Such is life - stories from the Northern Realm

Such Is Life

Stories from the Northern Realm 1

Š All Rights Reserved 2013 2

Andrew Schriver Jasper Bastian Natalie Becker Massimo Caracciolo Martina Lazzaretti Frieder Bickhardt Shelby Feistner Maria Ivanova Arko Datto

4In Plain Sight 12My Name is Abdul Rahman 20Nurse, farmer, mechanic 28Home green home 36Million Dollar Mie 44100% Mixed 52Artistic Therapy,

Ambiguous Future 60Democracy between dogs

and people 68Redemption Song

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In Plain Sight 4

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The subculture of graffiti exists under the radar in urban environments Andrew Schriver

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ach step seemingly louder than the last, as the gravel separating the railroad ties crunches beneath his feet.

Senses are heightened to a primal level as Jacob Eras enters the inky darkness of the railroad tunnel. Using the flashlight sparingly, Eras illuminates the walls of the tunnel, the flooding light displaying evidence of human existence.

The graffiti mural, or “piece” reads “Dare”, the moniker of famous Swiss graffiti writer, Sigi Von Koeding. Each letter painstakingly crafted to the calculated shape and skillfully filled with color, resulting in a four letter word that flows, leading the eye as if it were a roadmap. Beneath the sprawling green piece stands a message, a visual time capsule, “Århus ‘97 ...down with the kings in town...” On March 6, 2010, three years ago to the day, Von Koeding aka Dare, passed away after a battle with cancer. Today social networks and graffiti related media alike are flooded with messages of respect and remembrance, in honor of Dare. His legacy carries on worldwide through modern hieroglyphs, undisturbed, viewed by those with appreciation and understanding of the artform of graffiti as if it hung on the walls of the Louvre.

The First Outline

After carefully examining a pair of complementary colors, Eras places the spray cans in his shoulder bag next to the sketch of his future piece.

“It’s something I can geek out, doing.” Eras has been writing graffiti for more than a decade.

“When I was 15 some of my friends began painting graffiti and I wanted to try it.” Eras begins his piece by painting an outline of the letters in a light color, a foundation to build the shape of the letters.

“It’s my kind of yoga, its a way for me to clear my head and think about nothing.” Eleven years later, graffiti has given Eras a wealth of experiences, a close network of friends and an activity that he cares deeply for.

“I wanted something that I could do when I got old. I could’ve chosen skateboarding, but I won’t be able to do that my entire life, when I’m old I would only be able to sit and watch videos of other people skateboarding, but with graffiti, I can draw my entire life,” says Eras, as he walks through a train tunnel, looking at his his own pieces of graffiti, some of which are nearly ten years old.

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The Color Fill

Following the construction of the outline, Eras begins the next layer of his piece. Taking the two complementary colors he chose before he carefully fills the outline to create the body of the letters; a gradient from light blue at the top, to dark blue near the bottom. Each letter is painstakingly blended to make a seamless fade between colors.

As he walks through the trainyard, Eras senses a potential threat; suspended high above the trainyard, a police car on the bridge turns on its lights. Eras continues forward.

Minutes later, looking over his shoulder, Eras says, “the police turn their lights on like that, without the siren, when they don’t want someone to know they’re coming.”

In Denmark, without permission given, writing graffiti is a crime punishable by law. “I’ve never been caught before, but I’ve been chased by police dogs,” says Eras, “when I’m running it’s like I’m an animal, I would do anything to get away.”

One of the strongest opponents to graffiti in Denmark is DSB, the Danish rail company. Annually, DSB spends approximately 25 million kroner cleaning graffiti related vandalism from their trains.

Graffiti punishment is not taken lightly in Denmark, “The police will collect your fingerprints,” says Eras, “a friend of mine dropped a beer can and the police pulled his fingerprints from it.” According to DSB, One of the toughest sentences were given to a 22-year-old man in May 2003. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison for such 139 cases of graffiti.

In addition, he was convicted of theft, fraud and other vandalism.

“I feel like I will get caught soon, but I don’t care, painting graffiti is what I love to do,” Eras says.

The Final Touches

After finishing the fill of his piece, Eras completes the accents, in this case a series of details to simulate three dimensional perspective of depth--each line converging on a single vanishing point set below the piece.

“Some lines are just at angles that are hard to paint,” Eras says, as he paints. “Shit!” exclaims Eras, as he rushes towards the wall to blow on wet paint to dry it before it drips.

“I’m a perfectionist, I want everything to look perfect,” says Eras, “sometimes I wish that I didn’t care, so I could just paint.”

The final step Eras takes to finish his piece is the outline.

Precisely, each letter is rimmed with a thin black line to create contrast.

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MY NAME IS ABDUL RAHMAN When Mikael Steffensen became the slave of the most merciful

by Jasper Bastian

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“You have those prejudices which you get from the reporting of the media and it takes years to get away from them.“

Mikael Steffensen

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ne morning Mikael Steffensen woke up, asking himself why he has not yet become a Muslim when he already felt like a Muslim, believed in one God, and in the prophet Muhammad. It was a long process for his fear of God to grow.

He recounts, “On a Friday morning in 2010 it was the first time in my life I have visited a mosque. I couldn’t understand the speech of the Imam because it was in Arabic. But he said something about „Danmarkie“, and I knew from a Muslim friend, that it means Denmark or Danes. The mosque was crowded and I was the only real Dane, so I thought he would talk about me and the other Muslims were also looking at me.

I was getting afraid and believed that something bad might happen to me now. But after the prayer, my friend told me about the content of the speech and I was relieved, it wasn’t about me.“ Such apprehension and eye-opening is typical of the Danish experience when first confronting the Islam.

Mikael Steffensen, a 23-year-old Danish Muslim, who changed his first name after his conversion to Abdul Rahman, slave of the most merciful, was not alone with his preconception of Islam as a religion of violence and intolerance.

Mikael had never been in contact with anyone who is an adherent of Islam before. His knowledge of Islam was obtained solely through stories in the news.

In respect to the time before he found to Islam he says, “You have those prejudices which you get from the reporting of the media and it takes years to get away from them.“

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According to a report from the „World Economic Forum“ in 2008, the presentation of the Islam and the Muslim community in Denmark’s media is the most negative worldwide.

