Spring Resolutions
Meanwhile nostalgia in reverse, the longing for yet another strange land, grew especially strong in spring. –Vladimir Nabokov. Mary. Photos from an Istanbul spring to inspire further restlessness. Are you … Continue reading
They Were Too Shiny Anyway
Outside Target, mothers previewed for their toddlers and pre-schoolers the agenda for the shopping trip. The children who were old enough replied, asked questions, such as: “But where are we … Continue reading
Uncanny
A full-blooded American, she was…She was routinely kind to other people, assumed they had good intentions; she smiled at strangers; it mattered to her what they thought and felt. She … Continue reading
A Sentimental Sunset in Montenegro
In his saner moments he would have been ashamed to respond so strongly to the familiar, banal and utterly meaningless colours of the sky. But as the sun went down … Continue reading
Take Care
The bus trip from Vienna to Trogir, Croatia takes twelve hours and rolls overnight. As the monster idles–half the passengers taking final drags on cigarettes and patting at their relatives–a … Continue reading
Respect
I get to sit by him! The little old Japanese man I spotted back in the glacial airport check-in lines–he’s in my row and he will be spied upon. He … Continue reading
For the (Mean) Professor who told me to be Realistic
On a brilliant November day, my students talked me into teaching outside. So we were at an outdoor amphitheater on the Danube when I broke into the story of the … Continue reading
(Nearly Forgot You, Friday)
Next week we’ll go back to Europe. For now, let’s pick something up from to Georgia, USA. * Her prayers, when she remembered to say them, were usually perfunctory but … Continue reading
Mensch!
On the long day before a set of flights home to Colorado, I helped with a Halloween party in a private Austrian school. My favorite child, Phillip, with a perpetual … Continue reading
Not Helpless
I was trudging home from an English lesson with my astounding student, an asylum seeker and former child soldier from Sierra Leone who had the most remarkably shy smile. He … Continue reading
Scrawling On…
An author’s fondest dream is to turn the reader into a spectator. -Vladimir Nabokov. Despair.
Why Read?
Nothing better protects a human being against the stupidity of prejudice, racism, religious or political sectarianism, and exclusivist nationalism than this truth that invariably appears in great literature: that men … Continue reading
En Route
It’s a travel back the the States day, a “get on the bus to the airport at 8:30 am Istanbul time and hope to catch the shuttle home at 9:30 … Continue reading
Underline.
Read sparingly but ardently. That way you’ll look far more knowledgeable than those who read a great deal but enjoy nothing. -Orhan Pamuk. The Black Book. (One might even trade … Continue reading
Love Can Also Be Restless, Ferocious.
I know now, what I didn’t know then, that affection can’t always be expressed in calm, orderly, articulate ways; and that one cannot prescribe the form it should take for … Continue reading
Still Here
He also felt an excited touched surprise that such a complex of emotions could still exist in such an old man. “Such an old man,” he thought to himself until … Continue reading
Packs of Blondes
Granted, it was a small sample, but from the Turkish TV dramas I’d watched in passive attempts to learn the language, all of the blonde women were evil. Friends in … Continue reading
The Bold and the Apprehensive
The couple boarded the plane extremely late and toting five carry-on bags between them. The flight crew looked the other way. He opened nearly every overhead compartment in their section … Continue reading
An Icelandic Sky and A Rushdie Sigh
A sigh isn’t just a sigh. We inhale the world and breathe out meaning. While we can. While we can. -Salman Rushdie. The Moor’s Last Sigh.
Rock With You
The bus is running and the doors hang open, but not a single passenger climbs in. At other gates people impatiently crowd the doors, but at #3, everyone waits on … Continue reading
The Nice Thing About Strangers 