Back To Shore

Not the most original title, but it fits. COVID and the Climate Protest, but separately.

Climate Protest | On paper Germany aims to be carbon neutral in 2045. At least that has been the official government line, since the highest Federal Constitutional Court in 2021 ruled that the previous policies and laws about reduction goals were harmful for future generations and needed to be rectified. So the government set different, more ambitious reduction goals and again – on paper – worked on getting there. Some argue that the current energy crisis justifies to derail these goals, because energy safety is important. And I agree in a way. And in many ways I don’t. Science – if you trust in science that is – has proven again and again that we are running out of time! I don’t see that reflected in a lot of the current’s government policies. Despite the Greens being part of the coalition. I am a Green party member and I sometimes despair when I read the official (?) party line or at least read what Green members of the government say. Or not say!

Last Generation Germany carried out a protest this weekend where they drowned a glass sculpture inscribed with the words of the constitution with “oil” to question which is more important to the government: Fossil fuels or the constitution, which they already had broken once according to the Constitutional Court in 2021. And to which the government in the protesters’ (and mine to be honest) eyes were still not living up to. The whole political scene – left and right, government and opposition – and also most of the media were livid! They called the protest disrespectful, harmful to the cause, damage to property and so much more. Once again the Conservatives and Right-Wings called for stricter laws and harder punishments.

The “Oil” was coloured wallpaper paste. The sculpture was cleaned quickly and not damaged at all. Like the Van Gogh painting wasn’t damaged and neither was any other artwork, which other protesters used in their various protests in the recent past.

I admit I still haven’t made up my mind what to think of these kind of protests. The fact that so many people are lividly opposed make me feel like they are the absolutely right thing to do. Would it be more helpful to protest less disruptively? I don’t think so. Fridas for Future have been protesting less disruptively for almost 4 years now and what changed? Nothing changed. Not for the better anyway.

Germany is very far away from reaching the reduction goals the government set for the various sectors for the next few years. Especially the building and transport sector are lagging far behind. We need to act ASAP and we don’t. But nobody seems to be livid about that. Not as much as about apparent, but not actual damage to art work. It’s so frustrating.

More experienced and studied people from various fields – psychology, sociology and more – have looked into the effect of those kind of protests. Do they help the cause or harm it? The findings are out there. I can’t be bothered to search and link for now. I personally feel very much enraged by the reaction to the protest and I also think that the government isn’t doing enough. So I am more on the protesters side than against them. The fact that my party is part of the government and also decries these protests doesn’t make it any easier for me. It’s complicated. Another word with C 🙂

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COVID | It’s not over. It will never really be over. It’s here to stay. As someone with a higher risk for a worse course in case of infection, I won’t stop shouting it from the rooftops. I concede that in quite a few cases it might be “not much more than cold”. The cases I hear about at the moment though from coworkers and friends and their families are often definitely more than a cold. And I still hear about new cases every week. Many people still get sick in such a way that they’re out for a week or more. All around. And I don’t even know that many people!

I got a track&trace warning today for “being exposed to COVID on Monday” and I haven’t been around that many people on Monday, so I was a bit pissed that this person didn’t get in touch and let me know themselves. It’s common decency to let others know they might have been exposed. Am I too sensitive?

I’m so glad I’m back to wearing a mask when I’m indoors among a more than 2-3 people for a longer period of time, like I had been during that meeting last Monday. Yes, I can understand that you’re tired of wearing a mask. I’m not always wearing one, when I’m out and about at the office or in shops or in restaurants either. My decision when to wear a mask or not also might not be based 100% on reason. It’s often more of a subjective “risk assessment” and I know I might often err on the side of caution. I went to the hair salon on Saturday, not wearing a mask while getting my hair cut. Ran some errands in some shops, often with a mask, because the shops seemed crowded to me. That assessment was and is definitely based on my personal level of comfort and security. It probably should be fine to pass people in shops for a few seconds or stand in the queue for a few minutes. But I still often put on the mask regardless.

Grabbing a bite to eat while out shopping or before an event in the evening can be a bit tricky for me. I often try to time it so that the room’s not too crowded and that I pick a place where the tables are spaced apart wide enough for me to feel reasonably comfortable / safe. But of course the risk there might be much bigger than passing through a mall. Like I said, not always based on reason, but more on my own sense of feeling safe. I went to grab a bite after the errands on Saturday and the restaurant filled up quickly after I got there and it got a bit crowded and I started to worry a bit. Not too much to just leave or hurry to leave. But I wasn’t the most relaxed.

I’ts difficult, isn’t it? Because: it’s not over. And we all don’t really know what a COVID infection does to all our organs and everything. I try and mostly managed to not dwell and worry on that. But I neither deny the chance that it might cause more damage in the long run. We’ll have to wait and see, I guess. I’m not particular good at waiting and seeing.

This morning I had an appointment at my GP, because I wanted to make sure that so far COVID (in October 2022) didn’t leave any noticeable damage in my system. I’ve already got one chronic illness, I don’t need another one. Luckily I seem to be doing fine: lungs are clear, the EKG was okay. A small abnormality, but nothing to immediately worry about. It could mean nothing, could be caused by anything, could have been a one time thing today. I’m supposed to follow it up with a proper check from a cardiologist in due time, but not with any urgency. This all did give me peace of mind for now at least. I wasn’t too worried, because I felt fine since I had COVID in October, but you never know.

