MY LIFE AND THOUGHTS

Another photo essay from last term’s nonfiction class at Koc… this one is an ironic commentary on the form! The author is Jasmin Baruh, a senior majoring in Business Administration.

THE GREATEST NIGHT

(more…)

Here is another installment of student writing, titled “The Way,” by a senior majoring in international relations. Because it mentions weed, a perennially delicate subject (when will I learn?), the author of this piece has asked me to redact her name and photo. I will mention only that the picture showed four very cute young people sitting on a futon.

(more…)

Dear readers, hello! I am back in Istanbul, as a direct result of having spent several hours 30,000 feet in the air seated next to a grown man who watched the ENTIRE SMURF MOVIE from beginning to end. And when I got back to Koç, there was a dead bird on my doorstep! Truly, there is no place like home.

I am very happy to share with you today another installment of student writing from my Koç nonfiction class: “The Deep,” a photo essay by sophomore literature major Simay Yaylalı, complete with original emoticons.

THE DEEP

(more…)

Big thanks to everyone who came out to the panel at the Center for Fiction last Friday! It was wonderful to attach so many cute faces to colorful names. I learned so very much from my fabulous co-panelists, particularly the amazing and lovely Rivka Galchen, that I now watch the video every night before I go to sleep.

In other news, I’ve been meaning for a while to share some writing from the nonfiction writing class I  taught last term at Koç University. I’m so proud of my students (all of whom are native Turkish speakers writing in English)! Today I have for you “The Calendar of the Old Button Collector,” by Naz Cuguoğlu, a senior majoring in psychology.

The assignment was to write about an old photo, in the style of Geoff Dyer’s “On the Roof” (from Otherwise Known as the Human Condition, which I was really happy to announce the other night as a 2011 NBCC Finalist!). Here are Naz’s photo and essay.

THE CALENDAR OF THE OLD BUTTON COLLECTOR

(more…)