Kuala Lumpur By Night For National Geographic Traveler

For the National Geographic Traveler cities roundup, I wrote about the Malaysian capital, emphasizing the seductive energy of the city as well as the echo of its natural setting. When equatorial Kuala Lumpur awakes from its heat-of-the-day slumber, the late shift throngs sidewalk restaurants and markets to vie over noodles and durian.

Humanity swirls around the geometric pylons of the Petronas Twin Towers, blazing as they pierce the sky…businesspeople crisp from air-conditioned work, perfumed shoppers, sandaled sightseers from nearby jungle villages and far-off countries.

We all reel from the amperage of the Malaysian capital, drawn like moths to a flame.

Una antologista accidental

Spanish translation of "The Accidental Anthologist" courtesy of International PEN Women Writers’ Committee which published it in their trilingual newsletter, August 2008 [Boletín Trilingüe del Comité de Escritoras de PEN Internacional]

Turquía frecuentemente entra en las noticias por suprimir a sus autores. Irónicamente, como expatriada americana en Estambul encontré mi voz feminista -- y tropecé en editar un best-seller internacional sorpresa, creando un harén literario de mis pares expatriadas.

Cuando mi esposo turco y yo llegamos de Nueva York en 2003 planeé aislarme para escribir una memoria ensimismada de viaje. No a los días largos pasados en un laboratorio de lenguaje, tratando de encontrar mi equilibrio. Mi vida en Estambul sería acerca de mí, un retiro extendido para escribir. Esta visión había sido filtrando en mi mente desde cuando había sido expatriada anteriormente. Cinco años había pasado pudriéndome en las trópicas malasias como un Somerset Maugham, menos prolífico y más sobrio. La primera cosa para pudrir en el calor ecuatorial fue mi personalidad -- la esencia de mi voz literaria. Cuando expliqué a la gente que era escritora me respondieron, "¿Caballos?" También en Asia me confundieron con una mujer occidental muy diferente, como cuando un equipo de obreros quien trabajaban en mi casa se preguntaron cuándo yo iba a tomar cerveza y quitarme la camisa.

En vez de eso, la tos ferina me silenció a mí y también a mi ego. En el silencio de 6 meses, Turquía sugirió una metáfora para fortalecer mi expatriadismo -- y mis escritos: El Harén Expatriado. Esta reunión contemporánea de mujeres extrajeras podría ser un depósito de conocimiento y poder como lo era en los días del siglo XV bajo los sultanes otomanos.

"Instaladas aquí, somos destinadas a ser extranjeras," ideé en un correo electrónico a mi co-editora, mi colega, la también emigrada americana Jennifer Gokmen.

"Pero está bien -- el Harén Expatriado es un lugar de poder femenino," ella me respondió, conectándonos a un panorama feminista oriental poco conocido en el mundo occidental.

"¡Sí! Cárcel etnocéntrica o refugio de pares—a veces es difícil averiguar en qué sentido va la puerta de batiente," contesté, intoxicada con nuestra metáfora anacrónica. Como una contraseña secreta, las noticias extendieron cuando solicitamos colaboraciones. Mujeres fascinantes de catorce naciones depositaron una lluvia de sus historias en nuestro buzón. Muchas nunca habían publicado antes y todas eran voces de minorías en un país musulmán con una reputación de censura. Realidades alternativas me inundaron, representado una penetración en el país que nunca había imaginado que abrazara. Pero no importó. Si mis aventuras expatriadas anteriores me habían hecho reacia, El Harén Expatriado convirtió mi ferocidad personal en un beneficio: yo podría dar un foro a otras. Sus luchas para asimilarse también me animaron para resistir menos.

La colección premiada Tales from the Expat Harem dio la base para una vida másrica y un libro subsiguiente más perspicaz. La felicidad de trabajar con escritoras de todo el mundo desde la oficina en mi casa en el Bósforo clarificó unos aspectos contradictories de mi carácter -- como que yo pueda ser una introvertida espinosa y también una mujer quien anhela una conexión con personas y el planeta a la vez. Me parece que Turquía no solo me conectó con una banda internacional de mis pares, también alzó mi voz en la conversación cultural. También me ha puesto en contacto con escritoras a quienes admiro, como la novelista celebrada turca Elif Shafak, quien escribió el prólogo para los dos tirajes turcos de mi libro. Ahora mi carrera literaria y mi actitud ambivalente sobre la vida en el extranjero tiene un nuevo contexto cultural más prometedor.

Anastasia M. Ashman, nativa de Berkeley, California, es autora de la novela premiada de Tales from the Expat Harem: Foreign Women in Modern Turkey la cual se estudia en siete universidades norteamericanas y ha sido recomendada por el Today Show de NBC TV, Nacional Geographic Traveler, Lonely Planet Turkey, el Internacional Herald Tribune, y el Daily Telegraph.

Página de la autora: http://www.redroom.com/author/anastasia-m-ashman Sitio de Expat Harem: http://www.expatharem.com Versión completa de este ensayo: http://www.janera.com/janera_words.php?id=80

Taping The Joey Reynolds Radio Show

Pleased to appear on the Joey Reynolds Show this week when he was broadcasting live from Istanbul to the United States. The WOR Radio Network show is heard on radio stations from New York to Hawaii and has more than 5 million listeners.

Jennifer Gokmen and I met with the veteran radio show host -- often called the father of "shock talk radio" -- and his producer Myra Chanin at the offices of Turkish national broadcaster TRT for an hour on-air to discuss Tales from the Expat Harem and life and work as American women in Turkey.

From The Mailbag: Filmmaker Finds Expat Harem Cinematic

"I've enjoyed your book tremendously and thought that some of the stories in the book were very cinematic and could make an interesting movie."

Co-Hosting Istanbul's First Global Nomad Salon

I'll be coproducing a Global Nomad Salon this June at Istanbul's Four Seasons Sultanahmet along with the Salon founder Dutch-Curacaoan banker Janera Soerel. Introduced by various international friends in 2007, Janera and I quickly found common ground: our shallow roots in many different communities and the urge to find the larger meaning in local issues. Working together long-distance, we are co-producing this cultural entertainment. It's a guided dinner for 20-30 educated, intellectual, opinionated people to discuss concerns of global culture and economics.

The Economist magazine calls the scene at this worldwide series of intellectual dinner parties "jetsetters with a conscience." Pluralism, individualism, universalism are Global Nomad values.

Experts who guide the conversation at their ends of the table will include Serif Kaynar (country managing director of Korn/Ferry) and Nese Gundogan (secretary general of the Turkish Olympic Committee).

