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Art Zuid 2017: adding color
This week has been quite rainy in Amsterdam. It is normal for this time of the year and something we share, in terms of timing, with the Indian monsoon. While it pours there, it gusts and gushes here, big fat raindrops for company. If you are in the south of Amsterdam don’t miss the…
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Rijksmuseum visit – Summer 2017
The Rijksmuseum was in renovation mode for the longest time and when it opened its main doors to the public a few years back there was such awe and mystery surrounding the building. I have visited the museum several times, when it was not in the current building but off-location, as a tourist, as a…
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Owl Time of Year
Part 1 “I am an introvert,” Owl said. Followed by silence and Robin burst out laughing. “No, really, I am,” Owl insisted. “Oh ya! And, Obama is King of the World,” Robin got up and hugged me, while still chuckling. “Well, in a way he is. And, I am.” Sparrow had her hand over…
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Graphic Novels in the Classroom
Experiencing Fun Home by Alison Bechdel in Prof. dr. D.M. Oostdijk’s class, October 15, 2015. By Amrita Das “What’s lost in translation is the complexity of loss itself. In the same box where I found the photo of Roy, there’s one of Dad at about the same age” (Bechdel FH 120). Alison’s Bechdel’s graphic novel…
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Poem Unlimited, Augsburg
Over the weekend I attended and spoke at the Poem Unlimited Conference at Augsburg. The venue, the Augsburg University, has a beautiful campus. The trees were in Autumn hues. I was narrated the story of a duck family in the University pond. A ledge was removed from one of the campus buildings so to lessen…
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Talking to strangers
A few days back my aged taxi driver Abdullah informed me of how Hafez was far from being a purist, he was a diluter of true Persian culture, writing in an Arab form. He quoted Ferdowsi and said, “now he is the man to study for pure Persian literary gems – go read Ferdowsi and…
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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Being a strong woman isn’t remarkable, it’s normal
“Please do not twist yourself into shapes to please. Don’t do it. If someone likes that version of you, that version of you that is false and holds back, then they actually just like that twisted shape, and not you. And the world is such a gloriously multifaceted, diverse place that there are people in…
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Graphics from Marbles Mania, Depression, Michelangelo and Me
Graphics from Marbles.
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“Stop interrupting me.”
10 Words Every Girl Should Learn By Soraya Chemaly / alternet.org “Stop interrupting me.” “I just said that.” “No explanation needed.” [..] “Parents interrupt girls twice as often and hold them to stricter politeness norms. Teachers engage boys, who correctly see disruptive speech as a marker of dominant masculinity, more often and more dynamically than girls.”…
