of course, today marks the 25th anniversary of the fall of the wall. when i passed by the brilliant light installation created along the line of where once stood the wall, some memories returned to me, and friends have asked me to write more about this. sadly enough there isn’t much more than a few lasting images, but here they are… (i will try to update this post with an old picture or two!)

i do remember television going off track with some urgency the night of november 9, 1989. happy, exhilarated, exstatic faces. something for sure was going on. as my mother told me today, it was that same night that we walked the one and half kilometers from our home to the brandenburg gate, whileas in my memory, i have the sun shining as we walk up to the wall.

be that as it may, it looked fun, and i wanted to be part of it. i had brought my own little hammer to go at that wall which sure seemed like it had to go down. the bottom tier was too solid, though, while the upper parts were already roughened up by people sitting on the wall and giving it their all.

help was needed to be part of the wrecking crew, and help was on its way. an american dad (i faintly remember two kids) who had brought a massive sledgehammer to the game and had already lifted huge chunks of the wall into the trunk of his van, lifted me up. and there i was, hammering away at that fucking wall, the pieces i split loose and took home still a testament to my own tiny role in history.

that guy or his kids might still have their own wall in their backyard, or maybe they got rich of their loot and now own an island in the caribbean, while i have stayed true to my hood. what basically used to be borderland, now now is the new government district of germany. you did that. we did that.