DETAILS
Donate $50 or more to UNICEF and enter for a chance to win a Couture Shoot {Boudoir, Couples, Maternity, etc.} with Jennifer Skog and Maria Chang. A Couture Shoot is an editorial style photo shoot with wardrobe styling by Maria Chang of PMA. The photo shoot may take place in your neck of the woods or ours in the SF Bay Area – it’s up to you!

Simply complete the online UNICEF donation form, make the donation and wait to receive a donation confirmation email. Once you receive the confirmation email {it takes a few minutes to receive} forward it to studio@jenniferskog.com. The confirmation email will be your official entry form for the contest.

We will be accepting entries through February 14th, 2010 {Valentine’s Day}.

{DONATE NOW}

TERMS AND CONDITIONS
- Entries must be with the official UNICEF donation confirmation letter. Donations must be made online between February 1, 2010 and February 14th, 2010.

- Donations must be made directly thru UNICEF to guarantee 100% of donation goes to them. {Do not send money to us}

- Donations must be $50 or more.

- Multiple entries are allowed. {more chance to win}

- The prize value is $2,000 and is for photo shoot only; no proof, discs, or prints are included. All products are sold separately. No purchase necessary.

- The photo shoot will be scheduled depending on Jennifer Skog schedule & availability.

- The winner will be announced by March 1st, 2010.

- This contest is available Internationally, however the photo shoot is only available within the US.

- The winner will be determined by random drawing.

To read more about Jennifer Skog: http://www.skogasinvogue.com/

Image by Ash Imagery (Philadelphia Photographer)

“Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be….”

Robert Browning

Bram and I are officially back in the Netherlands, grateful to be back in the comfort of our own “home” and relieved to get back to the “working world”.  After all, there’s only so much of being in San Francisco, amidst wedding planning and family stress that one can take. We will always have a special place in our heart for the City by the Bay, but for now, we belong in the Low Countries.( Front view of our neighborhood, with our apartment on the right)

What I least expected was to be living in a foreign land blanketed with snow, and the general havoc that would result from problems with transportation and lack of salt.  Nonetheless, I am trying my best to have a better attitude towards a momentary nuisance and in due time, Spring will be right around the corner.

(In front of my  in-law’s house facing a river. Charming neighborhood isn’t it?)

I am sincerely grateful for having a wonderful loving fiancé, a roof over my head, supportive friends and a promising and unforgettable new year ahead.  After all, this is the year we are getting married and starting a whole new chapter in our lives.

Sometimes life is all about taking a leap of faith and learning to embrace opportunities and the life we have now rather than living in perpetual regret about certain choices we made and wishing for a different life. A dear friend of mine posted on her status, an all too honest, relevant truth:

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.” {Helen Keller}

With that said, its time for me to pursue whole-heartedly a dream that I’ve had my heart set on for a while, but not enough courage to do so. It also means that for now and for the next 8 weeks I’ll disappear in the real world and make occasional guest appearances in the digital world.

Until then, all the best and wishing you a Happy, happy New Year from Dutch Winter WonderLand!

Continued from Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet (I) and Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet (II), directly extracted from Jim Crow Ferris State University Who Is  Black Peter?

Writer Tonny van Renterghem states in the book When Santa was a Shaman (1995) that the image of Black Peter leads to confusing accusations of racism. Van Renterghem claims that the solution to this confusion is simple; we should return to the old image of Black Peter, which is not a caricature of a ‘Negro’. He bypasses the content of the criticism by pointing to a vague notion of the figure’s authenticity. He recognises the racial features of the modern Black Peter while claiming it’s all a matter of mistake: If we could only see Black Peter’s “real” identity and return back to this. In the mean time we are stucked with the realness of the caricature. Notions about an authentic identity of Black Peter does not lead us out of the power relations that make racist images possible. When we deconstruct the myth of Saint Nicholas and Black Peter we discover the conviction that blacks are inferior, a conviction that does not stand on its own but as we all know is still translated as truth in certain academia, popular media and politics. By including race thinking in the ritual it becomes part of the attributes of a power structure. In it’s recent form it shows us how power relations can be read in Dutch multicultural society. This is not only evident through the ritual itself but especially through the public debate about the imagery of the white master and his black servant.

The first voices that protested against Black Peter came from the former Dutch colony Surinam where the holiday was also a national celebration. When Surinam received its status of independence in 1975, the black slave was abolished. A new movement came into existence that searched for new positive images of black people. Representations of blacks as docile and submissive were no longer accepted. “Saint Nicholas” was changed into a black figure called “Good Father” and accompanied by black “employees”. This change may seem minor but also in Surinam the myth of the white saint and his black slave was difficult to contest or criticise. For example, in 1970 writer Astrid Roemer was a High School teacher who refused to celebrate the holiday at school. She talked to her colleques and the principle of the school, but they refused to listen to her arguments. The day of the celebration she did not appear at the school. She was fired the next day.

