Beyond Glass Town

Sunday 21 April 2024 Eskişehir, Türkiye You advise me, too, not to stray far from the ground of experience, as I become weak when I enter the region of fiction. You say: “Real experience is perennially interesting, and to all men“. I feel that this also is true, but, dear Sir, is not the real… Continue reading Beyond Glass Town

An unknown country

Eskişehir, Türkiye 20 April 2024 “What sort of diary should I like mine to be? Something loose knot and yet not slovenly, so elastic that it will embrace anything, solemn, slight or beautiful that comes into my mind. I should like it to resemble some deep old desk or capacious hold-all, in which one flings… Continue reading An unknown country

Driven

Eskişehir, Türkiye Friday 19 April 2024 “In the morning paper I come across two small events that together seem significant. The black singer Paul Robeson was supposed to give a recital in Peoria. At the last minute, the concert was cancelled on the pretext that Robeson is a Communist. The authorities insist that they didn’t… Continue reading Driven

The Woman in Room 101

Eskişehir, Türkiye Thursday 18 April 2024 (continued) “At each stage of his imprisonment Winston had known or seemed to know whereabouts he was in the windowless building. Possibly there were slight differences in the air pressure. This place was many metres underground, as deep down as it was possible to go. “You asked me once… Continue reading The Woman in Room 101

The Ministry of Story

Barlinnie Prison, Glasgow, Scotland 17 April 1976 “I thought of the beautiful cool evening, how I long to be walking in it outside this cell. All of this took place while I sat in the semi-dark reading a book. The thoughts on freedom were only momentary but so powerful that they seem to tear my… Continue reading The Ministry of Story

Voices carry

Eskişehir, Türkiye Tuesday 16 April 2024 Above: A spectrogram (0-5000 Hz) of the sentence “It’s all Greek to me.” spoken by a female voice World Voice Day (WVD) is a worldwide annual event that takes place on 16 April devoted to the celebration of the phenomenon of voice.  The aim is to demonstrate the enormous importance of… Continue reading Voices carry

The inner light

Eskişehir, Türkiye Friday 5 April 2024 “We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love,… Continue reading The inner light

Rites of passage

Eskişehir, Türkiye Thursday 4 April 2024 “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. From the table drawer he took out a penholder, a bottle of ink, and a thick, quarto-sized blank book with a red back and a marbled cover. It was a peculiarly beautiful book. Its smooth… Continue reading Rites of passage

Canada Slim and the Last Battle

Eskisehir, Switzerland, Sunday 19 September 2021 As the dates below will show, this blog (The Chronicles of Canada Slim) (one of two) has suffered from neglect. I offer only one explanation: I have been….distracted. The purpose of The Chronicles of Canada Slim is to capture in writing my adventures prior to the calendar year. Generally,… Continue reading Canada Slim and the Last Battle