tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-222514332011-11-02T03:39:35.521+02:00Life with my Newton Messagepad 2100, PowerBook G3 and iPhone 3Gs in Istanbul and all around Europe...Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.comBlogger831100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-36519359303472640322011-04-29T16:03:00.001+03:002011-04-29T16:09:24.380+03:00

The question one has about the use of text editors on the iPad comes down to the choice of apps available; Plain Text, Nebulous, iA Writer, to name just three. At the outset, all would seem to offer a similar set of functions and appeal, particularly othe basis of simplicity and design. However, there are some things that need to be pointed out about using the apps, which could make a

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-23357700146844540282011-03-17T00:08:00.001+02:002011-03-17T00:08:08.026+02:00

After finding the Studios Monastery and St Mary of the Mongols Church recently, the city as a palimpsest is becoming more apparent. The layers of Byzantium that seep through into the modern Istanbul are deeper and more extensive than merely the Basillica Cistern and Hagia Sophia, or the Chora Monastery and Aqueduct of Valens. These are the illuminations on the manuscript, glittering and intricate

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-89062016415007158322011-03-03T16:41:00.000+02:002011-03-03T16:48:23.059+02:00

If then, Byzantium is no longer regarded as the “monotonous story of the intrigues of priests, eunuchs, and women, of poisonings, of conspiracies, of uniform ingratitude, of perpetual fratricides…” nor is the Empire considered “…the most thoroughly base and despicable form that civilisation has yet assumed…” (Lecky, 1870:13-15), by scholarship, according to authorities such as George Ostrogorsky

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-25799740017637368312011-02-28T09:29:00.001+02:002011-02-28T09:29:15.204+02:00

If Byzantium has never been 'lost' to 'the west', in historiographical terms, has it, as some of these authors argue, been the subject of calumny? It is the case that the Enlightenment period saw the production of works that condemned the Byzantines in no uncertain terms. Edward Gibbon and Charles Labeau, contemporaries in England and France, presented the Byzantine Empire as the antithesis of

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-66296580280633131142011-02-27T14:25:00.001+02:002011-02-27T14:44:46.041+02:00

The notion of Byzantium as the ‘bulwark of Christendom’ (as Roger Michael Kean's 2005 book describes the Empire or “bulwark against Islam” as Judith Herrin's 2009 Byzantium: the Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire entitles chapter 8), is one that, at first sight at least, seems to reflect the perilous nature of the 6th - 9th centuries, when the assault of the Muslims, Avars, Pechenegs and Rus

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-90093162251945049212011-02-27T11:36:00.001+02:002011-02-27T14:51:52.188+02:00

There has been something of a revival of interest, or perhaps a revision of the previous, largely prejudiced views about what Gibbon and Lebeau both described as a thousand years of decline from the apogee of the Roman Empire. A number of new monographs have been produced, from two particular perspectives, that undertake to revisit the history of this 'lost' empire of eastern Christians. Firstly,

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-17567077571053687302011-01-24T13:50:00.000+02:002011-01-24T13:50:25.294+02:00

  From the Lobby of the Cooper Arms by Robert F Trucios

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-77835045742207402662011-01-10T01:25:00.001+02:002011-01-10T01:25:02.505+02:00

When I arrived in the city, the sky grew suddenly darker with undropped rain and the smudges of blackbirds on the wing. There must have been hundreds, perhaps thousands and it reminded me of the the meaning of Kosovo Polje, the Field of Blackbirds. In the second battle that took place on that plain, the Ottomans effectively sealed the conquest of the Balkans and their rule over Kosovo, that would

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-39840696760622197712010-12-31T14:18:00.017+02:002010-12-31T16:46:37.678+02:00

The Grand Bazaar in the heart of Bayezit, Istanbul is one of the oldest and largest covered markets in the world. With 58 streets, 1,200 shops and stalls, 12 major structures – including the two bedestans dating from 1455-1461 – and 22 gates, the Bazaar has always been at the commercial heart of the old city. When it was founded (c.1455) by Fatih Sultan Mehmed or Memet II the Conqueror, as he

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-6799344526135781962010-12-26T00:26:00.001+02:002010-12-26T00:26:11.055+02:00

