Bern, books, and by-the-way
Direct Democracy at Work
On March 8, the Swiss are voting on whether to add three amendments to the constitution. These “initiatives,” as they’re called, have been proposed by one or more politically active citizens who have gathered 100,000 signatures within 18 months to demonstrate sufficiently broad support. The government has decided to offer a “counter-proposal” to one of…
Meet the Muskox
Last month, in mid-December, I experienced muskoxen for the first time. I ran my hand down one of the animal’s massive horns and stroked its brown wool coat. I grabbed handfuls of its soft, downy, and extraordinarily warm underwool, called qiviut. I even got to feed dried lichen to two young oxen. No, I was…
My Favorite Fiction of 2025
Last January was the first time I wrote about my favorite books of the year, and now I’m doing it again for 2025. I didn’t experience as many reading highlights this year as I did in 2024, but I’ve still had fun thinking back and picking out which novels I could barely wait to get…
The Patron Saint of Children
Yesterday, December 6, was the day of Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of children and the fourth-century bishop of Myra, a Byzantine city in what is now Turkey. On this day, many Swiss-German households with young children are visited by “Samichlaus,” as Sankt Nichlaus is pronounced in the Swiss-German dialect. He doesn’t arrive in the…
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Kim Hays 