Cosmic Photo Challenge

K’lee selected this week’s Dale and K’lee’s Cosmic Photo Challenge theme: Five Ways to Friday. The way I understand it, “Friday” is a verb in this title. (Ugh. But that’s just one writer’s opinion.) Dale’s entry is here.

“I don’t Friday myself, and I can’t afford to make other people Friday.” Ebenezer Suegg #sorrynotsorry

NOT MY PHOTO OF ISTANBUL:
CMX6XR The Sultans Topkapi Palace at sunset, Istanbul, Turkey..
The Sultans Topkapi Palace at sunset, Istanbul, Turkey (Photo credit: Telegraph UK)

I chose the Turkish word for Friday: Cuma, as in,

“Cuma’n, K’lee, really?” Me, Ebenezer Suegg

I’ve never been there, but the pictures I’ve seen of the region are mostly appealing. (Just look at that shot of Istanbul — what’s not to love?) When I was a junior in high school, one of our foreign exchange students came from there. Gülsen Türug was a soft-spoken, intelligent, beautiful young woman who was sincerely interested in learning about all the people she met here. She certainly made an impression on me, else why would I have remembered her so clearly all these years?

But rather than use my own photos of southern California, NYC, Racine, or Great Britain to create what people in Turkey might do on a Friday, I settled on one particular Friday. July 15, 2016, the day of the latest failed military coup. The Friday currently most prominent in the Turkish consciousness.

W. Robert Pearson, former U.S. ambassador to Turkey from 2000 to 2003 and currently a scholar at the Middle East Institute, a think tank in Washington, D.C., wrote a perceptive, presumably well-informed article, What Caused the Turkish Coup Attempt.

My photographic interpretation reflects my own nagging emotional reaction to the event that, even though unsuccessful, will never be a non-event to the survivors. Best estimates: 1,400 injured, 240 dead.

IMG_4824
Blood in the Streets

#CosPhoChal

Author: Sue Ranscht

Having survived valve repair surgery and an experimental cardiac bypass at age 5, three years before it was an accepted medical procedure, Susan grew into the size of her overworked and enlarged heart. Maybe she thought she had enough to give it away -- twice. Both times, she had to retrieve the shattered pieces and puzzle them back together. She thanks her Dad for the only advice of his she ever followed to the letter: "Never get married. Learn to take care of yourself." So of course she is a writer. Susan has co-written a YA SciFi novel, and has three more novels in various stages of evolution. She's had several short stories published in other people's anthologies, some of which were contest-related. Let her tell you a story...

17 thoughts on “Cosmic Photo Challenge”

  1. Pingback: K’lee and Dale’s Cosmic Photo Challenge: Five Ways To Friday – Obzervashunal

  2. Wow. Sue, this is leaving me speechless in the best way possible! Thank you for allowing what you really felt from this to make it to the page. It may not be joyous, but it’s real and it’s true. I’ll take those two sentiments any day. Awesomeness, Sue, pure awesomeness.

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    1. Your approval honors me, K’lee. Thank you. I’m beginning to absorb some ideas I’ve admired that I’ve been too timid about: If it scares you, run toward it (unless it’s the edge of a cliff 🙂 ), and if concern for how you’ll be received draws a line in the sand, step over it. Thanks for the opportunity to run toward some horizons and cross some lines.

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      1. There are great lessons to be learned in what you propose. I’m picturing a world where more people do these things and find themselves transformed into their highest selves before they even realize it’s happened.

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          2. Bob’s my husband, and I’m always looking for people for him to meet with similar interests. (Superheroes, fantasy, comics, monsters, etc.) His Christian worldview puts a unique perspective out there one doesn’t normally see.

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    1. Lol. I’m gratified you like it, but I wouldn’t say it’s better than yours. A bit of a downer, maybe, but this prompt roused the rebel in me. I’m kinda thinkin’ K’lee isn’t going to be as pleased as you are. 😉

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