Hi! My name is Ruth and I’m a freelance writer who writes about the arts, race, identity, food, and travel. Home base is Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S.A., but I currently reside in Istanbul, Turkey. I enjoy exploring the city’s Old Town, taking the ferry down the Bosphorus, and sipping çay, well, anywhere and everywhere. Piping hot black tea with a sugar cube is ubiquitous and unavoidable aspect of Turkish culture. I also love just gazing out my window in Europe across the Bosphorus to Asia. (Istanbul is the only city situated on two continents.)
Living in a city with such extensive history, architecture, and art is truly a privilege. That being said, after eight years living outside the U.S., I’ve definitely started to feel the lack of representation within the expat community, which tends to be composed of people who are white, straight, and binary, with passport privilege and affluent backgrounds.
And so I’ve been trying to increase the diversity of my experience as an expat, and as a person living in a more racially/ethnically homogenous place than my home country. I can’t wait to show you my adopted city and the diversity of people and places I’ve found here!