Free writing day. Ad liberty to write. To speak my mind. It’s a writing prompt that feels like a challenge, a cumbersome one. While it is actually a luxury, the ultimate expression of freedom to be able to say and write want you want. It is for that reason that the freedom of speech is the most fundamental of human rights, taking priority to all other fundamental rights. And yet, those other rights of others keep me from writing freely. Will others be offended? Feel discriminated against? And although it isn’t a fundamental right: what if what they think badly about my writing and use their freedom of speech to express their opinion? Continue reading “Ad liberty to say”

Queen’s Day. It used to be the most important National holiday in the Netherlands, celebrating the queen’s birthday. Queen’s Beatrix’ birthday actually is in January, but she thought that was too cold a month for a birthday. You can’t get any more Dutch than that. Even though Queen’s Day was everywhere, it was a phenomenon that went past me most years. When I was little, we used the day off from work and school to visit my uncle who had his birthday on the same day. So no ‘oranjebitter’ or orange pastry for us. Instead, we munched away on Dutch-Indonesian … Continue reading Who’s afraid of red, white, blue and orange?