Tag Archives: #berlin

“Hello, it’s the past”

In a good way! Well, I don’t know about anybody else, but I can safely say this is the best year-beginning I’ve had in a while. I spent New Year’s Eve and much of New Year’s Day with a dear friend, walking around her neighborhood, meeting other friends of hers, counting lessons from the yearContinue reading ““Hello, it’s the past””

David Bowie at 75

In which I *am* the young American Happy what would be three-quarters of a century to the one and only Starman. Though the ‘man’ part of that portmanteau, I think, belies his enormous contributions to bringing gender weirdness to the fore of the music industry and mainstream media. Hunky Dory has been on heavy rotationContinue reading “David Bowie at 75”

Notes on Photography

Or, look at me all Susan Sontag with my titles 🥰 There is a difference between taking photographs and making photographs. I’d picked up on photographers saying something to this effect across years of reading—photographers were inevitable in the nonfiction I read—but I truly understood it this past Sunday when I was thrust into theContinue reading “Notes on Photography”

Cecilia of Charlottenburg

Or, a wordy Pinterest board Last weekend I traveled from my neighborhood in the former East Berlin to visit a friend of mine in the western neighborhood of Charlottenburg. I take just about every chance I get to stroll through Charlottenburg because of how fancy I feel doing it. Seeing it at night this time,Continue reading “Cecilia of Charlottenburg”

Notes on Experimental Warehouse Music

In which I venture out alone in the dark The other night I attended a performance by an international chamber group in a warehouse, complete with light installation and spaced-out seating. One of those true Artsy Events you would expect to encounter in an Artsy City. And boy was I not let down. In fact,Continue reading “Notes on Experimental Warehouse Music”

Another brick out of the Wall

In which I chronicle a convergence This time of this year is special for the city I happen to be in as it commemorates the 60th anniversary of the raising of the Wall. Construction began on 13 August 1961, and things proceeded relatively quickly from there—by this point, there was a marked delineation and anContinue reading “Another brick out of the Wall”

A Summer So Long

• As a seed in the bright-colored street I am saying so long To the I know of nothing, the nothing that knows not of me. On a high cushioned wingtip my bondage was loosed with a song Of seduction to come, a provoking, profane melody; The lean languid lusting of aimlessness, sloth, and despair,Continue reading “A Summer So Long”

A Brief History of Nollendorfplatz

In which I highlight a byte of queer Berlin One more Pride post to round out the month, the subject being something I simultaneously know quite a bit and hardly anything about—the city I’ve lived in for very nearly two years. Nollendorfplatz—“Nolle” or “Nolli” for short—is a neighborhood I passed through on the days IContinue reading “A Brief History of Nollendorfplatz”

The Strange Mirror of UNORTHODOX

In which I consider what makes a home *WARNING: SPOILERS* A couple months have passed since I watched Anna Winger’s four-part Netflix series Unorthodox, based on Deborah Feldman’s memoir, and I’m working through how close it hit to home. Not in terms of Judaism, in terms of my physical location. The action is divided betweenContinue reading “The Strange Mirror of UNORTHODOX”