A research that has focused on the publications of the major newspapers in Denmark, such as Jyllandsposten, Politiken, Ekstrabladet and Kristeligt Dagblad was produced in late 2011. During a six month period it came to the conclusion that 58 percent of all the articles dealing with Muslims and Islam have been negatively framed and categorized as contributing to shaping hostility towards Muslims and Islam.

Lene Kühle, associate professor at the department of Culture and Society at Aarhus University, states, “I believe that there has been quite a strong anti-Islamic position in Denmark, which has been broader than in other European countries.”

She also explains, “The establishment of organizations, such as the Danish Defense League and Stop Islamization of Denmark, have been quite influential in forming the mediadiscussion and discourse about Islamization in Denmark.”

The media analysis revealed that most news stories in the period under examination were restricted to the topics of extremism, terror, sharia, freedom of speech, democracy versus Islam and women’s rights.

Mikael is taking a break from his work at the kebab restaurant to go down to the basement for the prayer.

Last year, two of Mikael’s old friends from his teenage years, joined the Danish Defense League, an organization which perceives the growth of Islam as an imminent threat for Denmark and all other European countries. The group made the headlines on the international news when they organized a European counter-Jihad demonstration at Mølleparken in the center of Aarhus last March, where two hundred protesters joined together from all over the continent.

“Islam changed my son in a positive way. He is more selfconfident today and got away from the criminal environment,” Ilse Steffensen, Mikael’s mother attests.

She has come to accept his new religion, although she initially did not take him completely seriously when he talked about his revelations achieved through the Islam. At first she thought it would just be another phase, based on his desire to fit in his new community.

Mikael is still “friends” with these people on Facebook and reads the anti-Islamic pictures and phrases they publish.

They have, however, never confronted him directly with their thoughts about Islam or sought his personal opinion.

He broke up the contact to all his old friends, but still greets them when he passes them on the street.

“I think they might be afraid of me becoming a terrorist and planning to kill them someday,”Mikael says with a laugh, while sitting on the carpet of the mosque at Bazar Vest, in Arhus. It is difficult for him to align their antagonistic views with his own personal experience of Islam.

On religious holidays, such as like Christmas and Easter, Mikael no longer participates, which disappoints his mother, She cannot accept his absence from family meetings and his dismissal of the Danish traditions they share. „Suddenly it’s religion that decides the life we have together,“ she worries, while looking at old family pictures of a younger Mikael.

Mikael has also had major arguments with his sister Luise, who objects especially to the role of woman in Islam. In her opinion, it is a religion that forces girls to become married and to hide themselves under their scarfs.

“Don’t lie. Islam does not give rights to women“, she said to Mikael, when he tried to tell her about his experience of a more open-minded Islam.

Mikael started studying the Quran with colleagues he worked with at a kebab-restaurant. Before this, he had been sentenced to a six month detention for armed robbery in 2008. He had spent his youth in criminal activities, misdemeanors and drug dealing. At the beginning of his Islam studies he was very skeptical of becoming a Muslim. He did not believe that he could give up his habits of smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol.

Since 2009, Mikael is married to Mie, who is also a Danish convert. In his opinion, women should cover their body for their own safety, in order not to become a sexual object for men.

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“Suddenly it’s religion that decides the life we have together“

ILSE STEFFENSEN

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The Islamic culture began to gain a foothold in Denmark when immigrants from Turkey, Pakistan, Morocco and the former Republic of Yugoslavia came to Denmark to work in the early 1970s. Today the number of Muslims living in Denmark is estimated around 250,000. The number of Danes who have converted to Islam is around 3,000, with 70-to 80 Danes converting to Islam every year.

“Danes are getting more and more used to the Islam,“ says Nino Hodzic, spokesperson of “Muslimer i Dialog,“ an organization which focuses on improving the dialogue between the Muslim and the Danish communities.

“It’s still new for them, because the Muslim communities were just established 40 years ago and the first real Arabic mosques are just getting built this year in Copenhagen.“ In his opinion, a main cause for Islamophobia is the unfortunate connection between gang-related crime and the Muslim community in the media.

A new group involved in the ongoing Danish gang-war is the “LTF”, which is an abbreviation for “Loyal to Familia.”

In an online-article published in January, this group has been labeled by the “Kristeligt Dagblad” as being a criminal Muslim brotherhood.

Mikael at Jumu’ah, the traditional friday prayer, in the mosque near “Bazar Vest” in Aarhus

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Even the German newspaper “StuttgarterZeitung” reports on the increasing anxiety of the Danes in regard to the growing tendency to violence exhibited by young Danish Islamic fundamentalists who have recently travelled to Syria. The right-wing Danish conservative party wants to evict all foreign citizens, who have affiliation with Jihadist groups.

The constant fear of an impending terror attack in Denmark is strong. In reaction to these current developments in public opinion, the Danish Muslims have become cautious.

The louder and the more aggressive the arguments in the media become, the more strained the climate for the Muslims becomes.

“The Danes who go into public debate, are for the most part the people with the strongest negative opinion about Islam.

We say in Denmark: Empty barrels make the most noise,“ is Nino Hodzic’s opinion of the so called Islam-experts, such as Lars Heedegaard, who survived an attack on his life, when an assassin disguised as a post-man tried to shoot him last February.

Nevertheless, the mood among the Muslims is tense, due to the Danes’ fear of attacks. In this respect, the role of the Danish converts is of significant import. These converts are capable of presenting their own insights of Islam to the Danish public.

Mikael sees himself as a mediator between the Danes and the Muslim community.

“You have to search for dialogue and tell the people more about the truth of Islam. When someone learns something new about the Islam and gives up their prejudices, I am satisfied. They don’t have to become a believer, but there shouldn’t be a fear of Muslims anymore.“ Today, Mikael enters the mosque wearing his white Khamis, the muslim vesture, showing the society that he is a believer. Mikael sits down with some older Muslims from various nationalities and begins to discuss.

“In Islam, there are no nationalities, we all live under the same god”he tells me.

In the future, he plans to study the Islamic Culture in SaudiArabia or Egypt and to pass his acquired knowledge on to the young Muslims in the mosques in Denmark. He dreams of an open society where Muslims and Christians one day live together in peace and harmony and everyone tolerates the others.