It's been a wonderful Xmas Day, with a good dinner, lovely presents and the pleasure of spending time together. Lots to be thankful for and speaking to family, scattered far and wide both brings the joy of being part of one and the slight sadness that another Xmas has passed when we are apart. Time to reflect too, upon a year past and all that has happened in the twelve months gone - changing

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-13240399699134240632010-12-22T05:43:00.002+02:002010-12-22T05:59:45.582+02:00

September 5th 2010An autumn Sunday in Stockholm can fill one with a sense of melancholia, sometimes even sadness at the sense of change in the year and the inevitable decline into winter. It's not that its gloomier at this time of year here, than it is elsewhere (although that may be true at points, as the light seems to fail early on in the afternoon, seemingly exhausted with the effort of

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-11303888813472943342010-12-22T04:40:00.002+02:002010-12-22T04:45:40.445+02:00

Three o'clock in the morning thoughts…It's strange to think that a year ago, as I stood in the kitchen of my small, pink, wooden house in southern Stockholm, bleary-eyed and sleepless, I watched a family of small, Roe-deer come down, out of the forest and scratch at the deep snow in the garden to find the frozen grass beneath. I was in darkness, staring out of the window into the strange,

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-87883617601611269332010-09-29T01:25:00.001+03:002010-09-29T01:25:28.699+03:00

Tom Wintringham was a poet, socialist, organiser of the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War and the Home Guard during WWII. A military historian, journalist and writer, Wintringham was a committed Marxist who grew disillusioned with the Stalinist Communist Party of Great Britain and founded the Common Wealth Party.- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhoneLocation:Akyol Sk,Istanbul,

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-76285492815431098492010-08-24T04:59:00.003+03:002010-08-24T06:12:26.211+03:00

The first ezzan, or call to prayer has just been sung by the muezzins from the minarets across the city and it is still such a beautiful sound, rolling over the rooftops. It is one of the things I most miss when I am away and that makes me feel 'at home' here. The Ramazan fast begins now, as faithful Muslims prepare for a day when they will neither eat nor drink until 'iftar', the breaking of the

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-11991885381725294002010-08-24T04:22:00.002+03:002010-08-24T05:12:56.275+03:00

One of the lesser delights about living in Istanbul at Ramazan, as a non-Muslim, is the raucous sound of drumming made at 03:00 in the morning, to wake the faithful so that they can breakfast before their fasting begins with the first call to prayer. When I say lesser delights, it's something of an irony, as being woken by the sound of a Romani drummer, beating a big 'davul' with fierce

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-74021791541373467272010-08-16T00:40:00.002+03:002010-08-24T06:04:31.338+03:00

The epic journey of Jason and the Argonauts remains merely myth, until you travel the Bosporus yourself. At every point the deceptively beautiful water suddenly turns over, roils or whirls as the conflicting currents meet and the warm Mediterranean clashes with the cold Black Sea streams in the narrow straits. No Scylla and Charybdis at the narrowest point but the eddies and swirling seas boiling

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-21905781932866072882010-07-16T00:56:00.000+03:002010-07-16T00:56:00.902+03:00

I WILL arise and go now, and go to Innisfree, And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made; Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee, And live alone in the bee-loud glade. And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow, 5Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings; There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-17928482687963995042010-03-27T18:14:00.002+02:002010-08-24T06:07:27.079+03:00

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-44492934413953008392010-03-27T18:08:00.001+02:002010-03-27T18:08:09.770+02:00

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-19246709779537518932010-03-27T11:09:00.001+02:002010-03-27T18:01:02.297+02:00

We have now moved to our new apartment in Akyol Sokak, a wide street in the Findikli area, just behind the more famous Cihangir neighbourhood. The width of the street is important in this area, as many of the Cihangir streets are narrow and somewhat dim, even on the brightest days. Despite the tall apartment buildings on Akyol, we are fortunate to have a shorter building directly opposite, so

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-30421644981266789982010-03-23T01:33:00.000+02:002010-03-23T01:36:12.873+02:00

It’s been some months since leaving and only days since I returned, but already I’m happier to be in the Queen of Cities...

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-7140204900657350352010-02-25T10:22:00.001+02:002010-02-25T10:22:35.854+02:00

finally some sunshine!