“A proper cardio check is a a good idea for people from 40 – 60 anyway,” my GP said. Wait? 40 to what? I am getting to terms with nearing 50, but 60 feels like still such a long way way.

In parts of the German Blogosphere – if that is even a term anyone uses anymore – on each 5th of the month people write recaps of their (working) day using the hashtag #WMDEDGT (= Was machst du eigentlich den ganzen Tag = What do you do all day). I had planned so many times to join in, but only this year put a reminder in my calendar app. And I’ve been jotting down notes in an notes app so far, but it’s such boring “Stay at home / indoors” Sunday, that I doubt I’ll post any of it, but go with a book post instead.

As you can see… I might have a problem 😉 About on third of these are books I haven’t read yet. And I still buy more each week. And that’s not even all the books. There is another row below the last one on this photos and I’ve got a small shelf in my bedroom, mostly for non-fiction books I did read. Then there also are the eBooks on my two devices. When I yesterday sort of moaned a bit on social media about my almost constant impulse to add to this collection, a kind friend commented that there are worse addictions than buying books. And she’s right, of course. But it still feels like it’s getting a bit out of hand.

On Thursday I went to see bestselling writer Jojo Moyes at an event at the LitCologne festival in Cologne. There was a chat / interview between a host and her and a German actress read parts of Jojo’s latest book “Someone Else’s Shoes”. Over the years I’ve read all of Jojo’s novels and enjoyed them all; some more than others. I’ve got two definite favourites and I’m glad I could get the 2nd one signed after the event as well. The first one I already got signed after at the Cologne festival in 2015.

When I was driving back home, I was replaying the event and thought about how I would tell others, like my co-workers, about it. Am I the only one doing that? Replaying something and thinking how to frame it best for an interesting anecdote? Is that weird? Anyway, in my ruminations I caught myself using the term “Women’s Literature” to describe Jojo’s genre and I immediately hated myself for it. Ok, hate is a strong word, but UGH! Many years ago I did use chick-lit” without thinking more about it. But over time I read and learned more about those loaded terms and I usually try to not touch those with a ten foot pole, as you say. Because why is a book with predominately female main characters, written by a woman considered “Women’s Literature”. But “Moby Dick” is considered one of the Great American novels even though it’s basically “Men’s Literature”: a book written by a man, featuring only men, doing typical male things. In the spirit of full disclosure, I haven’t read “Moby Dick”. I doubt I ever will. And I didn’t come up with that example. I read it in German non-fiction about this whole topic: “FRAUEN LITERATUR” by Nicole Seifert, which I finally started reading after these late night ruminations in my car. I’ve only read the first 40 or so pages and it’s already making my blood boil a bit. Nicole Seifert examines why books written by women have been neglected since the beginning of time, basically. How writing women have been restricted to certain genres like children’s stories. How school curriculums feature mostly male writers. How several recent studies show that books written by women are less reviewed (newspaper, magazines, TV) and thus get less exposure and sell less, because exposure is important. So so so many things. And like I said, I’ve only read the first 40 pages yet. The book also touches on other marginalized groups (LGBTQ+, PoC) where the under-represantation is even worse.

Early on there is sort of a challenge to have a look at one’s own bookshelf / collection and check the male / female ratio. I did that cursory with my shelf and guess I’m at a 60% male /40% female ratio. But I did sort out a lot of books recently and admit that I probably kept more of female writers than of the males. I’ve got a few series with lots of books written by women.

I then had a look at my Goodreads page for 2023. Limited sample of course, but so far…

Currently reading – 2: 100% women. One fiction, One non-fiction.
Books read – 10: 40% women. Two biographies of men, two non-fictions written by men. I guess it will even out soon.
Fiction bought – 18: 66% women.
Non-fiction bought – 5: 60% women. Topics are climate action, mental health, feminism Which might skew the ratio in women’s favour a bit.
Books (fic / non-fic) added to “want to read – too many *g*: 77% women. And yes, it’s a embarrassing high number. I see book recommendations left and right on my social media and if I think they might be at least a bit interesting I add them to not forget them.

I’m definitely more interested in books by women. I know it’s probably down to the genre I’m interested in these days. It did change over the years, I admit it. I haven’t been much in the mood for thrillers or crime stories. Cosy crime, but that again seems to be written by more women than men. I’m more drawn to contemporary romance. Contemporary stories about families. Some historical with a focus on 19th/20th century. And I’m definitely more drawn to female leads than male leads. Easier to identify with, maybe? And it seems like men rarely write a book with a female lead.

Sometimes I think I should challenge myself more to read books from other – male – perspectives. But then I remind myself that most of all I’m reading for fun and my own entertainment. And that there are books in male voices I’m reading. Just not as many.

No real conclusion or epiphany for this post. Sorry if you were expecting that. I still think we need to change the way we think and talk about books written by women. A glance at the German bookselling charts seems to show that they sell more books than male writers and thus it’s all fine. But that’s the “popular culture” which often still is considered less than the “high culture”, discussed and reviewed in magazines, newspapers or on TV occasionally. At least that’s how I perceive it here in Germany. I also tried – without success – to find out which books by which authors are used in German / English classes in school. I do remember that back in my day we definitely discussed much more male authors than female. I hope that has changed. But to be honest… I doubt it.