German Blacks - A View Ahead

"My, but you speak excellent German - flawless grammar, perfect accent. Keep up the good work!"

I just heard a great piece on BBC Radio's The Strand about the dynamic young Afro-German theater troupe Label Noir Berlin that is presenting their unique view of racism in German. The piece resonated with me while filling me with an old familiar feeling of dread. Amongst the few other black people I know here in Slovenia, all of them (including me) are very concerned about having children in this country where people are so ingnorant, insensitive, and totally unsophisticated especially when it comes to matters of race. So to hear that young native-born Afro-Germans are still struggling through people approaching them and assuming they are foreign (and thus stupid) really worries me. I look to Germany to get a sense of what Slovenia might be able to achieve in the decades to come with regards to social change and integration, and while some of what I see is promising some is just cause for dismay. Despite my hand-wringing, I must say that I am inspired by these young actors's hopefulness, humor, and perseverance considering the low level hostility from ignorant Germans and the high level terror in the face of very real threat of racist violence from white supremacists -- all remnants of vehemently racist institutional policy. While I'm still not sold on having children here, at least if I do, I can point them in the direction of Label Noir Berlin as inspiration to push the conversation about race, space and belonging even further.

"We wanted to address certain issues of identity and 'Heimat' [the German word has more gravity than 'homeland'] without any self-pity," said Lara-Sophie Milagro, artistic director of the theater production company Label Noir Berlin and a member of the cast. The disturbing encounters portrayed on stage "are things that happen to us, but they don't define our lives 24 hours a day," she said. "We're not victims."


"Theater ensemble serves up snapshots of German racism" (via Deutsche Welle online)

Hello American !

In the weeks since I returned from America, I have been a bit in the doldrums and very discouraged about my life in Slovenia. This is a tough place to be a foreigner and particularly tough for a former New Yorker, who just spent a three-week vacation having a fabulous time in New York.

Today as I walked down the fair streets of Wheelville in the same spot where I met my best friend over two years ago, I saw two men rolling down the street -- one on a bike and one on a skateboard -- and I called out to the skateboarder, "Where are you from?" He immediately hopped off and told me he was from Germany and told me he was here working on a solar plane project but was, alas, leaving tomorrow. I told him I was from America and was married to a Slovenian. He told me that the head of the plane project was the man who'd sped off on the bike, Eric Raymond, and as he hopped onto his skateboard in pursuit of Mr. Raymond he instructed me to Google "solar plane" and I'd find out everything. I bid this friendly German "Schuss" and walked home. As I neared my house, I saw Mr. Raymond and yelled out "Hello American!" but he kept right on riding. I must say I've had little success with Americans in Europe, but I don't mind. They are forgiven.

So, unperturbed, I followed the friendly German's instructions and discovered the link to this fascinating project where these adventurous Americans are putting together planes that run on solar power. It is happening right here in my neighborhood in Radovljica, and I never even knew. That is somewhat encouraging, and I hope there are more things like this for me to discover, more things like this to ease my discouragement and frustration away...

Read about another blogger's visit to the Solar Flight workshop here)

Berlin Diary Entry Number Two: Karma Chameleon

Of all the nicknames I had as a child, Berlin is really bringing one to mind: chameleon.

The other day a friend was in town and I met up with him and gave him a tour of a few neighborhoods I'd visited. We also went to lunch where -- despite any formal German training -- I was able to order my meal in German. As we were padding through Kreuzberg, my friend exclaimed, "It's like you live here!" and in fact he couldn't believe this was my first visit and that I'd only been here about a week. I don't know what it is when words, languages, directions, geographies come to you fast and easy. Is it absorption? Adaptability? Confidence? I'm not certain. What I do know is that I am done being modest about this talent.

While I may not speak Slovenian perfectly (and honestly, who does?), I think I can confidently navigate through situations I find myself in in Slovenian (and Slovenia), and this is only after about a year and a half and only one week of formal education in the (very difficult) language. So, yes, I admit I have a knack for these things. That said, today, I start my first day of German language instruction. It will be a month-long course and I am setting my sights high. I have a strength and a willingness, and there is no reason why I can't be an ace number-one casual German conversationalist by the end of this month. No more denials of what I'm good at, now I'm shooting for the stars*!


*Sidenote: Star Trek movie was AWESOME. A+++

Berlin Diary: Entry Number Zero Point Two

Here are a few images from the hour or so we spent in gorgeous Dresden.

I had a brief run-in with a gang of living statues where they tried to shake me down for undeserved Euros, but otherwise the trip was lovely and uneventful. Dresden, like Munich, has an oddly sterile feel to it, since it is almost entirely new (having been famously bombed to bits during the war), but I enjoyed it nonetheless.




these people were doing an anthropological excavation.






the aforementioned gang






















first wurst of the trip!

Munich - Part II (final)

Viktualienmarket, Moderne Pinakotheke, street scenes, Englischgarten, Olympic Park























See you next year Munich!!

Munich - Part I

So I had my first experience of the family trip to Munich. They have been going for 30 years, but the family has shrunk and spread out a bit in the last decade, so the last few years it has just been the Cap and the CapMama.

Munich was a nice city, but it felt kind of generic and sanitized. This was my first visit to Germany, but I have a feeling a lot of the country is like this. It sort of hurt that I didn't have the internet and had accidentally forgotten my list of cool places to check out. It was alright checking out the touristy stuff but next time I'll be equipped to find the seamy side of the place.

Anyway, here are pictures. Sorry I forgot to take a stereotypical picture of me sip with a beer stein, but hey! here I am eating some wurst!

























More pictures tomorrow or y'know whenever I get around to it.

Number one and two

Pictures and stuff from Munich coming soon. In the meantime, I just wanted to thank Europe in general. For what? Why, for the toilets!

You see, in my travels through Europe I have found the toilets are free and open. Whereas in America, Mexico, and other places people will do that shady thing of making you buy something before you can use their toilets, here in Europe I've only once (in Split,Croatia during high tourism season) been stopped and asked to pay for the pleasure of using the john. Frankly, I don't think anyone should ever have to pay to make water (or drink water, for that matter), but, alas, my radical opinion has not really caught on. So I just appreciate those times when I encounter people who share some of my high ideals in this area. And so......Europe, I salute you!