So you want to know more about...

...the fall of the Berlin Wall? Check out the history provided by iMinds which will get you up to speed in time for your stroll down Wilshire. (Thanks to Culture Monster at the LA Times.)

They're heeeeerrrrreeeeee.....

Pieces of The Berlin Wall have arrived in Los Angeles for the re-building commemoration and are already being placed in front of LACMA on Wilshire Blvd. (LA Times, 10/17/09)

On 11/9 and 9/11

From Thomas Friedman, this op-ed in The New York Times (published Oct. 17, 2009).

36 Hours in (mostly East) Berlin

The NY Times offers this glimpse into an anniversary-inspired tour. The 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Wall is coming up fast!

The Berlin Experience at Tufts

An amazing program for undergrads at Tufts....

Judging Racism....

The national debate on race, decorum, and presumption reminded me of Project Implicit which coordinates a series of anonymous tests that measure one's (un/conscious) prejudices and biases. If you have the time, they are worth the self-discovery.

The news from the German Consulate...

The Wall Project brings together the city of Los Angeles and the German Consul General for the two parts of The Wall Project: The Wall Across Wilshire and The Wall Along Wilshire.

Dividing and Repairing

The Wende Museum (a museum and archive of the Cold War) in Los Angeles is sponsoring a contest in connection with The Wall Project. Put all those pictures and images to creative use and win a trip back to Germany. The museum invites folks to "use words, photographs, videos to address the issue of barriers and boundaries in your lives."
"What kind of words, sounds, images, and/or text would you create if you had to address and physically interact with the walls in our lives?"
(Look for the details under the "create" button.)

The Kidz of Horst

More celebratory art for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall: the multilingual music video "Break Down the Walls."

Is it live or is it...

Twenty years later Los Angeles will build its own Berlin Wall stretching down a part of Wilshire Boulevard. On the eve of the 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Wall, there will be a live stream from LA to Berlin. Here's the article in the LA Times.

Libeskind's newest venture

A pre-fab house from the architect of The Jewish Museum.

Amos Elon

Strange that we did not know this while we were gone, but Amos Elon passed away on the second day of our trip.

on one foot....

So, it turns out that walking on a foot with several fractures (more than two, less than five) for a couple of weeks can really slow down recovery time.

and while we're talking monuments....

Some notes about NY's 9/11 monument which bring up the same issues of memorializing the unthinkable.

Pics from our last night together