B. Traven: An Anarchists Death Ship
"Being mixed up with a strike is a different. Laborers attacking the profits of capitalists are out. When a strike is to be quelled, all consuls work in unison, regardless if only a few months ago they...
View ArticleH. G. Wells on the Futurist Dystopia of Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis”
"Metropolis" hallucinates a futuristic city, a paradise of glass and steel, where underground workers toil endlessly at the giant machines that run the world above. Controlled by the autocratic...
View ArticleThe Nutcracker Prince Battles the King of Mice at Christmas
Suddenly, mice fill the room and the Christmas tree grows to dizzying heights. The Nutcracker also grows to life-size. Marie finds herself in the midst of a battle between an army of Gingerbread man...
View ArticleE.T.A. Hoffmann: The Soul’s Adventure on New Year’s Eve
E.T.A. Hoffmann's Literary Gothic: Every New Year's Eve the Devil keeps a special treat for me. He knows just the right moment to jam his claw into my heart, keeping up a fine mockery while he licks...
View ArticleUrban Farming: Nature, Art, and Society Converge
Urban farmers and gardeners around the world transform abandoned lots into edible landscapes, improving human and ecological health as well as creating beautiful places. Richard Ingersoll surveys a...
View ArticleClean Energy Possibilities, Amory Lovins Interviewed By Arnie Gunderson
Arnie Gunderson of Fairewinds interviews Amory Lovins, preeminent environmental thinker and co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute. With forty years of energy policy experience, Amory Lovins has...
View ArticleGoethe’s “Sorcerer’s Apprentice”: Power Over Wisdom
"The Sorcerer's Apprentice," an ages-old fairy tale interpreted as a poem by Goethe, made famous today by Disney's "Fantasia," illustrated the dangers of power over wisdom, and the risk of human...
View ArticleKarlheinz Stockhausen: Cosmic Pulses of Sound from the Dog Star
On the inimitable and controversial Karlheinz Stockhausen, German composer who fused science fiction with classical music, whose 20th Century groundbreaking creations expanded the bounds of electronic...
View ArticleGerman Composer’s Paean to a Healing Work of Renaissance Art
One of the 20th Century's most influential composers, Paul Hindemith created the neo-classical-folk-inspired symphony Mathis der Maler, based on the life of the mysterious 16th Century painter Matthias...
View ArticleDada as the Antidote to War and Capitalism
In the sobering aftermath of World War I in Zurich, Dada preached a radical-yet-whimsical philosophy of creativity, a self-styled anti-art. Random and meaningless by definition, calculatedly irrational...
View ArticleGerman Prefab House Generates Twice its Own Energy
The prefab Active House B10 prototype in Stuttgart can be built in a day, but its implications will be felt for years. Taking the passive house net zero concept one step further, this fully recyclable...
View ArticleB. Traven: Underground Anarchist in the Mexican Jungle
B. Traven, German underground author, anarchist and writer of the Treasure of Sierra Madre, purposely obscured his origins to evade consequences from his revolutionary past in Germany and to stoke his...
View ArticleOnce a Classical Giant, Then Obscure, Felix Draeseke Rediscovered
Stephen Vessels continues his series on rare examples of underappreciated classical music composers from around the world. Felix Draeseke of Germany, once dubbed a "giant" by Franz Liszt, fell into...
View ArticleKrampus, Wild Nature Spirit, the Christmas Daemon
Krampus, a half-goat, half-daemon of centuries-old Bavarian-Alpine lore, appears prior to the celebration of the benevolent giver Saint Nicholas on December 6th, where Central European communities have...
View ArticleHow Cities Can Build Affordable Housing
Alan Durning lays out how many cities have succeeded in building affordable housing with some lessons from unexpected places. Yet constrained housing markets come about from economics, environment, and...
View ArticleSamoan “Chief Tuiavii” on European Decadence in ‘The Papalagi’
In 1920, Erich Scheurmann translated into German the speeches of Samoan Chief' Tuiavii from the village of Tiavea, a work called The Papalagi (The White People) that describes his impressions of...
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