Sometimes, when it all gets a bit too much, I walk over to the other side of my house and enter this raw space that smells of dust and new beginnings. I like the choice (and convenience) of seating opportunities. Most days I come here around sunset, push the windows open and serenade my neighboresses on their balconies. For some reason they don’t like it. But I do. - Niko Wojtynia
PonderPond
Cover illustration: Anna Denise Floor (‘05)
Post | A Magazine by the Alumni of University College Utrecht Summer 2015
04 06 10 14 18 22 24 28 32 36 38 42 43
Alumni! The Maldives Migration Muddle Prostitution in the Red Light District Personalized Cancer Therapy Showing Less, Seeing More What’s Your Ponder Pond? Dutch News Down Scary Grown Up Life Dutch Water Love Not Your Granddaddy’s Bandwagon Class of 2015 Who? What? Where? Colophon
! I N M U L A A
s your Post editorial board is sitting here, writing this, we are looking out over a nice, still body of water just outside the city. It’s a quiet place with lots of trees for shade, little beach areas and docks that lead out to the water, that people with toes will use for dipping into. And even on a nice day like this, there are usually very few people around and we can really feel at peace here (that one time a whole bunch of nudists suddenly descended on our spot and made us feel a little uncomfortable excepted). We come here to escape the hustle and bustle of Post-making and just sit and ponder some of life’s questions. Like, are we actually happy with the studies we picked and the career path we are on? Or are we really just playing it safe? And why does it appear only middle-aged, not-in-that-great-a-shape people decide to become nudists? Since we didn’t have the answers we thought a quick dip in the water might be able to clear our minds, but, really, that just brought up more questions. We wanted to know what possesses someone to want to seek out this cold Dutch water, and if we should, perhaps,
04
Post | Summer 2015
migrate to the warm waters of the Maldives, or what would happen if we were to sail into the Red Light District of that old port town of Amsterdam. Also, because our minds sometimes take a weird detour, we wondered what someone whose last name is similar to the name of a large watersports- and nature area between Amsterdam and Utrecht would think about that time the Dutch evening news was pre-empted because a guy with a fake gun had made his way into the studio. For some, such ponderings would remain just that. Luckily, we have a magazine and a lot of wonderful contributors that can give insight into all these issues (and more!). So we collected all of their musings and present them here for your reading pleasure, so you too will have to wonder no more. Except about nudism. We couldn’t find anyone to write about that for this issue. Non-nakedly yours, The Post Editorial Board
www.ucaa.nl info@ucaa.nl www.talkingpost.org
My ponder pond is more lake-size, I prefer wide open spaces to gather my thoughts. This special spot is on the ‘Markermeer’, just outside Amsterdam on the northern bike route past Durgerdam towards Marken. Great place to sit in the sun, have a swim and escape the city for a couple of hours. - Laurens Hebly
Here is my thinking spot, about a 15 minute hike and a view of the Palisades of the Chattahoochee river as it goes through Atlanta. Great trout fishing, fun to canoe, and sometimes a great place to reflect. - John Brooke
Still, one needs to watch out for poisonous snakes like this big (~60cm) Copperhead I took a picture of the same day less than a meter from my feet as I dangled my feet in the water. - John Brooke
Summer 2015 | Post
05
The Maldives MIGRATION MUDDLE
Political turmoil and space issues are sending the Maldives into troubled waters. Laurens Speelman reports on the unrest that is brewing in the idyllic island state.
F
or many, the Maldives is a little paradise in the Indian Ocean with idyllic beaches, unrivalled luxury, and incredible underwater world. People working in environmental science or others interested in climate change often make an additional connection. The highest point of all 1,200 islands in the Maldives is about 2,4 metres. Due to its low elevation the island nation is very vulnerable to changes in sea-level and storms, and the Maldives is used often an example in both academic and political debates on climate change. Maldivians themselves do not live on resort islands with unrivalled luxury, nor do they spend much of their days worrying about slow processes such as sea-level rise
06
Post | Summer 2015
and climate change. This fascinating country is the subject of my studies and in this piece I hope to give you a glimpse of the complex story behind this group of islands. The Maldives consists of roughly 1,200 very small islands stretched over hundreds of kilometres of ocean. Of these 1,200 islands about 200 are inhabited, housing a total of approximately 350,000 Maldivians and an additional 100,000 migrant workers. The Maldives is a strictly Sunni Muslim society, and its basic code of law, sariatu, is a local interpretation of traditional sharia. Due to their small size, many of the inhabited islands developed very specific functions. Photos by Laurens Speelman
There are airport islands, agricultural islands, garbage islands, industrial islands, storage islands, and, well, 100 resort islands. Political turmoil At the time of writing, the discussion in Maldivian politics revolves around basic freedom and democracy. Former president Nasheed, who you may know as the star in the documentary “The Island President”, has been sentenced to 13 years in prison on charges of terrorism. Nasheed led a long fight against former dictator Gayoom and was the first democratically elected president of the Maldives in 2008. Other members of opposition have also been charged with various offenses. President Yameen, half-brother of former dictator of 30 years Gayoom, is showing his teeth and over the past months Maldivians have held daily protests to free their “Nelson Mandela of the Indian Ocean”. On May 1st, over 20,000 Maldivians went on the streets to protest against the increasingly oppressive government. Overcrowded Malé These protests were held in the centre of the Maldives, on the capital island of Malé. Officially about 100,000 people
live there, although that excludes many of the Bangladeshi working in tourism and construction. As it’s a tiny island its population density of >50,000 people/km2 rivals that of the busiest districts (and slums) in the world. By comparison, Manhattan has a population density half of that of Malé. Housing prices are soaring and in contrast to the image of Maldives as a paradise, many Maldivians in fact live in cramped apartments in this heavily overpopulated city. I visited two-bedroom apartments with up to 15 people living in them. Land reclamation On the reef flats surrounding the islands there is plenty of shallow sediment that can be used for land reclamation at relatively low costs. Around islands where land is scarce such investments quickly pay off. There are about a dozen different projects at different urban centres in the Maldives. The most ambitious project however, is the development of Hulhumalé next to Malé. Its plans include the development of conference centres, a university, new government buildings, a financial district, luxury housing and a marina, luxury apartments, a football and cricket stadium, a monorail, and so on.
Summer 2015 | Post
07
storms or other disasters such as the 2004 tsunami, strongly influence migration processes.
centred around the capital island as in the last decades the tourism industry solely focused on luxury tourism on separate resort islands. The extremely dispersed population and isolated setting of many islands make the development of strong local economies difficult and it is very costly to provide adequate basic services such as proper schooling and healthcare to all island communities. Only in recent years, guesthouses are starting to develop on regional islands, providing economic benefits that result in increased migration to those islands. The strong difference in (perceived) economic opportunities combined with a better quality of health services and educational possibilities resulted in a heavily overpopulated capital island and a shrinking population on many of the other islands. This process is promoted by the government using the argument of economies of scale and its associated population consolidation programmes. These programmes focus on developing a small subset of islands and relocation of entire island communities with low population. Combine this with the huge investments on the new artificial islands and the modest investments on other islands and it is clear that these processes are likely to continue for many years to come.
