<blank>

U n i K a s s e l - J u l y 0 9 - w w w . b l a n k p a p e r. d e

students have interesting thoughts

 reviews p04 K19 Rock Concert

p06 Desasta Concert

p08 Wildest Dreams

p10 Wetlands

p14 Art Exhibition

p20 Markus Zusaks “The Book Thief”

art p26 A New Twist to Magic the Gathering

opinion p12 Thoughts on war, rationality, and free will

p16 You shall not bear false witness ...

creative p17 With You

p18 The Island

p19 HIM!!!

p19 Music of Aggression

p22 Blueday

p23 Neptune’s Milk

p24 Somewhere over the rainbow

2 <table_of_contents>
 Ah, the agony ...
editorial

Damnit, this semester went by too fast. We could barely feel it getting war-
mer outside, and then, exams!
Pesky little things, those module tests. There are so many of them, one has
to wonder if we are going to get graded for sleeping, too, in the future? Of
course, sitting in my English course right now and looking around, I can‘t
help but notice that some of us already receive credits for being alive and
breathing regularly.

I can feel their pain. The agony of involuntary wisdom.

But thanks to some rule changes that came with the new system of bachelor
and master degrees, those types of students wont pass Level I Sprachpraxis.
Or so I sincerely hope. Which means that they are going to drop after 2 se-
mesters, idealy, while the people before them dropped only after 6 or more
years, mostly because of not being ably to make it through the finals. No one
ever told them the truth, when truth should have been told:

„You‘re no good at English! Better study something you‘re good at!“

Most of us „leftovers“, that is you and me, feel a different kind of pain later on.
The agony of wanting to gain wisdom, but not being alowed to do so. If you
ever tried to study abroad, you know excactly what I am talking about. Thinking
back to our Sit-In this semesters, I really can‘t shake the feeling that instead
of visiting the chancelors office, we should have paid the AAA a friendly visit.
But for that, a third kind of pain would have to be overcome. You surely know
what I mean, right?

In this issue, you can see what can be done by only a handfull of students all
over the Institut. There are reviews and lots of photos from the <blank>fest,
a short review and another round of photos from the latest theatre perfor-
mance by the Red Bricks, and of course lots of creative writing and opinion
pieces. We wish you all the best for your exams and a great „free time“ (joke-
alert) in hopefully warmer and drier weather than we have enjoyed so far.

Yours,
<blank>

<editorial> 3
 <blank>fest
review
K19 rock co
Kassel is without a doubt a cultural hot spot in
North Hesse. Unfortunatly, this does not hold true
for live rock music. That’s where <blank> comes
into play: We invited five extremely talented bands
and artists and asked them to play a rock concert
at K19, all of them eager to entertain, rock out,
kick ass, ...you name it.
A dark hall. Four musicians are waiting on stage.
Some 300 guests have gathered to watch them per-
form. They have high expectations. Silence. The
drummer shoves his stick through the hot air and
hits the drumset. The sound fills the room, while
the other band members set in to open Hybrids’s
Lo-Fi Punk performance. Singer Tom Clark did
not wait long until he turned into a human energy
bomb and captivated the cheering audience. Remi-
niscient of bands like the Pixies, Clark’s infamous
band of rock veterans turned out to be just the
right choice for an opening band that night.
Our favorite teenage band Atlas was the second
band to play. Being quite famous among Hesse’s
indie scene, they took the opportunity and pre-
sented some songs off their new album “Talking
in Headlines”. The band plays their own brand of
indie rock with strong melodies and vibrant vo-
cals. The musicians who have an average age of
18 performed like seasoned professionals. Their
young age combined with an outstanding mu-
sicianship might be the reason why their music
sounds so fresh. Think a young Interpol sprinkled
with some Bloc Party... or just skip descriptions
and go see them play!
After so much electric rock music Edmund Low-
man set a musical counterpoint with his acoustic
love songs. The audience enjoyed the poppy per-
formance by the ex member of popular bands such
as Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and Rosebud. He did
not only play songs from his own repertoire, but
also some covers ranging from Katy Perry to Jus-
tin Timberlake. Once he hit the stage, there was
barely a girl in the room without her cell phone