Along with an online magazine and members-only social network (Janera.com), founder Janera Soerel, a Dutch Curacaoan banker who lives in Manhattan, launched the Global Nomad Salon series October 2007 in Washington DC, then Rome, the Caribbean and New York City. With local co-hosts, Janera’s events are now spreading across the globe. This summer and fall they will take place in Amsterdam, Paris, Brussels, Dubai, Tuscany and London. The goal is to rouse the Global Nomad community worldwide and strengthen the network of its members, eventually with a GNSalon occurring twice yearly in various countries, events populated by Global Nomads both local and from afar.

Cultural Wisdom Historically Pools At The Intersection Of Women & Travel

As the coeditor of the internationally bestselling expatriate women's anthology Tales from the Expat Harem, I contributed my favorite titles to VisualThesaurus.com last year for its “Dog Eared: Books We Love” column. The online tool for writers, students and teachers of writing, and marketing communications professionals worldwide, asked me to share books about the cultural wisdom that historically pools at the intersection of women and travel.

Here’s my list…

UNSUITABLE FOR LADIES: An Anthology of Women Travellers, selected by Jane Robinson“In this spunky companion volume to Wayward Women (her book about women travel writers through history), Robinson collects the global travels of 200 women across 16 centuries – from the obscure to better known authors like Lady Mary Wortley Montague, Karen Blixen, Freya Stark and Jan Morris. Grouped by geography with numerous entries for each place which serve as a conversation between the region, the time and the characters themselves, the chapters are bookended by thoughtful selections in “Setting Out” and “Coming Home”, indicating that the act of travel is and has always been a transformative force in women’s lives. Sometimes reputation risking and life threatening, but often culturally redeeming and personally empowering, travel must be intellectually prepared for, and assimilated.”

Anastasia M. Ashman

Harem Door 8 - Topkapi Palace, Istanbul

VEILED HALF-TRUTHS: Western Travellers’ Perceptions of Middle Eastern Women, selected and annotated by Judy Mabro“A politicized and rigorous survey of the depictions of ‘Oriental’ women in the writings of 18th, 19th and 20th century European travel books, memoirs, and guides about North Africa, Egypt, the Holy Land, and Turkey. It’s fascinating to note the degree to which the writers’ own prejudices about the region, Muslim culture, the veil, the harem -- and the place of women in society in general -- colored their descriptions and their conclusions. These skewed first-hand accounts then influenced or reinforced the stereotypes being embraced back home, and even though the sources have faded the perceptions endure today.” ADVENTUROUS WOMEN IN SOUTH EAST ASIA: Six Lives, edited by John Gullick

“Part of the terrific Oxford-in-Asia series, this easy-reading collection by various scholars examines the lives of 19th century Western women in the Asian tropics – pioneers like Sophia Raffles, the calamity-stricken wife of the British founder of Singapore, and Isabella Bird, the opinionated world traveler seeking to escape from civilization. It helped put into context my own struggling expatriate experience when I was living in steamy Malaysia... I especially appreciated reading about the dark side of these women’s lives, like the widely unknown and checkered past of Anna Leonowens, the famous governess hired by the King of Siam! Illustrated with fine engravings from the women’s own publications.”

DREAMING OF EAST: Western Women and the Exotic Allure of the Orient, by Barbara Hodgson

“For generations of Western women, Eastern travel has signified freedom. Yet in the more ‘liberal’ West this does not compute. How can the cloistered East be a place of emancipation? Through a series of portraits of 18th to 20th century women who traveled to the eastern Ottoman empire – Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Iraq and Turkey – Hodgson demonstrates the calculus. Among Eastern liberties counted by women like Isabel Burton, the wife of adventurer Richard Burton: ‘the inconsequence of time’ and the loose clothing. The Canadian author is a book designer, and the engravings, paintings, sketches and photographs make this book a jewel to behold.”

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This appeared in the International Museum of Women site and elsewhere.

From The Mailbag: Bryn Mawr Alumnae Bulletin's Coverage Of The Book Sends Couple To Turkey

A message from one of the Expat Harem writers in Istanbul about a couple she met in Istanbul: "A couple visiting from NYC came to Turkey because she, a Bryn Mawr alum, had read about you in the Alumni newsletter when the book came out. She does not know you, but was intrigued enough to read the book, loved it, and insisted that they spend several weeks in this country on their way home from a trip to Ukraine, where she had been living for a few years."

My Forgotten Footnote To The Haghia Sophia

The Byzantine world claimed another devotee when I discovered the architectural gauntlet thrown down by a scorned princess.

My Near Eastern archaeology baccalaureate program ended with Constantine founding New Rome at Byzantium.  I left the Byzantine world undiscovered when I forgot my college diploma in a rental car and professionally drifted toward pop-culture...tv, music, film. Later when I married a Turk and moved to Istanbul it was natural to neglect Constantinople’s first millennium since Ottoman civilization felt much closer to home.  Then in the summer of 2007 near the aqueduct of Valens, I stumbled over a patch of lumpy turf and found a forgotten footnote to the world’s most famous Byzantine landmark.

Opposite the glass Istanbul Municipality building, a triangular plot of land on Atatürk Bulvarı was inexplicably not developed. Perhaps I could use it.  I needed another attraction to round out the Süleymaniye-area walking tour I was creating for National Geographic Traveler. Travel historian Saffet Emre Tonguç confirmed the overgrown archaeological site above the Haşim Işcan underpass was indeed notable if not much to look at. The sixth century remains of Anicia Juliana’s palace church, Haghios Polyeuktos. I needed more detail. Not for me of course, for National Geographic.

A sensational, gossipy twist:

My friend Edda Renker Weissenbacher, author of books on the Chora church and Iznik tiles, added that the massive ruin, mostly unexcavated, represented a social grudge of royal proportion. A little research showed that the obscure-sounding princess Juliana of the Anicii (462-529) was the wealthiest and most aristocratic resident of Constantinople. She could trace her roots to Constantine the Great and counted other Western and Eastern Roman emperors in her lineage. But the glory was coming to an unbearable end. Offered the throne when a revolt seemed likely her husband, a general, ran off in fear. Her only son had married into the ruling emperor’s family yet the commoners Justin and his nephew Justinian ascended to the throne instead.

Juliana struck back with the most patrician of socio-political weapons: faith-based art and architecture patronage.  By 527 she had enlarged her ancestral church, making it the capital city’s vastest and richest. Carved with pomegranate flowers, cherubim, palmette -- and peacocks, the symbol of empresses –  in pointed ways it proclaimed her fitness for the throne.  At the 2006 Byzantine Studies Congress art historian Matthew Canepa described Juliana’s use of Oriental motifs as the kind of “cross-cultural political savvy” that could only spring from an imperial background, someone familiar with diplomatic gifts and spoils of war from the East.

