Now that is a name of a station one wants to have at the hospital. Seen around Wetzlar, Hesse, Germany.

And that is not all: Currently, the line is only available in five US-States. Two of these five states, California and Texas, have had the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the last years. Now of course one will ask, to what extent this was a criteria to promote the new line in exactly those states.

(via)

Surely, it is profitable to promote the line in those states, where they will be bought the most – that is a general marketing stragedy right out of the books. But do they not promote teenage pregnancies at the same time? Is Forever 21 actually now glamourizing teenage pregnancy?

In a recent press release, Forever 21 denies the claims made: “Forever 21 did not create, design or distribute Love 21 Maternity to target, or appeal specifically to pregnant teens. Any relationship between teen pregnancy rates and the locations of our stores is unintentional.” (source)

I too have often bought at Forever 21. And there are many adults, who are over 25 years old that buy clothes there, because the clothing selection is modern, but inexpensive. Various clothes are also not too teenage-like; there are several things one can still wear in the end 20′s. Probably, there are also many pregnant women now, who are excited about the new line, because they do not have to wear the “ugly bags” which other stores sell in the maternity line.

But I still think the “Love 21 Maternity” line is giving a bad example. No matter if the places where the line is avaiable was intentional or not (although seriously, this can so not be unintentional). Fact is that the majority of Forever 21 customers are younger than 20 years old. And that is by no chance the perfect age to get pregnant. During their weekly shopping spree, some naive teenagers, who are not taught the facts of life concerning sexuality and pregnancy in school or by their parents (and there are still way too many of these kind of teenagers out there!), will now think: “Being pregnant young is not as uncool anymore!” Or even worse: If a 16-year-old girl gets pregnant and has one of those famous parent-daughter talks, she will say: “But even Forever 21 sells maternity clothes!”

Surely, some would now argument that the Plus Size line therefore glamourizes obesity. But an overweight teenager only carries responsibility for herself; a teenage mom carries the responsibility for two then. And that is a big difference!

It is over. The end. Germany ranks third, after losing against the later world champion Spain in the semi-finals. The world cup 2010 ended with a rather moderate and brutal final, in which an English referee summed up the referees performances throughout the whole competition. Thomas Mueller was named Best Young Player, which he highly deserved; and at this point I feel kind of old, because he is younger than me. What is next? What will we, or rather me personally, remember from the world cup in South Africa? There were delights, but also absurdities.

Delights: the colorful and beautiful opening ceremony; a functioning and delightful to watch German team; Thomas Mueller and his character (“But I can only play soccer, so that is why my interviews are the way they are.”); South Africa’s hospitality and enthusiasm broadcasted into the world; Italy ranking last in their group – there is justice after all; Wembley is finally leveled; seeing Bill Clinton and Mick Jagger sitting together watching a game (they probably had many topics to talk about…); finally having a world cup in general and all the wonderful, exciting viewing parties!

Absurdities: Referees and their large amount of bad calls; together with that: bookings were too frequent; minimalistic playing Spain, who became world cup champions by winning 1-0 ever since the matches in the last 16; many bland matches; disappointing ”top stars”; that the German team were not awarded with the entry into the final because of their forward playing; the final itself and that I was beat by two others in our friends betting pool on the last match day of the world cup.

10:35 p.m. Not really tired yet. New night stand lamp on. Reading a few pages.

11:15 p.m. New night stand lamp off. Eyes shut.

11:17 p.m. It’s warm. Turn. Roll over. Eyes open. Eyes shut.

approx. 01:30 a.m. Eyes open. Still warm. Right ear hurts again. Awake.

02:14 a.m. Thought: You need to sleep. Eyes shut.

approx. 06:00 a.m. Eyes open. Bright. Tired.

06:10 a.m. (buzzing coffee maker)…

(picture source: ikea.de)

When you want to avoid someone, you meet that exact person while shopping. You have only one more pair of stockings and you tear them while putting them on for your job interview in an hour. You are late and all the public transportation are against you. It rains, when you do not have an umbrella with you. And the sun shines, when you have one with you. Personally, I could extend this list for hours.

This all reminded me of the 80′s song by Cheri, which I think will be my song of the day.

I will end this article with my newest experience: Exactly now, when I should be (and also want to) studying for my mid-studies exam, I got a really bad cold. Headache, slight fever in the beginning, no voice and other various cold symptoms.

Thanks a bunch, Murphy!

The “Turmpalast” is simply cool. The interior design is like from the 1950s/1960s, the red seats are pretty rickety and the building itself will never get an architectural prize. But for some reason, all of this gave the movie theatre its charm. In no other movie theatre have I experienced such a lively, active audience: Laughing, crying, screaming, yelling, commenting throughout the movie and yes, even throwing popcorn at the screen if the movie sucked. There you are not looked at weird, when you ask the guy at the counter to add more salt to your popcorn (in Germany, popcorn is not salted, its sugared). Bothering commercials before the movie do not exist, simply the trailers of upcoming movies are shown.

In this movie theatre, I have the feeling that it is simply about the movies itself. Non-commercial and just fun. Movies here are still lived and all of this will die once the movie closes. Playing the movies in original language in the other theatre will just be the same. What will be missing is the real movie experience.

I am crossing fingers and wondering, how the movies will be shown in the new theatre then. I really hope, I do not have to do without my movies in English / American. I do so NOT want to watch ALL the movies in German, due to the really bad synchronisation!

