After the Trayvon Martin Verdict: Here are Ten People Who Helped Me Expand "My Circle of Compassion"

Trayvon Martin

Sometimes events at home are so dismaying I can hardly bear them. Such as it was with the Trayvon Martin verdict. This blog post is dedicated to him, my fellow American, 17-year-old, unarmed Trayvon Martin, who was killed while walking home by a white, armed, male adult.

President Barack Obama said: 

"... we should ask ourselves if we’re doing all we can to widen the circle of compassion and understanding in our own communities.  We should ask ourselves if we’re doing all we can to stem the tide of gun violence that claims too many lives across this country on a daily basis.  We should ask ourselves, as individuals and as a society, how we can prevent future tragedies like this.  As citizens, that’s a job for all of us.  That’s the way to honor Trayvon Martin.  

One of the things President Obama asked Americans to do to deal with their pain after the Trayvon Martin verdict was to continually work to expand their circle of compassion. By listening to voices different than our own, we may come to understand what it is to walk in another person's shoes.

One of the great things about Twitter is it allows us to listen to voices different than our own in a really non-threatening way. If you're a white American who wants to do as your President humbly requested and imagine other people's realities, here are ten black American voices I would like to recommend for you to follow on Twitter. These people have helped me grow and imagine life in someone else's shoes in the four years I've been on Twitter at @emptynestexpat.

I think we should listen not only as a spiritual thing to do, but as a strategic thing to do. As our nation becomes more multicultural, the better we are able to navigate and understand our differences, the less friction there is on forward motion in the future.

Here they are:

1) Charles Consult tweets at @Charles_Consult. He's a Wisconsin native, attorney, martial arts expert and enthusiast, now living as an expat entrepreneur in the Netherlands.

2) Dr. Blair LM Kelly, an American historian and professor teaching in North Carolina. She's the author of the book "Right to Ride" about streetcar segregation. She tweets at @profblmkelley.

3) Every teenage student should be lucky enough to have a teacher as cool as Brandon David Wilson. Brandon, tweeting as @Geniusbastard, is a not only a role model in the LA Public Schools as a teacher, but he's also a cinephile, activist, and thoughtful commentator on pop culture.

4) Courtney Young is a writer, a Spellman grad, and a board member of an organization I admire called Hollaback (documenting street harassment). She's an enthusiastic book reader (I love talking books with her), and founder of Think Young Media. She tweets at @Cocacy and at @thinkyoungmedia.

5) I can count the number of inspiring American math teachers I know on one hand (in Turkey, it would take both hands and my feet...but that's another post). How about you? Do you know a lot of inspiring US math teachers? Here's one who teaches in the New York Public Schools. He is, as his bio says, "the teacher Gotham deserves." Jose Vilson, tweeting at @JLV is a math teacher, writer, and activist. He hates that it in American culture it is ok to admit math phobia; he works tirelessly to get kids excited about math. Just for that, he deserves a follow!

6) Robin Terrell is a San Francisco diversity expert who has something big in the works called "The Global Mobility Project" that is supposed to debut this summer. I'm very curious what it is, but I enjoy her tweets right here and now at @robinlterrell.

Michael Twitty

preserving and promoting

African-American foodways

7) Somebody I just started following is @koshersoul. Michael Twitty came to a whole lot of people's attention with his open letter to Paula Deen. He's a black, Jewish Southerner and culinary historian who shares food photos that can make a happy expat like me, currently enjoying Turkish kitchen, wish to be right at a Southern table drinking sweet tea, eating barbecue and making room for blueberry cobbler. Michael also tweets at @antebellumchef. Here's what he says is the "best of his blog" for new followers.

8) Tinu who tweets at @blackgirlinprague rarely tweets. I wish she did because she always has something sassy to say. She's the one person on this list I know in person. But maybe if she had more followers, she'd be inspired. She's a tech professional, raised in America, now fluent in Czech, making the Golden City of Prague her home.

