Sueli's gift

Sueli Brodin and Suze, January 2010

It takes a lot to make me blush. But my dear friend, Sueli Brodin, managed. She totally surprised me with a lovely 'tribute' in her weekly blog about the Maastricht region. I am hushed and honored by her thoughts, feelings and friendship. She entitled it: Susan's gift. Please click the link if you'd like to read.

Poetry at Pecha Kucha Maastricht

Susan kick starts Pecha Kucha evening in Maastricht, Saturday, February 20, 2010, at AINSI Performance Theater. Photo © Bert Janssen

On Saturday evening, February 20, 2010, encouraged by my dear friend Sueli Brodin, newly appointed to Maastricht's Pecha Kucha working board, I stepped from behind the curtains of grief and back upon a stage. Many Pecha Kucha performers must conquer a number of fears - performance anxiety is a well-known obstacle. But for me that was not the case, I have been a performer, at ease in front of audiences, for years. Rather, my courage in taking up the gauntlet was about being in the spotlight without my greatest fan being in the audience. Seeing Martijn's wide and loving smile always lit me into 'being'. The challenge was in fact to heed my own words - to take up the mantle of intentional transition - to move forward from my loss and continue to evolve and to make a difference for humanity.

Click here to watch Susan's Performance

In this poetic homage to change, I weave my own poetry with established theories of human development hoping to inspire the audience to consider their extra ordinary qualities to embark on self-transformation. The poems are: The Tendrils, Contradictory Me, Cat Struttin', and the long final piece, ExtraOrdinary.

Photo © Bert Janssen

R to L: Sueli Brodin, (Crossroads), Martijn Kagenaar (Zuiderlicht), one of the talented technicians, Nathalie Dirks, Maastricht University and Pierre Buijs (Creovate) confer behind the complex console used to stream each of the 12 slide shows and to record the entire evening's performances. PKN Maastricht is known to be one of the most professionally managed within the PKN family of cities - now approaching almost 300 spots around the globe!!

Photo © Bert Janssen

PKN Maastricht has been playing to sold out audiences since its inception, January 20, 2009

Photo © Bert Janssen

At AINSI Performance Centre the audiences can reach over 350.

Photo © Bert Janssen

PKN Maastricht features one intermission and an after party with music and dancing.

20x20 What is PechaKucha?

PechaKucha Night was devised in Tokyo in February 2003 as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public.

It has turned into a massive celebration, with events happening in hundreds of cities around the world, inspiring creatives worldwide. Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of "chit chat", it rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds. It's a format that makes presentations concise, and keeps things moving at a rapid pace.

Amazing Amsterdam

In the foreground the fabled gabled Amsterdam rooftops looking along

Leidsestraat towards Leidseplein. I came to this city where I fell in love in Martijn for a weekend of meetings, a conference, a speech and hanging out with good friends.

An evening interrupted: I arrived in the city on Thursday evening, February 4th to meet with the energetic vice-chair of Democrats Abroad, Netherlands, Claire Taylor. After an animated dinner meeting at the Jo Coenen Central Library, Claire offered me "the Dutch-back-bumper-bike ride" to the home of Sjoerd and Merle Soeters on the Prinsengraat, my hosts for the weekend. Oops, we tumbled hard enough that Claire crushed her ankle. Sjoerd came to our rescue transporting us to the emergency clinic. Claire had her broken ankle cast and we got her safely home. Ouch. She'll be 4 - 6 weeks recovering!

It was Claire who originally notified me that the Reverend Jesse Jackson was to speak at the last event in a series hosted by the John Adams Institute, an American cultural forum based in Amsterdam. The Reverend Jackson delivered a fiery and inspiring speech to a sold-out crowd. I had invited my friend Merle along, and we both found the event very worthwhile.

Saturday Merle took me to the market just across from their incredible canal house. As the blizzard raged on the United States east coast, I purchased this cute hat, scarf ensemble in wintery solidarity.

It was great fun cooking in Sjoerd and Merle's wonderful kitchen that afternoon in anticipation of the arrival of Ton Schaap and partner, Herman Rouw, above tasting a fine wine with Sjoerd. We feasted and I got to practice active Dutch language listening.

Back home in Maastricht I had the bittersweet task of saying goodbye to my housemate of the past 6 months, Carmen Echávarri Zalba, pictured here second from right, as she left this evening for her new adventures in Amsterdam where she is trying to secure a grant for her PhD work in neurology, specializing in disorders of dementia. I will miss her sorely. We've developed a warm friendship over these past months and I wish her well. This is a photo from the welcome party at my home some months ago. That's my dear friend, Bob Wilkinson, left, Anna, Pilar and Marie, Carmen's friends from Spain, Pia Brand, next and Sueli Brodin to the right of Carmen. Yours truly is kneeling at foreground.