pfannkuchea

Library Passports

Andrew (Weeks) has been describing my existence in the tax haven as “Robinson Crusoe-like,” and with good reason. The tax haven is incredibly lonely. People are naturally reticent to leave their COVID bubbles; other people are not hell, but they are still dangerous. This is compounded by the European Union’s digital COVID certificate (DCC) thatContinue reading “Library Passports”

Addendum to the “Plague Rat”

From his first-hand experience in Luxembourg, Andrew (Pfannkuche) has confirmed my own impression from early in the pandemic. I was dismayed by the implicit sense that students are mainly a threat to their teachers or professors. It’s too early to judge the success and failure of the pandemic response; but even if governments were right to close schools and restrict social contacts, the public discussion ofContinue reading “Addendum to the “Plague Rat””

Thoughts on Socialism in Time of Plague

I should explain why I sympathize with socialism and have a critical appreciation of Marx. I don’t doubt certain premises of the defenders of capitalism. I don’t question the benefits of enterprise and competition. Yet the great apostle of capitalism himself, Adam Smith, was more critical and perceptive of its flaws than its current apologists.Continue reading “Thoughts on Socialism in Time of Plague”

Thoughts of a Plague Rat

I thrive on close relationships with my professors. Even in high school I thrived on the knowledge that my favorite teachers saw me as – at a minimum – intellectually competent or a serious thinker. At ISU I thrived of conversations with my professors. I felt as though I was proving myself as someone worthContinue reading “Thoughts of a Plague Rat”

Platypus and the Plague Year

My student friends and I talked about starting a reading group, but this presented logistical and organizational challenges in the plague year. Then Andrew Pfannkuche (aka “Pancake”) heard about a high-powered intellectual group that met online, a leftist reading group that went by the name of Platypus Society. Their reading syllabus included not only classicsContinue reading “Platypus and the Plague Year”

New to the Old Continent

I am constantly amazed by the lack of “natural” spaces in Europe. Near my little Luxembourgeois town there is a cemetery, a green promenade, and the Escher Déierepark, which is both a hilly trail, petting zoo, and picnic area. The hill is a steep climb – good exercise which I am in need of becauseContinue reading “New to the Old Continent”

Readings for a Pandemic Winter

To me, reading is like a vaccine for the spirit: the difficult, the negative, the choice that others might consider depressing fortifies me against vicissitudes of mood or mental stamina. My (re)reading during the first pandemic months included the Existentialism of my youth: The Plague and “The Myth of Sisyphus” by Camus and the chapterContinue reading “Readings for a Pandemic Winter”

Welcome to the Tax Haven

I’m a graduate student in Luxembourg. When asked why I decided to go to school in a tax haven I have always shrugged my shoulders. I politely inform interlocutors that when I think of an answer – why did I travel across the world in the middle of a pandemic? – I will let themContinue reading “Welcome to the Tax Haven”

Notes on the Plague Year

I passed our first pandemic year trying to remain normal in Bloomington-Normal. As a 73-year-old retired professor of German, I needed to stay active and connected. Via Zoom, I took courses in Russian and French and became good friends with my instructors. I drove older or indigent patients to their hospital appointments and heard fromContinue reading “Notes on the Plague Year”