Dear Readers,
I would have gladly provided a periodic update, had not I discovered to my dismay that WordPress is permanently banned in Turkey, and unlike YouTube, which was briefly banned, has so far not returned. The reasons for its removal are interesting, involving a libel case against a Turkish creationist, who felt so defamed by several wordpress blogs, that he somehow got the court to shut down *an entire blogosphere*. You have to ruffle a dude’s feathers pretty bad.
This helps me to make an arbitrary segue into discussing a detail from my voyage. I had the absolute pleasure of seeing a peacock, kept on the grounds of the 19th century Ottoman palace of Dolmabahçe (pronounced “Dohlmahbahchuh” and which, as far I as can tell, has nothing to do with grapeleaves). What strange, magnificent and dirty animals they are. The whole business about Hera putting the many eyes of Argus into the peacock’s tail after Hermes gave him a Chuck Norris-style death is particularly apt. Those “eyes” are so vivid. They even have dark iris-like circles in the center of a bright fields of royal blues and tropical greens. As if to announce that it was indeed fully aware of how badass its plumage was, the peacock opened its span right as we arrived, and I was so mesmerized that even the offer of Turkish coffee and a plate of meatballs could not drag me away.
This, of course, is the view from the front. The more terrifying spectacle, and one which I think few people have seriously thought about or seen, is the back of a peacock. From a tuft of nebulous cotton candy fur at the base of the bird comes shooting up the strangest and most disconcerting stalks. While their function is clear (they are the only thing supporting the beautiful “eye” feathers), their resemblance to plants or bamboo or pvc piping is uncanny. One almost feels bad for the poor bird, which must constantly carry this appendage around, and whose outer edges, as they drag along the ground, become exceedingly dirty.
On the other hand, it is perhaps this fact that makes the peacock a more complex character in the soap opera of natural life. Not only is it from the right perspective overwhelmingly beautiful, but it also hides beneath and behind this lovely veneer faults and blemishes, like an avian stripper with a heroin addiction or something.
I want one.
-Chris
