“I want to drive into the sunrise.” Years ago, when I was living in Seattle, commuting every day to a comfortable desk job in the eastside, I used to mutter this half-jokingly to my carpool companion. This must have seemed to her not just wistful and slightly pathetic but incredibly dramatic, as we were usually…Read more Home in the Ether
Travel
Lasting Summer
My earliest memories make no logical sense, one moment I’m standing in a field of sugarcane, the next moment I’m with a flock of ladies in a churchyard, in another moment I‘m running up the front steps of home. The green cane stalks loom above me in my toddler height, bowing in the wind as…Read more Lasting Summer
Wahlberliner
I must admit, I’ve been (more) distracted lately. I am still working on my Origins book project which is coming together slowly but surely. But for the most part, I’ve been living my best life outdoors! Summer has come to Berlin in full force this year! April and May felt more like July. I don’t know…Read more Wahlberliner
Origins
I recognized the shape of the island immediately, a rugged, horn-like protrusion emerging from sea. Lush vegetation nourished by rich volcanic soil made it a green brighter than the turquoise shallows caressing its beaches. The sky, the soothing pale blue of daylight, was clear enough to see broad plateaus and dark canyons beneath the shifting…Read more Origins
March, the Death of Winter
Some thoughts on the loose ends of winter: Remnants that scatter. Swept out. Soon to be forgotten. Bared by the persistent cold prove too fragile to stand, neither whole, nor in any semblance of form. A relentless wind, whipping panic, freezing each and every protuberance. Removing the timid, Exposing all that is meager. There is…Read more March, the Death of Winter
To the Jerk Who Saved My Life
Vibrant colors and bold patterns dazzled. Lights flashed, shimmered and pulsed. The façade of the glass and steel skyscraper was an enormous movie screen. Bright images flickered, emblazoned with lettering proclaiming them commercials. Skinny models vacillating between vapid and haughty paraded down a catwalk in stilettos as Chinese characters cascaded over them. A shiny bottle…Read more To the Jerk Who Saved My Life
The Center Everywhere
My husband used to tell me a little story I have since cherished that occurred on the day I first arrived in Germany ten years ago. My flight out of New York had been abruptly delayed by a few hours, so he had to wait for me in the airport lobby for quite a while.…Read more The Center Everywhere
The Unimaginable
As the year draws to a close, it seems only natural to review the most memorable events of the past 365 days. Politically, culturally, ideologically, it has been quite a roller coaster. Many of us have continuously found ourselves in surreal places this year—places we never could have imagined, back when the future was just…Read more The Unimaginable
Awake and Dreaming in Berlin
A tall man sat cross-legged on the floor by the sliding doors of the Ring Bahn, the train that runs frenetic loops above the crowded heart of Berlin. He was not a young man, not quite middle-aged either. Heavily intoxicated, he was probably heading home after a long night partying along the Spree, or cruising…Read more Awake and Dreaming in Berlin
Strange New Worlds
“Science fiction makes me want to vomit,” my mother once said to me. I completely understood what she meant. Don’t get me wrong, the genre is one of my favorites. But for someone prone to motion sickness, a consummate landlubber—someone who loves the dirt, green, growing things, the sunlight, walking barefoot, the scent of water—the…Read more Strange New Worlds
A Light Circle 