Missed Connections
Planning flights grows more complicated every time. Once, a forty-minute connection at Munich’s vast airport wouldn’t have worried me. Now, three hours between flights in Istanbul can easily become a…
Modern Nomads
I’m on my way back from Kyrgyzstan and the World Nomad Games. Like the Olympics, they brought together thousands of competitors from practically every country in the world. Apart from…
AY YOLA: How to Remain Yourself When the Whole World Has Heard You
For me, flying is not simply a convenient stretch of time in which to observe life. It has become part of the work. Not long ago, I found myself in…
A Festival on a Scorched Pitch: About Football and More Than Football
Almost a quarter of a century ago, in 2002, Bernard Werber published a collection called “L’Arbre des possibles” that contains an intriguing story titled “Bread and Spectacles.”
Keep Dancing, Don’t Stop!
Winter is drawing to a close, which means the season of endless flights between cities and countries is upon us once more. Festival time begins, that feverish stretch for musicians…
Myths in Music, Music in Myths
It was music that made me “the man from the aeroplane.” Almost every week, my weekends began and ended at some airport: I was in high demand as a DJ…
New Year
To celebrate the New Year twenty-four times in a row, one would need to remain just west of the “midnight line” at all times and move along with it at…
Turbulence of reality
From above the world looks calm and complete — altitude lends the illusion of harmony. Lakes gleam like vast mirrors, riverbeds wind as silver ribbons, and among the many shades…
Thought on autopilot
The moment the aeroplane leaves the runway, I allow myself to drift away from the strip of rational control. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex slips into stand-by, and the DMN —…
Myths of the future
I was really upset when I realized I’d forgotten my book in the seat pocket on the plane. I had just started reading it, The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.…