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The Needle: Berlin

Sharp Views on the German capital

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Blog Posts on The Needle 

Joseph Pearson, New Writing

19/07/202023/07/2020 Joseph Pearson 0 Comments

My dear readers, The Needle will continue but with a small change of format––as a place to get updates about my

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Trips from Berlin 

Weekend Trip to Südtirol: Going to the Sun, by Train

31/01/202009/02/2020 Joseph Pearson 0 Comments

It’s midwinter in Berlin and a pretty mild one. But a grey sheet is still suspended between us and the

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Berlin Portraits Blog Posts on The Needle 

Learning German Because of Brexit

17/10/201917/10/2019 Joseph Pearson

British playwright Tim Luscombe lived all over the world––Sweden, Italy, Thailand––before settling on the German capital. A passionate European, Tim’s relationship

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Living in Berlin 

What’s Changed in Berlin in a Decade? Ten Years of ‘Moving to Berlin’

31/03/201931/03/2019 Joseph Pearson

Ten years ago The Needle published its first ‘Moving to Berlin’ guide, and it’s been updated every year since then.

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Berlin Arts 

Bellini or Mantegna?: A Personality Test

24/03/201924/03/2019 Joseph Pearson

“Are you more Bellini or Mantegna?” an Italian friends asks me. Belliniano o Mantegnano? Not every art exhibit is also

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Opinion and Politics 

Why Does Kreuzberg Want to Save an ALDI?

09/03/201910/03/2019 Joseph Pearson

The Kreuzberg gentrification battle continues to rage around the Markthalle 9. Residents of the traditionally left-wing neighbourhood, paradoxically, are protesting

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Places in Berlin 

A Secret Plan in Rix Café

09/12/201809/12/2018 Joseph Pearson

What secret plan is being hatched in Rix Café? In Rick’s Café, in the film Casablanca, they sing La Marseillaise

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Gay and Queer Berlin 

Prepped for PrEP in Berlin?

29/11/201830/11/2018 Joseph Pearson

It’s not hard to convince people that PrEP works. “We have great data from studies that show its effectiveness. It’s

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Foodie Berlin 

Headquarters of the Turkish ‘New Wave’: Hallo Machen

04/11/2018 Joseph Pearson

When walking around Kreuzberg some months ago, I stumbled across a new gastropub in Spreewaldplatz with a strange name, that

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Places in Berlin 

The Monkey Enclosure at the Bikini Mall

22/10/201819/10/2018 Joseph Pearson

I’m not ashamed to say that one of my favourite places in Berlin is in a shopping mall, the renovated

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Places in Berlin 

Swimming in Public, Reflecting on Summer

07/10/201807/10/2018 Joseph Pearson

It feels like the last day of summer because the Kreuzberg Prinzenbad summer pool––one of the many Sommerbäder around the

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About the Author

Joseph Pearson is a writer based between Berlin and New York City. Born in Canada, he was educated at Cambridge University, UK, where he received his doctorate in history in 2001. His non-fiction portrait of Berlin was published in 2017. He is also the essayist and blogger of the Schaubühne Theatre, one of Berlin’s best known state-funded institutions. Since 2008, he has written The Needle, which has become one of Berlin’s most popular blogs. His writing has appeared widely in the press, literary and academic journals, and has been translated into German, Italian, French, Arabic, and other languages. For professional inquiries please contact:  joseph [AT] cantab.net.

What is The Needle?

The changing meanings of The Needle are the inspiration for these pages. Above Alexanderplatz is Berlin's television tower. The Needle surveilled the city during East German times like a threatening eye; then its meaning changed after the Berlin Wall fell. Berliners now think of the tower as a giant disco ball flirting with the city lights––a symbol of sex, electronic music and youth culture. This weekly documents the Berlin Renaissance today, mindful of a dramatic and terrifying history. Berlin is Europe's most exciting city, and The Needle is here to share.

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