OK, so this may look like the same person writing in, but I'm the Yasemin part of the "Chris and Yasemin"...

Now we are debating whether or not the guy in Istanbul was excited to see an American, or a black guy, or both;) I think the local guy in Istanbul yelled "Michael Jackson!" at Chris because he was a black dude in a primarily white environment. The local man, to me, was clearly excited to see a black man and his excitement manifested itself in making a connection to the most famous black guy alive: Michael Jackson.

On a similar note, the whole time Chris and I were in Turkey he got called by other names such as "Bob Marley," "Cuba," "Jamaica," and "Rasta-man" (it must have been the dreads...)

I still think Chris is right though, Mike and his music clearly have cros s-cultural unifying properties.

by chrisandyasemin on 02/27/2008 09:35:19 PM EST