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Archive for 2009

Vote No

published on: 24.12.2009 in: All entries

‘Vote No. No to Dutch Apartheid,’ says a bumper sticker. A man I chat with in a bar raises his finger and voice at me, “the Dutch need to learn to respect us.” I nod and smile and feel uncomfortable for nodding and smiling. He thumps his fist down, ‘we were here first. WE!” In […]

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December

published on: 23.12.2009 in: All entries

Remember that December? Five years ago? Twenty? When he was still with us. When she was sad. Or mad. Happy the next. Strung together by the lights we find tucked away in the back of a drawer. We blow the dust off of them so they can shine. These tiny little stars that keep us […]

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Sweat and dirt

in: All entries

I ran into an acquaintance. He was in his usual position: at a bar, drinking with two people whose suntans were too deep, we didn’t bother about introductions. It wasn’t important. In fact, nothing seemed important anymore, not like it did then when we were all still deciding what to do with our lives. Not […]

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Memories

published on: 22.12.2009 in: All entries

The memories don’t change. To arrive in the middle of the night, step out of a plane and be welcomed by an arid wind that carries the sound of howling dogs, the roar of a pick-up truck, slow dance music. That carries sand and the smell of sea and soil. Of a dead lizard or […]

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Shift

published on: 21.12.2009 in: All entries

For a long time, the place I was born meant I had to be something: I had to belong. With that came the pressure of adjusting. But the active act of adjusting and the passive sense of belonging are contradictory. It leads to conflict, both internally and externally. For a long time, this conflict fuelled […]

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Finding Nemo and Strawberry Fields

published on: 18.12.2009 in: All entries

The captain of the sailing yacht wasn’t your typical sailor kind of person. He adhered to a more pragmatic approach in life. He and his wife had been some family’s butler and nanny and it had been time for something new. They saw this yacht online and bought it without giving the whole thing too […]

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Do we?

published on: 17.12.2009 in: All entries

Yesterday, the guy at the front desk offered me his crackers. He is a nice guy. I know he’s from Ecuador and he’s 35 and that’s about it. I’d like to know more about him, but somehow he manages to squeeze the questions in first. This evening, I ran into him on leaving the work-space […]

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Security

published on: 16.12.2009 in: All entries

This is to prove that we have finally entered full throttle holiday mode. My man and I spent the entire evening analyzing the security strategy of this resort. It led to only one conclusion: something must have happened here quite recently.Every evening, only moments before sunset, a team of approximately 6 security people (it’s not […]

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Bonaire

published on: 15.12.2009 in: All entries

Once upon a time, a long long time ago. Way before I was a writer. When I was still young and naive. Oh bless that gloriously ignorant frame of mind. I sailed from CuraƧao to Bonaire. I didn’t do so alone, of course. I wasn’t that courageous. But truth be said: I was a different […]

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Spoon

published on: 09.12.2009 in: All entries

“This. Is a spoon,” declared a friend. He was holding the spoon straight up in front of his nose and then added, “and so what?” He threw the spoon on the table, discarded of it. “The thing is,” he continued, “you do not feel what I feel when looking at that spoon. You don’t have […]

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