another less-explored refuge of quiet in Istanbul

  About an hour by ferry ride from Istanbul (though technically still within the city limits) lies the chain of islands known as the Princess Islands. I have previously posted about the largest one, Büyük Ada and one of the smaller, rarely-visited ones, Sedef Adası. This year, after many times of passing by them, I have visited two of the other main islands in the group, Burgazada and Heybeliada.

Burgazada, from as seen from Heybeliada

 Like Buyuk Ada, these two also have old Greek Orthodox churches or monasteries on them. On Heybeliada, there are supposed to be many old unexamined manuscripts of Christian writings and Scriptures in the library. Anyways, on the recommendation of a friend, I visited Burgazada on a day early in the summer when I needed a chance for quiet. I wandered through the wooded areas, finding my way to the top using paths instead of the main road. You can see my approximation of the path I followed in the picture below.

Burgazada

on Burgazada

Through the open window, looking into the chapel on top of Burgazada

Heybeliada

  Now as a family, we have visited Heybeliada and thoroughly enjoyed exploring it, its lovely national forest, and the quiet streets. 

with the little buddy, watching the boats and the water

Istanbul, in the distance - panoramic from Heybeliada

  In the Orthodox cemetery on Burgazada, there were a variety of interesting headstones: names that seemed to be a mix of German and Turkish (Ingrid Stiedl Ülker), headstones with German, Greek and possibly English on them; and some weren't even really accessible.

Christina K Koymake ??? 2 March 1890
Aomnika D Maypake ??? 6 October1881

from 1946 

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Ingrid Ulker (1949-1990)

Rene Glaser (1927-1947)

Franz Muhlbauer 1928-1992

  With my interest in family history, hidden cemeteries and their possible histories always interest me.

Elbow's "Illiteracy" - on education, excellence, resistance and compliance

  As I prepare to write my MA thesis in the field of EFL writing and as I am teaching a new class on Expository Writing, I am doing substantial reading on the topic. One of the most insightful writers about writing that I've read is Peter Elbow; below are selections from his article "Illiteracy at Oxford and Harvard: Reflections on the Inability to Write. (A version of the article is here.)

If you can’t write, you can’t be a student. But the inability to write doesn’t get in the way of teaching at all.

...falling in love with teachers is such an efficient way to learn because it solves all motivation problems.

Learning wasn’t enough for them; I had to be made to unlearn and then be built up from scratch.

These commentators emphasize not only how learning leads inevitably to resistance, but also that we can’t learn well without resistance. It seems clear that an important goal for teachers is to help students find fruitful or healthy ways to resist.

That is, in the very act of writing itself—at least if we want to be understood—we have to give in to the code or the conventions. The conventions. To write is to be conventional.

True excellence is rare because it consists of something paradoxical and hard to explain: the ability to be extremely assertive or even resistant while at the same time managing to comply very well with the requirements of conventions, teachers, assignments, and readers.

Elbow, Peter. Everyone Can Write: Essays toward a Hopeful Theory of Writing and Teaching Writing (pp. 8, 16, 17-18, 20-21). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition. (Emphasis mine)