“In Islam there are no nationalities, we all live under the same god.“

Mikael Steffensen

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Nurse, farmer, mechanic, ...

by Natalie Becker 20

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Only a few of Denmark’s small ­islands still have a resident nurse or doctor. The island Lyø still has a nurse, at least until Hanne ­Windeleff will have to retire in 2015.

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nother quiet day on the island Lyø begins. But just as Hanne Windeleff sits down at the breakfast table with her husband, the cellphone in her ­pocket rings. One of her neighbours is ill. In the elderly couple’s bathroom, Hanne tests the urin sample with a test stick and confirms the suspected urinary infection. She phones Doctor Kensmark in Faaborg. As the patient’s wife still has antibiotics left over from a recent infection, Hanne asks the doctor if he can start with that today. The ­doctors agrees and prescribes more antibiotics. He will send an ­order to the pharmacy in Faaborg to have the medicine sent to Lyø by ferry. The patient can later pick it up at the little shop on the island. At the kitchen table, Hanne

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e­ xplains to the patient how to take the medicine, chats a bit and returns to her house.

Without a nurse on the island, the patient would have to travel to Faaborg, which takes between 30 minutes and one hour, depending on the route the ferry takes. Hanne Windeleff is 67 years old and has been the nurse for Lyø’s about 100 residents since May 2005. She grew up on a farm on Møn and was trained both as a farmer and a nurse. ­Later, she worked on her farm, in a hospital and in a ­nursing home.

However, after she injured her legs, she had to give u­p farming. At the same time, the island Lyø was looking for a new nurse.

“Even the smith calls the nurse if he doesn’t know how to fix an engine”

Elise Hansen

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“The municipality hired me for 20 hours per week to work as ­a nurse. But here on Lyø, I have many small jobs, like being the librarian, looking after the church, helping my neighbour milking the cows and driving a horse carriage for the tourists in ­summer,” says Hanne. The house “Damgaarden”, has become her ­office, her home and a community centre, where the islanders meet in different clubs. Everyone knows Hanne and ­appreciates her talents.

“Even the smith calls the nurse if he doesn’t know how to fix an engine”, says Elise Hansen, a long time resident of the island Lyø.

Monday is the busiest day of the week. Hanne puts on her nurse’s vest and the red jacket of the Faaborg-­Midfyn municipality. She loads her bag on the 4x4 to take a tour of the island and visit her patients. With the ­medicine scheme from the doctor she sorts the different pills that her patients have to take into little boxes for each day of the week, divided up in „morning“, „afternoon“, ­„evening“ and „night“. It is a routine task, just like ­taking the ­patient’s blood pressure, a routine that gives the ­patients the good feeling that someone is looking after them.

Hanne visits those patients whose doctor decided that they need regular care once a week or every second week.

Tha­t is the work the municipality pays her for. ­However as it does not fill out the 20 hours, she also works in Faaborg one day per week. Hanne enjoys the chance to meet her­ ­colleagues one day a week, but she also doesn’t mind working alone on the island.

Officially, only the people on the ­­­municipality’s ­„visiting

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list“ are Hanne’s responsibility, but as the only nurse on the island, she helps everyone who needs her help.

Most of the year, it is very quiet on the island. If the islanders call Hanne, they really have a problem. Life becomes more busy for Hanne in summer when 40,000 guests per season visit the island. They need the nurse’s attention a lot more often than the islanders, for bee stings, sunstrokes, when they are injured from falling off a bicycle or getting hit by a minigolf club.

She is there to give first help and to call 112 for a ­helicopter in cases of emergency, when there is no time to transport the patient to the doctor in Faaborg or the clinic in Svendborg by ferry and car.

It makes you feel safe

“To have a nurse is an important factor for the island,” says the island’s chairman Rasmus Andersen, „for the families, the elderly people and for the tourists. It just makes you feel safe to know someone is close who knows what to do in an emergency. But it is going to be hard to get the municipality to say yes to hiring a new nurse when Hanne retires, because the neighbouring island Avernakø does not have a nurse anymore since 2006, and somehow they get along.“ The numbers of nurses and doctors on small islands have decreased in recent years, just like the numbers of teachers and priests. Out of the 27 small islands in the ­Association of Danish Small Islands only six islands still have a resident doctor, and a few more have nurses. Tunø

“Here on Lyø, I have many small jobs”

has a doctor in the summer and will have a new nurse who starts in April 2013, after they did not have a nurse for the past two years.

The Danish Health Act states in § 138 that the ­local ­council is responsible to provide free home care on ­doctor’s orders to persons residing in the municipality. „It is the regions’ responsibility to maintain a good health care ­system, but there is no requirement that it has to be done in a ­certain way, as long as it meets medical ­standards. People are therefore not entitled to uniform treatment throughout the country“, explains Caroline Adolphsen from the ­Department of Law at Aarhus University.

Young families move away from the islands or choose i­ slands where the ferry only takes a short time. Lyø has about 60 percent of residents elder than 60, according to Lyø’s ­chairman Rasmus Andersen. It is a general trend.

The percentage of elderly people on the islands is increasing faster than in Denmark’s population in total. The aging population demands more care by medical professionals, but the question is where this care should be given.

While the island Laesø has a very well equipped care ­system with two general practitioners, a nursing home, several ­nurses and a dentist, most municipalities can’t ­afford to invest in such good care for smaller islands.

Most general practitioners on small islands are over 60 t­hemselves.

For Lyø it will be 2015 when Hanne turns 70 and has to ­retire. It is not certain whether the Faaborg-Midfyn

Hanne Windeleff

­ unicipality will hire a new nurse again and it is also a m problem to find a nurse who wants to live and work on the island.

“It is a rather special position, so it’s difficult to find someone who has a broad experience and can imagine to live and work on an island. You can’t just go to the cinema here, whenever you like,” explains Hanne.

The people living on islands without a doctor or nurse had to adapt to the situation or move away. „Most of the islands have an emergency response group of volunteers who help their fellow citizens in case of accidents or ­sudden illness until the helicopter arrives,“ explains the chairman of the Association of Danish Small Islands Kjeld Tønder Hansen.

There is a general lack of medical professionals in ­remote areas not only on small islands, says the Danish patients organization „Danske Patienter“. They point out that there is a need to find solutions to secure good access to health care throughout Denmark. This may include solutions like telemedicine and more flexible ways to own or hire a ­clinic, in order to attract young doctors and nurses to remote areas.

