Medium

Looking for a good read that’s not too short and not too long? You’re in just the right place. Skim mid-length pieces about standstill on this page — ranging from sleep paralysis to writer’s block.
When will we get moving again? Nothing annoys drivers quite as much as pointlessly sitting in a traffic jam.
Photo (detail): © Adobe

Traffic
 The Logic Behind the Traffic Jam

Michael Schreckenberg

The opposite of a lively city: In Berlin, it’s not particularly difficult to feel lonely at night.
© shutterstock

Life Between Two Worlds
 A City Awakens From Its Slumber

Christopher Kloeble

A stone has a lot to tell.
© shutterstock

A Conversation With a Stone
 Strength Lies in Tranquility

Erdmuthe Hacken

Sweta Mantrii
© privat

Comedy Against the Standstill of Life
 No Inspiration Zone

Reema Gehi Desai

A man floating on an air mattress in the water
Photo (detail): Dirk Vorderstraße © flickr.com

Pause for Thought
Disruption as Progress

Uli Krug

Photo of the Adler typewriter prop from the Kubrick movie “The Shining”
Photo: © Flickr User Seth Anderson

Writer’s Block
 Betty the Ape

Lucan Friedland

Foodstagramming
© Shutterstock

Foodstagramming
 Click… Bite!

Arabelle Liepold

Enhanced SEM image of a tardigrade (Macrobiotus sapien), colloquially known as a “water bear,” in moss.
Photo: © Eye of Science / Science Source

Metabolic Stasis
 Indestructible — The Astonishing Tardigrade

Stefan Kloo

Zacatecas, Mexico
Photo: Anel Mariana Pérez Cabrera

The Northern Lagoon
 Land of Ghosts

Jairo Alvarado

Detail Francisco De Goya — “The Witches’ Sabbath” 1797–98 Museum of Lazaro Galdiano
Photo (detail): © Museum Lazaro Galdiano / Public Domain

Sleep Paralysis
 1:00 p.m., Paralyzed and Suffocated

Johann Voigt

School of Herring
Photo: © Public Domain / Rawpixel

Provoking the Cultural Precariat
 On Rebellious Social Climbers

Lynn Takeo Musiol and Eva Tepest

A railway museum’s 1925 steam train in Silverton, Colorado
Photo (Detail): Michael Gäbler © Wikimedia Commons

Pulling the Emergency Brake on an Empty Ride
 On the Wrong Train

Christoph Hesse

Inside Hurricane Dorian
Photo Courtesy of Garrett Black /U.S. Air Force

Hurricane Hunters
Inside the Eye of the Storm

Arabelle Liepold

Harry Dean Stanton stands in a desert in “Paris, Texas”
Photo: © Road Movies Filmproduktion

Resting Images
 Conquering Lost Time

André Lavoie

Grey Polaroid pictures
Photo: © Goethe-Institut

Creativity on the topic of standstill
 Games and Videos

A detail of a historical postcard showing a man’s muscular arm stopping a large wheel
Photo (Detail): © Rauh & Pohle, Leipzig via Wikimedia Commons

A Time-Out for Some Self-Critical Reflection
 “All the wheels shall stand still...”

Falko Schmieder

Bloodletting Devices 18th and 19th century
© Dorotheum Wien

Fear of Stagnation
Standstill in Goethe’s Time

Andreas Ströhl

Guadalajara
Photo: © Jairo Alvarado

The Absence of Others
 Guadalajara, a Limited City

Jairo Alvarado