Laura van Dolron, Dutch comedian

Laura van Dolron is a Dutch comedian. She calls herself a stand-up philosopher. Her last show before her present New Year’s Eve show was about French philosopher and author Jean-Paul Sartre.

This video is about Laura van Dolron’s New Year’s Eve show.

On 19 December 2012, she did a tryout show for her New Year’s Eve show.

It was in a small new theatre: Ins Blau in Leiden.

Laura van Dolron was born in 1976. Then, and earlier, every 31 December, there was a famous New Year’s Eve show by comedian Wim Kan. In the fifties, millions of Dutch people listened to it on the radio. When, in the 1970s, the show went on TV, millions watched. The theme of the show was mainly Dutch and international politics.

Audiences often expect comedians or clowns to be funny all the time, also in their private lives. Often then, there is a discrepancy between what people expect of these entertainers, and how these entertainers really are as human beings. Wim Kan in his everyday life and in his diaries was often somber.

Laura van Dolron said that, for Wim Kan, there was an extremely big discrepancy between what others expected of him, and how he really was. That is not just Wim Kan’s problem; he was an extreme example. Laura said that she herself should be careful not to become alienated from herself too much by conforming to audiences’ expectations.

Now, at the end of 2012, Laura van Dolron asks herself what has changed since 1976. In this show, she has things in common with Wim Kan. She wears white tie clothes similar to him. However, contrary to Wim Kan, she does not want to hide things which she feels bad about from her audience behind jokes.

So, a big part of Laura’s show was about relationships between men and women going wrong. Another difference with Wim Kan, Laura said. As Wim Kan loved his wife for half a century. During World War II, Kan was a prisoner in a Japanese camp. He desperately missed his wife, and wanted her back.

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Stop wildlife-killing Roundup in the Netherlands

This video is called Dr. Huber Explains Problems with Monsanto‘s Roundup Ready GMO Alfalfa & Coexistence.

This is the translation of an Internet petition by environmentalists in Leiden, the Netherlands, against using the internationally infamous herbicide Roundup, of the infamous Monsanto corporation:

Now that already so much has become known about the very harmful effects of the use of the toxic herbicide Roundup on the environment, humans and animals, the city of Leiden, despite warnings from scientists and nature and environmental organizations, continues to spray this poison on its streets and sidewalks. In this way, they knowingly put the health of its population and its (domestic) animals in danger. The municipality of Leiden should take better care of its citizens by stopping the spraying of chemical rubbish on our doorsteps and should switch to other, not dangerous weed removal methods!

PETITION

We

inhabitants of Leiden, parents, animal lovers, environmental organizations, nature lovers
ascertain

That scientific studies have conclusively shown that the toxic agent Roundup
- Harms the health of humans and animals
- Contaminates the surface water
- Endangers drinking water
- Harms the environment
and that sufficient alternative non-chemical ways to control weeds exist.
and requests

the city of Leiden to finally take its duty of care for its residents, their children and animals seriously, by immediately stopping to spraying or have others spray this toxic, the very harmful Roundup Evolution in their city and to proceed to another, non-chemical, harmless weed control method.

I:

living in:

am signing the petition No poisonous stuff gang on Leiden sidewalks.

my name and address may be publicly visible under the petition yes/no.

e-mail address:

You can sign the petition here.

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Robert Lowth’s unknown letters discovered

From Leiden university in the Netherlands:

Leiden student discovers unknown letters by Robert Lowth

Myrte Wouterse, third-year student at Leiden University, has discovered two previously unknown letters by Robert Lowth in the University Library. Lowth was the leading English grammarian of the 18th century.

Letter signed by R. Oxford, or rather Robert Lowth

The letters give important insight into the lives of Lowth (1710-1787) and his correspondent, Leiden orientalist H.A. Schultens (1749-1793). They are also a source of information on informal networks in the 18th century. The letters were written during Schulten’s stay in England from 1772 to 1773 and were hidden away in an appendix to Schulten’s account of his visit. This probably explains how they remained undiscovered and why they are not to be found in the Library catalogue.

