Borders: Abandoned

26Jan12

Borders. Who crosses them? How do you pass them? How long does it take? How much does it cost? Do you have to walk, drive, swim, fly? Can you cross a border? Where is the line, exactly? What is in between? What was the last line I crossed? How long did I stay in between: One foot on one side, the other on the new terrain.

Borders are fascinating. I remember myself standing on one side of a border, I don’t recall if I was looking over the strait of Gibraltar, or just observing the next meter through the poles marking the border, to Spain, actually Britain, or the United States of America, simply being amazed by the pure physical fact of looking into another country, another world, another life. At some point, someone came and said: Here is the line. And here I am, staring across the Rhine, to France.

You can develop a relationship with a border (like in Luis Humberto Chrosthwaite wonderful short story, in Instrucciones para cruzar la frontera). Border: female or male? In German, she is female. Die Grenze. I like that. She invites you, she becomes distant, you adore her, you hate her, you get to know all her wrinkles, you grow old.

What happens, if she suddenly leaves you? From one day to another. What happens to the lines on the maps?

Doesn’t the border continue to live in your head?

I love these images by Josef Schulz. He photographs abandoned border stations in Europe. Poetic, lonely, and fragile.

Thanks to Ronny at Kraftfuttermischwerk for discovering them!

Filed under: Creative Nonfiction, immigration   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: border, Grenze, Josef Schulz

Paradise Ahead

19Jan12

Does paradise exist on earth?

(Graffiti on the border fence, Tijuana-side, 1999)

Filed under: Creative Nonfiction, immigration   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: Graffiti, paradise, Tijuana

Creative Nonfiction: Immigration

16Jan12

I am very excited to join the course Issues in International Creative Nonfiction: Immigration at the University of Iowa starting this Monday! It’s an international distance-learning course, part of their International Writing Program.

Some of the books we are going to read are Devil’s Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea, What is the What by Dave Eggers, Maximum City by Suketu Mehta, and Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston. More on the program here. I am looking forward to working with Stephanie Elizondo Griest and my good friend Mariana Martinez!

Here are a couple of thoughts to start off with:

I am a migrant. Yet, with my G4 diplomatic visa, an eight-cubic-meter box containing my life thus far, my arrival to a new country, this time the US, previously to Mexico, to Morocco, (how do you call migrating back to your own country after many years?), looked quite different from the millions of immigrants arriving, far too often, just barely with their lives.

From the individual to the general, some numbers: an estimated 214 million international migrants worldwide. Migrants: the 5th most populous state. Migrants and remittances: an economy of US$ 440 billion, bigger than Belgium, Sweden, Portugal.

Immigration depends on the point of view. From your point of view, I am an immigrant. From mine, I emigrated. This tells me something very important about migration. It is about understanding: you, myself, your culture, my culture, and the culture we form together. Border cultures in Tijuana, Tangiers (the Interzone!). The melting and separating of nationalities in cities with a stream of international workers, New York, Washington, Berlin (Berlin could classify for border culture as well, some would even argue still).

In Germany, immigrants were considered guests, the so-called guest workers, in the expectation that they would return once they’ve done the job. Suddenly, policy makers were surprised when they didn’t. Turks, Italians, Greeks, they all build a new home in the country they came to work in. Maybe they thought of going back, some do, but what about their kids, their kid’s kids? Considering immigrants as guests excluded them. It also started to challenge the concept of nationalities: one passport, two passports, three passports? (Great column by the Economist)

I only have one passport (a very good one when it comes to visas, not like a Colombian, or a Pakistani). But what is my identity? German (I might even precise south-western German) grown, shaped in Tijuana, Mexico, then Berlin, Morocco, Washington (which, I must say, is not = US, especially in a workplace that is predominantly Latin). Why do I enjoy Japanese and Korean movies? Why do I read more Latin American than German literature? Why do I listen to German electronic music?

How does this all fit together?

And finally, in which language do I write? I don’t know. Each language sounds different. I start in one, and end in another. The same poem sounds different in German than in English than in Spanish. Words migrate, have to migrate.

Hopefully, I’ll be posting some of what I’ll be writing on this blog.

I’d love to hear your thoughts, on immigration, on the texts to come, on whatever related. Definitely look out for some posts and thoughts, images, on immigration, borders and related issues.

Filed under: immigration   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: border, creative nonfiction, immigration, migration, University of Iowa, Writing Program

Re-focus

14Jan12

Sonne
scheint durch die Lamellen des Fensters,
die kalte Luft im Gesicht,
weiches Blau.

Die Nacht ist schon wieder weit weg,
unwirklich, in ihrer Wiederholbarkeit.

Kurze Texte hin und her,
Freitag Abend,
vielleicht, eine Chance,
oder die nächstbeste,

dann, verworfene Pläne,
billige Musik zu laut,
Bier wird zu billigem Tequila
Reißleine, good-bye.

Und jetzt,
Restgeruch verflogen,
neuer Versuch,
eine neue Nacht.

Sun
shines through the slat blinds,
cold air in my face,
mellow blue.

The night’s far away again,
unreal, in its repetitiveness.

Short messages, back and forth,
Friday night,
maybe, a chance
or the next-best one.

Then, plans dismissed,
cheap music to loud,
beer turning to cheap tequila
ripcord, good-bye.

