DREAMING IN TURKISH

Reflections on life in the United States as a Turkish woman immigrant

GUIDELINES

This project is a compilation of essays written by Turkish born/raised women and is a sentimental reflection of their experiences living in the United States . The purpose is to connect with and inspire each other by sharing our life experiences, the challenges we face in living in our adopted homeland and the ways we try to overcome them.

The essays will cover a wide range of subjects and will be organized around the following themes:

• Coming to the United States
• Settling in
• Life as a Turkish student
• Love and marriage
• Domestic life
• Careers
• Social life
• Giving back to our communities
• Giving back to Turkey
• Raising our children
• Maintaining ties with Turkey
• Practicing our faith
• Keeping our traditions alive
• Taking care of our parents
• Death in the family
• Grandchildren
• Retirement

In many cases, essays might focus on a specific anecdote to illustrate one or more of the following: a difficulty overcome, a misunderstanding corrected, an insight gained into U.S. culture (a similarity with or difference from Turkish culture), a "life lesson" learned, an amusing "disconnect."

Although some stories may involve sadness (for example, a death in the family), we are generally looking for upbeat stories of successfully learning to cope, of adapting to a new culture. We see these essays as a source for other newcomers who may find inspiration, reinforcement or support for their own lives and experiences. We are interested in essays that show an open mind and respect for all races, creeds, ethnicities and national origins.

We suggest that you focus on one or at most two subjects, and include just enough information about yourself so the reader gets a sense of who you are.

We would like you to write your own essays, but in some cases the committee members may decide to interview you and use this information to write the essay themselves.

Please note that in order to maintain consistency throughout the website and also to meet the overall mission of this project, your essays may go through several edits by our editors.

 

Submission process:

Please submit the following to your local committee member:

• The essay: a minimum of two and a maximum of four double-spaced, typewritten pages in Word format.
• Bio and photo (in digital format): a short (ideally about two-paragraph) bio and photo. In your bio, in addition to career information, feel free to include personal information about things that are important to you (your family, community involvement, hobbies, etc.). Or, if you think it is appropriate in your case, tell us why you are involved with this project and/or why you wrote the essay you did. Please write your bio in third-person format, i.e., using your name rather than "I" (see samples on the website).

Posting on the website:

The essays, together with bios and photos of the writers, will be posted on our website. The Editorial Board will make every effort to post all essays that meet the overall mission of the project.

 

Committee members:

The committee members will solicit essays, guide in the selection of essay subjects and also assist with editing. The current members are as follows:

 

Managing Editor:                   Sema Basol

Editors:                                 Mary Ann Whitten and Dilek Yucel

Local representatives:

Los Angeles :                        Seda Aksut

Orange County :                    Dilek Yucel

San Diego :                           Nazli Guner

Ventura/Santa Barbara:          Vega Sankur

Other states:                         Dilek Yucel

Local representatives from other states will be added as needed.

 

Your consent and permission:

Your participation in this project implies your full consent to the guidelines and to the posting of your essay, bio and photo on the project website.

 

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 Revision #7 -1/1/07