In the seventies a lot of Surinamese people migrated to the Netherlands due to the political circumstances in their home country. Their presence led to a re-evaluation of the ways the Dutch dealt with their colonial history and their images of black people. Again Black Peter was scrutinised, only this time in a context where the majority of society was white. Blacks had already experienced the insult of hearing “Black Peter!” shouted at them on the streets in Paramaribo (as they were associated with the figure), but the person shouting was often black himself. In the Netherlands they entered a society that hardly knew anything about them; the only images white people were familiar with were stereotypes like ‘Black Peter’. In response to the insult of the stereotype some Surinamese people refused to send their children to school when “Saint Nicholas” was celebrated, others urged for alternatives like a red or blue “Peter” in stead of a black one. For a while the yellow, blue, red painted versions of “Black Peter” were successful but as the protest-voices declined the Black version of Peter dominated the eighties.

In the Netherlands 17 percent of its citizens are people of ‘color’ right now. Most people are from former colonies like Indonesia and Surinam but a lot of people have their roots in Morocco and Turkey. They were drafted to do factory-work in Holland during the seventies with the idea that they would return home after a few years. But history decided otherwise; their wives and children joined them later and together they started a new future. This 17 percent of citizens are called “Allochtonen”, a combination of two Greek words that literally means; “from another world, earth”. This definition of citizenship is problematic in itself because it denies everyone who isn’t white, Dutch membership. The ‘allochtoon’ is the Other; the ones who are usually discussed as a problem population by the media, in the political sphere and academia; all of which are pre-dominantly white and male. The ‘allochtonen’ are located in the so-called ‘multicultural’ society that exists in juxtaposition to the ‘Dutch society’, the domain of ‘Dutch’ people also called ‘Autochtones’ which means “from this earth”.

The dualist relationship in which the two groups are locked in characterises the way Dutch society deals with the identities of her citizens. One can be Dutch by passport but that doesn’t mean one can automatically claim the national identity of ‘Dutchman’. For this identity the main condition is that one simply is White or looks White. Although whiteness determines whether one can claim the national identity, the effects of this ethnic factor are not being acknowledged. The ethnic factor and its power effects become invisible as it’s turned into an neutral universal category (that sets the norm) by particularising the identity of the Other; the migrant, her children ànd grandchildren. The identities of non-whites versus “Dutch” people are defined in terms of difference, dichotomies: the Allochtoon becomes everything the white Dutch person, the Autochtoon, is not.

This is problematic when it comes to having an active role in the way the nation-state should be organised. Although we are officially all equal, membership counts when it comes to public deliberation. The second rate citizenship of the ‘Other’ was also used as a strategy in the debate on Black Peter.

While there were always people, black and white, who individually protested against the celebration, the protest got organised in1995 by a group of second and third generation migrants. Contrary to their parents or grandparents they are born in the Netherlands, not limited by the idea that they are “guests”, having to conform to the symbols of a “host” which they find insulting. They are part of a generation of people that demands a place in Dutch society much more forcefully. Because of their input the discussion became a national one in 1996 in the sense that it was being discussed on television, in newspapers and schools.

The critics of Black Pete were repeatedly confronted with the argument that ‘they’ did not have the right to critique ‘Dutch tradition’ because they weren’t ‘Dutch’. The discussion was being polarised as if the different opinions were divided along ‘racial’ lines. The argument is as follows: as an ‘allochtoon’, a ‘migrant’, one has to accept the Dutch ‘traditions’. Just as a ‘Dutch’ person would have to accept local traditions when they lived in ‘another’ country. The logic here is that it’s not their country and culture that the youngsters are criticizing.

By ascribing second-rate citizenship to the critics who aren’t considered “Dutch”, the authority of the speaker is undermined. On the other hand when it appears that the critic is white, he or she is often being marginalized as being “political correct”, which is used as a contemptuous term. The letters in the newspapers and on the internet were in general very emotional, reflecting a fear that ‘Dutch’ culture is being ‘threatened’ by ‘foreigners’ The main arguments were:

• The holiday is a celebration for children and children aren’t racist.
• It’s a matter of ‘tradition’ (that certainly can’t be changed by ‘Foreigners’).
• The critics are the ones who make it racist.

The refusal to listen to counter-arguments and reply those with substantial criticism (in stead of ridiculing or marginalizing them) reflects an insensibility for the opinion of a minority. The portrayed image of the Netherlands as being “the most tolerant nation in the world” makes a critical self-reflection also very difficult: every accusation of racism is beforehand answered with denial.

One could say that the real problem in the Netherlands is not Black Peter, but for example the fact that the unemploymancy rate among colored people is ten times higher than whites. Of course the real problem is not Black Peter in itself. The debate about Black Peter and the white Saint however, is a discussion about citizenship, identity, and racism. And because this discussion does not take place behind closed doors between politicians and intellectuals only, but in schools, between colleques, family-members and friends, it offers us a chance to challenge old conceptions of self and other at many different levels. However, this annual debate is not sufficient to change things, but it can lead to more activism, a critical outlook and recognition of those situations where the same strategies of marginalization are being used. The Black servant and his White master can not be isolated from the social context, Dutch society, in which they exist.