4 <blank>fest
oncert
out, taking pictures, making videos, screaming
things we are not allowed to print – Yes, that guy
is a rockstar.
Springfield was next on the list. We are convinced
that the Gießen-based newcomers have great
prospects and are able to become one of the top
alternative bands. Energy might be the keyword
here, and though it was getting late, the audience
got their moves on and danced until sweat covered
the instruments. And once again, Katy Perry was
cited onstage...weird coincidence. Springfield can
be seen as the groove element in our line-up, as
their straight forward indie rock features great
hooklines and a seething groove.
It was already past midnight when Oceans And
Elephants began to perform their intensive songs.
They were supported by a lively crowd and showed
no signs of sleepiness at this late hour. In fact, the
crowd was still so very unsleepy, they demanded
encores even past 2 o’ clock. The attentive observ-
er must have noticed: Unique sound apparently
appeals to people.
Enchanted by several hours of live music, the re-
maining audience members stayed until the doors
were closed at 5 in the morning. And that was it
– We couldn’t think of a more diverse line-up for
a festival like <blankfest>. We really hope each of
you who went there got a lot out of it. By the way,
we are thrilled to announce <blankfest 2010>!
Our idea is to take <blankfest> to the next level
and make it even better. Until then, watch out for
other <blank> events!
Marc Motyka and Franz Mutschler

For more information about the bands:

Hybrid - hybrid-music.com
Atlas - myspace.com/atlasmusik
Edmund Lowman - myspace.com/edmundrock
Springfield - myspace.com/springfieldhome
Oceans and Elephants - myspace.com/oceansan-
delephants

<blank>fest 5
 <blank>fest
review desasta

Nadine Lena Gudrun Hahn

Despite being busy with organizing the poetry
D a v i d We n d e r o t h
and philosophy slam as well as embedding the Red
Brick Company into our program, I managed to
catch the performance of my good friend Nadine
Fingerhut and her younger sister Lena just in time
for their performance inside the Desasta café.
Despite the fact that the audience had shrank a bit,
probably because many people were eager to see
Professor Tom Clark´s band perform at K19, the
siblings put on a show that put goose bumps on
everyone’s skin.
Their set included a selection of their own songs
as well as two cover versions: Creep by Radio-
head and Pokerface by Lady Gaga; While I con-
sider Creep to be a staple on the soundtrack of
my youth, I was sceptical at first when I detected
the Pokerface lyrics. It turned out that my wor-
ries were misplaced, however, because they man-
aged to turn an average popular song into a heart-
warming acoustic ballad.
Impressive guitar play by the 14-year-old Lena
and a voice by Nadine that sends shivers down
your spine completed a very enjoyable evening.
Murat Sezi
and
When Gudrun said she would like to play an
acoustic set at <blank> fest I had no clue what to
expect. I assumed, from her poetry, some caus-
tic sarcastic lyrics about life, politics and maybe
even love. When she told me that she and David
practiced for the first time a few hours before the
performance I laughed anxiously.
All those worries were put to rest as soon as
Gudrun started singing. She had a beautiful voice
that was accompanied by poignant and often
mocking lyrics. They had a way with the crowd,
and while they did have some slip ups, due to the
lack of practice, they more than made up for it
with their hilarious diatribes and Gudrun’s voice.

For more Info:

Nadine and Lela Fingerhut- -myspace.com/na-

Lars Heiler
dinefingerhut

Lars Heiler showed off his impressive guitar

skills and his vocal stylings for us at café De-
sAsta. A packed house enjoyed classic Irish folk
songs and a few well known covers. Particularly
stunning was his rendition of Johnny Cash’s
haunting cover of “One.”

6 <blank>fest
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<sponsors> 7
 From top left: Babett
Schultze, Benjamin
Stutz, Daniel Bode,
Peter Carqueville,
Julia Rausch
From lower left: Julia
Schmitt, Marvin
Herbring, Anne-
Kathrin Paddags

Wildest Dreams
performed by the Red Brick Company

Regular <blank> readers will no doubt have seen the series on role-playing games (RPGs), and should re-
ally also have seen a production or two by the Red Brick Theatre Company. Well, this semester these two
subjects were spectacularly brought together in Alan Ayckbourn’s Wildest Dreams. Arriving expecting to
see a play about RPGs, I was astonished to see a play unfold which included two strokes, one broken nose, a
forty-something baby and then, that kiss.
A seemingly fairly straightforward group of role-players soon reveal themselves to be much more complex:
we see a harassed and rather unfulfilled middle-aged couple (Peter Carqueville and Anne-Kathrin Paddags), a
previously abused recluse (Julia Schmitt), a teenage fantasist (Marvin Herbring) and a malevolently pedantic
VAT inspector (Daniel Bode). However, when they are joined by a beautiful and charming young woman
(Babett Schultze) fleeing from an abusive husband, the group is cast into disarray and forced to confront real
problems instead of retreating into their fantasy world as before.
The play is a finely-judged examination of the human condition, from teen angst to mid-life crisis and the
Red Brick Theatre Company deftly balanced drama and dark humour, fantasy and real-life. An intelligent and
innovative use of the stage meant that we could see up to three threads of the plot at once and the acting
was, as has become customary for the Red Bricks, impeccable. However, the on-stage fireworks were this time
rather more literal…
Helping the actors to shine, Lars Heiler was joined as director this time by Dagmar Hasenkamp and Den-
nis Wienert, with music composed by Marc Motyka which was easily the equal of many commercial pieces.
Considerable amounts of hard work by others behind the scenes also helped to make Wildest Dreams a great
success. Well done to the Red Brick Theatre Company for daring to take on such a challenging play and for
making it such a success! We impatiently awaiting the next production.
Alastair Purves

