Archives for the 'All things Dutch' Category
Saint Nicholas’ Eve treat: make your very own pepernoten
It’s an exciting time for Dutch people. Saint Nicholas’ Eve is approaching. Unfortunately, there are some things horribly wrong with the Dutch celebration of this great feast (and I’m not talking about the Eurotrash music here). But on a happier note, it’s also a time of delicious candy and chocolate letters. For those who want [...]
Trip to the Netherlands
I just returned from the Netherlands, my only trip there this year. As usual, I have some interesting observations to share. The first one starts in Chicago, at O’Hare’s airport security. The person in front of me had a really beaten-up, torn and tattered ID card from Arizona or some other state. The security officer [...]
Introducing Dutch Roots (beta)
As mentioned repeatedly, I have been working on a different Web project. Ever since that PBS show with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. I have traced down my own family roots and local history. The original plan was to make a regular Web site out of the data. Recently, I stopped working on that idea, as, [...]
One more reason to vote for Barack
Obama — who has seven half-brothers and half-sisters spread across more than 10,000 miles — has ancestors who were born in Kenya, England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany and the Netherlands, the Sun-Times found in an exhaustive look at the South Side Democratic presidential hopeful’s family history.
From the Chicago Sun-Times. The article also lists some sources [...]
Idyllic letters from Boerdonk
Just before last week’s trip to California I ordered three copies of an, I am sure to most people, unknown book. One for me, one for my mother, and one for my father-in-law. This book has some almost implausible personal connections: the author now resides in San Marcos, Texas (where my father-in-law was born), but [...]
The Subliminal Eagle
A year or two ago I was standing before the cage of a bald eagle in Lincoln Park Zoo. The poor bird is crippled and can’t fly anymore, so it just sits there. You can imagine my surprise when the lady next to me exclaimed in a nostalgic and patriotic mood that this was “the [...]
Meet the Dutch in Chicago
You might have already seen the tulips, artsy bike installations and windmills on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile these past weeks. If you were wondering, yes, that’s the doing of us Dutch people, in partnership with the Greater North Michigan Avenue Association.
Last Monday I went to the Dutch Consulate’s celebration of Koninginnedag or Queen’s Day at the [...]
Translating Dutch poetry
A while ago, someone at work approached me because his friend would love to go over some poetry translations with a native Dutch speaker. This friend, Stephen Frech, is working on translations of poems by Menno Wigman. Last night I had the second multi-hour session of delving deep into the poetry.
Although I speak both English [...]
Books for young people
Forward’s latest Podcast covers the importance of reading. I agree. Reading is one of the most important things public relations practitioners, or anyone for that matter, can do. I happened to have recently compiled a list of books I read when I was younger. When I visited the Netherlands last December, a movie version of [...]
Why are there no famous Dutch composers?
Today’s news of Jaap van Zweden’s appointment to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra as the next music director made me remember a thought I had the other day.
Last Monday I heard a piece by Dutch composer Louis Andriessen at the CSO’s MusicNOW concert. Andriessen is arguably the Netherlands’ best known contemporary composer, but other than Andriessen [...]
