EVERYONE IS A CREATOR.

NO STRANGER THAN STRANGERS.

These two humans never met before that day. 
It didn't matter.

ON AND OFF SWITCH.

It would be really great if there was an on-and-off switch to a city that I could access right in front of me, just like the on-and-off switch to the lights in my room or like the knob of the reading light on my bed post. New York is known as the city that never sleeps, but if we’re gonna compare it to a human anyway, it’s important to note that human beings can’t live or function without sleep. In fact, anyone who doesn’t sleep is at risk of dying of exhaustion.  Maybe that’s why there’s not a lot of nature around here --- maybe parts of the city just died of exhaustion. If there was an off switch I think just in the 5 minutes of being off, the world would save something like 100 billion katrillion killowatts of energy which could then be used to power other stuff – like hospital rooms in Mali. Also, if there was an off switch then maybe the stars would shine again and people could make wishes on shooting ones. 

Things I Didn’t Know I Love by Nazim Hikmet

It's 1962, March 28 ^th, I'm sitting by the window on the Prague-Berlin train.

Night is falling. I never knew I liked the night.

Descending like a tired bird on a smoky wet plain.

I don't like comparing nightfall to a tired bird.

I didn't know I loved the earth.

Can someone who hasn't worked the earth love it?

I've never worked the earth - it must be my only Platonic love.

And here I've loved rivers all this time…

I know you can't wash in the same river even once

I know the river will bring new lights you'll never see….

I know all this has been said a thousand times before and will be said after me.

I didn't know I loved the sky.

Cloudy or clear.

The blue vault Andrei studied on his back at Borodino -

in prison I translated both volumes of War and Peace into Turkish…

I didn't know I loved trees.

Bare beaches near Moscow in Peredelkino they come upon me in winter noble and modest.

Beaches are Russian the way poplars are Turkish,

"the poplars of Izmir losing their leaves. . .

lover like a young tree. . .

I blow stately mansions sky-high."

I never knew I loved roads - even the asphalt kind.

Ramazan night in Istanbul holding his grandfather's hand.
His grandfather has on a fez and is wearing the fur coat with a sable collar over his robe, and there's a lantern in the servant's hand, and I can't contain myself for joy.

Flowers come to mind for some reason poppies, cactuses, jonquils…

in the jonquil garden in Kadikoy Istanbul I kissed Marika, fresh almonds on her breath.

I was seventeen.

My heart on a swing touched the sky.

I didn't know I loved flowers,

Friends sent me three red carnations in prison

I just remembered the stars - I love them too,

whether I'm floored watching them from below

or whether I'm flying at their side

I have some questions for the cosmonauts:

Were the stars much bigger? Did they look like huge jewels on black velvet

or apricots on orange? Did you feel proud to get closer to the stars?

I saw color photos of the cosmos in Ogonek magazine…

Now don't be upset comrades but nonfigurative shall we say or abstract,

well some of them looked just like such paintings

which is to say they were terribly figurative and concrete.

My heart was in my mouth looking at them –

they are our endless desire to grasp things.

Snow flashes in front of my eyes,

both heavy wet steady snow and the dry whirling kind.

I didn't know I liked snow

I never knew I loved the sun - even when setting cherry-red as now in Istanbul too,

it sometimes sets in postcard colors, but you aren't about to paint it that way,

I didn't know I loved clouds -whether I'm under or up above them, whether they look like giants or shaggy white beasts… I like it.

I didn't know I liked rain - whether it falls like a fine net or splatters against the glass my,

heart leaves me tangled up in a net or trapped inside a drop,

and takes off for uncharted countries I didn't know I loved.

Rain.

But why did I suddenly discover all these passions sitting

by the window on the Prague-Berlin train? Is it because I'm half dead from thinking about someone back in Moscow her hair straw-blond eyelashes blue?

The train plunges on through the pitch-black night.

I never knew I liked the night pitch-black.

I DIDN’T KNOW I LOVED SO MANY THINGS!

And I had to wait until sixty to find it out sitting by the window on the Prague-Berlin train watching the world disappear as if on a journey of no return.

LOVE O'CLOCK.

