holly, jolly and echo base

A clever Buzzfeed contributor (via the stupendous Neatorama) offered this wonderful holiday mash-up of the Empire Strikes Back and Rankin/Bass' cavalcade of Christmas specials. Abominable-Wampum surely won't be mean to the Misfit Jedi (Hermey the Elf wanted to be a dentist instead of a toy-maker) and his red-nosed Tauntaun steed.

parts of speech

H and I used to hold (though the frequency was semi-legendary) German Days, when I struggle to communicate exclusively auf Deutsch. We really ought to get back into that practice, as the struggle and frustration is more memorable when it is more personable than conveying pleasantries with strangers or what I want left out of my meal at restaurants. One of the more challenging grammatical constructs, universally, are the prepositions (Präpositionen oder Lagewörter), owing that there are no set or predictable rules to follow and that the rules, framework of grammar was developed and committed to study long after the Germanic languages splintered.

German, I find, there is more difficulty and nuance in modifiers--whereas in English a plastic preposition might clang dissonant, the meaning is usually not lost, German words admit of differences in declension and mood that takes a precise preposition that communicates a more narrow relationship. The natives of Vanuatu (the Sandwich Islanders) after centuries of colonial shared rule by the British and the French, developed a creole to communicate with plantation owners and level out the dozens of different dialects and Pacific languages spoken in the area. The pidgin is called Bislama--from the French word for sea-cucumber, Seegurken or rather Bêche-de-mer, and is an evolving language, transposing English and French vocabulary on a mostly Pacific substrate of grammar. One of the features that struck me about this highly serviceable way of talking is the trend towards reduction and simplification. There is no conjugation of verbs but rather markers that indicate past or future tense, and most interesting, many prepositions and prepositional phrases have been replaced by the words "long" and "blong." Long can mean next to (neben, bei), by (von, mit, durch, an), at (im, in, auf, über), to (zu, nach, gegen), or in (in), and blong substitutes for the genitive case or simply the plastic English word of. I think I have adopted this sort of reduction, inadvertently, but I keep trying to become more fluent and it is constructive to be wrong and sloppy, as long as one does not settle on a plateau, and to see where speech diverges and comes together.

polity

Der Spiegel staff writer Georg Diez has an excellent, thoughtful portrait of German sociologist and philosopher Jürgen Habermas and his perception and understanding of the economic crisis threatening the institution of Europe. Lucidly and refreshingly, and with a unique sort of serenity for the audience who would listen, Habermas describes the move into post-democracy, post-sovereignty, where governments are driven by the whims of markets and day-traders--instead of commerce carried out all levels within the framework of civics. I have been trying to attack this argument on all fronts, calling the economic situation a hoax meant to perpetuate great game for its winners and to leech away the substance of public office, but Habermas has through discourse managed to encapsulate the sum of all dangers. He commends the media for its unrelenting coverage, some of which I would have stinted as fear-mongering and unreflective, but Habermas was also able to look beyond the pedestrian problems of corruption in politics and greed and recognize (and validate) a fear for a diminished public voice and politics disengaged when the legacies of whole peoples are chained together and bound by representatives that are unelected and not vetted with authority--no more referenda, plebisites (Volksentscheid) but rather everything decided by treaty and steerage and stock-brokers--in some cases, and would abandon the European ideal for finances.

schwarzer freitag

After a disappointing and rather tiresome shopping foray (though I exaggerate the disappointment and I was feeling the imperative of gift-giving reinforced by a talk-radio psychologist's interview that compared exchanging gifts--from the people first on one’s list to co-workers, postmen, bosses--to the human need for communication), I stopped in a church on the way home. It was nearby and one that we had seen many times before, but always awe-inspiring to marvel at the high Mary Magdalene altar, with its gracefully-turned wooden antennae projecting to the ceiling. Just the suggestion of an impending holiday or sale draws great crowds to shops but the activity never turns uncivil or cut-throat, like the Black Friday sales tradition in the States. I certainly hope that trend never spreads, where one needs to be packing pepper-spray in order to get the best bargains, and I wonder what tacit message that gifts got under those competitive circumstances impart.

For a donation of a euro coin, one can have this whole apse illuminated and meditate on and marvel at the installation. The craftsman Tilman Riemen-schneider (DE/EN) was prolific and has commissions throughout this area. This work pictured from 1490-1492 represents some of his earliest creations and captures the transition from late Gothic to Renaissance style. In his day, as Bürgermeister of the city of Würzburg, Riemenschneider sided his own contemporary Occupiers, sympathizing with plight of the peasants during their revolt (Deutscher Bauernkrieg). Tragically, his support ended up costing Riemenschneider every thing, when his former patrons inprisoned and tortured Riemenschneider and other leaders of the movement in Marienburg Fortress in Würzburg, and broke his hands so he was unable to make any more art. Fortuneately, his distinct and beautiful creations are still around and continue to inspire, and mostly in situ and not confined to museums, the major exception being, ironically, the Festung Marienburg which now is a museum with a lot of examples of Riemenschneider’s art.