Social networks in the 18th century

Schultens is known to have studied in Oxford, where he obtained an MA, but these newly discovered letters tell the real story behind this qualification. It was an honorary title, that in Schultens’ own words was awarded only in rare cases, and certainly not to foreigners. Schultens made good use of his social network to acquire his MA. He wrote to the father of his friend and fellow student Thomas Henry Lowth (1753-1778), Bishop Lowth in other words, asking Lowth to put in a good word for him. Robert Lowth writes in his letters that he often receives such requests, but that he never accedes to them. He advises Schultens to take the official route and at the same time shows that he is prepared to help by promising to write to a number of his friends in Oxford. Which he duly did, as is witnessed by the fact that Schultens did receive his Oxford MA.

We now know that Schultens has Lowth to thank for his MA, and we can see how contemporary informal networks operated: Schultens was a friend of Lowth’s son, a connection that he made good use of for his career. This was how the system of patronage worked at that time: Lowth himself owes his own career within the Anglican church largely to his social contacts.

Beginner’s luck

Myrte Wouterse discovered the letters by Robert Lowth in the appendix to a trip report by orientalist H.A. Schultens.

This remarkable find was made by Myrte Wouterse, third-year student of English Language and Culture and a student of the Leiden Honours Academy:

‘It was pure chance, beginner’s luck. I was given a tour of the University Library by Thijs Porck, one of my lecturers, on the subject of the special collections, and how we can use them for our research. At the time I was preparing a presentation as part of Professor Tieken’s ‘Introduction to Late Modern English’ course. Actually, we had requested a different letter (from William Jones to Schultens) and to our surprise we received a whole package of letters, including Schulten’s report of his visit to England. When we leafed through the documents we found the name ‘R. Lowth’ (a very familiar name to students of English Language and Culture), but the letters were signed ‘R. Oxford’. I now know that it was common practice for bishops at the time to use the name of their diocese, and Lowth was then bishop of Oxford.’

Not in the catalogue

To her surprise, Myrte was unable to find the letters in the library catalogue, and it was then that she realised that this could be a very special find: ‘In Schulten’s account of his travels, there was only a reference to the original appendix, nothing more. With such an important name as Lowth, I had expected that the letters would be in the catalogue. When I talked to Professor Tieken about my presentation, that should actually have been about an English diary from the 18th century, she was very enthusiastic. She had not been aware that there were letters by Lowth in Leiden. Luckily, she agreed to my changing my presentation to these letters by Lowth, rather than sticking to the diary idea.’

A pleasant – and valuable – surprise

Last year, Professor Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade published a book about Lowth: The Bishop’s Grammar, Robert Lowth and the Rise of Prescriptivism (Oxford University Press, 2011). This book is largely based on Lowth’s letters, and it was a pleasant surprise for her to discover that there were also letters by Lowth in the University Library.

Tieken-Boon van Ostade explains: ‘The Bishop’s Grammar focuses on Lowth’s grammar, about which there are all kinds of preconceptions. I wanted to use my book to put some of these right. An important part of my research consists of examining Lowth’s letters, because I wanted to show that, contrary to expectations, his grammar rules were not taken directly from his own language use, which in itself is another preconception. I have spent several years collecting Lowth’s letters, and now have a total of 330, 250 of them written by him personally. And now there are another two, so close to home! Eventually, I intend to publish an edition of his letters. Putting together a complete collection of letters is always problematic, as the discovery of these letters confirms. If Myrte hadn’t discovered the new letters, aided by Thijs Porck, I would never have known of their existence.’

Lowth as a person

‘Apart from their importance for our knowledge of the way that Schultens obtained his honorary master’s degree at the University of Oxford, this find is also important for our understanding of Lowth as a person. He is very cautious, but is prepared to assist other people and to approach his network contacts about something that he considers a worthy purpose. Just like Lowth’s son Thomas Henry, Hendrik Albert Schultens was a promising young man.’

‘What is also important is that I have discovered another individual who actually met Lowth, and who was even a friend of his son who had died at much too early an age. In my line of research, all my informants are long dead, but you still want to try to build a picture of what motivated people. These letters, as well as Schultens’ diary, that I have now studied more carefully, will make a valuable contribution to my research.’

Further research on language use and social networks

Myrte is now going to devote her presentation for the Late Modern English course to the newly discovered letters by Lowth. Later, she intends to write an essay on them, focusing on the use of language in the period, but also on how social networks were used. After that, the plan is to write a joint article with Ingrid Tieken for publication.

