JPG Magazine online conducts themed photo contests and this month’s includes “Fashion.” While many of the submissions are predictably “hot” (i.e., women in “sexy” poses wearing less than their mothers would normally let them and looking pretty much like whores), I submitted this one below of Sara, which I think is far hotter:

You can vote […]

the sara cafe & waterpipes

Just an FYI to gentle Goyareaders interested in more photos of Istanbul: I have over 100 on my Flickr site in the Istanbul set. And I’m in the midst of a self-indulgent Sara photo fest (the My Beloved in Istanbul set), the last of the Istanbul photos that I intened to […]

minaret seagulls

One of the mysterious things in Istanbul at night are the seagulls that gather around the lighted minarets, especially those on the Blue Mosque (pictured here) and the Aya Sofya (Hagia Sophia). As dusk falls, they are drawn one by one to the glow and begin lazy circles. Sara […]

D-Day was June 6. June 17th is F-Day, the day when the forces of fatherhood amass on the beaches of parental privilege to retake the territory lost to parental obligation. Led by sacred right and custom whereby the father reigns supreme on this day (and this day only, being held captive as he is by […]

We almost missed them. But after lunch at the cafe on the grounds of the Topkapi Palace, I glanced over the site map and couldn’t believe what I read: “Relics of St. John the Baptist” in the Treasury section of the museum where you can see huge gems and jeweled daggars from the Ottoman Empire. […]

hanging out

Sara and I walked some back streets of Istanbul where it was pretty poor, but somehow not too intimidating. Kids where playing and groups of friends (sisters?) were hanging out chatting and laughing. There was no sense of desperation that would drive one to crime (thank Islam for that, […]

thinking about the sultan’s concubines

My beloved reflecting over the concubine quarters in the Topkapi Palace harem.

newly circumcised

When young boys (4-7-ish) in Turkey are circumcised, thus becoming officially part of the religious community (not unlike Catholic communion), they don these flamboyant outfits. This boy was being photographed by his mother in the courtyard of the Blue Mosque.