The project also conveniently sunk her fortune into her own legacy. New peasant dynasts planned to expand the empire but they wouldn’t be doing it on her dime! Kateryna Kovalchuk, a Byzantine doctoral student in Belgium I stalked online, directed me to a 6^th century story told by Gregory of Tours which describes Juliana receiving the young Justinian on a fund-raising mission. The princess pointed upwards.  Her gold was pounded into tiles and affixed to the church roof.

Recalling that the adjective ‘byzantine’ characterizes elaborate scheming to gain political power, I checked the date of Juliana’s architectural ultimatum. Polyeuktos, described by scholars as perhaps the most decorated building in history, predated the world-changing Haghia Sophia by ten years. Justinian’s response, and response it was indeed, had a much sparer design and was fifty percent bigger. Other irresistible facts: The emperor’s wife and co-ruler Theodora was the daughter of a bearkeeper and a scandalous carny if ancient historian Procopius was to be believed. He sniped in his Secret History that she raised her skirts “to show off her feminine secrets”.  My scorned princess -- yes Juliana was now mine -- built a pious hot-seat for a low-born ruler and his checkered-past queen!

Why hadn’t the pivotal Juliana and her provocative church lived on in the general imagination? A special-permission visit to the library at verdant Robert College in Arnavutköy showed it wasn’t for lack of trying.

I was now officially losing money on the National Geographic assignment as I pored over dig reports in A Temple for Byzantium by Martin Harrison, head of Harvard University’s Center for Byzantine Studies.  Mysterious relics are often uncovered in Istanbul but when foundations were dug at the civic center in 1960 the marble arches found were unusually explicit. Greek inscriptions identified a ruin known through literature to historians since at least the 10^th century. (The grandiose verses, from the Palatine Anthology’s collection of classical and Byzantine poetry, recounted the construction and dynasty of its patroness.)

Houseguests came to town.

I spirited them to the Istanbul Archaeology Museum, whose Turkish archaeologists also took part in six seasons of excavations at the site. The small H. Polyeuktos section was crowded by a marble column inlaid with amethyst and green and gold glass that once held a canopy over the altar, as well as epigrammed arches decorated with acanthus vines and feathery tails of peacocks. Preeminent Byzantine historian Steven Runciman detected immense meaning in these few Juliana commissions. He thought they display the elusive origin of Byzantine style: the first combination of Roman craftsmanship, Greek balance and Oriental ornamentation, for the purpose of Christian ritual.

If the technique of Polyeuktos was mid-6^th century zeitgeist, Juliana upped the ante with its decidedly nostalgic form. Laid out in the Biblical measurement of royal cubit, the floor plan matched a Holy Writ account of King Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem – a legendary structure intended to house the Ark of the Covenant and itself modeled after Moses’s moveable Tabernacle. A supremely tough act to follow, even for an emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.  It’s no wonder when Justinian dedicated his Haghia Sophia he exclaimed ‘Solomon, I have surpassed you!’  He meant to best the Queen of Kings down the road.

Anicia Juliana has never really been lost to history, or to us.

Along with the throngs, I’ve unwittingly admired her pioneering handiwork scattered in the gardens of the Haghia Sophia and the Topkapı Palace, as well as in the Piazza San Marco in Venice.  Three deeply carved basket weave capitals from the Polyeuktos adorn the western façade of the Venetian basilica, while a majestic duo of pomegranate-flowered piers guard its south door across from the Doges Palace – all plundered during the Fourth Crusade.  Those knights failed to reach Jerusalem to wrest the Temple of Solomon from the Muslims, but returning with Juliana’s inspired replicas I imagine them rationalizing a mission complete.

My own mission has just begun. Juliana awaits underfoot.  Who wants to sign my petition to have the municipality building relocated to a new site?

See my Byzantine princess board at Pinterest, and my Ottoman & Byzantine board.

My Byzantine Princess Project

An art historical soap opera of imperial proportion. (See my Pinterest board of  images related to this particular story here.) I've been developing this story since, while creating an Istanbul walking tour for National Geographic Traveler, I literally tripped over the foundations of a social grudge between my superlative-but-forgotten 6th century princess and Justinian -- which prompted the Holy Roman Emperor to build his world-beating Haghia Sophia Church a mile down the road. The man needed to best Anicia Juliana. See my Pinterest board of Byzantine popular culture trends.

Multiple story delivery methods in development.

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My 2nd Foreign Correspondence Interview For Knight Ridder

Excerpts from my Foreign Correspondence interview with John Bordsen of The Charlotte Observer. It was syndicated in numerous Knight Ridder newspapers across America.  

Istanbul is a fabled place - but what are the most amazing places to visit outside the city? * * It depends on your interests. If you like ARCHAEOLOGICAL adventure, it would probably be Ephesus - one of the best-preserved ancient ROMAN cities in the world. It was the capital of Asia Minor. Ephesus is like Pompeii, IN ITALY, only on a MUCH grander scale. IT WAS FOUNDED BY THE AMAZONS, AND LATER RENOVATED BY THE ULTRARICH KING CROESUS. * Ephesus was the site of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Temple of Artemis. IT’S about AN HOUR FLIGHT from Istanbul. YOU CAN ALSO MAKE A PILGRIMAGE TO THE VIRGIN MARY’S LAST HOME WHICH IS NEARBY, OR VISIT A VAST GLADIATOR GRAVEYARD.

* * * When Americans think of visiting the Aegean, Greece comes to mind. Is the Turkish side of the sea different? * * It's all the same BEAUTIFUL WATER, AND land. PERHAPS LESS DEVELOPED. You'll see TYPICALLY Greek villages from the days when the coast was inhabited by Greeks. Whitewashed buildings that are pristine and simple. You'll find them in the AEGEAN TOWN of Bodrum, SURROUNDING ITS CRUSADER CASTLE IN THE HARBOR.