Urbanisation in a small island nation The large population growth on and around the capital island has been going on since decades and is causing (and caused by) a strong difference in development between the capital area and other islands, similar to urbanisation in other developing nations. Most of the economic growth occurs around the capital island. Malé is the centre of trade, tourism, and the public services. Most of the profits related to tourism, the largest industry of the Maldives, are
Migration and environmental change Such processes are likely to be exacerbated under environmental change, as adapting to sea-level rise and providing protection to heavier and more frequent storms requires additional investments. Policy makers are likely to be faced with similar dilemmas as those on educational and health provision, and already on the relative short term. In fact, the government already takes into account future changes (to some degree) by heightening the Hulhumalé development
It’s an enormous investment. A surprisingly ambitious project. Look up Malé, Maldives on Google Maps to have a closer look, scroll toward the airport island and realise that by now the entire reef flat north of the airport has been reclaimed. Where at first the project was supposed to “just” relieve the population pressure of Malé by housing ~20,000 people, president Yameen has recently stated Hulhumalé is projected to house 100,000 when the project is completely finished. In addition to the Hulhumalé investments the current administration also invests in two extra runways at the main airport, oil exploration, harbours, and industry. In many ways the government is trying to mimic large infrastructural investments of Dubai and Singapore. It’s definitely a different picture of the Maldives than you are used to.
08
Post | Summer 2015
up to 2 meters and Malé is protected from most storms by a sea wall surrounding the island. Further, some islands have been redeveloped as “Safer Islands”, by removing all infrastructure and buildings, heightening the island, and building new and better quality housing on top. Contrary to what one would expect, the land area of the Maldives has increased in the past years because of these investments. In addition, storms or other disasters such as the 2004 tsunami, strongly influence migration processes. A few low populated islands that suffered large damages during the 2004 tsunami were abandoned and many permanently displaced. Future outlook The population of Malé and Hulhumalé will continue to grow and rural islands will suffer from shrinking populations, which further increases their vulnerability. This leads to an increase in population pressure around the capital island and the abandoning of poorer, sparsely populated islands. The implications of these developments are one of the main themes of political debates in the Maldives. The current administration focuses on centralisation and population consolidation and strong economic growth
based on industry, trade, and tourism. They argue that large investments will help the Maldives to become a more modern and strong economy; a “Dubai of the Indian Ocean”. This in contrast to the political party MDP of former president Nasheed. The MDP focuses on more environmentally sound and decentralised development by investing in a better transport system, allowing guesthouse tourism, and the “Safer Islands” programme. A more decentralised development could lead to a decrease in migration streams and population pressure in Malé and a lifestyle more closely linked to the historic Maldivian way of life. Such discussions bear a close resemblance to political discussions in other developing countries regarding urbanisation, but due to the geographical constraints of the small islands as well as the environmental pressure, its effects and importance are much more visible. Laurens Speelman (‘08) is a PhD researcher at the Institute for Complex Systems Simulation (ICSS) and the Faculty of Engineering and the Environment of Southampton University, and currently in the final year of this 4-year PhD programme. He works on developing computational models of the interaction between natural and social systems, mainly in the field of coastal impacts of climate change and adaptation to climate change.
Summer 2015 | Post
09
Prostitution In the Red Light District
Amsterdam’s Red Light District draws a lot of tourism. Geert Sillevis dispels some of the myths surrounding the city’s most famous neighborhood and its sex workers.
T
he Amsterdam that many tourists see is not the same Amsterdam that the locals see. To the visitor, it is a city of erotics and narcotics, an excuse to go wild and get drunk. Even those who have never smoked a joint or considered visiting a prostitute see their time here as an opportunity to try it. “When in Rome,” is their motto. However, for the Romans (that is to say, Amsterdammers), this is not a city of sex and drugs - it is a large village of picturesque canals, funky little cafés and a charming place to call home. One popular part of town, however, that seems to bewilder both tourists and locals is the Red Light District. Many people just don’t know what to make of it. Thousands of people descend on Amsterdam’s
10
Post | Summer 2015
famous Red Light District every day. This is not a new phenomenon – as an old port town, Amsterdam has long had a bustling trade in horny young men with money to spend. As far back as 1413, Amsterdam city council decreed that ‘Because whores are necessary in big cities and especially in cities of commerce such as ours – Indeed it is far better to have these women than not to have them [emphasis added] – and also because the holy church tolerates whores on good grounds, for these reasons the court and sheriff of Amsterdam shall not entirely forbid the keeping of brothels’1. Since then, prostitution has gone through many eras of being accepted and repressed. Today it is a controversial area. Some people see it as a vital part of Amsterdam’s famous
prostitution has gone through many eras of being accepted and repressed.
history of tolerance and liberal pragmatism, while others see it as nest of vipers, an invitation to crime and trafficking. The difficulty with this debate is that there are very few hard facts out there and as a result, a lot of arguments made are based on anecdotal or politically motivated information. One of the main criticisms of the area is that it is rife with human trafficking. Recently, Jojanneke van den Berge reported in January of this year that around 70% of the prostitutes are working against their will2. This is based on the 2008 Schone Schijn study by the National Police Services Agency (Korps landelijke politiediensten or KLPD) which
estimated that 50-90% of the women were forced and/or exploited3. However, this extremely vague number should be taken with a fistful of salt – it was arrived at based on estimates given by only 6 police officers. Twelve others surveyed said that it was impossible to give an estimate. Despite the questionable methods used to get this number, it is still often heralded as definitive by opponents of the area. What is notable is that not a single prostitute was surveyed in the Schone Schijn study. In 2010 Amsterdam Sociaal decided to rectify this with a study that anonymously surveyed 94 window prostitutes (note that this does not cover all forms of prostitution in the
Summer 2015 | Post
11
Netherlands) and found that 10% of the women were trafficked4. A 2006 study by the Research and Documentation Centre of the Ministry of Justice (Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek- en Documentatiecentrum or WODC) interviewed 354 prostitutes of all types around the Netherlands and concluded that 8% were forced5. Finally, the Nationaal Rapporteur in 2013 takes some interpreting, but it points to a rough estimate that only 7,18% of women are victims of forced prostitution.6 This tendency to paint prostitutes as victims is flawed. Indeed, in April over 200 prostitutes marched on city hall protesting the past and planned closure of window brothels. They carried signs bemoaning their treatment as victims (‘Don’t save us, save our windows’ read one).
an anonymous piece, placed there in 1993. It isn’t judgemental – it doesn’t say, ‘this is what happens here and it’s good’, or ‘this is what happens here and it’s bad’ – it just says ‘this is what happens here’.
It can be argued that the window prostitutes in Amsterdam are among the safest in the world. In the United States of America, the homicide rate for prostitutes was estimated to be 204 per 100,000 in 2004, which is the highest for any profession7. In the Netherlands, 27 prostitutes have been murdered since full legalisation in 2000. That is roughly 2 per year, and out of an estimated 20,000 prostitutes8 in the Netherlands, that is a rate of 10 per 100,000.
The fact is that prostitution exists everywhere. It is wrong to think of the controversy as a debate about prostitution – it is a debate about legalisation and regulation. Women who want to work as prostitutes should be able to do so legally and safely. Prostitutes here do not walk around the most dangerous part of town in the middle of the night, nor do they stand by the side of the road to be picked up by total strangers. They have the full protection of the police, who are a single press of a panic button away.
By the entrance of the Old Church is a small statue of a woman’s breast and a hand. It is
The Red Light District is not perfect. There is too much piss in the street and vomit on the
12
Post | Summer 2015
Women who want to work as prostitutes should be able to do so legally and safely.
steps. These problems, however, do not come because we have legalised, but because so few others have. This has turned Amsterdam into somewhat of a magnet for those who only see the city through a blur of booze, a haze of smoke. They experience the Red Light District’s topmost layer – as a theme park of sex. But we must understand that the district is a grand and brave social experiment: long ago, the city tried to find a system whereby the women could work safely in a regulated way and, most importantly, pay taxes. It is easy and understandable to have an emotional reaction to the area, to allow our opinions of the morality of sex work to creep in. But you have to remember that Amsterdam is not a liberal city, it is a pragmatic city, and by the measurements we have, the policy on prostitution is a step in the right direction. Geert Sillevis (‘09½) is a tour guide in Amsterdam. Rain or shine, you can find Geert herding groups of tourists around the old center of town. Geert also hosts “English Breakfast Radio” every Monday morning on Salto 106.8 FM. He exists online at www.sillyfishworld.com.
