The Sentinel Amsterdam vol 7-5

vol. 7 #5 – 7 January 2013

The Sentinel Amsterdam

Integrity, heart, humour

CULTURE PERSPECTIVES LIFESTYLES TRAVEL OPINION REVIEW TECHNOLOGY ART FILM MUSIC TRENDS RECOMMENDED SPORT

feature

perspectives: dam in 60 minutes!

BECOMING DUTCH: PART I

THE RED LIGHT DISTRICT

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in this issue

feature - p.04

perspectives - p.10

culture - p.32

Becoming Dutch: Part I

Dam in 60 minutes!

The Red Light District

Red Star lined Antwerp

‘Slowly but surely the age-old face of this city district will change’

‘A major transportation jump-off point’

amsterdam city life - p.55

technology - p.70

sport - p.74

Bring back...

User Interface: Words

The Gold Room

Plastic vigilance

‘Grandiloquent’

‘I simply wanted to ask how I went about becoming Dutch’

K: C A B G BRIN

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more café/bar review - p.48

star beer guide - p.56

sentinel recommended - p.58

Café Pelikaan (Antwerp)

Westvleteren 12

Bring back…!

spotted - p.60

film - p.61

trends - p.62

Where is this in Amsterdam?

Room2c

Nolitics in the Netherlands

perspectives - p.66

health & well-being - p.68

Basque lash

Purpose

The Sentinel Amsterdam

E-mail: sentinelpost@gmail.com Website: www.thesentinel.eu Contributors: valeria van Scimia, Sam van Dam, E.R. Muntrem, Dirkje Bakker-Pierre, Evelina Kvartunaite and Andrei Barburas

Editors: Gary Rudland & Denson Pierre Design, realisation and form: Andrei Barburas & no-Office.nl Webmaster: www.sio-bytes.tumblr.com Webhost: Amsterjammin.com

The Sentinel Amsterdam does not intentionally include unaccredited photos/illustrations that are subject to copyright.

If you consider your copyright to have been infringed, please contact us at sentinelpost@gmail.com.

All Red Star Line images, including cover, courtesy of Toerisme Vlaanderen en Brussel

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‘They just wanted me to have a legal address’

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g n i m o c e B : h c t u D I t Par

By Valeria van Scimia

As an Italian living in the Netherlands, I have never really understood the struggle of non-Europeans who wanted to obtain a passport to live here, or simply a visa. I mean, I felt for them but, as a European, I never had too many issues with the IND (the Dutch immigration department). They just wanted me to have a legal address and, once I had that, I could easily become a Dutch resident. I was still an Italian citizen but a resident of Amsterdam.

Europeans don’t really need a Dutch passport to work and live in the Netherlands but something occurred a few years ago that made me rethink the entire situation: the national Italian and Dutch parliamentary elections.

‘Lately and with greater maturity, I kind of want to make sure I have a little democratic voice somewhere’

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‘She didn’t like the fact that I spoke Dutch with an Italian accent’

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Just to be clear, when you’re just a ‘resident’ of a city and don’t have ‘nationality’, you cannot vote in the national elections; you can only vote in elections concerning the city in which you reside. This was all well and fine for a time and for several years I voted in the Italian elections by post. One year something weird happened, however. The letter that I should have received from Italy to vote, sent by the Italian government, arrived late. It arrived so late, in fact, that it was impossible to return it within the time allowed.

This didn’t just happen to me so, together with many Italians living abroad, we wrote a letter of complaint to the Italian Foreign Minister, based in Brussels, asking why this had happened and why nothing was being done about it. None of us received a reply. The matter made it into the newspapers for a day and then died an absolute death. Of course, at the same time I couldn’t vote in the Dutch parliamentary elections, because I was Italian.

That year I felt somehow deprived of my right to vote.

Now, usually this wouldn’t bother me but lately and with greater maturity, I kind of want to make sure I have a little democratic voice somewhere, be it in Italy or the Netherlands. Even if it is not directly for myself but to honour the people who died for all of us to have the right and freedom to vote; as a woman I feel even more strongly about this. At that point I started joking that I should become Dutch just to have the right to

vote. “How hard could it be to obtain Dutch nationality?” I thought, assuming that it would be easy for someone who already had indefinite permission (onbepaald verblijfsvergunning) to stay in the country.

So, off I went to the local, municipal office to seek more information. The first surprise was that the woman who was meant to ‘help’ me clearly didn’t like me. She came across as one of those civil servants assigned to deal only with nationality requests, and I am sorry to report that she is but a racist and incapable of dealing with people who are not ‘Dutch’ in the first place. Please allow me to explain. To start with, she didn’t like the fact that I spoke Dutch with an Italian accent, in response to which she switched to speaking English to me. The fact that I wished to be able to vote in the Netherlands also seemed to put her at unease. She probably thought “Oh no, another one that wants to fuck up the country”, and she could be right, but that’s another story.

