“Inside every human being, there is a loneliness greater than any storm. Some try to fill it with people, others with dreams. And a few, poor souls, only ever find the silence inside growing louder.” Sabahattin Ali, Kürk Mantolu Madonna (Madonna in a Fur Coat) Above: Turkish writer Sabahattin Ali Spring arrived this week, with… Continue reading The cheese transporter
Category: love
Floréal 1, Year 233
UNIVERSITY LECTURE HALL – DAYGeneva, Switzerland He walked resolutely from his dusty, book-lined office. Faint rays of afternoon sun sliced through motes in the air. PROFESSOR LINTON MARCH stood at the front of the lecture hall, the chalk in his hand a small but heavy weapon. He wrote “FRENCH REVOLUTION” across the blackboard, the squeak… Continue reading Floréal 1, Year 233
The last gentleman
He boarded the train to St. Gallen with the confidence of a man entering a courtroom in which he was both plaintiff and defendant. Under his right arm, glistening in the weak morning sun, dangled the unapologetically plastic limbs of a woman no one dared to name. Her expression was fixed — lips parted, eyes… Continue reading The last gentleman
Candle in the wind
Friday 18 April 2025 (Good Friday) Landschlacht, Canton Thurgau, Switzerland On this day in the predominantly Christian nation of Switzerland there is little that anyone can do today. Above: Flag of Switzerland Shops and businesses and cinemas are all closed to commemorate the execution of Christ by crucifixion on Golgotha (Calvary) outside the walls of… Continue reading Candle in the wind
This mediocre adventure
Journal de Jules Renard February 28, 1895 “I think that if I had to choose a profession all over again, I would not be a writer. I would be a peasant. A peasant doesn’t need to please anyone but the land. The land does not flatter in return. Writers grow hunchbacked over paper, hungrily awaiting… Continue reading This mediocre adventure
The road to Romanshorn
Peace of Mind, Part One of Four: Sunday 16 March 2025 Landschlacht, Canton Thurgau, Switzerland Above: Landschlacht Bahnhof, Canton Thurgau, Switzerland “You must change your life. You must change your life not for a particular reason or to achieve a particular goal, but because life is change. To change one’s life means to be in… Continue reading The road to Romanshorn
Oblivion: the sacred and the absurd
Monday 17 February 2025 Eskişehir, Türkiye “Time is the father of truth. Its mother is our mind.” Giordano Bruno, The Ash Wednesday Supper (1584) Reading the past I hope to glean truth that sustains me for the future. By considering the past, perhaps I can perceive the lessons that history can teach us. In examining… Continue reading Oblivion: the sacred and the absurd
Another season
Sunday 16 February 2025 Sometimes words are like tears. Sometimes they quietly emerge from out of the corners of our perception. At other times they pour out of us like the torrent of my rushing river. And there are times when they cannot flow. My research on this calendar day has drawn me to 1923.… Continue reading Another season
What’s love got to do with it?
Thursday 14 February 2025 Eskişehir, Türkiye Where does one find love? Perhaps Rome? Above: Roma (Rome), Italia The Basilica di Santa Maria in Cosmedin is a minor basilican church in Rome, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Located in the rione (neighborhood) of Ripa and constructed first in the 6th century as a diaconia (deaconry) in an area of the city populated by Greek immigrants,… Continue reading What’s love got to do with it?
Battle scars
Eskişehir, Türkiye Wednesday 12 February 2025 We tell ourselves war ends when the treaties are signed, when the guns fall silent. But for those who bear its scars, war is never truly over. The fight continues — not on the battlefield, but in the struggle to heal, to be seen, to be whole again. And… Continue reading Battle scars