Submitted by Susanne Bacon I’m not a couch potato exactly. But when I hear the word “work-out” I shrink and try to bow out backwards. Maybe because the term “work” in work-out sounds like … well, something that is not entirely fun. Yet, I’m sure I’m not at the bottom of the scale of sporty […]
Home from Home
Home from Home: Easter
Submitted by Susanne Bacon Passover and Easter have always been a very special time in my family. Though we didn’t go as far as keeping up lent, the week before Easter in my German childhood went without candy of any kind, and Good Friday and the Saturday after were meatless. Church-going – German Lutheran congregations […]
Home from Home: National Anthems
Submitted by Susanne Bacon I hail from a country that, for a long time, had lost any national pride at all due to its horrible history. We have lost permission to sing our national anthem’s first stanza, because during the Third Reich it was seen as a justification to conquer land, not as a call […]
Home from Home: Shoes
Submitted by Susanne Bacon Not every woman loves buying shoes. I, for example, am one of those who don’t. Though I certainly have enough pairs to complement my diverse styles and color schemes of clothing. What strikes me most these days is how my shoe styles have changed. And how it has been dictated by […]
Home from Home: Radio Shows
Submitted by Susanne Bacon I can go without television for a long time. My parents got their first set when I was turning 9. German television back then had only three channels, two national public ones and one regional public. Until then, we had been listening to vinyl records and … to the radio.
Home from Home: Immigration
Submitted by Susanne Bacon I was born German, and I am now an American citizen. It sounds easy. And, for me, it probably was in comparison with what other people have to undergo. But it is not as easy as some people think. No, you are not automatically American when you marry an American citizen. […]
Home from Home: Sweet Memories
Submitted by Susanne Bacon I grew up on exactly one candy a day as a little child. None if I hadn’t behaved. It was not tough. It was what I was used to. Christmas, Easter, and birthdays therefore meant something extraordinary for their mere abundance of sugar treats. And some very rare days I would […]
Home from Home: Naming Objects
Have you ever hesitated to call anything you know by its real name? Not as in knowing its name and just not coming up with it for a second – but as in not knowing it at all? It is even stranger to recognize what you see and to know its name in your mother […]
Home from Home: Valentine’s Day
The first time I became aware there was something like Valentine’s Day was when I was six or seven and able to read. I remember entering a flower store decorated all over with red hearts, and I asked my mother what it was all about. She told me that it was a day for lovers […]