I persisted, despite what I perceived her thoughts to be, based on her attitude, tone and other non-verbal clues. I simply wanted to ask how I went about becoming Dutch. I imagine she wanted to say “You don’t”, but instead she said “Well, even if you live (sic) here since 2000 and you speak Dutch, you’ll have to do an exam to prove you’re integrated or you do an inburgering cursus (civic integration course) with the exam and then you

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‘Even if you live (sic) here since 2000 and you speak Dutch, you’ll have to do an exam to prove you’re integrated’

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can come back to ask about becoming Dutch”. I was duly surprised with this answer because the authorities had published online that Europeans with an indefinite resident’s permit could apply for a Dutch passport directly. I reminded her of this but she just said no.

To play with her and the situation somewhat, I then asked what would happen if I was to marry my Dutch boyfriend. Would I then become Dutch? This irritated her greatly and she pointed out that this was not the United States and no, I would still need to do the exam, pay the fees and then become Dutch. In the course of saying this she almost literally threw some forms at me without even telling me what they were for. My goodness, she truly had a bad attitude and was so irritated; I was too. So much so, in fact, that I went home and called the information line stated on the forms and told them about the woman who had treated

me badly. I also asked for more information about how I might be able to vote in the Netherlands. The guy on the phone was much nicer and explained to me that there had been a recent rule change and that now everyone has to do the exam. He also explained very professionally that until December 2012, I could take a shorter version of the exam, available only to persons with a valid permit who speak good Dutch, which he thought I did ‘perfectly’. He asked me why I wanted to become Dutch and when I said it was because I wanted to vote, he found it a pretty good reason, so he signed me up for the short exam. I was on the conveyor belt and eager to become Dutch, partly because I want to vote and partly because I am tired of people like that woman treating me like crap. Now I just had to wait for the letter telling me where and when the examination would take place.

‘Until December 2012, I could take a shorter version of the exam, available only to persons with a valid permit who speak good Dutch’

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Je moet er geweest zijn.

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Authentic and full of surprises. That’s Mechelen. Hospitable and honourable. That’s the people of Mechelen. Come and experience the city’s urban charms for yourself.

Authentic and full of surprises. That’s Mechelen. Hospitable and honourable. That’s the people of Mechelen. Come and experience the city’s urban charms for yourself.

photography © Layla Aerts

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Mechelen Mechelen

perspectives

Dam in 60 minutes!

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The Red Light District

By Sam van Dam

perspectives

‘A long line of cafés, bars, restaurants and coffee shops welcome visitors’

It is some ten years since the political leaders of our city decided to transform this district into a more ‘familyfriendly adventure’, which doesn’t make us feel somewhat ashamed of our beloved hometown. Parts of the ‘traditional’ Red Light District have been remodelled and many buildings that used to house those infamous windows displaying winding and grinding ladies have been purchased and rededicated to art and fashion, creating a mix of old elements and stylish new ones. This is done under the umbrella of the so-called ‘Project 1012’; an ambitious plan to combat human trafficking in the sex industry. Certainly a laudable idea but one that has so far failed to attain its goal of shedding light on the dark underbelly of this line of business. Many sex-related businesses remain and the few windows featuring fashion seem easily overlooked by visitors to de Wallen, as this historic core of the old city is known locally. This could be because

the fashion addresses always seem to be closed and do not offer much, apart from a dress or skirt in the window that you can’t buy because, well, they’re always closed. Again, it’s a great idea to replace misery and modern-day slavery with refreshing and cutting-edge designer shops and artistic influences, but the overall impression is more that whoever devised this plan gave up halfway and walked away from it.

Some of the more infamous establishments, like Casa Rosso or the Banana Bar, are firmly anchored in their traditional role of captivating the attention of curious visitors with their oversized displays, photos and blinking signs inviting passersby inside for a look and maybe a drink. Graffiti marks the territory of spray-can artists, swans paddle through the canals and scantily clad and heavily made-up prostitutes wave and smile at the men walking past their illuminated windows. This window theatre appears to work by shining redness into the darkness, like a beacon of cosiness and desire.

Tourists and some locals seem to admire the ‘pretty faces’ with their fake smiles, some while puffing on joints, filling the air with massive clouds of marijuana smoke in their wake as they make their way around this giant, open-air amusement park. Families with kids walk around and every now and then a shady character will pop out of a dark alley and offer “Psst, psst, cocaine, ecstasy!”, just like in the old days.

Needless to say, they are not really selling what you can call illicit drugs, as it’s mostly ground up aspirin and suchlike. This ensures that if the police do arrest them they can’t be prosecuted for actual illegal drug trading.

A foolish tourist might purchase the most expensive cure for a headache ever, though.