Sources 1
Chrisje Brants: The Fine Art of Regulated Tolerance: Prostitution in Amsterdam. Journal of Law and Society, 25, number 4, pp. 621–635. December 1998
2
http://www.ad.nl/ad/nl/5601/TV-Radio/article/ detail/3823118/2015/01/05/Jojanneke-De-Wallen-daar-isniets-gezelligs-aan.dhtml
3
http://www.amsterdam.nl/publish/pages/396761/ schoneschijn.pdf
http://www.amsterdam-sociaal.nl/images/ASO/De%20 Amsterdamse%20Prostitutie%20Monitor%202010.pdf
4
http://wodc.nl/images/1204b-volledige-tekst_tcm4459312.pdf
5
6
http://www.nationaalrapporteur.nl/Images/nationaalrapporteur.mensenhandel-in-en-uit-beeld-ii.update-cijfersmogelijke-slachtoffers-2009-2013_tcm63-564517.pdf
7
Potterat, John J.; Brewer, Devon D.; Muth, Stephen Q.; Rothenberg, Richard B.; Woodhouse, Donald E.; Muth, John B.; Stites, Heather K.; Brody, Stuart (2004), “Mortality in a Long-term Open Cohort of Prostitute Women”. American Journal of Epidemiology 159 (8): 778–85. doi:10.1093/aje/ kwh110. PMID 15051587.
8
http://www.minbuza.nl/binaries/content/assets/minbuza/ en/import/en/you_and_the_netherlands/about_the_ netherlands/ethical_issues/faq-prostitutie-pdf--engels. pdf-2012.pdf
A lot of good information came from behindtheredlightdistrict.blogspot.com, a blog by a current prostitute.
Summer 2015 | Post
13
Personalized cancer therapy treatment tailored to your needs
Krijn Dijkstra explores how drug testing on tumor cells from patients can advance personalized cancer treatment.
M
r B has just been diagnosed with cancer of the colon (large intestine) and the tumor has spread to other parts of the body, rendering his disease incurable. Facing the doctor at the other side of the desk, different thoughts race through his mind as he lets the news sink in. While he realizes he will eventually succumb to this cancer, his doctor tells him there are many treatment options that can slow down the growth of the tumor, prolonging his life span. He suggests the standard treatment of two drugs, which leads to tumor shrinkage in about 50% of patients. Eager to start fighting his tumor sooner rather than later, Mr B is ready to ask the doctor for a prescription, but then remembers his niece who received the same treatment last year. She fell in the “unlucky” 50% of patients in which the therapy failed, but on top of that, she was hospitalized for two
14
Post | Summer 2015
weeks because of severe side effects of the drug. “Is there no way to say if the coin will land head or tails for me?”, he asks the doctor, “I’m not sure if I’m willing to cope with such heavy side effects if the treatment may not even help me”. The question of Mr B has inspired cancer researchers for decades. They have looked for properties of the tumor, such as specific mutations in the DNA, that could predict response to chemotherapy. Unfortunately, to date no marker has been found that could really help doctors guide treatment decisions, probably because the response to chemotherapy is far more complex and diverse than anticipated. Therefore, rather than looking for a predictive marker, an alternative is growing tumor cells from patients in the lab to directly test their sensitivity to drugs. If the cells die upon
rather than looking for a predictive marker, an alternative is growing tumor cells from patients in the lab to directly test their sensitivity to drugs. drug treatment, doctors have solid ground for starting a given therapy. If the cells happily continue to grow, a different treatment could be considered. This idea has been approached in various ways, for example, by directly culturing cells as a monolayer on plastic dishes. While this works reasonably well for some tumors, such a tumor “cell line” can only be established for about 10% of colon cancer patients. An alternative strategy is to inject cells into a mouse, allowing them to form a tumor. Even though this is possible for a larger proportion of patients, financial and ethical issues as well as the long time it takes to generate such a tumor also make this a problematic model system to use in the clinic. A recent breakthrough from the research group of Hans Clevers at the Hubrecht
Institute in Utrecht provides a promising alternative. His group is interested in stem cells: cells that can give rise to various cell types and have unlimited potential to divide. The inner border of the intestine contains numerous tiny folds, and intestinal stem cells are buried deep in the crypts of these folds. This “stem cell niche” is characterized by a very particular molecular signature, with some specific proteins present at high concentrations. They reasoned that if they could identify which of these signals are important for determining the “stemness” of the intestinal stem cell, supplying these factors to the broth that you swamp your cells in might enable them to grow outside of the body. Indeed, after many hours of pipetting, a “stem cell cocktail” was identified that allowed the growth of intestinal stem cells in the lab. Interestingly, these form three-dimensional structures
Summer 2015 | Post
15
that resemble the architecture of the normal intestine, shaped like a hollow tube, and therefore are named “organoids”. Using the same cocktail, colon cancer cells could also be grown successfully, adopting the shape of a solid mass, much like a real tumor. What’s really exciting about this new model system is that the success rate of growing tumor cells is much higher than with previous techniques: regular cell lines of colon cancer only have a 10% success rate, which is increased to 90% with organoid culture. This means that in principle, for nine out of ten patients, a personalized model system can be set up in the lab, which provides a test platform for all sorts of treatments. Nevertheless, there are many differences between the growth of a tumor inside the human body and in a culture dish in the lab. Therefore, the first question that needs to be addressed is whether the response to chemotherapy in patients correlates with the response of organoids derived from those patients. A research collaboration between
16
Post | Summer 2015
the Hubrecht Institute in Utrecht and the Netherlands Cancer Institute – Antoni van Leeuwenhoek in Amsterdam, has now initiated a clinical trial to test exactly this. Patients with lung, colon or rectal cancer undergo a biopsy before the start of their treatment from which tumor organoids are grown in the lab. The organoids are then exposed to the same drug that the patient is being treated with, and hopefully, the organoids from patients that have a clinical response will die, while those from patients in which the drug had no effect will be similarly unaffected. This is an observation trial: treatment decisions for patients are not altered based on drug response in organoids (the results of this trial will tell whether it’s justifiable to do so). Perhaps even more exciting is a second trial that is being set up. While the tumor can initially be controlled by the regular treatments for metastatic colon cancer, it will eventually continue to grow. When regular treatment options are no longer available, patients are often eligible for experimental
It is now widely agreed that no two tumors are the same.
treatment. However, on average only 5-10% of patients respond to these drugs in clinical trials, which is often too low to continue developing that drug. It means, however, that a small minority of patients does respond to the treatment. Identifying these patients beforehand could be a way to improve the response rate of new drugs. Therefore, in another clinical trial, tumor organoids of a patient will be exposed to a battery of various experimental drugs, and the patient will be treated with the drug that shows the most promising response in the lab. For this group of patients, it is ethical to treat patients based on organoid drug response even at this experimental stage, because there are no other proven effective therapies available. If proven a successful strategy, this could significantly speed up drug development and offer personalized treatment plans for individual patients. It is now widely agreed that no two tumors are the same. Therefore, two patients that
both have colon cancer should also not necessarily be treated the same. Since it is now possible to directly test the drug sensitivity of a patient’s tumor in the lab, a treatment plan can be tailored to the individual patient. These exciting possibilities have the potential to make personalized medicine a reality. Krijn Dijkstra (‘08) is obtaining his PhD studying tumor organoids as a tool for personalised medicine in the lab of Emile Voest at the Netherlands Cancer Institute.
Beat the Tumor Together with some colleagues, Krijn is organising a small festival the profit of which will go to research into personalized cancer treatment. So come sip your beer in the sun during our barbecue, listen to singer-songwriters at the campfire, admire the live bands on stage, or dance the night away with our DJs! The event will take place on the 10th of July in club VLLA in Amsterdam (www.vlla.nl). The line-up is currently being finalized; keep an eye on the UCAA Facebook page for more info!
