Oh Schicksalstag and Lizard Hips and Alligator Eyes

I'm sitting in my brother's kitchen. He's trying not to get killed by a hot wok full of expertly-minced onions that will soon be joined by marinated chicken and rice and eggs. We can hear characters from Gilmore Girls being hysterical but I guess it's just background noise, because the screen is too small and too at the wrong angle and no one's paying attention anyway. We shared some tiramisu I brought from work. It's really windy and I don't want to bike in the wind but I want to get home quickly to my warm shower and maybe my popcorn maker and my book on my couch under a blanket in the glow of one lamp. I think that means I should leave this little internet attic haven, and go forth into the wind toward my bed.

But today is November 9th, which is kind of a big deal in German history. It's called the "Day of Fate," because so many important things happened on that day in different years. Here's a link to my three-years-younger self's explanation of this phenomenon, written during my year in Freiburg. I thought it was pretty crazy and interesting.
The Reichstag (German parliament building) to the left, Brandenburg Gate to the right, and the wall went between. Taken from the holocaust memorial.

Since it was the day the Berlin Wall fell, I might as well link you to the excerpt of the German novel I translated, too, about a Turkish-German 19-year-old who rushes back home to Berlin from school in Istanbul as soon as he learns his city is reunited. Published in the University of Michigan's Canon Translation Review.

2 comments:

Maraia said...

Holy crap. Three years?

Anonymous said...

A few weeks ago a girl came to our translation class to tell us to submit/go to a meeting for Canon. I wanted to be like, hey, my sister and close friend wrote for you! I didn't say anything.