Robin Warren

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Fall of the Berlin Wall, Part II | First Person Account

My sister Ursula lived in Berlin. By 1989 she was chief oboist in the Theater des Westens, taught a number of oboe students, substituted at the Berlin Opera, and owned a woodwind repair shop. And she was in Berlin during the time when the Iron Curtain separating East from West began to crumble. The fall of the Berlin Wall was a foregone conclusion once Hungary opened its borders to Austria, which permitted more than 13,000 East Germans to board trains and flee to the West. On Thursday evening, November 9, 1989, the Wall “fell” when the border between East and West Berlin opened. In her words, continued: Nov 12 Sunday

First Person Account | Fall of the Berlin Wall

My family has always had a strong connection to Germany, and later, to Berlin. As a result, I have long thought that the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, with the geopolitical changes that resulted, was the most pivotal world event of my life. Although neither had any German ancestry, my parents met in the 1930s, in Heidelberg, where they were both pursuing doctoral degrees. They returned to the United States in 1937, when Hitler’s influence was clearly on the rise. They married and started a family, and my father began his career as a college professor, but when the United States entered World War II, he

The Tail of Two Kitties

On a bitter cold snowy New Year’s Day in New Hampshire, my friend Brian accompanied me to Advent Hill Cattery to pick out a Maine Coon kitten. I had done my research on the breed, but I really just wanted a replacement for Misty, my rescue cat who had passed of old age a few weeks earlier. Brian had discouraged me from raising miniature horses instead, and since he ended up carrying most of the kitty litter to the trash, this turned out to be a wise move on his part. The cleaning routine at Advent Hill would have made any coronavirus doctor proud. We disinfected our shoes, scrubbed our

CatTales | The Red Flannel Saga

Misty was the Start of it All I had the most wonderful rescue cat for years and years. Her name was Misty. I picked her because she had my personality. I played with several different kittens on the counter at Bedford Animal Rescue, and none of them struck me until Misty. When I placed her on the counter, she immediately ran to the edge and fell off. I knew she was the one. I had chosen a kitten at a time when I would be home for an entire week, but after several days I had to return to work. I always packed my briefcase on the dining table just

A Mother’s Day Letter to Peg

Hi Peg, Happy Mother’s Day! I think you’re a pretty exceptional mother, you know. You did all the normal, expected, motherly things, like making sure I wore boots and mittens, and not wanting me to go ice fishing when the ice is thin or trout fishing when it’s rainy and cold. It must seem amazing to you that your youngest child is in her late 40s, and I know you worry about me still, even though I’ve been a responsible (!) adult for many years. Women sometimes sit around and talk about being women and finding our way (cow sessions, we call them), and we talk about women who influenced