Für Elise

This entry is for Elyse, a friend of Heather's, who in turn is a colleague and very good friend of mine from Berlin (currently). Now, as it is easy to guess, the title of this post means "for Elise" in English. It is also the name of a piece of music by Beethoven. (Read the Wikipedia article on this topic. I actually find it informative.) Now, although the name of Heather's friend is spelled differently, this was too obvious to miss. In fact, it is so obvious that Elyse might think it's rather corny. I've decided to put here anyways, because there is a associativity to my name - "Alexander the Great" - which would have, in my humble opinion, about the same level of corniness. Yet there are worse things than being called by this name, and thus I assume Elyse won't mind it either, as neither is the connection so bad in her case. (Did you mind after all?)
After this rather cumbersome introduction you might wonder why I dedicate this entry to a friend of a friend of mine, whom I haven't even met a single time. Well, although Elyse and I are nothing but somebody else's tale to each other, she did not hesitate to visit my blog and even leave several comments. Thank you for that! I encourage you to continue, and all other readers be hereby prompted to follow your fine example. After all, this is what will encourage me to keep on writing ...
Well, here is one more for you, Elyse: I took it from your comments on the Owl's Nest, as well as on the Lyon's Den, that you are susceptible to subtleties. In particular I remember what you wrote on Caravaggio's Cupid. In fact I am still wondering what you mean, although the (self-proclaimed) "Aryans" would fit the description of "those who trusted their love of the strength of their leadership", and the Jews "those who feared it". Please correct me if I'm wrong. ... The story I was actually going to tell here is about something different. It is about an article I just stumbled upon in the online edition of the Chicago Tribune. It is about Catherine Vogt, a 14-year old girl, who happens to live in the same suburb of Chicago as I do. But what really impressed me was the experiment she has carried out. While you might want to read the full article, I will briefly summarize it here. She has created two T-shirts, one saying "McCain girl" (in red), and the other one "Obama girl" (in blue). First she wore the red shirt in school. For a full appreciation of this experiment you must know that Oak Park is strongly backing Obama (although I have seen several "McCain - Palin" signs in the front yards in my street.) Obviously she did not fit in at all with everyone else, and it turned out to be a really bad experience for her. She was even told to go die, and that she should be "crucifixed". I kid you not! (Catherine even had the courage to tell the latter person that he obviously meant "crucified".) The next day, however, when she was wearing the blue shirt, her apparent change of mind was much appraised by her fellow students (although some called her a flip-flopper). The bottom line of this experiment is that Obama has vowed to promote tolerance in the US, yet some of his supporters seem to be in need of a lesson or two what this actually means. Quite disturbing - and sad, as this incident will ultimately cast a shadow on Obama's idealistic approach. (At least I assume him to be an idealist, which is why he meets my approval.)
But not enough of disturbing stories, unfortunately. Yesterday I read another article, but this time at SPIEGEL ONLINE. It is about many school kids going on strike for one day, as they are unsatisfied by their schooling conditions. As a matter of fact, great many a thing can be deplored when it comes to the German system of education, most of them being directly related to a dire lack of respective funding. No doubt there is a good reason to go on strike, and march on the streets and protest for better learning conditions. However, a fraction of teenage students in Berlin, stirred up and led by some extreme-left individuals grew into an angry mob and stormed the main building of the Humboldt university in downtown Berlin. To those of you who are not familiar with the location: it is actually right across the street from where the Nazis burned all the books they considered "un-German". A memorial with an empty shelf can still be visited there. The reason why I tell you this is the following: after entering the said building, the angry teenage mob had nothing better to do than to destroy everything that came into their sight. Reportedly bathroom tissue was spread everywhere and even set on fire! If this does not leave you speechless, then what do you say on the following: the lobby of the building is currently hosting an exhibition on the victims of the Nazi terror, and even this exhibition was not spared from being devastated. There are two ironic points to that. First, the mob seems to think of itself as left-wing, yet they devastated a memorial exhibition on Jewish victims. Think of all the applause they will get from the fascist extreme-right, who is actually their sworn enemy ... Second, the event was later praised in some internet forum as the right way to fight the "knowledge elites". I really don't get it! People protest for better learning conditions, and some airhead connotates it to a fight against the knowledge elites? By the way, I have seen a few universities from inside - the overwhelming majority of them is in dire needs of refurbishments, so I really wonder how you could feel elitist while marveling at crumbling wall surfaces. Just one more example: my former alma mater, TU Kaiserslautern, decided a few years ago to run only one elevator per building and cease operation of all others - because they could not afford the power. I guess those Berlin rioters would even be able to see this as further further narrowing down their promotion prospects.
... It just occurred to me: while still working with Heather, I fell for a song called "America", by the British band Razorlight. It appealed to me because of the pre-chorus line, "All my life I'm watching America". In fact, I would agree that I fit this description pretty well. As I am sure it holds true as well for many of my fellow Germans, I am watching "America" (i.e., the U.S.), because everything is bigger there (at least in my imagination) . That is the ultimate reason why I have eventually come overseas. The song continues, "All my life there's panic in America". Thus far the latter line would have reminded me of, say, the mediocre Bush administration, recently maybe the financial crisis; but now? Panic in America? Check out the Berlin riots, and think again!
Oops, I actually intended to write just a few lines tonight. I better head to hit the sack for a change, it's a school night!