9) Someone researching black male performance in American education is Antonio M. Daniels. More power to him. Our education system is failing black males and I'm glad someone is trying to figure out how to fix this. The last American education system I worked in had a 17% high school graduation rate for black males. You can follow Antonio at @paideiarebel.

10) Jennifer Williams instantly telegraphs she is looking out for the next generation of young women who follow hers with her twitter handle @4coloredgirls. That sensitivity, and her desire to shield them from hurt, is something I learn from. She is a writer, professor, feminist and cultural critic in Houston, Texas.

Of course, there are many famous names, frequently in the media, whose bio I won't detail as they're all so easily findable. I learn from @oprah (she's really the founder of this category, isn't she?), @MHarrisPerry, @baratunde, @MsTerryMcMillian, @elonjames, @rebeccawalker, @ashong, @DonnaBrazile, @neiltyson, @ProfHolloway @cornelwest, @tavissmily, @marclamonthill, @MichaelEDyson, @NewBlackMan, @BobHerbert, @VanJones88, @hillharper and @chrisrock.

Truly,what choice do we have but to listen to each other better? Who wants to go through life in a world where we barely tolerate our fellow citizens that differ from us ethnically? Surely we can think bigger as citizens. Our advantage as Americans is that we have the world's ethnicities and cultures living right amongst us. If we choose to only honor people just like us, we're missing the whole point of America.

Dear friends in America, what's one action you can take to help heal America after the Trayvon Martin heartbreak? I invite you to also listen...and learn. Thanks to all the people named above for sharing their thoughts in ways that make me grow as an individual.

You might also like:

Listening to Dissidents

A near spiritual experience at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas

Why the Obama Presidential Library Should be Built in Springfield, Illinois

What's there to do in Wichita, Kansas? Why not see breathtaking art?

Topkapi Palace , Part Two: Harem Culture Shock

Enjoying Neil Degrasse Tyson at the UW Senior Sendoff

Yes, Empty Nest Expat is on Facebook. You can follow me there.

Getting Ready for Global Minds Book Club

 

A perfect day on my patio

 Yesterday was a spectacular sunny day in Istanbul. Not a cloud in the sky with total Chamber-of-Commerce weather. What a fun day of friends, food, and shopping we had! In the afternoon, my friend Barb and I just chilled out. There's nothing like the start of a three-day weekend and a new book to read. This month: Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart."

 Life's a bowl of cherries sometimes.

Sometimes you just have to slow down and enjoy it!

 

You may enjoy my other posts about Istanbul's Global Minds Book Club:

 

Discussing Books with Istanbul's Global Minds Book Club

 

Africa Day @ the Global Minds Book Club

 

Why yes, Empty Nest Expat is on Facebook. Meet me there and "like" my page so you don't miss an update.

 

Crossing Continents with a Covered Dish

I belong to a Facebook group called Cook's Corner for Expats in Turkey that is a collection of 700 home cooks living in Turkey from all corners of the globe. People use the group to ask each other where to find the elusive ingredient from home (cilantro? black beans? celery?). People also use it to share their excitement when a beloved product from home becomes a regular import in Turkey; I remember the Brits getting really excited about some sort of malt vinegar potato chips.

People post photos of their latest cooking and baking creations. Do you find cooking motivation by seeing what other people have made? I do. So many of the foods are things new to me, especially the Asian dishes. One day I exclaimed: "we need to have a potluck - I want to meet your food - oh, and you too." The idea took off and we instantly filled a roster of 23 people to meet together and share our creations. This is the second potluck of the group.

This is what I brought:

Spinach and Exotic Fruit Salad



 Brooks, an American and cofounder of the group with Virginia,
brought the rice dish

that his family always demands:

Indian Rice With Peas

I was so grateful to Helene

for bringing this Southwestern Salad.

I hadn't tasted a black bean for three years!

You don't know what you miss until you can't have it.

