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PEOPLE & ARTS Wednesday 6 november 2019
Bits of the Berlin Wall make global art, memory

By DAVID RISING Jose. In a somewhat odd
Associated Press tribute in the U.S., Las Ve-
BERLIN (AP) — For nearly gas' Main Street Station's
three decades, the Berlin men's room has urinals
Wall encircled West Berlin, mounted on chunks of the
built by communist East Berlin Wall, perhaps intend-
German authorities osten- ed as a paean to freedom.
sibly to protect the country A glass covering protects
from "fascists," but in reality the concrete from splash
to prevent their own citi- damage.
zens from fleeing into the In New York, two slabs
democratic half of the di- with a colorful painting by
vided city, a portal to the French artist Thierry Noir are
rest of the free world. located in Kowsky Plaza in
For a barrier meant to pre- Battery Park.
vent travel, chips, chunks Elsewhere in the city, in
and full segments of the the sculpture garden of
156.4 kilometer (97.2 mile) the United Nations head-
-long reinforced concrete quarters, three segments
Berlin Wall have done a are painted with an image
pretty good job themselves of two people embrac-
getting around Germany ing over the wall and the
and the rest of the world in words "trophy of civil rights."
the past 30 years. In this photo taken on Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2019 a bird stands on top of a segment of the Berlin When they were gifted by
The Berlin Wall divided the wall in Yokohama near Tokyo. Germany in 2002, then Sec-
city from 1961 until it was Associated Press retary-General Kofi Annan
first opened on Nov. 9, 1989 many pocketed small Today, visitors to Paris can Near the Cheonggye said the Wall had been "an
, though it took much lon- pieces to take with them, see a piece of the Berlin stream in Seoul, South Ko- offense to the human spir-
ger to be removed entirely. and small stands were set Wall outside the Porte de rea, a sculpture of a bear its."
In Berlin today , some sym- up almost immediately by Versailles metro station, — a symbol of Berlin and "It not only marked the di-
bolic segments still stand the more enterprising to while another stretch is on painted with the German vision of Germany and Eu-
in their original locations, sell larger chunks as souve- display in the La Defense capital's landmark Bran- rope, but also expressed,
left in place as a reminder nirs. Today, bits of unknown business district outside the denburg Gate — stands in in a uniquely horrible way,
of what was known as the provenance are still for sale city. front of three sections. the propensity of human
front line of the Cold War, in tourist shops in the Ger- Outside the European The Roman Catholic shrine beings to erect walls and
a daily physical reminder man capital. Commission's headquarters of Fatima in Fatima, Portu- borders, and then glare
of the metaphorical Iron Larger slabs have been in Brussels a slab decorated gal, has a slab on display across them, hearts filled
Curtain between eastern purchased or given to dis- with the image of former behind glass, and another with hate, minds full of fear
and western Europe during play in museums, embas- President John F. Kennedy piece is prominently fea- and distrust, all the while
those tense times. sies, schools, parks, memo- greets visitors, complete tured in the courtyard of numb to the notion that
As jubilant Germans tore rials and in other locations with an information panel Costa Rica's Chancellery, there might be a better
at the Berlin Wall in 1989, around the world. detailing its significance. or foreign ministry, in San way," Annan said.q

‘Finding Chika’ is bittersweet memoir about family

By RASHA MADKOUR life and how she came to I suppose. Even this.” Al- “I remember times you and
Associated Press live with them in America bom and his wife had no I were walking and, without
“Finding Chika: a little girl, as they sought treatment children of their own, a cir- prompting, you reached
an earthquake, and the for her brain tumor are cumstance for which he out and took my hand,
making of a family” (Harp- punctuated by accounts blames himself. “I thought your little fingers sliding into
er), by Mitch Albom of Chika’s post-mortem starting a family was like a mine. I would like to tell
The author of “Tuesdays “visits” to him as he writes new carpet I could store in you how that felt, but it is
with Morrie” has a new this book in his home office. a closet and unroll when I too big for words,” Albom
memoir in which he again “Chika never stays for long. was ready,” he tells Chika writes. “You put me on the
shares lessons learned from She first appeared eight during one of her appear- other end of a magnifying
someone dear to him who months after she died, the ances. By the time they glass or a toy telescope,
dies. This time, though, in- morning of my father’s fu- tried, years of attempts and through those lenses,
stead of an old professor, neral,” Albom explains. “I failed and ultimately the I could marvel at the world
his teacher is a young girl said her name in disbe- couple settled into the roles the way you did. You were
from the orphanage he lief — ‘Chika?’ — and she of aunt and uncle. “It is all an unfailing antidote to
runs in Haiti. turned, so I knew she could right not to have children if adult preoccupation.”
It is not a spoiler to reveal This cover image released by hear me. I spoke quickly, you don’t want them, Chi- Their desperate attempts
that Chika dies. In a raw- Harper shows "Finding Chika: believing this was a dream ka, but if you do, their ab- to find a cure for a notori-
A Little Girl, an Earthquake,
ness that pervades “Find- and the Making of a Family," and she would vanish at sence can be aching.” ously incurable condition,
ing Chika,” Mitch Albom by Mitch Albom. any moment. That was It was both fortuitous and and the many interventions
breaks the heartrending Associated Press then. Lately, when she ap- tragic, then, that Albom Chika endures, can be dif-
news on the very first page. pears, I say, ‘Good morn- and his wife became de ficult to read at times. De-
“Her absence left us with- long stretches until some- ing, beautiful girl,’ and facto parents to Chika the spite knowing how it ends,
out breath, or sleep, or ap- one spoke to snap us out of she says, ‘Good morning, final years of her life, experi- a reader can’t help but
petite, and my wife and I it,” Albom writes. Mr. Mitch’ ... You can get encing parenthood for the hope the story turns out
stared straight ahead for His reflections on Chika’s used to everything in life, first time in late middle age. differently.q