Many of the (marijuana) coffee shops that remain, after numerous rounds of ‘sanitisation’, will soon have to close, either as part of ‘Project 1012’ or because they are within 250 metres of a school, in contravention of a new law. So, slowly but surely the age-old face of this city district will change and be replaced with a shiny new version, one which seems to be aimed at wealthier tourists instead of the young and wild crowd that, for now, still dominates the street scenery. Many new businesses will thrive serving this changed demographic, while many others will have to find other means of generating revenue, as they are, in a rather unsubtle manner, being simply expelled from their current locations; shut down by the political powers.

We’ll have to wait and see if this turns out to be a good thing for Amsterdam but, since we’re no longer able to change City Hall’s plan, all we can do is keep our fingers crossed that at least some of the age-old mystique and identity of our city remains intact.

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This time I am taking you on a little journey into a well-known part of Amsterdam: the world-famous Red Light District. As usual, we start at Central Station but, since our destination is very close by, we’ll safely lock the bike up somewhere and go for a stroll through one of the more seedy areas of the city. I walk over to the Prins Hendrikkade, along some of Amsterdam’s very first streets and then turn into the Warmoesstraat (said to be Amsterdam’s oldest street of all), where a long line of cafés, bars, restaurants and coffee shops welcome visitors. This particular street seems mostly to cater for Englishspeaking tourists’, arriving for Stag/Hen nights, among other pastimes, and offers plenty of varieties of beer and international delights. Moving past the localities boasting TV transmissions of English Premier League football matches, the gay part of the Warmoesstraat begins, featuring old and new shops and bars that entice homosexual tourists/locals alike, as well as those interested in finding out more about that world, to come on in and find a toy, movie or quirky souvenir that reflects the openminded Amsterdam attitude towards various lifestyles.

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‘‘Project 1012’; an ambitious plan to combat human trafficking in the sex industry’

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‘Rotate 360 degrees to take it all in’

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‘Replace misery and modern-day slavery with refreshing and cutting-edge designer shops’

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‘This window theatre appears to work by shining redness into the darkness, like a beacon of cosiness and desire’

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Świętokrzyskie - share the Magic

go to the website: swietokrzyskie.travel

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culture

‘Flee from ideological purging, to the freedom and opportunity for all’

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Red Star lined

p r e w t n A

By Denson Pierre

A combination of the trials and tribulations involved in preSecond World War continental European life led to mass emigration across the Atlantic Ocean, for those able to afford it and in desperate need to flee from ideological purging, to the freedom and opportunity for all, falsely advertised in the United States. Antwerp and the Red Star Line company played an important role as a major transportation jump-off point, by means of their mighty, class-divided passenger steamers.

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‘Wharves of Antwerp proved to be some of the more interesting bottlenecks in Europe’

The logistics, individual and family stories involved in this typically traumatic experience are deeply interesting and astonishingly numerous. The wharves of Antwerp proved to be some of the more interesting bottlenecks in Europe, for those heading much further west. With the recently erected Red Star Line Museum, situated within the otherwise expansive and now historical port/ harbour area, moving stories are told in great detail and interactivity. The museum sits in an area of the city that has gone through redevelopment and beautification to the point that it is now able to rival the more ancient city centre as a destination for cultural grazing and leisure.

Truly inspiring and easily arrived at, it is but weird to think that so many, including Albert Einstein, had to escape the suffocation of Europe from this very area in another age but not so long ago.

‘Able to rival the more ancient city centre as a destination for cultural grazing and leisure’

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On the following Sunday morning the idea was to visit the now finally completely refurbished and restored Antwerp Cathedral.

With our timing a bit off we managed to arrive while a service was still being held, so we wandered around the cathedral’s impressive From Metsijs to Rubens exhibition instead (running until December 2015).

During the afternoon we went on to traverse the entire city by open-top bus, allowing us to gain a full, sweeping overview in one Without stretching the point it is worth movement. This turned out to be a great suggesting that if you do visit Antwerp, you idea, despite the greyness of the weather, should do your best to combine it with a visit and we managed to beat the precipitation to this part of the city. It is an area lined by with the ease of a cabriolet. Antwerp is walkways with the magnificent MAS towering interesting and just the right size to keep new over everything like a Tetris puzzle about to inspiration within easy reach while culture be solved. You find yourself surrounded by an and holiday touring. The bus tour ends where extremely inviting range of coffee shops, it began; outside the central station where we lunch stops and, in the evening, fine food and board the express train back to Amsterdam. fascinating beers and wine. In fact, Het Until next time, Antwerp.

Duvels Genot (The Devil’s Delight), where we Partners on this final leg of the press trip: happily dined and watered that evening, fills me with a sense of romance when I think that redstarline.be/en mas.be the building looking over us like a sentinel hetduvelsgenot.be contains perhaps the most powerful selection antwerp-city-tours.be visitantwerpen.be and almost overflowing amount of fine art and installations to be found in the Lowlands.

