Reposting on Black Women, Leadership, and Adulting, Turkish Tuesday Style — Learning Through Story with Eda…

Shirley Chisholm was a role model for many Black women, and the first black person, male or female, to run for president of the United States. Eda, of Sihirli Annem, also teaches, through her growth in the series. Legal & Financial Pro-Bono and continuing education (aka Adulting Education) is easier when there are strong role models for all of us, and helping to build those new role […]

Black Women, Leadership, and Adulting, Turkish Tuesday Style — Inspiring Critical Thinking and Community via Books, Lessons, and Story

Sihirli Annem (My Magical Mom) s1e19: Childishness

  Last week was , bölüm/episode 18:  Sihirli Annem (My Magical Mom) s1e18: What is Good?   .

…  

The summary comes from a fellow blogger (Birgit)’s point of view.

…

Umur visits Dudu, as she is alone in the house, Taci has been sent to the garden, and Eda is at the café. He wants to kiss her and get a bit closer, have an adult relationship. Dudu is horrified and says that her morals don’t allow that out of wedlock, but then, whenever Umur proposes to her, she says no … in the end they break up.

What did you think, what were you expecting?

Cem and Ceren find a dog in the park and take it home. Cilek can hear the dog speak, so it is a human that has been put under a spell by somebody to become a dog, just like Taci.

It says Safiş on the collar, but we didn’t find her owner.

Betüs finds out that it is a 55 year old woman who has been turned into a dog by a male witch. Taci meets her at the café and tells Dudu about it later. Dudu is obviously jealous but doesn’t want to admit it.

That gives Eda the idea to take the dog, her name is Safye or Safi for short, to their mother‘s house to make her even more jealous and maybe will be willing to turn their father back into a human and live with him again. She is certain that their parents still love each other. They will, of course, ask if Safye is willing to help them.

Maybe mom and dad can help find a way to do something.

Dudu claims that she cannot reverse the witches spell, and Perihan has a free day, so they have to wait for a couple of hours. Dudu keeps a close eye on the two dogs.

They tell the kids that they have found the dog’s master and brought it back. The kids are sad although they had the dog only for one day.

Umur has a man to man talk with Sadik about his problem with Dudu. Sadik tells him that he is a player, an untrustworthy guy, but Umur concludes that there must be somebody else in Dudu’s heart. He visits her again and asks her if his assumption is correct, and she answers “Yes”.

–

Many, many thanks to Birgit, of the Stella, oh, Stella blog, for all of the of the English and image content, today.

–

      This episode was interesting for showing how Taci’s simple respect for a lady could turn Dudu into such a jealous wreck.  Also, it must be remembered that dogs, in Turkish culture, are not seen as very clean or respectable, so of course this is why Dudu chose that species for her supposedly cheating husband, Taci, and why she equally suspects Safiye Hannım of being less than respectable.  In this episode, Eda and Tarık also show their childish sides, again, when asked to watch the cafe, and Betüş angrily says she will never trust her cafe to them again.  Umur Bey also gets a lecture or two from Sadık on his childish ways, which he of course rejects.  Even Avni and Suzan are being childish, with Suzan insisting on finding a job, despite their having plenty of money, to annoy Avni, who continues to watch the Fairy house, like a child.  In the house at dinner, Tarık is especially jealous of the private conversation between Eda and her sister, refusing to see reason.  Even the three kids are childishly jealous of the unkown owner of Safiye Hannım, not wanting to see ‘Safi’ leave their house.  Given Tarık’s childishness, Betüş is looking for a new employee, and just as she finishes mentioning this to some clients, Suzan walks in, dressed for job interviews.  And she finds one: at Betüş’s Cafe!  Dudu, as usual, is more childishly jealous than ever.  And power combined with jealously is not a good thing.

–

Next week will be blm/ep. 20:   ,

…

Hoşça kalın!

Shira

*****************

Click here to read, if you like:

B5, Hakan:Muhafiz/The Protector, Sihirli Annem, Lupin, or La Casa De Papel/Money Heist, El Ministerio del Tiempo  Reviews,

Holistic College Algebra & GED/HiSET Night School Lesson Plans,

           or My Nonfiction  & Historical Fiction Serial Writing

Thoughtful Readers, please consider reading and sharing, or even writing a guest blog post here, about #ProjectDoBetter.  Phase I aims to build empathy for public goods (libraries, transit, healthcare, and education) via language study and story, among other tools.

Shira Destinie A.  Jones, MPhil

Shira
Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Sihirli Annem (My Magical Mom) s1e18: What is Good?

