Dog Days

One day after a massive earthquake devastated parts of Turkey on August 17, the Grapevine office received an E-mail communication from the Turkish city of Izmir, on the Aegean: "I'm Ercan A. I'm grateful I'm alive and sober. Such a disaster showed me I'm very powerless. As human beings we're very powerless --we're like ants when a quake happens. Now I need the serenity to accept what I cannot change --my father is lost, I cannot reach him." Ercan told us that right after the earthquake, "in my worst hours, the Grapevine was with me. I read and prayed." Several weeks later Ercan sent us the following story about the events of that difficult time.