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-27650141808917184422010-02-24T02:58:00.001+02:002010-02-24T02:58:49.787+02:00

This winter seems to never end, like Narnia in the grip of the White Witch it's always winter but never Christmas. We've had Xmas but it seems so long ago now I'm beginning to wonder if I've somehow missed spring and summer and it will be with us again soon.To be locked into ice and snow always would certainly depress one's spirits; no wonder the Viking idea of Hell was frozen...- Posted using

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-50292974788435848952010-02-24T01:54:00.001+02:002010-02-24T01:54:13.527+02:00

vine leaves wrapped around a filling of rice, onions, minced meat, tomatoes and garlic, spiced with cinnamon, chilli, salt, black pepper and mint

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-71100776339301197072010-02-24T01:50:00.002+02:002010-08-24T06:09:23.142+03:00

Tonight I made vine-leaf dolma for the first time, for my friend Anne's birthday. It was actually her birthday yesterday, but the weather was so bad we cancelled dinner and rescheduled it for today instead. It was quite good, for a first attempt.It's odd, now that I'm leaving Sweden to be doing things that were supposed to be part of the 'new life' here, a way of keeping the Turkish traditions

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-54526281599120764562010-02-24T01:38:00.001+02:002010-02-24T01:38:18.797+02:00

It's only a few days now until I sail for Byzantium...- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone 3GsLocation:Kastadalsvägen,,Sweden

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-69475910796313441292010-02-13T01:24:00.002+02:002010-08-24T06:13:49.471+03:00

It is still bitterly cold and icy out there. The cruel wind whips through my supposedly wind-proof winter jacket and laughs up its sleeve at my polar jumper, hat and gloves. The outer trousers, shower-proof and polar lined are also little help against the Baltic blast that buffets Stockholm today, seemingly straight off the Ural mountains.The darkness has lifted a little, so there is a lowering

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-55657975533188865422010-01-07T16:02:00.002+02:002010-01-07T16:07:10.822+02:00

Like Yeats' traveller, I have learned that Sweden is no country for old men and so I am returning to my spiritual, adopted home of Istanbul. I will miss the forest and lakes around this 'home' that we have made in southern Stockholm and the dear friends that have been our comfort and support in turbulent times here.I shall rejoice though to be back in my city, to see the minarets and towers and

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-24098472691781164852009-11-01T19:07:00.000+02:002010-01-07T16:05:17.740+02:00

Police quash nude pumpkin run A "zany" annual Halloween tradition has failed to materialise in Boulder, Colorado, with the threat of police action quashing the Nude Pumpkin Run.Each year, dozens have run down the city's streets wearing only shoes and a hollowed-out pumpkin on their heads. Police said "full" participants this year faced indecent exposure charges. Up to 100 officers were deployed

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-2973784795832293002009-07-13T19:25:00.003+03:002010-08-24T06:24:29.122+03:00

Today I crossed the Meander River for the first time, on the way from Didim to Izmir (or Didina to Smyrna). The Meander Valery is a wide and fertile swath that cuts through the surrounding mountains and fills the eye with a verdant plain.The Türkmen invaders that poured into Anatolia following the Saldjuk defeat of Byzantium at Manzikert (1071) and Myriokephalon (1176) found their way along

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-51885448945242904762009-03-28T00:12:00.003+02:002009-05-23T00:22:38.829+03:00

Forgotten, not assimilated; a sociohistorical perspective of theTurkish Romanlar in the Black Sea region of Rumania.Rumania would appear, at first glance to have a highly organized and effective Roma civil society that comprehensively seeks to represent Roma groups in the country at national and international levels. Yet on closer examination one group are almost entirely under-represented and

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-12199705741515567622009-01-05T08:11:00.000+02:002009-01-30T08:47:10.091+02:00

The Art of Being Lucky inTurkeyIts a common and popular belief here that if you sit between two people who share the same name, this will bring yu good fortune (though it may cause a fair degree of confusion at dinner parties, it has to be said). Its one of the myriad practices that we could define as "folk wisdom" and that date back in many cases, to pre-Islamic and sometimes pre-Christian

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-71388325949699090222008-10-23T16:28:00.002+03:002010-08-24T06:34:25.544+03:00

Büyük Mecidiye Camii or the Grand Imperial Mosque of Sultan Abdülmecid, built in 1854-6 to replace the 18th century mosque. It's neo-Baroque style was designed by the Armenian Balyan architects.

