ÿþ<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML> <HEAD> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> <meta name="author" content="Aziz Gökdemir"> <meta name="description" content="A Backstory"> <meta name="keywords" content="aziz gokdemir turkish americans online photos flags nationalism"> <TITLE>Aziz Gökdemir: Background/Backstory</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0000FF" ALINK="#0099FF" VLINK="#0099FF"> <!-- Changes checklist: Meta tags, descriptions, and title above. Spacer gif sizes and alt tags for photographs and pull-quotes. And load page to make sure all the template extras have been removed. --> <!-- To push page up in Explorer and NS4, use LEFTMARGIN="0" TOPMARGIN="0" MARGINHEIGHT="0" MARGINWIDTH="0" --> <!-- Text color alternative for older browsers (333366) does not dilute the picture border too much in Netscape --> <A NAME="top"></A> <center> <!-- Top table for green headers --> <TABLE width="506" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="5" CELLSPACING="0"> <TR> <td WIDTH="496" bgcolor="#000000" valign="top" align="center"><a href="../index.html" target="_parent"><font face="Trebuchet MS, helvetica, geneva, arial, sans-serif" color="#00ff00" size="+1">Aziz Gökdemir's Archive</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS, helvetica, geneva, arial, sans-serif" color="#ffffff" size="+1"> | </font><a href="index.html"><font face="Trebuchet MS, helvetica, geneva, arial, sans-serif" color="#00ff00" size="+1">Information and Tools</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS, helvetica, geneva, arial, sans-serif" color="#ffffff" size="+1"> | </font><font face="Trebuchet MS, helvetica, geneva, arial, sans-serif" color="#009900" size="+1">Background/Backstory</font></td></tr> </table> <!-- Main (white) table for the journal index text --> <TABLE width="506" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0"> <TR> <!-- Left margin cell. --> <td width="50" bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top" align="left"> &nbsp; </td> <!-- Main cell --> <td WIDTH="406" bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top"> <!-- The opening photograph and its caption --> <BR><BR><font face="Trebuchet MS, helvetica, geneva, arial, sans-serif" color="#009900" size="+1">Background/Backstory</font><BR><IMG SRC="../images/sb24-crop1400106-50.jpg" alt="couple in the snow by Oryal Gkdemir" width="400" height="106" border="3"><font face="Trebuchet MS, helvetica, geneva, arial, sans-serif" color="#000000" size="-2"><br>Photo by my father, circa 1964.<br> </td> <!-- A cell to make a right margin 50 pixels wide --> <td width="50" bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top"><IMG SRC="../azizicons/pixel.gif" HEIGHT="1" WIDTH="20" alt="space"></td></tr></TABLE> <!-- ABOUT --> <A NAME="about"></A> <TABLE width="506" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0"> <TR> <!-- A cell to make a left margin 50 pixels wide --> <td width="50" bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top"><IMG SRC="../azizicons/pixel.gif" HEIGHT="1" WIDTH="20" alt="space"></td> <!-- Middle content cell --> <td WIDTH="406" bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top"> </font><font face="Trebuchet MS, geneva, arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1" color="#000000"><BR> I am not going to claim that any of this unique. In a way we all have the same story if we go back far enough.<BR><BR> A land is "discovered," conquered, and settled by people who then go about reinventing themselves. Their tales accumulate, each one a palimpsest. These may or may not survive the rocky cycle of branching and pruning we call generations. Some families hang on to every little crumb of the past; others shed and forget, either deliberately or because they're careless (or because they don't care).<BR><BR> Memory can gather new layers as it travels through time, much like the stuff in the attic gathering dust when left to fend for itself. Or it may be reduced to its bare essentials; it becomes sharper with age, no muss, no fuss -- obsidian-like, to paraphrase Jane Smiley.<BR><BR> <IMG SRC="../images/sb24-crop240099-50.jpg" alt="couple in the snow by Oryal Gökdemir" width="400" height="99" border="3"> <BR><BR> In my case the trail is cold because: My people had no last names for hundreds of years. You see, last names are used to record and track property rights; when you're one of the millions of subjects of an emperor who officially holds title to everything including your pants and shirtsleeves rolled-up back bent working the fields, what good is a last name? Even if you had one, would you know how to write it?<BR><BR> We know at some point that they were Macedonian Turks fleeing the chaos that preceded the First Balkan War, and over time they traveled across a troubled landscape, acquiring family members whose origins can likewise be probed only a couple generations or so. And now the saga continues in the New World.