Archive for October, 2009

the peace walk took place around the ruins of a church- one of the tourist sights of Berlin. 50 people were present led by 6 monastics from the European Institute of Applied Buddhism. People brought flowers and sang the Avolikitera chant so sadly. The walking meditation around the tourist site was deep and profound in silence. a petition was signed and brought to the Vietnamese Embassy in Berlin today at 10am.

that morning I had been to another surrealism collection, and a picasso and klee collection in Charlotteburg. Overwhelmed by so much art I reflected that surrealism seemed to get back to blood and bones. I’d like my writing to be bare and brutal like that when appropriate. Surrealism was born from chaos and eventually ww2 so it is no wonder these artists were disturbed. I want my writing to also contain hope, love and peace because I have experienced these things. That’s where I differ I guess.

last night met Xin Ran which I’ll blog separately about. and saw a chinese punk band Joyside who were great! Bought a CD which comes with a DVD of theirs too. I also went to SO36 the punk indie club of Kreuzberg to check out Japanese techno. Very intimidating looking place with 5 eastern european bouncers and dog- but once inside, the safest club in the world.

I met Pham Thi Hoai yesterday, by dropping in on her apartment- I made the mistake of thinking her magazine Talawas actually had an office! She is lovely to talk to with the assistance of my father- her english is like my german. She is devoting all her time to Talawas and has not written fiction for a long time. She said she needs to be in her own world to do that and there are other things in the world to worry about than her own problems.  Talawas has also picked up on the story of the monks and nuns in Vietnam in Bat Nha.  She made some comments about the lack of news coverage in Germany on Vietnam, and said it was harder to get published in Germany as an Asian diasporic writer than in Australia. She has read the Boat by Nam Le which has been translated into German- loved the first story but the rest did not touch her. She has kindly offered to show me Vietnamese community in Berlin and will come to my reading on November 4 at the Literaturwerkstratt.

She also told me that the East Berlin Vietnamese community from the North and the West Berlin Vietnamese community from the South do not talk to each other. She had also heard about the pho dogs (see my article in issue 6 of Peril at www.peril.com.au)

I went to the Berliner Philomoniker last night which was brilliant (of course) and saw more museums with my father who is in Berlin for two days.  The dali museum has inspired me to try and adapt a form of writing that is more jagged, subconscious and surreal in terms of narration- which I will write more about once I’ve started trying it.

The Wall fell in Berlin, Communism crumbled in the USSR, oppresssion can come to an end through peaceful action. Today I am more hopeful about oppression around the world- change can occur. I have been repositioning my work in response to the religious oppression in Vietnam- and decided that the Lady of the Realm which is a historical fantasy novel about Quan Am is about oppression and responses to it. Quan Am responds with compassion. Perhaps now I am closer to understanding the response of non violence. Thay (Thich Nhat Hanh) has asked us to voice our concerns for those in Bat Nha and I have been meditating and cultivating positive energy while I can. Yesterday I met two activitists- a queer Italian activist in my German class and a Marxist feminist that I knew ten years ago from student politics. Their take on European politics is fascinating. Germany is not utopia although liberal feminism has come a long way here. Der Grun is also not equivalent to the Greens in Australia- they are much weaker now having formed coalitions with the Christian conservatives in the south of Germany and making compromises. Der Linke is more like the Greeens at home.

Italy is conservative and getting worse. Davide is flying back to Italy for two days to participate in a demonstration against the Vatican. There have been bombings of queer nightclubs in Rome in Italy. In Berlin sexuality is open here with affection part of everyday life. Davide questioned me about Australia, yes we have the mardi gras but that does not mean Australia is not homophobic.

On the other hand Kate has been telling me that amongst left student activists in Germany women are still not holding leading positions and taking part in political debate.  Which boggles my mind a bit- I associate the left with women’s liberation so am trying to grasp this and how it might work.

So there are so many nuances and one thing great about this residency is learning about these things.