bicyclemark

Queens Day HAs Not Left Yet

I promise this is the last post about celebrations here in Amsterdam. But considering the scale and unavoidable appeal, here’s my official post about Queen’s Day ’07. (cross posted from my sister blog, Trippist.com)
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One thing you may not hear about on Queen’s Day is the underlying spirit on the canals. Sure there are lots of drunken people, lots of loud music, tons of crap for sale, and plenty of men peeing in to canals. But what you may not hear about, and what Ive grown to love, is the spirit of sharing amongst boat people.

At some point all my passengers want off, so I pull over and off they go. Suddenly Im boating alone, trapped in the thickest boat traffic possible.. elbow to elbow with all kinds of people partying. And one after another, they all react the same way when they see me and my empty boat. “You’re alone? Why are you alone? You need to pick up people!” And then comes the second phase, “Here, have a beer. Here have this fruit. Here have cheese and cake.” Suddenly I’ve let go of the stick and people around me are pulling the boat along, from all sides, while I eat all this food people hand me.

And that is how it goes all afternoon long. At some point I want to give some love back, and just then – a boat pulls alongside me on the Amstel and asks “Do you have any beer?” I say nothing and hold up a wine bottle, handing it over to them. “Wait” they shout, grabbing my boat to keep me from floating away, “Have some wine with us”, I put the engine in neutral and drink a toast to the Amstel river. We chat for a bit about what canal is good to ride on at this hour, and then I speed away.

You’ll hear plenty of stories about Queen’s Day, and mostly they’ll paint it as one big mess. They’re not wrong. But on the canals, I know a different tradition, and its the real reason I like Queens Day.

Drag Queens Day

Normally I try to provide yee good readers with the occasional story/first hand account of what is happenning in this city of Amsterdam which I so love.

But today, on the eve of the biggest national mess of the year, I was so overbooked that I could not perform my duty as public internet servant. I did not make it to the drag queen olympics ’07. Dammit.

Fortunately we have the internet and Amsterdamers have all sorts of mobile blogging gadgets, even in their skimpy dresses. So full credit to the flickr members who took excellent photos which you can see here.

Myself I hereby vow to be there next year, standing at the finish line of the Stilleto Sprint, or watching them measure distances for the Handbag Throw.

For all the the terrible people who keep trying to change this country and this city, to make it into a bland, conformist, tourist trap. I’m proud and relieved that the Drag Queens are still here and the Olympic Flame burns on. Thank you ladies.

F Yeltsin

Seriously I never liked him and I don’t buy into the whole whitewash the US media gives the story of Russia’s “democratic revolution.” Plus I doubly hated how it was taught in US high school… those pages on Yeltsin, beyond the usual oder of US HS history books, stunk to high heaven. But nevermind my opinion based on facts….

You should read Matt Taibbi’s Rolling Stone piece. It is excellent and one day if I teach high school, I’m pasting in this article as required reading. On the test there will be questions about how much money Yeltsin stole from Russia, and a bonus question looking for a rough estimate as to how many people died thanks to his “democratic reforms”. Anyway I’ve said enough… read Matt.

Oh and if you still need good writing, in this case having nothing to do with fat glorified oligarchs, read Jamie’s latest… love his stories.

bmtv46 Remembering a Revolution

Click To Play

It’s the 33rd anniversary of the Portuguese Carnation Revolution. It was and still is, the single most inspiring moment in history. (for me) This vlog will explain further.

2 Minute Judgement

With the population of the world being as big as it is, I realize evaluating people for jobs, prizes, relationships, you-name-it; there is less time to spend on each person.

That said, I still hate it. A 1 page letter of motivation. A 2 minute audio sample. A 3 minute conversation over a drink at some party. Each of these is supposed to give someone an accurate idea of who I am, and then a judgment is to made based on that.

FUCK THAT.

The world is going to have to figure something else out, because humans are simply more complicated then these little allotted samples.

Recently my wonderful friends over at Radio Open Source, aka Public Radio in Boston, urged me to enter into the Public Radio Talent Search…. so I submitted my audio for judgment in a contest who’s winner gets money, and some other lovely support from the NPR world.

As a struggling journalist, obviously I could use such things. Plus I’m honored that they thought of me, so I entered. I grabbed a random 2 minutes from the NEw Orleans series, and submitted it. (click the link if you feel like voting) And even as I did it, I was thinking “2 minutes… thats it?” Two minutes does not explain what I do and why it matters. To be judged in 2 minutes, after almost 3 years of podcasting, 200 shows, 6 years of blogging, and untold experiences and studies… is to me.. preposterous.

But this is how the world works, so often. Universities and their methods for judging potential students. Employers and their demand for that “CV”, which of course they never read beyond the first page. So your life’s worth is then evaluated based on a piece of paper, or a few pieces of paper, maybe some testimony from 2 people. The horror.

Actually it reminds me of speed dating. Thats right, I’m a curious person and an amateur anthropologist, so I went to a speed dating debauchery not too long ago. And again, my first thought from the moment I arrived: I will not try and explain myself in 3 minutes. I am complex in what might be a very good way, but that complexity cannot and should not, be squashed into 3 minutes because the world doesn’t have time to listen.

So public radio, you’ve got my 2 minutes. While it is true that this struggling journalist could use your help, I don’t need you to tell me my work is worth something, and I certainly don’t need you in order to continue in this well established podcast that already has a wonderful relationship with a large group of people scattered throughout the world.

A mission statement

Speaking with Sijeka in London recently, for an upcoming podcast on the French elections, she mentioned opendemocracy.net. I was invited to write an entry for their blog “The Democratic Image”. And so I did, and as it turns out, I really enjoyed writing it and have been meaning to put these thoughts and facts into words, so go give it read please.

Here’s a quote, just for fun (its sad when you start quoting yourself)

It seems to me that despite all the potential that the internet and personal publishing in all its forms brings to the world, we are still in the primordial ooze stage of what could become a long media evolution.