Special collections

Leiden University Library (UB) has sizeable special collections of national and international standing. The Western manuscripts and private archives contain a total of 500,000 letters. More than 300,000 of these are accessible via the UB’s own catalogue and the national Catalogus Epistularum Neerlandicarum (CEN). Besides letters, the special collections of the UB also contain manuscripts, archives, photos, maps and atlases, oriental collections, old editions, prints and drawings. Holders of the LU-Card can view this material in the Special Collections Reading Room. Many of the items can also be viewed via Digital Special Collections.

Read more

• The special collections of Leiden University Library
• In 2011, letters by Schultens were part of the UB’s  ‘Ach, schrijf mij toch!’ exhibition
• For holders of a LU-card, the book ‘The Bishop’s Grammar’ is available for loan in the University Library via the Catalogue
• Personal webpage of Professor I.M. Tieken-Boon van Ostade with links to her research and publications
• Robert Lowth blog by Professor I.M. Tieken-Boon van Ostade

Research profile

Global Interaction of Civilizations and Languages is one of the six themes for research at Leiden University.

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Waxwings in the Netherlands

This video says about itself:

A flock of Waxwings drink from a hole in the ice. The flock was filmed on the canal at Crossflatts, near Keighley, West Yorkshire, UK in the winter of 2010 and 2011 when there was a significant influx of this species.

Today, a group of about twenty Bohemian waxwings, near the fire brigade building in the north-west of Leiden, the Netherlands. They were eating berries, and attracted wildlife photographers.

Photos are here.

And here.

A sound recording is here.

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Dutch antiquities museum on the Internet

This video says about itself:

Exploring the Rijksmuseum with Google Art Project [1080p HD]

A walk through the famous Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Among its collection are many works of Rembrandt, including the Nachtwacht (Night Watch).

You can explore the Rijksmuseum with Google Art Project here:

http://www.googleartproject.com/museums/rijks

The music is “The XX – Intro”.

The Google Art Project shows art objects from museums in various countries in the world on the Internet.

Recently, the Dutch Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden joined this project.

This allows a close look for internauts at 273 objects of the collection of that museum.

Flemish and Dutch poetry event

On Sunday 4 November, Flemish and Dutch poets read their poetry in a pub full of people in Leiden, the Netherlands.

First on stage: Gideon Roggeveen‘s poetry.

The poems were about love, rain, wind and shark fin soup.

Upperfloor was supposed to come now. But she had not arrived yet. So, Marijn Baas read his poems, on atoms and clocks.

Then, Roel Weerheijm, about a terrace.

After Roel, from Flanders, Xavier Roelens.

This is a Xavier Roelens poetry video.

This time, his poems were about Apple computers, a traffic accident, and the sun.

Then came Rian Evers, vocals and guitar.

This is a Rian Evers music video.

She sang this time self-written songs and Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right, by Bob Dylan (with “boy” substituted for the “gal” in Dylan’s lyrics).

From Flanders, more precisely from Gent, came David Troch.

This is a video of David Troch reading poems.

This time, he read a poem on the death of his grandfather.

During a pause, I saw, from Rotterdam: Upperfloor, visual artist and poetess. She had arrived after all. This time her hair was shorter than last time I saw her. Contrary to David Troch, whose hair had grown.

After the pause, first Flemish poetess Sylvie Marie. Her poems were about love and about cars. An unusual subject, she said, as many poets don’t have a driving licence. But editors of a literary magazine had said it would the subject for the next issue, and after some time, she had made something fitting that theme.

After Sylvie Marie, Upperfloor.

This is a video of Upperfloor reading poems in Rotterdam.

This time, her first poem was on Belgrade after NATO had bombed it in 1999. It reminded her a bit of her own Rotterdam, bombed by Hitler’s Luftwaffe in 1940.

Her second poem was on Internet dating.

After Upperfloor, poetess Tessa van Breeden.

Then, Dorit van Amsterdam, the youngest poet in the Netherlands, eight years old. She read from her booklet De Grommetjes, about small, mysterious beings. She got the most applause of the whole afternoon.

Dorit’s dog and her younger sister were present.

Then, stand up comedy by Björn Ciggaar.

Finally, Dorit’s mother Nathalie van Amsterdam, a doctor. She sang a song about male circumcision, while Gitta Petri played accordion.