8 <culture>
<culture> 9
 <Sabine Krause> Some people described the book as entertaining and hu-

by Charlotte Roche
Wetlands
morous, others as perverse and provocative. I would simply describe it as
disgusting. In a way, it’s also entertaining because once you start reading,
you don’t want to stop before you have finished it. But I’m sure that this book
is responsible for my water bill being so high because ever since I read it, I
make sure to wash my hands much more often and my showers are longer
to make sure that I’m completely clean. I’m not conservative at all and I usu-
ally like reading about masturbation, sex or the exchange of body fluids.
I can recommend a very exciting erotic novel in German which is called
Zuckermond by Astrid Martini. The dialogues are a bit flat but the sex
scenes are amazing! And who reads an erotic novel for the dialogues anyway?
But in Wetlands, the protagonist describes how unhygienically she lives her
life and that on purpose. She tells us, how she wipes the toilet seat with her
“pussy” and how she leaves used tampons all over the hospital to make sure
that other people benefit from her bacteria. She goes on describing how she
doesn’t wash her vagina for weeks at a time, so that the smell is overpowering
which is supposed to attract men. Is that true? If it is, I’ll stop dating at once!
Or do guys really like it when girls wipe some wetness of their vagina behind
their ears? I also wasn’t so keen on reading about her haemorrhoids surgery
and how deliberately she hurt herself with pushing a pedal of a hospital bed
up her butt to be able to stay longer in hospital because she fell in love with
a male nurse. And for everybody who likes happy endings, I can assure that
there is one. I, however, hate happy endings and that’s why I will stick to
reading more horror fiction; it doesn’t make me feel so uncomfortable about
people around me. I can deal better with murder than with bacteria. I’m not
telling you not to read Wetlands. Read it! It’s definitely binding; just make
sure you’ve already eaten and preferably already digested your food before
reading it because you might loose your appetite. before reading it because
you might loose your appetite.

10 <review>
 Dear Bob,
THANK YOU.

<blank>fest
would not
have been possible ...

... without
your
help,
support,
and patience!

Your audiophiles,
The English Students of Kassel University
<sponsors> 11
 <blank>fest
review art exhibition
Art always lies in the eye of the beholder, but the
art exhibit on <blankfest> has shown that it is
impressive nonetheless. As a participant myself, I
can call my Steampunk-exhibit a huge success. My
goal was to show people my definition of Steam-
punk and to make them aware of this special ret-
rofuturistic movement. Judging from the response
to my work, I am pretty satisfied with the result.

This is partially due to the fact that my part of

the exhibit stood in direct relation to the work of
another artist from the “Kunsthochschule” who
presented his „Dr. Schnabel“-costume, which he
had done as a semester-work. The artist, Lars
Gnerlich, called Dr. Schnabel a modern reinter-
pretation of the famous plaque doctors from the
Middle Ages and it stood representatively for our
very ancient fear of illness and our modern way
of dealing with it. Interestingly enough, as the
artist told the visitors, we do not react to illness
as progressively as we might think. Some of our
modern methods of prevention and cure are as old
as the original plaque-doctor paintings.

The pictures shown in this article were taken by

one of the exhibition artists himself. Marius Stein
presented some of his pictures and, as young as
this person might be, his eye for detail and his
understanding for the different angles and meth-
ods of photography are definitely something to
behold and his pictures have shown this very im-
pressively.

Speaking of impressive: the paintings shown by

the young artist Lennart were not only impressive
from a technical perspective, they were nearly as
outstanding in scale. His paintings juggled with
their own hugeness and the contrast to our small
perception, contrasted contrasts, color and several

12 <review>
painting techniques and one might be reminded of
the famous artist M.C. Escher when looking at the
confusing stairways of one of his smaller paint-
ings.

Art does not always have to be big to be remark-

able. This was shown imposingly by R13. Especial-
ly his several canvas works impressed me as they
broke the border between the paintings and their
surroundings. His creativity and the realization of
his ideas have definitely left an impression.

The only female artist who presented her paint-

ings on <blankfest> was Natalia Bogorad, whose
works could be described as modern Gothic Paint-
ings. The play with perspectives shown in her
paintings and her ideas prove great creativity and
I wouldn’t mind having one of her works on my
wall at home.

Last but positively not least, the airbrush paint-

ings of the tattoo-artist David, from Udopea Tat-
too Kassel consisted of in-your-face-creativity.
The pictures were not only worth mentioning
from a technical point of view but also from their
content. I, for one, have never seen something like
this before and if you haven’t been there, I don’t
think the pictures in this issue will do this work
credit.