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‘Perhaps the most powerful selection and almost overflowing amount of fine art and installations to be found in the Lowlands’

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‘Gain a full, sweeping overview in one movement’

cafe/bar review

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‘A perfect location and is easily linked to Amsterdam and Amsterdam-based visitors’

Café/Bar Review Café Pelikaan

cafe/bar review

‘Emphasis is clearly on the quality beers served’

By Denson Pierre

By Denson Pierre

We spread our wings to Antwerp for this particular review. Café Pelikaan has a perfect location and is easily linked to Amsterdam and Amsterdam-based visitors to Antwerp.

Pelikaan is an ‘all-comers’ brown café situated just in the shadow of the great cathedral, which always seems to be open, and operates like some sort of extension to the pedestrian zone in this historic core of the city. The café is usually well attended and, when the weather is decent enough, the terrace provides a great location for people watching, as well as comfortable and cosy carousing.

Ambiance A place with an authentic vibe that manages to combine tradition with a modern attitude and finish.

The emphasis is clearly on the quality beers served and your social skills. Rating 5 Staff/Regulars The bar is a one-person operation, mainly. The main man is a former high-level cyclist and a bit of a giant, Yves. Both Yves and his staff are always first to welcome

you and smile, then go about laying on the best of beer and chatty bar fun. The regulars always arrive with an open mind, looking for fun and good conversation.

Rating 5 Televised sport I am sure Yves hooks up a TV somehow when major sporting events are being broadcast but the truth is that sport, apart from the photos of Yves with his racing bikes back in the day, has never crossed my mind on the many occasions when there. For entertainment value alone: Rating 5 Pricing Fair and reasonable, especially when compared to central Amsterdam. Given the level of interaction with the bar tender and locals, you are also likely to be recommended a fine drink based on quality and not necessarily popularity, thus ending up in a bargain drinking situation of the highest order. Rating 4 Music If anything from the 1950s to the 1990s is your thing, then you may have a chance to sing along here. Always pleasant and fun stuff, and other music is available upon request. Rating 4 Smoking area provision Not many more glorious terrace and strolling areas exist in urban Europe. Rating 4 Total rating: 27/30

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Café Pelikaan Melkmarkt 14, Antwerp.

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‘Regulars always arrive with an open mind, looking for fun and good conversation’

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‘A bargain drinking situation of the highest order’

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B

amsterdam city life

: K C A B G N I R B Plastic vigilance

By Denson Pierre

proprietors and managers not making their presence more closely felt within their businesses, are borne out by the fact that these types of crime are usually carried out when just a couple youngsters are left in charge of rounding off the café, restaurant or bar’s business for the day. Believe it or not, this can sometimes involve young female students alone. They, and the young men cheap enough for management to allocate them longer hours, are ill-equipped in terms of street wisdom and a sense of serious responsibility, even if they do hold the keys to premises that may contain several thousands of euros.

Ameliorating this precarious state of affairs is easy.

First, staff must be properly educated and trained about A fair amount of blame must be apportioned to the the professional aspects and safety requirements of the proprietors of these establishments since, in most cases job, with which way too many are rather disengaged. (and there have been very many over the years), they Secondly, like banks and many other establishments are preventable. The bandit or gang waits until just after which have either been burnt or had the foresight to last drinks have been called and the stragglers cleared, create a safer environment, establishments should then simply walk in on unsuspecting employees, who limit the amount of cash they hold on the premises had not locked the door behind the last punter, while by encouraging electronic payments. These should they count and clean up. All the miscreants need do is become the norm in most premises, thus reducing the enter, produce a gun or another threatening weapon likelihood of violent crime. and demand that the cash be handed over. This usually includes a demand for the simple safe to be emptied Bring back the banks which, as of now, are making it too, given that the favourite time for these crimes possible to use your cash card much more easily and is on a Sunday at close of business, when the entire also for very small payments, all contact free. This may weekend’s takings is likely to be on the premises. also have the desirable side effect of helping to combat aspects of the greed-charged, black-cash economy In short, it is nothing unusual in a city of 800,000 still operating within certain branches of Amsterdam’s people, in a time of continued economic hardship for hospitality sector. many, that the actions of brazen thieves are brought into sharp focus. Some of the things I have been saying here over the past couple of years, concerning certain

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Last year was rounded off with a spate of robberies, some carried out by gun-toting wise guys on a few of the successfully operating restaurants and bars in the city.

This kind of crime is always very upsetting, of course, as we associate these establishments with fun, revelry and good food, and tend to forget that the silly pricing exploited in the city, these days, means that the criminally minded see hospitality businesses as the easiest of targets.

star beer guide

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Star Beer

star beer guide

The Sentinel Star beer guide

By Denson Pierre

Westvleteren 12

(A.B.V. 10.2%)

‘Intended to be savoured at cellar temperature, and allowing the fanfare to take place in your brain’ 57

There is a bit of nonsense going on these days with almost too many ‘Best of’ beer competitions all over the place. It makes it very difficult to attract newcomers to the range and quality of beer available when smaller brewers in particular seem more intent on making as many different kinds of beer to enter these contests than on specialising in one, two or three recipes and, in so doing, practicing the ultimate branding by taste signature. There are many ways to take alcohol and it is a shame that so many of the microbrewers offer too many beers from their stalls; it is a greedy form of marketing gone crazy and will certainly fizzle out over the next decade, as the energy wasted on a ravenous approach will again be exposed by the unchanging fact that to survive in a world of so much choice you need to be very good in the first place. It helps no one if a typical consumer takes your beer just the once, experiences it as at best average in quality and taste, and never recommends or samples your brew again.