* BODRUM’S a rocky coast. THE Turks make IT ENJOYABLE BY BUILDING wooden decks along the rocks, so you can sunbathe, dine or dance over the water, with the backdrop of HILLS behind you. It's visually spectacular. * * Who visits the Turkish Aegean? * * Bodrum is on a peninsula. THE MAIN TOWN ATTRACTS A LOT OF Europeans, BOATERS. On the OTHER side, it's mostly Turks IN A PLACE considered the TURKISH RIVIERA. MANY LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL CELEBRITIES FREQUENT THE CLUBS AND HOTELS THERE. If you go to Bodrum, DEFINITELY take a day trip to TURKBUKU, or get a hotel there. THE BEACH CLUBS ARE very chic. * * Turkey has shoreline on the Black Sea, the Aegean Sea and the Sea OF Marmara that links them. There's also its Mediterranean coast to the south. How do they differ? * I'm biased toward the Aegean and its very charming coastline OF COVES. The Mediterranean is GORGEOUS but MORE HUMID, AND you can be at the beach and feel like you're looking out into nothingness because the Mediterranean is such a vast expanse. The Sea of Marmara is like marble - which is A SIMILAR WORD in Turkish. It's very flat. There are vacation spots there, QUAINT ISLANDS TO GET AWAY FROM THE CITY, WHERE THE ISTANBUL SULTANS USED TO EXILE THEIR RELATIVES. NOT SO BAD! It's also where HUGE CARGO ships wait for permission to go through the Bosphorus to enter the Black Sea. The BOSPHORUS is one of the world's MAJOR shipping lanes, AND NOTORIOUSLY DIFFICULT TO NAVIGATE. LOTS OF TWISTS AND TURNS, AND CHANGING CURRENTS. JASON AND HIS ARGONAUTS ALSO FOUND IT DIFFICULT WHEN THEY SAILED UP IT LOOKING FOR THE GOLDEN FLEECE.

The Black Sea isn't called "black" because of what the water looks like. In ANCIENT TIMES DIRECTIONS WERE INDICATED IN COLORS. BLACK MEANT NORTH, WHITE WAS SOUTH. THE TURKS STILL CALL THE MEDITERRANEAN THE WHITE SEA.

The Black Sea was thought to have been created by an earthquake; THE SEA OF MARMARA rushed through A NEW CREVICE THAT BECAME THE BOSPHORUS into a much smaller FRESHWATER lake. SCIENTISTS ARE finding whole submerged villages in the center of the Black Sea, where the original coastline was. FOLK stories about A GREAT flood began WITH PEOPLE in the Black Sea area and worked their way south, into the Middle East. And Mount Ararat, where MANY BELIEVE Noah's Ark STILL RESTS, is in northeast Turkey. HERE IN TURKEY IT's EERIE how these OLD STORIES KEEP adding up!

Interviewed By Istanbullum Magazine

When did you move to Istanbul? What is the first memory you have about Istanbul? AA: My husband and I moved in 2003 and stayed in Ulus with my brother-in-law for a few months, so my impressions from those days are of the sun setting over the Topkapi Palace far in the distance as the family ate barbequed lamb chops on the balcony, an assembly line of kuzu izgara. Sprinkling dried marjoram and oregano on the chops. But my first memories started when I visited in 2000 ( I felt ages of winter chill emanating from AyaSofya’s old stones as I gazed up at the Byzantine mosaics). Then when I married in Istanbul the balmy summer of 2001, at Esma Sultan in Ortakoy, the memories punctuated by the flashbulbs of a glitzy Turkish wedding. The overall memory of Istanbul? A lot of kisses, for everyone, coming and going, every day, every night.

What does Istanbul mean to you? 

AA: Since I have a degree in Classical Greek, Roman and Near Eastern Archaeology,  Istanbul’s historical significance as the center of the ancient civilized world is never far from my consciousness. It’s a place of power and energy and ideas, and has been for centuries. There is no mistaking that this is an important place on the globe.  But as a New World woman from cutting edge California, I also love that with its heavy history it’s not musty and dead like a forgotten museum. I can appreciate its new layers of lives and dreams, and find modern day Istanbul to have more than its share of fabulous places, people and events.

Which part of the city do you live in? How do you like it?

AA: I lived in bohemian Cihangir for four years and loved my scenic view of the Bosphorus overlooking Kabatas ferry terminal. Perched on the cliff the view had all the energy of a transportation hub but at the same time was completely serene – and quiet, if you don’t count the taxicabs honking at all hours of the night! The proximity to Taksim and Istiklal was wonderful, and with the new tramway and metro extension, it really felt like the center of the world! My husband couldn’t take the commute to his Maslak office though so we just moved to Istinye, where we have a much more intimate view of the bay with its teal-colored water. I’m liking all the hillsides covered in wildflowers. But I’ll miss the cafes of Cihangir, like Miss Pizza, and Savoy Pastanesi for simit toast on Sundays and of course in a neighborhood so full of feisty street cats, the great veterinarians. I adopted my cat Bunny from Kazanci Sokagi, so where ever I go I’ll always have a bit of Cihangir in my heart, and in my home.

How does Istanbul look like from U.S.? Are there any misconceptions about the city?

AA: Physically I think the general image of Istanbul does not include so much water, waterways, vistas of water. The hills are also a surprise to many people.  It’s hard to conceive of a metropolis made of so many small villages, how Istanbul can go on for miles and still be Istanbul, even if each kilometer is like a new world.

Do you have any favorite spots in the city?

AA: My favorites are the ones I haven’t been to yet! They exist in my dream of Istanbul. There are so many places I yearn to go. Like the Ilhamur Kosku in Muradiye, the Beykoz pavilion, and Beylerbeyi Palace. The Horhor market in Eyup with its Levantine antiques. A strange restaurant in Gunesli specializing in huge platters of chicken wings.  Things you hear about, things you see from a distance, things you have to find a special time to do. The problem is more time I live in Istanbul, the longer my list grows.

Some of the stories take place in Istanbul in the book “Tales from the Expat Harem”. Is Istanbul a good setting for works of literature?

AA: I think so, (and for film too! Why aren’t there more films set in Istanbul?)  The Expat Harem tales set in Istanbul show that the city offers a colorful and diverse backdrop for personal histories, and adds true depth to the narrator’s every day life. When a young Guatemalan woman recognizes two hatun speaking Ladino on a Mecediyekoy bus, she feels pride in her Spanish linguistic connection -- and at the same time she acknowledges the chain of history that brought this medieval language to Istanbul.  What echoes in that moment is that the Guatemalan came to Istanbul through her own chain of history…

 What does Istanbul need? How would it be better?

AA: A more extensive Metro network, servicing coastal spots like Beskitas, Ortakoy and Bebek. Imagine how that would alleviate street traffic!

 What are your future writing projects? Is Istanbul somehow in them?

AA: Istanbul absolutely will play a role in many of my upcoming cultural essays, in fact the title of my travel memoir in progress is “Berkeley to Byzantium: The Reorientation of a West Coast Adventuress”. It’s about the physical (and metaphysical!) journey from my utopian hometown in California, around the world through classical Italy and the media worlds of New York and Hollywood, to the plantations and palaces of South East Asia, finally ending up in Istanbul. The challenge is to fully explain how my life has culminated in this incredibly meaningful place. Another challenge is to stay home and write when Istanbul beckons!