This is true, of course, for all of the pieces shown

on <blankfest> and I can only give you my subjec-
tive perspective but I think I speak for all partici-
pants when I say that this should not have been the
last art exhibit presented on our campus. Although
we all know how artists see their own works, their
names are definitely worth remembering (except
for mine of course).
Dennis Wienert

<review> 13
 Thoughts on war, rationality,
“Hell is other people” - Jean-Paul Sartre, E
A couple of weeks ago I watched a movie called
„Sweet November“. It stars Keanu Reeves and
Charlize Theron and is, essentially, boring as hell.
A romance/drama that follows the standard Hol-
lywood guidelines for movies of this genre, but I
guess it is one of those movies you have to watch
with the girlfriend some of the time to keep her
happy. There was one good thing about this movie,
however: it inspired this article. “Sweet November”
featured the song “Only Time” by Enya, which
reminded me of the corresponding MTV video,
which showed the airplanes crashing into the two
towers of the World Trade Center.
And then I remembered what I was doing on the
11th of September 2001, or more specifically, how
I had just gotten back from New York on the 10th
of September 2001. On the 11th, I was sitting in
my living room, not really doing anything, while
my mother was ironing shirts. Then my phone
rang, and it was my neighbour, telling me to turn
on CNN. I turn on CNN, realize what is going on,
start up a conversation with my mother, and out of
the corner of my eye I see the second plane head- self. Are these “rational” interests? I think they are,
ing for the second tower. I then proceed to tape the religious one possibly aside.
the next 6 hours or so of the coverage. At some However, I still consider any kind of war to be
point in these 6 hours, I realize that I had agreed to madness. There is a StudiVZ group that is called
go bowling with friends. I am somewhat reluctant “Stell dir vor es ist Krieg und niemand geht hin”
about this because I am really shaken up, but I de- which roughly translates to something like” Imag-
cide to go anyway. But I digress; let me get back to ine there is war and no one goes there”. I have been
what “Sweet November”, an Enya song and what told that this was actually said by a German writer
the attacks of 9/11 have to do with this article. and taken out of context, but the truth of it re-
Basically, for a long time I have been interested in mains the same. Oftentimes, I have been told that
things like free will, destiny, and the rationality/ir- I am an idealist, and people have often, not always,
rationality of mankind. So my question is this: why said this in a way that led me to believe that they
do we have wars? Is there any coherent logic be- hold this to be a negative attribute. I, however, pride
hind it? Granted, men and women much smarter, myself on this, even though I listen to less Ton,
educated and more qualified than me have raised Steine, Scherben these days and attend fewer Anti-
these questions, but guess what: that is not going war demonstrations.
to stop me from asking. There is no greater danger But let me get back to rationality and irrationality.
than to cease reflecting upon our own actions and I firmly believe that humans are completely irratio-
the actions of others. nal, and the funny thing is that we actually pride
Let us first look at some of the most commonly ourselves on being rational. We demand of others
postulated reasons to start a war: money/natural to act rationally. Well, then let me ask you this: if we
resources, territorial interests, and religious differ- are so rational, why do we kill for trivial reasons?
ences. For individuals, participating in war might Has history not taught us anything? Let me exam-
have to do with patriotic belief, national doctrine, ine this question by using Germany as an example.
the possibility of spoils or the wish to “prove” one- World War II. 65 million people dead. Granted,