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-74129620493666443062008-10-23T16:16:00.002+03:002008-10-23T16:18:50.405+03:00

Whilst one fisherman busies about his boat, others are lulled to sleep by the Bosporus waves...

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-45900923117681595772008-10-07T00:39:00.001+03:002008-10-07T00:39:25.318+03:00

In many parts of Istanbul there are wonderful cafes and they are places that probably occupy a predominant social space in Turkish culture, in a secular context. My favourites are all around Beyoğlu and I inevitably end up treating these as 'office' spaces where I meet other researchers, academics and NGO visitors for work, as well as the usual reason of meeting up with friends to enjoy a weekend

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-14574632831349133002008-09-02T23:58:00.000+03:002008-09-02T23:59:07.297+03:00

I have an iPhone to blog with now, though it may not be as easy as mobile blogging from the Newton using nBlog.

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-20795388753732718932008-08-11T00:44:00.000+03:002008-08-21T01:17:05.624+03:00

Under SiegeUnder Siege by Mahmoud Darwish Here on the slopes of hills, facing the dusk and the cannon of time Close to the gardens of broken shadows, We do what prisoners do, And what the jobless do: We cultivate hope. *** A country preparing for dawn. We grow less intelligent For we closely watch the hour of victory: No night in our night lit up by the shelling Our enemies are watchful and light

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-54087439089027182612008-08-05T10:57:00.002+03:002008-08-05T11:07:34.483+03:00

“When Adam delved and Eve span, who was the the gentleman? From the beginning all men by nature were created alike, and our bondage or servitude came in by the unjust oppression of naughty men. For if God would have had any bond-men from the beginning, he would have appointed who should be bond and who free. And therefore I exhort you to consider that now the time is come, appointed to us by God,

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-65415031063445863052008-08-05T01:19:00.000+03:002008-08-05T11:09:03.295+03:00

The Glorious Qur'anS. Khuda Bukhsh.(c1912) "Nothing was more distant from the Prophet's thought," he writes, "than to fetter the mind or to lay down fixed, immutable, unchanging laws for his followers. The Quran is a book of guidance to the faithful, and not an obstacle in the path, of their social, moral, legal, and intellectual progress."

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-27146673931165042612008-08-05T01:15:00.000+03:002008-08-05T11:09:03.298+03:00

Wars"Wars begin through greed and vanity and are continued through the insanity of nationalism, in which the boundaries of a land replace God..."Billy Collins, American poet (2006)

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-77379644682647127052008-07-23T05:20:00.003+03:002008-08-05T11:15:47.100+03:00

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-72097745303770423302008-07-18T00:34:00.007+03:002008-07-23T06:06:30.645+03:00

I do not think that the pursuit of knowledge is an exception to this rule. If the study to which you apply yourself has a tendency to weaken your affections and to destroy your taste for those simple pleasures in which no alloy can possibly mix, then that study is certainly unlawful, that is to say, not befitting the human mind. If this rule were always observed; if no man allowed any pursuit

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-86239107204435367702008-07-18T00:33:00.003+03:002008-07-23T06:11:46.207+03:00

IAmong twenty snowy mountains,The only moving thingWas the eye of the blackbird.III was of three minds,Like a treeIn which there are three blackbirds.IIIThe blackbird whirled in the autumn winds.It was a small part of the pantomime.IVA man and a womanAre one.A man and a woman and a blackbirdAre one.VI do not know which to prefer,The beauty of inflectionsOr the beauty of innuendoes,The blackbird

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-2571329280987941942008-07-18T00:29:00.001+03:002008-07-23T06:13:27.564+03:00

You laid a kiss upon my cheekSnowflake-soft, angel caressedI held my breath;The lightest of benediction's blessed,By fox-dark eyes thatGazed, through crystal and ashesOf Istanbul's slumberous snowfall,Alighting upon Rossetti lips andRook-black lashes, your face upturnedTo welcome winter's offeringOf love, like a lost starlingIn the gull-grey afternoon;Tho' flightless 'till this moment,

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-64373361702935716872008-07-18T00:21:00.001+03:002008-07-23T06:14:59.989+03:00

