Personal site of journalist, baker, and storyteller Tony Ganzer.
Blog posts on media, introspection, society, and more.
With this Spring I will have experienced all 4 seasons in Europe. That seen only on a calendar means little…but in reality, I consider it a feat worth noting.
I was fortunate enough to be able to write this article for the Arthur Burns Fellowship alumni newsletter. To see the whole newsletter click here. (Opens in a new window.) For just my article, keep reading…
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The transformation of sleepy Oslo to fortified Nobel host city was tangible. There was anxiety on the sidewalks as citizens walked carefully by concrete barricades, policemen with machine guns and bomb-sniffing dogs—all in place for the arriving VIPs. Even manhole covers were welded shut as a security measure—the official sign that a U.S. president is or has been to a city.
I saw a guy experiencing homelessness this morning, and I have seen him before.
Often he has a shopping cart with 4 or 5 suitcases on it. He dresses in brown, or maybe his suit jacket is just covered with the product of months or years of street life.
There were no suit cases this morning.
The man sat against the base of a concrete box in the train station, rocking with his hands between his thighs for warmth.
My cheeks were pierced with cold, so his must’ve been numb–his beard looked thin and disheveled, not helpful.
His rocking was sad; his posture like a vertical fetal position wishing for the comfort of the womb.
[An expanded version of this essay appears in my book Kneading Journalism]
Continue reading “Back to Reality”
“Sure!”
Four hours later we arrived in Munich, and loaded a taxi. Our new home was waiting, and, now, the glass cathedral has a new place to glow and spin.
But this is my first Winter in Europe, and soon to be my first Christmas in France, growing to a list of “firsts” for all of us.
