Articles by Kelly Miller

September 16, 2013 3

Lens: Going (away)

Human beings are mobile, in part due to the wonder of air travel, whose planes make relationship and imagination possible in spite of vast distances. Preparing to leave Berlin for my other home far away, I could not help but reflect on how mobility has changed what it means to love, to belong, to connect. Will my father’s face have aged? My mother’s mind? I turn toward the security line, into the place I am going. Umbrellas and the smell of moist newspapers, dreary winters full of long conversations near the sea... [Read More!]
August 25, 2013 1

Rave: Why Remembering the Holocaust is Good for Immigrants

In 2005, Germany officially became an immigration country with the establishment of its federal office for migration. The question - who are the Germans anyway? - has become increasingly important in deciding what to impart to these newcomers set to stay. Expats are good at constructing Germanness for the Germans themselves, often leaving out the Holocaust in such a description of 'German identity', however. Today's Germany - an immigration country - is a republic built on tragic events like the Holocaust, just as France is a country built on colonialism. Everything has a context, and it is this context that immigrants to Germany should learn to understand for the sake of a more complete country - a civic society which respects differences and celebrates them... [Read More!]
August 7, 2013 2

Ramadan with Neighbors: It’s About Showing Up

For those non-Muslims among us, Ramadan is an almost hidden spectacle with mysterious allure: the hot tea, the music, and the platters of food only come out when the sun has turned in for the day or before it has even appeared. We hear the clatter of dishes from our neighbors’ windows late into the night or watch children unpack colorful sweets on Eid al-Fitr, all without necessarily being able to place these traditions in our own line of experience. In honor of the last night of Ramadan, here is a reflection on an event Sophia and I attended last Friday as part of Berlin's festival die Nächte des Ramadan, the Nights of Ramadan... [Read More!]
June 29, 2013 0

Happy Weekend: “part Korean, part American, part German, all Kimchi”

If the chance of rain deters participation in any of the street events or outdoor markets this weekend, I've got a solution: stuff your face with delicious Korean-fusion. In fact, why not learn a little about Lauren Lee AKA "Fräulein Kimchi" - the proponent of the Korean taco and the Bavarian-Korean cooking course - whose appearances in Mauerpark and Markthalle 9 are bringing in the masses (even if the retelling of my Bimbibap obsession in my Seattle years elicits more often the "Bimbi - whaaa?" than an affirmative nod). This post comes from Jessica Jungbauer of Best Wishes from Berlin, who seeks out the so-called "creatives" of the city, the culinary sort among them, initiating short auto-portraits for an interesting lens into one facet of creative engagement or another... [Read More!]
June 21, 2013 0

Lens: Warm Nights are for Cricket

And who is playing? I ask. India is playing, he answers, then pauses. A slight smile, a look of knowing softens his jaw. What is happening now is that Indians are playing cricket. On the other edge of the fence women in saris, shorts, or tunics lean on strollers, lay in the grass, take photos or at least pretend to. All the men seem to be playing or waiting to be called. All are dressed in impeccable whites, high socks, pearly feet kicking up dust into the scorch. The white-washed men scurry among the dust... [Read More!]
June 14, 2013 1

Happy Weekend: Breakfast with Korea, Supper with Afghanistan

Tomorrow is the All Nations Festival: an open house to many of the city's embassies, consulates, and cultural centers. Get ready for free food, dance performances, calligraphy workshops, language lessons, and interesting tales to this year's theme of "superstition" from the following participating countries: Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Bolivia, China, Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia, Iraq, Yemen, Korea, Malawi, Malaysia, Malta, Nepal, Palestine, South Sudan, Chad, Venezuela (and the Konrad-Adenauer Stiftung). It is no coincidence that many of the countries registered have faced bad press or sweeping generalizations as of late, no coincidence that they are opening their doors and hoping to share something with their neighbors... [Read More!]
June 9, 2013 2

Weekend Review: Germany’s ‘Brown Babies’ (how America’s good-guy image might get a run for its money)

Berlin can be a historical mine field. Escaping the fact that genocide, division, tyranny, even the colonial division of Africa began on this ground is an impossible feat. As American tourists wander through the many memorials to the lost, murdered, and persecuted that saturate the city with this remembrance of tragedy, I have to ask myself: Do we Americans think that we were always the “good guys” in this mess? [Read More!]
May 29, 2013 5

Prejudice with Condiments: understanding Schwabenhass

The ketchup- or cheese-smeared faces of Swabian and Berliner icons are just one small part of a culture war between imagined identities and exaggerated actors, i.e. the alternative Berliner vs. the fancy-schmancy Swabian. The worst part in this so-called Spätzlekrieg or 'Spätzel war'  is the escalation from humorous prodding to line-crossing slogans. Parallels between Nazi persecution of the Jews, particularly in the insignia of Kristallnacht, can be found across the city. Berlin is a city rife with history; is its memory this short? [Read More!]
May 24, 2013 1

Lens: Becoming Foreign at the Ausländerbehörde

By nature of my non-German blood and laws requiring third-party nationals (non-EU citizens) to obtain a residence permit on the basis of one of usually twelve categories, I found myself arguing to simply be allowed to remain in a country which has, in truth, no obligation to allow me to do so. The task of convincing a state that your residence is to their benefit is the ultimate test of not letting the ‘foreign feeling’ get to your head or your heart…or at least not in front of the Berlin Beamte (bureaucrat). Friday evening in winter 2012. This is my last shot... [Read More!]
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