In Istanbul

I've never been to Istanbul before, though I've wanted to for a long time. Badly. I'm here for a conference. Signs of the city's imperial past and swagger are hard to miss. The adhan here is actually "awesome." The words expand the sky, especially "ashahadu anna Muhammadan rasulu'llah." Don't know why, but that phrase arrests. The twin testimonies: one affirms the primordial, changeless Truth, and the other protects its endurance and its place in a temporal setting, the bazaar of distractions, i.e., world.

Good kebabs in Istanbul, too.