Onno's Blog

May all your Christmas wishes come true!

My Christmas wish is that you join an organization like Kiva.org and help someone in need.

This is a line form one of the traditional St Nicolas songs that children in The Netherlands will sing leading up to the holiday on December 5. Part of the tradition is the character of Zwarte Piet, Black Pete. He helps St Nicolas, or Sinterklaas, with bringing all the gifts to the children, keeping track of who has been good and bad during the year and so on. In the past he was often characterized as clumsy, very friendly but not very smart, speaking with a Surinam accent. In recent years his role has been elevated somewhat to a capable assistant of the Good Holy Man.

Yesterday I read a very interesting opinion on the festival of St Nicolas and in particular Zwarte Piet by Slate.com. It is interesting because it gives an outside view. A few weeks before I read a newspaper article reporting on the Dutch society in Ottawa canceling a St Nicolas parade in response to racism and discrimination protests over the character of Zwarte Piet.

Initially my reaction to both was a wary one: “ohh, just let it be, it’s just an innocent children’s festival.” Not unlike what Jessica Olien writes she encounters when trying to discus the topic with Dutch people. That made me take a step back and consider this issue more objectively.

I don’t know about the context in which the tradition came about regarding the intent behind the designed role and appearance of Zwarte Piet. But likely it built upon the prevailing opinion that black (or probably any non-white) people were children of a lesser god; not as intelligent, smart, enterprising, noble – insert your favorite – as the white. If I look back upon my childhood in the 60-ies and early 70-ies some of that was still present and visible. Since then, as the Slate article as notes, it has been equalized a bit but certainly the visual image is still there: the good saint is white and the wise leader, the assistant is black and in a subordinate role.

I believe it is time for the tradition to take the next step and let go. It will be hard to rename and rebrand the character. On the other hand if we just retire “Zwarte” from his name and insert something different then all the song lines still rhyme. Rhyme is an important aspect of the experience. How about “Goede” (good), “Sterke” (strong), “Grote” (great)? Well, you get the idea. And the black face paint has to go. There is no way it be can argued that one should not read any racist intent or characterization. It doesn’t matter what the intent is, this is about how it is received.

Let’s put Zwarte Piet to rest and move forward.

My passport will be expiring in a number of weeks so time to trek to New York City and the Dutch Consulate to renew it. At first I thought to fly in early Monday morning, visit the consulate and then fly back in the evening. But, on second thought, spending the weekend in Manhattan and then do the passport stuff on Monday seemed much more fun. Plus, a little road trip with the new Dr Frits was also due.

This created a delicious photo taking opportunity and so the tripod came along to take night shots on Saturday and the lens baby to play with street scenes and architecture. Grand Central station was on the list to visit. First, it’s a marvelous piece of architecture and Apple just opened a store on Friday.

On Sunday I basically walked down from 48th Street where I was staying to Battery Park with the obligatory stops for coffee along the way to let the feet rest. In Grand Central station there was a Christmas market, lots of stands with products from local designers and artists. In a park along the way south, Washington Park perhaps, another little market to walk around to find a few presents. At one such stand while I was paying for my purchase, the lady looked at my name on my credit card exclaiming in Dutch: “You’re Dutch!”. And so we chatted for a while in the funny language.

Monday morning it was time for the official business. First, I needed passport photos. These days the requirements are very specific (no smiling, mouth must be closed, ears must be showing, look straight at the camera, etc etc). Near Rockefeller Center, where the consulate is, is a photo store that specializes in these photos. You tell them which country and they know the exact requirements. Then up to the 11th floor at 1 Rockefeller Plaza. There are two desks and each was helping someone. So I was basically next in line. Now, consulates are a bit like post offices the world over. Everything goes at a certain, not particularly hurried, pace. Just like post offices they don’t have competition. You can’t go to someone else to get your passport. Anyways, eventually it is my turn, actually it all goes swimmingly and just a few minutes later it is all done: Fedex should be delivering the new passport in a week or so.

 Lunch, and then picking up the luggage from the hotel, retrieving the car from the parking garage across the street. Time to drive back to Webster, NY. Somewhere in New Jersey before the Delaware Water Gap I’m in the left lane overtaking some traffic going about 75 mph. A large white SUV is catching up behind me. I move to the inner lane after passing and slow down a bit. The SUV comes up next to me and stays next to me. I glance over and see that’s the New Jersey State Police. He’s looking over. I slow down a bit further, he does too. After we get to 60 mph he moves on. Ahead is an open pickup truck. He does the same thing: driving up next to him. They both slow down and so I slow down too. The speed goes down to 40 mph; there is some gesture exchange between the trooper and the pickup driver. Just ahead is the exit for a rest area. The pickup truck indicates right and moves onto the exit, the trooper follows.

A few miles before Binghamton I stop to refuel Dr Frits and me. For Dr Frits a good helping of Exxon, for me a Quarter Pounder with a vanilla milkshake! Thusly refreshed and with the iPhone connected to the car stereo on the Singer/Songwriter genius list we swing back to Webster.

The photographic proceedings can be admired in the gallery.

On my morning commute to work I drive down Empire Boulevard in Webster toward the 590 highway. It goes past Irondequoit Bay. If the light is right, that is often a beautiful sight making me think to bring tripod plus camera and stop to record this for posterity.

Not having done much photographic activity since the Boston trip except for the occasional iPhone picture the need to take the camera out has been slowly rising the last few weeks. The recent weekends became decision moments between bike rides and photo trips. As the weather has been pretty amazing for November the bicycle won until this Sunday. And even then it was a close call, the lure of a bike ride strongly calling because recently there has been someone making the bike rides even more fun.

As this blog post demonstrates the camera won for this morning. I set the alarm for 6 and managed to get out of the door a little after seven, in time for the 7:25 am sunrise. I wanted to try two locations: the south or bottom-end of the bay, and the northern part. The south location would give me the sun in the back stroking over the bay; the other providing the opportunity for back light. I decided to shoot in that order.

Another motivation to go shoot pictures has been my lens baby. I got it many weeks ago but – except for some quick indoor shots – hadn’t played with it yet. A lens baby has a twistable front section so that you can move the focal point around and at an angle to the camera. Wonderful distortions are the result.

The lens baby photos are taken in Tryon Park in Rochester. Many trails cross through the park; mountain bike routes labeled like ski slopes are. Even the green trails still looked tricky to me. The blue and red trails are certainly above my MTB skill level.

In the gallery you’ll find the outcome of my getting up before the sun.