Mina Witteman – author | editor | teacher of creative writing

Posts tagged “Herengracht

Amsterdam view: PLeaSe!

Posted on August 26, 2010

What to do when it is raining the proverbial cats and dogs? In my writer’s residence that isn’t a very hard question. Rain is an almost daily constant in our ecosystem. It keeps our land flat and wet, just the way we like it. So, we continue life as if this dreariness and gloom doesn’t exist. We dress up in various forms of water-repellants and water-resistants, and we go about our business as usual. We take out our finest umbrella’s and meet with our friends on the bridge for a chat, just like we would do on a sunny day, wearing our favorite miniskirts and halter-tops. Or we get out our cane and take our daily stroll, this time protecting our suit with a…

Amsterdam view: sunset transformation of a church

Posted on August 23, 2010

My little writer’s boat did a good job during the 2010 Sail celebration. Small but sturdy it took me to every nook and cranny of the Amsterdam water systems. Together we cruised the canals from Herengracht to Reguliersgracht, from Keizersgracht to Lauriergracht and on to Prinsengracht. We crossed the Amstel river. We even sailed the Amsterdam-Rijn canal and the IJ to dock at the Verbindingsdam between Java Island and the main land. At the Lloyd I enjoyed a gig of my favorite funkadelic hiphop band PLeaSe. You will most definitely hear more of them as they are without doubt The Next Best Band and they will feature in my new YA novel! After an outstanding, energetic and energizing PLeaSe performance – they twice played my…

Amsterdam view: Published! Again!

Posted on August 19, 2010

It was a happy day, here at my writer’s residence in Amsterdam. I’d been working on The Pot Boat, my new YA novel, getting into a – not too literal – pot flow and drawing up questions for my esteemed science connection about tappin’ ‘n volts ‘n watts. I know, I know, once I was a science girl, too, but most of that priceless stuff they put in my in head in high school, kinda got lost along the way. I need my facts straight, so I turned to the best high school science teacher in Amsterdam and far beyond (he’ll be in the book!) to guide me along electrocution’s fine lines. So there I was, at my desk thinking up all the questions…

Californian View: something old, something new…

Posted on August 18, 2010

For some people it is comforting to be surrounded by what they know, to do the things they’ve always done and live a life without surprises. Leave everything as it is and don’t ask questions. For them change is a scary process, a frightening journey into the dark unknown. If changes occur they – often subconsciously – try to block it. They cling to the familiar and won’t let go. It’s easy to laugh at them, but I realize that – deep down in my heart – I’m one of them. Even though I like a road less traveled, I have difficulties going off the beaten track. In hiking and biking I usually keep to the trails and in daily life I shop at…

Amsterdam View: Escape

Posted on August 13, 2010

Arriving back in Amsterdam after a vacation in the States, I always find it difficult to adapt. I so dearly miss the abundance of space, the impressive nature, the silence. I miss the gentler pace of vacation time. Amsterdam, so picturesque for most of the year, suddenly feels claustrophobic. The city seems crowded and cramped and suffocatingly tight. It is packed with cars, with bikes, boats, pedestrians, and most of them seem to feel the need to overrun you in their hurried and everlasting pursuit of more space. When the sun comes out, the crowd seems to grow exponentially, rapidly covering every available inch of the city like a fast growing fungus on damp walls. The crowds spread out over parks, they take over…

Amsterdam View: An Orange-clad View

Posted on July 14, 2010

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…

Arizonan View: Tsé Bit’Aí

Posted on July 3, 2010

This was the first view at that magnificent monolith the Diné call Tsé Bit’Aí, or the Rock with Wings. Hiking high up in the Chuska Mountains I could see why legend tells these are the petrified remains of a giant bird. It is said that this is the bird that brought the Diné from the north to the Dinetah, their current homeland. It crashed here, in the middle of a rock desert in Four Corners and turned to stone. Getting closer to Tsé Bit’Aí I encountered some of the more gruesome sides of this beautiful land. Bones, bleached by the unrelenting sun, and left on red earth reminded me that life and death were ever so close to each other. The bones also reminded…