occasional reflections on culture & politics
As I am sitting in my warm house, I am watching a squirrel eat some of the food I originally put out for the birds. There is not just one squirrel, there are five. Every attempt at “squirrel-proofing” the feeder has failed. They are smart animals. I had to hang up a separate feeder somewhere… Continue reading #200: The Nature Around Us
In a world dominated by climate change and a still deadly global pandemic, we sometimes seem puzzled, annoyed, frustrated, depressed, angry and utterly confused. What is happening? Why is it happening? How could this possibly be what is going on? Welcome to the world in denial. We have believed that we can create a world… Continue reading #139: Nature Demands Humility: Lessons from Jurassic Park World
I know, this is probably a very strange question, but I have been pondering on this a while. Are we anthropomorphizing human beings? Typically, those who really care about animals and claim that they are feeling, intelligent beings not so dissimilar from us, are being admonished not to anthropomorphize animals, not to treat them as… Continue reading #115: Are We Anthropomorphizing Human Beings?
Our world has become increasingly noisy in too many ways. There appears to be the ever-present need to drown out the quiet, to avoid silence, to not ever sit still doing nothing. We are surrounded by music, traffic, conversation, and a constant flow of messages. No wonder we cannot concentrate on anything any longer. Every… Continue reading #114: Be Quiet Sometimes
There are many ways to be unhappy. For more, I recommend you read Paul Watzlawick's excellent book The Situation Is Hopeless But Not Serious (The Pursuit of Unhappiness), still relevant after all these years. For example: A man wants to hang a painting. He has the nail, but not the hammer. Therefore it occurs to… Continue reading #107: How (Not) to Be Unhappy
It appears that if you feel tired, exhausted, depressed, and have been doing so for months already, you are not alone. The entire world is out of balance. Nothing is normal anymore, no matter how much we may want to pretend it is. Some people are blaming the lockdown for this feeling. We can’t do… Continue reading #86: Nature Is Stronger than Us: The Pandemic, not the Lockdown, Is the Problem
Maybe it's because of Covid and working from home, but I am spending more time thinking about animals than I used to. When I moved to the US from Germany, I felt like I entered an alien planet. Almost everything was different, down to fauna and flora. Sure, Germany has oak trees too, but Oregon… Continue reading #77: Animal Personalities
Erratic Attempts 