Once upon a time, I was down and blue. It was taking months and I felt there was no way out. I couldn’t speak. The pressure of wanting to exhausted me. I decided to stay at a yogi’s home in the country. He had said noone in his household would expect me to say a […]
moreMay has the ability to surprise. It is modest. It sits quietly in a corner of the year, allowing April and June to scream for attention and take center stage. May will wait – confidently and patiently – for its time to shine, usually when April has fallen asleep. It then sheds its grey coat, […]
moreReligion. I am confused about religion. This morning, the Dominican Study Center for Religion and Theology asked me to write a column for their website. Theme: ‘to feel at home’. I’ve always had a lot to say about this theme, more specifically about what it means to feel like or be an outsider. One does […]
moreDuring the parent evening at my son’s daycare center, one of the teachers told us about Rudolf Steiner’s outlook on character. Steiner said there are four temperaments: Melancholic, Phlegmatic, Sanguine and Choleric. The teacher went on to describe how every child often has a little of all four, but is usually predominantly one. Each temperament […]
moreAs the date of our flamenco performance nears, it is becoming increasingly clear that a career in flamenco simply is not laid out for me. I’m doing okayish, and truth be said I simply don’t have the energy to do better than that. Yesterday, I kept telling myself that was all right: we shouldn’t want […]
moreIdentity is like happiness. It's not a problem unless you question it.
moreI was invited to read from my novel and answer questions during a university class on Literature of the Dutch West Indies. I was early and so I sat in on the class. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more observed. Not that I could blame the students, my novel was sitting on each of […]
moreThis weekend, I met up with five classmates from high school who I hadn’t seen in a very long time. Seeing them felt odd, almost like I was coming home after a really long trip. All of us had gone to International Schools which means our parents’ jobs had taken us to various countries in […]
more[Deleted, as I felt I was getting a little melodramatic. Also, I didn't want to embarass my specialist by pouring out words of gratitude into the world. I'm sure he knows I am.]
moreBoth my grandmothers passed away a few years ago. One of them used to sing, and an aunt recently transferred her album recordings to a cd. So while I work, every now and then my grandmother sings to me through shuffled playlists. I can't think of anything more defining than someone's voice. You hear them […]
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