We all have days we feel particularly good about ourselves, and for no apparent reason. The result being: the world opens up. It becomes a beautiful, welcoming place and: safe. Especially that. It loves you and you love it. “Wow,” says the man you run into and haven’t seen in years, “you look great.” Of […]
moreRemember when you were a kid and you were happy about something. Anything. A pair of jeans or a boyfriend. And remember how you felt when your parents did not share your enthousiasm? Maybe they even rejected the object of your happiness. It’s probably one of the most fundamental hurts a parent can bring unto […]
moreI’m mastering the art of reconnecting with people I knew fifteen years ago. I mean the people you used to hang out with in bars and so on, but never really entered into a meaningful relationship with. Perhaps never even had a decent conversation with. The kind of relationship that -in a way- feels like […]
moreA woman’s 95th birthday. Her younger sister is there too, she is 90 years old. We are in a Marriot-type hotel. We, meaning the family that consists of the four generations beneath them. About fifty or so people. There is a lunch, a warm buffet. There are wines. There is a slide show. Each family […]
moreI am in a village called Paraty. It is one of the oldest colonial villages in Brazil. It was preserved because people forgot all about it when a new port for the export of gold was built. Now, it is predominantly home to holidaying couples and guest-houses. The historical city center is full of galleries […]
moreMy friend from Argentina says she is 58 years old. I look at her pigmented hands, (“too much sun my whole life,” she quickly says), her boney body, the difficulty with which she descends a few steps (“I hurt my knee”), the anger as she snaps at the taxi-driver for not knowing the way when […]
moreToxic and intoxicating, city of extremes. This is what everyone says about Rio. But it’s more than that. It’s all the little nuances inbetween the outer boundaries. When writing a novel you wonder about how to convey these without ending up writing only in clichés. The answer being: don’t even try. Don’t try to prove […]
moreI keep thinking about a recent conversation I had with my sister. She said, “I hate it when people don’t give beggars anything, or street-musicians for that matter. I mean how many beggars do we even have in Holland?” My sister hardly ever raises her voice. I may have only heard her do so twice […]
moreA 70-year-old man lies right in the middle of the pavement outside our apartment. He has an open wound from his knee all the way down to his foot. People pass him without even looking at him. I take a photo of him and simultaneously wonder why I find it necessary to do so.I continue […]
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