 What do you think about Istanbul being the “European Culture Capital for 2010”?

AA: It’s about time! It seems to me that Istanbul makes good use of its breathtaking monuments and historic settings for cultural activities (like concerts at Rumeli Hisari and the Aya Irini, and exhibits at the Darphane and Tophane-i Amire, and receptions at Feriye and Dolmabahce), and the yearlong festival will be a perfect opportunity to show off  to the world the city’s priceless heritage, and the life that the people of Istanbul inject into these wondrous spots.

How is the expat life in Istanbul? Is Istanbul an easy city for expat living? 

AA: There are tons of options for expatriates in Istanbul, social and business clubs and general communities, and lots of support networks and foreign language media. I’ve been an expat in Rome and Kuala Lumpur where I learned some expat survival techniques and put them into practice as soon as I arrived here.  I think Jennifer Gokmen would agree that making the anthology helped make sense of our own lives in Turkey as foreigners -- the Expat Harem is an apt metaphor for us.  The title positively reclaims the concept of the Eastern harem just as we consider ourselves and our writers inextricably wedded to Turkish culture, embedded in it, though forever foreign. The virtual walls are there: our initial lack of language skills, undeveloped understanding of the culture, and even some of the ethnocentricities that we cling to.  Luckily for us, Istanbul has a long history of welcoming foreigners, and being able to accomodate many different cultures and mindsets.

Istanbul's Most Revealing Market

I'm bouncing along in a stream of shoppers at a neighborhood pazar, orweekly general street market. Tented from the hot midday sun, this narrow Istanbul road is lined with merchandise that wasn’t here a few hours ago and will disappear in a few more: rows and rows of olives in plastic tubs, stands of feta cheese and wooden carts packed with squash straight from the farm.

Freshly baked bread wafts on the same breezes that set cotton dresses swinging at a clothing stall while a local pop star wails on tape about lost love, supported in heartbreak by a whirling arabesque backbeat. For a small fee, the young Turk trailing me with a basket slung over his shoulder will truck my purchases like a sherpa so I can buy far more than I can carry. Clever, I think, this traveling grocery and sundry bazaar springs from an old line.

Besides being imperial capital to Byzantine, Roman and Ottoman rulers, Istanbul has long been a capital to traders, an ancient mercantile center at the crossroads of the world. Serving as the last stop on the Silk Road, a trading route carrying goods of India, China and Southeast Asia, the city distributed riches of the East to the Western world. When I began traveling to this city straddling the continents and cultures of Orient and Occident, I discovered each marketplace has its specialty. Where the fabled and sprawling covered Grand Bazaar is often the hard-sell realm of tourist goods, springing up around mosques and main thoroughfares other markets focus on a particular retail segment, exclusively dealing in wallpaper or barbeque sets, books or nuts.

More interesting shopping excursions, if not successful buying trips, have come from wandering Istanbul’s twisted streets, perusing goods of individual vendors who crop up along the roadside. On the Galata Bridge, which spans the Golden Horn estuary, connecting the old town center to what was once a Genoese trading concession, I spied an Anatolian grandmother in a headscarf spreading unlikely wares on a baby blue blanket: power tools.

But the market area most intriguing to me centers on a 17th century stone building along the waterfront. I head there with an open mind and an empty belly.

Known as the Spice or Egyptian Bazaar,the fragrant stone market boasts shops stocking a rainbow of traditional spices, medicinal herbs and confections. Workers mind piles of dried herbs, green henna dust and clumps of oozing honeycomb while patrons sniff and taste, point and shovel. Loaded down with jellied chunks of Turkish delight, dried apricots, pistachios and fresh marshmallows, I make my way to the waterfront entrance of the market and turn right.

There I search the oddest of the mundane in the Flower Market located behind the Spice Market. In a cramped passageway opening into a square, gardening supply vendors are joined by stalls catering to pet owners, workers tending mountains of animal chow while hanging from the rafters, all manner of collars and restraints twist in the breeze. What beast requires this harness with spikes, I wonder, while satisfying myself that grass seeds feel as silky and cool as they look.

Before I lose myself in reverie I happen upon a most memorable man whose shop consists of a chair, on which he sits. At his feet two containers are placed. In one, rubber-covered, millet seed-filled objects are arranged in colorful rows. I recognize them as the squeezable stress-relieving toys popular with office workers in the 1980s. In the other crate, young half-pound bunny rabbits cower and bury themselves in a ball of fur. Children crowd around the rabbit box, reaching in and squealing with delight. If there weren’t so much competition, I might pick up a bunny. Instead I scrutinize the stoppered five-gallon jug half-filled with water at the man’s side. Inside it, writhing black leeches swim and climb. No one reaches in playfully and no one buys. Yet, the fearsome creatures must sell since the jar is heavy and the man would not lug it here if they didn’t.

Used in traditional medicine, the sight itself of a jar of leeches is not unusual, especially since the Spice Bazaar has historically been a center for natural medicinals. In fact, there are several bottles of aquatic blood-sucking worms for sale in this marketplace simply sitting in the sun unattended. There must be no need to guard a vessel of carnivorous parasites. But these particular leeches are kept close, perhaps to provide the sitting man a uniformity of presentation.

As I wander over age-old cobblestones and pigeons take flight in my path, this one-man shop plays on my mind.

Do his offerings reveal a brilliant diversification strategy? Are his products related in some way? If he were to add another line of goods, what would it be? This much seems clear: I have just visited the rare merchant who deals as easily and equally in the stress reducing and the blood sucking, the soft and bouncy and the slimy and flesh-crawling. And the merchant who can span the sale of these goods, whose customers have such divergent needs, sits at the crossroads of the world.

+++ Appeared in Today's Zaman newspaper February 5, 2007 and other print and online publications

Spot-On. Literary. Insightful. My Book Expat Harem In Telegraph UK

"This is not just another anthology by expat wives who long to get in print," writes the veteran book author and publisher Jo Parfitt in the Telegraph UK.

"This is a wonderful book; beautifully written, thought-provoking and inspiring.

"Every essay is spot on, literary and insightful. Grouped into sections, they cover everything from relationships with Turks and non-Turks to the food, the music, the humour and the passion. Be ready to book a flight to Istanbul afterwards."

Thanks, Jo!

Cocktail Expat Harem Signing, 7th Annual Ladies Lunch, Bodrum Marina Yacht Club

From the Expat Harem blog: We were invited to give a presentation at the Marina Yacht Club for the 7th Annual Ladies’ Lunch, organized by and for the local expat population. The area has about 5,000 foreigners in residence.

