image: nairaland.com
On July 14, a man ran his truck into crowds of people enjoying the Bastille Day fireworks in Nice, France, killing eighty-some and wounding so many others.
Bastille Day celebrates the birth of the French Republic, with its motto, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. Fraternity means, among other things, communal support, friendship, brotherhood. Continue reading
Posted in Austin, Government, Police, Religion, Society, Travel, US Politics, Violence
Tagged Bastille Day attack, Baton Rouge, human connections, opinie, Opinion, peace, police shootings, Police Violence, politics, religion, six degrees of separation, society, terrorism
image: youtube.com
Okay, the problem with starting a series of posts on one incident is that in the meantime other stuff happens. Though I was intent on not going along with the “news cycle,” I’m going to cut my posts on the Spring Valley High School SRO assault on a female student short. The two remaining posts, about American football coach idolization and the lack of mental health support in this country will have to wait until another time.
A few days ago I came across an article about the state of the Cold War in 1983. Continue reading
I found this video on a post about Zwarte Piet by Travelogues of an African Girl. Holland, it’s time to catch up.
Posted in Holland
Tagged black pete, opinie, Opinion, Racism, racisme, Sinterklaas, Zwarte Piet
image: vrij-zinnig.nl
In a reply to a comment by Onno on one of my posts about Zwarte Piet, I mentioned that the Netherlands is still in the Stone Age when it comes to racial sensitivity. Onno responded by pointing to Ferguson. Continue reading
Posted in Holland, Police, Society
Tagged black pete, Ferguson, Netherlands, opinie, Opinion, police brutality, Racism, racisme, Zwarte Piet
image: sint-nicolaas.nl
Okay, one more repost, because I’ve had so many hits on the last one. Clearly there’s an interest and the post below is one that gets skipped a lot, it seems.
After this I’m stopping with the Zwarte Piet issue, at least for this year. I think.
Tagged black pete, discriminatie, Netherlands, opinie, Opinion, Piet moet blijven, Racism, racisme, Sinterklaas, Zwarte Piet
Its that time of year again in the Netherlands: Sinterklaas is coming. From what I gather over here in Texas, for now, the people who want to keep Zwarte Piet black have won.
There’s no point to me saying everything I already said at length last year, but for those of you who missed it then, here’s one of the posts I wrote about the issue below. Or, if you want, you can start at the beginning. And if you’re one of those who say I have no right to say anything because I’m an outsider, I have dedicated my last post in the series especially to you.
So here goes:
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image: exchange.smarttech.com
My son B has been maturing by leaps and bounds the past couple of months. It’s like he’s having a massive mental growth spurt.
As a result, he is increasingly finding out what it means to be him, and learning how to be more assertive about the boundaries between himself and others. At the same time he’s also expanding his experience to include more and more of the world around him. All this seems to suddenly be happening at a faster pace than ever before. Continue reading
A poem for NaPoWriMo.
The sun revolves around the earth,
Something’s wrong with Obama’s birth,
The dinosaurs missed Noah’s ark, Continue reading
Posted in Creative writing, Writing Prompt Responses
Tagged Creative writing, gedichten, humor, kennis, knowledge, lying rhyme, myth, NaPoWriMo, opinie, Opinion, poems, poetry, science, wetenschap
This post doesn’t live here anymore. It has emigrated to my new blog:
The Big No-No: An Outsider on American Fascism,
where it resides under the title:
“What Is Good History Education: Civil War Battles or Why They Were Fought?”
This Ruthless World is one of my favorite blogs. And her newest post is hilarious. A Tea Party guy reinvents Jesus to fit his personal ideas of what a man should be. And the blogger responds so thoroughly that there is nothing left to add.
Except to ask:
What would Jesus do according to this guy? Well, on Sabbath evening he would probably be whooping hippies’ asses and raising hell!
Tagged bible revision, history, humor, jesus, opinie, Opinion, politics, Ray Wylie Hubbard, rwh, Tea Party, Up Against the Wall, what would jesus do, wwjd
Well, I suppose this NaBloPoMo is a good opportunity to publish a few a-propos-of-nothing posts.
For instance, I’d like to draw your attention to one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time. Continue reading
Several people have pointed out–in a somewhat accusatory tone–that I’m looking at the issue of Zwarte Piet being racist from the outside. To a large degree it’s true. But first let me point out to what degree it’s not. Continue reading
Posted in Education, Holland, Society
Tagged American education, American nationalism, black pete, black peter, Dutch holidays, opinie, Opinion, Pledge of Allegiance, Racism, racisme, Sinterklaas, Zwarte Piet
Tagged black pete, black peter, Dutch holidays, Netherlands, opinie, Opinion, Racism, racisme, Sinterklaas, Zwarte Piet
image: sint-nicolaas.nl
image: e-carnavalskleding.nl
In yesterday’s post I described the way Sinterklaas is celebrated in the Netherlands. Except I left something out. It’s kind of a biggie.
Sinterklaas has helpers. Originally there was just one helper, but soon there were at least two of them, and when Sinterklaas arrives in the Netherlands or in a town, there are lots of them. They are called Zwarte Piet–Black Pete or Black Peter.
These Zwarte Pieten are white people with black faces, bright red lips, afro wigs and big gold earrings, who wear Renaissance-style clown costumes.
image from googleplussuomi.com
I’ve written before about the influence religion has in American society, and how it sticks its nose in places it doesn’t belong, like the justice system, politics, government, public education and science.
I’ve also reposted this blog post by a woman who grew up in Russia. She points out the ironic similarities between the American Tea Party and Soviet Union ideologies. Continue reading
Posted in Science
Tagged education, Lysenko, Lysenkoism, onderwijs Amerika, opinie, Opinion, politics, Religious right, science, science education, wetenschap Amerika
Brigham Young
(image from biography.com)
Well, I’ll probably be banned from ever entering Utah for this, but here goes.
