Niklas Göke

Munich

Writer at Medium

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Articles

When You’re Tired of Starting Over

1 week ago | goodmenproject.com | Niklas Göke

In 2015, Shia LaBeouf broke the internet. Green screen clips of him giving an exaggerated, Nike-style motivational speech, originally recorded for a London art school’s student projects, were just too good fodder to pass up. Within days, Shia was everywhere — and every-how. There was auto-tune Shia with explosions, Shia multiplying every three seconds, Shia motivating Batman, and, you guessed it, more auto-tune Shia.
Everybody Sees Through Their Own Eyes

2 weeks ago | goodmenproject.com | Niklas Göke

This year, for our elementary school friends’ annual city festival gathering, we had a special guest: a friend from Bavaria came to visit. Let’s call him Ken. Spending time with Ken is always both fun and enlightening. The guy loves to party, but he also wears his heart on his sleeve. After a few beers, he’ll tell you about his complicated family history. They are operating a car parts business in the fourth generation, and Ken and his brother now supposedly run the show.
Activation Energy

3 weeks ago | goodmenproject.com | Niklas Göke

When you drop Alkali metals — elements like lithium, sodium, or potassium — in water, they immediately start fizzing and whizzing around. The reaction is instant, and it creates a hydroxide of the metal as well as hydrogen gas, which sometimes even ignites on its own. Unfortunately, life rarely works that way. You can’t just throw a nickel on the floor and expect it to spontaneously self-multiply.
Weeds Are Just a Different Plant

4 weeks ago | goodmenproject.com | Niklas Göke

There’s an isolated patch of grass on the side of our house. I can see it from my bedroom window. Yesterday morning, I looked down without glasses, and I spotted three blurry yet distinct areas: one dark, lush green, one bright, almost neon, and what seemed to be the outline of five salad-colored propellers. After I regained my vision, the puzzle pieces took shape: Only a third of the surface was covered in proper grass. Another third was moss, and the propellers? A quickly spreading group of weeds.
Culture Translation

1 month ago | goodmenproject.com | Niklas Göke

“He never even looked at me in the rearview mirror!” The back of a truck crossing the desert in Oman might be the last place you expect a culture lesson from, but for a couple my parents are friends with, that’s exactly what happened. Sitting in the back of a jeep rattling through dunes of sand towards a Bedouin camp, the lady of the house asked their driver some questions. “How big is the area? How long have you been doing this?” That sort of thing.
After the Rain

1 month ago | goodmenproject.com | Niklas Göke

One of life’s everyday miracles is making it home just before the rain. But what about the opposite? What about the days when you can neither avoid the rain nor wait for it to pass? When you have to step out into the wetness? Well, even those days still have the potential for wonder. It’s been a rainy week in my neck of the woods. On Friday, I went to a local city festival, an annual tradition.
The Urgency of Being Young

1 month ago | goodmenproject.com | Niklas Göke

I still remember what it feels like to believe that meeting one of your friends for play time on a Thursday afternoon is the most important thing in the world. Do you? “Come on mom, I need you to drive me! Please, please, please!! It’s important!!”The older we get, the more we believe that what we once thought was a big deal is actually irrelevant. But was it? Letting go of ideas, places, and people is a natural part of human growth. It would happen whether we age or not.
If My Dad’s Mortgage Was a Headline

1 month ago | goodmenproject.com | Niklas Göke

What’s the best age to buy a house? Chances are, by the time you first ask the question, you’re already too late — at least if you consult the media. Plenty of sources will tell you that, technically, there is no right or wrong here, but actually, the median age is 32, the best age is “young,” and you should really do it between ages 25 and 34. So much for “to each their own.”A high school friend of mine ticked all the boxes by the time he was 30: married, house, kids.
Family Is a Choice

2 months ago | goodmenproject.com | Niklas Göke

The best thing about going to a bar is that you’ll likely hear a stranger’s story. Yesterday, I heard someone I’d never met before explain how she and her mom became alienated from the rest of their extended family. “They’re all from the same region, and some 10 years back, we went to a family gathering. Nobody would even come and talk to us. They stick to themselves.
My 12 Favorite Nonfiction Books Most People Have Never Heard Of

2 months ago | medium.com | Niklas Göke

Imagine a city with one million inhabitants. It has everything you would expect from a city of that size: some skyscrapers, a decent transport system, and all the usual public and social infrastructure. There is, however, a catch: Everyone in this city can only read the same 10 books. It’s a simple literary restriction, but what consequences might it have?