture and religion, o my! I wish someone would write the book. I found a blend of the two usually worked for me. Beer got my off the couch and pot refreshed the sinking soggy sensibility. Christians do hate the devil's weed. They see it as only a gateway drug to the harder stuff. Medical uses? - all lies to get you hooked. Yeah, pass the doobie and lighten up.
It's interesting to look back on what you were thinking in 2015 and compare it with where we find ourselves today, as with (for example) Ukraine and Syria. I have never figured out why the former regime in Ukraine thought it was OK for US politicians that were known warmongers to address a dissident crowd in public, an act far closer to insurrection than, say, January 6!
You're definitely correct about Turkey's expertise at getting rid of people it doesn't want. I'm surprised you forgot to mention the Kurds, although may that is because they haven't quite managed to dump them yet.
As for Turkish TV, I've watched and enjoyed some. I liked the seasons of "Ertogrul", another riff on Anatolian history.
Barbarity pervades our age. Humanity seems to have flowered a couple of times and in a couple of places, but the overall trajectory is down down down. Israel has been the monster that has destroyed Syria. The other subsidiary partners in that destruction (Turkey, the US) are only the heartless tools of the ones who live next door. Is it any wonder that the Palestinians are now on the chopping block? They have only been in the holding pens for the last 75 years. When the monster runs out of heads to chop next door, it turns to its holding pens and begins consuming the seed corn. We all know where all of this leads.
"As the left shout refugees welcome, the right cynically pretend refugees are merely economic migrants or potential terrorists. Almost no one is urgently demanding the US, EU, Israel, Turkey and the Gulf States stop their criminal war against Syria"
This is symptomatic of how western governments and bureaucracy operate now (probably always have - it's just that it seems so obvious over the past decade). We're effortlessly turned against each other in every conceivable way - like two dogs fighting over a bone, while the third dog steals it (personal autonomy, resources and whatever else it wishes) from under both their noses.
Great article, Linh! Thanks for reposting. I visited Burgaz Island in January, 1968, during a pretty good storm and still have the black and white photo I took of Turkish kids playing by the spray from the waves of that storm crashing into the harbor. I didn't get back to Istanbul until about 12 years ago when visiting a Turkish friend. Your vignettes of present-day Istanbul awaken all those slumbering memories. Thanks!
Wonderful essay, Mr. Dinh. For the chronically timorous people of the world, and I am one of them, you examine carefully things I see only in my dreams (and nightmares).
I flew out to the Philippines from New York on a Turkish Airlines flight and we had a 24 hour layover in Istanbul. I didn't dare leave the airport. And, yes, it is enormous. I found a quiet place to the right of the front entrance down by the fast food joints and the circular bar offering pints of beer for $13 U.S. where I could get out of the foot traffic and take a brief, fitful nap with my head on my back pack. People from all over the world walked by and no one bothered me or told me to move.
On the return flight we had just a two hour stop in Istanbul and I had to jog/fast-walk perhaps a mile and a half to get to the departure gate in time to board the final leg of my flight to New York.
As we approached JFK it was striking how shabby that ancient airport is compared to Istanbul International and Manila International airports.
Byzantium-Constantinople-Istanbul. In retrospect I wish I had had the time to see more of that legendary city. My only thought while there, unfortunately was, "don't miss your connecting flight to Manila!" Like you I had no Turkish Visa and god knows what the authorities would have done to me? Also taking into consideration that I am pretty shabby looking... '
Just exactly what chemical odor are those bomb sniffing dogs looking for, anyway?
Turkey is forever tainted with the genocide of the Armenians, most recently in 2023 ethnic cleansing of Nagorno Karabakh, no matter how hard they try to hide it.
The majority of days around here are overcast more often than not due to our proximity to Lake Michigan, about twenty miles to the west. Crisp, sunny days are worth chasing.
Friday morning was one of those rare days that reminded me of Colorado, crisp sun reflecting off of the downtown buildings, great visibility. Downtown South Bend isn't much, but it still has a collection of early twentieth century buildings which were constructed to aesthetic standards that makes looking at today's architecture difficult. The tile and ceramic mosaics and ornamentation that adorn the top edges of the older buildings stood out like optical illusions. I'm still a bit nearsighted after vision correction some years back and smoke dope (marijuana) daily. My eyes were glued to the top of the buildings as I contemplated the artisans on scaffolds putting those mosaics in place.
I used to drink cheap beer by the case until I couldn't touch it without ruining my life within twenty four hours. That kind of alcoholic. Work, beer and television consumed the better part of fifteen years. I thought that was normal.
While I don't think that comercial marijuana is any cure all, smoking for the past two years has definitely heightened my basic visual acuity which had suffered after years of drink and pharmaceuticals. I never would have noticed those mosaics on the sofa.