   …and no, Conan, it is not

“to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women.” 

(Yes, Mark, this quote is for you, Thank you1991…)

     Good, actually, is not even merely to do what seems superficially good for a moment, Dudu.   Last week we saw , bölüm/episode 17, and how Things Are NOT Always As They Appear, and this week, we will see what good really could be, or not, despite how it may appear.

…  

The summary comes from a fellow blogger (Birgit)’s point of view.

…

There are two main threads in this episode:

1. The elections for Head Fairy, as Perihan’s term runs out
2. Sadik’s birthday

Everybody around Sadik pretends to have forgotten about his birthday, while secretly they are preparing for a surprise party. Sadik is sad all day, but his sadness very quickly turns into happiness when he comes home and sees the preparations for his birthday. When he blows out the candles his wish is to always have his loved ones around him and to see his old friends from his youth again

-First make a wish and then…

-OK.

Dudu has decided to run for Head Fairy herself but doesn’t tell Perihan because she wants to see her face when she tells her at the elections. Betüs and Eda vote for Perihan; they are afraid if Dudu gets elected, she will definitely break up their relationships with mortals.

Would that you could be elected again.

There is one problem for the candidates though: A fairy who wants to stand for election has to be known as a good fairy, not misusing their powers, and they would have to do a favour to a mortal that would not be forgotten. Dudu asks her boyfriend Umur what good deeds one could do for somebody that they won’t forget. He gives Sadik as an example who has dreamt from childhood to one day own a red sportscar. To quality for the elections she buys Sadik the car and gives it to him for his birthday in the evening.

Meanwhile, Perihan is thinking about a gift for Sadik. She finds out what would make him most happy, which is to meet his three friends again which whom he made music together when he was young. Perihan finds all of them and persuades them to come to the birthday party. They do so although they can only stay for an hour.

(Sadık and his friends, in the Featured Image up top, play traditional Turkish music on modern rock instruments!) 

The Head Fairy election has the result Perihan 800 votes to Dudu 1 vote. The one vote is actually Perihan’s vote, who is just being a good friend.

Just to gain votes…   a Fairy yammering on about her good deed

Next morning, Sadik is musing together with Betüs what has made him most happy at his birthday and why. When Dudu gave him the car, he was excited at first, but he says he could see in Dudu’s eyes that she doesn’t really like him and most probably gave him the car to make Betüs happy. That destroys the good feeling about that present and he doesn’t want to accept such an expensive present from somebody who doesn’t like him. If he had worked and save money for the car, he would have been happier about it.

Meeting his friends again meant most to him, as for the friendships he made an effort. What one gets without any effort is meaningless.

–

Many, many thanks to Birgit, of the Stella, oh, Stella blog, for all of the of the English and image content, today.

–

      I like how this episode shows both how the kids feel bad about lying to their dad, even for a ‘good’ reason, and how it pains him, even as the adults assure them that all is just fine with this little white lie.  I personally think that they could have been a little bit more creative and found ways to hint to him that his birthday had not been forgotten, but that he would have to wait to find out for certain.  I love how this episode shows both that the Fairy world is a democracy (ok, a Republic), and also that most of the voting Fairies are not idiots, and do not fall for Dudu’s plan.  Most of all, I adore how this episode shows that good is not only subjective, but also subject to the considerations of both long term effects, and current personal context.  Sadık is a bit slow, but he eventually gets it, as this episode shows, even though his mother in law does not yet get it.  It takes both education for empathy, and also both the desire and resources to do good.  That is where Project Do Better works to be of service, via teaching and advocating for better sharing of our common resources for the common good.  Please see the link below for details on how you can also help all of us to be part of the solution for Good.

–

Next week will be blm/ep. 19:   ,

…

Hoşça kalın!

Shira

Action Items:

1.) Share your thoughts, please.

2.) Write a story, post or comment that uses those thoughts.

*****************

Click here to read, if you like:

Learning via Spanish, French, and Turkish TV and Film (and Babylon 5!) Reviews

Holistic College Algebra & GED/High School Lesson Plans,

           or Learning via Long Range Nonfiction, & via Historical Fiction Story Writing (including Ann & Anna…)

Thoughtful Readers, please consider reading about #ProjectDoBetter.  This show review is part of my personal way of contributing to building tools that can help increase empathy and compassion in our world.  Story, as part of how we see our world, helps us make sense of and define our actions in this world.  And remember how important story is also as part of this project. Let’s Do Better.

