I fell in love with being a reporter when I got an internship at the RIAS in Berlin, weeks after die Berliner Mauer between East und West came down. I moved to Los Angeles in 2003 when I was assigned to be the head of German public radio’s West coast studio. In 2008, I became the California correspondent for Weltreporter, the largest network of German freelance foreign correspondents. I mostly work for Deutsches Public Radio, LA’s NPR station KCRW, and the journalism collective RiffReporter. If you want me to write a story for your publication, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
I still can't believe what is happening! US-sportsfans have turned into SOCCERMANIACS!
TVs in sportsbars turned to World Cup games, public viewing everywhere, big screens on the beach, small screens in food trucks, EVERY game LIVE, in English and Spanish, sold out US-soccer jerseys and soccer conversations everywhere. This is just wonderful!
The last proof I needed to believe that soccer will become mainstream was provided by my husband.
{http://soundcloud.com/soundslikerstin/freedom-rocks-fragmented}
Immediately after the Berlin Wall was opened people started chipping away at the formerly intimidating symbol of supression and separation with hammers, chisels - really with any tools they could get their hands on. The Wall fragments have since travelled the world. Two Canadian artists follow the stories of pieces which came from Berlin to North America.
At the Goethe Institut in Los Angeles they recorded some of these stories as told by owners of the fragments for their project Freedom Rocks. Meeting them reminded me of my own Berlin Wall story
{http://soundcloud.com/soundslikerstin/bright-blue-gorilla-go-with-le}
I dreamed about it lots of times - leaving everything behind and traveling around the world doing what I love just going with the flow. I even started planning it - and I guess that's my problem: making plans and going with the flow do not work together that well. So I was very curious to meet Robyn Rosenkrantz and Michael Glover. Together they are Bright Blue Gorilla, musicians, filmmakers, globetrotters, adventurers and extremely friendly people in colorful clothes.
In 1990 Robyn and Michael sold everything they had exept for some travel essentials and their guitars. The money got them two one way tickets from Los Angeles to Amsterdam. Ever since they are traveling doing what they love just going with the flow.
{http://soundcloud.com/soundslikerstin/v-llig-utopisch-absolutely}
It is possible: to live in a way that most people would call "utopian". weltreporter - a global network of freelance journalists from Germany has found 17 examples of a 'better life' - from computer hackers in Spain to a family deep in the forests of New Zealand. The story I wrote for 'völlig utopisch' is about Slab City, self proclaimed last free place in the United States.
{http://soundcloud.com/soundslikerstin/politics-a-waste-of-time}
"Politics? A Waste Of Time" That is Sama Wareh's sobering conclusion after watching the war in Syria. The 30 year old artist and humanitarian was born and raised in California, her parents came to the United States of America from Syria. Before the war they used to visit relatives and friends in Damascus regularly. What happens in Syria affected Sama so deeply that she decided to take matters into her own hands and bring help and hope to refugees.
