In 18 days I will board my Swissair flight to Istanbul via Zurich. I will be taking the seminar Ottoman Cultures: Society, Politics and Trade in the Turkish Empire 1299-1922. I am grateful to the National Endowment for the Humanities Division of Education, funders of the seminar. I also want to thank Primary Source, a non-profit that “promotes history and humanities education by connecting educators to people and cultures throughout the world.”

My ongoing adventures call for a renaming of this blog. Thus, “From Middletown to the Middle East.” Stop by!