Shira Destinie A. Jones, MPhil, MAT, BSCS

ShiraDest

Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Sihirli Annem (My Magical Mom) s1e17: Things Are NOT Always As They Appear…

  Last week was , bölüm/episode 16:  Sihirli Annem (My Magical Mom) s1e16: Jealous Kids, Big and Small…  .

…  

The summary comes from a fellow blogger (Birgit)’s point of view.

…

Also in this episode, Dudu is trying to find a spell to break up Sadik and Betüs. She wants to turn Betüs into a husband neglecting wife. Eda forbids her mother to do that and says she will from now on side with her sister. She secretly tell Betüs about the new spell, so she can gard against it. But Dudu has watched them with her magic mirror and finds a different spell: When Sadik looks at his wife, she will look ugly to him, but only to him.

(see Featured Image, Above:)

“He won’t be telling his Fairy wife how beautiful she is, now.”

Firuze surprises Celik in her room and watches her doing magic. She faints and is after waking up afraid of Celik. She does not see the little girl anymore but a kind of powerful monster. Avni in disguise comes to the house and is also a witness.

“Wait Ms. Firuze I’m not going to do anything to you!”

Cilek calls Aunt Perihan for help, who is able to delete all memory of Celik’s magic from Firuze’s memory. Avni had fled in the meantime and cannot be treated. But nobody believes him anyway. When he comes back with his wife to prove to her that fairies exist, Firuze doesn’t remember him and poor Avni is again ridiculed.

Eda watches her mother doing the fairy dance, which fairies do when they had a victory. That makes her suspicious and she visits her sister again to find out if everything is alright. The sisters think that their mother must have found a new spell.

Betüs calls Aunt Perihan for help and tells Eda to go to her house as Tarik is there teaching the children how to dance. She rushes over there. Aunt Perihan transfers the spell to Dudu herself, so that she will look ugly to everybody but herself. [I would say that the spell was very successful …]

“You are beautiful.  Very, very beautiful!”

Tarik wants to teach Cem and Tugce dancing, because it is very expensive at the dancing school and he has left the job at Betüs’s café and needs to earn money. It doesn’t go very well. [Does he actually know the dances himself?] Tarik decides that he and Firuze should show the children how to do it. While they are at a wild tango, Eda comes in and is very upset about what she sees. She starts to try and beat up Firuze while Tarik tries to hold her back.

“Let me go, I’ll finish with Firuze, and then you.”

Nobody listens to the children who want to explain the situation. Only when Betüs and Sadik come back home do Eda calms down enough to listen. She and Tarik make up. Sadik tells Betüs, who looks beautiful to him again, that he would also love her if she was ugly, because she has such a beautiful heart.

–

Many, many thanks to Birgit, of the Stella, oh, Stella blog, for all of the of the English and image content, today.

–

      This episode gorgeously illustrates how both kids and adults can fall into the trap of judging by first appearances, Eda!  That is what Project Do Better works to help prevent, through various types of on-going education, over the long term.

–

        Hopefully, the empathy that studying languages builds, and a little more good example via story, will help all of us learn to see from the perspectives of others, without having to suffer a similar fate or pain, first.

Next week will be blm/ep. 18: Sihirli Annem (My Magical Mom) s1e18: What is Good?

…

Hoşça kalın!

Shira

*****************

Click here to read, if you like:

B5, Hakan:Muhafiz/The Protector, Sihirli Annem, Lupin, or La Casa De Papel/Money Heist, El Ministerio del Tiempo  Reviews,

Holistic College Algebra & GED/HiSET Night School Lesson Plans,

           or My Nonfiction  & Historical Fiction Serial Writing

Thoughtful Readers, please consider reading and sharing, or even writing a guest blog post here, about #ProjectDoBetter.  Phase I aims to build empathy for public goods (libraries, transit, healthcare, and education) via language study and story, among other tools.

Shira Destinie A.  Jones, MPhil

Shira
Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Sihirli Annem (My Magical Mom) s1e16: Jealous Kids, Big and Small…

  Last week was , bölüm/episode 15: Sihirli Annem (My Magical Mom: s1e15), and Dealing With Hypocrites   .

…  

The summary comes from a fellow blogger (Birgit)’s point of view.

…

This episode starts with the children’s character books at the end of the school year. Both Cem and Ceren have highest score in all subjects and got special commendation. That makes them the center of attention of their parents. Cilek, who is not at school yet gets jealous because nobody is taking notice of her.

…Meanwhile…

On a parallel line there is Dudu who wants to go on a vacation with her new lover Umur, three days New York. Taci the dog, formerly Dudu’s ex-husband, is against it and threatens to leave the castle and never come back when Dudu goes through with that; she also wants to take Eda along.