Summer 2015 | Post
17
Showing less, seeing more:
Smart Specs for the sight-impaired
Joram van Rheede is part of a research team that developed smart glasses which help visually impaired people see. Welcome to the future.
W
e are sitting in an old sports hall, surrounded by cardboard boxes, looking at a woman sitting in front of us. She is wearing a futuristic helmet with displays mounted at the front. Next to her is Jess, her guide dog.
18
Post | Summer 2015
‘You’ve all turned into people,’ she says, ‘you used to be smudges but now you look like people!’ I had only recently joined the Smart Specs Research Group at this point, and we were
The glasses are therefore designed to simplify the visual scene, and boost its most relevant elements. Since then, another of our participants has been able to pick out her favourite cheeses in Oxford’s Covered Market by sight, and others have been able to follow their guide dog around the room for the first time.
using the sports hall to test our prototype electronic glasses for severely sight-impaired people. The cardboard boxes made for an easily deployable obstacle course to test our participants’ independent mobility, and we had been able to see some improvements in navigation of the course before. But after working with this particular volunteer for more than a year, the moment she was able to make out our faces was a real breakthrough. It became clear that rather than just helping people get a little better at walking around our testing setup, we were developing something that could make a real difference for people with severe sight loss.
While their impact can be impressive, what the glasses do is based on a simple principle that can be implemented with relatively low cost components. Most visually impaired people, even those who are legally considered ‘blind’, have some remaining vision. However, the very rich visual world around us can be too complex to interpret. The glasses are therefore designed to simplify the visual scene, and boost its most relevant elements. Combining information from a depth camera (a structured light sensor such as the one found in the popular Xbox Kinect) and a regular RGB camera, the glasses identify the elements of the visual scene that are nearest. These parts of the visual scene are then enhanced in terms of brightness and contrast, while the potentially distracting background is discarded. The resulting image is displayed on a set of see-through wearable displays, overlaying it on top of the actual visual environment. The glasses were initially conceived as a tool to allow visually impaired people
Summer 2015 | Post
19
we want to assess whether the glasses can make a real difference in everyday life.
to navigate unfamiliar environments independently – loss of independence being one of the main factors affecting quality of life in visual impairment. The first version of these ‘residual vision glasses’ therefore focused solely on representing the distance of objects as brightness on the displays, such that brighter objects on the displays corresponded to objects closer to the wearer. We hypothesised that this approach should allow even those people who only had rudimentary light perception to spot mobility hazards, which are flagged up very brightly. After a number of trials with people with varying levels of residual vision, we realised that this approach was only beneficial to people on the lowest end of the visual
20
Post | Summer 2015
impairment spectrum. The next stage of the project has focused on adding layers of highcontrast detail to objects in the foreground, using image processing strategies that are selectively applied to the parts of the visual scene that are nearby. In independent mobility trials with the smart glasses, we saw a dramatic drop in the numbers of collisions for those participants that were unable to avoid obstacles normally. Moreover, the distance at which participants noticed obstacles increased for those people who previously had many near misses with obstacles. On the other hand, we found that wearing the glasses led to slower walking speeds and increased hesitation. We think
these results are very encouraging, and hope that the detrimental effect on walking speed and increase in hesitation will disappear with training, allowing participants to become more familiar with the displays. The next step for the project is investigating whether our enhancement of the nearby parts of the visual scene are effective in assisting everyday tasks such as object and face recognition. But more importantly, we want to assess whether the glasses can make a real difference in everyday life. Recently, we won the public vote in the UK Google Impact Challenge, giving us the opportunity to develop up to 100 prototypes that people can try out at home. Together with the Royal National Institute for Blind people we have worked out a battery of tests and recruited enthusiastic participants, the first of whom will already have taken a pair of glasses home by the time you are reading this. This is a crucial time for the project and we are eagerly awaiting the first results to see whether our technology can translate our academic work into real-world benefit and increased independence for our participants.
I joined the research group after completing my PhD, having previously worked with them for an MSc project, and it has been an intense ride. I have seen the glasses develop from a simple proof of concept to the version that had the striking impact described above. After a news item on the BBC we have been featured in several newspapers and radio shows, and the feedback from this exposure has been very positive. And after our upcoming trial, the challenge remains to turn our still somewhat unfashionable prototype into a device that people can wear out on the streets without standing out, and the exciting step of starting the company that will aim to bring the glasses to market for no more than the price of a smartphone. Ray-Ban, watch your back! After graduating from UCU, Joram van Rheede (‘07½) spent half a year working at Intomart GfK in Hilversum looking at using eye tracking as a tool in marketing research, and moved to the University of Oxford for an MSc and PhD programme in neuroscience in 2008. During his PhD research, he investigated the role of the visual environment in shaping early responses in the developing brain, and afterwards he joined the Smart Specs project as a postdoctoral researcher, working on ways to test and quantify visual performance in the context of rehabilitation.
Links http://www.eye.ox.ac.uk/research/oxford-smart-specsresearch-group www.smart-specs.com www.facebook.com/OxfordSmartSpecsProject https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acMR3fwIWTo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0r_7koevhw
Summer 2015 | Post
21
Pond -er Pond PonderPond A
s we all know, there is only a handful of things in life that could potentially stress us out: work, relationships, fear of death, the futility of it all, and our utter insignificance in the bigger scheme of things. Although that’s only five things, they are still quite the stress factors! We wanted to know where you go to deal with all that stuff. On what branch do you rest your troubled backside, and over which tranquil lake do you cast your pensive gaze? Where is the distant mountaintop
22
Post | Summer 2015
upon which you rest your weary eyes and ponder the universe? We dubbed the project Ponderpond and asked you to send photos, which you’ll encounter throughout this issue of Post. Inspired to share your own spot for future publication? Send your photo, along with a little story about your personal ponderpond, to info@talkingpost.org. Happy pondering! May you find some welldeserved peace, fellow earthling.
When my thoughts get too cluttered I drop everything and skip out of town. Nothing quite clears me up like a clean break on a long smooth stretch of tarmac. The runway entices takeoff; switching into the highest gear I step on it until I can go no faster. Upon peaking its time to sit back and relax with a thumping heartbeat in my ears and sweat running sideways down my face. Swiftly gliding through a lush green landscape I just coast along blissfully with nothing on my mind other than the blurry periphery, the wind flowing through my hair, and the road ahead. - Thomas Westhof
The big pond. Any season, any weather, any time of the day. Whether calm or stormy, for me, the magnificent blue abundance is a panacea for almost anything. - Andrea Sindova
Somewhere in my house lies my feline ponder pond never does it rain. - Laura Scheske
Summer 2015 | Post
23
DUTCH NEWS DOWN Maria van Loosdrecht investigates the role of social media in the spreading of misinformation in the aftermath of a recent hostage situation in the NOS studio, from where the Dutch national news is broadcast.
T
he Netherlands found itself in a bit of a compromising position on January 29th: the public broadcast station, the one that is supposed to keep on providing information in times of war among other things, was down “because of circumstances.” Twitter became the best source of news on the situation.
fake gun to keep a guard hostage. The Dutch 19-year old chemistry student wanted to use the evening news as a platform for a speech that, he claimed, would reveal world issues. Tarik never gave his speech. He was arrested in front of a running camera that gave us this video: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=Lz0QSzEa32M
The Dutch 8 o’ clock evening news by public news outlet NOS is an institution. That Thursday was the first time it didn’t air in sixty years and the Dutch’ imagination was gripped quickly: in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo shooting anything out of the ordinary for the media could mean something terrible had happened.