Remote controlled

The general practioner Lars Kensmark works in Faaborg.

He does not live or work on an island, but he came up with an idea that can be part of the solution to ensure health care on small islands.

As the laws on access to medicine were tightened, nurses

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are not allowed to store certain medicines like antibiotics, antihistamines and strong pain relievers anymore. So he invented a remote controlled medicine cabinet. There are two of them now, one on Lyø in Hanne’s office and one on the island Avernakø, where a group of citizens was trained to operate the medicine cabinet in case of ­emergency. ­During week days, Hanne Windeleff can call the doctor in his office and have medicine shiped to Lyø by ferry.

But if there is an emergency at night or on a weekend, she calls Lars Kensmark on the cellphone. He decides about which medicine is needed and gives Hanne an ­access code that she uses to open the medicine cabinet. For his helpers on Avernakø, and for Hanne’s two ­helpers on Lyø, who are no medical professionals, there is a smart phone in the cabinet to send a photo of the medicine to

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Lars ­Kensmark so he can double check that the patient ­receives the right medication. Two times a year he comes to the island ­himself to check the supplies in the cabinet.

To stock up the supplies in the time between, the ­doctor can also send the medication by mail. This way, Hanne ­receives a small envelope from Lars Kensmark with a new box of penicillin. She calls him to get the access code to the medicine cabinet. Antibiotics are in the second drawer. She punches in the numbers and the drawer opens for her to put the package inside. As she closes the drawer Lars Kensmark locks the medicine cabinet again by remote control. That was the last thing on her list for today, unless someone calls her.

“It just makes you feel safe to know someone is close who knows what to do in an emergency�

Rasmus Andersen

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Home green home

by Massimo Caracciolo

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“The way of life here is so different from my land.”

Hanne

D

uring an interminable Danish winter almost ­everyone stays in the comfort of their homes staying warm by the fireplace.

But for Hanne there is no place she can call home.

Her days pass in accordance with the time they spend in each homeless shelter.

In the morning, she has breakfast in the Bluehouse, a big space with a kitchen and a smoking area, until noon.

Then, straight over to the so-called “The Hotel California” (another shelter for the homeless in the center of Aarhus), where she can eat something for 20 crowns, read books, take a shower and rest. “There is a large room but most people refuse to sleep because of the stench of some who do not wash”, says Hanne.

As time passes fatigue increases, one inevitably endures the stench and the rubber mat that looks like part of the floor.

At 10:30 pm and 6:30 am each day, the center closes for cleaning, so everyone inside is forced to wake up from a deep sleep and leave the shelter.

Hanne and the homelless try to find ways to not get too cold by getting on buses or waiting until the center reopens.

The weight of life

Born in Greenland, daughter of a Danish father and Greenlandic mother, Hanne moved to Denmark at age 14, where she lived in many cities and for a long time in

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Copenhagen. She lived in Aarhus for about three years.

The presence of her son is the only constant connection for her. “The way of life here is so different from my land”, says Hanne.

“Past and future there have absolutely no meaning, so to live has a lighter appearance”. She does not want to talk about her past; she does not trust enough.

She believes that one does not need to ask many questions to get to know someone. After all, one can get to know a person by living next to him or her, learning about their life through their movements and sometimes from what they say.

Despite the hardness with which she often responded to someone trying to annoy her, she never shows any lack of respect or impatience toward others, characteritics that often become the norm when you live on the street.

People from the “Green Land”

Since the early days, Hanne has been one of the pillars of this small community, especially among the homeless from Greenland.

It is quite easy to come across them on the streets around the centers for homeless people.

The secretary of the Greenlandhouse, a center providing free advice and guidance to Greenlanders living in Denmark, points out that the general problem of homelessness of Greenlanders in Denmark is not a big issue.

“Past and future there have absolutely no meaning, so to live has a lighter appearance.�

Hanne

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She explained that most of the Greenlanders arriving in ­Denmark have everything they need, including education and social security.

Citing the functional aspects of the schools and ­universities in Denmark, she explains that many Greenlandic students are able to easily live in Denmark during their academic years, while some Greenlanders arrive with pre-existing alcohol problems on top of language difficulties and social exclusion. For these reasons, they end up living on the streets.

According to her, “the problem with alcohol in Greenland is not so dramatic compared to Denmark, where there are more alcoholics per capita.”

Those who live in the villages around Nuuk, are trying to find better ­a ccommodation here. But this does not always happen, and Ronn explains how often these people can wait a year before registering with the Danish job offices. This problem has already been taken into ­a ccount by the Danish People’s Party and by the former ­M inister of Social Affairs, Martin Henriksen, who tried to identify the number of socially disadvantaged Greenlanders in ­D enmark.

During the last, years many livelihood projects have been initiated and funded by the Danish government, but the result does not seem to have changed.

Some volunteers from the homeless point are not of the same opinion.

Soren Peterson, a worker at hotel ­C alifornia, explains to me that the numer of homeless Greenlanders in Denmark is growing at an alarming rate. A good ­e xample is Kofoed, Aalborg, a center for people with social ­intergration issues, where the demand from Greenlanders is getting increasingly longer. What Ronn Helle, an official at the centre, defines a “social tragedy” is illustrated by the statistics: in 2009, the number 90 while in 2011, it increased to 139 and has been stadily rising since.

The situation in Aarhus

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Moreover the problem has also been studied ethnologically.

This has also been observed by Tina Kjeldgaard, who ­s tudied the problem of Greenland’s socially disadvantaged population, affirming that these people have the same problems as socially vulnerable Danish citizens.

What aggravates their ­c ondition is often the difficulty of learning the language and the ­d ifferences of the two social realities. Often, people arriving in Denmark who lived in small communities or villages on the island

“in 2009 the number of persons need help from greenland was 90 in 2011, 139 and the number is growing more and more�

Ronn Helle

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­ efore are accustoned to a different type of ­s ocial ­s ystem, b and it is ­difficult for them to get used to this new ­s ystem.

Among the 1000 Greenlanders who live in Aarhus, 150 are socially vulnerable, “which is high number”, says Tina. The information is difficult to find due to the fact that the Greenlanders are considered part of the Commonwealth, so they are like Danish citizens and are hence not recorded separately.