Eda goes to Betüs’s café to get her advice what to do. Tarik is working there and wants to know what the girls are talking about. She cannot tell him, of course, what with her father being a dog right now. Tarik gets angry and and claims that there shouldn’t be any secrets between lovers. Betüs goes to her mother’s house, while Eda and Tarik create so much tension in the café that all customers leave. Finally Tarik and Eda decide to break up.

-And:

At the castle, Taci sits in front of the door to hinder Dudu in leaving. Betüs laughs because Dudu is a fairy and could leave any time she chooses, so in reality she might not wish to leave. In the end she misses the flight.

🙂

Eda and Perihan organize a 40^th anniversary party for Dudu and Taci, although they are not married anymore. Eda is certain that her parents still love each other. If not, he would have let Dudu go away, or Dudu would just have left by magic. She found some old photos of her parents when they were young and puts them on display.

Eda’s father talks to her and says she should apologize to Tarik and explain to him that she was talking about a family matter with Betüs, about which she cannot talk to him. At the same time Sadik talks to his brother Tarik and says he should apologize to Eda. Betüs did not tell him either what it was about, but he trusts her, and if it was important for him she would tell him. They do that and make up.

…and:

Cilek asks Firuze to make her a character book with highest scores and commendation so that she could go to the ball with Cem and Ceren. Firuze does her best. The whole family is sorry that they had ignored Cilek like that and do everything to make her feel good again.

…And then:

At the end Sadik gives the children a lift to the ball, and when he comes back home, Betüs, Sadik, Eda and Tarik have a little ball of their own, while Taci and Dudu are caught in a magic circle together.

–

Many, many thanks to Birgit, of the Stella, oh, Stella blog, for all of the of the English and image content, today.

–

      This is an episode that shows just how childish both Tarık and Eda, and even a fully grown adult like Dudu, can be.  Jealousy is a natural human emotion, but empathy and education, such as seen in this show, for both the young and the old (at or at least compassion, if not empathy, in the case of Dudu), can help us to overcome our childish natures and behave like adults, in the best interests of everyone.  That is what Project Do Better works to help with over the long term.

–

        Hopefully, the empathy that studying languages builds, and a little more good example via story, will help all of us learn to see from the perspectives of others, without having to suffer a similar fate or pain, first.

(Note that the music fades out in the last minute of the You Tube video, but is all here in the version on Kanal D, although there are neither CCs nor subtitles in the Kanal D version, unfortunately).

Next week will be blm/ep. 17: Sihirli Annem (My Magical Mom) s1e17: Things Are NOT Always As They Appear…

…

Hoşça kalın!

Shira

*****************

Click here to read, if you like:

B5, Hakan:Muhafiz/The Protector, Sihirli Annem, Lupin, or La Casa De Papel/Money Heist Reviews,

Holistic College Algebra & GED/HiSET Night School Lesson Plans,

           or My Nonfiction  & Historical Fiction Serial Writing

Thoughtful Readers, please consider reading and sharing, or even writing a guest blog post here, about #ProjectDoBetter.  Phase I aims to build empathy for public goods (libraries, transit, healthcare, and education) via language study and story, among other tools.

Shira Destinie A.  Jones, MPhil

Shira
Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Sihirli Annem (My Magical Mom: s1e15), and Dealing With Hypocrites

  Last week was bölüm/episode 14: Turkish Tuesday: Sihirli Annem (s1e14) and What Does it Mean, Adulthood?

…  

The summary comes from a fellow blogger (Birgit)’s point of view.

…

In this episode, Eda and Tarık announce that they want to get married. His brother is not so happy because he thinks that he is not good enough for Eda, and her mother Dudu is furious and fetches her home.

-Mom, Tarık and I…

-Have decided to build a life together!

At night she dreams about the marriage of Eda and Tarik and gets a stroke, which makes her unable to move or speak, only her eyes can move.

She can only be healed if Eda promises on the holy fairy book that she will break up with Tarik. Eda is torn in pieces, because on the one hand she really loves Tarik, and on the other hand he wants to heal her mother. She and her father (the dog Taci) contemplate leaving her in this state, but in the end they cannot do it.

The head fairy Perihan, Betüs and Taci give all her love to Dudu and as the final touch, Eda swears on the book, but the book is a cookbook, not the holy fairy book. So she intends to meet Tarik secretly.

Mom, I swear on the Fairy Book that

I will not marry Tarık!

Betüs covers for them because she pities them.