Quality wins out every time in the long term.

On the other side of this dynamic some interestingly ‘commercial’ Cistercian monks in Westvleteren are turning out bottles of pure magic, which they do not even label; the cap provides the only guide to the contents. The 12 indicates the suggested storage and drinking temperature in degrees Celsius (12-16) before and after it has been released to the public, on a strictly controlled quota system. When one uses the term magic to describe beer it takes into consideration the entire back story and most definitely the outstanding end result, intended to be savoured at cellar temperature, and allowing the fanfare to take place in your brain. The monks do what they do as well as it can be done and I am sure their strategy is rooted in quality preservation and not in being part of the multi-focus and increasing number of beer festivals and awards mushrooming across the beer drinking zones of Europe and North America.

Westvleteren 12 is brewed by Brewery Vleteren, Belgium.

recommended

Cafe Bax 20/12/13

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ended Recomm

We find the best, most fun, most typical, exciting, or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you; an easy way to feel like a local.

recommended

To be seen and tasted

Fun, Drinking & Music

Cafe de Toog 1890’s grandeur fashioned into Amsterdam-West, grand, brown cafe-restaurant-cool. Classy drinks and meals. nicolaas Beetsstraat 142 hs Amsterdam www.cafedetoog.com

Parck Great fun, beautiful people and simply the best bar food in town!

Overtoom 428 Amsterdam www.cafeparck.nl

Mulligans Irish Music Bar Amsterdam’s best address for live Irish music: Five (5) nights a week! Check our agenda for upcoming sessions.

Amstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdam www.mulligans.nl

To Be Seen and Tasted

Connoisseurs Delight

To Be Seen and Tasted

Cafe restaurant Edel Cafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch, dinner or to simply enjoy a drink.

Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam.

Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam www.edelamsterdam.nl

Incanto A restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen.

Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with great feeling for nuance.

Amstel 2 Amsterdam www.restaurant-incanto.nl

Café Kostverloren Café Kostverloren is a contemporary cafe offering the cosiness of a saloon, an open kitchen and the intimacy of a living room.

The large terras is great for sunny days.

2e Kostverlorenkade 70 Amsterdam www.cafekostverloren.nl

Fun, Drinking & Music

To be seen and tasted

To be seen and tasted

Cafe-Restaurant Du Cap A spacious and tasty helping to the Mediterranean vibe within Amsterdam’s new ‘West End’ entertainment district.

Kwakersplein 2 Amsterdam www.du-cap.nl

Molly Malone’s An Irish pub as it should be and a home away from home! Cosy, friendly, and with its very own character!

Oudezijds Kolk 9 1012 AL Amsterdam www.facebook.com/pages/ Molly-Malones-Amsterdam/ 293030997411277

Fun, Drinking & Music

Connoisseurs Delight

Fun, drinking and music

Bax A cosy and friendly local café with a focus on special or interesting beers and good quality food. Open 7 days a week with a professional kitchen offering a lunch and dinner service.

Ten Katestraat 119 Amsterdam www.cafebax.nl

Café Rose Red You will not see and sample a better selection of the very best of European beer elsewhere.

Cordoeaniersstraat 16 Brugge www.caferosered.com

Gollem Gollem’s Proeflokaal, Gollem and Gollem II represent the best addresses serving the fullest range of top Belgian, Dutch and international beers in Amsterdam.

Overtoom 160-161 Amsterdam www.cafegollem.nl

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To be seen and tasted

Café Oporto Café Oporto is a traditional Amsterdam ‘brown cafe’. Welcoming tourists and regular customers alike, they offer televised sports, wifi and a wide range of reasonably priced beers and spirits.

Zoutsteeg 1 1012 LX Amsterdam www.cafeoporto.net

spotted

Where is this in Amsterdam?

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Answer to: sentinelpost@gmail.com

room2c

Room 2c film Ali (2001)

By dpmotions

Even if we have to deal with Will Smith for box-office appeal, this is an easily followed documentary film. It is all about the most turbulent decade in the life of arguably the baddest, best-known, civil rights agitator of them all.

Muhammad Ali’s present state of health reminds everyone that boxing could be called many things but gets a TKO as a sport. Michael Mann directs.

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Clockers (1995) From the (eventual) writer of The Wire, this Spike Leedirected, Martin Scorseseproduced movie takes a stark but stylish look at Newark’s black, drug dealing, gangland life and police excess of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Harvey Keitel leads the law enforcers with typical verve, while the soundtrack is a standout of late 20th-century urban and message-filled music.