14 <opinion>
 and free will
Exit
Germany, or Germans, or the Germans living at
that time, were not directly “responsible” for all of
these deaths, but lately it has come to my attention
that young Germans want to distance themselves
completely from these events. They want to be
“proud” of their country and heritage. They do not
want to carry the blame for actions their forefathers
took. They do not want to be stereotyped via their
history. All of this is understandable. And all of
this is very, very dangerous. Germans are actually
in a very unique position; we have the benefit that
we have to carry this burden around with us! I can-
not imagine that there is another country that has
spent as much time challenging its own history, its
own identity. Why can’t we be proud of this? Is it
not much more difficult to accept ones fallacies than
to deny them? One would think that learning about
the events of WW II for something like 8 years
during school would sensibilize a nation for things
like war and prejudice. Judging from recent studies,
however, this is not the case at all. Ethnic prejudice
among students is steadily increasing. History has
a tendency to repeat itself if the players are not
careful.
How can this be? I repeat: has history not taught
us anything? Are the religious and moral teachings
we receive not enough? And finally: why do people
feel that it is necessary to be “proud” of your coun-
try, and what do they expect of it? I feel that more
evil than good comes of it.
I have always thought that there was something
within the human “soul” that would prevent hu-
mans from killing one another, but I only need to
turn on the television or take a look at the paper to
know that I am wrong. Let me quote from “Blood
Meridian” by Cormac McCarthy:
“War was always here. Before man was, war waited
for him. The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate
practitioner. War is God.[...]”
I think that there is a lot of truth contained with-
in this quote. There is no single event in history
that would have propelled mankind to stop fight-
ing wars. Instead, we continue to construct more
dangerous weapons, find better ways to desensitise
soldiers, find more clever ways to justify war. We
are not enlightened and we are not rational. War
will always be.
Unless…
I did tell you that I am an Idealist. So do I think
that war will always have to exist? No, I do not.
Without getting into a debate about determinism
versus free will here, I am going to say that I do not
believe in free will. I would, however, wager that
something like 99% of the people who are going to
read this are. So my appeal is this: use it! If there is
free will, then we are the ones who are shaping our
future. If free will exists, then yes, a world without
war is possible. It is not “the government” or “the
others” who make the rules. You make the rules.
Following Immanuel Kant´s categorical imperative,
we have to do the right thing or the system breaks
down. From this we can derive that if the system if
flawed, that we have to do the wrong thing. What
I am trying to say is: do not be afraid to use your
mind, and do not be afraid of being chastised for
standing up for what you believe in.
Murat Sezi
<opinion> 15
 God says:
“You shall not bear false wit-
ness against your neighbour.”
“You came back late yesterday! It was two o’ clock in the morning. Where
were you?” my 80-year-old neighbour asked me last week. She likes to con-
cern herself with the lives of other persons, preferably her direct neigh-
bours. Sounds funny, but you’d stop laughing if your neighbour puts private
details about you on the internet. RottenNeighbour.com is a website which
allows everyone to do that: Simply type in your neighbour's address, some
facts about him and click on send. The entries are then shown together with
a map, indicating where the most annoying neighbours live. Surprisingly,
thousands of people are using this platform to spread rumors and neighbour-
hood gossip. There’s no need to provide evidence – an interesting story and
the corresponding address are enough.

Originally, RottenNeighbour.com was created to help persons looking for a

new home. It is supposed to show where good and bad areas of a city are
situated. Instead, the website became a startling spot for world-wide denun-
ciation. “My neighbour beats his dogs and I suspect he has beaten his wife
and kids.” writes one user. Others emphasize how nice their neighbours are:
“This family is always together. They are friendly, involved with the com-
munity through church, school, and the neighborhood watch.” On Rotten-
Neighbours.com, one can see that privacy is loosing its value. Most posts
are submitted anonymously, although the authors don’t hestitate to publish
name and address of their detested neighbours. Sometimes pictures are add-
ed. Sometimes even a video. The newest feature of RottenNeighbour.com is a
search engine for sexual offenders and criminals. A small excerpt: “My neigh-
bour digs big holes in his back yard very late at night. Very noisy. Drives on
wrong side of the road.” A worried user answered: “I'd be careful sounds like
a serial killer.” Sure.

If you are an American resident, you can enter your zip code and find out
whether dangerous people lurk in your area. No one seems to complain about
the ever-growing database. The voyeuristic website has so many visitors each
day that it actually slows down at peak times. On the official forum of Rot-
tenNeighbour.com are a few desperate complaints. A private user says: “My
ex-girlfriend is attempting to ruin my reputation in my community and my
dating life. Her comment on this site could be considered libel, slander, and
defamation. People can use this site as a tool for revenge. It is useless.” He got
one answer: “If your potential dates are reading this message board, just find
some new girls to date in the next town.” Who’s crazy now?

Marc Motyka

16 <opinion>
 With You
A red balloon takes off at noon.
I beckon and walk back alone.
A famous band will play here soon.
I wish them fun and leave for home.

The only thing I want to do

is to share my time with you.

