Author: Christopher-Dorset

I am currently unable to decide on what I would like to do next. In may I will finish my undergraduate education and have a BA in history. (Yes, stupid decision, I know) While I plan on going to graduate school, whether to start in the autumn of next year or to postpone it by a year in order to work is yet undecided. I’ve completed one application for a master’s of science in the teaching of history in the Midwest at a well-liked, respectable university. I’ve also put in with New Zealand to possibly spend some time living/working there.  What do you think?

Here’s some music from the Antipodes for you.

It’s late here on the Pacific Coast and I’ve just finished writing an essay on African culture. That said, here’s some South African music for me to fall asleep to and most of you to wake up to. Yes, it is something which I can unfortunately relate to.

In a rare moment of ambition I have started to read ahead for one of my classes. That in itself shouldn’t be too surprising as both the professor and subject matter are the dog’s bollocks. The reading assignments are generally fairly easy to get through, if not on occasion infuriating. The current book, however, has struck me as a bit over the top.

It is a novel. It is a very recent novel that was only published last year in the UK and this year in the US. The infuriating bit is that it had the potential of being an excellent book. The novelist, Lola Shoneyin, clearly has talent. The characters are interesting, well-developed, and believable. The story itself is well-written and believable.

It’s just too graphic. The writer ruined her novel by getting wrapped up in the most minute details of sexual intercourse. I don’t want to sound too stuffy, but it seems that sex, if treated too frankly and graphically, just turns into complete and absolute filth. That’s how this strikes me — three pages graphically describing masturbating to pornography, two-to-three pages every other chapter describing in detail the sex life of a polygamous Hausa household.

Whenever the author stays on the subject of human relations other than sexual, it’s actually quite interesting — especially since she does delve into the lesser aspects of human nature and the frequent jealousy/hatred that arises in great depth.

This isn’t the only time that a more contemporary novel has, at least in my opinion, been ruined by gratuitous sexuality.

Am I alone in thinking this?

Here’s a rock band I like:

Don’t speak Afrikaans, but they’re still good.

As promised, this is my view of Germany and the US/UK/France military presence/occupation.

After WWII ended, Germany was levelled. There was no government and very few institutions were left functioning. Even before the war had started, Germany was being torn apart by the fanaticism of the Nazi regime. Even though decades and generations have passed, Germany is only a shadow of what it used to be. After the war, some sort of military occupation/rule was necessary. Heaven knows what would have happened had there been a complete power vacuum. After 1948, however, things began to change. Germany was again an independent country, albeit with major foreign military presences.

There wasn’t much hostility to it. Most Germans were glad that the former regime was gone and that it was never coming back. Most West Germans (myself included) were glad that we had the British and Americans around. Both were infinitely preferable to the Soviets. Both the UK and USA were there with the permission of the German government, and both were generally well received. A number of German women were especially fond of the Americans, many of them wound up marrying US serviceman and leaving the country for a time. Even though it often didn’t turn out well…

Continue reading “The British and American militaries in Germany.”

ELDERLY SEX

One night, an 87 year-old woman came home from Bingo and found
her 92 year-old husband in bed with another woman. She became violent and ended up pushing him off the balcony of their 20th floor, assisted living apartment, killing him instantly.
Brought before the court on the charge of murder.

The judge asked her if she had anything to say in her defense.
She began coolly, ‘Yes, your honor. I figured that at 92, if he could have sex…He could also fly.’

This is the type of music with which I grew up and still listen to often.

This is the second part of the saga of the amphibians in Germany. At a later date I will write about German views of the British and American military presence as well as the French military occupation, though the latter will be touched on here. This post will be depressing, please accept my apologies in advance for that.

France does not have a volunteer military, something reflected by the generally low morale of their soldiers. They are treated terribly, get paid painfully little, and miss out on some of the best years of their lives. As a result of this, French soldiers often did not have much money to buy clothes or to keep them properly clean. In Germany this becomes instantly noticeable. Germany being, of course, a country in which appearances are important. It’s not uncommon for Germans to put on new, clean clothes simply to walk to corner shop to get one or two items in the evening out of fear of meeting someone they know and losing face. The French, however, were not given a chance to dress properly. Their trousers would often be filthy and raggedy. Their shirts scummy. The cut of both was almost universally poor. Much of the time the clothes were also second hand. Germans are infamously impatient and unforgiving people with such things, generally preferring conformity in virtually all ways. Their appearance would often lead to either sympathy or contempt, especially considering France’s reputation as one of the world’s foremost fashion centres. Continue reading “The Plight of the Little Green Pond Hoppers in Germany.”