If God had not made brown honey, men would think figs much sweeter than they do. - Xenophanes I was back in Istanbul Airport waiting for my flight back to the Philippines, with some remaining Turkish liras in my bag. While contemplating what would be best...
Heinrich Heine’s famous “Lyrisches Intermezzo” contains sixty-six songs and a prologue where we meet a dreamy poet, the knight: Once upon a time, there was a melancholy knight, With haggard, snow-white cheeks; He staggered and stumbled, and lumbered around, Obsessed by gloomy visions. He was so wooden, so clumsy, so...
“I may not live to see our glory But I will gladly join the fight And when our children tell our story They’ll tell the story of tonight” ― Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton: The Revolution When I first heard my teenage son sing songs from the musical Hamilton and made it...
“O may I join the choir invisible Of those immortal dead who live again In minds made better by their presence; live In pulses stirred to generosity, In deeds of daring rectitude...
My first visit to Europe was for a conference in Rome, which included a tour of Rome, Spain, and France. I still recall that our group size in the bus was ideal: it allowed us to have a chair in-between for hand carries and do...
“The river has great wisdom and whispers its secrets to the hearts of men.” - Mark Twain The Museum of London Docklands opened in 2003 to narrate the story of the River Thames, the growth of the Port of London, and the historical link of the...
I thought of beginning the year with considerations of the Prime Meridian, the meridian in a geographic coordinate system at which longitude is defined to be 0°. In as much as this is the point where geographical numberings begin, we begin the year anew. My...
“Whenever I find myself talking of the beauty and the poetry of the Bosphorus and Istanbul's dark streets, a voice inside me warns against exaggeration, a tendency perhaps motivated by a wish not to acknowledge the lack of beauty in my own life. If I...
“They came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things...
The conferences I had to attend overseas allowed me to experience Turkish Air and touchdowns in Istanbul a number of times. Twice, I also managed to avail free layover service. Everyone who flew through Istanbul and had a 6-24 hours layover time was eligible for...