ode to the open road and what moving oneself to new destinations does to the spirit.

gosh darn-it, who am i?

who are you (yes, you)?

what pieces do we get to pick?

what parts are chosen by nature?

what combinations take root with nurture?

 

ponder.think.dwell

below is part of my ideal existence:

"she is one of those rare people who lead active lives, engaged, alert, slightly reckless and unsettled, open to grief and to joy, and who can then tell you with clarity and warmth about what has happened to them." (on author: dorothy gallagher)


welp, a beautiful lady and i traveled to new berlin locations, dresden and prague. will post soon-ish with a slightly skewed and critical perspective. or at the very least a picture.

reading a thought

" the desire to remember and the desire

to   forget   are  indissolubly  mixed "

 

 

i have been reading more in my life than ever before. mostly non-fiction, but that is usually all i ever read. 

 

sometimes i wish i had the i-phone just to use the notepad app (and maybe the app that tells you where public bathrooms are). not that i couldn't be old-school and have a little pocket book and pen with me at all times, i often do, but in this day and age we most certainly have a handy (german name for cell-phone) with us at all times. it would make for the remembering of little texts and thoughtful words easily available for later reflection since they would be permanently noted. but then i think, if i always had a pen and notepad with me i would clumsily wash my faber-castell black pen too often. yes, it has already happened here which didn't bode well for the small selection of clothes my closet contains.
 

well, about this reading. it is mostly about the history of the city of berlin, or urbanism on a whole, bits and pieces of different critics on the development happening here, german children's books, these sorts of things. since, i believe, there is something so personal to receive from cities, especially one such as berlin, you can relate some hidden pieces of the text about cities to other aspects outside of which they are meant. this is the case at hand. it just takes a bit of sun-staring and chem-trail chasing. or squinting to find the beauty in this city, which to some is not very apparent. but that definitely depends on what beautiful is to you. think about that. i dare you.
 

as the quote mentions, remembering and forgetting are permanently bonded together, our desire to that is. do you ever think about something so much SO that you will never forget it? or why is it that we will never forgot an instance in our life that may have been just a fleeting moment? i don't think we get the choice to forget. but would like to believe we get the choice to remember. however, i'm not certain it works that way. i would be lying if i said that when in the past someone forgot something we shared or experienced together that i feel like i would not ever forget has saddened me. though i'm positive i have be in the reverse role. it's all so personal: it's how we engage with our surroundings, the person in front of us, the landscape we stand in, the repetitive ways we turn our bodies, the context of our conversations. the amazing thing about these thoughts to me, is that i believe, as an aspiring urban designer, our profession could create a place or stage if you will, to grant people the ability to remember with a place/city/park/street/younameit as the setting.

now to create. 

kino international

 

 

i went to the kino. kino is the movies. going to the movies in another country is something i really enjoy doing, i believe it to be cultural. just once or twice. except i saw a not so good movie this time around. better luck next time. i got overly excited too quickly. though the architecture did make up for it. one fine day, on the bike ride from work i bumped into this building for the 3rd or so time, though this day i hit it square on and coaxed me to come have a look. you see, the ride to work is usually unwavering and i have little time for random turns, i have already pulled the 'whoops i got lost card four too many times'. the afternoon however, well that is a completely different genre. my 'commute' home has nearly tripled in time as i lolly gag my way home, with no peeking at the map.

 

this building is truly a gem. built during the soviet era in the 1960's in the international style (modernism) it truly has kept its beauty over the years. it is an ant compared to the other karl marx allee buildings it sits upon. it is calling you to come in with the protruding roof cantilevering over the entry. i did enter and was sold when i was told that the movie showing would be in original version. i still fell asleep.

 

[a few pictures, missed snapping the upstairs pink lounge, will just have to make a trip back. you come. we go!] 

 

 

                                     nov. 1963 image



sucker exhibit

 

 

saturday was the long-night-of-the-museums in berlin.

 

*some 55 museums open their doors until 2am

 

i didn't go. that is okay. i have to remember i am no longer a tourist here and can't quite keep up with the pace as such. but i can do touristy things. heaps of them. i loved this exhibit that was part of the evening and to also celebrate berlin's 775th birthday. a bit controversial because the city has celebrated it in an array of fashions, be it an urban self image or political 'stagings'. also, i have a growing interest in temporary art&architecture (usually a combo) since it is fleeing away the moment it arrives or is massed. this particular piece will be around for two months. enough to enjoy a number of times. 