It has been observed through various studies and i­nterviews that more than half of these people support their needs through support from the Danish Government, and only 30 percent make it through early-retirement. Many of them overestimate their knowledge of Danish, and the majority believes that they have no problem with alcohol and drugs. In addition, there have often been acts of racism against them, especially ­t owards groups of young people living in Gellerup, a borough of Aarhus.

Another problem concerns many Greenlandic women who suffer violence by Danes who live more or less in the same condition. Often, after divorce, they have no help from their ex-husbands and, therefore, they have difficulty in raising their children alone.

The risk of leaving

The story of Hanne is similar to that of many others I encountered on the streets of Aarhus.

Her elder son has just found a job here, while the other ­studies in Greenland. Her other son also wants to move to ­Denmark. None of them get to see the father now.

She is worried about her younger son who lives far away.

Greenland remains the country with the highest suicide rate per capita, among the young people.

But what is the risk you take to move to Denmark?

Hanne believes that being homeless is not a problem at all. She does not seem to want to have a house to live in.

She says that the Greenlanders living in the Tilst area, where the houses are cheaper, often spend the whole day drinking and searching for alcohol from one house to another, as often ­h appens in Greenland, especially in very isolated villages.

She prefers to be here and live this life, despite everything.

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Million Dollar Mie Cancer won first round, Mie will win the second The story of Mie and her ten year fight with cancer.

She now fights back her new life with her prothesis

by Martina Lazzaretti

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Mie 15 years old, takes off her bloxing gloves red with the security, as if to turn into another person. At that moment the light in her eyes that says nobody can stop her. She won the first round, she likes boxing,but her biggest fight was with cancer, which has ravaged her body. She continue to fight with her special life. Mie has just started boxing and having any one leg.

GET CANCER

In February 2008, a strange swelling in the left thigh got her parents attention.Various tests at the Sygehus Aarhus Hospital, discovered that cancer had struck Mie and immediately she started chemotherapy until May 2008.

Despite the therapy,it was still necessary to amputate Mie´s leg. Van Ness rotation plasty is a technique of pathology not very widespread. It is used particularly for children, which means the thigh is amputated to the knee and then the calf and the foot, which are positioned backwards.

Mie, already age ten had strong personality and she helped to restore the other children that stayed with her in hospital during chemotherapy.

“It was not easy to explain to parents that she could not run and play football” says Mie´s father.

But this operation gave her life back.

Mie had to realize that her life was different from the other children. Mie always has energy to keep high morale of her family. She began her new life with her new prosthesis, she has been attending this centre every year since 2008 where they recreate a type of prosthesis unusual “van ness rota-

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tion plasty,” Doctors describe her as a bright and determined girl.

MIE´s LIFE

Mie was born on January 20 th,1998 in Frederica, a town in the east of Denmark,where she spent the first ten years of her childhood living a normal life. She has always loved sports. She practiced football for three years,her father says: “she was a champion! She scored lots of goals “ After the amputation she,started going swimming,but she was feeling observed by people because of their curiosity or their compassion. Sometimes she felt people did not realize that behind her there wasn’t a different person, but a child who had faced a big challenge and it will not be someone’s eye to stop it,but she was so strong that she could attend the pool for five years. She attends year 8 in primary school and she goes to school by bicycle every day. She likes to read the “Twilight” trilogy.

Mie likes kind of music pop or pop country like Taylor Swift, Katy Perry or Pink.

Her father says: “Mie is a really good write” when I ask ”what do will you do in your future?”

She will become a journalist.

Mie, as any other girl, carries on a normal life, but still her with regular medical checks and changes of the prosthetics.She is surrounded with love of her friends and her family: her mother Ina, her dad Lars, her brother Max, and her 3 year old dog that she loves. She will grow and try her do the best, because she doesn’t different another teenager, the only thing is her leg.

The

thigh is amputated to the

knee and then the calf and the foot which are positioned backwards to be able to allow the articulation of the ankle.

So

the knee can be used

as a fit of the prosthesis that allows you to have a correct posture for growth and be able to walk.

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The Bangadist

center in

Aarhus

is in charge of prostheses or orthoses, these are centers that are recommend-

ed by hospitals and especially by doctors for their efficacy for the treatment and rehabilitation, with evolution of development each year.

The

majority of patients are associated with institutions of disability, where

“kom-

mune� participates with fundings to ensure that patients are totally committed to get used to their new way of life and rehabilitate to the best.

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she try her new leg, she walk to center

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100 % mixed

////////////////////////////////////////////

Its a completely mixed area in the nothern part of Germany where the danish minority is living.

A lots of Danish flags are in front of doors. On other doors you see the Germans. The obviously sign of the special situation here.

by Frieder Bickhardt

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It is cold outside. Very cold.

Snowing and the wind is blowing mean full in the neck.

Spring in Germany. That is not the time for a walk to enjoy the nature while Tor and his scouts start to chop wood, making fire and searching for lunch in their backpacks.

We are 20 minutes away from the Scouts Camp, Tydal . Tydal, between Schleswig and Flensburg, in the northern part of Germany, is a very liked place for the scouts of the Danish minority.

It would be warm there. They could use the oven to cook and enjoy the heat of the fireplace.

But it is not about using the easy, simple, daily stuff. The

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group which Tor is leading is supposed to learn how to make a fire and other useful tricks for surviving in the nature. The weather. That was bad luck. Nothing special in the life of a scout.

Tor-Slave Dalsgaard, a tall, 17-year-old boy, is part of the danish minority and he is leading a little scout group. To be a scout and to teach other kids is essential for him. The scout principle, everybody learns from everybody, is the base to his work with the kids. All of the children in his group are around ten years old. He gives them the task: create a dart arrow. They own long knifes, but in Germany it is not legal to own long knifes, except you are a hunter or a ten year old scout.

“We never would fight a war to find our country” - Tor-Salve Dalsgaard

The kids start to argue with each other. A moment later, one shows his knife to have the better argument and all the other scouts give him a hard time. Scouts should not brag about their knives. If you do it twice, you will lose your scout permission to use a knife. It is incredible how self controlled they are. They are ten years old.

Tor shows them a map where the target is, where they have to hike. “They have to find the way by themselves.” he says.

“They learn much more when they do it on their own.”

