The Bard College Berlin Student Blog
David Kretz is a BCB alum from the class of 2016 currently completing his Ph.D. in Germanic Studies and Social Thought at the University of Chicago. Early this May, he gave his time to write up insightful and constructive responses to my questions on his academic journey leading up to and since BCB, his current research, projects and opinions relating to a liberal (arts) education, words of advice for current and graduating students, and more.
This compilation is inspired by the blog Lolmythesis, in which contributors are asked to “sum up years of work in a single sentence.” I asked BCB seniors to make similar one-sentence spins on their theses after a year of hard work. Fear not, the real theses are far more academically rigorous than portrayed below.
I was always most secure writing from my own point of view, referencing small areas of the world that I knew inside and out. But in my fiction workshop, we focused on the point of telling: the point of telling is not about who narrates a story but from where they are speaking.
(Sick) boy meets (sick) girl. They fall in love. It ends in tragedy. It’s a story I’ve heard many times. Hollywood has a way of recycling narratives and tropes that have been moneymakers in the past, and I can hardly blame them. You have to do what works, right?
After the publication of last month’s Feminism for the 99%- inspired examination of the German public sector strikes, Alexandra Huff sits down with Bard College Berlin Professor of Politics Boris Vormann to see how labor issues are talked about on campus.
Curtain rises.
An empty stage with two microphones waits behind the proscenium. Two spotlights fade in on C. stage. MONROE and ACACIA enter from stage L. and R. respectively and take their places in each spotlight.
MONROE. (Adjusting the microphone so that it isn’t up so high.) Should we start with the show dates?
You kept thinking about this concept of a Berlin family ever since your mom said it. You felt that she was right. More than just being incredibly fun and laughing at your jokes, these friends were there for you when you needed them, and you have tried to do the same for them.
I firmly believe in the untapped energy of the M1 line: Along the tram tracks are some real jewels that are often ignored in favor of venues elsewhere in the city that require long, complicated transport routes. In this piece, we’re having international cereal, commiserate book burnings, and do some magic tricks.
We’re approaching that time of year again: Commencement. Like the empty space after a chapter before the next one begins, or that small pause between an inhalation and exhalation where you’re not quite holding your breath but just letting the fresh air sit there, comfortably and in anticipation, it looms six short weeks down the road from thesis submission day.