You sat and looked at me, stared hard at me in surprise or disbelief I thought, then reached out and slipped your hands around my heart, through the naked space I had made with words.The rest of you followed smoothly, like a selkie into quiet seas and you nestled there, watching as the tides of my emotions swung to and fro in your lunar pull, the driftwood of thoughts of you grew thick upon the

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-41701308766331505252008-07-18T00:16:00.000+03:002008-07-31T22:28:15.850+03:00

Snow FallingYou came upon me quiet as snow falling,On the slowly swelling sea of the Stockholm sound;The dimming light pale, flecked with russetAnd gold, as sunset flared under the overcast sky,Gobbetts of blood draining into night's inky cauldron;Your naked skin ivory in that light, the colour of stonesOr driftwood on the Baltic shore, beautiful asA Saami song to their reindeer, gentle as the

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-53846168140995411022008-07-16T23:17:00.003+03:002008-08-05T10:14:01.167+03:00

For a nation of people who probably invented yoghurt, you might expect the humble experience of consuming a bowlful or two to have developed certain sophistication, and in Turkey you'd be correct. Not only is yoghurt consumed as a breakfast food, its constantly eaten throughout day, either by itself or more frequently as an accompaniment to other dishes, savoury and sweet. The ever-popular ‘mantı

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-15102657229398324572008-07-09T00:28:00.002+03:002008-07-17T14:15:05.282+03:00

It is the time for the first ezan from Cihangir mosque, that wakes the faithful (and tells the sleepless night is nearly done). Yet it seems strangely different, somehow more plaintive and melancholy. Is it the call to prayer, or a lament for the dead of the east? It seems extended, plangent and mournful, hanging over this still-darkened city in cadences that seem to me at least, to recall the

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-16361462942836753892008-07-08T04:32:00.004+03:002008-07-17T14:57:12.494+03:00

Dark Angel though thy soul is thine,I would, perchance all else were mine;For pearl thou art, and treasure dear,Not adamantine, diamond clear;Warm upon my cheek your kissIn sweet recall one moment's bliss;And when thy glance upon me rest,This heart doth quicken in my breast;Tho' in the ice-bear's lands thou be,This flame within will burn for thee,Now time and tide between us roil,Frozen wastes

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-17831945602929657272008-07-08T04:31:00.002+03:002008-07-17T15:00:03.364+03:00

Its been a week since our return from La Serenissima, and already the exact chronology of events is becoming hazy and obscure like the sea-mist that rolls into Piazza San Marco from the Laguna. I can see the things we did but a little dimly and occasionally they disappear from my memory altogether, or rearrange themselves in some other order, according to some unconscious uberty...

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-55401510023253728772008-03-20T16:18:00.002+02:002008-07-17T15:07:32.708+03:00

“And now began a time which, when she looked back on it, seemed like a country where she had gone by chance, one she had not known existed, a place of charm, a landscape like a dream landscape, with its own strong atmosphere, that speaks a language one half knows or has forgotten... But they could not doubt that when they were together they were in a pleasantness, an ease, an air different from

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-88833783162856697152008-03-11T01:47:00.001+02:002008-07-17T15:09:07.641+03:00

“…And I knew sudenly that without taking a step or counting a second, I had reached some other world that coexisted with my own. I felt the infinite space about me & I knew that I… & each tree & human being were carved from that infinity of time & space. The fading leaf & uncurling petal each held a place in the great design as important as the mountains & towering clouds & all bore within them

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-50619748732336797772008-02-22T15:05:00.002+02:002008-07-17T15:10:44.900+03:00

This week has seen me complete a major research report that I have been working on for a month or two, and the result is a document of some 50,000 words detailing the situation for Gypsies in Turkey. Something of an achievement, I hope and one that would normally allow at least a moment to catch one’s breath before proceeding. But not to be in this instance and not for the past few years, where

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-29534990285112822502007-12-24T22:48:00.000+02:002008-03-14T09:18:36.951+02:00

Its Christmas Eve in Istanbul, and I've already been to the Carol Service at the Anglican church this evening and am thinking of the possible Midnight Mass at the Catholic church later tonight. The last time I went was to the French Catholic church in Harbiye (there being Italian, Spanish, French and Armenian Catholic churches in this part of Istanbul, not to mention the Dutch Reformed and

