The Castro District, commonly referred to as the Castro, is a neighborhood in Eureka Valley in San Francisco. The Castro was one of the first gay neighborhoods in the United States. Having transformed from a working-class neighborhood through the 1960s and 1970s, the Castro remains one of the most prominent symbols of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) activism and events in the world. Castro Street was named after José Castro (1808–1860), a Californian leader of Mexican opposition to U.S. rule in California in the 19th century, and alcalde of Alta California from 1835 to 1836. The neighborhood known as the Castro, in the district of Eureka Valley, was created in 1887 when the Market Street Railway Company built a line linking Eureka Valley to downtown. read more…
(Latest update: 23 August 2022) It is actually unbelievable: the wall fell, fortunately the Soviet Union failed in its own right, as a result of which most of the Eastern Bloc gained its freedom. There was great hope for democracy, freedom and the rule of law. Especially in the eastward expansion of the EU, which only knows freedom from history lessons, the hope for freedom and democracy was huge. It is all the more surprising that parts of the populations have once again been seduced by nationalist demagogues. From the east, this nationalistic nonsense finally arrived in East Germany, which was formerly part of the Eastern Bloc. Where the journey will eventually lead to remains open by now. It will certainly not be pleasing for a while. Overall, this blog can be understood as “counter medicine”, especially since it becomes clear that there can be “the best and most beautiful place in the world” individually, but that there is actually a very large number of “best and most beautiful places in the world”. One can hold monologues for hours on this or just let a lot of photos and films speak for themselves. In order to make clear that hatred and extremism are anything but the norm, on the contrary, they are abnormalities, this article was created, which bundles various forms of abnormalities on the one hand and thus on the other hand seperates them from normality shown in our other blog entries. The dramatically accumulating “individual cases”, which they are obviously not, were also reason enough to refute the myth of the “lone wolf” (individual perpetrator). It is much more a question of failure of society as a whole. Entire networks are behind the perpetrators, often enough in so-called “social media”, which, however, are anything but that. read more…
The West Village is a neighborhood in Manhattan in New York City. Largely thought to constitute the western portion of the larger Greenwich Village neighborhood within Lower Manhattan, the area is roughly bounded by the Hudson River on the west and Sixth Avenue on the east, extending from West 14th Street south to West Houston Street. The Far West Village extends from the Hudson River to Hudson Street. Bordering neighborhoods are Chelsea to the north, Hudson Square – officially designated in 2009 – and the South Village to the south, and the East Village to the east. The neighborhood is primarily residential, with a multitude of small restaurants, shops, and services. Residential property sale prices in the West Village neighborhood are some of the most expensive in the United States, typically exceeding US$2,000 per square foot ($22,000/m²) in 2016. The neighborhood is distinguished by streets that are “off the grid”, being set at an angle to the other streets in Manhattan. These roads were laid out in an 18th-century grid plan, approximately parallel or perpendicular to the Hudson, long before the Commissioners’ Plan of 1811 which created the main street grid plan for later parts of the city. Even streets that were given numbers in the 19th century to make them nominally part of the grid can be idiosyncratic, at best. West 4th Street, formerly Asylum Street, crosses West 10th, 11th and 12th Streets, ending at an intersection with West 13th Street. Heading north on Greenwich Street, West 12th Street is separated by three blocks from Little West 12th Street, which in turn is one block south of West 13th Street. Further, some of the smaller east-west residential streets are paved with setts (often confused with cobblestones), particularly in Far West Village and the Meatpacking District. This grid is prevalent through the rest of Greenwich Village as well. Beginning in the early 1980s, residential development spread in the Far West Village between West and Hudson Streets, from West 14th to West Houston Streets, resulting in the area being given its own name. read more…
Gozo is an island of the Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is part of Malta. After the island of Malta itself, it is the second-largest island in the archipelago. The island capital is Victoria with a population of 7,000. Compared to its southeastern neighbour, Gozo is more rural and known for its scenic hills, which are featured on its coat of arms. The island of Gozo has long been associated with Ogygia, the island home of the nymphCalypso in Homer‘s Odyssey. In that story, Calypso, possessed of great supernatural powers, and in love with Odysseus, holds him captive for a number of years, until finally releasing him to continue his journey home. read more…
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable transformation. It now is predominantly a fashionable district of upmarket restaurants and media offices, with only a small remnant of sex industry venues. read more…
The Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands is a micronation established as a symbolic political protest by a group of gay rights activists based in Australia. Declared in 2004 in response to the Australian government’s refusal to recognise same-sex marriages, it was founded on Australia’s external overseas Territory of the Coral Sea Islands, a group of uninhabited islets east of the Great Barrier Reef. It is an expression of queer nationalism. read more…
Valletta is the capital of Malta, colloquially known as Il-Belt (English: The City) in Maltese. It is located in the central-eastern portion of the island of Malta, and the historical city has a population of 6,966. Valletta is the second southernmost capital of the EU member states after Nicosia. read more…
(Latest update: 23 August 2022) It is actually unbelievable: the wall fell, fortunately the Soviet Union failed in its own right, as a result of which most of the Eastern Bloc gained its freedom. There was great hope for democracy, freedom and the rule of law. Especially in the eastward expansion of the EU, which only knows freedom from history lessons, the hope for freedom and democracy was huge. It is all the more surprising that parts of the populations have once again been seduced by nationalist demagogues. From the east, this nationalistic nonsense finally arrived in East Germany, which was formerly part of the Eastern Bloc. Where the journey will eventually lead to remains open by now. It will certainly not be pleasing for a while. Overall, this blog can be understood as “counter medicine”, especially since it becomes clear that there can be “the best and most beautiful place in the world” individually, but that there is actually a very large number of “best and most beautiful places in the world”. One can hold monologues for hours on this or just let a lot of photos and films speak for themselves. In order to make clear that hatred and extremism are anything but the norm, on the contrary, they are abnormalities, this article was created, which bundles various forms of abnormalities on the one hand and thus on the other hand seperates them from normality shown in our other blog entries. The dramatically accumulating “individual cases”, which they are obviously not, were also reason enough to refute the myth of the “lone wolf” (individual perpetrator). It is much more a question of failure of society as a whole. Entire networks are behind the perpetrators, often enough in so-called “social media”, which, however, are anything but that. read more…