From the first second of being with them, it is clear they are all part of the Danish in Germany. One can hear it with every word they speak. A sentence is starting in German and ends in Danish, or the other way around.

“For me its actually really hard to speak only German. Or only Danish I have to be very concentrated,” says Tor. The night comes. It is still cold. It feels like under -10 degrees. They hiked the whole day. The kids build a bird house while snow was falling, they made a campfire and cooked scrambled eggs for lunch on it. But they still have energy and want to do a lot. Unstoppable scouts. Tor looks tired. “Yeah, sometimes it is tiring to be with them. But in whole it makes me happy to be here.”

After a few minutes, he is back full of energy. They go out.

Again. Playing capture the flag. Two teams, two self made castles, two flags. Both groups run through the forrest. They creep, they crawl, they whisper - always ensure that nobody

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“When you lived here, when you go to school here – then you cant say ‘I’m ­German’ or ‘I’m Danish’. Then ­­ you are both. Every time you are mixed.”

- Tor-Salve Dalsgaard

of the other team is going to catch them. It is like a stereotypical winter night. A lot of stars. The moon is shining. Somebody is screaming an order. Sounds like it would not help.

One wins, one loses. Such is life. Sometimes.

In the end, they are all together in front of the campfire. It is definitely warmer. They stand in a circle as one group, not as two fighting teams anymore. Somebody is talking in German. The answer is coming in Danish. Thats the daily thing here. Nothing special.

As Tor was coming home from the scouts weekend, Claus, his father has cooked a traditional Danish winter meal: roast pork, red cabbage and sweet potatoes. His way to get along with this very unusual long winter.

Tor parents moved to the Danish-German border when the children where expected.

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Claus and Gesa Dalsgaard are a mixed couple. She is German and he is Danish. They did not wanted decide for either culture, so the moved to the southern part of Schleswig the region where the Danish minority is living in Germany.

Tor feels that it is important that the Danish flag, the Dannebrog, is waving in the ice cold wind in the backyard. It is to show that he and his family is part of the danish minority and that they are living here as well as the other people. Even he would not call himself Danish, he also would not say “I am German”.

“You cannot tell you are one or the other. It is a little bit of both How much of which depends on the person. I did not choose that. It is how it was my whole life. Thats normal.”

About 55 000 people are living in the region of the Danish minority and counting themselves as part of it. The ques-

tion “which you are” is really popular in this region. Many of them are asking and confronting themselves also with the point: “Am I Danish, German or Schleswiger?”

At that a lot of the Danish people in Germany answered this question already.

“It is a choice to be part of it” says Christian Skov. He moved 1982 from Copenhagen to Flensburg to teach in the Danish secondary school. In Autumn 2012 he went into retirement. He is an old school gentleman with graying hair, scarf and a haircut like John Lennon.

and with how much am I German. I grew up in Denmark and so I never thought about what is it to be a Dane. But that is natural, I guess.” In whole there are 46 Danish schools in Germany and a similar number of kindergartens. The lessons are in Danish, except to languages classes.

The history lesson starts. Today it is about imperialism in the 19. Century and before. They talk a lot about the former German politics and occupation to make colonies. The language is Danish. Like in every lesson. Such is life here in this part of Germany.

He is also part of the Danish minority, but the identity question is not so important for him. “I never thought about it. I understand my students. They have to ask themselves everyday ‘Who am I?’ and with how much percent am I Danish

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“We take the best things from both cultures. We searching for eggs on easter like the rest of Germany and we dance around the Christmas tree like Danes.�

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- Tor-Salve Dalsgaard

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Shelby Feistner

Artistic Therapy, Ambiguous Future

by Shelby Feistner

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Creativity has painted Risskov Psychiatric Hospital’s Ovartaci Museum to a world wrapped in color and imaginative exploration. However, the color could diminish due to insufficient governmental funds.

M

useum Ovartaci stands statuesque among its neighboring buildings at Risskov Psychiatric Hospital.

From the exterior view, one might succumb to the stereotypical representations often found with psychiatric buildings. Although similarly structured in architecture, behind the doors of building #64 is colorful artwork, most created by artists suffering from mental illness.

In the basement of Museum Ovartaci is the Creative Workshop, a space filled with light pouring in the side windows near the ceiling. Snow is falling gently outside, but that hasn’t stopped the workers from coming into the workshop.

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Sitting around a table are faces of all kinds. Some skin holds more wrinkles and spots while others remain smooth and radiant with youth. Nonetheless, there is no division between each individual.

All act as a family, a group of kind friends gathering for lunch and a cup of coffee. A gentle, elder woman silently knits at a table next to the window. Though she knits with ease, she is not kitting simply for her grandchildren, as some could assume. She knits as a form of therapy.

The workshop is a creative space for artistic therapy, but it may be under threat because of the lack of funds provided by the government.

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CHANGING OF TREATMENT According to Danmarks Statistik, there has been a gradual decrease in out-patient treatments for neurotic, behavioral and mental illness. In 2006, 72,147 patients were treated, compared to the 14,696 patients treated in 2011.

Budget cuts from the government have left places like ­Risskov Psychiatric Hospital with fewer beds and patients with less access to rehabilitation.

31-year-old Katrine Svinth wears a septum piercing and quit tallying her tattoos after her thirtieth. Svinth now works at the museum, though she was once a patient at the hospital.

Like many other workers, she worries that the resources of the workshop will not be utilized due to government underfunding.

She shakes her head as she reflects on her experience arriving to the ward ten years ago.

“I went in and I said, ‘help me.’ They said, ‘we don’t have enough space for you.’ I was just committing... the medicine was still, you know... I was still gone.

I took a hundred pills and I was still totally fucked up from the medicine. ‘Oh, but we don’t have room for you.’” Svinth recalls. She is certain that many others have experienced this discouraging response.

“I didn’t get in. I had to call my sister and she had to pick me up. I lived with my parents until they had enough space.

I really wanted to die. There wasn’t room for me. I was literally dying, but there was no bed for me. And it’s much worse now.”

Svinth uses her positive attitude to help others. “I got through tough times and I know how it is,” Svinth says. “I’ve lived here myself and I know about it. I think I can just understand how it is to be in the place where they have been too.”