The kids told the maid Firuze and their uncle Tarik that they would go to see their grandmother after school and would they tell their parents. Both forget it because they are too much fixated on their own affairs. Tarik meets with Eda at the house, and Firuze is too busy watching them jealously to think of the kids.

When Dudu calls the house Firuze tells her that Eda and Tarik had met. She wants to make trouble for Tarik, with whom she many years ago had been in love and who ignored her. She does not consider that she at the same time makes trouble for Eda. And she still doesn’t call Betüs and tells her that the kids are safe when she finally remembered, although they are driving around searching for them.

Perihan deletes the memory of what Firuze had told Dudu from Dudu’s mind and punishes Eda by making her confess her lie and that she loves Tarik. Dudu’s reaction is her punishment, who swears to never stop trying to break them up. But Eda does not seem to have in mind to leave Tarik. After the conversation with her mother, she winks at her father and calls Tarik. She will go on a picnic with the whole family.

I spoke with Eda in secret on the phone just now, and she’ll be at the door.

–

Many, many thanks to Birgit, of the Stella, oh, Stella blog, for all of the of the English and image content, today.

–

      This is an episode that reminds me of when I lived in Izmir, and saw the tremendous importance Turks place upon harmonious relationships, and on talking things through.   Many of us would refuse to speak, especially in the case of Firuze, being married yet sabotaging the relationship of a person (Tarık) for whom she still has feelings of jealousy and rejection.   Yet, Betüş takes the time to ask her why she acted as she did, and to find a solution that works for everyone, taking Firuze’s pain into account.  In the case of Eda and Dudu, where Dudu is angry with Eda for lying about being in love with a mortal, yet dating a mortal man herself, things are more difficult, since Dudu has the power of a parent to shut down the decisions of her child, even an adult child like Eda.  Yet, Eda continues to try to talk things through.  This is an important lesson that I draw from this episode:  even when it seems that there may be nothing left to talk about, just  keep trying to find solutions that can help put balm on the wounds.

–

        Hopefully, the empathy that studying languages builds, and a little more good example via story, will help all of us learn to see from the perspectives of others, without having to suffer a similar fate or pain, first.

Next week will be blm/ep. 16: Sihirli Annem (My Magical Mom) s1e16: Jealous Kids, Big and Small…

…

Hoşça kalın!

Shira

*****************

Click here to read, if you like:

B5, Hakan:Muhafiz/The Protector, Sihirli Annem, Lupin, or La Casa De Papel/Money Heist Reviews,

Holistic College Algebra & GED/HiSET Night School Lesson Plans,

           or My Nonfiction  & Historical Fiction Serial Writing

Thoughtful Readers, please consider reading and sharing, or even writing a guest blog post here, about #ProjectDoBetter.  Phase I aims to build empathy for public goods (libraries, transit, healthcare, and education) via language study and story, among other tools.

Shira Destinie A.  Jones, MPhil

Shira
Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Turkish Tuesday: Sihirli Annem (s1e14) and What Does it Mean, Adulthood?

  Last week was , bölüm/episode 13: Turkish Tuesday: Sihirli Annem (s1e13) And Would You Want to Go Back & Be Young Again? …  

The summary comes from a fellow blogger (Birgit)’s point of view.

…

Dudu finds out that the magic of male fairies is stronger than that of female ones (there is gender inequality even in the fairy realm). Therefore Dudu hatches the plan to wed Eda with a fairy so that Dudu can use his magic to break up Sadik and Betüs.

Eda does not want to marry a fairy, but a mortal. She explains:

“…the mortal world isn’t like that.  They have to struggle for what they want.   One who worries about me, is sometimes jealous, no magic, but full of surprises.  That is the kind of man I want to marry.”

At the same time Sadik’s younger brother Tarik comes to visit, just back from military service. Firuze used to be in love with him and did not forgive him that he did not reciprocate the feelings. Sadik is not enthusiastic about his brother’s visit, as he is not a man after Sadik’s taste, but more a grown up child. The kids love their uncle for that.

      “Hey, don’t start gossiping about me as soon as I get here!”

Eda leaves the castle and hides at Betüs’s place, where she meets Tarik and the two fall in love with each other at first sight. This is the first time somebody falls in love with her without her using magic.

Dudu doesn’t like that and takes her home.

The chief fairy learns about Dudu’s evil plans and punishes her, leaving Eda free to go back to Betüs. Betüs and Sadik leave Eda and Tarik by themselves and pretend to have to talk to the children. (It is actually only Betüs who does that on purpose, Sadik is clueless.)

