Long Road: Dresden to Dubai

Long Road: Dresden to Dubai

Novelist seeking words in storied lands  Our year abroad on a budget approaches an end. Our strategy was to live where it was inexpensive (Rovinj, Croatia) in order to afford better (Dresden, Germany), then giga-expensive (Dubai) (visiting a child). It has worked....
Memory and memorial

Memory and memorial

Every word she writes is a lie, including ‘and’ and ‘the.’ Mary McCarthy, a  New York writer and Trotskyite, speaking of Lillian Hellman, a New York writer and Stalinist, on the Dick Cavett show (January, 1980) Dresden, Germany  I am in Dresden until late summer. We...
Camouflage, Concealment and Deception

Camouflage, Concealment and Deception

…and Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming I have been taking long walks in the Upper Swabian countryside this spring. The Alps like the Rockies advance or retreat as is their wont and per the air’s clarity. This is a rich and well watered land, tended...
Germany, Great Dreams

Germany, Great Dreams

Great Nightmares I am a Germanophile. There is not much about this land I do not admire. When I first lived in Germany (Berlin, 1970-75), I was young, inexperienced and busy; my goal was to have a good time. The second time I lived in Germany (Rheinland-Pfalz,...
Illmensee, Germany, May Day 2014

Illmensee, Germany, May Day 2014

Memorials Patrice and I have been in Illmensee, Germany these few weeks.  I was stationed eight years in Germany. Christopher and Michelle were born here, Robert, Marcia and Deborah had their escapades and I count myself a Germanophile.  I can remember only one...
The Slavs, Tragically

The Slavs, Tragically

 It seems idyllic We are in Ljubljana today and tomorrow, 14 & 15 April 2014, passing through Slovenia on our way to six-months in Germany; it will be research, more or less,  for me, a pilgrimage, more or less, for Patrice.  Patrice’s mother lived her...