Category: Written Word

Postcard from Istanbul, Turkey: A far from innocent obsession

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A vintage postcard featuring a snowy mountain landscape, with a forested area and peaks covered in snow. The postcard includes handwritten Turkish text and two faded postage stamps from Turkey.

Above: Detail of 4,213 cigarette butts collected and dated for exhibition in the Museum of Innocence

When those visiting my museum note that beneath where each of the 4,213 cigarette butts is carefully pinned, I have indicated the date of its retrieval. I hope they will not grow impatient, thinking I am crowding the display cases with distracting trivia: Each cigarette butt in its own unique way records Fusun’s deepest emotions at the moment she stubbed it out.”

Kemal, the main character and the narrator of Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk

Nothing I could possibly dream up could convey obsession with such immediate clarity.

The top quotation from Kemal’s thoughts in Orhan Pamuk’s 2009 novel, Museum of Innocence, does not appear until Chapter 68 of the 83-chapter book. The entire chapter is devoted to these fetish souvenirs of unobtainable love.

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Poetry of Songwriters: ‘Words Matter’

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Poster promoting BB King and Bobby Blue Bland appearing at Antone’s in Austin, circa 1980(?)

Attempting to trace the development of American music from the 1600s onward in one exhibition is an ambitious undertaking. In my mind, it’s too big a chunk to lump together.

Yet a visit to “Music America: Iconic Objects from America’s Music History” at the LBJ Presidential Library until August 11 is well worthwhile. Somehow the clever curation by the Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music includes enough variety for broad appeal, a combination of instruments, costumes, listening stations and videos all contributing to the experience.

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Postcard from London, England: ‘Strange bedfellows’ for eternity

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A postage stamp celebrating the 900th anniversary of Westminster Abbey, featuring intricate architectural details and a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.

Above left: Monumental effigy of Mary Queen of Scots (1542-1587). Above right: Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603). Lady Chapel, Westminster Abbey

There is no other shelter hereabouts: misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.” 

The Tempest, William Shakespeare, 1611

In recent years, you’ve been exposed to an immense quantity of footage showing the interior of Westminster Abbey: the wedding of Prince and Princess of Wales in 2011; the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022); and the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla in 2023.

With no need to cover that aspect, this taphophile is jumping straight to the everyday role of Westminster – a splendid monumental cemetery housing the remains of more than 3,300 elite, a veritable who’s-who of a thousand years of British history. Grave markers underfoot lie ignored, overwhelmed by the sculptural and polychrome effigies and memorials climbing ever higher up the church walls.

If ghosts rise in the night, what bedlam must reign. According to the Westminster website, the remains of 13 kings, four queens regnant, 11 queens consort, and two more queens are interred there. Blood might run thicker than water, yet British bluebloods frequently spilled that of their kin.

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