This week in The Cyprus Files, I’m in search of the elusive mouflon, Cyprus’ extremely shy mountain goat.
Check out the newsletter post here.
As always, thank you for reading!
Tag: Creative Nonfiction
Read “In the Karpas” in The Cyprus Files
This week in The Cyprus Files: a journey to the mysterious tip of the Karpas / Karpassia peninsula, the most remote corner of Cyprus.
Check out the newsletter issue here.
Thanks for reading!
Read “The house of the dragoman” in The Cyprus Files
This week in The Cyprus Files, a look at one of the more interesting Ottoman-era institutions in Nicosia—the house of the dragoman, the imperial translator.
Check out the piece here.
Only a few issues to go vis-a-vis Cyprus! Thanks for reading.
Upcoming lecture at CVAR: “The City In-Between: Competing visions for the image of Limassol”
As my last big initiative in Cyprus this year, I’ll be giving a presentation on some of my Fulbright research at 6:30 pm on Thursday, June 16 in the CVAR museum in the old city of Nicosia.
The lecture is titled, “The City In-Between: Competing visions for the image of Limassol,” and consists of a narrative collage about the Cypriot city which has rapidly transformed from a sleepy seaside village into the “Dubai of the Mediterranean.” The lecture is co-organized by the CVAR, the Cyprus Institute, and held with the support of the Active Citizens Fund. If you’re in Cyprus, I hope to see you there!
Learn more about the event, including RSVP information, here.
Read “The Roman mosaics at Paphos” in The Cyprus Files
This week in The Cyprus Files, step back into antiquity and learn about the spectacular Roman floor mosaics found in Paphos, and the amazing legacy of ancient art.
Check out the piece here. Thanks for reading!
Read “The legend(s) of Saint Mamas” in The Cyprus Files
This week in The Cyprus Files, a look at the two diverging backstories behind a fascinating Eastern Orthodox saint. Check out the piece here.
Thanks for reading!
Read “Teaching in the Buffer Zone” in The Cyprus Files
Last week, it was an honor and a joy to co-teach a writing workshop with my Fulbright colleague Janan Alexandra at the Home for Cooperation in the United Nations Buffer Zone in Nicosia, Cyprus.
Our workshop, “A True and Beautiful Story: Crafting the Lyric Biography” was organized around the concept of “lyric biography.” This genre allows for an exploration of a person’s life deeper than a conventional recounting of journalistic facts. How can we drive at a deeper truth and understanding through interviews that strike at a poetic understanding of a person’s essence?
Learn more about our initiative in the latest issue of my newsletter, The Cyprus Files. As always, thanks for reading!
Read “Michael P. Branch on his new book, ‘On the Trail of the Jackalope'” in The Usonian
This week in The Usonian, I’m excited to present a fascinating interview with the always eloquent Michael P. Branch on his new humor-filled travelogue, “On the Trail of the Jackalope”—featuring an astounding medical mystery regarding real-life horned rabbits in nature—and how their discovery led to the HPV vaccine.
Read the interview here. Thanks for reading!
Read “The End of Moria?” in The Nassau Weekly
Many thanks to The Nassau Weekly for publishing a follow-up essay to a piece I wrote on the refugee crisis in Greece four years ago, a crisis which has recently entered an even more precarious phase given the Coronavirus. Thanks also to the Nass for inviting me to speak at their virtual open mic earlier this month. Read the new piece, “The End of Moria? Looking back on migration-crisis reporting in Greece as a college student,” here.
Please consider donating to The Nassau Weekly at http://nassauweekly.com/donate/ to keep this important Princeton campus publication afloat in these uncertain times.
Read “Westward Denim” in Nevada Humanities
During this COVID summer, I drove across the country from Maryland to Nevada with my parents and one of my brothers. In the process, we drove by our ancestor’s hometown in Kansas, sparking a reflection about what it might mean to make westward “progress” across the American continent during a pandemic.
Read “Westward Denim: Retracing a complicated journey westward during the COVID-19 pandemic” here.
Special thanks to Nevada Humanities for featuring this piece in their “Heart to Heart” series of essays. “Heart to Heart” explores the many ways diverse Nevadans are reflecting on living through the pandemic.
Harrison Blackman 