Can you see the real me? Can you?
I first heard The Who’s Quadrophenia album in November 1976 just over three years after it was released, and that line from the song The Real Me instantly etched itself into my consciousness. It’s been going through my mind again during the last days, because a new rumor about me has been going around here in Berlin. The fact that I’m about to buy a small apartment in an ultra-downtown location has lead some people to start saying that, “Stuart’s moving back to Berlin!” On one level this is all good clean fun, but it’s factually incorrect and therefore demands an answer. The fact is, that although I spent a lot of time in New York Wine City (NYWC) from the end of November 2012, and since I moved into my present apartment there in September 2013 it has felt like home, I never left Berlin. It has always remained my official place of residence and with good reason. Most of my work is published in German in Germany, Berlin is my base for reporting on the wines of Europe, and this is the country where I have paid the majority of my taxes since 1994. Buying my own place will cement my connection with Berlin as my long-term base in Germany and also give STUART PIGOTT RIESLING GLOBAL a European HQ. The location close to Alexanderplatz in East Berlin’s Mitte district also means that I’ll be within walking or cycling distance of some of the world’s best wine bars!
So, you see, I feel at home here in Berlin and in NYWC. That situation is what many of the rumor-tellers can’t cope with and that’s the reason this explanation is necessary. Far more than the inhabitants of NYWC, those of Berlin want to put every person into one pigeonhole and get deeply frustrated when this isn’t possible. Ten years ago when I was developing a career as a painter (which sadly failed) alongside my continuing journalistic this double identity caused many of my acquaintances in Berlin a lot of trouble. Now my double allegiance to this city and NYWC is stressing the same people and some others too. Their reaction is that of the child who tries to force the square peg into the round hole come what may, rather than accepting that only a round peg will fit that hole. Like that child they will get over this in time and, reluctantly, accept the reality of the situation. I am what I am. Can you see the real me?
As a New Yorker, or rather, “NYWCer” now living in Berlin for the last 3 months – and for the (un)foreseeable future – I say welcome back, or perhaps, welcome home! Now I just have to improve my German enough to read your local articles! One can only read so much Asimov!
Great post.