Miscellaneous Debris – Archive

This is a reworked version of a recent entry of mine. I had brought it over to my creative writing workshop for review, and revised it according to the (excellent) comments I received. Now I wanted to have this version up as well, for comparison. *** I cross the Golden Horn to Galata,  escaping Sultanahmed’s […]

Galata is across the Golden Horn, very different from Sultanahmed’s twisting alleys and tourist traps. First thing that greets me is the underground shopping mall, crammed tight with consumer electronics and handguns, one shop next to the other, each proclaiming new sales, new models, just for you. Outside two young men push their cart and […]

In recent years there have been many discussions of the place of art in everyday life. Should a tool that’s functional also be beautiful? Is there place for art in the workplace? Once we’ve gotten something working well, how much more should we invest in making it pretty? More and more, in the 21st century, […]

In William Gibson’s Neuromancer, the protagonists take a detour through Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar. I can see why. It meshes it wonderfully with Gibson’s claustrophobic oldnew dystopia. Narrow streets, winding, rising, falling, interlocking. Old shops selling leather goods, silversmiths, hookahs. Children’s clothing, leather goods, Turkish delight. Spices, doner-kebabs, leather goods. Vendors outside storefronts playing backgammon tossing […]

Japanese tour guides are in something of a pickle in this Mediterranean weather. It’s too hot an dry for rain, but what will they raise up in the air to lead their group but an umbrella? Well, they find a way. Sometimes they carry an umbrella anyway. Sometimes they find substitutes. Long sticks with something […]

They are a humble people, the Christians. A cheek-turning, brother-loving, genuflecting lot. How appropriate, then, that in order to share their humility with all and sundry they would build gigantic, overwhelming, towering edifices to honor their modest carpenter. Oh, but they sure knew how to build, those Christians of old. Vaulted archways 15 stories high […]