Despite heavy thunderstorms early that morning, 120 women streamed into the event as rain and clouds gave way to sunshine. During the Buck Finns cocktail hour on the veranda, we signed books until they sold out.

We were thrilled to meet so many of Bodrum’s energetic and enterprising foreign women.

Among them were event organizers Jane Baxter, Christine Davies, Leslie Joy Rhoades, and Priscilla Windsor Brown, whose voluminous rolodexes played a part in the inception of this annual event; Dina Street of Zephyria Yachting; chef Angie Mitchell, whose book Secrets Of The Turkish Kitchen has been known to save cross-cultural marriages; Victoria Boz, an adventurous New Zealander; translator Antonella Culasso who claims to be “the only Italian in Bodrum!”; then there was fiesty Lucy Nazim, a Turkish Cypriot/British repat, who is following a path in neuro-linguistic programming; Duygu Nayir, the owner of seafront cafe Kırmızı; German yoga instructor and writer Monika Munzinger; one of the four Gillians present was inspired to begin writing the book she knows she has in her.

Talking About Cultural Stereotypes On National TV & Radio

On Turkey's national TV and radio channel TRT2 News with Isil Okan talking about how cultural stereotypes are a two-way street.

My 1st Knight Ridder Foreign Correspondence Interview is ESL Training For Taiwanese Businesspeople

My foreign correspondence interview with Knight Ridder newspapers becomes an English as Second Language training for biz people in Taiwan.

Those poor people, what a work out!

Going On Record As A Travel Writer With Rolf Potts' Interview Series

Excerpt from a travel writers interview by Rolf Potts at his Vagabonding site, 2006. View the full interview here. How did you get started traveling?

My fascination with a wider world cropped up early.

As a toddler in countercultural Berkeley, CA my favorite pastime was "French Lady", a tea party with Continental accents.

I began traveling even further when I learned to read -- comic books.

Instead of poring over Archie & Veronica, perky storylines that revolved around characters who never graduated from high school nor breached the border of their staid hometown, I was entranced by the global expanse of history and people and culture revealed in the Belgian-made graphic adventures of Tintin.

Tracking a drug-smuggling ring in Egypt, discovering a meteorite with a Polar research vessel, surviving a plane wreck on an Indonesian island -- this was life!

Tintin's travel tales, and many others after them, remain reference points. Last fall at a museum in Nazca, Peru one long-haired, head-banded Incan mummy stirred a pleasant flashback to "The Seven Crystal Balls", as well as the awe of my twelve-year old self. It's no wonder I pursued a degree in archaeology.

How did you get started writing? AA: In the early  '70s I kept a journal on childhood road trips where I recorded preferences for the wildness of Baja's bumpy sand roads and discovering the mother-lode of sand-dollar graveyards in San Felipe to a sedate spin around British Columbia's Lake Victoria and a fur-seal keychain from the gift shop.

Later I was a correspondent, trying to explain my own culture to teen pen pals in Wales, Northern Ireland, and Malaysia, while I searched for clues about theirs hidden in precise penmanship, tarty vocabulary, and postage stamps with monarchs -- some butterflies, some queens.

During a slew of 20-something media and entertainment jobs I wrote and edited for years, whenever the opportunity presented itself, for a book packager and literary agency in New York, and for television, theatre and film producers in Los Angeles.

What do you consider your first "break" as a writer?

AA: Reviewing Pico Iyer's essay collection Tropical Classical: Essays from Several Directions for the Far Eastern Economic Review in 1997. The newsweekly magazine based in Hong Kong was equivalent to TIME in Asia. I was living in Malaysia and devoting more attention to my writing career, so it was a breakthrough to write for a major publication and huge audience about subjects which mesmerized me.

What is your biggest challenge in the research and writing process?

AA: Calling up facts. Seeing the larger story. Sitting down and doing the writing!

What is your biggest challenge from a business standpoint? Editors? Finances? Promotion?

AA: Publishers and acquisition editors and publicists seem to have narrow expectations for travel literature so for my next book I plan to devote a lot of energy to a detailed marketing plan which will accompany the manuscript in its rounds to publishers. Jennifer and I learned quite a bit about marketing to publishers with Tales from the Expat Harem, which was initially turned down by 10 New York houses who liked it but couldn't fathom its market (Turkey's too limited a subject, they said).

We've since determined that it addresses a multitude of distinct groups beyond the basic cells of travelers, expatriates, women writers and travel writers. In fact, we found enough specific target markets we were able to fill a hundred pages of our marketing plan with actual contacts of potentially interested people and organizations, like Turkish American associations, women's and Middle Eastern studies programs at hundreds of North American universities, and specific Turkophile populations like the alumni of the Peace Corps who served in Turkey.

And the beauty of a marketing plan which breaks down readerships is that a writer (or if you're lucky, a publisher) can contact all of these people.

Jennifer and I also compiled more practical subsidiary audiences for the anthology, like multinational corporations with operations in Turkey, and embassies and tourism organizations which might use the book as a cross-cultural training tool or a promotional vehicle. We were successful enough in our initial efforts in academic marketing that the book is currently used in at least three university courses and is stocked by more than 100 academic and public libraries worldwide.

Have you ever done other work to make ends meet?

AA: Always. Often my most satisfying work has been poorly compensated. I do believe that will change, eventually! Until then I continue to be a proponent of pursuing the work you love rather than the work which pays best.

An essay about a transformational subway ride which I wrote for an obscure website in 2002 not only led me to be quoted in the New York Times and brought me my literary agent, but it also now appears in The Subway Chronicles book published by the site's creator, alongside venerated New York writers like Calvin Trillin, Colson Whitehead and Jonathan Lethem.

What travel authors or books might you recommend and/or have influenced you?

AA: Recently I enjoyed Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before by Tony Horwitz for its mix of historical research, personal experience, and contemporary journalism.

Historical travel writing also connects me to the lands I find myself in, and points to the parallels which still exist.

My steamy days in Kuala Lumpur were enriched by reading Somerset Maugham, whose Malayan fiction was entirely believable. A series of historical Asian travelogues and contemporary scholarship released by Oxford-in-Asia jogged my imagination and similarly, now that I am based in Turkey, I'll be turning to the Cultures in Dialogue series at Gorgias Press, which resurrects antique writings about Turkish life by British and American women travelers and refreshes them with contemporary academic analysis.

What advice and/or warnings would you give to someone who is considering going into travel writing?

AA: Advice: Read the bulletin boards at Travelwriters.com. A lot of very fundamental wisdom there about the life and business of travel writing. Warning: Don't post a word at Travelwriters until you've read the boards for a week or two and have a good understanding of what topics have already been covered, and how best to introduce yours.

What is the biggest reward of life as a travel writer?

