What's nice about it

What's nice about studying Nazism is that when you are at parties or whatever, you can point out
that whatever has happened to come up in polite conversation (the person's profession, the modern dance performance you're all about to see, etc.) was implicated in German fascism. It's fun at parties and on romantic weekends at B & Bs.

Example:

Someone at cocktail hour: Meet [name], he's a doctor.
YSA: The medical profession is one profession that really hasn't grappled with its involvement in the Nazi genocides at all.

Happy Pride, everyone!

Wow, I am kind of sucking as a blogger. Hmm. This weekend I had a good idea for a post when I was really drunk, but now I can't quite remember it. Except that The Gays shouldn't be forced to choose between the NY Met Opera performing for free in New Brunswick (yes, it happened) and the Dyke March. That is just a purposeful thwarting of homo nationalism by the opera. The opera! I thought they were on our side!

Heidi

Dissertation Year is on vacation this week/staff can't think of anything to write, so we are re-running some of your favorite DY hits of the past year.

(Summer, 2006)

You might think that when you take up with a rugged Canadian Canoe Counselor, you will be doing a lot of macho camping. And that's right! But despite my macho image, I was raised in a suburb and only camped once (in a backyard) and found the experience quite alarming and the danger level of camping generally under-rated.

Then I went on vacation to Maine (pictured) with CC. This was our first camping vacation. We camped at a Kampground of America because to CC 's disappointment, the rugged national park camp was full.

(Kampground of America (KOA) replaces all "C"s with "K"s and thus, unfailingly puts me in mind of the KKK, but I think that's accidental on their part.) They had this somewhat baffeling poster all over of "Heidi" holding an inflatable dinosaur, though there was no swimming pool to be seen. (see picture)

We arrived late the first night and set up our tent in the dark. It began to rain. In the middle of the night, the sounds of my own feet sloshing in a puddle woke me. Woah, I was like, camping emergency! And it was only the first night! Though shocked to realize that my initial inkling that camping was in fact dangerous and uncomfortable was plainly true, I knew this was my chance to show that at heart I was no suburban American, but a rugged camping woman who could sleep through anything, including a flood. I resolutely went back to sleep, bending my knees to avoid the puddle. I found that as the puddle grew, I could bend my knees more and more, till by morning I was curled into a ball, but a ball with a mainly dry torso, and a ball that was ready to spring up come morning and declare myself well rested!

The next morning, we saw that in the dark and confusion of the previous night, we'd set up our tent in a mud puddle in the parking area of our camp site (see picture). Then we realized why Heidi is holding that inflatable dinosaur. She's preparing to happily toss it to the Kampers who are sleeping in big mud puddles.

Blog identity crisis

Hello dear reader, well, now I really am in New Jersey. The dissertation year is over. The original purpose of this blog was so that my mom would be able to read what I was up to in Germany, but I think she actually only reads it when the blog covers golf and I send her a link.

Dissertations take more than one year to research and write, though. Now I have dissertation writing year coming up. What do you think--do you want to read more complaining, but not so much about Berlin? If you feel like it, post and tell me if you want to keep reading, and also what kind of stuff you like to read about.

Cheers queers!

Sad times

This is well written and, naturally, diner-philic. But anyway, sad times around here.

Travel and all that

I'm in Copenhagen, but I'm flying back to Berlin this evening. But then to the U.S. on Tues. CC went back to Norway (pictured) but on Tues. she is on my plane across the Atlantic too, yay! Norway has trolls and mountains. Of Sweden, Denmark and Norway, I think Norway was my favorite. We followed in the footsteps of STY and Alan and took the famous and spectacular train to Flam, and even got off and tried unsuccessfully to break into a quaint Norwegian church, and then were threatened (I think; level of threat unclear) by a dragon-faced goose.

But I know what you are wondering, dear reader, and the answer is: Serbia won the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, meaning that a lesbionic power ballad featuring women in vaguely fascist suits beat out Denmark's Drama Queen, a possible historical first time that sappy lezzie drag beat out plastic-fantastic queen drag.

Fiord