on language and book themes

i recently finished up Blue Like Jazz. i devoured the pages, the book was written with a true rawness that, i believe, is rarely achieved on this sort of topic. the post modern christianity one. the stories were what they were. no special extra but a simple dose of truth and honesty. it is a funny thing to think about the act and mastery of storytelling, as this book was a lot of storytelling and read as if the author had nothing to prove. refreshing! why do so many write, talk, tell, yell as if they have something to prove?

[huge edit] realized the internet isn't the place for some topics.
{insert ridiculous and laughable banter on a web-page forum}

anyways. the other day i was in the middle of a crowd in berlin and overhead a brittish man ask another friend of his why he feels like american pastors have this certain aura about them that is along the same lines as a car sales man. he stated that their "time on stage" was like a production as if there was something to sell him. i followed for a few steps before we veered on different paths. he seemed bothered. and quite frankly this bothered me as well. this is only one man's opinion. however i don't think that is the biggest concern. a friend of mine used to say: just because they are many and i am one doesn't mean they are right. so that is the thought.

o n  t h e  u r b a n  s c a l e-- we are close enough to one another in this city to be overhearing conversations all throughout the day. you just have to open your ears. and let me tell you, when you hear your native tongue; it screams at you. your ear somehow picks up on this like the sweetest song you have heard. i can't explain so well how this is, but when i hear english in my daily moves through the city it is just like a loud whisper, the one that is louder than regular spoken word and (usually) no matter what is spoken, holds a little more time for thought. this happened on the bus the other day when two friends were complaining to the max about another friend...blah blah blah. i got twenty minutes of my tram ride with their chatter, i didn't mind, felt a little bad for the brit they were hustling but enjoyed the english. i then excused myself in my best american accent. whatever that means. even though there isn't as much diversity when it comes to languages in the states we really don't get the chance to even find out. it isn't the norm to be brushing shoulders and sharing bahn seats where this sort of interaction or hearsay happens. it still and probably always will blow me away when i talk with a friend in english and then see them turn a switch and speak another language fluently. how can they dooooo that??? i'm simply amazed by fluency in language. on another note, a six year old german girl taught me some important words the other day. i now have: mirror, candle, fork and newspaper in my deutsch vocabulary.


german words we use in america and maybe didn't know it ::

gesundheit (ga-zune-tight)

doppelganger (who is yours?)

kindergarden (we are growing children)

scheisse (shiza, shit)

 The one-ofa-kind artist ,CHRISTO wrapped the Reichstag in Berlin

the year was 1995 and a lot has happened since then

his work never fails to take my breath away

i hope someday to see one in person

a bucket list kind of thing to see

i think i need to invent a new terms that also means bucket list

hmmmmmmmm. still thinking on that one.

planning not to miss the one coming to colorado, though not until 2015, far off excitment.

here is was last year when we visited:



orangerie at the karlsaue (kassel, de)

:: translation ::

this was a baroque castle summer home and home for the orange trees to take refuge in the winter time. they had to keep the oranges happy and warm. today it hosts astronomy ideas/things, garden shows and other beautiful things. this is also the north end vantage of the karlsaue park, the formal garden space in kassel. it's beautiful and just on the edge of the city which is fairly rare. think how far Versailles is from the city of paris. here, you can walk from the city center!

DOCUMENTA 's graphics through the years. not sure about them all

kassel - pronounced - - castle

currently working in Kassel, a small-ish feeling city.

[insert wikipedia reserach time]

population 200,000.

you can call it large as well, depends on your view of a city, town, village, mega-region..what have you. in this country, the stadt  : town & city translation : will make its way to a big-city when it reaches 100,000 inhabitants. towns are considered to be having at least 50,000 inhabitants. There are a few world cities in Germany as well -- Frankfurt, Munich, Düsseldorf, Berlin, Stuttgart and Cologne. interesting topic: world and global cities.

well, that was a tangent. sheesh, no deleting now. i got kind of interested but need to be back on topic and keep this short as there is a lot of work to be doing in the current days of this symposium we are at. to see more of what is going on in kassel, please venture

 to DOCUMNETA 

also,above is a map for you

this compares the university of virginia with the university of kassel, but clearly UVA is taking over the majority of the city. scale...wow!

a new york kind of start

i have made it to berlin! the journey was quite uneventful and fairly quiet. (more to come on that)


on the west side of things, new york city was eventful. and the taking off point for this trip.
i always have mixed feelings about new york. it sounds fabulous, it is fabulous. it sounds chaotic, it is mostly chaotic. 

nyc is a playground for all types of minds and you will hear more than a handful of languages spoken if you open your ears on the streets for a day. i do very much like the city of new york, i have a good number of friends who call it home and say they were, "made to live in the city", i can believe them. while traveling to new york just three times to date and all times by default, i bump myself into completely different places each go'round. this most recent trip was just a few days ago and was the longest i have spent there, 4 full days of wander. i loved it. an entire half of one day was spent watching people stroll, dribble, jog, push babies, chase dogs and more of the like down a park boulevard, all the while i gorged on fresh ripe cherries and an oatmeal cookie the size of my face. that was it, nothing spectacular but just a peacefully wonderful and seemingly local kind of day. i even got to throw a baseball back to a game happening down below the park. you know that moment:
the ball flies out of the fence.
(this case we were a good 40 feet above the field)
it somehow lands nearest to you.
you look around for a moment at the others.
they look back at you.
you know you are the chosen one.
a light jog ensues as you collect the ball.
you say a quick prayer for no blunders. 
for that one moment you get the eyes of many while you wind up and do your best athletic throw.
yeah it was one of those.

anyways, my days were like that, mostly slow wandering.
new on the radar for places to check out is public space. seems odd, doesn't it? well yes, since studying urban design in school public spaces: big parks, pocket parks, streets, sidewalks, parkways, alleys, lawns, boulevards pretty much anywhere the public is allowed to go i wanna check it out. and if it's in the city, even better. i got to see a lot of these types of spaces in new york as they are plentiful there.

[this photo combo i took (same image) is from the highline and the amazing depth you can take in while being on an elevated park in the city ]

PS  PS  PS  PS  PS                                             

 i am moving to deutschland

this -nameless- blog will come to life again.
a map for reference and a few photos from the first berlin visit:

since a wee-girl summer has always been my most loved month

The return of summer brings such relief and joy and anticipation. Life has returned, and with it sunshine, warmth, color, and the long summer days of adventure together. We break out the lawn chairs and the barbecue grill. We tend the garden and drink in all the beauty. We head off for vacations. Isn't this what we most deeply long for? To leave the winter of the world behind, what Shakespeare called "the winter of our discontent," and find ourselves suddenly in the open meadows of summer?

gah.

" What you do in your life is just one half of the equation, more importantly it's who you're with while doing it. "

moving around this world, colliding with others: new comrade or old freund. i cherish the days to know others as you travel with them, it opens us up in ways we might not even know about ourselves. this is big huge (i exclaim)
a short story: there once was a man. a man of mine. he traveled far. in a plaza he surprised me with flowers. we held hands and put one foot in front of the other side by side, always.

glance

pareee (flash-back)

after watching a movie that took place in paris my mind was revolving in the places i lived out my days there [though only about two weeks total]. having free time is a pleasure i will not risk talking dirty about, but i prize the next adventure.

[below: just a few images i snapped of this ever surprising city]

i attended a wedding of weddings a few weekends ago.
this one was delightful in so many ways. i mean, c'mon, look at the length of that shadow. and that bride.
some of my most beautiful friends were in attendance and dance we did.
til the next one, we will love eachother from afar.