tit for tat

I confess. It was on the early morning of December 7th, 1979 -I was a lad of just 15- when I committed the misdemeanor of graffiti for the first and last time. On my way to grammar school, I scribbled the rather bland “Eet meer Freud” on the pillar of a department store. Of course, I was promptly arrested by the strong arm of the law, whisked away to the police station, encarcerated, questioned and ultimately sent to apologize to the shop-owner and offer my services to remove the last trace of my vandalistic outburst. I spent the rest of the day cleaning the marble column with vim. The real challenge of course was one day later, when I found out that the local newspaper had written a short entry on the whole event. The Dutch custom of protecting the anonimity of suspects by just using their initials miserably exposed me. Coming home to my avid newspaper-reading parents, I undoubtedly used an ingenious ploy to make the newspaper disappear, hoping they'd read past the whole thing. (Years later I found out they didn't and in fact enjoyed every minute of my desparate antics.) Now, thanks to the digitization of the local newspaper, my sins of youth are there for the world to see.

communist candy

Hubertus took some Russian candy from Magdeburg. It reminded me of the candy from behind the Iron curtain, I tasted when my parents visited Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, long long long before these countries ceased to excist. The taste of Ersatz made me think: "Is this the taste of socialism?"

Sicko | tropical suicide

Jetzt sind wir nur noch hübsch.

Alles Ordelijk. Evertyhing in Order. That was Pake Atze’s motto as you would find it in his Ex Libris. I got to know this motto as his grandson. As a little anarchist and natural chaotic I would be fascinated by the way he administered our family as if it was a parish or a borough. You’d also see the typical AO-logo on other personal items, such as the suitcases of my well-regulated granddad. It is ironic that this A in an O has been the symbol of anarchism since the turmoil of the Spanish civil war. I’ve never told this to Pake, but his astute sense for order and structure has found a well cherished place in my life.