(Marc Motyka)
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I thought that being an au pair in Finland would be
a new and maybe even adventurous experience. But I
didn’t know how adventurous!
I’m sitting in a little hut by a lake with no electricity
and water in the middle of Finland and having a fire
burning by my side. I can see the movement of the
water and the wind in the leaves when I look out of
the window. Sounds romantic, doesn’t it? But there is
a problem; a big problem!
The hut I spend my nights in belongs to the property
of my host mom’s mother and it is on an island which
can only be reached by boat. The main house is quite
small and doesn’t have enough space for all of us.
And I was quite glad to have my own place to sleep in
because I tend to wake up very easily when I share a
room with somebody else. But the hut is about 500 m
away from the main house. However, so far, I’ve made
my way through the forest every morning to have my
morning toilet and breakfast and it seemed good to
have some fresh air right after getting up.
But one morning something seemed to be wrong. It
was quieter than normal: I couldn’t hear any singing
of the birds, the ducklings were gone and even the
mosquitoes seemed to have disappeared. However,
I still got up and went to the main house, but even
that was quiet: No screaming of the two wild boys I
take care of, no flickering TV and no Finnish voices.
I figured that my host family must have gone to the
main land to get some groceries because the boat
was gone. So, I had breakfast alone and got dressed.
I decided to sit by the lake and read while I was wait-
ing for my host family to come back. But when it was
afternoon, I became worried. They still weren’t back
and I was seriously getting bored. I tried calling them,
but my Finnish phone connection was dead although
18 <creative>
The Island
I always had such a good connection here on the is-
land in the middle of nowhere. And even my German
phone didn't work. It actually scared me a bit because
now I couldn’t reach anybody in case something hap-
pened. But I thought that something must be wrong
with the network. I had a quick lunch/dinner. How-
ever, I wasn’t really hungry because I felt quite lonely
and I convinced myself that my host family would be
back soon with delicious sausages for the bbq. But it
became later and later and there was still no sign of
them. Although the island isn’t big, there is one more
house on it, but it also just serves as a summer cot-
tage. So, I walked along the gravel road to find it and
looked inside, but it seemed to be empty as well. I was
sure that something must have happened to my host
family. Maybe they had a terrible accident or maybe
they all drowned. However, I decided to go to bed and
hoped that it was all just a bad dream and that I would
wake up and everything would be back to normal. The
next morning, the birds, mosquitoes or ducklings still
hadn’t returned and the main house was just as de-
serted. Since I was feeling like I was stuck in one of
those horror movies I like to watch, I decided to try
out the kayak to get to the main land. I had never used
it before, but it wasn’t so hard. You just had to be care-
ful not to turn it over when you got in. When I got to
the main land, the car of my host family was gone. I
walked along the street to the next few houses and all
of them were empty. I didn’t see one cat or hear a dog
barking. I didn’t know what else to do and went back
to the island. Back there I realized that the electricity
in the main house wasn’t working: the fridge wasn’t
cold and none of the lights were working. I hadn’t re-
alized it before because here in Finland it is so bright
at night that you don’t need any artificial light. I have
now been alone on the island for 4 days. I barely have
any food left. I did a few more trips to the main land
and walked along the streets to knock on the doors
of other houses, but all of them are empty and every-
thing around me seems to be dead. I have the feeling
that even the trees are dying. I have no idea what hap-
pened. Was there some kind of attack? But of what?
Poison? An atomic bomb? And why did my host par-
ents leave me alone? Did they have to flee so fast that
there was no time to inform me? I don’t know what to
do except to stay here and wait for somebody to turn
up to rescue me. Where else should I go? My laptop
battery is nearly empty and since the electricity isn’t
working, I can’t charge it. So, I need to go. Bye!
Sabine Krause (Foto: Sabine Krause)
HIM!!!
There are times, where I feel his COLD gaze,
For I realize that I did something wrong.
There are times, where I feel his WARM gaze,
I only want to embrace him, with arms so strong.

A bird is flying around its hidden nest,

Feeding its offspring, the one which is blest.
Because one day it will know what is best,
Even I feel “abuzz” in my chest.

Flowers catch your eyes, they are oh so marvelous

Radiate scents, while I am passing by
I am forgetting my words, which are libelous
Believe me, for I am telling you no lie!

I recognize the beauty of my surroundings

And ask myself; where do they come from
Blue, green, yellow and red
Colors conspire together into something full-fledged.
You want to know what I mean?!
It is very simple, open your eyes and you will see!
Wonders are presented on a silver platter
There is no real time, for a chatter.
Time is passing by oh so fast
But for everything there is an “end”, at last
He probably says “There is no real me,
only an entity, or maybe something illusory”
I can sense his presence, though he is not there
I can´t see him, and where he is, I don´t know
But one thing that is for sure, we must live too far below!
Please! But let me say this one last thing: “God, it is so not fair!”
by: Yasemin Cakmak
Music of Aggression
There is this something, living inside,
That will not easily subside.
Lord help me, for I do not want it to reside.
That noise; oh so loud,
My ears get annoyed by its trembling sound.
It shares your body and despises distance,
In a second, your mouth becomes its victim.
That something is not minor like hums,
It is more like the tempting African drums.
Dangerous and wild; awaits to be set free,
For it does not want to live like an isolated tree.
Oh! But there is this one thing you know for sure,
At the end there is no cure!
Once it reaches the mouth,
It does not differ between north and south.

