Raindrops are splashing down on the cobblestone streets outside the hostel for the first time since we arrived in Istanbul over a week and a half ago. Reflecting on my day, I remember several times marveling at the degree of my own independence. This trip has really given me the opportunity to test myself and expand my problem-solving and creative thinking skills. For example, I had an interview scheduled this afternoon with an Istanbul-based journalist, columnist, and blogger named Mustafa Akyol (more about the interview in a bit). He gave me his address, and told me to meet him at his home office at noon. I took the metro to his neighborhood, hailed a cab, showed the driver the address on a scrap of paper, which elicited a prompt "NO," an arm movement in the direction of a busy street, and my exit from the cab. I looked around the unfamiliar intersection, found the metro ticket booth, and showed the scrap of paper to the attendant, who gestured towards the same busy street. I headed up the street, and after walking for about 30 minutes through a mostly residential neighborhood, stopping to show my scrap of paper to several passers-by, I found the apartment building with 15 minutes to spare. Congratulating myself, I stopped inside a convenience store for a yogurt, which I ate without a spoon on the store's front stoop. To my surprise, I was greeted after a few moments by the attendant of the neighboring hardware shop, who smiled and handed me an old armchair cushion. What a random act of kindness. I don't think I'll ever forget that gesture. I smiled as I made my way down the street to Mustafa's apartment.
Mustafa's apartment looked like a page from an IKEA catalog. All black and white furniture, sleek lines, and minimalist art. He delivered his well-crafted answers to my questions about Turkey's political climate and the Turkish news media with the same polished ease. Mustafa exemplifies the attitudes of many of Turkey's young, educated, up-and-coming elites. They're tired of the old argument that the state always knows best, that secularism and nationalism comes before liberty and free choice, and that the Turkish people aren't quite "ready" for democracy yet. They believe that moderate and Islam and democracy can and will exist in Turkey, and that Turkish membership in the European Union will mean more economic opportunities, and more importantly, more rights for those groups traditionally oppressed by the Turkish state: the Kurds and Armenians, as well as public intellectuals who dare to question or criticize the military, Muslim women who want both to wear a headscarf and attend university. The interview was a fascinating eye-opener for the political and social changes that are making waves in Turkey today.
I thought about all of the opportunities I've had like this on this trip- for "real world" education, so to speak, during a lecture this afternoon when the professor mentioned the concept of experiential learning in EU-led programs to educate students in Turkish schools about the basic elements of human rights. The cycle goes something like this: experience, reflection, generalization, re-interpretation, back to experience. I was struck by something else she said- in the context of human rights, learning all of the theory in the world doesn't mean anything unless you take those principles and act on them, incorporate them into your daily life and work for a cause you yourself believe in. I think the same can be said about all areas of study- which is why this project is making me so excited about actually going out and someday producing the type of journalism that I'm finding out is so important.
One last thought, not sure how coherent it is. This evening I was enjoying a dinner of Kofte, Turkish lamb meatballs, at a restaurant underneath the Galata bridge facing out at the Marmara Sea with Kate and her friend Leah, who is visiting from Cairo, where she's spending the semester abroad. We were having a great conversation- about the various social and cultural differences in the societies where we found ourselves, about the politics of sex and gender in the U.S. election- and suddenly it occurred to me that in 20 years or so, a lot of the people who I know are going to be doing really, really extraordinary things. It was one of those moments of both supreme contentment and excitement.
