![\"Me](\"https:\/\/christowski.de\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/newsletter-032020.jpg\")
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There is this one incredibly strong memory in my head that, when triggered, makes be both very happy and very sad. It goes as follows: When I grew up, I had a big tomcat named Kasimir. He was a soft and gentle animal, and as we both knew each other from a very young age, we were very attached. He enjoyed being held like a baby; his arms wrapped around my neck, me gently swaying him\u2014really, just like a baby. I remember his fur, his scent and flat face pushing against mine. His big paws. I remember everything. And the fact that I remember, even though he died about 8 years ago, gives me a lot of comfort. I might remember it forever. I hope I will.<\/p>\n
Together with the comfort of this memory, I\u2019ve spent the past weeks in my apartment, as probably most of you. Just occasionally I went went out to see friends with a distance. We walked along the canal, around Kreuzberg, looking at people and houses. I\u2019ve enjoyed observing the slow progress of coffee shops and ice cream parlors re-opening, arranging themselves with the safety restrictions. Everyone has been extra-friendly, it seemed, and that made me happy. It should stay like that. I hope it does.<\/p>\n
I also noticed that the activities I do with friends are a lot more active and thought-through. We go on bike tours, we explore unknown parts of the city, and we share more feelings. I tried making a list of what stays from this pandemic on an interpersonal level, and this should be one of the things. I hope so.<\/p>\n
When I walk around my neighborhood now, everything seems to be back to normal. The bridges and parks are full of people, the smell of weed and take-away pizza is everywhere. I get invitations to gatherings; people are dating again; and when I hear loud house music from a party in the park, I want to believe that we can all relax and live summer as we were used to. But I don\u2019t think I\u2019m ready yet, to be honest. It doesn\u2019t feel right. And so I stay here, with my memories and video calls and bike rides, watching cats on TikTok, remembering Kasimir, seeing one friend at a time. It will get better. I\u2019m sure it will.<\/p>\n
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I read Rachel Cusks\u00a0\u201cOutline\u201d<\/a>. That\u2019s what it is; an outline; observations loosely tied together in a story. I tend to enjoy books where nothing happens, and this is one of them, but some sentences Cusk writes are just very on point.<\/p>\n I wrote a brief love letter to the\u00a0Flurry screensaver<\/a>, which you probably know from your Mac or from computers in movies.<\/p>\n I also wrote a\u00a0postcard from my living room<\/a>. It was a writing prompt from\u00a0The Isolation Journals<\/a>\u00a0by Suleika Jaouad. Highly recommended newsletter!<\/p>\n The weekly (German) YouTube series\u00a0\u201cSocial Distancing\u201d<\/a>\u00a0by Hazel Brugger and Thomas Spitzer is the most wholesome thing to watch on a Sunday (or any day).<\/p>\n * * *<\/p>\n What are your old memories that make you feel all the feels? Think about them for a minute or two. It\u2019s a nice thing to hold on to. And in case you have a cat: Give him or her a big kiss and pat on the head from me. If you have a dog, please do the same. I hope you\u2019re all safe and well and finding your way through these troubled times.<\/p>\n * * *<\/p>\n If you enjoy content like this: I send it out as (irregular) monthly newsletter called <\/em>Christel\u2019s Corner. Sign up for it here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There is this one incredibly strong memory in my head that, when triggered, makes be both very happy and very sad. It goes as follows: When I grew up, I had a big tomcat named Kasimir. He was a soft and gentle animal, and as we both knew each other from a very young age, … 032020: Cat Person<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1206,1200],"tags":[44,41,2,43],"class_list":["post-2245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christels-corner","category-gefuehlslagen","tag-christels-corner","tag-english","tag-text","tag-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christowski.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christowski.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christowski.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christowski.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christowski.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2245"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/christowski.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2248,"href":"https:\/\/christowski.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2245\/revisions\/2248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christowski.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christowski.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christowski.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}