“I didn’t get in. I had to call my sister and she had to pick me up. I lived with my parents until they had enough space. I really wanted to die. There wasn’t room for me. I was literally dying, but there was no bed for me. And it’s much worse now.”

-Katrine Svinth

AN OASIS A woman walks in with uncombed, auburn hair and a black coat stained with dirt. It is more obvious, this time, that she lives in the ward. No looks of judgment are passed here. The women in the room, including Katrine, greet the newcomer with an energetic “hi” and help accommodate her. There is less of a fire in the newcomer’s eye. She works quietly, but Katrine continues to treat her as she would treat a close friend: with respect and kindness.

“When people come down who want to make something, to give them a good experience, if they walk away and they are happy about what they’ve just made, that’s the best part,” says Katrine.

At the weaving loom, Mette Normann Steensberg works quietly with a warm presence and open body language, smiling as she works.

She explains the welcoming outlook of the workshop, which allows both past and present patients to come back.

“Altogether, I lived here about three months. They tried to figure out if I had a different diagnoses than they thought I had, and they found out that I have schizophrenia, in a mild kind, but still.” For Steensberg, the workshop serves as both a place for creative expression and therapy for daily life.

“Here, a lot of volunteers are working. When you come in this door, you realize there is no ‘us and them’ and that’s so refreshing. When you come from the ward, there is a very strict line between who works and who doesn’t. And when you come inside here, this is an oasis for me.”

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AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE Though the workshop is an oasis for Steensberg, she questions if the patients will ever know about it.

“The thing is that right here in Aarhus, and in ­Risskov Hospital, it’s supposed to be much better than in the rest of the country, so this is just the tip of the iceberg that you’re seeing here,” says Steensberg. “A lot of other places, it’s much worse... The worst consequence of it is that you push people to the limit, and you’re talking about sick people, basically. You push them so hard to the limit that the only thing they can react with, me included, is coming back and coming back and coming back inside the ward. So you come here, you

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go ‘ch-ch-ch-ch-ch’ and you get out, in a very quick manner, and you somehow come back again in time or what is worse, try to commit suicide, or maybe something that’s maybe worse and do something to other people that you shouldn’t have done.”

Svinth and Steensberg agree: the issue is money. “Now you have to be almost dead, you have to want to die to get in here. If not, they’re not going to help you,” Svinth says. “It is about money. It’s because mental sickness, you can’t see it, like people that have a broken leg that you can see.”

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Democracy between dogs and people

By Maria Ivanova

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Small voluntary associations are an important part of Denmark. You could choose whatever you want: embroidery, cooking, painting. You’ll find a lot of small clubs, part of the vast alliance in the kingdom. The dog training club gladly opened their doors to show how it looks like from the inside.

I

n the heart of the field there is a small, white house, where people gather to a celebrate birthday.

“Thank you for the collar, I dreamt to buy one! And the rubber bone is wonderful!” ­— says a ponytail-haired man in his late 40s.

This is a normal situation for a dog training club. It is the birthday of the German Shepherd Gaya, she become one year old today. Everyone is stroking, hugging and kissing the birthday girl. Gaya waves her tail in delight and tryies to take an active part in the celebration. Everyone relaxes in between work.

They gather here once a week. There is no opportunity to do it more often, because they are volunteers and come after their daily jobs.

If you don’t have passion for dogs, there is no sense incoming to this club. The people here are close to each other as family members are. They sit in the house, with one room and a kitchen, but it is a cozy place. On the walls are pictures of their dogs and prizes. On the table, there is always a cake and coffee with white tulips in a vase. They can talk endlessly about the dogs, but they have a lot of other topics for conversation. From movies to philosophical questions. They

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are friends and simply enjoy each other’s company. These companies do not have a hierarchy: they are all equals.

“Policeman came to us with German shepherds”, gladly tells coach Finn. “He explained to us how they train dogs to the police, we learned a lot from him.”

German Shepherds are the most common species, because they are the easiest to train. They are trained to “test”: A test in which the dog shows how well she knows the owner’s commands.

Active puppies

Classes are held in the open air, on a field a little bit bigger than football field. They begin when the sun is high and ends when the moon is in the sky. Dogs are taught to walk calmly next to the host and to sit still, even if they are left alone.

There is a line of coaches that discuss the progress and setbacks. Dogs must jump over the barrier, but it’s harder than it looks. Each dog has a barrier height and needs to be very careful not to be injured. Some classes are very active all run, play, compete. Sometimes, they simply help get the dog to sit still when the owner goes slowly. Many members of the

Janne chairman of the club. She trains dog as the sun sets.

Club members discuss the upcoming test infront the club house.

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club already know their standard program, and almost all of it themselves. The newer dogs can be more difficult to train.

Sometimes puppies are too active and do not want to obey commands. Coach Finn, as well as all other members of the club, love all dogs, not just their own, so they patiently work with each issue. The training is a good time: all laughing, smoking, drinking coffee, walking in the fresh air. The dogs are in awe of so many people, the ability to run and play with other dogs. Coach Finn gives food to the dog if it performs correctly, but it’s hard not to feed them all the time when they are so faithfully look at the eyes, and wag their tails.

Animals and politic

Peter, member of the club and owner of German Shepherd Aya, says, “All of these mini-states and make Denmark the

way it is. And Danish democracy is based precisely on the set of these clubs, each of which is part of this mosaic. This is our voluntary decision to organize something, to do something good for our country.”

“Unions are an integral part of our democracy. The term “consociational democracy” explains the phenomen of “pillarization”, when the whole society is based on pillars like unions, which helps keep it.”, says Meds Fuglede, a political scientist.

But in the same time, people in dog training don’t worry about politics and science. They laugh, celebrate birthdays and enjoy each oher’s presense. They done with the train, dogs rest in cars. Some actively tell jokes, some quietly listen and smile. Janne tell stories about her two-week-old puppies.

For them this is not just a club, this is a great part of their

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Red

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demption Song

Jens Frederik Rossen, one-time member of a prominent biker gang, is trying to lead a life on the straight road, leaving his criminal days behind.

by Arko Datto 69

D

enmark is facing an unprecedented surge in gang ­violence in the recent days, with the bigger cities of ­Copenhagen, Aarhus and Odense being severely affected.

