critical times

awkward. i was just discussing a few days ago with people from london the fact that i feel like living in the outskirts of the empire. they were telling all kind of stories, e.g. about how they notice during everyday life the effect of the finance crisis, whereas to me, being in good old heidelberg and still embedded in the soft cage of academia, the crisis hasn't been much more than big titles in the news. ok, london-heidelberg is not much of a comparison, but still, kind of makes pretty clear the idea of detachment from society that we experience here. and then, after complaining about not seeing the effects of the crisis around me (what a selfish thought, but still) i ended up in front of one of my favourite stores here in town, which is also an art gallery and, incidentally, a link in the right column of this blog: the bourgeois pig, and they were dismantling it. i thought damn, here's the effect of the crisis. art clearly doesn't sell during such times, i thought. i went on their website and found the title of their last exhibit, which is in german but would sound like "art is dead, long live to art"... pretty clear message, isn't it? apparently they're just moving, though the lack of clear information makes it look more serious. the crisis has reached good old heidelberg. or maybe their rent deal was just over. whatever. good luck guys :)

guantanamera

have to admit i stole the title for this post from the web cover of an italian newspaper, il Manifesto... the news of the new US administration planning to close guantanamo bay asap has been in the air for a few days now, so i thought i'd write a note about it, since i posted about Mahvish Khan's book about the detainees this summer after seattle - damn, i still have to read the book by the way. anyway, i thought it's a good thing to notice, i mean lots of things won't ever change, but still looks like it's turning over a new leaf. good news for human rights. good news to hear especially today, being the international holocaust remembrance day... at least memory's there for a reason.

on thin ice

today something absolutely unusual happened in heidelberg. the river neckar, which goes through the city, got all frozen over. well, not all, but still. and it would make sense, since we've constantly been below zero for the whole past week. just, it doesn't. i've been living here four years now, almost to the day, and never in these four years have i seen the river freeze. it's because the water passes through the bars of a nuclear power plant (cool, isn't it? damn!) somewhere up along the course of the river, and it gets all heated up... at least that's what i've been told all the time. it doesn't freeze anymore, they say. one of these sentences that take you back to a different place in space and time. there isn't the good old fog anymore, here's another one i like, from the flatlands in the north of italy.
not true, apparently. i mean, the whole power plant heating the water story. urban legend? don't know, should maybe investigate. or not. just enjoy the show. surprises are always well received. the icy layer's pretty thin though. i wouldn't skate on it, as they did in the good old times. probably too thin even for the ducks...

where have all the ducks gone?

"The funny thing is, though, I was sort of thinking of something else while I shot the bull. I live in New York, and I was thinking about the lagoon in Central Park, down near Central Park South. I was wondering if it would be frozen over when I got home, and if it was, where did the ducks go. I was wondering where the ducks went when the lagoon got all icy and frozen over. I wondered if some guy came in a truck and took them away to a zoo or something. Or if they just flew away."

from J.D. Salinger, The catcher in the rye

the year of what?

i wanted to post about the year of astronomy since a few days. i was waiting for the year to begin, and then for a nice idea to pop into my mind so that i could present such a big event... but this 2009 started (or actually it was 2008 which ended) with a new, tragic conflict in the gaza strip. so i don't really want to blog about the year of astronomy. i don't really want to blog about anything right now. unfortunately, as i keep reading the news, i've run out of words (on this particular topic, i have to admit i have never had many). that's why, as many people are doing these days, i turn from my own thoughts to the words of some people more informed than i am, namely

guerrilla radio
the blog of vittorio arrigoni
the only italian correspondent left in gaza

it's in italian, sorry
(though some posts are translated in the comments)
but here's an analogous effort in english

tales to tell
the blog of sharon lock
an australian peace activist who's also in gaza

i apologise for not having dedicated the same space to other tragic events in the past months i've been blogging.
i will try, i promise.

let's stay human.