history – because i said

Views of Berlin and Poznan

Taken while walking on a street in Poznan. The black frames hold mirrors reflecting skies and buildings. I suspect this is a work of public art, although I found no identifying plaque.

In most countries folks celebrate all the good bits in their history with parades. You get drunk, sing songs (everyone knows the words; it’s how you belong) and, with much good cheer, you remember.

In most countries, as you may have noticed, the very same people work just as hard at forgetting the bad bits in their history. Or at least they try to erase as much evidence as they can, so the younger folk will have a simpler, kinder view of an always complicated history.

Fishing for Food and Meaning in Chania

I’m reading an English translation of The Flaw, a Greek mystery thriller by Antonis Samarakis. That characterization, mystery thriller, isn’t quite right. In fact, the book does not fit into any single category. It’s just too strange and funny and destabilizing. It dwells on banal events, some of which later turn out to be not so banal. Flits between one character’s point of view and another’s. Never pretends to know what any character is thinking or feeling, which leaves you wondering that you’re thinking and feeling. About the book, I mean.