2014 Smith in Europe Reunion – Berlin, Germany
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On Germany:
Gordon A. Craig, The Germans, 1982
BBC TV show, “Make Me a German” (on YouTube and BBC iPlayer)
Lonely Planet Guide to Germany (in print or at http://www.lonelyplanet.com/germany)
On Berlin:
Lonely Planet Guide to Berlin (in print or at http://www.lonelyplanet.com/germany/berlin)
Christopher Isherwood, Goodbye to Berlin
William L. Shirer, Berlin Diary: The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent, 1934-1941
Films: “A Foreign Affair”, “One, Two, Three”, “Goodbye Lenin”, “Run Lola Run”, “Cabaret”, (see also Wikipedia, “List of films set in Berlin”)
On demographic change:
“Demographic change: A major political problem zone,” Harald Wilkoszewski, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, MaxPlanckResearch 4/09, pp. 10-15, http://www.mpg.de/5713938/MaxPlanckResearch
“Germany Fights Population Drop,” New York Times/IHT, August 13, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/14/world/europe/germany-fights-population-drop.html?pagewanted=all
“Demographic change and migration in Europe,” Frank Swiaczny, Germany’s Federal Agency for Civic Education, http://www.bpb.de/gesellschaft/migration/kurzdossiers/176223/demographic-change-and-migration-in-europe
“Every Age Counts”, German Federal Government publication, http://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/Broschueren/2012/demografiestrategie_englisch.pdf?__blob=publicationFile
On aging / caring for aging parents:
New York Times blog “The New Old Age” (http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com) has interesting posts, such as the following:
“Work, Women and Caregiving,” Paula Span, New York Times, November 21, 2013 http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/21/work-women-and-caregiving/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
“Young@Heart”, 2006 documentary film about Young@Heart Chorus in Northampton, MA, to purchase at http://www.youngatheartchorus.com
Judith Newman, Review of Annabelle Gurwitch, “I See You Made an Effort: Compliments, Indignities, and Survival Stories From the Edge of 50”, New York Times, March 21, 2014 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/23/fashion/Annabelle-Gurwitch-New-Book-Aging.html
On intergenerational housing projects in Berlin:
“Living in a Community”, Stattbau, Berlin, November 2012 http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/bauen/baugemeinschaft/download/wohnen_in_gemeinschaft.pdf
On work/life balance and women’s leadership:
Sheryl Sandberg, Barnard Commencement address, 2011: http://barnard.edu/headlines/transcript-and-video-speech-sheryl-sandberg-chief-operating-officer-facebook (also as PDF)
Sheryl Sandberg, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, Knopf, 2013
Anne-Marie Slaughter, “Why women still can’t have it all”, The Atlantic, July/August 2012 http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/07/why-women-still-cant-have-it-all/309020/
Ann Crittenden, Review of Brigid Schulte, “Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time”, New York Times, March 28, 2014 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/30/books/review/overwhelmed-by-brigid-schulte.html?_r=0
Debora Spar, Review of Joan C. Williams and Rachel Dempsey, “What Works for Women at Work”, New York Times, April 11, 2014 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/13/books/review/what-works-for-women-at-work-by-joan-c-williams-and-rachel-dempsey.html
Possible questions for discussion:
1. Is demographic change a topic of discussion in your country? What do you know about demographic change? How important do you think this issue is?
2. Do you think public policy can or should try to solve problems associated with demographic change, or are issues like work/life balance, child care and retirement planning mainly a matter of personal choice?
3. If you think government should try to influence demographic behavior, what do you think it should do, for example to ensure the supply of skilled workers, or to help public retirement and health insurance systems manage a larger number of older and retired persons?
4. Looking at personal choices, do you have as many children as you would like? Are you working as many hours in paid employment as you would like? Did you retire or will you be able to retire when you wanted to/would like to? If not, why not?
5. What kind of family life / career / retirement would you like to have? What can you do to make that happen? What role does government play in your planning?
6. What would you do if you weren’t afraid?