There are lots of things about Turkey and censorship that deserve attention. We could talk about the internet filters that not only catch porn but also some Darwinian websites. We could talk about journalists who write books about shadowy organisations, only to then be arrested on suspicion of being in said shadowy organisation. We could talk about journalists being arrested for not-entirely-clear reasons but possibly to do with their ethnic background. We could talk about the “mahalle baskisi”, the local Click for more
Category: Being
The Tree
I’m not sure if I’ve found my true reflection in the world yet, but I can definitely say it isn’t a tree. The image of the tree that is you, with each ring a layer of your story is wonderful and uplifting but it is too fixed for me. My story is portable. My roots are shallow. I left my homeland for another and though settled where I am now, I really can’t say what the future will bring. Our Click for more
F**k the Begrudger
The last week I’ve been thinking about my inner critic, prompted in part by Tara Sophia Mohr’s blogpost and by her description of her own inner critic piping up in the Global Niche conversation of last Friday night. My own inner critic is pretty close to a realistic thinker. At times it is a little too realistic and needs to lighten up and have some fun every now and again. What I have to look out for is my inner begrudger… Click for more
The Compass
This is inspired by week two of A Year With Myself. Leonie Dawson asks have we found our soul’s compass yet. Once upon a time I had a compass. It looked like this. It was a tool, a geologists compass. Not only did it help to locate me, it also allowed me to make maps, to reveal features that the eye couldn’t see in the landscape. It helped illuminate the enormous forces that shaped whatever piece of land I was Click for more
Branching Out
Many, many years ago, I was perhaps 9, I was amazed to find that our Saturday morning was disrupted by the arrival of a piano. I remember standing by the front door watching people carefully carry it into the house. I can’t remember who moved it or how, but there it was in our front room, where previously it had occupied my grandparent’s front room. It was magical, before we’d only been able to pick away when we visited my Click for more
The Threshold
Just as I was pondering how to give myself the kick in the ass I need to get blogging again, I stumbled across this idea of A Year With Myself. Well, sez I, there’s the kick I need. So the plan is to participate while also getting on with the other things I’m planning. The way I see it the threshold is a little like the frost on the flowers, it can be deadly and paralysing but with a little Click for more
United in Fear
I had never heard of Gabrielle Giffords until her name appeared below a breaking news headline on Saturday 8th January. I didn’t know she was a member of the US congress, what party she represented, whether she was liked, good at her job, or known nationally within the States. But I was shocked by the images, people crying, chaos,panic, paramedics rushing towards helicopters. Six people died, one only a child, fourteen injured, while Giffords still fights in a hospital bed. Click for more
Baking up Christmas
The smell of pudding, that rich combination of fruit and sugars, pervades the house. I am home again, watching my mother becoming increasingly frustrated attempting to cover the pudding with greaseproof paper and tinfoil. The string with not go right, will not tie tight enough. My first Christmas in Turkey in 2001, my first away from home, my first as a married woman, I cooked rice pudding. My husband regarded the sticky mass with barely disguised wonder, comparing it to Click for more
School Days
One thing I wasn’t going to do when I started blogging was talk about my children, I was not. My time online was going to be my time for me: no kids, no housework, no responsibilities. I’m breaking that rule today. Having spent the summer constantly in the company of my children, the last month of which also included Baba aka the Handyman, we have been wrenched apart. It started with the Handyman’s return to work, leaving the three of Click for more
Special-ism
Announcing HYBRID AMBASSADORS: a blog-ring project of Dialogue2010 You met our multinational cultural innovators this spring in a roundtable discussion of hybrid life at expat+HAREM. Now in these interconnected blog posts some of them share reactions to a recent polarizing book promotion at the writing network SheWrites. Join the discussion on Twitter using #HybridAmbassadors or #Dialogue2010 I am special. I really am. I’m from a small country. That makes me special, there are only so many of us out there. Click for more