By dpmotions

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trends

trends

Nolitics in the Netherlands ‘Our current political leaders seem to have created a giant black hole’

By Dirkje Bakker-Pierre

On any important issue that keeps our society busy or causes uproar there seems to be a general silent treatment, as if they hope things will just blow over.

Apart from the more extreme parties, which invariably voice their opinions loudly and with increasing gusto, expressing blatant (most of the time) extreme (-right) sentiments, and without even the slightest opposition or reaction from the powers that be. It is as if they are just crossing their fingers and hoping bad things will go away.

The most silent government this country has ever known is just letting things happen. If I were a poet, I might write here that the silence is growing into the loudest background noise I have ever heard. It seems to give certain groups more and more confidence that they can do and say whatever they like without ever having to take any responsibility.

Our current political leaders seem to have created a giant black hole in the middle of our country, into which things just disappear, never to be seen again: a kind of Hague Triangle. I sometimes catch myself wondering about who the real power brokers are. Was Balkenende the main protagonist? No, it turned out to

be someone with a less visible personality and no personal opinion, who makes the news only now and again, implying that the economy is looking up. No comment on traumatised refugees being kept in a former jail or camping in the cold; death threats and violence towards people who would like to change Zwarte Piet/Black Pete; poison in mandarin oranges; the worrying increase in extreme right and racist views; the giant fraud in healthcare, making it unaffordable; the high cost of energy; the complete dismantling of psychiatric care, leaving lost people wandering the streets; the impossible situations in which healthcare workers are supposed to do their underpaid jobs; or any of the subjects that actually concern the average Dutch person.

All we see in the media is the prime minister ‘coolly’ having a beer, ‘just like normal people’, fantasising about a blossoming economy, always in the same suit and tie (does he really only own one or does his wardrobe look like Donald Duck’s?) and always up for a laugh and a joke, trying desperately to appear relaxed and like ‘one of the boys’. Meanwhile, the silence is growing and we are lost in a wondrous combination of facelessness and a new phenomenon, in the shape of a mythical political triangle filled with dark matter and some chaotic theories. Eerie tumbleweeds are rolling around slowly in a vast and dusty political landscape formerly known as the Netherlands. Is it really worth it to become completely faceless while desperately trying to not lose face?

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A trend about which I have been wondering lately is the total lack of any interesting political news in the Netherlands. Since the elections it has gone completely quiet, except for extreme things like outbursts from the far right, profuse titbits about the personal life of the Prime Minister (he is single) and articles about how ministers travel to work; do they take the car, bike or use public transport (now this is exciting!)?

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perspectives

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Basque lash ‘As if weirdness were not exposable everywhere or were not to be cherished’

‘Restraint and humanity are ever harder to find at home in America’

By E.R. Muntrem

My previous piece for the Sentinel, in which I sounded down about the Basque country, made some of my friends grumpy. Apologies to Peezle and Arjen, who know the mountains and people there and who rightfully love it. Me too, actually. Walking the hills with Miss Skipper was priceless. I find it one of those regions of the world that takes hold of your imagination and won’t let go. But re-reading the article, I see that I focused too much on exposing the weirdness of small town life, as if weirdness were not exposable everywhere or were not to be cherished.

corporation in the world. It had a tough stretch just when I was in the area, its oldest division going out of business. But no one who worked for that division was laid off. Mondragon always finds work for its members and currently employs more than 100,000 people. For the cooperative, the point of capital is to serve people, not the other way around, and a CEO there can make no more than seven times what the average worker makes. To those in my home nation now calling the pope names for his questioning of unbridled capitalism, this kind of approach, encompassing such restraint and humanity, is sinful.

Restraint and humanity are ever harder to find at home in America. If you can spy on people, then why not spy on all the people?

In previous articles I have pointed to the ways in which American sensibilities are being smuggled into Indeed, I had planned to write not about the mountains Amsterdam via scooters and over-indulgent homes. The but about what was going on in the USA: the locals I speak with are obviously less worried about government shutdown and NSA omni-spying. In these things than me. Without giving up my sense of comparison, I might have mentioned Mondragon, a alarm about what’s sneaking up to the canals, I admit Basque cooperative business set up almost sixty years that the sickness which spawned the NSA’s overreach ago by a priest and now the largest worker-owned won’t incubate well in Amsterdam. A late night walk

perspectives

with a girl named Shakespeare (after we had spent the day in the museums) comes to mind as one of countless examples of why. Looking down we saw a middle-aged couple, he playing guitar she sitting at a table just in front of him, the room barely big enough to hold the scene. “No wonder they like still lifes,” she said, pointing out something obvious I’d never considered.