I loved meeting Kuraishini,

an expat from Sri Lanka,

who regularly gives

Sri Lankan cooking lessons

here in Istanbul.

 

She brought Sri Lankan fish cakes.

For the potluck, she toned down the spiciness.

Ha, bring it on Kuraishini.

 I want to see if I can handle it.

This is a dish from Aura's

hometown in Turkey, Sarma Aşı, 

a particular twist on stuffed grape leaves.

 

The bulgur, which has walnuts in it,

is stuffed into the grape leaves with a gherkin.

Here's the Turkish version of the recipe.

It's called Burdur Sarmaaşı.

 

Oh, this was so delish!

Underneath that spinach roll

was homemade dark and nutty German black bread.

 

The above food and the next two photos of food

were made by

a lovely young Pole named Aleksandra

who probably bakes and cooks

in the five or six languages she speaks!

 Gluten-free mini Zucchini Pizzas

made by Nicki from Long Island, New York

 Virginia, an American who used to own a popular café

in Istanbul's Sultanahmet neighborhood,

brought Hoppin' John, a traditional Afro-American dish

made with ham hocks.
Ham hocks weren't available in Istanbul

so Virginia used home-raised bacon from Serbia.

 

She had a non-pork version there too for the Muslims,

which was nice, as our hostess Kathy

was an American Sufi.

 

Kathy has a personal shopping business

and had just shown travel entrepreneur Rick Steves

around the bazaars earlier in the week.

 Salmon Quiche brought by

 Hawaiian Island native Becky from Maui.

I hadn't had scalloped potatoes in years either.

Western civilization comfort food!

 Derya,

an Australian with Cypriot heritage

brought this.

A traditional Austrian Sacher torte,

a chocolate cake

with a rum-apricot glaze

and a Pariser Crème glaze.

It was to die for.

An American named Franklin Orosco made this.

He used to own a café in Lithuania.

He made these

 Powidl Taschl, Mohn Plunder

and Apfel Plunder too.

These were so warm and wonderful.

I could just imagine Austrian children eating them

and becoming emotionally attached.

 

Franklin's creations were made with such

skill and pride.

You heard it here first (it's still a bit of a secret)

but Franklin Orosco is going to be offering baking lessons

here in Istanbul. Sssshhh. That's still on the QT.

This delectable dessert
is called an Eton Mess.

It was brought by a proud Englishman, Michael.

It was so fun to hear about the history of this dish.

American readers, what should I bring next time that represents American culture? My spinach salad couldn't burn or scorch and I thought of bringing an Arabic fattoush salad next time for the same reason. But I so loved sampling other people's "national dishes" that I feel I should 'represent' American food heritage.

 

I do make an amazing guacamole that used to make an appearance every Super Bowl game. I could bring that. What other dishes would you suggest that 'represent' American culinary heritage?

 

This is the first time I've ever taken a ferry and a cab to a potluck. I crossed from Europe, where I live, to Asia, where Kathy lives. What a lovely neighborly experience: crossing continents with a covered dish.

 

 

Photos courtesy of Brooks Emerson

 

 

 

Here are some other cooking posts you might enjoy:

 

My Morning Menemen

 

Christmas Eve Lunch with pomegranates

 

Playing more with pomegranates

 

A trip to Provence, accompanied by Julia Child

 

Sam's Salad with Cherries, Goat Cheese and Pistachios

 

Hanging Out with Old Friends in Wichita, Kansas

 

The Start of a Week in Provence

 

Provence Inspires Me to Make My First Tart

 

A Wonderful Evening With New Friends

 

 

 

Why yes, I'm on Facebook, you should 'like' my page: Empty Nest Expat!

 

 

 

My Morning Menemen

Hot and steaming

before I added my parsley garnish

The easiest Turkish recipe to cook is this one: menemen. I love the name because it is so exotic, yet it is a dish that could be cooked all over the world because the ingredients for it are so ubiquitous and inexpensive. The recipe is easy too. It really can't be messed up.

