boston college

Islam awareness at Boston College

With nearly 2 billion followers, Islam is the world’s second largest religion.  However, Americans, many who don’t work or see Muslims on a daily basis, understand very little about the religion including its basic belief elements.  This video was made at Boston College for a presentation by the college’s Muslim Student Association.  The video polls students on some basic questions about Islam.

If you have questions you’ve always wanted to ask, or would like to see certain issues addressed in future videos about Islam or countries like Turkey where the religion is prevalent, check out the Islam Awareness forum on the site.

With some of the world’s most heated issues involving religious conflicts, it is no longer possible to avoid or put off learning about one another’s basis for belief.  Mutual respect can only come forward through mutual understanding.

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A Simple Game

The inaugural video for this site is rather simple, and part of me will confess the opportunity was more a way of testing the equipment versus anything too new, serious, deep, or compelling.  However, the results were incredibly successful…and fun.

My friend Kasım and I organized a small pick up soccer game last Friday at Boston College.  The idea came about while watching the Bekşiktaş-Galatasaray soccer match at Boston’s Turkish Cultural Center.  I asked Kasım if he played much soccer around Boston and suggested it was something we could do together.  I was up for the challenge, although I hadn’t played soccer since I was in second grade.

I think if there is anything close to an “international language,” the two most viable candidates are music and soccer.  Soccer is in reality “a simple game”.  A game that anyone can pick up pretty quickly.  No mind twisting plays like in American football, no confounding rules like in baseball, no high rims like basketball, and no ice like hockey.  I’m not saying this to say soccer is the greatest sport ever, especially considering I have watched countless more Patriots and Red Sox games than any MLS or World Cup games. However, soccer is a sport that is very easy to pick up and play for several hours like we did on Friday.

What you take from this video, if anything, might be how everyone was able to take a moment out of life to play.  On an interesting note, we had people on the field from Turkey obviously, but also from England, Iran, and the US.  There were no uncomfortable or awkaward moments, no pauses or mistranslations.  Everyone understood soccer’s language: pass, shoot, and score.

I’d like to know what you think about soccer, football, or futbol (whatever you call it).  Do you agree or disagree?  Has soccer made an impact on your life, or are you one of the many Americans who just doesn’t understand the passion of it all.  I guarantee you this won’t be the last soccer related video.  In Turkey, futbol is a major part of society, and the rivalries are absolutely fierce!  However, I’ll leave that for another day.

Lastly, the music for this video is by Tarkan, a major Turkish pop star that has international reach.  He was actually my first introduction to Turkish music by my friend Emily who has been writing her own blog while in Turkey on a Fulbright.  In any case, my friends have helped open my eyes to Turkey’s musical diversity since then, but Tarkan wrote this song, “Bir Oluruz Yolunda”, as the entrance song for the Turkish national team during the 2002 World Cup.  “Bir Oluruz Yolunda” translates to “United for You”.

Whether you understand the words or not, you certainly can feel the sentiment in the song.  Chalk another one up for music’s linguistic abilities.

boston college

Introducing…the Turk Film Project

The Turk Film Project is a chance to use short video segments, some created by myself and hopefully others created by Turks, to help Americans become better informed about Turkey, its rich and diverse peoples, and the importance of the country for the US and the world.

I’m hopeful that through this site, a forum can begin between Americans and Turks interested about each other.  I encourage all readers to comment and check in on this blog frequently.  The trip will officially begin in July 2009, and continue until June 2010.  We hope this will be a unique opportunity for the interactive and collaborative creation of a documentary film through the videos, comments, and forum discussions on this site.