 

 

 

reflection of the berliner dome

 

 

 

alexander platz's notable icon in the back

 



 

 

 

with the moon

 

 

  

johanna on bike

 

“ Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given to you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.  ” 

being abroad & away makes me question so much

51

fifty one years ago today the berlin wall was erected by the GDR(east german soviet forces)

for the next 28 years worlds would be divided. i, and probably most of you were alive and running around in the front yard sprinklers while the wall stood. this means something to me as a lot of being here in berlin is focusing on cultural, infrastructural, urbanistic and architectural changes that happened to the city of berlin because of this division.

i'm not as concerned, right now in my observations, in the historical emotions attached with the wall but more about the space and voids it left in berlin. these spaces are opportunities. the hope is that a project would mesh somewhere into this urban realm.

as part of the project description for myself i have chosen to walk the mauer (wall) from north to south in berlin, intentionally. experience is the top priority, photographing the second, sketching the third and maybe scoring some some-what questionable but always the most delicious curry wurst the fourth. i confess: i am not a travel foodie.

okay then

a few favorite (edited) photos below of wall pieces or interpretations, they are scattered around the city. often times moved to new locations then where they were erected.

interpret

new location

as is and grown around

movin

          

 

                                  SCHLESISCES TOR : U-BAHN

yellow moves you on

hold on tight, pass by below

the city chaos

the things that matter

or maybe more importantly,
the things that don't.

do you, yes you, think that by recognizing the aspects of life that are most important to us are because of recognizing the ones that aren't? i've been having some rich conversations recently about what traveling does to a person. contemplated: how travel forces you to engage, how you settle with realities, resting time is invaluable, our convictions jump up and speak out, we change beliefs. fantastic topics that i enjoy hearing people's opinions about and how their own journeys influence them, and more often than not they do in tangible ways.


news is a funny thing. what news travels where. how it gets there. what filters the world and we as an individual places on said news. what news we only let go in our ears but never as far as our brain the dwell on. be it a good word about the arrival of a dear friend's baby being born, the US women's soccer team taking the gold at the Olympics (i passionately care about while others around me don't hesitate over), civil wars in syria, or the opening of an exhibit in berlin. sometimes we can't choose what filters into our lives, however, we do place filters on how we perceive the information. this can alter with the location of our current point in the world. a lot of news that came when i lived on a hill in an indian mountain town seemed insignificant most of the time. often, what i remember most about hearing news is what activity i was doing or who i was with when news was given to me. i have exact memories surrounding princess diana's car chase death, sept 11th 2002, the virginia tech shooting, when my grandfather passed away. each one here an upsetting story but i have a plot and short character list associated with each time. the news all of sudden seems so much more of a certain time when it is attached with a personal connected memory, even despite being present at any of the news events listed above. that one was at a slumber party then, a summer day there, an early morning before the rest of the world was awake at home then, my high school homecoming there.

back to realizing what is important to us, i have discovered some bits through the back door: the thinking about what is not on the top of the list, or on the list at all. you get to make up your own definition of list. 
if i'm a bit transparent for a moment : conviction about being less selfish and in turn wanting to serve others around me. that the people we have in our lives and what they mean to us are more clear by stepping back so we can actually see who they are and who they are not. sometimes our eyes are clear once washed away with tears. this world is big. i know nothing compared to all the knowledge there is to bring into your brain. knowledge is different than information. very different. cities can speak to us. we can use them as well. they are there for us. kind of like a solid friend. i'm slowly uncovering with many footsteps what berlin has to offer this little life.

olympiad

london olympic park

aerial view

wow.

AECOM designs

i have been to a few different olympic parks and find some odd fascination with them. they are a different kind of urbanism that changes with the city but never with the initial program. changes with the current usage, yes usually so. most often placed a good distance outside of the city center one can only image how uninhabited they quickly become. an early stop on my berlin list of-buildings/parks/publicspcae/installations to see was the olymic park here. it was for the 1936 games. a time during the nazi regime. a symmetrical and neoclassical style of architecture was called for and perhaps for obvious reasons.

others seen : rome [1960] & barcelona [1992]


olympic park berlin below:

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)