That ends in an epic cushion fight, while Eda and Tarik look each other deep in the eyes.

–

Many, many thanks to Birgit, of the Stella, oh, Stella blog, for all of the of the English and image content, today.

–

       This episode is a fascinating study in both the question of what adulthood means to different generations, and in who gets to define that state.  Both Sadık and Dudu, in my humble opinion, fall into the same trap, in this episode, while Eda actually climbs out of a similar trap, or begins to, this episode.  Sadık, because he demands that his younger brother learn how to start acting “like a man” by the traditional definition, meaning job, house, wife, and kids.  As Sadık himself has done.  But that is not the sort of life that his brother wants.  Likewise with Dudu, as we already know, she feels strongly that only a certain kind of marriage is acceptable, and is perfectly happy to arrange a miserable marriage for her daughter Eda, who protests this idea kicking and screaming, literally.  Both Sadık and Dudu deny the possibility of defining one’s own life goals and perspective, and they both fall back on predefined traditional ideas of what it means to be an adult, and whom a person should marry.   Finally, Eda, in telling her sister that she finally understands how she must feel, being persecuted all of this time by Dudu, takes a great leap forward, and out of that same trap of thinking that one must accept only a certain way of thinking.  But look how long it has taken Eda, and how she had to be placed in the same situation before she began to see her sister’s perspective.

         Project Do Better looks at this question in detail, during Phase II especially.  Adulthood, in a democratic society, requires large amounts of compassion and empathy, as well as critical thinking and the freedom to be a contributing adult in the way best fitting for each person.

        Hopefully, the empathy that studying languages builds, and a little more good example via story, will help all of us learn to see from the perspectives of others, without having to suffer a similar fate or pain, first.

Next week will be blm/ep. 15: Sihirli Annem (My Magical Mom: s1e15), and Dealing With Hypocrites  ,

…

Hoşça kalın!

Shira

*****************

Click here to read, if you like:

B5, Hakan:Muhafiz/The Protector, Sihirli Annem, Lupin, or La Casa De Papel/Money Heist Reviews,

Holistic College Algebra & GED/HiSET Night School Lesson Plans,

           or My Nonfiction  & Historical Fiction Serial Writing

Thoughtful Readers, please consider reading and sharing, or even writing a guest blog post here, about #ProjectDoBetter.  Phase I aims to build empathy for public goods (libraries, transit, healthcare, and education) via language study and story, among other tools.

Shira Destinie A.  Jones, MPhil

Shira
Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Turkish Tuesday: Sihirli Annem (s1e13) And Would You Want to Go Back & Be Young Again?

  Last week was Turkish Tuesday: Sihirli Annem (s1e12) And Can Rich Folks Learn From The Poor? , bölüm/episode 12, featuring young Mahmut.  This week, we ask about being young again.

The summary comes from a fellow blogger (Birgit)’s point of view.  (Translations are mine, corrections welcome / ben çevirdim, yanliş varsa, hemen beni düzet, lütfen... -Shira)

…

In this episode we see Firuze leaving her husband in the middle of the night because he is drunk and hits her and the children. She seeks shelter at Betüs and Sadik’s house.

“Like a woman, I work, and come home work some more, then get waken up and pushed around like an animal.”

Meanwhile, Dudu plans her new spell to break up Betüs and Sadik. She wants to turn time to 30 years later.

“Seriously, mom, I absolutely cannot let you do this kind of magic!”

Eda is fed up with this. First of all she doesn’t think that they will ever break up the couple, so why try all the time, and on the other hand she is afraid that her father, who presently is a dog of 60 human years, might not be alive anymore then. Even Dudu shows some concern but says that she would turn the spell back in that case. Eda tries to talk her out of it but to no avail.

Firuzes husband Davut turns up drunk at the house and wants to take his wife back with force. He is fighting with Firuze and Betüs, who has to use magic to overpower him. Suzan comes by and hears through the open door what is going on and gets so angry that she beats up Davut even without any magic.

“Your hand is enough, right? Come on, hit me! Hit me!  Hit me!”

The next day everybody is 30 years older. Umur, Dudu’s new lover, is dead, and Taci, her ex-husband, has obviously turned into a human again. Dudu reverses the spell, and everything is like before … with one change: Cilek the little fairy girl can speak to everybody now, not only to Betüs.

Also Firuze’s problem is being solved by magic this time: Betüs turns him into a kind and responsible husband. As it seems, that spell was still working 30 years later.

–

Many, many thanks to Birgit, of the Stella, oh, Stella blog, for all of the of the English and image content, today.

