Fieldnotes on Humanity

Wir sind gerade am Flughafen in Berlin angekommen. Mein Freund John und ich hatten keinen Plan, sondern besuchten Salzburg. John ist ein Amerikaner und er kommt aus einer kleinen Stadt im südlichen Bundesstaat Georgia. Er ist Student an der Universität Georgia und er studiert Biologie. Er war in Europa, aber nicht in Deutschland. Für ihn ist diese Reise informativ und auch für mich. Bis jetzt haben wir eine gute Zeit, aber es bedeutet nicht, dass wir uns auf alles einigen. Als wir in Salzburg ankamen, hatten wir etwas Uneinigkeit darüber, was zu sehen und was nicht zu sehen war. Hier sind unsere Gespräche: John: “Zuerst sollten wir den The Sound of Music Tour machen und dann können wir einige Sehenswürdigkeiten sehen.” Ich: “John, wir haben nicht genug Zeit. Wir sollten zuerst die Mozart Tour machen und wenn wir noch ein wenig Zeit haben, können wir die Sound of Music Tour machen.” John: „warum denkst du, dass wir die Sound of Music Tour nicht zuerst sehen sollten? Ich: “ Th...

I just read this short poem Das Wasser 'The Water' by Christian Morgenstern (1871-1914) in my textbook. The water that he talks about here has multiple meaning, and it could be, metaphorically, taken as 'silence' or, 'quietness.' It could also symbolically mean the fluidity of life, quietly, and yet persistently strong and smooth. My amateur impression is that Morgenstern who lived until the outset of the First World War, was to some degree under the impression of romanticism period - sometimes with a tinge of melancholy while drenched in humors  - which is not very apparent in the following short poem. I really like this poem and I tried to reach the marrow of its symbolic, metaphorical, and metaphysical streaks in order to exhume a meaningful translation into Farsi. I hope I am succeeded, and if there is any suggestions, please don't hesitate to leave your comments on the comment section. You can also appear anonymous by placing a check mark on " I...

In March this year, I submitted a poem in German to a monthly poetry competition called " Gedicht des Monats " at the Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies at University of Georgia . A few weeks later, I surprisingly received this message from the head of the department: Dear Nasim, Congratulations! The committee has chosen your poem “Vergessen” as the winner of the Poem of the Month competition. Please see Ms. Petti in the departmental office (Room 204) about your prize; she will need to get some information from you in order to put in a check request. Is it OK for us to display your poem on a bulletin board in Joe Brown and on our departmental website or Facebook page? I am not a poet by profession, but I am glad to be the winner. I was also hesitant to share the news with my friends, because I wanted to avoid any boastful pretension. But finally, I thought, since no one reads blog posts anymore, it would not be harmful to share it here after all. So, here's ...