Born on the Western coast of Turkey, where a great deal of what we now call “Ancient Greece” happened, Oğuz had to go far away at a young age in order to find out that “home” is less a place than a state of mind. After living in Auburn Maine for a cold, complicated teenage year as a cultural exchange student, he went back to turkey in 1990 and attended college in Istanbul, the one-time capital of not one but two world empires, namely Byzantine and Ottoman. In this magnificent city of seven hills and over ten million people, Oğuz earned a bachelor’s in economics, a master’s in environmental sciences, and close to no money at all. Then, in 1997, he embarked upon the second life-changing cross-Atlantic journey of his life, packed his existential awe and social alienation into two suitcases, and moved to New York City, where he occupied 10 different apartments in slightly less than 10 years. A decade of seeking, a decent amount of gloom, some poetry, and a lot of bourbon later, Oğuz finally came to terms with the fact that the bizarre ğ in his name makes it sound like “cheerios” and that he wasn’t finding the true meaning of existence anytime soon. So instead, he settled for a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from Columbia University, which cost him, among other things, a flourishing career in dog-walking. Since 2009, Oğuz teaches courses in anthropology, archaeology, the Middle East, and Friedrich Nietzsche at UNC Asheville. He also tries to eat better, floss regularly, and go easy on the bourbon. Oğuz is happily married to Ayşe and is the proud father of Sophia and Kuzey.