Welcome to the Annual Meeting of The Light Millennium’s Special Event:
CONCEPTUAL DIVERSITY Water, Conservation, Timing, Poetry…
DATE: Friday, November 21, 2014 – VENUE: Julie Mardin Photography Studio, NY.
PROGRAM – TIME: 6:30p.m. – (Refreshments: 6:00-6:30pm.)
This program is dedicated to: Inspiring Early Generation of Turkish Women in the United States of America
Tonight’s program is dedicated a very important early generation of Turkish-American women who have been an inspiration to the Turkish-American community. They affected the role of women in society with their knowledge and performed and lived through as if they were appointed as Honorary Ambassadors in between Turkish and American community. They served both in Turkey and U.S as honorary cultural ambassadors, who presented a bright face of Turkey to the world and set an example with their lives. With that, we want to dedicate this program to the following names and commemorate four of those who inspired and guided Turkish women living in the US tonight.
ALİYE AK AYDAGÜL
Was born on 18th of August 1936 (nineteen thirty six) and died on 10th of November 2004 (two thousand four) at the age of 68 (sixty eight). She was the founder and producer of VOICE OF ANATOLIA (VOA, Turkish) very first Turkish weekly series which focused both on local Turkish-American news, presented Turkish culture, tradition, along with interviews with diplomats, politicians, authors, artists and professionals of various fields both from Turkey and the U.S. Aliye Ak received her certification from Queens Public TV in December of 1988. By the time she received the Sue Blank Spirit Award in 1993 she had produced over two hundred programs Queens Public Access (QPTV) and cable TV also a radio broadcast for about 15 years. Through her commitment to the Queens Community she inspired others to pick up the camera to tell their own stories. Further, Daughters of Ataturk International commemorated late Ak’s contributions to the Turkish-American community via “Ustun Kadinlar” award (Distinguished Woman Award) in 2005. [*]
LATIFE ONIS MARDIN
Was a brilliant author born on August 22nd, 1924 in Istanbul and died on August 19, 2013 in New York City. She came to the United States in 1958 with her husband, aspiring musician/arranger Arif Mardin. After settling in New York, he looked for his first break in the music business, and she worked at the United Nations to support him. The job enabled them to stay in the country. She completed a mystery novel Emeralds and Kings. Once her husband’s career took off, she never gave up her writing. Her play, The “A” Word, a story about abortion set in 1968, was produced off-Broadway in 2001. Her quartet novel about the later years of the Ottoman Empire “An Ottoman Saga” was published in Turkey in 2009. She was at the center of the Turkish community in both US and Turkey, and she is survived by her children Nazan Joffre, Joe Mardin and Julie Mardin.
SIRIN DEVRIM TRAINER
Was a member of well known Sakir Pasa Family, the daughter of painter Fahrelnisa Zeid and author İzzet Melih Devrim. Sister of Nejat Devrim and niece of Halikarnas Balıkçısı and Aliye Berger. She was born in 1926 and died on 7th of March 2011 in Istanbul. After graduating from the American College for Girls now known as the Robert College in Istanbul, went to New York to study theater. She graduated from Yale University’s theater department. She worked at the Istanbul City Theatre with Muhsin Ertugrul as an artist and director. She became the first woman who put a play on stage. After returning to the US she had the opportunity to play in many theaters. She gave lectures at Stanford, Carnegie-Mellon and University of Wisconsin.
SARA ERTUGRUL KORLE
Was born on December 1922 in Dresden, Germany. Her mother Munire Ertugrul was a member of the Ottoman Dynasty and her father Admiral Ertugrul was a high-ranking soldier. Her husband was Sinan Korle, the beloved Chief of Protocol at the United Nations for many years.
She graduated from the Robert College in 1943. Her love for acting started in early ages and she had an opportunity to play a role at the theatre of her college. Although she wanted to be a famous actress she became a great journalist and writer. After settling in the US with her husband she worked as a journalist for the Anatolian News Agency (Anadolu Ajansı), Voice of America, magazines called Hayat and Ses. She also published a book about her aunt’s memoirs called “Geçmiş Zaman Olur ki: Prenses Mevhibe Celaleddin`in Anıları in 1953. After her husband’s retirement from the UN they returned to Istanbul. She died on May 2004 in Istanbul at the age of 82.
http://www.lightmillennium.org
THE LIGHT MILLENNIUM (LM):
The LM is a non-religious, non-political, not-for-profit (501-c-3), non-governmental (NGO), independent public benefit multi-media and culture organization. The LM has become associated with the Department of Public Information of the United Nations effective (UN/DPI) on December 12, 2005. Formed in 2001, based in Queens, New York. On the Web since August 1999…
The LM was formed based on the first article of the United States Bill of Rights, Freedom of Speech, in conjunction with the United Nations’ Universal Declaration Article #19, on Freedom of Expression. It invites citizens of the world to submit, in an appropriate artistic medium, ideas and experiences that will help foster better understanding between people of different cultures and beliefs. The organization frequently presents ideas from the United Nations on its key issues as well as ideas from the all walks of life. Since LM’s association with the UN/DPI, channels its capacity and potential sources in support of the UN Vision, MDGs and with the same manner Beyond 2015 for the Sustainable “HUMAN” developments on its multiple platforms yet on the voluntary basis.
LM has collaborated with the Department of Public Information during the NY base UN-DPI/NGO conferences including the recent 65th UN DPI/NGO conference, in which it sponsored and presented the panel “A Quest to Fulfill Hunger of the Body and Mind Post-2015: Is genetically modified food a solution?” as well as with other major universities. Further, LM is a member of the Global Movement for the Culture of Peace (GMCoP) and actively took part in both the 2013 and 2014 UN High Level Forum on the Culture of Peace. www.lightmillennium.org
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS FOR THE LM’S NEXT E-ISSUE #31
With renewed inspiration for its 31st Issue, LM will be continuing its dedication concept, FREEDOM OF INFORMATION IN THE GENETICALLY MODIFIED AGE: Water, Food, Health and Environment.
To be among the first published group please send us your works by December 19, 2014. However the submission process will be open and ongoing into the spring. Our projected e-publication for the first group of submissions will be January 27, 2015, the 15th anniversary of the LM’s e-publications.
Content Coordinator: Julie Mardin – http://www.lightmillennium.org/fox-and-gmo-food/list.html
Contact: Bircan Unver – Julie Mardin – Email: EVENT@Lightmillennium.org – INFO@lightmillennium.org
[*] Special Thanks to Cliff Jacobs, Queens Public Television
PREPARED AND PRESENTED BY:
Dr. HANDE SUBASILAR, Art Historian, Secretary General of The Light Millennium and NGO Representative at the United Nations Department of Department of Public Information Dr. Subasilar is involved with The Light Millennium since April 2013. As a NGO Representative at the United Nations Department of Public Information she has attended many important UN briefings and forums and she has been writing reports to publish in the Light Millennium’s web site. She has a Ph.D. degree from Art History Program of Social Sciences Institute at the Istanbul Technical University. Dr. Subasilar worked as a lecturer at several universities in Turkey including Istanbul Technical University and Istanbul Kultur University. She had her B.A. from Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Department of Art History and was accepted as a graduate student at the Istanbul Technical University where she received her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees. She has been living in New Jersey since 2011 and continuing her carrier as an independent art historian.