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-54822946938879311932007-12-07T03:09:00.001+02:002008-07-17T15:13:28.601+03:00

Peace on Earth, Goodwill to All

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-9102858768739918752007-11-10T00:53:00.000+02:002008-03-14T09:18:36.967+02:00

Remembrance DayEcclesiasticus (Sirach) 44: 1 - 15 New Revised Standard Version HYMN IN HONOR OF OUR ANCESTORS Let us now sing the praises of famous men and women, our ancestors in their generations. 2 The Lord apportioned to them great glory, his majesty from the beginning. 3 There were those who ruled in their kingdoms, and made a name for themselves by their valor; those who gave counsel

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-35040168751855753882007-11-06T09:52:00.001+02:002008-07-17T16:56:16.285+03:00

“Statements of this kind, even when they are partially true, ignore the principle that in order to establish an historical connexion between A and B, it is not enough to bring forward evidence of their likeness to one another, without showing at the same time (1) that the actual relation of B to A was such as to render the assumed filiation possible, and (2) that the possible hypothesis fits in

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-10134018680793047272007-11-05T15:05:00.001+02:002008-07-17T15:21:50.277+03:00

Seeking for something I fear is already lost,I haunt the Habsburg shores where the great, black river flows,Glittering in the reflected lights that hang,Stolen diamonds on a dowager's neck.The ice-laden wind stabs like an old lover's scorn,Remorseless and bitter, the cold dregs of a spent affairSpattering my coat in ice-sharp, steely shrapnel...

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-58050506845684718532007-10-31T10:56:00.000+02:002008-03-14T09:28:35.126+02:00

SRII LibraryNow that atumn is really here and we have the prospect of crisp evenings and longer nights before us, I am feeling much more cheerful, as this time of year seems to literally turn with the season; you can almost feel the stars wheeling into their winter constellations and the creatures of the wood and forest gather in their supplies for the cold weather ahead. Its also the best time

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-89165846148771432392007-10-30T21:31:00.001+02:002008-07-17T15:25:59.958+03:00

There is still a proclivity for wearing hats in Turkey that remains from the early Republican period. Not as widespread as it once was certainly, and possibly more prevalent amongst the older generation than the bright young things of Beyoglu - though that's not necessarily so in certain groups, especially those who follow Gothic fashions. In more provincial towns & cities the custom of headgear,

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-44738071016829350012007-10-26T18:52:00.002+03:002008-07-17T15:25:02.730+03:00

I'm not sure that I would agree with the usual definition of “apocrypha”. Whilst the term has come to mean, in common parlance something not entirely legitimate, in the context of the Biblical works that appear described as such, the term stems from the Greek and means “hidden away” or “obscured” (‘apokryptien’ to hide from, or secret away; related to ‘kryptien’ or crypt as we know it in English)

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-20792818149863663072007-10-25T01:51:00.000+03:002008-07-17T16:33:07.462+03:00

i carry your heart with me i carry your heart with me i carry your heart with me (i carry it inmy heart) i am never without it (anywherei go you go,my dear; and whatever is doneby only me is your doing, my darling) i fearno fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i wantno world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)and it's you are whatever a moon has always

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-47887558632375476872007-10-25T01:39:00.000+03:002007-10-25T01:46:09.183+03:00

Autumn SongLike a joy on the heart of a sorrow, The sunset hangs on a cloud;A golden storm of glittering sheaves,Of fair and frail and fluttering leaves, The wild wind blows in a cloud.Hark to a voice that is calling To my heart in the voice of the wind:My heart is weary and sad and alone,For its dreams like the fluttering leaves have gone, And why should I stay behind? Sarojinidevi Naidu

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-13549413814179644392007-10-22T23:42:00.000+03:002007-10-25T01:31:52.912+03:00

VeniceIts been a long time since I've been in Venice, almost ten years in fact. At that time it seemed marvellously romantic and haunting; a misty September added immeasurably to the charm of the place and the damp atmosphere permeated the narrow calles and gloomy churches, suddenly and startingly illuminated by golden Byzantine empresses or Renaissance angels. The degree to which Venice is a

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-92006362485653350652007-10-07T13:06:00.001+03:002008-07-17T17:32:34.066+03:00