I’d mostly thought of Jane Jacobs and her idea that eyes on the street make a city safe. As a city of windows, Amsterdam feels safe, but the architecture also encourages its citizenry to offer up every day acts of beauty, anecdotes to a world full of ugly knowledge and unnecessary judgements. Not every moment merits being captured in paint and framed, of course, but starting with the windows and the biking, seeing and being seen are activities practiced in a healthy, even secure way in Amsterdam. It is an anti-spy city with everyone a little exposed already.

The kind of sickness that leads to the NSA spying on its own citizens is not born from an absurdly large military budget alone. In there too is that nervous notion of power, built on bravado and adolescent insecurity, some part of which emanates from the

suburban life America still idolises; the one that segments life into car trips and malls, and cul-de-sac homes full of hollow rooms but no hearth. It is a lifestyle that wants zero exposure but maximum privilege.

And it is a lifestyle the whole wired world feeds on and makes portable, captures as status quo. Yes, I need more dots to connect all this, but surely there is some spiritual-techno-what-the-hell-kind-of-life-are-we-livinganyway linkage between Facebook and the NSA. Everyone is your friend in the first, though this popularity provides little solace. In the latter you are just guilty, because you are everyone.

Well, since I’ve used windows as a defence of the city’s health, here’s one more vaguely connectable dot. What about the windows of the Red Light District? Do they somehow raise the city? What gets incubated there?

That’s for another column, but whatever liberties or enslavements women working there enjoy or suffer, they see as many people passing by them as the rest of us see looking at porn or YouTube or Tumblr. What streams by them is real, a world of spies in need of love.

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‘American sensibilities are being ‘America still idolises; the one that smuggled into Amsterdam via segments life into car trips and scooters and over-indulgent homes’ malls, and cul-de-sac homes full of hollow rooms but no hearth’

health & well-being

Purpose

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By Evelina Kvartunaite

precious you? This isn’t self-centered or selfish, it’s self-expansive, interconnected, conscious.

What if your purpose is to forgive yourself and others?

And by doing so, to allow warm waves of compassion to wash over the entire planet (yourself included).

What if your purpose is to gently heal all self-injury?

And by doing so, to become a mentor and role model for others to do the same.

What if your purpose is to release all shame and feelings of unworthiness? Guess what you’ll find behind those feelings? Vulnerability. Roll out the red carpet for the V word because vulnerability is where your true strength and glory resides.

Shall we talk about perfection? Yes, I think we must.

What if your purpose is to teach yourself that there is no such thing as perfection and that your neverending pursuit of it is destroying your life and relationships? Let it go.

What if your purpose is to speak kindly to yourself, so that you elevate your energy and the world around you?

What if your purpose is to take impeccable care of yourself, so that you have the energy and joy to serve others?

Following on from my ponderings on positivity in the previous issue, I decided to look deeper within myself. Not allowing anxiety to take over and just being better to myself. It’s all about finding purpose, the lack of which can lead to the ultimate anxiety.

Finding ourselves on the edge of change and being rewarded with a new 365 days is a good time to have a think about such matters.

Your purpose has nothing to do with what you do.

Purpose is about discovering and nurturing who you truly are, getting to know and love yourself at the deepest level, and guiding yourself back home when you lose your way. That’s it. Everything else is your burning passion, your inspired mission, your job, your love-fueled hobby, etc. Those things are powerful and essential, but they’re not your purpose.

It’s absolutely crucial to anchor your purpose within yourself. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself drifting out to sea again and again.

Just few thoughts for you to consider as I rush away to welcome and celebrate this New Year, while looking forward to all the greatness that is undoubtedly coming our way! Namaste.

What if your purpose is very different than what you’ve been taught to believe?

What if your purpose is to build an everlasting relationship with yourself? To fall deeply in love with

– ‘It’s all about finding purpose’ –

health & well-being

– ‘Being rewarded with a new 365 days is a good time to have a think’ –

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– ‘Anchor your purpose within yourself’ –

technology

‘It’s time to talk about words’

User Interface Words

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By Andrei Barburas

“So avoid using the word ‘very’ because it’s lazy. A man is not very tired, he is exhausted.

Don’t use very sad, use morose. Language was invented for one reason, boys – to woo women – and, in that endeavour, laziness will not do.” N.H. Kleinbaum – Dead Poets Society In our previous Sentinel encounter, we talked about colours; now it’s time to talk about words. Where and when did we lose them? Did we become so self-absorbed that, according to the publishers of the Oxford English Dictionary, ‘selfie’ is the word of the year for 2013?

Worry not, for I come bearing gifts. Let us all be a bit more grandiloquent in 2014 and use different words. I am not saying let’s become snobs but let’s at least try to make an effort in not using the most simple words all the time.

For your convenience, here’s a list of the 100 most beautiful words in English and their meaning, according to Robert Beard (yourdictionary.com).

