Meet the Neighbors
After a long break to concentrate on magazine editing, it’s back to book writing. This time, for good. New, on being Jewish in Europe, in Monday’s Souciant. Photo taken in front of the state archives office last week, in Torino.
Archived entries for Stuttgart
Stuttgart Calling
Sooner or later I was going to have to write about it. The apartment we rent, near Jen’s office, is located in as rich and complex a space as our home in Berlin. Take a right at this corner, off of Hegelstrasse, and you’re on Holderlin, a half a block from us. Reflections on living in Stuttgart, in Monday’s Souciant.
Ataturk is Everywhere
For a moment I thought I was in Istanbul. Karl Marx Strasse, Berlin, October.
Flyer for a lecture about the late Turkish leader. West Stuttgart, November.
Contest of the Wills
You have to appreciate the linkage of the word “Nazi” to Islamophobia. As easy as it is to call any racist a fascist, at the same time, it’s an admission of what ties contemporary anti-immigrant politics to modern anti-Semitism.
Roman Crunk
Well, not exactly. But you get the idea. To Germans, Italy is the south. Imagine an Egyptian-Italian hip-hop MC coming up here from Rome, and it seems that much further away. That Amir’s identity is already wrapped up in a different kind of ‘south’ makes him seem that much more foreign.
Even though Italian hip-hop artists will play outside the country (for example, the legendary Assalti Frontali played in Berlin last summer) despite backing from majors, the idiom has not been picked up abroad, in the same way that, for example, Baile funk, or African rap, have been noticed.
That is, picked up by hipsters. Nevertheless, I’d imagine there are plenty of Italian autoworkers here who’d go out to see Amir. Even if they hadn’t heard him before (he’s not exactly a household name, like the omnipresent Fabri Fibra), the Italian flag at the top of the flyer is an obvious lure.
Parklife
I normally don’t take to demonstration photos. As a magazine editor, I’ve often found them overused, less evocative than they’re intended to be. Still, given the pictures of the violence at Friday’s S-21 demo here in Stuttgart, today I walked down to Schlossgarten park and proceeded to snap away.
The park was full of protestors. Some were manning info tables, talking to reporters, distributing pamphlets. Others sat on tree branches high above, watching a police detachment protect a busy bulldozer. Even though the focus was Stuttgart, it was clear everyone was thinking about Germany.
Though nuclear power remains a subject of intense debate for Germans, it has long since been dropped by most Americans. It only appears in public discourse in relation to government concerns about weapons of mass destruction, for example, in Iraq, North Korea, or, most recently, Iran.
As refreshing as it is to see the topic taken up as an environmental issue, there is still something unfamiliar about it. I find it difficult to separate the discussion from security considerations, particularly as they relate to Israeli anxieties. Clearly, a number of Germans see it as a security issue, too.
“Transatlantic Deodorant Commercial”
It was the first thing that came to mind, as I saw this image flash across the TV screen. Standing on the platform at Stuttgart’s central station, I was waiting for a train take me to the airport, where I was to begin the first leg of a trip to the US.