The Berlin Kiddo

Blind spot [noun]: 1. vision small portion of the visual field of each eye that corresponds to the position of the optic disk within the retina. There are no photoreceptors in the optic disk, and, therefore, there is no image detection in this area. 2. figurative An area that is not able to be seen, either due to its location outside of the field of vision, or due to some physical obstruction or a defect in one’s vision.

A secret – not because you’re tight-lipped but because secrets are a luxury. A moment of your life you chose not to share. A tender moment you need to protect.

How many of those do you have?

I’ll be honest with you: writing this text was a drag.

For some reason, I decided to blog about girl’s friendships a month ago and since then, I’ve been stuck in one of the lengthiest writer’s blocks in the history of Berlinkiddo (and boy, were there many). I wanted to talk about the complexity of female friendships, about their ambivalence and their emotional rollercoasters. Instead, I kept quiet.

There’s a lot to be discussed and I only know so much (read as: not much). The lack of answers inspired me to write in questions instead: so, maybe, you could write this article for me…?

I woke up early to write this article. That’s remarkable for two reasons: Firstly, mornings aren’t exactly my jam, and I usually prefer not to interact with humans before 8am in any way, not even through a blogpost. Secondly, it doesn’t happen often that an academic text gives me a creative impulse so strong it could double as an espresso shot. However, times are changing and so it happened that I spent a lovely morning with Mark Granovetter and his findings about the power of strangers in our lives.

It’s 2019 now and the only correct answer to “How are you?” seems to be: “Fine but I’m so busy.” Some people even skip the first part and straight on jump into the complaints, as if they got to win a golden medal for whining. And what else can you reply than – “I knoow – me too.”

In the city, we never talk about the three things we should talk about the most: money, religion and loneliness. I’ll start with the latter one.