I wish that time was determined  by people that we love, so that the more we loved someone the longer every minute would be with them. That way if we were with our moms, time would pass really slowly. But if we were with someone really mean who we didn't like - like the boss who yells all the time for no reason or demands a re-do of tasks 10 times, time would go really quickly. 

And then, we could really spend a long time with the people we're inlove with and even if time had to end with them it would seem like an eternity was spent with them. And if we got sick of that person, time would speed up so that all the heart break and fighting that sometimes comes with a break up would move really quickly.

It would also mean spending a lot more time with a childhood pet. I know that I would have enjoyed a few extra moments with Sparky.

LIFE, ON THE SUBWAY.

This morning I found myself in the arms of a West African man who was listening 2face idibia (a favorite West African artist of mine) on the New York subway. I was taking the 4 express train to work and found myself literally pushed into the train cart with one small pole space to hang onto in front of me… and in front of this man.

In public space in New York, I always dream up hugging strangers randomly as I’m walking down the street. You know those people who exist side-by-side with you and you get a warm, unexplainable, vibe that you can’t explain? I always want to hug them. And, sometimes people who look sad too. But sometimes that seems scarier, because not everyone who is sad wants to be hugged.

Anyway, all of a sudden it seemed appropriate on this subway to be in the arms of a stranger. I looked straight forward (mostly because I couldn’t move my neck) and so many other random people found themselves in the arms of so many other random people.

For a moment I thought: wow, how beautiful is this stuffy, crammed, public space, of arbitrariness where the rules of the streets and society seemed to fly outside of the doors as quickly as the train glides from track to track?

In this cart, a Saudi Arabian diplomat could sit next to a pregnant, orthodox Jewish bakery owner, and a Nigerian rapper, and somehow it was all ok. This box created some altered universe where colors and origins and lifestyles blended together so that people wouldn’t be late to work.

And it all played to the soundtrack of public music that came in the form of obtrusive, insensitive, head phone blasting.  From the man whose arms I remained in for all 7 minutes of the ride, and the headphones of the lady sitting 3 feet in front of me, and the girl with a short blonde bob that matched the bobbing motion of her head to whatever she was listenin’ to (I wanted to know! I wanted to bob). Since the invention of iPods and headphones people have been so sensitive about private music space – but space is all of ours to share. We share the air, we should share the music too.

The doors opened and a huge mob fell out of the automatic subway door all parting ways subscribing to their various norms of life and the rules we set for ourselves, and I just had to wonder, “What if the rules of the subway, were applied to life?”

LOVE COULD BE LIKE THIS.

(re:blogged - http://everynowandthen.tumblr.com/)

GOD IN SNOWFLAKES

According to Andrew Dodd's Physics Forum blog post (http://www.phys.cwru.edu/forums/read.php?9,1207,1207) in an average snow storm, 721.3 flakes hit a car's roof every second. That’s 43,278 per minute, and 2,596,680 per hour. And that's just one car roof. 

Billions and billions of minuscule pieces of white, shimmery, ice fall in unique patterns to the earth's surface from the sky in a single moment.

I believe in a higher power because of snowflakes.

SOUL MEETS BODY.

Sometimes I feel like my soul is trapped in a body that doesn’t match – it sort of feels like wearing a winter sweater on the beach in the middle of summer.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could pick one feature to change so that it would match up with our souls? My friend Sarah told me that she would pick tie-dye eyes, and I wish that was possible for her because her soul is really colorful. I think I would stretch my body out to make it extra long and slender, because I feel like my head is always in the clouds anyway, so I might as well be there physically.

And also, if we could make our souls match our body then it might take less time to get to know people and then there’d be no need for awkward introductions or angry interactions. Like if I gave a completely random response to a serious comment, people would be more understanding, because they would clearly see that my head was in the clouds. 

And the world would look completely different, and that might be cool.

THE SADDEST FEELING I'LL EVER KNOW.

When I watch someone miss the bus, I get really emotional, and it makes me want to cry.

TWO MOONS MOCASSINS.

You know that phrase,"Don't judge a man until you've walked two moons in his moccasins?" Well I think it would be great if we could really buy those moccasins.

I’m not really sure how the prices would work, because sometimes some moccasins would be in high demand while others would probably never be worn, which is sad, because I bet those moccasins would be the most important.

