Turkey
Gezi Park
June 2013 • Erdem and I met two summers ago when I was subletting a stifling-hot apartment near Altiyol and he was working as a simitci, selling buns and cold water from a cart (mostly he was giving directions to lost passersby). He barely knew how to speak English and was determined to get better at it, so we grew into a nice friendship over the summer. Erdem studied journalism at university and worked a long winter in the shipping department of a bookseller so he could buy himself a good digital camera. He joined in the recent protests at Gezi Park and Taksim Square and caught a tear-gas canister in the head. A haiku-like email assured he's okay.