AA: Sharing my view of the world with others. Adding to the conversation. Having every excuse to adventure.

Heartbroken (or Hot-and-Bothered) Globetrotters

My review of Romance on the Road: Traveling Women Who Love Foreign Men by Jeannette Belliveau Jeannette Belliveau was a "sex pilgrim" for 12 years and now the 51 year old former erotic adventuress reveals all in this dense volume of travel sex history and how-to cum memoir.

The author got her groove back after a divorce by sleeping with men in Greece, the Virgin Islands, the Bahamas and Brazil. Of French Canadian descent, she is currently married to a younger man of color she fantasizes looks like a 'pharaoh'. In ROMANCE ON THE ROAD she attempts to place her actions into wider context. As an American expatriate living in Turkey, this reviewer senses a motive of authorial self-preservation: to normalize controversial sexual behavior which not only falls outside the bounds of her own culture but severely strains mores at international destinations.

Creating what she calls a geography of sex and love, the newspaperwoman from blue-collar Maryland examines a social phenomenon that may have involved more than 600,000 Western women in the past 25 years: travelers who engage in flings or long term affairs with foreign men, vaulting over cultural boundaries. While intercultural love and marriages are a subtheme, the book's focus is hedonistic sex with virile strangers.

"Travel sex by women is revolutionary," Belliveau declares, a rebellion barred from polite conversation and insufficiently chronicled by social scientists even if its roots are deep in Victorian travel. The Western world might not deem it noteworthy but the buzz is growing in remote Central American fishing villages, sandy strips of West Africa, and the tiniest towns in the Himalayas. The author suggests that today's feminine voyagers are "stumbling into a major life experience without a map."

Does Romance on the Road provide a compass for the heartbroken (or hot-and-bothered) globetrotter looking for a distant cure? It can get a gal started. Prurient interest will be dampened however by the charts, graphs, survey results, and Modern Language Association-style citations of more than 800 bibliographic sources from Henry James' Daisy Miller to a British newspaper feature entitled "My Toyboy Tours". There's a global chronology of the trend, a summary of related books and movies, and basic ethics and etiquette ("remember the man is real, not an actor in your fantasy"; and "do not use him as a sperm donor").

She has done an admirable job of combining veteran intelligence on each locality with a profile of an adventurous Western woman and a timeline of foreign female exploits in the region. Much like the book itself, these geographic chapters are not all fun and games. In Latin America, "sex is a parallel universe of magic" yet gigolos may sport "a breezy attitude toward the truth". A sex pilgrim profiled has a bleak history, found murdered on the side of a Mexican road, "presumably left by a cruel pickup". Clearly an optimist, Belliveau argues that despite obvious risks the lustful practice can be psychologically healing, fulfill a woman's urge for sexual connoisseurship, or address situations like involuntary celibacy.

It can also be a road to discovery. Erotic adventure may not be on the agenda but can be inspired by the act of travel itself. Wandering women have the opportunity to "reclaim pagan freedoms lost since the advent of civilization" Belliveau waxes, since they exist in a liminal zone, a reality unconnected to their usual existence. A traveler may view the people around her as social equals, think of herself as anonymous, feel unburdened by expectations of social propriety, be more playful and suggestive. Novelist Rebecca Brown is quoted discovering her sexuality on a trip abroad: "Like Stein, Toklas, and other women who have traveled away from home, it took leaving my native land to realize I was a lesbian."

Even so, it is difficult to approach Romance on the Road, or know who would, besides social scientists who might wallow in its surfeit of statistics or old hands who will identify with the insider dope, and buoyant we-can-all-get-it-on (and perhaps heal the world by having international children) conclusions. It's hardly pleasure reading nor something to openly peruse on a crowded subway. Some may not want to get caught reading it at all. This reviewer's Turkish husband handed it over saying "You got a trashy book in the mail."

It's unfortunate that Belliveau's concentration on ecstasy abroad overwhelms her scholarship on ethical and economic questions as well as cultural and social ramifications in sex-host cultures. The few harmful consequences she includes are female tourists being perceived as "man-stealers" by native women in the Mediterranean, the Caribbean and Africa; the new role of hustler that thousands of foreign men have adopted; and a rise in STDs and incidents of harassment and assault. Soon enough she is making the case for positives like liberated Scandinavian women spurring sexual revolutions for their sisters in Spain, Greece and Mexico.

Belliveau doesn't seem concerned with the cultural factor freespirited sensualists export. Writing from the sex-toured Near East, this reviewer suggests the damaging potential of each disposable liaison is empirical evidence that Western culture is morally corrupt. One forgettable fling has the power to affect systems far larger than the person, family, village or region which witnessed and absorbed the behavior.

The environment of sexual predation many Western women face overseas is also bound to be heightened by the wanton and culturally inappropriate choices of sex pilgrims. Travelers and expatriates striving to modulate their behavior to find social acceptance with native friends, families and colleagues must struggle to differentiate themselves from sexual opportunists who don't have to lie in the messy bed they've made.

Without apology Belliveau admits this detrimental byproduct of her Shirley Valentine amusement (or was it healing?): "At first I was appalled at the smothering level of harassment I encountered in Athens. Then I succumbed to these temptations, with the likelihood that my sex partners became further convinced about the ease of seducing any lone Western female tourists to later cross their paths."

On behalf of thousands of traveling women hoping to explore the world unmolested -- thanks for nothing.

+++

This appeared in Perceptive Travel, July/August 2006

Utopian Cowtown

Davis, California gives us a hint of the future, a future that suggests that small communities can do great things where mega-cities just don’t have a clue. Most definitions of utopia don’t include submitting to grass police. Yet in one northern California hamlet, residents are lining up for the privilege of having their lawns monitored for eco-incorrect sproutings. “They send people around to check for Bermuda grass and they fine you if they see it growing,” admits Paul Teller, a University of California professor and long-time resident at the exclusive communal Village Homes housing scheme in Davis. When asked if this kind of scrub-scrutiny is a small price to pay for being part of a forward-looking community, the philosophy teacher is passionate in the affirmative. “I paid extra to secure a spot here and now I’m never leaving!”

Due to its unique concept, the professor’s vaunted neighborhood—a 240-home, 60-acre development in an agricultural town 16 miles (26 km) outside the state capitol, Sacramento—has been the subject of national and international television documentaries on environmentally sustainable living. Conceived at the height of the unsettling Ford-era gasoline crisis and economic recession and built in 1975, Village Homes attempted to recreate a traditional sense of community while conserving energy and water in the most efficient ways. Solar water heating and passive space heating designs are incorporated into each home. Neighbors share not only the unfenced yards around each home, they also meet in the large village green, entrust their children to a community day care center, hold performances at the village amphitheatre, and relax in the community-run pool.

