Category: Reflection
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Like Roots Out of Soil
This morning, like most mornings the last few months, I wake up and give thanks that I have awoken, again, in this place, that this is my life. That this is my life. That this is my life. That this is my life. That for better and for worse, as far as I know, I… Read more
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Half a Year Here
I arrived in Berlin six months ago today. With the 29 minutes I have left of this day, I thought I’d reflect quickly and briefly on this milestone. (I am all too aware of how long it has been since I have shared an update; every time I sit down to write, I end up… Read more
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This Week . . . A Month
Earlier this week, as my devising group and I were checking in, I began by saying, “This week . . .” and my colleague Felipe finished my sentence with, “a month.” And that was only Wednesday! The last week and a half of my life, our lives, has been so full, with painful, hard conversations,… Read more
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The Accidental Fulfillment of a Lifelong Dream, and other small miracles
My bedroom windows face the street, my favorite way for my bedroom windows to face. On the lower half of the windows is translucent, prismatic contact paper, which I dislike because it keeps me from staring down at the goings-on below me, but which I appreciate because it distorts the bright lights that would otherwise… Read more
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1 January, 2025
Let’s play a game. Let’s call it “What if, in 2025 . . .?” Humanity is wrestling with itself for its own survival. With the blunt instruments of bombs, disinformation overwhelm, and two-party elections, we conduct our philosophical explorations into when the deaths of children are justified, and who has the right to kill them;… Read more
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On Process
Fall in love with a Questing Beast— Face of a pageant queen Bones of road cases and caravans Body of a dancer and bawdy like a punk band Tree roots for feet and the heart, a hearthfire. With a partner, pursue.Turn your back to give the knife a broader target. Bleed out go blind get… Read more
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Self-Revelation Again
We wrapped up the Neutral Mask a week ago, and last week was our second Foundations Week. I’m beginning to appreciate the wisdom of our schedule, because after Neutral Mask I really needed that week to process and digest. Without further ado, and with equal parts generosity (yes, mine), curiosity, and masochism (also mine), here… Read more
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We Are Not Alone
It was strange today to be so weighed down. When our warm-up began this morning and my professor said, as she does, while we moved through the space, “You are here, you are present, you are ready to work,” I knew that I was not, and I left to let my body feel what it… Read more
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Some Small Irritations
While we all wait for polls to close and votes to be counted and fates to be decided, here are some small irritations about living in Germany: Laundry is an epic. My washer has a 20 minute half-load cycle. The next-shortest cycle takes over two hours. Then laundry takes two days to dry on the… Read more
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About the Election
I’m embarrassed to say that I’m not particularly attuned to German media yet, nor do I talk to a lot of Germans, so I don’t know much of what’s being reported here. But everyone knows the election is coming up, and everyone here quite openly hopes Harris wins—and presumes that I do, too. A Frenchman… Read more