The reading in Aachen was hosted by Rick Takvorian, a lovely Armenian-American-German man. He turned out to be an intelligent interviewer and I adored his hat.
After the event we discussed briefly the writer Saroyan, a writer whom I adored in my teens.
I stumbled upon this quote by Saroyan: “I saw rich beggars and poor beggars, proud beggars and humble beggars, fat beggars and thin beggars, healthy beggars and sick beggars, whole beggars and crippled beggars, wise beggars and stupid beggars. I saw amateur beggars and professional beggars. A professional beggar is a beggar who begs for a living.” So much for the power of repetition.