“Yerani the sireir zis” Lavengro perusades Belle (or Isopel) to say in the closing episode of the The Romany Rye, but sadly his over-bearing arrogance in being the master of the language it stems from (and in attempting to be master of the independent Belle), firstly infuriates her and then eventually drives her away. She leaves only a bleak note and with this, the novel (almost a non-novel in

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-51186521569232835822007-09-28T23:29:00.001+03:002008-07-17T16:49:37.738+03:00

The first impressions of this city are not easy ones to convey, as its with a sense of the recent past that we come with, and this is inevitably influencing how we perceive our surroundings. The city centre has nany fine buildings dating clearly from the nineteenth century, and the commercial centre is laid out in both wide main roads and smaller streets that are reminiscent of parts of England,

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-20867220984956901932007-09-18T23:44:00.000+03:002007-10-24T16:16:29.473+03:00

Autumn Leaves in IstanbulThe weather in Istanbul is still warm enough to be uncomfortable to those of us from more northern climes, but I begin to detect that wonderful crisp chill in the evening, that signals autumn is on the way. It is my favourite time of year, and one in which I am most happy yet most melancholy also. It is a time of new beginnings, in the sense that the academic year begins

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-81367115076474048342007-09-14T01:24:00.000+03:002007-10-24T16:18:23.022+03:00

Gloucester, January 2007Whenever I am back in Britain, I find myself saddened by what seems to be a continuing decline in manners, a loss of basic compassion , a rampant consumerism and celebration of ignorance that seems to be becoming dominant here. Community has been reduced to shared intolerance of “others”, culture to raw consumption and individuals measured by their relationship to the same

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-44602574537368052242007-09-14T00:57:00.001+03:002008-07-17T17:07:45.782+03:00

The hotel on Heybeliada is romantically renovated, beautiful in its setting like many of the wooden mansions (yali) on the island - though some languish like forgotten brides-to-be from Dicken’s novel, crumbling sorrowfully and derelict. The lobby of the hotel is a vision of elegance from the 1900s, with crystal chandeliers, aspidistras and palms elaborately potted under gold architrave and cream

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-89721857977728497152007-09-14T00:42:00.001+03:002008-07-17T16:43:45.276+03:00

Eminönü, IstanbulSaturday 13/01/2007Its winter and the ferry to the islands in the Marmara Sea rocks on the choppy, steely-blue-grey water of the turbid Bosphoros, chains ratling in their stays as it sways to-and-fro. There aren’t many passengers, those there are sit bundled up in scarves and hats that make them seem from another era. They scrutinise this morning’s editions of the newspapers for

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-71698721086595400032007-09-13T14:50:00.001+03:002008-07-17T17:11:12.305+03:00

14/01/2007The island is small enough to walk around in an hour or so and very green with pine forests and fine, clean air. The forest paths lead on up the hills and from them you can see the shining sea as it glitters in the west, like a myth...The wind in the pines soughs and sighs with each passing breeze, gently swaying the bosky, brown boughs. The quiet of the forest path is transfixing; I

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-16798819215686832042007-09-09T13:33:00.000+03:002008-03-14T09:36:28.529+02:00

IdentityThe question of identity is one that underlies any question of "who is...?" What are the criteria for establishing the boundaries of any group? Who gets to define the boundaries in the first place? And perhaps most importantly, in whose interests are these decided?

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-74435224585604020242007-09-09T00:13:00.002+03:002008-07-17T16:52:20.063+03:00

A pastiche upon Donne...I have found in thee both sadness cruel and joy sublime,I would not have it so if thee still were mine;But what of my desire ’gainst the morrow?‘Tis nought but chaff, a mummer’s sorrow.It is not meet that I should’st grieve for theeIf thy will is set, from me to seek thy liberty,But blessing thee for thy gifts bestowedIn times now passed, when each the other lov’d;How so

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-72755475739595654062007-09-07T17:25:00.000+03:002007-09-08T23:40:19.125+03:00

It Takes Time...Slow, seeping like water dripping between crystal,Purer still than the adamantine, yet softer by far;This once bubbling brook, stopped-up by the dust of despairAnd cruel, crushing stone-hard words, has inched and trickledBack into life with the infinite green-patience of spring's growth;Yet the iron-cold is not quite in retreat, holds its frozen claws tightUnwilling to relinquish

