Will Our Homeless Times be Over?

We turned left on the old gravel road and waved a last goodbye to my best friend, who was holding our little dog in her arms. Then we closed the windows, and we focused on the road ahead of us.

Christmas 1946 – An Austrian Christmas Song

The Austrian Alps in the background, a Christmas song in a dialect our neighbors the Germans cannot understand, even though we talk the same language. The dialect of the mountains, soft and harsh at the same time, comforting to the ear and still, oh, so familiar to me. The song tells about Christmas 1946, during a time when the world was at war. And while you might not understand, listen to the music and read the lyrics and you will quickly understand why I love this Christmas song so much.

Leaving Our Home Like A Thief In The Night

October 2009. In a few days, the electricity and the water would be shut off. The notice to vacant the house and the property could be left at our door now anytime. I decided to stay in our home for as long as I could. My husband meanwhile slept for two days on his brother’s couch, 800 miles away.

About Losing Everything

I had packed a small kid-size suitcase with my pajamas and Dusie. Her real name was Susie, but it seems I had problems with the “S” as a child, so I had renamed my doll. I wore my red winter coat, black shiny summer shoes even though it was cold outside and my favorite dress, that’s all I took with me, and of course, my school backpack.

What George Floyd Means To A White Woman From Europe

The episode of “A Million little things” two weeks ago, shows a black gathering with family and friends. There is laughter, people pick at each other, the way we all do when we have a good time. A young teenage boy joins them, his face is earnest. When asked what is going on, he turns his phone around, and shows the rest of he people a video he just saw online.

Will COVID Split the World in Two? Part 2

Monier Bouazar, the head of COVAX logistics in Copenhagen, sprints up the metal steps of a staircase on a March morning. The 39-year-old has a dimpled chin and a subtle sense of humor. “Three to four months” – that’s how long he had to prepare for the start of the first deliveries. He says he hasn’t slept much in the past year. “I don’t really count the number of hours. For me personally, it’s not just a job.”

Will COVID split the World in Two? Part 1

Helpers deliver COVID vaccines in Jumla, Nepal. Thousands of cooling boxes have to be brought to the most remote corners of the globe.

The man who is trying to save the world is standing in a nursery in a Connecticut home. He’s got his laptop in front of him and the sun is shining through the window onto a crib. A mobile is turning in the wind.

Memories – Counting the Votes

“Mama said we are Republicans,” one of my helpers told me the other day and I could not help but smile. “How old were you?” I asked curiously and he said he didn’t know. Somewhere in between child and teenager, he became a Republican, because his mother said they were.

My Summer in the Alps

Sometimes, very seldom, I feel something like homesickness, even though it’s not for a home or family, but rather for a tradition and or perhaps rituals I remember so vividly. Right about now, at the beginning of summer, I was always called back home to our farm in Austria. I got an extra week of vacation, like so many of us farm-children who had to help.

Born a Racist – Changed by Life Part II

“You are going to England for the summer,” my Grandma told me and she would spend my favorite time of the year with two children from Italy. She had been given a pamphlet of EF a student summer exchange program -which is still existing to this day. She had liked the idea, because she had signed up for it months before I knew about it.