Ashanti Richardson
Amsterdam This is the grand city, the city of dreams. Yet it doesn’t feel bigger than my own back yard. That’s probably because it isn’t that much bigger than my figurative back yard (no one actually has a yard here). We live in a small town atmosphere with a big city image. It’s funny to see people’s reaction to the words “I’m from Amsterdam”. A little gasp, big eyes, and a quick smoking gesture with a smile. “You smoke weed huh?” I guess I do. But the city is so much more than weed and whores. Many tourists probably just don’t remember it because they get so high that they don’t remember most of their stay here. For me Amsterdam is a friend on every corner, some real, many fake. It’s passing the canal I once jumped in to get my girlfriend to stop crying, luckily with success. It’s that one whore that always used to wave at me on the way to my dancing school when I was ten. Completely innocent, both of us in our own ways. It’s the wrinkled old men drinking Jenever and beer in their local pubs. Laughing way too loud and flirting with their waitresses, who truly don’t seem to mind. It’s an unending collection of stories worth hearing and those yet to be lived. It’s home.
Bells Of Youth The Bells of youth is a band of four charismatic girls you should keep an eye on. Already nominated as ‘one of the bands to watch’ in 2014, this Amsterdam based girl band is now performing worldwide. From Paaspop to Sziget they are blowing their audiences away with their indie pop vibe and rocky edges. Creating their music from scratch and making their own rules along the way, every one of them is a true rebel at heart. The world is theirs for the taking.
Cristal Ball
Cristal Sjimons is another one of our local talents. With her handmade jewelry line Cristal Ball she sets the bar high with her enchanting unique pieces. Her work gives you the nostalgic feeling of being pulled into a fairytale. Using the finest crystal as well as animal bones her pieces are breathtaking while at the same time being slightly disturbing. Check out her new line on www.cristalball.com.
Nana Prins Nana Prins is our local little princess. But don’t let her pretty looks fool you. She is the founder of Mrs Mokum which she singlehandedly put on the map within a few months time. MrsMokum.com gives you a constantly renewed overview of what is going on in this beautiful city. From the best coffee shops or art exhibitions to the hottest guys, if you’re looking for it MrsMokum is the place to be.
The ranting of a teenager (2009) Just another sleepless night. Wondering about, about everything. Remembering that losing my childhoods best friend, together with the illusion my mother would surely live to see eighty and that I had found the love of my life, just to lose him (all within one month) had felt like having my heart ripped out of my chest, stabbed with a dozen knives and then tried to be stuffed back in to my steadily bleeding wound, without success and therefor being thrown into the modernday gutter of lost innocence, hopes and dreams. I thought I would die then. But I didn’t. Instead I learnt that change is the only thing constant. This I learnt at the cost of truly being able to bond with anything that supposedly ‘is’ now and anything that might be in the future. (What actually ‘ís’ if not one human mind can truly conceive ‘the truth’ for your truth can never be that of another, so what is ‘the truth’ other than something we can’t conceive, yet sometimes try to, in vain). Leaving me with dreams I refuse to let go of, yet without being able to allow myself to truly hope for anything, with the realistic knowledge that everything or anything could be gone tomorrow, together with my hopes that with newfound knowledge may be replaced by others. Yet having my childhoods worst nightmare come true has left me with the self-knowledge that I will overcome either way. That losing what is most important to me now, in the future will present itself not to be as devastating as I had expected it to be, apart from the emotional importance I allow it to have. Just another sleepless night. Wondering, not about things events or even emotions. But wondering why I should wonder about them if in the end they will all prove themselves unimportant in the great scheme of things. Wondering what actually ís important, if anything really is.