Category: Field Notes
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The aromatic heritage of Turkey: a journey through aktars, Ottoman imperial medicine, and living herbal traditions
I went to Turkey looking, as usual, for old stones and ended up following the word aktar. What I found was not a preserved relic, but a herbal culture still changing: shaped by Ottoman trade, family shops, court medicine, local landscapes, and the ordinary problems people carry through the door.
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The American summer I kept walking and walking
New York in July smells like warm concrete and humidity and, if you’re honest, a little bit of piss. Then Washington. Then a balcony full of lavender somewhere in Maryland. Three cities, three weeks, and a lot of walking. The kind you do when you’re not quite sure what else to do.