Obama Rally

I was there! I was there at Grant Park in Chicago, when Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States. It was only after my arrival to the US that I learned about the rally on the election night, so there was no way for me to obtain a ticket for the official event. However, there were big screens installed in the accessible area of the park, showing the latest polls on CNN. I arrived rather late, but just in time to witness the announcement that Virginia, a hardboiled GOP supporter for the past 40 years, was taken by Obama. And it took maybe only some 15 minutes more to declare Obama the president-elect. (If I could only reach that level of punctuality more often ...) Of course people were very excited! Next, John McCain publicly conceded the victory to Barack Obama. At the beginning of his speech, he got a lot of "boo"s from the crowd around me, but he did manage to convince the majority that he is fair and can show greatness in the moment of his defeat. In fact, he got applauded at to a fair extent at the end of his speech. German (online) newspapers would later state that he showed "dignity", which I agree on. - Nevertheless, being a true European, I preferred of course Obama to win. Which he did. And that permitted him to deliver an even better speech. The keywords "responsability" and "maturity" were particularly appealing to me. Today I read a description of Obama as "brain-driven" (as opposed to "gut-driven", maybe?). I assume that is why I am so impressed by him: he is not visibly fazed by the Herculeic task ahead of him, and one has to have very sober mindset to be this cool. Given the incumbent is just the opposite, change really has happened last night in the US. As if this was not historical enough, Obama is of course, "by the way", also going to be the first African American president.

Recurring Sights

Now that I have been here for exactly one week I thought it is time for another post in this blog of mine. To the left you see some impressions I've gotten so far. Science and Engineering South (SES) is the building that is home to all the science departments of UIC. As you can tell from the name, it is south ... of the "Ike", which is an Expressway from downtown Chicago (where all the really tall buildings are) to the western suburbs (where I live right now). This road is several lines wide, yet always busy. It is named after former president Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower, whose paternal ancestors, according to Wikipedia, originated from Karlsbrunn / Saarland (Germany). Well, they won't name a road after ALL people from that area, will they? It should be mentioned also that President Eisenhower signed the bill for the construction of the US Interstate system, while I am more of an "L" person, you know ... Speaking of which, I take the blue line of the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) from Oak Park to UIC-Halsted. Check out the CTA "L" network here. The "L" ride takes me 18 min, which is quite convenient. I live only 5 min walking from Oak Park station, while SES is about 10 min walking from UIC-Halsted station. The latter is still right next to the end of the campus. In total I do not spend any more time on commuting to work and back than in Berlin. Oak Park, by the way, is located in Cook County, just outside the municipality of Chicago. Both the "Ike" and the blue line are dead straight east-west connections, with the trains running in between the two parts of the Expressway (eastbound and westbound) for a good deal of my daily ride.
I recently learned that Oak Park and the adjacent River Forest have a joint High School, which produced an impressive number of famous alumni - first and foremost, Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway was born here and returned later, after fighting in World War I. His mansion is still here, so I will see it some day soon and provide you with a picture. Other sort-of-known alumni include Dan Castellaneta (the American voice of Homer Simpson), Ludacris (hip hop artist), as well as Ray Kroc. The latter has erroneously been called the "founder" of McDonald's; he acually bought it from brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald, but it was him who made it then go worldwide. So it is some sort of closing the circle: American soldiers like Hemingway paved the way for the success of American brands in Germany, which made me buy and devour tons of junk food, and I recently brought the resulting belly over here, to Oak Park ... just kidding! Right next to Oak Park station there is a Fifth Third Bank building, which shows time and temperature. Now, as a European, I am used to °C (and K, of course), but in the US people use °F. The picture shows that it was in the mid fifties that day, which is rather mild. Earlier this week, there were low thirties in the morning, which felt like freezing ... and yet on the night of Halloween, we were even in the mid sixties, where you almost need no jacket.
Speaking of Halloween, it is as big as you know it from the movies. In my neighborhood a decent number of front yards were decorated with great many scary creatures and items. People had even shut down the street in their block for an outdoor celebration, including some barbecue. And of course you could see costumes everywhere ... in that sense, it comes quite close to German carnival.
Today I also went to work for a few hours. Jing and I tried out some of the geeky science stuff, which I am actually here for; with limited success. We did get it to work, but we are aiming at some specific things, which will require some modifications of the experimental setup. I will keep you posted.
Thanks for staying with me to the end of this entry. I shall be pleased if you come back regularly and check for new ones!