After the video was released, the hashtag NOSjournaal started trending on Twitter. People on Twitter were quick to identify and call out the protagonist of the video, sharing his Facebook profile, full name, and any personal details they could muster up.
Tarik Z. entered the NOS building using a
24
Post | Summer 2015
“Sometimes news value goes before privacy,” chief editor of the NOS, Marcel Gelauff, told Dutch newspaper NRC Next the next morning
The image that was broadcast instead of the evening news, reading: “Please have patience – due to circumstances there is no News Broadcast possible at this time.”
about his choice to broadcast the video ‘as is.’ The usual guideline for Dutch media is to protect a criminal’s identity—with the argument that it would make rehabilitation into society easier. The NOS repeatedly broadcast the video throughout the evening without any attempt to protect the identity of Tarik Z. Showing the responsible party, quickly identified by the public, may be the journalist’s only weapon in the face of an intrusion like this. Legally the NOS was fully within its rights. Since Tarik Z. was news himself, by his choice, broadcasting his arrest wouldn’t “damage his chances at rehabilitation so badly that it would weigh up against the importance of freedom of speech of the NOS and the public debate we wish to have through the media,” according to lawyer Charlotte Meindersma on her blogpost of January 30 on Charlotte’s Law.
Morally, the NOS may have been behaving more problematically. During the broadcast journalists made phone calls to Tarik’s friends from college (“he came across as just a regular boy actually”) and filmed Tarik’s house. The viewer was left without context to interpret the facts. As a result, the broadcast was meaningless from a journalistic perspective: the continued broadcast became a jumble of non fact-checked information put before the viewer, as proof that the NOS could strike back, rather than as a version of the truth that made any sense. Tarik, who might turn out to be a young and confused individual in the middle of a mental breakdown of sorts, probably did not deserve to have his identity broadcast and become an object of public ridicule—and that is what happened once the video hit Twitter. Twitter allows users to reply immediately. When tweeting from a place of anger, with no time for reflection, nuance is nowhere to be found. Twitter feeds are examples of fairly
Summer 2015 | Post
25
indiscriminate information gathering, with no way to tell real information from mere speculation.
up by the NOS, which was reporting on any developments they could find regarding the case.
All that was known about Tarik came from Twitter and Facebook and this seemed, in a way, to dehumanize him. Tarik could not explain himself, there was no extensive coverage of him by professional (i.e. objective) journalists, and so Twitter became the source of explanations—and while the 140 character tweets were mainly unenlightening, they were still influential.
Output on Twitter and Facebook made everyone feel like they recognized Tarik. Not only the people who actually knew him but all Twitter users who knew how to look up a Facebook profile became sources of “information.”
“Didn’t his parents die last week?” one Twitter user asked for instance. They hadn’t, but the idea that a personal tragedy was behind Tarik’s actions took hold and informed the next batch of Tweets. It was also taken
26
Post | Summer 2015
Most tweets showed a profound lack of respect for privacy or boundaries and Tarik quickly became the butt of the joke online. In three days, a Facebook page dedicated to ridiculing Tarik garnered 2,745 likes. The immediate access to Tarik’s Facebook profile could theoretically bring the viewer
Most tweets showed a profound lack of respect for privacy or boundaries and Tarik quickly became the butt of the joke online.
Twitter translations: “Tarik Zahzah is 19 and lost both parents last week. Cut him some slack, he’s just lost it, poor guy” “alleged suspect liked Prison Break on Facebook. Maybe that comes in handy…”
closer: this is someone with a Facebook profile, who likes Breaking Bad, just like the rest of us. Through his actions, however, Tarik already was not like the rest of us. Instead, his Facebook profile became the focal point of the search for clues to explain his actions. There was no convenient picture of Tarik posing with an AK-47, accompanied by the text “going to join the good fight of the IS, but first a pit-stop at the NOS!” so all other minor details on his Facebook profile were picked apart, shared and made fun of over Twitter. It’s ideal to speak directly to people who actually knew Tarik. Not only because they
are most likely to have valuable insights, but also because they saw him as a full-fledged human being, rather than just a Facebook profile and a video. This is what objective reporting allows, and this difference between Twitter and mainstream news is why we should be careful taking news from Twitter—for consumption, but especially for publication. Maria van Loosdrecht (‘13) obtained a master in Writing, Editing and Mediating in Groningen, and is currently pursuing a master’s in Journalism there as well. She writes for online magazine The Hook (thehookzine.com).
Summer 2015 | Post
27
Scary
Grown Up Life: A Traveler’s Guide Annerijn Vink was told Honduras isn’t a very safe place to go. While that may be true in some ways, she realized it just depends on who you ask...
I
t’s early, too early, and Phillip and I are making our way to Montaña de Santa Bárbara in Honduras. If I hadn’t been here for a week already I’d have had a hard time discerning whether the people here drive on the left or the right side. Rather, they drive on the side with the least holes in the road. As a result, the metal beast that Phillip drives needs to keep switching sides every few meters.
crema before we head out for a morning hike with two local guides, David and Victor. They will be helping us slash our way through the cloud forest with machetes.
Soon enough we find ourselves at a gradually increasing altitude. Covered in lush vegetation, the mountain is surrounded by grey but light clouds. Not surprising for a cloud forest. In the third village up the mountain we stop. Though it doesn’t consist of much more than a dirt road and a few houses, the houses are mostly made out of concrete, the local school is freshly painted and even the stray dogs look healthy. We quickly finish our frijoles, arroz y platanos con
I’m casually chatting to a local Honduran with a sword-like knife in his hand, so according to most people I spoke to before setting off on the plane, I should feel unsafe. After all, it’s Honduras, it’s a guy with a knife, and it’s me all by my lonely, girly, blonde-y self.
28
Post | Summer 2015
As we walk down the main (and only) road to start our adventure, I realize that I feel many things at once – curiosity, excitement, happiness, mental relaxation – but there’s one thing that I don’t feel: unsafe.
But I’m two months into my backpacking trip across Central America and I have not yet been murdered on a chicken bus. Neither have I, a young, blonde, solo-traveling girl,
been raped in a dark back alley. I have not been robbed, not been threatened, not been followed home, nothing. Nada. I don’t think I have superpowers that guard away all ill-intending people – I’ve had passports and mobile phones stolen from me during my travels before. My phone got stolen in Leiden a month after my return. But when I speak to other backpackers they
have the same experience. They, too, have been warned, both by those staying at home and those traveling Central America, to stay away from Honduras. Most people skip it altogether, fly over it, or, when they’re particularly courageous or broke, take a minibus across it. If they stay in Honduras at all, it will be a short visit to get their open water diving certificate – no place on Earth to get it as cheaply as on party island Utila. But the ones that do make it here share my
Summer 2015 | Post
29
feelings: this is a wonderfully friendly, pretty, authentic and calm place. So I venture out and ask the Hondureños I meet along the way one question: why do people think Honduras is unsafe? The first thing they all tell me is: no, really, it is really safe here, I haven’t heard of a robbery in a year, believe me, you are safe. And then they move on to explain why others wrongly think they should avoid Honduras. According to an archeologist I meet at the Maya ruins of Copan, the explanation is to be found in the statistics surrounding the capital. Sure, the murder rate is exorbitantly high in San Pedro Sula, which affects the average for the entire country, but that doesn’t mean that
30
Post | Summer 2015
tourists are in danger in rural areas, too. My hostel owner believes that it’s not so much the current statistics that are the problem, but the statistics of five years ago. People simply haven’t updated their information, he claims. A guy I meet on a chicken bus reveals his conspiracy theory: the United States release a negative travel advice because of political motives. They want to ensure their citizens, and the citizens of those countries that blindly copy the American government’s travel advices, see Central America as a dangerous place. Back home in Rotterdam, I’m still not sure who to believe. Or whether I should believe them at all. But they were right about one thing: Honduras is a lot safer and calmer than the scary stories led me to believe.
