It started out as a beautiful day, a day that, for some reason, promised it would give me the world and more. There were some distant clouds, but they did not bother me, they only emphasized the intensity of the blue sky and the deep blue waters of Lake Tahoe, they only highlighted the searing sun above me. I imagined myself floating on this crystal clear lake, warmed by the sun and cooled by fathomless depths. But then it all changed when I got word from across the ocean. Bad news. Not bad news as in death or doom, but bad news as in you just gave birth to a child and it is a beautiful child, just as beautiful as this day on…
Mina Witteman – author | editor | teacher of creative writing
Posts from the “The Views” Category
Palo Alto is where I took up residence for a couple of weeks, before I head down south to that famous city of angels and stars for a writer’s conference. From the outside it seems a quiet little town, but there is more to Palo Alto than meets the eye. Underneath, Palo Alto is a vibrant city that sucks you right into the country’s techno vortex. It is the home of Stanford University, the alma mater of more than a couple of successful entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. Yes, graduating from Stanford definitely enhances your life’s expectancy. But as you know life is closely related to death and at Stanford, too, life and death go hand in hand. Stanford’s namesake Leland Stanford Junior died in 1884…
Tagged: Death, Mausoleum, Mina Witteman, palo alto, Silicon Valley, Stanford, Stanford University
It was dead silent at The Farm. No one but me and the omnipresent sun were seen on the Main Quad, that seemed to have freed itself from the usual student mêlée and now oozed an eery quiet. Was it summer recess that had put campus life on hold? I crossed the quad, hoping to find refuge from the sun in the university’s inner sanctuary, but despite Paoletti’s molten silica on the church’s facade displaying Christ’s welcoming of the righteous to the kingdom of God, the bronze doors were uninvitingly shut. It contrasted sharply with the message I got earlier that day, when entering a bric-à-brac not too far from The Farm. At that time life still seemed Californian happy and sunny. Why had…
Tagged: Blood, California, Cardinal, corpse, Mina Witteman, Silicon Valley, Stanford University, The Farm, YA, Young Adult
The best way to start a day in San Francisco is to hike up one of its hills to get a bird’s view of the city. I decided on Twin Peaks and looking up from the Vista point I was welcomed with that classic San Francisco view: fog rolling in from the ocean, routed by a fierce wind, beheading all things small and tall in its course. I love fog and the way it plays you, giving you the world one moment only to take it away the next, closing in on you and narrowing your view to what it wants you to see, like this lonely cyclist. What does a cyclist do up on a windy and foggy hill? Why did he bring…
Tagged: fog, Mina Witteman, San Francisco, Twin Peaks, wind
Every now and again a writer needs to spread his wings and find new places for inspiration. I took my writer’s residence a couple of thousand miles away from its regular place and the orange madness, and settled down in Silicon Valley for the summer. Just swapped the old residence with another writer in desperate need of a change in scenery. On my first day out, I decided on a bike tour through the Bayland’s, a marvelous wetland area just east of Palo Alto and Mountain View. I cycled past the city’s outskirts, past a small lake and a golf course, past the last remnants of human presence and past what we tend to leave behind if we have no need for it anymore.…
Tagged: bay area, baylands, horse, Mina Witteman, mountain view, palo alto, pelicans, writers
Last Tuesday Amsterdam got surprised by one of the first actions of the newly installed mayor. Where the acting mayor had promised the people to pay tribute to the Dutch soccer team with a mass celebration on Museumplein and – but only if they would win the World Cup! – a canal cruise, the new kid on the block decided to honor the Dutch team with a canal cruise anyway. Strike while the iron is hot, he must have thought, that new kid. Of course he anticipated opposition to his plan, but he is a smart cookie, that new kid and he threw some orange dust in our eyes: it was not to honor the team, it was to spread the risks and the…
Tagged: Amsterdam, Football, Herengracht, Mina Witteman, Orange, WK 2010, World Championships
The venue was unusual: beach pavilion Zeezicht (Sea View) in IJmuiden. A wooden pavilion, built on high poles with magnificent views on one of the widest beaches in the Netherlands, on the IJmuiden jetties and the sea. The day was perfect for a wedding: bright blue skies, a glorious sun, lots of flowers and the air filled with happiness. It was perfect as it was, but it got even better. In the Netherlands we have an expression that says that your Prince Charming will arrive on a white horse. This groom arrived on a white horse and swept away his foxy lady in her golden gown to live happily ever after. So much happiness is good, but I am always on the look-out for…
Tagged: Atlantikwall, bunker, Children's Books, IJmuiden, Mina Witteman, strandpaviljoen Zeezicht, WWII, YA, Young Adult
Mina Witteman 