I was born in Vlaardingen, a city next to Schiedam, a city next to Rotterdam. Between Vlaardingen en Maassluis are ditches and meadows and a one way road. It was always windy and on summer days little flies flew into your open mouth. At least, that was the situation thirty years ago, there might be a villa district at the moment. I drove my bicycle a lot over that road, as I went visiting the scouts in Maassluis. They were nice boys. But that was later in my childhood. What I want to talk about is what happened when I was eight years old, in the third grade.
We have been told stories, stories about earlier times, like the Middle Ages. We were told that people had a different life then, drank beer instead of water in order to stay healthy, and were advised to smoke to keep the black Plague at a distance. There were farmers, fishermen and hunters, and they made their weapons themselves. The blacksmith was a busy man, because of all the animals and the enemies that had to be slaughtered.
We were asked to make drawings in our history cahiers', I drew a knight with a crossbow in such a perfect way that the teacher didn’t believe I made it myself. I thought it was obvious because his arm was too short, even for a knight from the Middle Ages.
My work is on the side, so I can go to the middle. Like my great great hero the mosquito. When I am in the middle, he is in the middle. It is nothing special, it is nature. A visitor walking through the exhibition thought my name belonged to a man, why I don’t know, she didn’t know herself, maybe I would have thought the same, maybe she also likes some buzzing next to her ear.
I told her it was alright.
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