And now,
with the last smell evaporated,
next try,
a new night.

Filed under: texts   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: Gedicht, poem

Favourite 2011 melodies mixtape

23Dec11

I came across this really nice feature to create your own, classic mixtape at one of my favourite blogs Das Kraftfuttermischwerk. The great thing about Everyone’s Mixtape is that it draws on YouTube, Soundcloud and Vimeo!

So, here’s my very special 2011 melodies mixtape for you. As you’ll hear, 2011 was a lot about textures, rare sounds, a lot of feeling, some folk, and a lot of remembering the 80′s, the 90′s, shoegaze and Twin Peaks, but also some amazing electronic songs.

There was one song that really blew my mind and make me shiver: Gang Gang Dance Glas Jar. A song like this happens only about once every 5 years. Despite its 11 minutes it had to be on the list, and the cassette had to start with it.

Enjoy, this is for you!

(Note: You have to click on the image, as it can’t be embedded as part of the post. I really have to do my own wordpress hosting.)

The playlist:

Gang Gang Dance – Glas Jar
Zomby – Natalia’s Song
John Maus – Quantum Leap
PJ Harvey – The Glorious Land
Wild Beasts – Reach a Bit Further
Still Corners – I Wrote In Blood
Zodiacs – Faraway Friend
Twin Sisters – Kimmi In A Ricefield
Lana Del Rey – Video Games
Clams Casino – Motivation
Ada – Faith
Robag Wruhme – Wupp Dek
The Field – Is This Power

Any song I missed?

Filed under: music   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: 2011, melodies, mixtape, music

The Field

05Nov11

The driving energy of The Field. And the best album title this year: The Looping State of Mind.

Early show at U Street Music Hall last weekend. I found out about it last minute. Much better than Halloween.

And a song using the new HTML5 Soundcloud feature. Update: Hm, doesn’t seem to work yet. Here’s with the traditional look.

Filed under: music, Washington   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: The Field, U Street Music Hall

Green Costa Rica

19Oct11

Just coming back from Costa Rica, where I attended the Inter-American Forum on Microenterprise, I realised:

Costa Rica  is green.

Not only the subtropical green, but the energy green. Costa Rica lives up to its reputation: It is as if I where in the Black Forest seeing all these wind mills and trash bins to separate waste. Funny that this should make me feel at home. Only the color code did confuse me somewhat. Blue is for paper!

And with all the rain pouring down these days, investing in some kind of water energy using falling raindrops might actually not be a bad idea.

Please appreciate the photo of the windmills, I had a hard time taking it through the windows of the bus curving the slightly bumpy road.

Filed under: Latin America   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: Costa Rica, green energy

Mr Hastings: I think you got it all wrong

20Sep11

An open letter to Reed Hastings in response to his reflections I received today.

Dear Mr Hastings:

I think you got it all wrong.

It’s not about the communication. It’s about the product.

Here’s an example:

On Saturday night I was looking for a James Bond movie. But not just any movie, I wanted to watch Golden Eye, the one where Pierce Brosnan introduces himself as the legendary 00-agent by jumping off a huge bank dam. It’s a movie from 1995, so by no means the latest blockbuster. But all I could find were the James Bond movies until the 80s. Golden Eye was only available as a DVD.

Netflix is for me to have at my fingertips and the movie night’s gusto a great selection of the latest blockbusters, as well as the obscure Japanese movie that I wouldn’t have found in the average video corner store dealer.

So far, Netflix managed to have both by it’s dual concept of DVD’s and streaming. It was fine to wait for a day if I wanted a very specific movie. But if your company’s strategy centers around the online service and the streaming of movies, you are damaging the brand and what film enthusiasts love it for. If you want to make the new Netflix work, you need to make sure I can get all movies I want to see through Netflix. And not through Qwikster some, and through Netflix some more. And worse, the systems don’t even sync (you didn’t want add this tiny detail to your email message, did you?).

Simply put: There need to be more movies available for streaming. Hopefully,it will be as substantial as you promise. Just look at the Netflix Top 100 of most rented DVD’s: Only 6 out of the 100 listed movies are available as instant play.

And yes, communication of the new pricing model was not ideal. Abusing your dominant market positioning to simply raise the subscription price by 60 per cent will obviously not get you any positive feedback and be seen as disrespectful by loyal customers and fans.

My fear is that you think and want a technology: streaming. I want movies.

Still, 16 bucks is an amazing price for the service when I look at paying 13 bucks for a ticket at the cinema. So I’ll keep both subscriptions, update my address, credit card details and movie ratings on two platforms. I’ll probably end up becoming a fan of Qwister while it lasts.

I am sure you can do better.

By the way, I ended up watching Thunderball, which was quite a nice Bond that I hardly remembered.

Best regards

Georg Neumann

Filed under: film   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: James Bond, Netflix, open letter, Qwikster, Reed Hastings

Sculpture Garden

19Aug11

Weekend, jazz, sun, water, sangria, people dancing. Beautiful.

Filed under: Washington   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: DC, Jazz, Sculpture Garden, summer

Right tools

16Aug11

Philosophy of life: It’s just a matter of the right tool.

(Note the bent tool on the right after trying to open a screw of the front wheel of my bike)

 

Filed under: Washington   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: biking, fixing, philosophy, tools