And wouldn’t it be wonderful to put yourself in the moccasins of a person you always admired, because then you could understand how they got to where they are and maybe some of their own insecurities and also how they are so good at whatever you admire about them.

And wouldn’t it be fantastic to put yourself in the moccasins of a person who lives in a place completely different than your current location so you could learn what life would be like if you lived anywhere.

And wouldn’t it be amazing if you could give the moccasins as a gift to someone who you think could use some understanding, and you could just disguise them as cool moccasins, but then they could maybe learn from them.

I think I’d buy a few pairs. Especially if they were those warm fluffy ones made for cold winter days (and I'd wear them in the winter).

THE WAY IT IS.

I never knew how much surrounding myself with the right people meant...
Etrafimda iyi insanlar olmasinin ne kadar onemli oldugunu bilmiyordum...

Until I met you.
sonra biz tanıştık.


Thanks for positive energy!

BALLOON WISHES.

I believe the wishes carried on these balloons

will come true.

SOUND VIBRATIONS.

17.7 million American women have been victims of attempted or completed rape.

Every 2 minutes, someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted.

I wish that one loud scream could be heard at once, from all of their voices. That way people would understand what a big problem it is and how it’s not OK because it’s often silenced and people don’t even realize what a big problem it is.

And if one loud scream could be heard at once, sexual violence wouldn’t be normalized, because screams aren’t normal, they are filled with pain and sadness, and that’s what sexual violence does: causes pain and sadness.

And, if one loud scream could be heard at once, then maybe all the women and men who have ever experienced sexual violence would know that they aren’t alone.

And, if one loud scream could be heard, maybe it would SHUT PEOPLE UP who say that victims cause violence with clothes they wear or drinks they drink or actions they take. 

And also, sound energy is the energy produced by sound vibrations as they travel through a specific medium and sound vibrations cause waves of pressure which lead to some level of compression and rarefaction in the mediums through which the sound waves travel.  So maybe one loud scream would shake the universe with a sound vibration, and people would WAKE UP and realize that sexual violence is an on-going issue.

Photo from:http://children.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2010/04/20/2010-sexual-assult-awareness-month-day-of-action/

MY INSPIRATION.

WE'RE ALL INVENTORS AND CREATORS

Desiderata, by Max Ehrmann

You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; 
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you, 
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God, 
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. 
Strive to be happy.

GIANT PROTRACTORS.

I wish there were protractors big enough to draw circles around the people we love to protect them from getting hurt. So that if they are about to fall or make a mistake they'll stop at the edge of the circle and know that someone cared about them enough to draw a circle.

FRUITAFFLE.

I want to open a Turkish-style waffle shop in the center of Adam's Morgan in Washington, D.C. next to all the cool places that the boys in tight jeans go and the girls who look free with their gypsy skirts and sandals go and sometimes people who dress really nicely on weekend nights go.


I want to open the waffle shop with my Turkish friend Betty, because she doesn't want to stay in Turkey, because Turkey is sometimes really hard on people economically, and because she wants to make a new life for herself and her family, and also because she is really gifted at all sorts of things like sailing, and math, and saxophone, and meeting strangers, and she could be really good at selling waffles too. 


And people in the U.S. would really love Turkish-style waffles, because there are more than 50 options of the kinds of things to put on top of the waffles. The best part in my opinion is the number of fresh fruits you can put on your waffles. That's why I would call it, "FRUITAFFLE" eventhough I think most people in Turkey appreciate the chocolate and nut spreads more than the fruits.


And after a long night of dancin' on the dance floor, I think it would be much better to eat a Fruitaffle than a jumbo slice pizza, which is usually the choice of most drunk people after a night out, because those things are really oily and usually after eating them people regret their food choice. But no one would ever regret a Fruitaffle.


Fruitaffles would also be delicious for breakfast. and lunch. and dinner.

THIS IS WHAT HEAVEN LOOKS LIKE.

Meridian Hill Park, also known unofficially as Malcolm X Park, is located in theWashington, D.C. neighborhood of Columbia Heights in the United States. On Sunday afternoons during the warm weather months, people gather from 3:00–9:00 p.m. in the upper park to dance, participate in a drum circle, and provide food for the homeless. The activity has been held in the park since the 1950s. FREE LOVING. FREE DANCING.

