Although the midterm elections are already over, my German friends are still asking me what they are all about. They say that most Europeans don’t understand American midterm elections. I’m not surprised. Neither do most Americans.
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Thoughts of a Digital Alternative
Believe it or not, I’ve never owned a cell phone. This sentence coming from a toddler might not be that astounding, but coming from a middle-aged woman who tremendously enjoys the company of friends, colleagues, and students, is rather surprising. Why wouldn’t anyone – with the exception of hermits and strict techno refuseniks – want to enjoy being and staying in touch all the time. Well, maybe it is exactly the “all the time” that I find disturbing. Of course, people tell me that you could just turn your phone off, that you don’t need to be online continuously, that it’s o.k. to be unavailable at times. And apparently, I’m not alone.
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Drew Hayden Taylor at Leuphana
From November 3 to 5, Canadian Anishnawbe author and playwright, Drew Hayden Taylor, will be giving talks in various seminars at Leuphana. Topics range from tools of the creative writing trade to the postcolonial situation of Native people across North America.
If you happen to be in the area, feel free to stop by!
In a World Created by an Indigenous God: A Native Writer’s Take on Karl May’s Winnetou
It goes without saying that the Germans’ unrivalled fascination with the Native people of North America is not exactly a well-kept secret. Case in point: the annual Karl May Festivals in Bad Segeberg and Elspe. But I’ve always wondered whether this fascination might be mutual. Spoiler alert: It is.
In 2017, Anishnawbe writer Drew Hayden Taylor set out in search of Winnetou. What he found ranged from the amusing to the unsettling. In other words, the perfect material for his documentary film, Searching for Winnetou, where the fine line between appropriation and appreciation becomes a bit blurred. Curious about the making of? Then click on our exclusive interview with the writer. Read more
Aretha Franklin: Freedom, Respect, and the Moral Universe
Powerful and proud, Aretha Franklin’s music championed the ideas of freedom and dignity, making her voice an integral part of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States with songs like “Respect” (1967) and “Think” (1968). When I hear the word “freedom” sung repeatedly in the chorus of “Think,” I’m reminded of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s iconic “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963, where he etched the words “Free At Last” into the vocabulary of the Civil Rights Movement. The song, “Respect”, unwaveringly and unapologetically demands just that and translates effortlessly into a voice for the feminist movement of the time. I was a child in that era, born in 1960, and the messages expressed by voices like Aretha Franklin’s have left an indelible imprint on me and many in my generation. Those voices made me feel that, as Martin Luther King put it, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” They made me feel that the United States was a place of social progress despite its struggles.
BlacKkKlansman: A Much Too American Story
It is an interesting situation: a black cop infiltrates the Ku Klux Klan, the most storied white supremacist group in the United States. How could this new undercover officer resist the temptation? How could he get past the one main obstacle: his blackness?
It is an interesting plot: a white cop playing a black cop, two people posing as one voice and one personality, but one black and one white. How could a filmmaker resist the temptation? How could he get past the one main obstacle: that the Klan was a tired old group in the early 1970s and an anemic antagonist. The book, Black Klansman: A Memoir by Ron Stallworth, is interesting – but is the movie?