I am grateful that you posted this content for everyone. No one else writes in the way you do. Thank you.
It is easy to understand your feelings and thoughts about re-reading your old writings. It is inevitable that any scribbler creates regrettably mediocre prose from time to time. That said, the piece you published today certainly deserves to be read, and re-read.
Many of us don't think about the lives of refugees, their particular situations. Some don't ever see them, or look away if they do glimpse them. Your reminder of reality is welcome. Thank you again.
Justin McCarthy's book Turks and Armenians: Nationalism and Conflict in the Ottoman Empire presents a necessary counter balance to the official narrative of the first genocide of the 20th century. The NYT covered critically as it was happening. Jews and Armenians are usually sympathetic allies except where the world's greatest Holocaust is concerned.
Cannabis v alcohol as it relates to culture and religion, o my! I wish someone would write the book. I found a blend of the two usually worked for me. Beer got my off the couch and pot refreshed the sinking soggy sensibility. Christians do hate the devil's weed. They see it as only a gateway drug to the harder stuff. Medical uses? - all lies to get you hooked. Yeah, pass the doobie and lighten up.
It's interesting to look back on what you were thinking in 2015 and compare it with where we find ourselves today, as with (for example) Ukraine and Syria. I have never figured out why the former regime in Ukraine thought it was OK for US politicians that were known warmongers to address a dissident crowd in public, an act far closer to insurrection than, say, January 6!
You're definitely correct about Turkey's expertise at getting rid of people it doesn't want. I'm surprised you forgot to mention the Kurds, although may that is because they haven't quite managed to dump them yet.
As for Turkish TV, I've watched and enjoyed some. I liked the seasons of "Ertogrul", another riff on Anatolian history.
Barbarity pervades our age. Humanity seems to have flowered a couple of times and in a couple of places, but the overall trajectory is down down down. Israel has been the monster that has destroyed Syria. The other subsidiary partners in that destruction (Turkey, the US) are only the heartless tools of the ones who live next door. Is it any wonder that the Palestinians are now on the chopping block? They have only been in the holding pens for the last 75 years. When the monster runs out of heads to chop next door, it turns to its holding pens and begins consuming the seed corn. We all know where all of this leads.
"As the left shout refugees welcome, the right cynically pretend refugees are merely economic migrants or potential terrorists. Almost no one is urgently demanding the US, EU, Israel, Turkey and the Gulf States stop their criminal war against Syria"
This is symptomatic of how western governments and bureaucracy operate now (probably always have - it's just that it seems so obvious over the past decade). We're effortlessly turned against each other in every conceivable way - like two dogs fighting over a bone, while the third dog steals it (personal autonomy, resources and whatever else it wishes) from under both their noses.
Great article, Linh! Thanks for reposting. I visited Burgaz Island in January, 1968, during a pretty good storm and still have the black and white photo I took of Turkish kids playing by the spray from the waves of that storm crashing into the harbor. I didn't get back to Istanbul until about 12 years ago when visiting a Turkish friend. Your vignettes of present-day Istanbul awaken all those slumbering memories. Thanks!
"It's alway good to be desired without ulterior motives. Auras aren't insignificant gifts."
An incredible observation described with economy of language.
Also to desire without ulterior motives.
Do you think it is still possible that the present non secateur of "Western Civilization" can be influenced by your observation above?
both Europe and the USA suffer from amnesia
Wonderful essay, Mr. Dinh. For the chronically timorous people of the world, and I am one of them, you examine carefully things I see only in my dreams (and nightmares).
I flew out to the Philippines from New York on a Turkish Airlines flight and we had a 24 hour layover in Istanbul. I didn't dare leave the airport. And, yes, it is enormous. I found a quiet place to the right of the front entrance down by the fast food joints and the circular bar offering pints of beer for $13 U.S. where I could get out of the foot traffic and take a brief, fitful nap with my head on my back pack. People from all over the world walked by and no one bothered me or told me to move.
On the return flight we had just a two hour stop in Istanbul and I had to jog/fast-walk perhaps a mile and a half to get to the departure gate in time to board the final leg of my flight to New York.
As we approached JFK it was striking how shabby that ancient airport is compared to Istanbul International and Manila International airports.
Byzantium-Constantinople-Istanbul. In retrospect I wish I had had the time to see more of that legendary city. My only thought while there, unfortunately was, "don't miss your connecting flight to Manila!" Like you I had no Turkish Visa and god knows what the authorities would have done to me? Also taking into consideration that I am pretty shabby looking... '
Just exactly what chemical odor are those bomb sniffing dogs looking for, anyway?
Turkey is forever tainted with the genocide of the Armenians, most recently in 2023 ethnic cleansing of Nagorno Karabakh, no matter how hard they try to hide it.
Very interesting. I wonder if it is still like that today?
yes, i liked this