There used to be a time where a good TV show was a cultural happening. Whenever it was on, people would gather around the apparatus, eyes glued to the screen. A good series stood out because the medium was dominated by mediocre programmes, so it was obvious what could not be missed. Those days are…
I spent two weeks in the south of Switzerland this summer, the first half of which was in a beautiful rustic house in the midst of mountains, without cell phone reception or WiFi. We would sit outside and play chess, pet the dogs or read. One day we got an apricot soda, took a sip…
Where were you at the beginning of the year 2000? Along with the excitement about entering a new millenium, there came some anxiety about our if computers could handle it – or if there would be system failures with potentially catastrophic consequences. This goes back to the early days of computing. To save precious memory,…
I write an article every week. But I skipped last Sunday. I had a draft ready, but never published it. Minneapolis, where I have family and friends, was burning. People were marching in the streets all over the USA and the world to demand equality. Here in Switzerland too. It would have been easy for…
Dear Stranger You won’t read this, and neither would you remember our encounter. It was about 20 years ago in the Bern train station. It was late at night and I wanted to buy some snacks. After the cashier scanned the dried fruit and sparkling water (ok, it was probably M&M’s and a Vanilla Coke),…
I know I should get up, but it’s so nice and warm in my bed. I’ve slept for way too long and there are things I need to take care of. I know it won’t be so bad once I’m up. But not right now, ok? Five more minutes. The bed is actually my apartment…
It’s four in the morning and I’m lying wide awake. My thoughts are loud: How the hell am I already 36? How did I find excuses all these years for not doing anything in pursuit of my dreams? My optimistic past self was convinced that at this point in time I’d have some solo albums…
In my early twenties, a friend and I had an idea: we would travel through Switzerland for a few days by train and write letters to our future selves and to our future each others. At the end of the trip we put our letters in a box and bury them somewhere. Five years later…