A UNIVERSE BALANCE.

On Sundays, there is a fresh fruit vegetable bizarre near my apartment and every price there is determined with a metal balance - kilograms on one side, desired item on the other. As a man began to measure my bananas today (I asked for half a kilo), I began imagining a metal balance in my head, where the love and the hate in the universe are put on both sides. 

I thought of all the people in the world who were probably kissing someone good night, or waking up to breakfast with a loved one, or holding someone tightly enough to remind them that they'll never let them go. And, in my head I saw the love side of the balance hanging low... 

And then I thought about violence that exists in the world, and the way people sometimes blindly hate, and also some conflicts that seem unending. I imagined the scale being tipped quickly -- like when you're sitting on the end of a seesaw and there's a really heavy person on the opposite end so you're floating in the air and then they get up and you crash to the ground. That's how quickly the balance can change.

I feel like the world rests on this balance - this ability to either be weighed down by the bad or the good, and I wished when the world tipped to hate the man at the market could add pieces of love to bring it back in the balance just like he added extra bananas for me today when the balance was uneven. 

KILLER LOBSTERS.

I wish my imaginary friends weren't eaten by lobsters when I was 6. 

THE BEGINNING OF VIOLENCE.

I’d like to travel back in time, to the beginning of violence and see where it all started to understand why people could possibly determine killing is better than negotiating or trying. 

There are only 6,824,300,000 people in the world and so I can't fathom why people would want to eliminate another person when there’s really not so many people in the first place. And the average life expectancy of a human in the world is only 68.9, so it's hard to imagine why people can’t spend that short of an amount of time coexisting with others. I also don’t really understand why resources are such a point of contempt, because if everything was distributed correctly, there would be more than enough resources for everyone. 

And sometimes when I watch the news, I close my eyes and imagine that two people, like Sheikh Raed Salah and Benjamin Natanyahu are sitting at a negotiating table and agreeing to everything. I also try to imagine corrupt leaders of the past and present being banned to an Island together like King Leopold, and Queen Isabella, and Hitler, and Mobutu Sesse Seko so they can't harm anyone except themselves.

And humans are always trying to convince other humans that our nature is bad deep down and that’s why there are so many wars and fights, but usually wars and fights are in the news because they are exceptions, and on any given day I think there are a lot more people smiling at each other, doing favors for each other, and helping each other rather than doing mean things to each other.  But the news doesn’t cover smiles at strangers, or a man pushing a child out of danger from a car moving too fast, or an older man showing three little boys how to feed pigeons.

Maybe one day, we can all just live, and that would be possible in a world where everything is possible. 

American Beauty, by Alan Ball.

Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world I feel like I can't take it, like my heart's going to cave in. 

SOUL BEAUTIFUL.

It would be amazing to live in a world where people only complimented souls and not on outward appearance, so that if you went to work in the morning and someone smiled at you and asked how you were you could say, “Wow, you’re soul is so beautiful today” or you could say, “Tell me how you get your temperament in such good shape.”

And it especially makes sense, because people can’t completely alter the way that they look unless they have big money to spend on plastic surgery, so there’s no point in really admiring or criticizing the way people look because most of the time we can’t even control it, but we can control our souls.

I also think it would help decrease the number of eating disorders in our world, because up to 24 million Americans and 70 million individuals worldwide suffer from them and maybe if people were more focused on the inside rather than the outside people would stop starving themselves or making themselves throw up or hating themselves for the way they look.

And then if someone acted really meanly toward you one day, you could turn to them and say, "My goodness you've gained some negative energy!" And they could understand that they should probably slim down.

And also, souls are really amazing things. 

POLAROID FINGERTIPS.

It would be really beautiful if we could take snapshots in our minds and then we could use our fingerprints to transmit the photos onto a computer to transfer files and print out moments so that we never forget them.

Last night I unexpectedly went to a wedding and it was one of the most beautiful memories to date in my life. It would be really nice to have a picture of the night, since photographs tend to induce nostalgia.

But it’s not like I would have wanted a camera there, because sometimes cameras take away from moments, so if I could just use my fingerprint to produce a snapshot it would be really nice to hold that moment forever.

It would also be really useful for story telling, because sometimes people are visual learners, like me, and they need pictures to fully understand things.