‘Forget safety. Live where you fear to live.
Destroy your reputation. Be notorious.’
RUMI

“My whole family is from Konya and Rumi has always been in my family. When I was young, I thought it was pretty but didn’t really feel a connection. When I got older and started to understand his poetry, I fell in love.

His one poem is really important to me: ‘Forget safety. Live where you fear to live. Destroy your reputation. Be notorious. I have tried prudent planning long enough. From now on, I’ll be mad.’

I got a tattoo of “Be Notorious” as a reminder of no matter how much backlash you get from the people, you should follow your plans. It’s actually funny because the reason I got that tattoo was the fact as a migrant child, you’re always in between and never fully accepted in both cultures. So it was also a reminder for me to think “Fuck it, be notorious”. And it’s dumb because I didn’t do anything radical than being myself, but apparently being yourself is in some communities already an act of rebellion.”