Cultural History

In case you didn't get the esoteric reference in the title of my first post, here's the explanation. Hope you find it as weird as I do.

from: http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~yavuzcet/lyrics.htm

"Istanbul" 1953

Words by Jimmy Kennedy Music by Nat Simon

"It's Istanbul, not Constantinople now ...." Leave it to Tin Pan Alley to turn centuries of ethnic and religious struggles into a catchy ditty. This song, although copyrighted by Kennedy and Simon, is a direct descendant of the humourous piece, "Al-Bar the Bubul Emir" that could be found in the pages of "Captain Billy's Whizbang," an early 20th century precursor to "Mad Magazine."
[But popularized by The Four Lads and even recorded by They Might Be Giants.--jt]

Lyrics:

Istanbul was Constantinople
Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Now it's Turkish delight on a moonlit night

Every gal in Constantinople
Lives in Istanbul, not Constantinople
So if you've a date in Constantinople
She'll be waiting in Istanbul

Even old New York was once New Amsterdam
Why they changed it I can't say
People just liked it better that way

So take me back to Constantinople
No, you can't go back to Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Why did Constantinople get the works
That's nobody's business but the Turks

Istanbul (Istanbul)
Istanbul (Istanbul)

Even old New York was once New Amsterdam
Why they changed it I can't say
People just liked it better that way

Istanbul was Constantinople
Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Why did Constantinople get the works
That's nobody's business but the Turks

So take me back to Constantinople
No, you can't go back to Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Why did Constantinople get the works
That's nobody's business but the Turks

Istanbul.

"It's Istanbul, not Constantinople now ...."

Not too long ago I wouldn’t have considered visiting Turkey (“isn’t it dangerous there?”), now I live here. Okay, so I exaggerate slightly (moi?). But I am sitting in our home exchange apartment on the Asian side of Istanbul, watching the ships go by our picture window as they make their way up the Bosphorus to the Black Sea, the European skyline quiet in the background. From our patio extending 100’ down the hillside to the waterfront road below lies a terraced garden, where there grow plums and raspberries and herbs and countless other aromatic entities that this city boy can’t recognize but clearly associates with edible nature. On our grounds at the edge of the garden you can walk into two enclosed rooms in the remnants of a building dating back to pre-Ottoman times, when these Constantinople waterways were ruled by the Masters of the Universe. Now one day a year they stop the boat traffic long enough to have a swim race across the Bosphorus. I so want to do this! I’ve done races in the Hudson, catching a glimpse of Manhattan with each breath, and swam from New Jersey to Pennsylvania and back (admittedly across a narrow stretch of the Delaware), but to swim from Europe to Asia, now that would be cool… maybe even dangerous.

So after the usual week of misery scurrying around NYC getting ready to leave, never quite able to get everything done despite 16-hour days, here we are in another world. We’ll be in Turkey for six weeks which, after having done India in a weekend (http://indiaweekend.blogspot.com), sure seems like a long time. I’m here for 3+ weeks of work for OSI on behalf of Bloomfield College, and a couple of weeks of vacation. Jesse, Riley and I just finished a weekend OSI conference (“barcamp“) here in Istanbul, where we’ll stay for the week before heading south to Dikilli on Friday with Nathaniel and CAT students Kahlin, Mercedes and Jonathan to start teaching the media component in an OSI “citizen journalism” program, working with students from 28 different countries. But more on this later. I have to go play with our dog, Rico.