JdR. Podcast

I didn't write for quite a while but now I did it again... Oops! It's another introspective column. Why? And why not a story? It could be so much more relatable for listeners and readers, you self-absorbed fool! Well, I tried to answer those questions in this fourteenth column.

This poem is an allusion to the insecure corona-situation. It's about waiting in confinement, though not directly undergoing the storm, still waiting for better days.

Een nieuwe categorie van teksten voor de JdR. Podcast! Dit is een kort gedichtje over het immer aanwezige geluid in ieders hoofd (of althans dat van mij), des te meer in tijden als vandaag.

This is the continuation of the story I started on the previous podcast episode (if you haven't listened to that one, you better check it out first). It's all uhm... experimental.

The key feeling I tried to build the two-parter short story around was one of disorientation. I think I definitely succeeded at making this messy enough to disorient the listener.

I asked Instagram followers to suggest any word at all I had to use in a coherent text. I received seven responses.

I decided to challenge myself and write a short story. This is the first part of the story, featuring three of the seven words. I don't really know where this is going so I will give my Instagram followers two plot choices for part 2, that will feature the remaining four words.

The seven words are:

Shenenigan

Test

Jeopardize

Discombobulated

Magnetism

Prank

Protozaorio

Another covid-driven column, this time in English and a bit more experimental than my previous one in Dutch.

Asking friends on Instagram to give me title suggestions to start a text from, this is what came out. I thankfully used the suggestion "A cobra in the trees" because snakes have so much symbolic power.

During the times of Covid-19, people like me have too much time alone with their minds which, at least in my case, leads to anxious thoughts on how to build a succesful future. Meanwhile, we are all potentially dangerous cobras to one another, possibly carrying the dreaded poison (virus).

That is what the text is about. I hope it comes out and hope you like it.

Thanks for listening.

Een in deze tijden bijna obligate tekst, zogezegd over corona en wat het met een mens doet. Zo hoort het immers voor elk zichzelf respecterende blogger, podcaster of belangrijk publieke intellectueel. Dus ook voor mij natuurlijk.

This eleventh column is a rumination on the importance of expressing my thoughts, no matter how unsophisticated they might be. Expressing them might come with some embarassement sooner or later (just like this column might), but at least getting the thoughts out there helps to give them more shape, and as a result helps me to occupy some space... Often it turns out that's all people expect from one another. Who knew...

This is the fourth column I wrote in English. It is about the persisting struggle to live in the moment. It's consequently also about the search for the mental sweet spot that allows a person to ignore just enough of its own flaws to be productive and also courageous enough to surmount doubts and just be and who knows, create... Not in the future but right now.

April edition. A text about... well, not much really. Basically, just about how I have noticed we could all listen more to each other and be much better friends to each other. Don't look for too much coherence in this one. It'll drive you nuts.