Absurdities and sadness:

There was one thing that really got me upset at university this year. In one seminar, the professor actually did oral grades, which would effect 40% of the whole grade. I really thought I was back at school again. Of course, the participation in class is essential for a good discussion, but I do not think that by having an oral grade you can improve the participation. It has to come from oneself. In retrospect, only five students constantly raised their hand in class throughout the semester. 5 out of 40…

During the writing of my second semester paper in the summer, my laptop died on me. Sparks came out of it, it did not start anymore, nor do anything else. Of course I did not have any copy of the paper, so I had to do everything from scratch. Ever since then, I have an external hard drive, copying files nearly every week.

At the end of this part of the flashback, a short note on the tragic losses we experienced this year. Unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to a few influential people. For me, it was three in particular that made me sad:

1.) Michael Jackson († 25 June 2009): THE musician and entertainer since the 80s. I kind of grew up with listening to his music; he was the originator of the music video. His life remains a mystery; his death was tragic, but I am sure that his music will stay with us and remember him for a long, long time!

2.) Patrick Swayze († 14 Sept. 2009): A good actor, who lost his year long fight against cancer. He was talented and I liked many of his movies. And without him, we would not know that “nobody puts baby in a corner” ;) !

3.) Robert Enke († 10 Nov 2009): I read about his suicide directly on the Internet, when it turned public. He was one of the goalkeepers of the German National Soccer Team; was almost surely the number one. It is shocking to me that depression in sports (especially in soccer!) is still a taboo. It is sad that Enke saw suicide as an only solution. Hopefully players, coaches, involved parties deal with this topic better in the future and speak about their feelings, fears and problems more openly, so something like this never happens again!

MBF (Music, Books, Films):

This year there were again music, books and films, which I liked very much. Here my personal Top 5:

Music Top 5: Black Eyed Peas – I Gotta Feeling, Milow – Ayo Technology, James Morrison – Broken Strings, The Killers – Human and that Robbie Williams is back!

Books Top 5: Paul Auster – New York Trilogy, Jhumpa Lahiri – Unaccustomed Earth, Stephanie Meyer – The Twilight Quadrilogy, Nicholas Sparks – The Lucky One and Jane Austen – Northanger Abbey.

Films Top 5: Slumdog Millionaire, He’s Just Not That Into You, Seven Pounds, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Reader.

Travel:

This year I was on vacation four times. Actually pretty good, huh?

After the New Year’s celebrations I jumped into a cab and took a plane to West Palm Beach, Florida. A friend of the family got married there and I did not hesitate to leave the cold Germany behind me and lay at the pool in sunny Florida. Bevor returning to Germany, I visited relatives in New York City. There, for the first time in 20 years, I saw the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center. It is a wonderful tree and when I was there, it actually started snowing. It was a very magical moment.

Over Easter I was in Hamburg. We sightseed a bit and just enjoyed the city. The city is really worth the trip, it was now my second visit there. I love the Hamburg – Style of life and how the flair is.

In the summer after the second semester, three friends and I  visited a portuguese-american friend in Portugal. Twelve days we traveled through Portugal; among other sites, we visited Lisbon, Coimbra, Algarve (Albufeira) and Sintra. It was a good mixture between sightseeing, culture and partying – Portugal is simply an amazing country! It was surely not the last time I visited!

Two weeks after my return to Germany, I flew to New York City with my parents and a friend.
There I showed her my home; the typical sightseeing spots like Empire State Building Fifth Ave, Central Park, MoMa, Times Square (…) 10 days later everyone flew back except me, since I wanted to find out about internships in the USA for Fall 2010. Over Labor Day weekend I took my first trip on Amtrak (great seats, so much room!) and went to visit a very good friend in Richmond, Virginia. Seems like a nice town; I had a wonderful time that weekend, simply enjoying the nice company. After my return to New York, it was not all that long until I headed back to Germany again.

Student nature:

The new year began with a great achievement: I got an B+ on my very first semester paper in my one minor Social Studies. The seminar was called “Society in Film” and my paper was on how homosexuality was portrayed in the movies “The Wedding Banquet” and “Brokeback Mountain”. My main focus was on how society deals with the topic and its prejudices can influence the relationship. On a side note: The two movies are really worth seeing!

Moreover, this year I again met many wonderful people during classes at university, with whom it is much fun to study with. Now I know a few pretty well and we go to classes together and chat also much outside of the university grounds. In connection with that, it is how I started writing for the monthly students magazine of our American Studies Institute, the A-Journal. It is also much fun and at the same time some practice to improve my writing.

Delights:

Right at the beginning of the year, Barack Obama was inaugurated as the first black president of the United States. It is a big step in American History, maybe even in World History. Change has begun (even though with a funny mistake at his inauguration) and I am anxious to find out, how his era will develop.

After my laptop crash in the summer, I decided to take a big step and get an Apple. One of the best descisions made, I am simply thrilled!

Also this year, I am grateful for still having contact with many from my friends from high school, what was and is very important. Our group still meets regulary (the next time tonight) and when we sit together, it is still a funny, talkative, relaxed atmosphere. I am very thankful for them all, since friends are a very important part in my life.

Furthermore my godchild, now 5-years old, is still a total cutie. She is adorable and can always make you laugh. I have lots of fun with her and I like watching her learn and grow. But I still have not understood that she will be starting 1st grade next summer! Wow! Time really flies.

***On this note, I wish you all a wonderful New Year 2010! ***