Above: Socrates teaching Sunday 19 October 2025 Ankara, Türkiye Education as Power Throughout history, the most dangerous person to any oppressive system has not been the warrior or the rebel — but the teacher. Throughout history, great thinkers have recognized that education is not merely about learning facts — It is about shaping the mind… Continue reading The Oppressed Pedagogy
Tag: world history
The Academy of Joy (2)
Wednesday 15 October 2025 Ankara, Türkiye Above: Fountain of the Nymphs in Kızılay Square in Ankara (1930) Reading about René Daumal’s Le Mont Analogue has led my mind to consider – Above: French writer René Daumal (1908 – 1944) Let us call it an idea, for lack of a better word – The quest for enlightenment,… Continue reading The Academy of Joy (2)
The weeping guitar
Canadian Thanksgiving Sunday Sunday 12 October 2025 Ankara, Türkiye Above: Images of Ankara There are mornings when the world feels unbearably heavy — when the weight of its sorrows presses upon the heart so insistently that even gratitude struggles to breathe. This is one such morning. Two images linger in my mind: Above: Flag of… Continue reading The weeping guitar
The ostrich in the room
Sunday 5 October 2025 Ankara, Türkiye Above: Başkent Millet Bahçesi Park, Ankara, Türkiye There is an old story about the ostrich, repeated since the days of Pliny the Elder, that when danger approaches the bird buries its head in the sand, imagining that what it cannot see cannot see it. In Natural History, Pliny the… Continue reading The ostrich in the room
The Ballad of the Whispering Swamp
Now gather ’round where the fireflies danceAnd the fog drapes low like a bridal trance,Where the trees lean in with a listening grace,And the swamp wears time on its wrinkled face. They say there’s a place by the Dnipro’s bendWhere the world forgets how the war must end—Where frogs sit still like philosopher kings,And counsel… Continue reading The Ballad of the Whispering Swamp
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
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
Next stop upon request (Runaway train)
Above: The logo of Swiss Federal Railways – the national railway company of Switzerland The train lurches with a sudden screeech, the hum of forward motion swallowed by the high eee of braking and the collective gasp of surprised passengers clutching at poles and seats. The train halts between Egnach and Arbon, a silent pause in motion.… Continue reading Next stop upon request (Runaway train)
Seeing red
Part Three of Peace of Mind / Part Two of The Road to Rorschach Sunday 6 April 2025 Landschlacht, Canton Thurgau, Schweiz Above: St. Leonhard’s Chapel, Landschlacht, Canton Thurgau, Schweiz I returned yesterday evening from a five-day mini-vacation in Bologna, Italy. Memory, at least mine, is much like a pot of tea. It needs time… Continue reading Seeing red