On June 20, 2025, after days of Israel bombing Iran, Iran hitting Israel with missiles, the US threatening bombing, the San Francisco Gate and Philadelphia Inquirer home pages do not mention the word „Iran“. Go ahead, search for it. I did.
On the day the world ends
A bee circles a clover,
A fisherman mends a glimmering net.
Happy porpoises jump in the sea,
By the rainspout young sparrows are playing
And the snake is gold-skinned as it should always be.
On the day the world ends
Women walk through the fields under their umbrellas,
A drunkard grows sleepy at the edge of a lawn,
Vegetable peddlers shout in the street
And a yellow-sailed boat comes nearer the island,
The voice of a violin lasts in the air
And leads into a starry night.
And those who expected lightning and thunder
Are disappointed.
And those who expected signs and archangels’ trumps
Do not believe it is happening now.
As long as the sun and the moon are above,
As long as the bumblebee visits a rose,
As long as rosy infants are born
No one believes it is happening now.
Only a white-haired old man, who would be a prophet
Yet is not a prophet, for he’s much too busy,
Repeats while he binds his tomatoes:
There will be no other end of the world,
There will be no other end of the world.
—Czesław Miłosz, translated by Anthony Miłosz Warsaw, 1944
Soweit in der Bundesrepublik der Revolte der Studenten historische Bedeutung zuerkannt wird, gilt das Todesdatum von Benno Ohnesorg als ihr eigentlicher Beginn.
Friederike Hausmann (damals Dollinger) kümmert sich im Hof des Hauses Krumme Straße 66/67 um den schwer verletzten Ohnesorg. Unter dem Kopf Ohnesorgs sein Transparent mit der Aufschrift: „Autonomie für die Teheraner Universität“.
The Philadelphia and San Francisco papers are continually full of sports news. Beloved, classic, iconic restaurants close. Grocery stores sell out of new viral treats. San Francisco has frequent pieces about Disneyland. Quite literally bread and circuses.