<BR><BR> The rest shall be got to eventually.<BR><BR> <!-- &#182; I tasted alcohol for the first time when I was seven. It's made me sick only once in my life. (I was born in 1967.)<BR> &#182; My earliest memory in life is of the first moonwalk. I was 2 and I remember the pearl-white TV set I watched it on.<BR> &#182; I lost a cousin, a leftist student leader, to violence when I was 9. He was in his 20s.<BR> &#182; I was raised without any religion. Today I find the subject fascinating, especially the associated literature, music, and architecture, but I remain a non-religious person. The closest I come to spirituality is through forms of art. I believe this is also called a high.<BR> &#182; The first time I encountered a friend's computer (a Sinclair ZX Spectrum!) we played games on it until dawn and just kept going.<BR> &#182; I've smoked maybe 15 joints and 5-10 cigarettes in my life. I don't have any desire to revisit either of those.<BR> &#182; I work from home as an editor. I can't remember the last time I had to put on a business suit.<BR> &#182; Though people have called me a smart person, there's at least one trait I share with Homer Simpson: reflexive desire. For example, if someone so much as mentions coffee in a movie, I think, "Mmm... Coffee."<BR> &#182; Mmm... Coffee.<BR> &#182; I have a B.S. <I>and</I> an M.S. in engineering. I haven't worked a day as an engineer in my life and I couldn't even B.S. my way through a ten-minute presentation about what I supposedly learned in school.<BR> &#182; Since I learned English as a second language I am virtually unable to misspell. But if you ask me to spell something letter by letter, I trip. My mind spells in syllables only.<BR> &#182; No matter where I live, Istanbul will always be my hometown. You can call it Constantinople too, I don't mind.<BR> &#182; I learned to read when I was five. I don't think I'm as well-read as I could be, though. I've squandered a number of years.<BR> &#182; Even though I dislike Ed McBain's (Evan Hunter) sanctimonious tone and knee-jerk conservatism I'm hooked on his 87th Precinct mysteries. Luckily, I hate Tom Clancy <I>and</I> his stupid books.<BR> &#182; I used to think Phil Collins was cool.<BR> &#182; I love cats, but I'm allergic to them so I can't have or be in close quarters with one for long without sneezing. I'm partial to strays that one encounters a lot in stray-friendly Mediterranean countries. I drop everything when I see a cool cat on the street. (I like dogs OK too, but I find them a bit silly.)<BR> &#182; I'd like to try skydiving but I'm too scared.<BR> &#182; I think someday (in a few thousand years) we'll all willingly become socialists rather than see people starve while we do just fine -- but I believe we would have to evolve beyond greed (to make capitalism seem unsavory) and power (to prevent socialism from turning into bloodbath) for that to happen. A free capitalist society seems to be the most suitable environment for said evolution.<BR> &#182; I'm unhappy about my weight (I'd like to gain more). Unfortunately I have high cholesterol owing to bad genes, so I can't just gorge on meat and bulk up.<BR> &#182; I think you may need a life if you've read this far. --> <IMG SRC="../images/sb24-full400250-50.jpg" alt="couple in the snow by Oryal Gökdemir" width="400" height="250" border="3"> <BR><BR> <BR><BR> </td> <!-- A cell to make a right margin 50 pixels wide --> <td width="50" bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top"><IMG SRC="../azizicons/pixel.gif" HEIGHT="1" WIDTH="20" alt="space"></td></tr></TABLE> <!-- END OF about --> <!-- White main text table ends here --> <BR> </font> <!-- A non-table segment here: "Go to top of page" icon, Name of journal and Archive, icon link to Archive --> <br> <A HREF="#top"><IMG SRC="../azizicons/top44square.gif" BORDER="0" ALT="Top of page" width="44" height="44"></A><A HREF="index.html"><img src="../azizicons/sitemaphome44square.gif" height="44" width="44" BORDER="0" alt="Back to Information and Tools"></A><A HREF="../index.html"><img src="../azizicons/logo44square.gif" height="44" width="44" BORDER="0" alt="Web site home page"></A><br><br> <!-- A final table at the bottom for copyright, text links for FAQ/email, Search --> <TABLE width="506" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0"> <tr><td width="506" valign="top" align="center" bgcolor="#000000"><font face="Trebuchet MS, helvetica, geneva, arial, sans-serif" color="#ffffff" size="-1">All text and images &copy; Aziz Gökdemir's Archive unless otherwise credited.<BR>Snow photo by Oryal Gökdemir.</font><BR><BR><a HREF="../feedback/index.html"><font face="Trebuchet MS, helvetica, geneva, arial, sans-serif" color="#00ff00" size="-1">Contact me</font></a><br><br> </td></tr></table> <BR><BR> </CENTER> </BODY> </HTML>