Thoughts On Our Generation. A Poem. Sort of.

I gave up writing poems a long time ago but after reading a lot about Ginsberg and the Beat Generation I thought I could at least write down all the little pieces that come to my mind at random points.
I don't consider this real poetry, it is really just unarticulated thoughts but this is my blog and I'll post it anyway. Here we go. Enjoy.



A generation of artists and free spirits
Fingers stained with oil and ink and paint
Heads leaking and bursting,
Creativity dripping out when all we really need is logic, arthmetic and oh, so many grammar rules
A generation without Einsteins and Kants but with a fuckload of Ginsbergs and Morans and Palmers
What we have in vision we lack in discipline
I wouldn't want it any other way



People mentioned: Allen Ginsberg, Caitlin Moran, Amanda Palmer


Have a great day!
The Countess

Times Have Changed or A Very Short Short Story

This is a little story I had to write in one of my classes today. A group of people had to simulate a lesson in an 8th grade and they let us write stories in groups. My group knew that I write sometimes so they let me mainly do it on my own (neither of us complained ;) ) Afterwards every group had to read their story out loud and the class had to vote for the best one. Guess what^^
We won!

Here are the rules that were given:

1. It had to be a Christmas story
2. We only had 15 minutes time
3. We had to include the following words:

macaroni and cheese, alarm clock, spare tyre, balcony, chandelier, space shuttle, ppt presentation, toilet paper, plug, chalk.

Times have changed:

Times have changed.

Even for Santa.

Children have changed too. 

They don't want apples and nuts anymore, they want IPods. And they do not send wish lists anymore, no, they send ppt presentations. If it were only IPods, fine. But no, they want everything and so Santa  had to send poor old Rudolph into retirement and get a space shuttle instead.  He used to have a truck, like the one in the commercials but who can afford all these spare tyres? Santa even had to switch to cheaper toilet paper, the presents are just too expensive. 

And everything takes so much more time than back in the old days! Therefore, Santa got himself an alarm clock a while ago, a new fancy one without a plug. But of course, he still has the big old chandelier in his bedroom. He is a traditionalist after all. Really, he'd rather be sitting on his chalk painted balcony reading Jane Austen.

Don't get me wrong, he loves the kids. They leave the nicest cookies, even though he prefers macaroni and cheese because yes, indeed, times have changed.

Even for Santa.

Let me know how you liked it!

Have a great day,
The Countess

Caitlin Moran Appreciation Post

Caitlin Moran is the author of the funny and inspiring feminist book "How To Be A Woman". She combines humour, autobiographic parts with her theories about sexism and how to overcome it. If you haven't read How To Be A Woman yet, you should! I read it this summer while traveling and caused quite some confusion on planes, busses and in the hostel because I couldn't stop laughing. I would have never thought that a book about feminism can be so unbelievably funny. I can agree with almost everything she says, we have a very similar view on feminism. Caitlin Moran's theories and comments are always spot on and simply amazingly written so I thought I'd do a little post to share some of my favourite quotes from the book with you:

“We need to reclaim the word 'feminism'. We need the word 'feminism' back real bad. When statistics come in saying that only 29% of American women would describe themselves as feminist - and only 42% of British women - I used to think, What do you think feminism IS, ladies? What part of 'liberation for women' is not for you? Is it freedom to vote? The right not to be owned by the man you marry? The campaign for equal pay? 'Vogue' by Madonna? Jeans? Did all that good shit GET ON YOUR NERVES? Or were you just DRUNK AT THE TIME OF THE SURVEY?” 


“I cannot understand anti-abortion arguments that centre on the sanctity of life. As a species we've fairly comprehensively demonstrated that we don't believe in the sanctity of life. The shrugging acceptance of war, famine, epidemic, pain and life-long poverty shows us that, whatever we tell ourselves, we've made only the most feeble of efforts to really treat human life as sacred.”  

"I realised that it’s technically impossible for a woman to argue against feminism. Without feminism, you wouldn’t be allowed to have a debate on women’s place in society. You’d be too busy giving birth on the kitchen floor - biting down on a wooden spoon, so as not to disturb the men’s card game - before going back to quick-liming the dunny. This is why those female columnists in the Daily Mail - giving daily wail against feminism - amuse me. They paid you £1,600 for that, dear, I think. And I bet it’s going in your bank account, and not your husband’s. The more women argue loudly, against feminism, the more they both prove it exists and that they enjoy its hard-won privileges.” 

 “What is feminism? Simply the belief that women should be as free as men, however nuts, dim, deluded, badly dressed, fat, receding, lazy and smug they might be. Are you a feminist? Hahaha. Of course you are.” 

“It's difficult to see the glass ceiling because it's made of glass. Virtually invisible. What we need is for more birds to fly above it and shit all over it, so we can see it properly.”

“For throughout history, you can read the stories of women who - against all the odds - got being a woman right, but ended up being compromised, unhappy, hobbled or ruined, because all around them, society was still wrong. Show a girl a pioneering hero - Sylvia Plath, Dorothy Parker, Frida Kahlo, Cleopatra, Boudicca, Joan of Arc - and you also, more often than not, show a girl a woman who was eventually crushed.” 

And finally:
 “Any action a woman engages in from a spirit of joy, and within a similarly safe and joyous environment, falls within the city-walls of feminism. A girl has a right to dance how she wants, when her favourite record comes on.” 

What do you think about those quotes? Are you interested in feminism? Have you read Caitlin Moran?
Have a great day,
The Countess

Thoughts on letter writing

I love modern communication systems. I'm online constantly, I have a smart phone with an internet flat, I use Facebook, Twitter, Googlemail and WhatsApp and if Myspac would still be a thing I'd re-activate my account asap because I simply loved it. Our society's way of communicating is fast, it's honest, it's uncensored and it is global. The Arabic Revolution started as a Facebook group, the victims of the tsunami catastrophe in Japan found lost family members over Twitter and one can talk to friends on the other end of the world via Skype. Even though the power the internet has over us is kind of scary it is also pretty awesome. I have made a really good friend over a German social website for pupils a few years ago and I would have never gotten to know her without that wonderful magical thing that is the internet. We're in constant contact on a  nearly daily basis through Facebook, whenever I see something that she could like I just send her a photo, it's amazing! 

Still, we also use a very old-fashioned way of communication: Letters.

The art of letter writing is dying out, the only post we receive are bills and the stuff we order over Amazon and I hate that! I don't only want to take up a pen in order to do university stuff because a hand-written letter can be so much more personal than an email. A handwriting can tell one so much about a person, it's fascinating and to open a hand-written letter is one of the most amazing things ever!

When my friend and I first started writing letters a year ago I wanted to be able to make them very special and personal so I bought paper, glitter gel pencils ink, quills, sealing wax and seals over this year. 

Seal, Ink (silver!), Sealing Wax and Quill

The other inks: Violet, Black and Green

My fleur de lys seal

The seal with my initial

Up to now I have collected four inks (black, green, silver and violet), two quills, four sealing waxes (silver, gold, blue and read and a silver hard sealing wax (in German this kind is called Siegellack which would be translated with sealing laquer) aswell as various papers in different colours. I love to sit down and write all my stupid ramblings and fangirl ideas down in this unusual and kind of victorian way, it makes me nostalgic and even if I haven't got much to write down it is still worth the effort for the simple sake of writing.

Do you write letters? Or do you prefer emails?

Have a great day!

The Countess