During one of those lazy morning breakfast with sleep still under our eyes and zoning out to BBC news, Bram and I couldn’t help notice that all the presenters were wearing what appeared to be plastic red flowers on their lapels.

It was as if they were worn in solidarity for a greater cause. My infamous curiosity once again couldn’t resist trying to figure out what was behind these adorable flowers so proudly worn on their lapels. It didn’t take too long to find out that the red flower is actually an artificial Poppy worn by the British to commemorate their fellow brethren who fought and are still fighting wars for their country on Remembrance Day, November 11th. On that blessed November 11th morning of 1918, an armistice was signed in Compiègne, Northern France putting an end to World War I. The poppies are sold by the Royal British Legion, a charity dedicated to helping war veterans and the price of each poppy is based on each individual’s generosity.

To avoid what is labeled as “competitive poppy wearing“, the BBC presenters were given a mandate that they could only be worn from 6am on October 24 until 11:59pm on Wednesday November 11.  Poppy wearing has become so ingrained in the British culture that there is even an official etiquette guideline about the do’s and dont’s in regards to poppy wearing.

According to the etiquette guideline, the tradition of Poppy wearing was actually started from across the pond, by an American teacher named Moina Bell Michael who sold silk poppies to raise money for the ex-service community. Surprisingly, by 1920, the United States declared the poppy as the national emblem of remembrance. It was later adopted a year later in 1921 by their British counterparts, signifying the first “Poppy Day” throughout the Common Wealth.

Why a poppy to signify Remembrance Day? A little bit more of research led me to the bitter sweet story of how millions of poppies bloomed in fields (the Western Front) where the battles were fought. Stories passed down from generation to generation claim that all the fighting churned up so much soil that allowed thousands upon thousands of poppy seeds to finally take hold and bloom like never before. Internet legend holds that the most infamous bloom of poppies in the war was in Ypres, a town in Flanders,Belgium crucial to the Allied defense. Canadian physician Major John McCrae was so moved by the ironically beautiful display of poppies swaying in fields where only moments (months) before was once was so much bloodshed, of lives lost and dreams erased, that he wrote what was arguably the most famous war poem, “In Flanders Fields”.

{Image courtesy of Hartmut-Lerch}

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

First stanza of “In Flanders Fields”
by Major John McCrae (1872-1918)

Though I personally do not know anyone who fought in World War I, I do know how it feels to have a loved one fight in a war and the constant uncertainty and worry that permeates your whole being while you anxiously and silently wait for them to come safely home. My younger brother Ryan, volunteered for the US Air Force at the age of 18 at the start of the US-Iraq war, convinced that it was a way of honoring his own country and fighting to preserve the “America” he believed in.

With God’s grace, he came home, bruised and battered by the toils of four years of war, but at least safe in the comfort of my parent’s home once again. Although I personally do not believe in the wayward politics and all the propaganda behind all the fighting in the Middle East, I can relate to all the sacrifices made and the tragic losses that have affected all of us one way or another. My own personal convictions against war are beyond the scope of this post–rather I would like to take the time to extend my gratitude to all the men and women who have fought and continue to fight.

To the Brits, especially the BBC news correspondents and of course those in the armed forces, thank-you for letting me be part of your communal solidarity in remembrance of those who have paid the ultimate price for our own freedoms. I hope to take part in your two minutes of silence next Wednesday to show my support.

€ 1 =$ 1.49
currency rate exchange: Yahoo Finance

(as of 1:00pm, Friday, 16 October 2009)

I hope that you can find the time to watch this 17-minute presentation by Stefan Sagmeister, a design genius,  appropriately titled “The Power of Time Off”.  After watching this video with Bram this past Saturday,  it made us be a lot more appreciative about our own “time off” and life in general. Please watch the video- I promise it will give you fuzzy, warm feelings and possibly the inspiration to be a bit more creative and appreciative of life.  At the very least,  it might encourage you to take a vacation to Bali.

“Obsessions make my life worse and my work better”   Stefan Sagmeister
location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Designer: Sherwood Forlee

Sometimes you just have to be pro-active about keeping your lunch safe from unethical coworkers helping themselves liberally in the company fridge. Designer Sherwood Forlee has a creative fun solution–sandwich bags printed on both sides with all too convincing renditions of mold.

Happy Friday everyone!

(Photo by Anna Kuperberg)

Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, The Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio.

To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I’ve ever written. My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:

1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.

8. It’s OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first pay check.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.

12. It’s OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don’t worry; God never blinks.

16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.

18. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: ‘In five years, will this matter?’

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.

35. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative — dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.

41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

42. The best is yet to come.

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Yield.

45. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.