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May 19, 2013January 20, 2017

Ode to a bicycle

Many adventures had, but time to roll on…

I may not be the most devoted bicyclist, but I wouldn’t call myself a novice, either. My bike was my only mode of transport in college, for example, meaning come sun, rain, snow, or slush I was often pedaling to work or class. My university was located in a bike-friendly town (Moscow, Idaho) meaning recreational riding was an easy trail map away. Sometimes I would ride the 8 miles to neighboring Pullman, Washington to enjoy the rolling grasslands of the Palouse while thumping techno music seeped from my ear buds.

After it seemed likely we would stay in Europe past the initial Robert Bosch fellowship, I began plotting how I might get my trusty Trek 4300 from storage in Idaho, to my hands in Munich. On a vacation back to the U.S. I had the bike disassembled and boxed, and then we brought it back on the flight. It took some more coordination getting the bike to Zurich, but once it was here and reassembled, it was like I was again a two-wheeled commuter. Zurich has its own hills, and my rides were not always smooth, but it was familiar.

As some may know, my current employer World Radio Switzerland is being sold and privatized. As I am a public radio reporter, and not interested in commercial radio in the Geneva region, my family is looking for jobs and a next step. We don’t know where we are headed just yet, but we know a move is coming. This is why my trusty Trek had to go.

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December 19, 2012January 20, 2017

A year in Swiss journalism (2012)

It’s not uncommon for sitcoms to do flashback shows to fill space in a down-time, nor is it rare for end-of-year lists to flood shows or websites as the clock ticks toward New Year’s. In that spirit of “everyone else is doing it,” I am here putting forth a look back at my year.

The catch? I wanted to compile a list of some of my most important stories covered in 2012. It is almost cliché for a journalist to say this, but my job is one which provides a lowly chap with a microphone (me) the “golden ticket” to unseen territory. This could give access to the proverbial boardroom to interview business leaders; this could open the doors of Parliament for stories on tax debates and refugee rights; or it could give me access to a deeply personal aspect of someone’s life, who trusts that I will do my utmost to respect and accurately portray whatever glimpse I am afforded. It is the latter-most point that I relish the most. Regular readers of this website will know I have a tendency to want to bring voice to those not often heard, or included in the greater society. That’s cliché though, too, isn’t it? “Giving voice to the voiceless.” I hope the difference between my work and the cliché is that I actually do it. I talked to asylum seekers hoping not to be deported, one of whom said he walked from Greece. I experienced Cairo with a Swiss-Egyptian, seeing his childhood home and the rough streets which frame his memories. I am not saying I speak with the roughest characters, or the most excluded in our society–there is no contest in exploring lesser-seen fringes of our society. But in the end I feel my work has been fair, and accurate, contributing to the greater discourse of what is happening in our communities. Below are some of my highlights of a year gone by…

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November 3, 2012January 20, 2017

Seeking normalcy along tram tracks

He walks with an air of confidence, of experience, and I feel those traits have been hard-learned by time living on the streets, and going through whatever it is that landed him there. I’ve never spoken to him, and I don’t know his name, but he’s a semi-regular character during my morning commute.

Mixed in with the well-dressed bankers, the manic and overly security-conscious tourists, and the occasional red-headed journalist, is this character sporting a long gray beard to his belt line, and long gray hair down his back; he saunters up and down the light-rail tracks with his eyes scanning the ground with a burning intensity. He’s well-equipped: a bulging day-pack looms from his shoulders, hiking boots, and outdoor clothing complete the look. His image is like ZZ Top mixed with Bear Grylls, but with a life-hardened veneer.

If you were just to see him in passing, you probably wouldn’t know what he is doing. Maybe you would think he is just another neurotic traveler pacing the tram platform. But after a while of watching this man it is clear he is purposefully pacing, and searching intently for something. And it isn’t for what you might first guess.

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May 19, 2012May 26, 2023

Irreverence, Americans, and a Holocaust memorial

Despite living in Germany for a year, and visiting a number of times before that, I only recently visited a concentration camp; left standing so all people never forget what horror is possible by human hands. These camps are technically no longer camps–their intended function and ability to terrorize was stripped by both physical force, and the force of conscience. We now call these places memorials, to preserve the memory of a devastating chapter in the history of man, so not to repeat it or allow it to repeat.

This brief post is not about the Dachau memorial per se, but more about the American students seemingly unaware of where they were, what happened beneath their feet 70 years prior, or what lessons their ignorance is preventing them from learning. If this sounds harsh, it is with good reason, and comes after feeling embarrassed to be American.

March 26, 2012January 20, 2017

Fooling the natives

Long-time readers of Anthonyganzer.com might remember a post from 2008, in which I was so proud to be able to use my beginner German skills to interact at a German food store in Phoenix. The victory in that day was not that I spoke German well, rather that I survived even a few sentences in a foreign language. I would go on to have proper training, and focus myself more fully on actually learning the language and not just phrases from a guide book, and as one’s skills progress so do one’s goals.

For a long time my goal has been to speak German well-enough so that a native speaker doesn’t immediately think I am a native English-speaker. A Northern German might think I am Bavarian, a Bavarian might think I am Austrian, and Austrian might think I am Swiss, a Swiss might think I am German. To me, it doesn’t matter how wrong the guess is, so long as the native German-speaker doesn’t say “American” or “British” when guessing where I am from. Why? Well, it is a badge of honor to speak well-enough to even superficially fool a native speaker, and I find interactions with people are a little less mired in stereotypes or assumptions when people don’t think you are from a superpower across the pond.

So when a line cook who prides himself on identifying accents was stumped, and his mouth dropped to the floor when I told him where I am from, my day became a lot better.

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February 11, 2012January 20, 2017

Photos: Evolution of Winter

Winter might finally be here

For many weeks we thought Winter was a myth. Our days shifted quickly from having sunny skies, to those with rain clouds, and once or twice there was a good snow. But as a “season;” as an extended period of colorless cold? No, that was not the Zürich to which we are a part.

Then, about two weeks ago, the heavens shifted south. A “Siberian cold front” was pulled toward us by vengeful winds escaping Russia. You might hear “Siberian,” and scoff. It couldn’t be that bad, right? Maybe not on the first day, when temperatures in Celsius were still in the low teens. Then single digits. Then minus single digits. Then minus double digits. And then rivers begin to freeze, ponds turn into play areas, and you realize the myth which was Winter, has finally arrived.

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December 23, 2011January 20, 2017

At the Mercy of Mother Nature

I am not a “Winter person” if there is such a thing. Though I attended high school and college in a snow-rich region, the winter sport bug never bit me. Snow and ice seemed more like inconvenient land mines than charming phenomena for the season. How could I enjoy having to walk slowly and calculated, wet and cold? And I felt more comfortable sailing a boat than even imagining sliding down a ski slope.

If there is a redeeming quality to a Northwest US Winter, it is a relative consistency in the appearance of snow eventually. Here in Zurich, Winter has thus far brought the gloomy gray but spared the snow. Be it La Nina, El Nino, climate change, or Mayan end-of-days, the weather has shifted quickly from miserable and rainy, to miserable and cold, to briefly sunny, to stormy, in the blink of an eye. This week, the first snow fell, causing 100s of traffic accidents in a day. All seemed lost in a fuzzy blur of white. This, too, was short-lived, as La El Mayan Climate Change has done it again.

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