I don't blog, I muse. And not even very regularly. Whenever the muse strikes.

The Child Inside

Today I caught a glimpse of myself as a young girl in a window pane as I was walking by. I noticed her pony tail swinging, the energy in her gait, the purposeful steps towards something exciting, the innate smile and giggle in the way she cocked her head - and just for a second I was that young girl again. It surprised me as I haven't been that girl for a long time. I catch a gimple of her sometimes, and I find it quite amusing to realise that according to some documented standard I'm a middle aged woman but can still see the child inside.

It made me reflect for a while. I grew up in the capital of the Netherlands, Amsterdam, and I remember what a playground it was when I was growing up. There was always something fun to see and do, a city alive and vibrant with sub cultures, music and art. I recall open air music concerts and theatre in the local parks, pavement drawings, gay pride parades almost every Saturday, alternative movies, fashion shows and performance art. I sometimes wonder how much of artistic style and attitude is related to my cultural heritage. Dutch people are resourceful, they have had to be over the centuries. There is also a huge art history ranging from the old masters to literature and architecture. How this translates in my artistic endeavors is that I will combine old techniques with new and a resourcefulness in the use of materials and elements. I miss scrounging in all the little shops and markets and be surrounded by national history in the buildings and the streets.

Being Dutch also means I am probably a bit of a rebel, and that was certainly present in my upbringing. From ages 13 - 18 I lived in a hippy community environment , in a brightly painted house in one of the oldest areas of Amsterdam. The house parents were Herman and Frieda, who collected a gaggle of misplaced, displaced and lost kids and tried to keep them from harm. We worked, we baked bread, we grew sprouts but most of all we were taught to question and debate. Politics, distribution of wealth, the environment were all topics to be discussed and sometimes demonstrated against LOL. And so I found myself rallying against nuclear arms in the 80's, and then working in environmental law when I was a bit older.

The piece on this page is called Green Piece for Greenpeace. I no longer work in the environmental area, but it is something close to my heart still.

Be kind to the earth, we do not own it, we have only borrowed it from our children.