Above: The logo of Swiss Federal Railways – the national railway company of Switzerland The train lurches with a sudden screeech, the hum of forward motion swallowed by the high eee of braking and the collective gasp of surprised passengers clutching at poles and seats. The train halts between Egnach and Arbon, a silent pause in motion.… Continue reading Next stop upon request (Runaway train)
Tag: technology
Control, Alter, Delete: The era and error of erasure
Saturday 22 March 2025 Landschlacht, Canton Thurgau, Switzerland Above: St. Leonhard’s Chapel, Landschlacht, Canton Thurgau, Switzerland As I try to revitalize my spirits in regards to my dual ambitions as teacher and writer, I slowly return to life through the writing of this blog. I have tried to keep a chronicle of calendar dates since… Continue reading Control, Alter, Delete: The era and error of erasure
Of a jazz that I feel
Above: Composition for Jazz, Albert Gleizes (1915), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City Eskişehir, Türkiye Wednesday 24 July 2024 Last Sunday evening at Starbucks with a new student after my classes at the school have ended. He is an educated man, a well-seasoned man, despite being half my age. Not that unusual. But to… Continue reading Of a jazz that I feel
RIP Earth (or how I started worrying and learned to love science)
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 23 – 26 September 2016 As the few, but faithful, followers of my blog know, I am a freelance teacher of English as a second language here in Switzerland. So this position often finds me, on a regular basis, in situations that can be quite challenging. My latest challenge is an old foe… Continue reading RIP Earth (or how I started worrying and learned to love science)
The Battle Electronic
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 23 July 2016 It´s 5 am and my wife is still asleep in her bed while I stare at an electronic screen willing it to magically put scattered thoughts into sensible prose for public digestion and edification. I think of the number of topics and events I have yet to write about and… Continue reading The Battle Electronic
When the last Luddites walk away…
Nottingham, England, 1811 They move about in bands at night, masked and sworn to secrecy, smashing up the new machinery which is taking over the textile industry. Their leader is a mysterious man named Ned Ludd of Sherwood Forest, who has been likened to the legendary Robin Hood as a friend of the poor and… Continue reading When the last Luddites walk away…
Distant friends
Today, a rainy and grey day, I left the cave of home and took the train to the city of St. Gallen an hour away, just so I could have brief conversations with my work colleagues/friends. I like my co-workers, though very different from myself and one another, because they offer me human contact which a day… Continue reading Distant friends
How to become (in)famous
The biggest problem with winter beside the Lake of Constance is that so often there are days of endless fog, a spirit-crushing blanket of grey that discourages one from emerging from the cave of home. On days such as these, when I am alone at home and am not required to go to work in… Continue reading How to become (in)famous