Yet this environmentally-conscious sanctuary has not built high walls to shut out a cruel world, as the surrounding town of Davis is also dedicated to an excellent quality of life, clean living and sustainability; it was named one of the healthiest U.S. communities in which to live and retire. With an approach combining innovation, education, recreation and social awareness, Davis is brimming with unique community aspects. In addition to its community-built Art Center, more than $200,000-worth of publicly owned objets d’art are exhibited throughout the charming pedestrian-friendly town, for the residents’ strolling pleasure. The numerous cafes are equipped with modems for easy laptop internet access, the morning Farmer’s Market is an institution of fresh produce and down-home cooking, and neighbors volunteer their time to run the Co-op, a popular communal health food and natural supplies market. The wholesome-looking students in the well-tended public school system consistently get the best test scores of the entire region. Down at City Hall, citizen committees advise 30 boards and commissions on issues ranging from natural resource conservation to childcare.

If pioneering California often fulfills the most progressive of its nation’s dreams, then Davis must surely fulfill the most progressive dreams of its state. With its emphasis on recreational opportunities and greenery (including 25 miles [40 km] of greenbelts winding through town), the City’s budget for parks and community services, unusually, exceeds the combined public safety (police and fire) budget. Recognized since 1977 by the National Arbor Day Foundation as a ‘Tree City’, Davis boasts 18,000 trees—from flowering crabapple and apricot, to oaks, eucalyptus and redwood—lining its streets and parks, with species chosen for both drought resistance and their evergreen and flowering aspects.

Meanwhile, wheelchair ramps, audible traffic lights and Braille signs for the seeing-impaired round out the politically-correct public services to aid independent living. As for the impact of 25,000 University students on the relaxed township, resident Colleen Stanturf proclaims, “They’re not a problem, they all ride.” Bicycles, that is. Also known as the bicycle capital of the U.S., Central Valley-bed Davis sports a renowned system of bikeways that cover 40 miles (65 km) of parks, greenbelts and roadway bike-lanes.

Davis’ commitment to utilize non-traditional approaches to solve traditional problems owes a great debt to its world-class university. One of the ten University of California campuses, it was founded as the ‘University Farm’ in 1908 and its focus on life sciences has led to a stellar international reputation in agricultural, biological, biotechnological and environmental sciences. With students and faculty making up nearly half the total population of 62,000, Davis is one of the last ‘college towns’ in California—and its residents boast the highest level of education per capita in the state, ranking second in the nation.

Many of the university’s ground-breaking research programs influence the way the town works. For instance, the city is on the national forefront of multipurpose storm drainage facilities, with its drainage ponds also serving as wildlife habitats. The school researches commercial farming practices it describes as “more sustainable, ecologically sound, economically profitable and socially just”. Meanwhile organic compost material, a staple of clean agricultural practices, that is derived from the collected yard waste of Davis residents, is redistributed free-of-charge by the City “while supplies last”. Roses as large as salad plates were fed off this rarefied city-issue compost.

Davis has been recycling on a city-wide basis since 1970 and now diverts from its landfills a whopping 50% of its waste-stream (including mixed papers, glass, cans, plastics and yard waste). The extensive curbside recycling program, detailed in its publication Garbage Guide (printed on 100% recycled, 100% post-consumer unbleached paper with soy-based ink of course), also accommodates hazardous waste (like car engine oil and batteries), which the city will pick up and safely dispose. Truly putting its money where its mouth is, City Hall places a priority on the purchase of products made with recycled materials as well.

Throughout neighborhoods visited by jackrabbits, woodpeckers, deer, bluejays and hummingbirds, community gardens which protect rare and endangered species are sponsored and maintained by the University and residents alike. In a state beset by drought, native scrub and water-hardy plants are not only encouraged by the authorities, they’re readily available at local nurseries. Private greenhouses can be spotted all over town, along with rainwater cisterns, windmills, solar panels and innovative wildflower rock-gardens.

In an important stewardship, the school administers more than 30 nature reserves that represent the spectrum of California’s ecological biodiversity. A study with the U.S. Department of Energy focuses on the global environment and climate change. The school’s Center for Design Research meanwhile tackles issues of ecologically-appropriate design (including resource and nature conservation) and socially responsible design (that is, environmental design emphasizing user needs and participation). Yet another institute works on improving the scientific basis for making decisions on environmental issues, both natural and human.

With heady stuff like this going on, it’s no wonder even the heavens aren’t beyond Davis’ utopian reproach. In 1999, mayor Julie Partansky’s pet project unanimously passed into a city ordinance: to reduce ‘sky glow’ (otherwise known as light pollution) so residents can see the stars again. From now on, all new outdoor lighting will be shielded and pointed downward. “We needn’t light this place up like an airport,” Partansky declared. “We’re not San Jose, after all,” the mayor added, taking a swipe at the state’s fastest growing, soulless, highway-laced city in the heart of another Valley, the high-tech Silicon one. In the face of continuing expansion San Jose was bidding adieu at that same time to its last remaining fruit orchard, the principle produce of its fertile valley for much of the past century. For agriculturally-based Davis and environs, the march of progress has very different plans.

++++ Variations of this appeared in numerous publications around the world, including New Renaissance, Vol. 11, No. 3 and its website May 15, 2006

Expat Harem Event At Turkish House, Dupont Circle, Washington D.C.

Özge Ovun and Yalcin Sert from Voice of America News filmed the event to air on Turkey’s national TGRT TV and Erju Ackman and his partner Goksin Carey filmed a segment to air on Virginia’s Channel 10 (WSLS NBC). Organized by the ever-supportive Didem Muslu of the American-Turkish Association of DC, the event was held at the homebase of the Assembly of Turkish American Associations — the Türkevi (Turkish House), and was attended by ATA-DC president, Pelin Aylangan (who is currently penning a Turkish culinary history and memoir) and secretary, Patsy Jones (whose Fenerbahçe-loving Turkish inlaws are scandalized by her love of the rival football team Beşiktaş!).

Audience members included: Yalçın Sert, director of student portals at the University of Maryland and owner of various forums and web portals; Ralph and Linda, who are currently enrolled in US State Department Turkish language courses for Ralph’s impending posting to the US Embassy in Ankara as an FDA specialist (both Ralph and Linda told us they wished their entire Turkish class would have attended our event); Turks like Ayşe, a Crimean Turk, and Özge’s parents visiting from İzmit; and other daring American gelins, like Jetta Karabulut who has road trip adventures of her own to tell, like a trip from Istanbul to Mersin in 1968 with her two year old in tow!