–

     My question, this episode, is about going back in time.  Many people seem to think, like Sadık, that everyone would like to go back in time, to their youth.  But this is not so.  Many people, particularly those who had especially difficult childhoods, have no interest at all in going back in time, and would rather forget having been young, and all that happened during that time to them.  People like orphans who never found loving families, or children who were abused by family or guardians, or even kids who were bullied in school.  Kids not accepted by their peers because, like Firuze’s son Mahmut, whom we met last week, they were poor, and did not fit in for any number of reasons.  This makes them more vulnerable, due to domestic violence, and later bullying, if no one will stand with them.  And that is a terrible waste of human potential, because, as Hakan reminds us, every child has potential.

–

        Hopefully, the empathy that studying languages builds, and a little more good example via story, will help all of us learn to be more open to the needs, feelings, and happiness of others.

Next week will be blm/ep. 14: Turkish Tuesday: Sihirli Annem (s1e14) and What Does it Mean, Adulthood?

…

Hoşça kalın!

Shira

*****************

Click here to read, if you like:

B5, Hakan:Muhafiz/The Protector, Sihirli Annem, Lupin, or La Casa De Papel/Money Heist Reviews,

Holistic College Algebra & GED/HiSET Night School Lesson Plans,

           or My Nonfiction  & Historical Fiction Serial Writing

Thoughtful Readers, please consider reading and sharing, or even writing a guest blog post here, about #ProjectDoBetter.  Phase I aims to build empathy for public goods (libraries, transit, healthcare, and education) via language study and story, among other tools.

Shira Destinie A.  Jones, MPhil

Shira
Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Turkish Tuesday: Sihirli Annem (s1e12) And Can Rich Folks Learn From The Poor?

  Last week was a beautiful and special episode, and this week is another incredible episode, as we wondered, on  (ep11 )  Turkish Tuesday: Sihirli Annem (s1e11) What is Really the Best Mother’s Day Gift?   and this week, we see one of my favorite episodes, bölüm/episode 12, as little Mahmud, in the featured image cropped from the party image below, goes from the poor outcast to the teacher of these ‘rich’ kids.  

The summary comes from a fellow blogger (Birgit)’s point of view.

In this episode the son of the family, Cem, has heartbreak. He caught his girlfriend Tugce whispering with another boy. He dumped Tugce and hit the boy. Sadik is proud of his boy and says he did the right thing, whereas Betüs can’t believe that of Tugce and thinks that there must be a misunderstanding. They start fighting about this and Sadik makes a very hurtful remark to his wife. This is very bad timing as it is Cem’s birthday, and his classmates are coming. Sadik and Betüs had planned to go for dinner alone, but that is now canceled.

“I can’t believe you, Sadık!  Your son says he beat up a classmate, and you’re proud of him!”

Dudu who saw everything through her magic crystal ball is happy that they are fighting without her even casting a spell around them. She expects both daughters to live with her soon.

But Eda has other plans, she wants to marry a mortal, which her mother is strictly against, so she leaves the castle.

Umur asks Dudu to marry him, and she agrees under the condition that they first live in their own houses until they got used to each other.

Eda’s plans fail, as she had used a spell again to make the man fall in love with her, which only lasts 24 hours. She meets with Betüs in the café, with Perihan also there. Suzan, Avni’s wife also comes there as Avni is still seeing fairies, about which Suzan is unhappy. Dudu also appears and is gloating with her plan to get married. Her daughters protest, as Dudu is against fairies marrying mortals, and now she plans to do the same.

   -Eda:  “So, if you are going to prevent me from marrying a Human, then I will prevent you from marrying a Human.”

In the end there are three parties:
– The birthday party, where Cem is dancing with his sister’s friend for Tugce’s friends to see, which is supposed to make her jealous. Tugce comes to deliver her present to Cem, which was the reason why he was whispering with the boy, he knew how to get a special kind of sneakers. After that is explained, all is forgiven and forgotten.

 

– A man’s party at Avni’s place, where Sadik and Umur go.

“…I don’t think I can live without Betus.”

– A girl’s party in the café.

The other two parties end well, when the men go over to the café to tell their women that they love them, and they are being forgiven.

…

Many, many thanks to Birgit, of the Stella, oh, Stella blog, for all of the of the English and image content, today.

