Journal

Thoughts

April 26, 2026

Animals United

Dressed to impress – hair slicked back, sharp Italian suit gleaming under the streetlights – Christo looked every bit the man of success. The old friends embraced and sat down at the terrace while Christo signaled a waiter to bring them two beers. “What do you do these days?”...

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April 9, 2026

When everything changes overnight

He went to the headquarters of the hastily established Red Cross Relief Center in the unoccupied zone of Nicosia, where he learned that his family was safe and had inquired about him several times. “They’re fine, don’t worry,” assured the young woman at the counter, her...

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March 25, 2026

Jazz Shows in Amsterdam

In the spring of 1975, my first husband, the African-American poet Lee Bridges, met Mr. Curiel, a former Minister of Economy in Surinam. Curiel had founded a charitable organization together with two friends — a banker and a pastor — that could use some promotion. Two schools...

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March 18, 2026

Synopsis of Facing the Music - a work in progress

Synopsis: Anique is a talented young singer from Holland, renowned for her performances across the country. When she receives an unexpected offer to sing in a nightclub on the island of Cyprus, she eagerly accepts, drawn by the promise of adventure and the allure of a new...

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March 17, 2026

Baby To Be Born - by Stella Jansen

Baby to be born   Like a flower are you or maybe like a bird sailing on the clouds. I feel sensations of fluttering wings of a butterfly. Your time is due, honey-child, me and you are going to reach each other -      eye to eye –  and see and feel and touch and...

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March 11, 2026

An ordinary train ride

An Ordinary Train Ride to Paris Some experiences in life stay with you forever—especially when they put you in mortal danger. In January of 1976, I went to Paris for a recording session with Phonogram. Afterward, I visited some friends living on the Left Bank. They offered for...

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March 9, 2026

Something is afoot

 Something is afoot There was a time when deep down she knew it couldn’t possibly turn out well for her, yet she cast caution to the wind and leaped full force into the trap from which there was no turning back. Had her better judgement stopped her in time who knows how this...

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March 9, 2026

Afghanistan Memories

Afghanistan Memories   “Our bags are packed; the bus leaves at nine-thirty. Mohammed, our friend from the leather shop, will see us off. He also lends out foreign-language books, and we have spent many afternoons there, sipping tea and exchanging a sentence or two now and...

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February 8, 2026

On Writing Characters Who Carry the Weight of History

Every character I have written arrives with a history I must discover, not invent. They do not spring fully formed from imagination — they accumulate, like sediment, over years of watching, listening, and quietly storing what I observe about how people carry their lives. When...

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January 18, 2026

Amsterdam in Autumn: A City That Teaches You to Wait

There is a particular quality of light in Amsterdam in October that I have never quite found anywhere else. The canals go grey-green, the bridges disappear into low mist in the early mornings, and the city takes on a quieter, more considered character — as though it, too, is...

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