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-71578674682887503972007-09-04T04:02:00.001+03:002008-07-17T16:58:57.061+03:00

And I would ask but this of thee,That in that realm where love should beLet not disdain ‘pon thy heart lieNor bitter wroth mar thy eye;But ‘stead, in fond remembrance of our loveHold close the principle of peace, my dove.In times soon past, harsh tears I spent,And with bloody anger accord I rent;Regret upon my haste soon flew,Shame ‘pon my countenance I shew.I ask once more, forgive my

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-35829296246774863042007-09-04T03:57:00.001+03:002008-07-17T16:58:03.517+03:00

With these hands I thee love,As with lungs I do breath,Muscles bound and animate,Limbs that strive toward thee,And heart pumps blood to brain and bone, in constancy,As I would wed,Arms to hold and mouth I kiss,With passion coursing through these veins;Whilst thoughts of you fill this headAs dreams of you haunt my bed;So all at once, my cock does rise,As visions naked fill these eyesAnd love of

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-70855702497129047142007-08-29T22:12:00.000+03:002007-09-08T23:47:54.032+03:00

History & Herodotus“Alikarnesseos istories apodexis ede, os k.t.l.} The meaning of the word {istorie} passes gradually from "research" or "inquiry" to "narrative," "history"; cp. vii. 96. Aristotle in quoting these words writes {Thouriou} for {'Alikarnesseos} ("Herodotus of Thurii"), and we know from Plutarch that this reading existed in his time as a variation” from G.C Macauley’s 1890

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-1292228753897169132007-08-27T16:04:00.000+03:002007-09-08T23:53:21.423+03:00

Romani Rights‘The dust of many crumbled citiesSettles over us like a forgetful sleep,but we are older than those...always we have forgotten our former states...”Research and the reconstruction of Romani identityThe epigram from Mevlana Celaladdin Rumi is an apposite one as it leads us to the consideration of Romani identity in scholarship and research, and I would suggest encapsulates one of the

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-44821317815660929442007-08-27T15:49:00.000+03:002007-08-27T18:34:30.542+03:00

My Newton LifeWell, here goes!After Josh Burker was kind enough to offer his advice (and his interesting experience with star-gazing and a Newton, which I shall also try on my forthcoming trip to Assos), I have set up nBlog with what I hope will be the correct settings.This may well be the first fruits of that labour - let's hope so!

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-88116594257130184702007-08-27T14:21:00.004+03:002008-07-17T16:47:38.858+03:00

Probably one of the most advanced pieces of technology ever produced, the Newton Messagepad had, by its final incarnation reached a level of sophistication that was astonishing and still draws comparisons with the most recent and exciting machines (the iPhone for example). The hand-writing recognition was very good and remains part of the operating system for modern Macintosh OS X powered Apple

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-2699209876239009642007-08-27T14:07:00.001+03:002007-08-27T14:07:49.759+03:00

In trying to set up the Newton 2100 to post to this site, it hasn't been easy. Despite advice from Josh Burker (whose own Blogger pages are crammed with fascinating information, including where to find the best pizza in Seattle, and how to use the Newton when out star-gazing), its not up and running yet.Still, Newton Life is never entirely simple, though often rewarding and sometimes downright

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-1151876414890201722006-07-03T00:36:00.000+03:002006-07-03T00:40:14.923+03:00

Its finally down to a cool 77 degrees fahrenheit (I am just too old for the whole celsius thing) and the prospect of rain in the city tonight. I can hear the tyres on wet tarmac already outside my windows, open all day in the sweltering Istanbul sun, and the sounds of the open-air cafés around me in the French quarter are dimming away as the night draws in and a light drizzle falls.I still

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22251433.post-1140815053889303252006-02-24T23:03:00.002+02:002010-02-24T01:56:37.272+02:00

Its Friday night and its noisy out there! The traffic hots up as the bold and the beautiful (and not so beautful, it has to be acknowledged) seek the streets, in search of love and luck. The lights shine in the gritty rain with a myriad reflections; the sound of the horns and wet tyres on tarmac spills over the revellers and on up the narrow defiles and alleys into the warm, steamy night.

Dr Adrian Marshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539803444826833563noreply@blogger.com0