After the convention ended, the con committee wanted to take the Bears and I to the Monument. I wasn’t that thrilled at the first mention. Monuments—when you travel, you see a bunch of them.  They’re…monuments. But when Thomas Braatz told me about this monument early in the week, he had trouble with the word.  (He practices his English, he says, once every two years [which makes it damn impressive, imho].)  He said he wanted to show us the Mountain. Now, I had just flown over Leipzig and I’m here to tell you that the Midwest has more mountains.  Not that the Midwest has any.  But Leipzig is flat.  It really does look like parts of Wisconsin and Minnesota, particularly with the farms nearby.  It’s lovely, but there are no mountains. So I said … Read entire article »

I wrote my last post on Elstercon in my last moment of free time on my trip.  On that last Saturday afternoon, I grabbed some lunch, did a few errands, and then wrote the blog post.  Afterwards, I headed back to the convention and didn’t leave until late. I spent the rest of the afternoon and the early evening talking with people.  I had the help of my wonderful translator, Britta C. Wilmsmeier.  (See why I didn’t trust myself to type this without her business card in front of me?) In addition to translating, Britta is a storyteller.  Not the kind that I am, but a verbal storyteller who stands in front of an audience and weaves tales.  She’s also a writer.  She put up with my quirks and foibles—as the … Read entire article »