…

    This is a fantastic episode from Mahmud’s point of view!  Also, we see the high importance in Turkish culture of talking things out with others (even to my surprise, back when I worked in Izmir, when someone has clearly done something that we Americans would generally consider imprudent…)  Who is Mahmud?  He is the son of Firuze, the housekeeper.  They are poor, but in an unusual step, the kids invite him to Cem’s birthday party in spite of this, and at first, Cem’s classmates show poor Mahmud that he is not welcome, until little Cilek gets him up to dance.  Then, the real fun begins.  When the music (European/Latino pop music which all of the middle and upper classes in the big cities like Istanbul, Izmir, and Ankara, listen to…) goes out, all they have is a little radio that Firuze listens to in the Kitchen while cooking.  The songs are all traditional on the radio, and these middle class kids, used to American, Latino, and European music, do not have a clue what to do with it.

     When a traditional “Zeybek” comes on the radio, Mahmud, used to what is considered the poor or lower class traditional music, gets up to dance!  And these ‘rich’ kids learn from him!!  This was a tears of joy moment for me, as I also happen to love the history and style of the traditional Zeybek (claimed by the Greeks as the Zeibekiko), and it’s fierce spirit.

    Thank you again, Sihirli Annem, for pointing out that everyone has some part to contribute and to teach, if we will only listen instead of assume!

What a beautiful episode ending!!

–

–

        Hopefully, the empathy that studying languages builds, and a little more good example via story, will help all of us learn to be more open to the needs, feelings, and happiness of others.

Next week will be blm/ep. 13: Turkish Tuesday: Sihirli Annem (s1e13) And Would You Want to Go Back & Be Young Again?

…

Hoşça kalın!

Shira

*****************

Click here to read, if you like:

B5, Hakan:Muhafiz/The Protector, Sihirli Annem, Lupin, or La Casa De Papel/Money Heist Reviews,

Holistic College Algebra & GED/HiSET Night School Lesson Plans,

           or My Nonfiction  & Historical Fiction Serial Writing

Thoughtful Readers, please consider reading and sharing, or even writing a guest blog post here, about #ProjectDoBetter.  Phase I aims to build empathy for public goods (libraries, transit, healthcare, and education) via language study and story, among other tools.

Shira Destinie A.  Jones, MPhil

Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

World Community: New Years Wishes

Happy New Year 12023

                 Fun with Languages Friday becomes today, but as with last year, and now with a summary translation, we go back in time a few years, and a couple of continents, to Turkey.  I learned much of my spoken Turkish over meals with neighbors, and  by watching Sihirli Annem, our delightful Turkish Tuesdays family show in the evenings after work.  It has been described as a Turkish version of the 70s show Bewitched, but I’d call it more of a Bewitched meets Harry Potter ala modern Turkey.

   Minute 17:09 of this Sihirli Annem video episode clip: A beautiful wish for world peace

   And the summary of the entire video:

 

Ok, why was I sure that there was a CC and an English subtitles option when I looked at this video clip before I linked it?

To summarize, first, the kids are arguing with the father (Sadik, a wonderful name meaning Loyal) about being too young to have a mobile phone, and then the mother in law, Dudu, causes a record snowstorm to hit Istanbul, for which she is punished by Perihan (the President of the Fairies) with an order to deliver presents to each of the 7 billion normal people on earth, including in Antarctica, individually! They have conflated the winter holidays, giving Christmas presents on New Year’s Eve, probably to avoid the religious aspect, as Turkey is technically a secular but majority Muslim country. So, by minute 17:19, when we see the beloved late actress Defne Joy Foster look up, the Fairy Leaders, starting with the lady, as it is a matriarchy, are asking the kids not to make the same mistakes the adults have made, and reminding adults that we borrow this world from the children. Then, wishes for a better new year for all of the world.

I can never watch this clip without crying.

     I also have a short story series going,  called   Ann&Anna, the story of an escape.  I  hope that this series will move you to learn more ways to help use our history to build new tools.

Part 13 was on a Slave Escape Sunday, if you enjoy historical fiction.

I look forward to your thoughts.

Shira

Action Prompts:

1.) Share your thoughts on how language learning may encourage empathy-building cooperation, and might help, or hinder, inclusive thinking.

2.) Write a story, post or tweet that uses those thoughts.

*****************

Click here to read, if you like:

B5, Hakan: Muhafiz/The Protector, Sihirli Annem, Lupin, or La Casa de Papel/Money Heist Reviews

Holistic College Algebra & GED/High School Lesson Plans,

           or Long Range Nonfiction, or Historical Fiction Writing

Thoughtful Readers, please consider reading about #ProjectDoBetter.

Toward Peace,

Shira Destinie A. Jones, MPhil, MAT, BSCS

Shira

 

Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.