Honduras is a lo t safer and calme r than the scary st ories led me to believe .
And their eagerness to explain why the whole world was wrong about tourists being in danger in their beautiful country made me realize that it would be unfair to them to write off their country based on warnings from the Foreign Affairs department or scary stories as told by ex-neighbors and distant family members. Moreover, it would be unfair to myself. You’d miss out on a lot of things if you didn’t do the things that are said to be dangerous, scary, or unsafe. You probably wouldn’t even have swapped your comfortable student life for a leap into Scary Grown Up Life. But what made graduating appealing? The stories of cool internships, inspiring degrees and exciting jobs. The post-graduates telling you that
though it’s scary at times, it’s worth it. Just like what happened to me in Honduras. So ignore your Ministry of Foreign Affairs and their travel advice for Honduras. Ok. Maybe not ignore it. But listen to the people who tell you the opposite story, too. You might find yourself going anyway. Going to Honduras. Taking a weird career step. Moving to that distant city. It might not be as scary as you were told. Annerijn Vink (‘14) is currently enjoying a gap year between graduating from UCU and starting a master’s degree. She is filling this gap with an internship at Dutch online magazine De Correspondent and with travelling, lots of it!
Summer 2015 | Post
31
DUTCH water Love A conversation between two Dutch water sports enthusiasts and a man who exclusively likes tropical waters (but not even that much).
T
hink of diving and surfing. It’s highly likely that you picture tropical waters, blue skies and temperatures over 30 degrees Celsius. But did you know that there is a big dive and surf culture in the Netherlands too? Where people gear up in thick wetsuits with booties to challenge the Dutch waters? I can hear you thinking… “WHY?”
Lack of sharks Kiran: “I can imagine why surfing is fun in tropical waters, but in the Netherlands?” Laurens: “Well, if you get hooked on surfing, you think about it all the time. When can I go? Where can I go? It just so happens that I live in the Netherlands and that I’m half an hour away from the beach at Wijk aan Zee. There is a webcam that points towards the beach I surf, I check it every day and make a decision whether to go or not.” Leonie: “So it is a matter of convenience for you?” Laurens: “You could say that. The surf is not really good. But there is one big advantage: There are no sharks in the Netherlands! Although there are lots of places in Europe
32
Post | Summer 2015
where the same is true and where the surf is better.” Crabs and lobsters Leonie: “Diving in the Netherlands to me is more than convenience. I’ve never seen as many crabs and lobsters in the tropics as in Zeeland. You’d also be surprised by the colors. It’s not as colorful as the tropics, but depending on the season, there is lots of yellow, green and orange.” Laurens: “Sound cool, but the visibility would keep me from diving in the Netherlands.” Kiran: “Can you actually see anything?” Leonie: “The visibility varies from 1 to 6 meters, but the lack of good visibility makes diving more interesting. It’s exciting to
It’s exciting to explore the water with a diving torch looking out for interesting life.
Diving images: courtesy of Michaël Weymaere and Ron Hokke
explore the water with a diving torch looking out for interesting life. In addition, you totally depend on skill instead of visibility to control your buoyancy in Dutch water. That’s why people who dive here are often considered skilled divers.”
(where surfers take smaller waves that they ride longer), handstands and other tricks. In addition, stand-up paddling (SUPPING), a way of surfing where you balance yourself on the board and paddle along, is also becoming more popular in the Netherlands.”
Handstands and other tricks
It’s all about the gear
Laurens: “That’s different with surfing. Big wave surfing is the pinnacle of surfing for a lot of people, and to be able to ride big waves, you need years of non-stop practice. That’s just not possible in the Netherlands because of the weather conditions and the lack of big waves. But there are other ways you can develop as a surfer, for instance on a technical level. There is long board surfing
Kiran: “How accessible are these sports? You need wetsuits and expensive gear? I guess you really have to commit if you want to start.” Laurens: “Definitely, but gear is so important! The conditions determine the gear. In April, the water is still cold from the winter and you need gloves, booties, a hoody and a wetsuit. You can go out for an hour
Summer 2015 | Post
33
Diving images: courtesy of Michaël Weymaere and Ron Hokke
maximum, otherwise it gets too cold.” Leonie: “With diving, you need all of that too, and all the gear that allows you to breathe and control your buoyancy under water. Expect to spend around 1000 euros for a complete secondhand set. But at least underwater there is no wind, so it gets cold less quickly than with surfing. When the water reaches above 11 degrees Celsius, the limiting factor is the amount of air in your tank.” Laurens: “But if you want to give it a go Kiran: you can rent a board and a wetsuit for 25 euros per hour at Wijk aan Zee!”
34
Post | Summer 2015
Over 60 and overweight Laurens: “Once you have committed though, surfing is something you can do for a long time. My uncle who lives in New Zealand just turned 60 and still goes out surfing. The only requirement is that you stay fit, because the paddling really wears you out if it is a good day.” Leonie: “Diving is also something you can do for a long time, even if you’re not that fit. A lot of divers are overweight for example. The most physical part is carrying your gear over the dike from the carpark to the water. Once
Once you have committed though, surfing is something you can do for a long time.
you’re in the water it is not as physically challenging, unless there is a strong current.” Kiran: “So is there a big surfing / diving community in the Netherlands?” Laurens: “Certainly! There are surf clubs and student associations.” Leonie: “You’d be surprised. There are over a hundred official diving sites in Zeeland, and in summer, the parking lots next to those sites are overcrowded.” Laurens: “So Kiran, after hearing our stories: would you be interested in diving and surfing in the Netherlands?” Kiran: “Maybe, I don’t know. There’s a lot of things I would want to do before that. But I do at least understand the peculiar charms it holds for you guys.” Leonie, Laurens and Kiran are UCU alumni who meet sporadically to eat pizza and find ways to get along, despite their differences of opinion on aquatic topics. The reason they have to get along is because they are on the Post magazine editorial board. Summer 2015 | Post
35
Not Your Granddaddy's : Bandwagon ia, and
How I ditched academ too. why you should consider it Maia Kenney quit her job to become a full time pastry chef. She explains her reasoning, and provides a recipe for chocolate cake that’ll make you forget all your worries.
