{"name": "Tacettin Fidan", "bio": {"type": "/type/text", "value": "I was born on February 1, 1959 and was nicknamed \"Dean\" by my parents, who had migrated from the Balkans and resettled near Istanbul, soon after WWII--my father was an Army General [Highland Volunteers] for the King [Zog I] of Albania during the war.  I grew up in a small but scenic Turkish village, which was then called Soganlik (Oniony) near the town of Kartal, until I was thirteen years old. Subsequently, I moved to America and made USA my new home since about the fall of 1972. In the New World, I worked as a professional chef and restaurateur most of my life, finishing college in Chicago with a Liberal Arts and Sciences degree at De Paul University in 1980, and then I continued on with my own independent graduate work thereafter.\r\n \r\nI became a proud American citizen in 1981!\r\n \r\nI have been a lifetime supporter of various humanitarian issues around the world, e.g. American-Albanian Volunteer Organizations, here in the U.S.A.\r\n \r\nIn 2005, I published \"Thoughts In Poetry.\" \r\n \r\nIn 2006, I published \"Defining Moments of Poetry.\"\r\n \r\n  I now reside in SUNNY FLORIDA!\r\n\r\n  My views on poetry: \r\n\r\nI see poetry as a vehicle, a kind of spaceship. Yes, a poem needs to have a structure and a method, not unlike a vehicle, for its shape, size, and color are important, but more important are its spirit and/or its performance and delivery. When I write a poem or read someone else\u2019s, I can\u2019t help wondering about its quality, e.g., Is this poem Soulful? Is it Doleful? Is it Joyful? All of the above? Finally, I ask, has this poem drawn an accurate picture of reality as far as we are aware of its existence to its [and its author\u2019s] own-most ability? Of course, the poet as a person is very significant, since without the poet, there would be no poem, but he or she is part of the admixture of a great work. E.g., Homer, Shakespeare, Poe, Frost and many other great poets are long gone, but their life work still lives on.\r\n\r\n\"Poetry is not my vocation, but rather my evocation; its an inner need that I discovered to be very fulfilling.\" \r\n\r\nYou may find my works at these web sites:\r\n\r\nhttp://tacettindeanfidan.spaces.live.com/\r\n\r\nhttp://www.authspot.com/Poetry/Around-Love.626485"}, "personal_name": "Tacettin Fidan", "alternate_names": ["Dean Fidan"], "photos": [5723218], "birth_date": "1959", "type": {"key": "/type/author"}, "links": [{"url": "http://home.earthlink.net/~fidant04/index.html", "title": "Website", "type": {"key": "/type/link"}}], "key": "/authors/OL1454254A", "latest_revision": 6, "revision": 6, "created": {"type": "/type/datetime", "value": "2008-04-01T03:28:50.625462"}, "last_modified": {"type": "/type/datetime", "value": "2025-08-03T23:05:53.979221"}}