Bread is necessary to mop up the juices.

I make the slices as thin as possible.

Today I made my breakfast for myself, but one of the emotional tugs I feel writing about menemen is the memory of all the times I have shared it with friends. Breakfast is a very social, very shared meal in Turkey. Sometimes, instead of assembling and eating an entire Turkish breakfast, or ordering an entire Turkish breakfast, one dish of hot comfort food suffices. 

The Days of Wine and Roses and Tulips: Wine Tasting at the Four Seasons Sultanahmet

 It's Tulip Time in Istanbul.

 The whole city is bursting with tulips - 4,000,000 of them.

These are in the courtyard of the Four Seasons Hotel Sultanahmet.

 My friend, Yasemin, had gathered a group for

wine tasting and divine cheeses -

a regular Friday night event

at the Four Seasons.

 Quince marmalade, olives, and fresh melon

with assorted breads and cheeses

displayed and assembled

to create our light repasts.

It was a treat to see friends -

in a momentary break from

weeks of intensive Turkish lessons.

Last night's tasting featured Italian wines:

 

Pinot Grigio Venezie IGT Blush, Ardesia 2011

Nero D'Avola IGT Sicily, Cataldo 2011

Cavalcante Sangiovese Di Toscana IGT, Baroncini 2011

Chianti "Messere" D.O.C.G. Baroncini 2011

 

I enjoyed the full-bodied Sangiovese and Chianti best. 

 

Danish blue and a smoky

Cergiz cheese were the most fabulous -

because they were the boldest.

Afterwards, we went to the roof

to enjoy the view of the Hagia Sophia on one side.

And the view of the Bosphorus

and the Four Seasons courtyard

on the other.

 

This Four Seasons Hotel used to be a coed prison.

It housed political prisoners

who were imprisoned after

the military coups in the 1980s.

 It is better to be in Istanbul

now, not then,

during these days of tulips and wine and roses.

 

 

Photos courtesy of Yasemin Erdem and Ibrahim Turco.

Playing More With Pomegranates

Roasted carrots with goat's cheese and pomegranates

Yesterday was a cold, overcast day in Istanbul perfect for staying indoors and experimenting in the kitchen. Now that I've learned how to easily remove the seeds from pomegranates, I keep exploring recipes that use them. This is roasted carrots with goat's cheese and pomegranates.  It made for wonderful comfort food.

What Turkish fruit or vegetable should I try next?

Christmas Eve Lunch with pomegranates

Delicious, healthy, and pretty! 

Turkey has such beautiful fruits and vegetables and so much of it is produce that I have never cooked with before. I vowed to change that. Here is a very easy salad I made using an ingredient that is everywhere in Istanbul: pomegranates. I walk by pomegranate trees with big red bulbs hanging from them everyday.

 Christmas Eve Day Lunch:

Quinoa, mint & pomegranate salad 

I found a secret technique that only took two minutes to learn that taught me how to access the pretty, red juicy seeds of the fruit. It was just as easy as it looked. I substituted walnut oil for olive oil in this BBC recipe and voila! A beautiful holiday salad to be enjoyed al fresco.

Christmas Eve Day

A peaceful spot to give thanks

for life

A trip to Provence, accompanied by Julia Child

What is the greatest expat book of all time? So far, for me, it has to be "My Life in France" by Julia Child. These days it is easy for expats to get a book in an instant on Kindle. I still love the experience of paper copies though. I bought Julia Child's memoir of a life in France in Little Rock, Arkansas, hand carried it to Istanbul, and then to Provence, to read while when I went to visit my college girlfriend Robin and her family in July.