4
:30 a.m. is a strange time of day. The hardcore on either end of waking life have no hold over the town at this time, and aside from the occasional inattentive cop in a hurry to kick butt (I believe my count is at five brushes with death at the hands of our boys in blue), I am alone on my bike for twenty starlit minutes. Two years ago, a year after graduating from UCU, desperate to get back to “the world”, I applied to, and was accepted for, a master in art history at University College London. How I managed this is rather beyond me - I was in over my head as pre-med at UC, with misguided dreams of doctorhood. At any rate, excited for the fall, I looked for a brief summer job that would get me out of the stereotypical American post-college swamp of tiny but hip grocery co-ops and crappy local sports bars… and I found Feast. I suppose it wouldn’t help to tell you how
36
Post | Summer 2015
cool this place is, because it almost sounds like old news - farm-to-table, legendary burgers, and most importantly, the best bakery in Bloomington, Indiana. Convoluted story short: I became, through a major stroke of luck, their assistant pastry chef with no formal training. Now, it’s official. I’m a pastry chef with very little nostalgia for academic life. I create wedding cakes and literally dream of new flavors of ice cream (anyone game to try some malted caramel kalamata? No? fine, you’re missing out). I certainly do not get paid much, but I don’t have debt from an unnecessary master. I do not have benefits in my job (OK, free food does count), but I’m not struggling with lack of passion or momentum. My experience will have weight anywhere I may decide to move. I know with evidential certainty that I want to open a bakery someday, and my sore feet and
clothes that smell of food haven’t prevented me from becoming a triathlete and brewing my own beer. I know I’m the lucky one here in the States. Not having student debt, and the prospect of accumulating even a little bit of it acquiring a master I wasn’t fully sure about, led me down a path that only touches the academic life when I go to lectures at Indiana University. Friends in the Netherlands with grad school ticked off their bucket list are working at call centers, IT recruitment offices (what is that even?), and doing second masters or even bachelor degrees, either to await the epiphany of true passion, or to put off entering the “real world”. I worried that as a baker I would not feel intellectually stimulated. It’s true that people working in kitchens can tend to be uninformed of current events, political campaigns, local music festivals, and
which new exhibitions are on offer at the university art museum. That comes with the territory - computers do not work well with butter in the keyboards. With so little time in the day we must all pick and choose what our extracurriculars are - and in return, we get obsession. Isn’t that what we should strive for? Is it really just me who believes that every moment should be enjoyed, not just when you come home from a nine-tofive? Isn’t that why you got your creative writing degree in the first place? I do get stressed about my job, because it’s not easy by any standards. But I have gained insight into a vast world of which I am a small indulgent corner - I have developed theories and projects based on my understanding of world (and community) hunger and mass media and eating disorders, and intend to work on re-embracing GMOs, teaching people how to cook for themselves (a Dining Hall toastie is NOT cooking, you know), and making the best ice cream you’ve ever had. I have learned so much about the greatness of small food communities, and everything I know can be applied to all other aspects of life. I certainly do not claim, however, to have found the answer with my choices. Many more friends are embarking on exciting journeys and starting jobs that really will be their life. But I know that I would have been one of the listless ones - a magpie pouncing on the next shiny adventure without considering an end goal (me? A doctor?!). We who went to UCU were told that our special snowflake would never melt. How does a mind that’s been conditioned in such a way distinguish the important from the fleeting diversion? This is the Millennial generation, with the highest number of bachelor degrees in history, and we have
Summer 2015 | Post
37
saturated the job market. For a while, the stereotype was that a great barista has an expensive literature master under her belt. Now, even law firms and big businesses are rejecting those who thought they had it made (only 40% of US law school graduates are being hired by law firms now, as opposed to 60% in 2000). So, now more than ever, those degrees have not provided us with much - except that pinnacle of achievements: the art of the latte. So why not enjoy that? Why not accept that college was fun, a learning experience with perhaps less long-term value than our parents led us to believe? They told us we would not find a good job without a solid diploma. They wanted us to order the Suburbia Special from the menu of potential futures and not have to work backbreaking menial jobs like many of their ancestors did, just so we could live in luxury (I’m counting HBO Now as decadence here). And yet, isn’t it tantalizing now to choose to take pleasure in the smell of fresh croissants made with your own hands, and not the plastic odor of your six credit cards? Few of us at UCU have had to deal with the disaster American students now face: 7 in 10 US students graduate with a bachelor and $26,000 in the red. The few UCU grads who end up in the States have scholarships, wealthy Euro families, or just a serious dedication to a career that will bring them joy and, eventually, a little “plus” sign in the bank. But the $1.2 trillion in debt (data from 2013) the US graduating population has accumulated has to hit a ceiling at some point - and this bubble looks ready to burst. In 2013 31% of American Millennials regretted paying for college instead of getting a job right after high school.
38
Post | Summer 2015
meditate long and hard about where you really want to be. I recommend bi-weekly yoga for answers. Furthermore, only 1 in 10 Millennials define their job as a career. They try desperately to pay off their student loan bills rather than gamble with unpaid internships offered by all but the richest tech companies. I, for one, am happy and proud that I do not regret university, but I suspect that having paid a “normal” tuition (not the $62,000, for example, that slaps a Boston University undergraduate in the face), as well as not living under indebted duress, has helped me there. And why should I be the only one? There are so many success stories in financially viable sectors (Silicon Valley and healthcare come to mind). There will always be academic positions for those bright minds who wish to protect Earth’s future from the comfort
Seriously the best chocolate cake Makes two 20cm round cake pans for a layer cake. If making a loaf cake, make half the batter and bake in a 20x9cm loaf pan. Serve with raspberry jam and ganache, or lightly whipped cream and fresh berries, or seriously: whatever you want because this cake is perfect. Ingredients: 3 cups brown sugar 3 eggs 3/4 cups canola oil 2 2/3 cups flour 2 tsp baking powder 2 tsp baking soda 1 1/2 tsp salt 1 1/2 cups milk or buttermilk 1 tsp vanilla 1 1/2 cups boiling water 1 1/2 cups high quality cacao powder Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Whisk the flour, baking soda and powder, and salt in a bowl and set aside. Whisk the sugar, eggs, and canola oil in a big bowl. Add the flour mixture alternating with the milk and vanilla until combined. Whisk the water with the cacao, and stir into batter. Bake until a toothpick comes out with a slightly moist crumb but the cake doesn’t jiggle at all, about 35 minutes.
of a revered profession on stately campuses. But what I am seeing right now (am I impatient?) is friends from both of my home continents drifting from grocery co-op to waitron afterparty to just returning for another helping at the University Buffet. So I charge you, if you are a dissatisfied drifter (which is hard to admit to yourself, I know), to meditate long and hard about where you really want to be. I recommend bi-weekly yoga for answers. Don’t dismiss that nagging feeling that you’d be a better carpenter, Anime illustrator or beekeeper
than copywriter! You can be who you want to be - that was never in question. And if you are feeling like a little sweet treat could help you think, here’s a recipe for the best chocolate cake you’ll ever, ever eat. Have a slice for me. Maia Kenney (‘12) is rocking it in good ole Bloomington, Indiana, and challenging herself with hobbies like brewing beer, competing in triathlons, and inventing new ice cream flavors. She is also our newest addition to the Post editorial board, and we’re very happy to have her!
Summer 2015 | Post
39
Congratul ations
To the Cla
OF 2015!