Within seconds it radiates its poison,

Which leads to shouts in unison
Where it comes from nobody knows,
Where it comes from, nobody knows!

by: Yasemin Cakmak

<creative> 19

„I am haunted by humans“ quips Death, the narra-
tor of Markus Zusak’s „The Book Thief.“ Strong
words from someone who has made a career out
of collecting souls and uses the color of the sky
to distract himself from the task at hand.
“HERE IS A SMALL FACT
You are going to die.”
Death, admittedly, tries to be cheerful about the
subject and interjects his own musings as he nar-
rates the story of Liesel, a young foster child,
20 <review>
Markus Zusak’s
during World War II. Death’s description of the
story is rather apt:
“It’s just a small story really, about,
amongst other things:
• A girl
• Some words
• An accordionist
• Some fanatical Germans
• A Jewish fist-fighter
• And quite a lot of thievery.”
Markus took time out from his busy writing and
touring schedule to discuss music, his life as an
author, and what inspired him to write the mes-
merizing, comic and devastatingly touching nov-
el, “The Book Thief,” amongst other things.
How and why did you become a writer?
It was the magical feeling of reading books and
not noticing that I was turning the pages...You
know when you get so lost inside a book that you
see everything so clearly, and you're believing
every word, even though it's fiction? That was
when I thought, 'That's what I want to do with
my life.'
Any advice for aspiring authors?
Learn to endure and even enjoy failure. Failure
has been my best friend as a writer. You work and
work and you throw things out, but it's during
that process that you're refining not only your
ideas, but your own writing style.
What role, if any, does music play in your life
and your writing? Favorite artists?
I usually listen to music when I work. I know
things are going well if the CD finishes and I
didn't hear my favourite song. At the moment I'm
particularly inspired by Eels. It's fantastic - work
that stands on its own and only behaves com-
pletely as itself, if that makes sense.
What inspired you to write The Book Thief?
Do you have some connection to Germany?
My parents are from Austria and Germany, and I
grew up hearing about their childhoods. Whether
it was stories about the sky being on fire, or kids
“The Book Thief”
giving bread to prisoners on their way to con-
centration camps, my siblings and I were always
glued to our seats in the kitchen as we grew up
in Sydney. I didn't realise then that those stories
were the seeds of The Book Thief, twenty years
later.
There have been several books written about
WWII, in The Book Thief you look at it
through the eyes of a child. Why?
It was natural for me, purely because my parents
were extremely young when World War II was
raging in Germany. I saw that world through
their eyes, and they saw it as children.
I fell in love with Rudy after " The Jesse Ow-
ens Incident," where did this idea come from
and what should people take from it/learn
from Rudy?
Rudy became my favourite character as soon
as he became Jesse Owens. I originally wanted
the kids to idolise footballers from that era, but
then I went to the library and saw the spine of
an Olympic history book. For some reason Jesse
Owens entered my head and when that happens,
you pay attention. I thought, 'I don't need foot-
ballers, I've got Jesse Owens'. I struggled for a
while, thinking maybe that people might not be-
lieve a German boy would have such an obses-
sion, but the more I researched, the more young
rebels I found, and Rudy made sense.
All I want people to get from Rudy is to feel his
life force. He is someone who lives a short time,
but here's a boy who jumps into a freezing riv-
er to rescue his best friend's book, who scatters
bread on the road for suffering people, who loves,
gives cheek, who steals and gives.
Liesel steals books so that she can improve her
reading, in a time when books were being burned
for their content, it seems she was stealing
more than just the books. Can you explain?
It was a simple idea. On one hand, you have Hitler
destroying people with words. On the other you
have a girl stealing them back, and using them to
write her own version of history, her own story -
and it's a beautiful story written amongst an ugly
world.
Liesel and Rudy are both very compassionate
people seeing past, or rather not seeing at all, dif-
ferent races and religions.
Is this touching on the point that hate is
learned rather than inherent and that per-
haps we have a lot to learn from children?
Not really. I never think of myself as a thematic
writer. I just hope that ideas come to the sur-
face as the story unfolds. I never sat down and
thought, 'This is the set of ideas I want to get
across.' I just want the relationships to feel real,
and hopefully, if the story's strong enough, the
themes will rise.
The Book Thief isn't just about "some fanati-
cal Germans" there is a very powerful com-
ing of age story here as well. Was there an
event(s)or person(s) in your life that has had a
profound impact on who you are today?
No, I think there's just a collection of things that
contribute. I was always ambitious. I fell in love
with stories. I decided I wanted to be a writer. I
had parents who worked hard for everything. I
loved and fought with my brother and sisters. I
guess everything adds up.
What have you read recently?
I just read Out Stealing Horses (Per Petterson)
and The Model (Lars Saabye Christensen). I
must be going through a Norwegian phase...
Christensen is one of my favourite writers, The
Half Brother especially.
When are you coming to visit us at the Univer-
sity of Kassel in Germany? :)
Soon, I hope!
Death leaves us with a very chilling last note;
any last thoughts?
Not really...Death is a lot more profound than me!
Okay, I'll try. My last thought comes back to writ-
ing. For me it gets harder, and I think that's how
it should be. Hopefully it means the challenges
are always increasing.
Don Lowman
<review> 21
 Bluesday

