A Pre-Departure Test Blog

This is the official blog of the Grinnell College Faculty Seminar in Istanbul , May 2009, sponsored by the Grinnell College Center for International Studies (CIS). Actually this is the first blog of ANY CIS faculty seminar. And this is my first blog on any subject whatsoever, so I'm unsure how the software works. If you're reading this I suppose I must have figured it out.

I am Mark Montgomery, Professor of Economics, blogger-in-chief, and "leader" of the seminar (whatever that means).

And now one of the first tests of my capacity as a seminar leader and a blogger: can I upload pictures? Pictures are surely an essential element of a travel blog. OK, there's one, above. (That is leftover from when I was chair of Grinnell's strategic planning Committee a few years ago.)

Well it appears that blogging is technologically feasible, and I am at least minimally capable of doing it, at least in the pre-departure, haven't-left-Iowa phase. Now on to more serious issues.

Exactly whom do you imagine yourself to be "leading"?

The faculty under my command... I mean, the seminar particpants are:

Susan Ferguson (Sociology)
Kathy Kamp (Anthropology)
Ellen Mease (Theatre and Dance)
Jenny Michaels (German)
Tinker Powell (Economics)
Tyler Roberts (Religious Studies)
Gemma Sala (Political Science)
John Wei (History)
John Whittaker (Anthropology)
Shawn Womack (Theatre and Dance)

Where will you stay?

We will stay mainly in the dorms at the prestigious Bogaziçi University, one of the most presitigious in Turkey. The Center for International Studies (our sponsor) has arranged for a number of Bogaziçi faculty to meet with us and discuss a variety of subjects related to Turkey. We are very excited about meeting these scholars.