ss
Nielsdellatif, Philip Ab in Al Alousi, kers, Luja Amend-Straif, Rachel A k, Miriam lexieva, an Annin ens Martha A rade Peixoto, Da r, e Bakk R els, And stad, Jill e Victoria g u l Bart A k aite, Emie n , Emma h, Asla k c s s u e a rd rs A a Dirk Ieva B or Beere , erel Baks, eelen, Flo aud Bijl de Vroe Bakker, M er, Corina van B M l, é, ij d B d s o a B u m a u o B a Th arilo Katharin Sprenkel, tian Bobocea, M m, Valeria van der s h ri ku c C k a , o lb B m e n lo Berk orine mos va Tessel B A , r, n h to o s r Boor, C oë B e n Florian a van d Lisa Bli Z , n n ri s, e a li ij e e th rt a o nB ma, C -Skou Inger va Caroti, m Booms elos Bouketsidis o ra e B tt , a a n M g o i, Bonapers Bots, Markos-An , Ramóna Buzás iu, ca Ciauso ijk hie d lu p n a o e R S it , a u s, B o ru B s a a s, B n m o ry re T u o dh Co Brink, rshi Chow double M van den en, Sapta ne Clement, Tim lexander Davey, h C t o rg n A Ma lear, Vivie lian Dam Bracia, Salgado, Louise C Derksen Lil s , s ll e e T s s , e ru ll eza de Edward C ker, Flavie Dene l-Victor D , u a P k e , D n e ij Blasio Deurs Lidewe lem van marie Di Hans-Wil de Massiac, Rose va, ro it Tessa liana Dim e D Mordant , v ro it ne Dorresteij Ivaylo Dim van Dis, Florenti n, Natálie Drtinová, Natalie Myrte Dru es, o D r e d A yv mber van van Echteld, C esteyn, Welmoed h esron Elgin van Ens, E , Ermers, Ju lif Erken, lia Ertl, S Nicolaas arah Flöre Roos Geut, n, Vincen Cees Geuz t Gerez, Gigase, La e, Noor Gie ura Griffin les, Frede , Roos Gro Maarten v rieke e an der He ijden, Ann n, Maarten van Ha Helwegen eff, e H , Laurenc e Herfs, S eijdra Suasnabar, K Hond, Me ander Hin rel van ‘t oen Hooft, Lo Nicole IJff uise Houw tzen, Anna de , Judith d e ling e Jong, N Mariel Kis adia de Jo , Lucie Hustin, temaker, ng, Georg Manuella Kolejko, K e King, Klavert, L oen Kools u cille Kok, tra, Anne Kouwenbe Zofia mijn Koom rg, Max K an, Nikita raan, Lau Kyengo, M ra Kropp, Be axwell La nedetta mb, Pie van Lange n, William ter Lammers, Esth er v an Leeuw Ewoud va enkamp, n der Leli j, Loredana Lenghel, Astrid Leo nhard, Shuk Li,
40
Post | Summer 2015
Kai Linder, Marvin t, Lindijer, Amy van der Lis Anne ld, sve Loo Anna Lohner, Rikkert Maas, rijn Ma rg, dbe Lun Lucassen, Jonathan Ma der Mark, thew Joanna Mardal, Nina van i, Oliver Menken, Emily Markides, Giulia Marzocch Nienke Annelot van der Meulen, Mens, Timothy Merkel, e, erk elk Nag ort, Marjolijn Mollen, Manou van Montf riel Ma a, nov wa Nar a yte, Biank Juhi Nagori, Sida Nakros , Menno ula Nik ilia Ott , uis enh Nieuw Navarro León, Marjolein on van n Omes, Kaho Onuki, Sim Koe , hof Olt ouk An en, al, Nilles pew Op ia Tit , loo Florine Ooster Oort, Anna Oosterbaan, Eva r, ope nko rde Paa a la, Ros Eline Oskam, Paula Ozo n, Ravi Parekh, Tara Pesma e, Pap s Sila at, Ma der Pan ss, Reu nz Pri ia nath, Victor Meemee Ploem, Pooja Poo ev, Rad der xan Ale , Quené Karel Procházka, Laura Fl nie Rees, Tessa van Jan Ravensbergen, Con van R orien e, Rod de a o nn Do , yen, L hly S Ric anc Rens, André Sauer hez van Ka ucien Juliana Rodrigues , m Rober Shata t van men, Pjot shv Da Silva, Floria ili, Pomme Schaik, Na r nne S talie Simon Spron olli s g Cathe , Emily ter e, Hanna S , Loren Sne lijn on l, S Jakub e Stikkers teeg, Lisa-F g, Stefanie , Hest r Stupk a nziska er Sto Rob T a, Tar Steffe ker, erw ane Tsiats el, Marcela h Tabatab William St n, a iou, R uart, i, Juli Tripol em a i, der Ve gt, Flo co Tuijt, Li Agata Troo Tankink, a Vollen s r broek ian Verhaa m Valca, Is t, Gentry Vivian , Diewertje k, Bas Verv abelle van aart, Wapst van W Heike ra Joris Willem eperen, Fra , Marieke Weijs, nk We ars, C sthoe harlot Aleks k, te an Yapra dra Wojcik, Wittesaele, kova, L i l i an El Rhoxa lis Zhuang , ne Zo is Summer 2015 | Post
41
what ? o h ? W Publications and Graduations: Frederik van Oudenhoven (‘04) has published a book that he has been working on over the past years: With Our Own Hands - A celebration of food and life in the Pamir Mountains of Afghanistan and Tajikistan. The foreword was written by HRH Prince Charles. For more information, see: www.lmpublishers. nl/shop/featured/with-our-own-hands/ Caramay Schmelzer (‘10)’s MA thesis “Ambivalent Multilateralism: The United States and the Biological Weapons Convention Protocol”, written for her MA American Studies at Utrecht University, won two awards: the Theodore Roosevelt American History Award 2015 for the best master thesis on American history in the Netherlands (awarded by the Roosevelt Study Center), and the Eisenhower Thesis Prize 2014 for the best master thesis in the field of modern Transatlantic Relations (awarded by the Atlantic Association). Ai Caramayba! Leslie van der Leer (‘10) obtained her PhD in Psychology from Royal Holloway, University of London, for her thesis on “Deviations from rational beliefs: An investigation combining psychological and experimental economics approaches”.
42
Post | Summer 2015
Roeland Verhallen (‘10) successfully defended his PhD (without corrections needed) in Experimental Psychology at the University of Cambridge. Maia Kenney (‘12) writes: “Academia be damned: I gave it up to juggle being a pastry chef and a triathlete.” Still some typical UCU cleverness there, to balance out a pastry diet with triathleticism. Good thinking, Maia! Kids and Cats: Sebastiaan Cassé (‘03) and Monique Kloosterman (‘04) had a baby boy, Christian, on September 12th, 2014. Laura Scheske (‘10) and Thijs van Himbergen (‘03½) heroically adopted a wounded Croatian street cat who had been mangled by dogs and would otherwise surely have died. It was really sad, and he was really cute and small. They named him Lastovo, after the island where they found him. He then grew up to be a big, fat asshole. He keeps digging up all the house plants and pees wherever he pleases. If anyone wants a free cat, please contact this magazine.
If you want to share your experiences in the next edition of Post magazine go to the following link: goo.gl/ZHFD62
where? At 23:10 on August 31st, 2014, Leon Emmen (‘04) and his wife Kristien became the proud parents of Lize Thessa Emmen. Sanne Dijkstra-Downie (‘02) and husband Steven welcomed baby Tom to their family in April. Tom is brother to 3-year-old Maia, and both were born in Edinburgh where Sanne works as a fundraiser for the University. They’re looking forward to buying Tom his first kilt!
Colophon Editorial Board Kiran Coleman (‘05) Laurens Hebly (‘01) Thijs van Himbergen (‘03½) Leonie Hussaarts (‘08) Maia Kenney (‘12) Design & illustration Laurens Hebly (’01) Thijs van Himbergen (’03½) www.prettynicestuff.com Additional illustrations Charlie Handsome (‘14) Check out the ‘Charlie Handsome’ Facebook page for more of his work Anna Denise Floor (‘05) More from Anna Denise can be found on www.annadenise.nl
Anne Smit-Klijnstra (‘04) and Sander Klijnstra welcomed their second son, Jari Benjamin, on 3 October 2013. The family of four will move into a proper house for grown-ups in their beloved The Hague this summer. There, Sybe and Jari will play in the garden and magically learn to sleep through every night.
Post is still looking for Peeps!
Making Post Magazine takes a lot of time, and we’re hoping to find people who’d like to help out. Do you want to develop your editorial / design / illustration / general magazine-making skills? Send us an email at: info@ucaa.nl
Photography Laurens Hebly (‘01) Thijs van Himbergen (‘03½) Leonie Hussaarts (‘08) Maia Kenney (‘12) Laura Scheske (‘10) Andrea Sindova (‘10) Thomas Westhof (‘12) Niko Wojtynia (‘13) Contributors Krijn Dijkstra (‘08) Leonie Hussaarts (‘08) Maia Kenney (‘12) Maria van Loosdrecht (‘13) Joram van Rheede (‘07½) Geert Sillevis (‘09½) Laurens Speelman (‘08) Annerijn Vink (‘14)
Many thanks to Participants in the ‘Ponder Pond’ project ‘Who, What, Where’ contributors The UCAA board Gisele de Souza Ingrid Snooy Printed by Drukkerij ZuidamUithof A very special thanks to all UCAA contributors and to the UCU administration for believing in this magazine and for making the many UCAA events possible.
Summer 2015 | Post
43