Looking back now I’m rather sure it must have been

a Tuesday, when out of that peculiar feeling which
ties you up on days like Tuesday I evaded my room
to hit the road and breathe some easement from the
air of the city.
And on the street that day I saw a child, running,
whining. Twas a sound so shrill that it brought it
all right back
all the nights and sighs
the splintered parts of distant grieve, trying to put your
life at ease
and blood-shot eyes which cries reveal, when feeling melts to
amplitude:
the horror in the positive and anger as the gush recedes
through foggy clouds and narrow streets,
and that one window with the colored pane –
I saw the glance fixed at the ceiling carving dolphins: sound,
unbreakable
poignant manifesto of silent streams, when
all you seek is a friend to share believes –

honestly, I felt my skull shape changing

or hurry rather, from the boy’s
to the neglected design of my fathers,
and I do sometimes, in wonder, ask myself when the moment passed
that first I forgot to set my lands at order.

And later on the same day I found myself walking homewards

with a notion of anxiety in my sentiments, when
in the avenue I saw trees
(which guard the street)
and little follies of man
parked beneath them,
an open-air of high-pitch chill, ineffable for lack of will.
Me, I was just passing through, in a rush
tottering like a drunken stag might do
wild with wine, in some way free
transient witness to the scene,
which has left its impression on me
about the contentment of the trees.

(Christian Weiß)

22 <creative>
 Neptune’s Milk
Down in the alley, where the past is vividly painted
against grafiti facades, there she treads,
“You gotta penny?” among smoky eructations of familiar strangers
and abandoned cats.
The crying of the beasts at night resembles,
she gathers in a fright,
the pyrrhic undoing of her doings in life.
“Lend a hand, Ms, please show concern!”
She chucks her wallet at the bum
and turns.

Down the road, nine miles ahead, through

and past the yard of lilies, in a thin
afternoon dress she stands and shivers, while
the ancient ocean with trained expertise
gnaws at her feet, and the moon aloft
begins to teethe.
“What can I do,” she groans,” what can I do for you?
My father was a fisherman, my mother was a whore,
he sold her bold soliloquies, then
boinked her at the shore.”

“Stop this scene,” whines the moon, waxing, whitening,

as water swashes round her chest and wraps her
in a sea-weed gown.
“Dearest friend, immaculate balloon, you met the bride
now salute the groom.”

(Christian Weiß)

<creative> 23
 Somewhere over the rainbow…
Between lipstick and uniformed androgyny

Between L.A. tomboys and tense masculinity

Between motorbikes and stained hotel sheets-

There must be some kind of dollar store

Selling pilot glasses and skinny jeans-

So give me a shot

or two or three or four

Make me forget make me blind make me hit and score

Make me shapeless make me blend in make me not to blame

Good morning –guess I didn..t catch your name

Maybe cause I..m still too drunk

Maybe cause I..m partly deaf

Maybe cause you look the same …

(Gudrun Hahn)

24 <creative>
 -Sponsoren / Anzeigen -

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<sponsors> 25
26 <art>
 artwork by Natalia Bogorad,
a new twist to Magic the Gathering

<art> 27
 Dear artists,
musicians,
thespians,
volunteers, organizers
and most of all
our guests,

Thank you for making

<blank>fest
a success.

Impressum
Magazin der Studierenden der Anglistik / Amerikanistik des

Fachbereiches 02 der Universität Kassel,

Georg-Forster-Str. 3, 34109 Kassel Telefon: 0561 804 3352

eMail: dlowman@uni-kassel.de
V..i.S.d.P.: Don Lowman
Redaktion: Don Lowman, Pieter Coetzee
Staff/Writers: Sabine Krause, Murat Sezi, Marc Motyka, Dennis Wienert, Karin
Kolb, Don Lowman, Alastair Purves, Sabrina Lohmann, Franz Mutschler, Gudrun
Hahn, Alan Cordell, Lilia Brestel, Daniel Aschenbrenner, Bastin Heß, Alastair
Purves, Alan Cordell, Concetta Mugavero, Olliver Noll, Christian Weiß, Yasemin
Cakmak, Natalia Bogorad
Layout: Peter Carqueville (Cover-Bild: Flickr-User 19melissa68 under cc)
Druck: Nordlicht
Bildnachweise „Fl“= Flickr-User under CC:
S.22 foxypar4 Fl, S.21 lumei FL, S.16 domk FL, S.14-15 Marius Stein, S.12-13
kevindooley Fl, S.10 the_infatuated Fl, S.8-9 Arne Heigele, S.4-5-6 Marius Stein,
S.24 neogabox Fl, S.23 „pixel boogie“ Fl