Before I get started

This will start in late June/early July to trace a trip with 11 other teachers and our guides as we travel the lands of the Ottoman Empire. The trip is through the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Arizona and funded through the Fulbright Foundation. I am immensely grateful to be part of the trip. The itinerary is intense and I am hoping to try to keep it in order through this whenever and wherever we have adequate internet access. Meanwhile I'll post other things like the itinerary and parameters of the program.

I am "going back" in some senses -- between 1983 and 1985 I lived in Izmir, Turkey, with my family. It was a grand place to live -- perched on Izmir Bay, looking out toward the Aegean. Above us on Kadifekale was the ruin of the "Velvet Fortress." built centuries ago by Alexander the Great as he began HIS march to empire. The city is large and bustling, known to antiquity as Smyrna. Surrounding it are the 7 churches mentioned in the book of Revelation, with the pre-eminent one being about 50 miles away at Ephesus. We traveled as much as we could in Turkey. Our sons, Jeff and Andy, were small then and little boys are a wonderful ice breaker. We saw much of the western parts of Turkey, but only Don was able to travel into the East. Turkey was a friendly and hospitable host for all of our adventures. During that time it was under martial law following a coup in 1980, but restrictions were lifted during our time there, and people were friendly, kind, and dignified.

Now going back as a teacher will be different, and I hope to be able to understand the complex history and human geography of the area. We will travel not only in Turkey, but in Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Albania, Montenegro, and a bit in Greece. In some senses the issues of empire anywhere are similar, but the centuries of the Ottoman rule were very different from many other empires. Stay tuned.