The extraordinary painting of Setenay Özbek
at Art 350 Art Gallery in Istanbul
Breathtaking Color
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| Isil Musluer |
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| Me with Curious Souls who were new to me Mehmet and Tayfun
Isil recently organized a wonderful monthly discussion group through Internations called "Curious Souls." I couldn't help but think that Gertrude Stein, famous for her literary salons in Paris in the 1930s, would have been proud of Isil -- such was the delightful company of this group.
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| The audience primed for discussion |
'Curious Souls' combined many of Isil's friends from Internations, and her friends from Istanbul Toastmasters. Toastmasters as an organization is new to Turkey. It was so fun to see my friend's ability to gather interesting people and create a wonderful atmosphere for discussion. Frankly, I was a a bit in awe of it!
Petek in deep discussion
We gathered at Art 350, an art gallery on the Anatolian (Asian) side of Istanbul, right on the main shopping street at 350 Bagdat Caddesi (Bagdad Street). We were surrounded by the inspiring painting of Setenay Özbek.
A discussion in full swing
Isil invited people with these words:Are you fascinated with new ideas and new ways of looking at life? Do you have an insatiable desire to learn more? Do you get immense pleasure in listening to inspirational stories of great minds, and are you filled with appreciation for great talents? In short, are you a "Curious Soul"? If you are, then, we are getting together once in a month, to watch two or three very interesting, mind-stretching and entertaining TED conferences. After each video conference, we carry a guided discussion and express our own points of view. If you are ready to experience the flourishing of diverse ideas, if you would like to express yourself, expand your horizons and grow together, and while doing these, if you would like to pass an enjoyable time together, then I invite you to come and join us.
Listening to each other
We discussed these videos:Alain de Botton: A kinder, gentler philosophy of success.
Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story
Neil Harbisson: I listen to color (so appropriate given our surroundings)
Louie Schwartzberg: Nature. Beauty. Gratitude.
What is the single story told about your country?
I volunteered to moderate the discussion generated by Chimamanda Adichie's "The danger of a single story" since I had read her book "Half of a Yellow Sun" in our Global Minds Book Club.
That video is the gift that keeps on giving, as a discussion could be had for hours on what is the single story about your country, or your race, or your class, or your religion, or your family, or you. We only had time to discuss what is the single story about your country.
I explained that before I came to Turkey, I didn't even have one single story about Turkey -- I had no stories. I knew nothing about Turkey as a nation, probably because our national histories don't bump up against each other.
I gave as an example the Bosphorus Bridge, a bridge every bit as beautiful as the Golden Gate Bridge, yet I had never seen a photo of it before coming to Turkey. Turkey has a long way to go until the other side of the world has even a single story, let alone multiple stories about it.
The insight I gained from the discussion is that if Turks tell a single story about each other, it's based on where they are from. They ask each other, "what city are you from?" and some decide immediately what someone's values and ethnicity are based on their image of the town.
I've seen that happen quite a bit actually; I've even had friends asked "what city is your husband from?" in job interviews. I could completely identify with this problem coming from Iowa, which generates the single story of "flyover country" if it generates a story at all.
I felt trusted
It felt great to lead the discussion there; I felt trusted. Here we were discussing something so close to Turkish hearts in a language foreign to them. Out of the 30+ people there, only two of us were from another country. Could you find 30 of your friends able to discuss a topic all in the same foreign language in your home country? I could not.
Not a single person brought up the Turkish "single story" that used to drive Turks crazy for years as recently as five years ago: the story told in the movie "Midnight Express" about an American imprisoned for drug charges. I asked a woman about it later and she said "I thought about it though!" That old single story about Turkey, while new to me, has been left behind, which I am sure, cheers the Turks. Their story is much, much bigger now.
Another great discussion
led by Alper Rozanes
generated by Alain de Botton's video
"A kinder, gentler philosophy of success"
You know the discussions are good when you almost hate to see the next video start up.Another insight I had from the combination of videos watched that day is how there seems to be a dominate "single story" about what constitutes success around the world: career success and wealth. How useful for the world's corporations.
Yet, there are many other ways to be successful, each an expression of human excellence. Think of success in marriage, or as a caregiver, or as a parent, or as a creative. We too often care too much about that dominant single story of success, rather than listen to our own drummer.
Isil's idea of a 'Curious Souls' discussion group would be an inexpensive idea to replicate anywhere in the world, wouldn't it? It's exciting the range of content available on the Internet. It's no longer necessary to settle for what's on TV. We can skip the violence and go straight to intellectually uplifting.
One last glorious painting by Setenay Ozbek
5 comments:
I envy you - I thought we had a lot going on to keep the grey cells going here in Bodrum, but there is nothing like this - yet.
Wow! I love the paintings.
BTW I should be in Istanbul again in April with my wife and daughter — I'd love for you to meet them.
It is exciting the range of things to do here, I could go to a different event every night of the week.
Michael, I look forward to meeting your family. That will be fun.
Dear Karen,
I cannot tell you enough, how much I adored your posting on our Curious Souls meeting! I really liked the way you reflected the atmosphere we had. The way you write is clear, direct, very frank, inclusive of your personal feelings and inclusive of many other details that I might have simply omitted to inform if I wrote such a post. It is simply beautiful. So I thank you very much for talking so nicely about our meeting. But more than that, I would like to thank you for being among us in our meeting and for moderating one of our discussions. Your moderation style, your questions and your presence was inspiring and enlightening. It was a delight for all the Curious Souls that were present in the meeting :-). So I thank you for being with us that day and a part of our group.
I would also like to thank you for the very nice words you tell about me. Thanks to you, I also discovered Gertrude Stein! I did not know her, nor did I know anything about her literary salons. It is inspiring for me and I really like the idea that I resemble a writer :-) that had done something interesting and creative.
By the way, I now understand, why your blog is continually selected as the best expat blog! You have a wonderful gift for expressing! You make all those regular things that we do everyday, like a simple tour in Cihangir or a walk along the Bosphorous or a meeting we have, seem like an extraordinary adventure. I am really proud of you Karen and glad that you are my friend!
So I wish you all the best in 2013 and hope to see you soon!
Isil
Thank you Isil, I'm glad you liked it. That was an incredibly fun day and I look forward to future discussions.
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