I just read The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff. It tells the somewhat parallel stories of two nineteenth wives: Ann Eliza Webb, wife of Brigham Young, the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints’ second leader in the 1870s, Continue reading
Posted in Books, History, Religion, Slavery, Society, University
Tagged Ann Eliza Webb, Ann Eliza Young, boeken, books, Brigham Young, Briham Young University, Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, David Ebershoff, godsdienst, Joseph Smith, LDS church, Mormonen, Mormons, opinie, Opinion, polygamy, religie, religion, The 19th Wife
In the late 60s Richard Proenneke built his own cabin in the Alaskan wilderness with only a few simple tools. He spent most of the rest of his life there. Sam Keith fleshed out Proenneke's diary of his first 16 months, when he was making his home by a lake. I love these kinds of books!
An old Oji-Cree healer and her nephew canoe down a river in Canada, away from the world of white people. They both have to come to terms with their past. The woman has lost most of her tribe and the young man is traumatized from his recent experience in the Belgian trenches of World War One. My second book by Boyden. Can't say enough about him.
An incredibly comprehensive history of everything related to slavery in the Southern United States, from the beginning of the colonies to the end of the Civil War. Over 700 pages and I took over 30 pages of notes. I will be sharing over many posts to come!
Hamid's debut novel. I love this author. A young man in Lahore, Pakistan, is the victim of love, drugs, obsession, the class system and his complete lack of self-awareness.
A golem, created in Poland and brought to life on a ship to America, and a jinni who was trapped in a flask a thousand years ago and released in New York -- the most unusual immigrants you'll ever meet.
The only part of her life a Korean woman can control is her body, so she withdraws into it. Harrowing.
Autobiography lightly disguised as a novel about the son of Southern migrants growing up on the streets of Harlem, New York City, in the 1940s and 50s. Written like you're hearing the whole story in a bar. Quite a feat.
The story of a man struggling to make a living in Morocco. No plot, no clearly defined characters, but fascinating in its authenticity.
Pakistani man tells an American about his experience as a college student and employee of an assessment firm in America years ago. Smart, nuanced and pretty darn honest considering the unreliable narrator.
Wow! The answer to the inane platitudes about how all parents love their children and how children should always respect their parents. The protagonist must come to terms with his deeply flawed immigrant parents in order to change himself.
Seven short stories about life during the Kim Il-sung regime, by a writer who still lives and works in North Korea, were smuggled out of the country and translated. Mind-boggling stuff.
A 15-year-old autistic narrator wants to know who killed a neighbor's dog, and ends up much further out of his comfort zone than he planned. Wonderful read!
In politics, education, religion, agriculture, business--it turns out that dumbing down has been here from the start.
Fifty years of Istanbul seen through the eyes of a street vendor who migrates to the city as a young boy. It's also a window into the complicated dance between men and women in Turkey.
Hey, don't laugh, at least I'm trying.
A Norwegian immigrant is cooped up with six other people on a tiny island off the coast of Maine all winter in 1873. A woman in the present researching the Norwegian immigrant is cooped up with three other people on a tiny sailboat. What could possibly go wrong?
A man stuck between two worlds in more ways than one. Fascinating!
Historical novel about early contacts between first nations and the French in Canada. Beautifully written story that doesn't pull any punches. I bought his other two novels right away.
Beautifully written. By my children's favorite English and Creative Writing teacher! It's got rave reviews and we're all very proud of her.
Suki Kim is a Korean-American journalist. She poses as an evangelical Christian posing as an English teacher at a school for the sons of North Korea's elite. Her experience and the information she manages to get via writing assignments are incredible. Definitely a lot more eye-opening that any CNN special.
This. Explains. Everything!!!
Why has Islam not undergone a reformation like Christianity? Why is it so easy for Islamic extremist groups like IS to recruit young muslims? What would it take for Islam in fundamentalist Islamic countries to enter modernity? Does the West have a role to play?
Amazing! A man wanders endlessly through a dreamscape, becoming other people, himself in the past, everything is fluid. Kafkaesque disconnect between people and their different needs.
A multi-layered novel about the history of Libya. A fast read, but one you can repeat and find something new each time.
Twelve Americans go missing in Burma/Myanmar during a tour. Touching and hilarious, but mostly hilarious.
The most unusual murder mystery I've ever read. Incredible writing. It haunted me for days.
The quote on the front mentions that these stories are exhilerating. I couldn't disagree more. They are almost unbearably painful to read, and yet I couldn't put them down. Very well done, apart from the third story, which is written in the second tense. Please let me know if you know of ONE story that works in second tense.
Rants, essays, and diatribes.
Fascism, Nationalism and Authoritarianism in U.S. History
He was in India. I was in Ireland. Now we're in Paris. New posts every week.
Making Sense of a Vexing and Perplexing World
Cogito Ergo Sum
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Explore Scotland through my stories, photos and videos. She's a beauty!
Wanderers on two wheels!
Quintin Lake's photographic Journey walking around Britain's Coast
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Amsterdam days and nights
196 countries, countless stories...
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Historian, Folklorist, Writer, Re-enactor, Museum Professional. Follow me on Twitter: @stuartorme
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een amerikaanse schrijft over liefde, ouderschap & volwassen worden in nederland
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the past in pop culture
a place to showcase
When will we ever learn?: Common sense and nonsense about today's public schools in America.
Rising from the ashes of domestic violence
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There are 5 sisters. She's the middlest.
Visual Arts from Canada & Around the World
Resident Alien -- Being Dutch in America 