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Tag: east-west

reflections, Travel Series12 Comments

Istanbul, Not Constantinople… ?

July 30, 2019June 23, 2020 Neriman K., PhD

.. I’m from Istanbul. No, really. Originally. My great-great-great-great x great grandparents had been Ottomans. I don’t know what ethnicity, but yes, Istanbulites. No, not Arabs. Rums, you say? Maybe. I’ve always suspected that. No, not Armenian. But maybe. Continue reading Istanbul, Not Constantinople… ?

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Virginia Woolf would’ve been 141 on January 25th; it is her birthday week. (Did you think I’d forget?!) This is ecofeminist artist Agnes Denes’s artwork “Living Pyramid”—proof that if you breathe in Istanbul, you simply shall not be spared by their majesty #catsofistanbul This quote is from a brief chapter from When We Were Sisters when the narrator Kausar listens to her sister Aisha play the cello. One of the lovely moments (in a tragic book) when Kausar finds exquisite beauty in the quotidian which ended up being the focus of my 2022 in review on RUOT. It’s a rainy Saturday morning & there’s nothing better than reading in bed, drinking coffee and petting the babies. The only sad thing is that I didn’t want Now is Not the Time for Panic to end. But like all good things, it did. So, it’s time I have a love post for @kevinwilsonauthor: I was kind of obsessed with writing this one. The last Woolf-inspired post until her birthday in January. I promise. (Link to RUOT on my profile as always). (And happy new year, everyone!) (I was just telling my students about how I am often off social media to avoid “the influencer culture” but that #bookstagram is my favorite corner of the internet. It truly is) Did I read at this coffee shop for hours? Maybe. :)

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