Last year, I delighted in documenting the pleasures of the Provence in ten different posts about my visit to Robin's house. This year was as wonderful and we did much the same things. First, there were the market pleasures in Loumartin to experience:

Perfect cherry tomatoes

Beautiful berries

more exquisite

by the small size of their boxes

French rabbits who gave their lives

in service to their country's cuisine

There were also the pleasures of food and conversation at the table. My friend Robin is a wonderful cook who knows how to make her family and guests feel loved by the smell, taste, and look of her exquisite home-cooked food.

Knowing I was coming from Istanbul, where access to pork in daily cuisine is practically non-existent, she indulged my cravings for all things pig while I was there. I think we had eight pork meals in a row!

My first breakfast in Provence.

Scrambled eggs and bacon!

Like manna from heaven.

A leek and bacon tart

Steak, mashed potatos and gravy,

grilled mushrooms and roasted fennel

Roast chicken, potatoes, and carrots.

Notice the French market preference

for keeping almost the entirety

of the chicken's feet on the chicken.

Warm leek and bacon soup

Fresh melon and prosciutto

Fresh berry tart

An English summer pudding

Oh, so delicious!

Serena, Robin and Jim's daughter, was visiting from Australia where she is working on her Masters degree in philosophy. It was so wonderful for me to see and listen to her. I had last seen Serena when she was in eighth grade. I enjoyed hearing her discuss her intellectual interests. Experiencing the children of our friends can be so delightful, don't you agree? It's a chance to appreciate our friend's life work in parenting.

Serena has grown up

to be as fine a cook

as both of her parents

Serena's apricot upside-down cake

inspired by famous food blogger

 David Lebovitz

Last year, I had told Robin and Jim about my favorite soup, Russian Cabbage Borscht, out of Mollie Katzen's "Moosewood Cookbook." Neither of them had tried borscht, so I promised to make it this year. I must need new glasses though, because in buying the tomato puree for the soup, I failed to notice two bright red chilies on the French-language label.

My soup may look like it is supposed to look, but borscht is not supposed to burn your tongue with chili heat! Oh well...our memories are always enhanced by the things that go wrong in a humorous way. I hope Robin, Jim, and Serena will give borscht a second chance after my Russian cabbage soup got a cross-cultural Latin American dose of extra heat! It's not supposed to taste like that.

Beet, cabbage, carrot, and potato goodness

Russian Cabbage Borscht

topped with yogurt and dill -

normally, healthy and satisfying comfort food.

I relished reading Julia Child's memoir of cooking and cookbook creation at the exact same time I was experiencing such interesting French food markets and food. Julia's joy in discovering the best in a culture new to her, and personalizing that knowledge with the creation of a cookbook celebrating France's cuisine was such rich reading. Provencal surroundings of French landscape and cuisine and dear friends who celebrated both enhanced my reading pleasure.

It was fascinating to me that Julia Child saw America in the polarized way of red and blue that we know today, even if she didn't use those familiar descriptive terms that were invented long after her book was published. She expressed such wonder in cross-cultural discovery and couldn't understand why her own family did not want to experience that same wonder.

Julia Child hit the sweet spot of publishing with her book when American women were cooking for themselves and wanted to make their meals as gracious and as beautiful as possible. I personally have tried cooking out of her cookbook and always find it too laborious and complicated. That doesn't mean I don't appreciate her achievement though.

I could not help but weep at the end of the memoir, such was Julia Child's fervor for the act of living and discovery and creation. What an incredibly well-lived life. Were she still alive, she would have turned 100 years old this week.

Robin and I traded books, and I started the book she was reading: The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. Author Gretchen Rubin fretted that time was short and she asked herself, "am I focusing on the things that really made me happy?"

The book was an account of one woman's drive to do all the things that could contribute to a net increase in her happiness over the course of the year.

How fun it was to read two books in one week and discuss the ideas in each title with my friend. I haven't read two books in one week in years! In the afternoon, Robin and I would have a late afternoon swim and discuss what we had read. The week was a retreat in every sense of the word.

I love this woman!

Thank you Robin,

for a wonderful week with you and your family.