The number of gang-related shoot-outs and arson has been at an all time high. While violence continues to rage through the city streets, more than 300 gang members are languishing in Denmark’s jails and a third of them want to reintegrate into society, leaving their criminal past behind. Some are tired of the stress that a life on the run entails and for others age has given its final verdict. A number of these men has succeeded in finally leaving their way-faring days behind.

During the peak of his criminal days, Jens stood convicted for more than 300 crimes before he left it all behind to try leading a life on the straight road. Together with Rune ­Weidemann, one-time president of another leading biker gang, Jens started an honest business and they both have successfully stayed away from crime for several years. Their story is one of pure resilience, with Jens stressing that even ‘bad boys can change’.

Jens came from a well-off family. His father’s business had stakes at Tivoli Gardens. Running into financial trouble, his father disappeared from home one day, leaving Jens and his mother to fend for themselves. They were forced to move to a small unfurnished apartment in Tastrup where all he had was a mattress to sleep on. He was brutally removed from his familiar surroundings, friends and family. Soon after, his mother took off leaving him all by himself. He was eleven years old then. Luckily, some neighbors came to his rescue and provided for him. Though his mother returned after a few days, that incident changed him forever.

He started smoking cigarettes at around this time and his ­descent from then on was fast. He was initiated into ­marijuana at 12, cocaine at 13 and harder drugs by the age of 15. He started hanging out with a few neighborhood kids, with whom he later got introduced to the world of crime.

And within a short time, he became a member of a tryout gang for Hell’s Angels.

He started smoking cigarettes at around this time and his descent from then on was fast. He started smoking marijuana at 12, doing cocaine at 13 and harder drugs by 15. He started

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This was during the time of the Great Nordic Biker War, which was particularly violent in the vicinities of ­Copenhagen. It began in 1994 and continued until 1997 in the Scandinavian countries. It involved primarily the Hells Angels MC and Bandidos MC, but quite a few prospect clubs also got sucked into it. ‘’I remember driving around the city with rocket launchers in the car,’’ reminisces Jens. He mentions that newer recruits had to do the harder and dirtier work, and being an expert on car theft, he got the task of gathering cars for jobs and then subsequently destroying them. After being convicted of a serious crime, Jens was forced to spend 5 months in solitary confinement. This was the severest of all the prison sentences that he received. At this stage, his tally stood at over 300 offenses and he owed more than half a million kroners to the Danish State.

“I have always been good at establishing alibis in court and thereby reducing my sentences,”recollects Jens proudly.

Shortly after being released from the prison, his daughter was born. This changed his life for the second time. ‘’I could not look at her in the face,’’ says Jens.

That day as he looked back at his life, he was guilthidden like never before. He went to the sea shore near Høje ­Taastrup and threw his mobile phone into the ocean. He did not check his mails for five years and kept fleeing from one tenement to another with his fledgling family. ‘’I never had to worry about money really. Whenever I needed some, I found ways to make some. I was always good at making money’’, says Jens. But this time round, he was determined to earn money the clean way.

Jens had always wanted to be a salesman, but because of his low self esteem, owing to his treacherous past, he was too shy to go out and try. He enrolled himself in a ­physchological help program which encouraged him to regain his confidence. He landed a job in a departmental store, and soon became their best salesman.

‘’I could not look at her in the face’’ Jens Frederik Rossen

At the forest in Taastrup where Jens was convicted of a particularly violent crime.

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‘’Manne showed me the life I was never to go back to, and I inspired him to rise above the ashes’’ Jens Frederik Rossen

Jens had to keep struggling with his inner self which longed to go back to the wild boisterous days. He tried to keep his frustrations at bay, but his determination caved in. One day in an inebriated state he became hostile and broke all the ­furniture in his house. His wife left with their daughter, and a heart-broken and dejected Jens kept roaming around the city aimlessly.

It was at this point in his life that Manne came back. They had been friends for more than 25 years and their paths kept intersecting, albeit for intermittent stints. Manne wanted to leave his dark days behind and Jens motivated him. ‘’Manne showed me the life I was never to go back to, and I inspired him to rise above the ashes,’’ remembers Jens. Manne has been one of Jens’ only friends to have not turned their backs on him. Together, they started Rossmans’ Destiny, a clothing company in 2010 and there has been no looking back ever since. The name borrows its first half from Jens’ surname Rossen and the latter half from Rune’s nickname Manne and emphasizes their collective destiny towards a better life.

Their company has grown in leaps and bounds.

Manne is the creative part of Rossmanns’ Destiny, coming up with designs and logos. They have a very unique concept.

Their desings and concepts tell the story of their lives from crime to redemption. He had previously worked as a painter and brought his talents to fruition here. Jens works on the managerial and promotional side of the enterprise. Manne likes to keep out of the limelight, while Jens likes to be the face of the enterprise. They have a perfect working relation where they simultaneously complement each others pros and cons.

With Manne by his side, Jens has been able to stay on a ­law-abiding path for more than 12 years. Records of ­serious crimes are removed only after 10 years in the Danish ­judiciary system. Jens has been living with a clean slate for the past two years.

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‘’I remember driving around the city with rocket launchers in the car’’ Jens Frederik Rossen

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“The designs and logos recount the story of our lives�

Jens Frederik Rossen

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Epilogue Life in the northern Realm goes on.

Lived on the brink. Threateningly close to oblivion.

Life persists on the edge. Clinging to change in a desperate attempt at survival.

Dark days reign supreme, yet redemption is at hand.

The Sun shines again.

Life will endure.

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Andrew Schriver

schriver.andrew@gmail.com

www.andrewschriver.com Jasper Bastian

info@jasperbastian.com

www.jasperbastian.com Natalie Becker

natalie_becker@gmx.net

www.nataliebecker.eu Massimo Caracciolo

massimo.cara@hotmail.com

www.massimocara.com Martina Lazzaretti

martyviola84@yahoo.it

martinalazzaretti.jimdo.com Frieder Bickhardt

mail@frieder-bickhardt.de

www.frieder-bickhardt.de Shelby Feistner

info@shelbyfeistner.com

www.shelbyfeistner.com Maria Ivanova

mariam_27@mail.ru

Arko Datto

arkodatto@yahoo.co.in

arkodatto.weebly.com

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Special thanks to:

Lars Bertelsen Henrik Meller Susanne Sommer Lone Theils Danish School of Media and Journalism

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