Today was Cumhuriyeti, which I guess means Republic Day. This year's Republic Day was particularly nationalistic, some friends told me, because of recent attacks by PKK rebels on Turkish soldiers. It was very interesting. The parade, which really consisted of thousands and thousands of people walking down one of the main thoroughfares, began in Ortakoy, where I live, and ended in an area called Besiktas. There were a lot of Turkish flags and a lot of chanting, but overall it was pretty festive. I guess the chants had something to do with their soldiers dying, Turkey remaining a secular democracy, long live Ataturk, etc. The fireworks were actually better than anything I'd seen in the U.S., and it was very cool to see how much Turks love their country. Sometimes I wish young people in the U.S. had such a sense of ardent patriotism, but I suppose right now there isn't much to foster solidarity. Turks seem to see the usefulness in demonstration as well, and I think that's something that we're missing in the U.S. too. The last time I remember so many people taking to the streets were the immigration protests in the summer of 2005. I hope we never forget our right to dissent.

I posted some pictures of Cumhuriyet on my facebook, and you do not need to have facebook to see them. The link is:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2055376&l=429cf&id=26310454

It's basically a bunch of flags and lights. My photos make it look much less interesting than it really was. Also, I posted video on youtube.com but right now the video is still loading, and I need to go to bed. I'll post the link tomorrow. Well, I hope everything is going well with all of you. Feel free to email me any thoughts, comments, criticisms, etc, at chip_hubbell@yahoo.com. Chao for now.