May 1935 in Berlin
Baby Uta with her Dad

This is a reflection on my parents. Their marriage their frequent separations, their divorce, how they related to us children, their interests, their friends or partners, Dad’s second marriage.

When I was about fifteen, Mum introduced ‘Bambi’ into our lives. ‘Bambi’ was Herr Burghoff aka Tomscick. Of course only Mum called him ‘Bambi’. To us children he was ‘Herr Burghoff’. We did not have any problem with this. Later on I found out that Dad had a problem with calling him by his adopted new name. Dad insisted on calling him ‘Tomscick’.

Here is a conversation I had with Dad when I was about eighteen:

It was June 1953. I was on a one week leave from FLEUROP and had used this, my very first vacation, to visit Dad in Düsseldorf.

‘The boys told me that Tomscik never shared his…

It seems to me…

“In politics stupidity is not a handicap.” ~ Napoleon Bonaparte.

Our political parties have fundamentally different visions of what kind of country we should have and neither is feeling sufficiently politically weak to agree to the other side’s vision; there remains essentially no room for independent thinking within the conservative movement.

There has been a move to the right in U.S. political leadership where measures frequently are discussed or proposed that would have been anathema to conservatives under the Eisenhower or even the Reagan administration. This shift to the extreme right cannot be characterized in any way other than as a development of a radical political movement that threatens the very stability and character of the U.S. as we have known it. Isn’t it time for common sense and reason to return to political discourse? The radical right attempts to label the Democratic Party…

While researching TTIP on the net ( a former judge of the German Highcourt says TTIP is against international law) I discovered that there is something even more insidious in the offering: TiSA.

It boils down to that the USA want to conquer the world without having to fire a shot. All negotiations are in  secret and Australia is part of it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_in_Services_Agreement

Today I tip my hat to the perseverance of Arindam Mohapatra over at Being Arindam.

His first full length novel, Two Hearts many parts has been released on Amazon in the States and on Flipkart.com, Infibeam.com and Crossword.com in India. This publication is a monumental achievement for a young man whose day job (well, sometimes I think it’s a night job) in the tech industry drains him of time, energy, and soul. Somehow he has stretched his waking hours to craft a novel about love, life, and the pursuit of meaning in India in the twenty-first century.

That he has crafted a story, complete with breathing characters, social commentary, and an eye for the details that bring India to life, is an even greater achievement when put into the context of having written it in his second language. I am in particular awe of any writer who can row against…

2014 marks the fifteenth anniversary of the Battle of Seattle, the week of protests in November-December 1999 that shut down the World Trade Organization (WTO) Third Ministerial Round. Also known as the Doha Round, the intention of these negotiations was to significantly expand the power of multinational corporations to challenge democratically enacted labor, environmental and health and safety laws.

Opening ceremonies had to be canceled on November 30, when seventy to one hundred thousand global protestors stormed downtown Seattle and hundreds of activists chained themselves to cement pipes to block delegates’ access to the Paramount Theater. The police riot which ensued was our first encounter with the police militarization that would characterize the new millennium. Rather than simply arresting them, Seattle police beat, tear gassed and shot rubber bullets at peaceful protestors, journalists and passersby alike.*

Organizing Began in January 1999

I still lived in Seattle in 1999 and participated…

When the train started to move, Frau Fischer opened the compartment window and said,

“Have a look whether you can still see your mother. I’m certain she is waving.”

The war ravaged Görlitzer Bahnhof. My train left from the platform on the far right along the wall. Even from this photo one can get an idea of the beautiful architecture.

I did not see her and it saddened me. We had gone too far. People on the platform and steam from our train blocked my view. Almost without sound the train glided out of the huge station hall. From time to time there was a little jolt when the carriage went with a “clickety, clack” over a set of points. The tall yard lights were standing between the train tracks and shone onto the rails. I was wondering whether the light would stay on during an air raid. We could hear the…