Skip to Content
  • Browse
  • Past Issues
  • Search

Arts and Letters

Wagner History

Wagner News

Inside Sports

Alumni Stories

Obituaries

Alumni Events

From the President

Feature Stories
Winter 2022
Winter 2021
Fall 2021
Summer 2019
Winter 2018–19
Summer 2018
Fall 2017
Summer 2017
Fall 2016
Winter 2015-16
Summer 2015
Fall 2014
Winter 2013-14
Summer 2013
Fall 2012
Summer 2012
Fall 2011
Summer 2011
Fall 2010
Summer 2010
Fall 2009
Summer 2009
Fall 2008
Summer 2008

My Second Home

SHARE
PRINT
BACK TO TOP
My Second Home
Football field and stadium viewed from above.
The Promise of Stadium Renovation
Eight people sit outside in front of a large, red house
Why Anthropology Is Important

In the spirit of President Martin’s call to share our stories, I would like to share a bit about myself here. This bit will also serve the purpose of explaining why I was able to translate portions of Armin Thurnher’s book, Fähre nach Manhattan, from German to English for the feature story “The Most Important Year of My Life.”

In the summer of 1978, right before I started the second grade, my family moved to Germany. My father worked for the Army as a civilian, and he took a job in Frankfurt. We stayed in Germany for four years. I attended a local German elementary school in the village where we lived, Neuenhain am Taunus.

Four girls arm in arm outside with mountain view in background
Laura Barlament (left) next to her sister, Jennifer, with two German friends, near their home in Germany’s Taunus mountains, ca. 1979.

I remember my mother preparing me and my little sister for the move by showing us on a globe where America was and where Germany was. This notion of a bigger world was interesting and novel, and I was excited about the plane trip. But I grew afraid when some well-meaning adult told me, “You’re going to become a little German girl.” Nevertheless, it did happen. I became completely absorbed in the local German community and culture. My mother had to ask my sister and me to remember to speak English at home, since my father didn’t understand German.

We moved back to the U.S. in the summer before I began the sixth grade. I continued to speak and study German. I travel back there as often as I can. On every trip, it feels like returning to a second home.

Thurnher wrote his book as a way of reexamining his own incisive experience of living abroad. His book is a vivid portrayal of Wagner and New York City of the late 1960s, written with the freshness of perspective that only an outsider can bring. If you remember that time, I hope you enjoy reliving it through Thurnher’s words. But even if you don’t, read it to experience a piece of the history of this place, which ties us all together.

— Laura Barlament, Editor, Wagner Magazine

Summer 2019

  • international
  • languages
SHARE
PRINT

Related Stories

image description

A Language Teacher and Global Citizen

Mar 01, 2019 “Being [at Wagner] as a language major was a launching pad,” says Crescendo Smalls ’07 M’08.
image description

Searching for Truth in ‘The Land of Contradictions’

Jul 25, 2018 Glen MacDonald ’18 brings us stories of Cuba, from a trip with fellow Wagner students and professors.
image description

Stories of Refuge

Aug 04, 2017 For people escaping chaotic homelands, Wagner College has helped provide a new life in America.
CLASS NOTES
OBITUARIES
CONTACT US

LATEST NEWS

image description

Songfest: Then and Now

For almost 70 years, Songfest has been one of the biggest events on campus. What …

image description

Heroines of the Holocaust

This June, a Wagner College symposium on “Heroines of the Holocaust” brought 50 scholars from …

image description

History Makers: Kinsey Casey ’02

Kinsey Casey ’02 was destined for a life in public service. And no wonder: Her …

image description

Uncommon Lives: Julie Hassett ’08

Julie Hassett ’08 is a body-paint, hair, makeup and cosmetic prosthetics artist who has done …

  • About the Magazine
  • Give to Wagner
  • Wagner Newsroom
  • Wagner Home
FOLLOW US

© 2023 All Rights Reserved