A Recent Picture of the Inner Circle

                                              A bad Marlon Brando as God Father imitation

Nese, Ceylan and Eser clutching me so that I do not fly away.



(Somehow,  my bow ties always appear crooked. Must be pushing through the wrong hole
or in wrong direction.)

A Poem For Eser

          TO HER

         You asked me for poems

         Poems of joy and happiness

        Adventures into the known and the unknown

       Poems from the depths of being

                 Of  being together

       Full of smiling faces and hippos drawn as small as cockroaches

      Aimless night drives to alleviate pangs of hunger

      Sneaking invitations for delights to come.

     Don’t you know that poems are sad?

     Suleyman effendi and Alfred J. Prufrock live with us

    Timeless trains of misery leave Haydarpasa station every minute

             On the minute

     Who was I to change the hieroglyphs of Boddhisatwa

             and the kyrie eleisons of the man made of wood

     Sonnets were not my style.

     Today it is different

     It is time to redefine

     Not to seek joy in sadness

               Nor to conquer empathy in depression

     Just sit back (or forward) and say:

           It is good to travel with you,

           And you,

           And you,

           And you,

           You.

(1978- .........)

Notes :

-  Pictionary games with kids and friends

- Driving Daughter late at night in Riyadh, KSA, to get her to sleep

- Suleyman Effendi, character in Orhan Veli poem 

- Trains and Haydarpasa Station : Reference to "Human Landscapes From My Country", Nazim Hikmet

Hieroglyphs, Boddhisatwa, Kyrie Eleison, Man Made of Wood : from poems by Asaf Halet Celebi

Testament to Sharing The Only Adventure There Is

Possibly,
These are not all.
Yet, why post more.
She remembers,
She tells.

Sharing with each other
And family.
On this 68th,
Or is it 69th?
Birthday
Some day in Virgo September. 2012

No pretension
To have been born to end war in 1944,
Or to stop others later.
Just life and joy
And lives and joys

What you get
Is what you get
Is so much
When given freely
and lovingly.

The harlequin
Did not appear by mistake
I hoped
But did not ask.
Why ask?

All the faces
And all the bodies
Are with us today
And will be,
Here, Tomorrow.

Many thanks to them,
To you,
To us,
To all.
Always.

Some Ideas For Graduate Courses for Students of the Middle East

Soc.& Pol. Anthropology 501:

The next 100 year History of Islam, Conflict, Confusion, Collusion, Consensus and Cohesion in the Middle East.

Pol.Sci.402:

The unbearable weight of the cultural addiction to being ruled authoritatively  and rewarded for being subservient.

 Pol.Sci. 401:

 If, in a Country, the majority of the population vote to be subjected to authoritarian rule with limitations on Human Rights at elections, is this Democracy?

Pol.Sci. 412:

Case of Egypt  2013:  Do you support freedom of opinion and protest for Islamists wishing to prohibit those rights?

Phil. 422:

The ethics of introducing human rights, democracy and concepts of compassion and empathy to a culture and a geographical region which may have lived without such ideas for thousands of years.

Soc.Psych. 423:

Attitude and Behavioral Change And Effects of Social Media in  Societies Which Have Traditionally Resisted Change.

Pol.Sci. 599:

International Intelligence Operations Group Study: The Multi-Disciplinary Requirements of Social Engineering in Subject Countries and/or Regions and Problems and Issues in Their Applications. 

June 29 Protests on Taksim Square 6:15-7:30 PM

Simit Cart hiding my Fear of Photographing Police Waiting for Orders

Police blocking entry to center of Taksim Square

The Police with their water cannon  and the People, an everyday sight?

The 30 is hopefully not a pedestrian speed limit for crossing the street !

I was going to ask the girls what they were protesting but they escaped before I could

Police protecting the center concrete in a strange game.

Good location for people watching, underneath Marmara Hotel

Another good location to see and to be seen

This group of police are not really separated. There is another group just around the corner.

Strange character with interesting dog or the other way around.

Same character without hindrance but further away.

It must be the wife. The eyes tell it all.

What do you think those three guys are comparing behind their shields?

The group around the corner and the loner talking and looking tough with hipster pants, but love handles

Just could not delete this disgusted face. Possibly a permanent fixture

Not only the police can be tough

The older lady at the cafe was saluting the police with her glass of beer just before the photo (beer in the open will soon be banned)

Almost nobody in this establishment. Baklava not very good or they refused to aid protesters

Best seating for the action on Taksim Square at terrace of Burger King

Western and Eastern tourists loving the crowds and the excitement

The crowd is getting thicker by the minute as more come up from Istiklal

Just before the groups moved on the square

Lost!  Totally lost ! But, Hey! It's Fun!

These lasses appear to know what is what

Eser, envious of my great photography, tries to block a great shot

Bringing up your child. Show and Tell

Other special lodge seating for the Taksim Square Activities

Group of kids and the police

They actually got me wet while horseplay or intentionally. Eser took the opportunity

The church and the people, the witness and the spectators

For sale as drinking water fresh out of a fridge.

Clapping and chanting group moving towards the center

Police lined up protecting the center (this is after we escaped )

Shot over the heads of the police and some people and after our video of running away.

Others getting away

Behind the police line safely

The T-shirt says it all.

Blaming the ruling party and the Kurdish party for the deaths of the Kurdish and the Worker protesters

A tourist family allowed through the police line on the other side of the square

Family with baby and kid, checking out the square

conservative moslems

The man is selling water and wind up toys !!!

On the way back 

I would not trust this nanny or mother after tonight.

Another group checking each other

These girls are the Foreign agents sent to stop this group of police from doing their duty.
The guy on the left is their startegist

The police protecting the recently gassed flowers and trees of the park