‘‘Selfie’ is the word of the year for 2013?’

technology

‘I come bearing gifts’

A cat lover

Inglenook

A cosy nook by the hearth

Assemblage

A gathering

Insouciance

Blithe nonchalance

Becoming

Attractive

Inure

To become jaded

Beleaguer

To exhaust with attacks

Labyrinthine

Twisting and turning

Brood

To think alone

Lagniappe

A special kind of gift

Bucolic

In a lovely rural setting

Lagoon

A small gulf or inlet

Bungalow

A single-storey house

Languor

Listlessness, inactivity

Chatoyant

Like a cat’s eye

Lassitude

Weariness, listlessness

Comely

Attractive

Leisure

Free time

Conflate

To blend together

Lilt

To move musically

Cynosure

A focal point of admiration

Lissom

Slender and graceful

Dalliance

A brief love affair

Lithe

Slender and flexible

Demesne

Dominion, territory

Love

Deep affection

Demure

Shy and reserved

Mellifluous

Sweet sounding

Denouement

The resolution of a mystery

Moiety

One of two equal parts

Desuetude

Disuse

Mondegreen

A slip of the ear

Desultory

Slow, sluggish

Murmurous

Murmuring

Diaphanous

Filmy

Nemesis

An unconquerable archenemy

Dissemble

Deceive

Offing

Dulcet

Sweet, sugary

The sea between the horizon and the offshore

Ebullience

Bubbling enthusiasm

Onomatopoeia

A word that sounds like its meaning

Bubbly

Opulent

Lush, luxuriant

Flowering, blooming

Palimpsest

A manuscript written over earlier ones

Dropping a sound or syllable in a word

Panacea

A solution for all problems

A good potion

Panoply

A complete set

Eloquence

Beauty and persuasion in speech

Pastiche

Embrocation

Rubbing on a lotion

An art work combining materials from various sources

Emollient

A softener

Penumbra

Half-shadow

Ephemeral

Short-lived

Petrichor

The smell of earth after rain

Epiphany

A sudden revelation

Plethora

A large quantity

Erstwhile

At one time, for a time

Propinquity

An inclination

Ethereal

Gaseous, invisible but detectable

Pyrrhic

Successful with heavy losses

Evanescent

Vanishing quickly, lasting a very short time

Quintessential

Most essential

Ratatouille

A spicy French stew

Evocative

Suggestive

Ravel/unravel

To knit/take apart

Fetching

Pretty

Redolent

Fragrant

Felicity

Pleasantness

Riparian

By the bank of a stream

Forbearance

Withholding response to provocation

Ripple

A very small wave

Fugacious

Fleeting

Scintilla

A spark or very small thing

Furtive

Shifty, sneaky

Sempiternal

Eternal

Gambol

To skip or leap about joyfully

Seraglio

Glamour

Beauty

Rich, luxurious oriental palace or harem

Gossamer

The finest piece of thread, a spider’s silk

Serendipity

Finding something nice while looking for something else

Halcyon

Happy, sunny, care-free

Summery

Light, delicate or warm and sunny

Harbinger

Messenger with news of the future

Sumptuous

Lush, luxurious

Imbrication

Overlapping and forming a regular pattern

Surreptitious

Secretive, sneaky

Susquehanna

A river in Pennsylvania

Imbroglio

An altercation or complicated situation

Susurrous

Whispering, hissing

Talisman

A good luck charm

Imbue

To infuse, instil

Tintinnabulation Tinkling

Incipient

Beginning, in an early stage

Umbrella

Protection from sun or rain

Ineffable

Unutterable, inexpressible

Untoward

Unseemly, inappropriate

Ingénue

A naïve young woman

Vestigial

In trace amounts

Effervescent Efflorescence Elision Elixir

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Ailurophile

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sport

The Gold Room

By Denson Pierre

Many have wondered about the ‘mastery’ of fantasy football often mentioned in this column as being demonstrated in the FFG-CL. What is it, in fact, based upon? One of the most important tactics available to master managers is the selection of unique players, which we have started to highlight in the teams competing (see the table online).

These select players are now even more important to the potential overall performance of their teams. For one, they are unique and, as you can see, the banks of substitutes have been depleted to the point that not too much room remains for major surgery as we enter the second half of the season.

Budget management is another crucial skill to master, if you are to prosper in this competition. The FFG-CL team budget is set a full 5 million lower than in the conventional league (Sentinel Fantasy Football League).

In general, FFG-CL managers are so adept at tracking form, they very often make a mockery of the prices set for players in the initial administration. It is really all about positive scoring and potential, and not glamour signings.

At the time of writing (13/12/13), we find that despite the more restrictive budget placed upon FFG-CL managers, they have, in the main, been outscoring managers in the SFFL by a considerable margin. The top six FFG-CL managers are well ahead of the first-placed manager in the SFFL (using exactly the same pointscoring system). Indeed, the leader of the FFG-CL (754 points) is a mighty 81 points clear of the SFFL leader (673 points).

This is why we have qualification from the Sentinel Fantasy Football League to prepare aspirants for the master challenge that is the Fantasy Football Gold – Champions League. Master managers lie in wait.

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