2023: An Open Letter

2023: An Open Letter

And just like that, 2023 is about to end. To be honest, I’m not sure if I want it to end. Because after some very difficult years, 2023 has been surprisingly good to me. Not only have I achieved some amazing milestones, I’ve also achieved one of my biggest goals in life: to just feel happy, which I did for most of the time. And that’s what I am most thankful for this year, because it’s not an average to me.

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The Say It With Music Challenge

The Say It With Music Challenge

‘Music is the language of the heart.’ It is a statement that many music lovers can probably agree with. The love of music is universal – with some exceptions. At the same time, people are storytellers. We tell stories about our lives, about events, about ideas, about each other. And in the end, we turn into a story ourselves when we leave this world. And yet. Yet we regularly have trouble finding the right words for our stories. As a result, we are all islands and can`t bridge the distance to each other.

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De Say It With Music Challenge (NL)

De Say It With Music Challenge (NL)

‘Muziek is de taal van het hart.’ Het is een uitspraak waarin veel muziekliefhebbers zich waarschijnlijk wel in kunnen vinden. De liefde voor muziek is universeel – uitzonderingen daargelaten. Tegelijkertijd zijn mensen verhalenvertellers. We vertellen verhalen over onze levens, over gebeurtenissen, over ideeën, over elkaar. En uiteindelijk veranderen we zelf in een verhaal wanneer we deze wereld verlaten. En toch. Toch hebben we regelmatig moeite de juiste woorden voor onze verhalen te vinden. Met als resultaat dat we allemaal een soort van eilandjes zijn en de afstand naar elkaar niet kunnen overbruggen.

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Virtual Roadblock

“I say a prayer for the motivation / Keep me solid so I stay on track”

The start of a new year is nothing but the start of a new day. Often tired, sometimes energetic. But other than that, very little has changed. New year, same nonsense. But this year it seems like the new year has been a virtual barrier after all, at least for me. A road barrier, through which you have made your way through with difficulty between the blocking cars and spike strips, without causing damage, while your attacking pursuers have been held up.  As a result, you start the year with a head start.

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Virtuele Wegversperring

“I say a prayer for the motivation / Keep me solid so I stay on track”

Het begin van een nieuw jaar is niets anders dan het begin van een nieuwe dag. Vaak moe, soms energiek. Maar verder is er vrij weinig veranderd. Nieuw jaar, zelfde onzin. Maar dit jaar lijkt het alsof het nieuwe jaartal toch een virtuele barrière is geweest, voor mij in ieder geval. Een wegafzetting, waar je zelf met moeite tussen de blokkerende auto’s en spijkermatten een weg doorheen hebt gebaand, zowaar zonder schade te maken, terwijl je belagende achtervolgers wel zijn opgehouden. Met als resultaat dat je het jaar begint met een voorsprong.

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2022: An Open Letter

2022: An Open Letter

2022: An Open Letter

“How I wish I could walk through the doors of my mind | Hold memory close at hand | Help me understand the years”[1]

It’s the final day of the year again, which means we’re once again going to take a walk through my mind. Through memories and thoughts. Thoughts on this year, thoughts on the years before. Thoughts on the future years, starting with the next one. I’m not sure they help me understand them, but we can have at least one last walk of the year.

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A Plea Against Karma

“We do not have the ideal world, such as we would like, where morality is easy because cognition is easy. Where one can do right with no effort because he can detect the obvious.” | Philip K. Dick – The Man in the High Castle (p. 216)

If you ask someone if they think they are a good person, chances are they’ll give an affirmative response. After all, we consider ourselves an above-average good person, just like we find ourselves above-average funny and above-average nice (which is of course paradoxical and therefore not possible). But why would we want to be good people anyway? Life has shown often enough that people can get away with a lot of bad deeds. Does something like karma even exist, or is it a utopian illusion of which we’d wish it’d exist? And yet many of us try to be good, only to be disappointed and pained over and over again when something bad happens to us. Where we ask ourselves the question: …

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Een Pleidooi Tegen Karma

“We do not have the ideal world, such as we would like, where morality is easy because cognition is easy. Where one can do right with no effort because he can detect the obvious.” | Philip K. Dick – The Man in the High Castle (p. 216)

Als je iemand vraagt of diegene van zichzelf vindt dat die een goed persoon is, dan is de kans groot dat diegene daar een bevestigende reactie op geeft. We vinden onszelf immers een bovengemiddeld goed mens, net als dat we onszelf bovengemiddeld grappig en bovengemiddeld leuk vinden (wat uiteraard paradoxaal en daardoor niet mogelijk is). Maar waarom zouden we eigenlijk een goed mens willen zijn? Het leven heeft vaak genoeg laten zien dat mensen met veel slechte daden kunnen wegkomen. Bestaat iets als karma eigenlijk wel, of is het een utopische illusie waarvan we dolgraag zouden willen dat die bestond? En toch proberen velen van ons goed te zijn, maar worden we vervolgens keer op keer teleurgesteld en gepijnigd wanneer ons iets slechts overkomt. Waarbij we onszelf de vraag stellen: …

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2021: An Open Letter

2021: An Open Letter

A year ago I wrote and performed an end-of-the-year-speech for the first time. It was called ‘United In Silence’, which refers to the many losses of 2020. And also that even though silence is universal, the silence from a specific human being is personal. And here I am, for the sixth year in a row, changing my personal silence into my personal voice. Putting words on paper, not sure yet which words will appear.

Words can change everything, but, at the same time, they can’t change anything at all. When said or written, they can travel through space and time. They’re easily gone or forgotten, but at the same time they can stay forever.

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Coin-cidental Question

I’m in a bar, when suddenly a half-drunk man comes up to me and asks me the following question: “If you were a coin, which coin would you be?” It’s a very random question at a very random moment. But I can’t let it go. Because if I were a coin, what coin would I be? Would I be a two euros, because I have a heart of gold? Would I be a one euro cent because I’m invisible and worth nothing? Would I be a twenty cents because I look unique? Would I be a ten cents because I am a ten? Or just five cents, because I’m just not enough? Would I be a one euro piece because I always present myself beautifully on the outside, but often feel gray inside? Or would I be a fifty cents, used for anything and everything?

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