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Botany, economy and art, exhibition

On Saturday 3 November, I went to an exhibition in Leiden, in the Museum Boerhaave, the Dutch National Museum for the History of Science and Medicine.

This is a Dutch video about that exhibition.

The museum’s Internet site says about the exhibition:

Exhibition Leyden’s luxuriance, Green Discoveries in the Golden Age

Until 6 May 2013

The advances made in science in the seventeenth century are often associated with discoveries in the fields of astronomy and physics. But the real Big Science at the time was natural history: no other branch of knowledge attracted so many investments, engaged so many people or caused so much circulation of information and objects across international networks.

Yet there is a paradox about this. Biology was not an official major subject at universities in the seventeenth century. Botany was considered an ancillary subsidiary subject of the study of medicine.

Early eighteenth century Leiden Professor Boerhaave, after whom the museum is named, knew much about botany, but was primarily a medic. Famous Swedish naturalist Linnaeus studied under Boerhaave then. Though far more interested in botany than in patients, to get an academic degree, Linnaeus had to become a doctor of medicine.

Even still a century later, famous biologist Charles Darwin at university did not study biology, but medicine and theology.

The exhibition does not limit itself to the seventeenth century. It also shows sixteenth century herbaria and books about plants. It continues into the eighteenth century, when Linnaeus was in Leiden and its surroundings.

In the Dutch Republic, botany especially was booming business: people spent enormous amounts of time and money collecting, studying and classifying plants. Botanical gardens were set up at both universities and country estates, lovers of flora exchanged letters recording their observations and experiences, artists specialized in depicting plants and publishers brought out sumptuously illustrated works in large format. The main focus of attention was on the new plants reaching Dutch cities and towns as a result of growing international trade: the tulip from Turkey, the potato from South America, ginger from Asia and Aloe vera from Africa. The number of known species of plants

that is, known in western Europe; where in the Middle Ages only the plants of that region itself had been known

rapidly climbed from about 500 in 1550 to well over 7,000 around 1700.

Botany, trade and culture

Leyden’s Luxuriance makes abundantly clear that the rise and flowering of botany was closely related to developments in trade and culture. The increase in botanical knowledge was not the work of a few isolated scholars, but rather the result of full-scale collaboration between physicians, apothecaries, merchants, members of the gentry and the magistrate, gardeners and artists. Although interests might range from searching for new medicines or merchandise to emending the classical texts or simply displaying one’s wealth by owning a beautiful garden, all lovers of flora were united in their passion for exotic plants. They not only found each other, they also needed each other in order to study, possess and understand this valuable and unique material. The love of botany went hand in hand with a curiosity about exotic nature, the search for wealth and a passion for tangible beauty.

This fascinating chapter of Dutch history brings together a few familiar elements of the Golden Age: the flourishing of science, the numerous international trade contacts, the wealth and tastes of a new urban elite, the rise of the bulb-growing industry, the importance of owning a garden as a status symbol and the popularity of new artistic genres like the still life with flowers. In making this complex story both accessible and engrossing, a key role has been awarded to Leiden, home not only to the Republic’s first university and first botanical garden, but also to renowned botanists, publishers, garden owners and artists, who all worked closely together to bring about green discoveries.

Fungi, wigeons, black swan

Sunday 21 October 2012.

To the park in the south-east of the city, to look for fungi.

Near the entrance, a ring-necked parakeet calls. Mallards and coots swimming.

And today’s first mushrooms in the grass: Psathyrella marcescibilis.

A carrion crow with food in its bill lands a bit further on the grass.

In a wooded part, a slime mold: wolf’s milk.

Bjerkandera fumosa fungus.

Another slime mold: Trichia scabra.

Then, Coprinus domesticus mushrooms.

Stereum hirsutum on a branch.

Then, a beautiful Clavulina cinerea on the forest floor.

After that, on a branch together: the slime mold Ceratiomyxa fructiculosa and common mazegill fungus.

Next, on the forest floor, a group of scaly wood mushrooms.

Variable oysterlings on wood.

Thin Macrotyphula juncea fungi. Small frosty bonnets.

Jelly ear.

Dead man’s fingers share a tree stump with candlesnuff fungus.

Angel’s bonnet.

Xylaria longipes, growing on a maple tree stump.

Broad-leaved helleborine orchid plants. Not flowering now.

Snapping bonnet. Bleeding fairy helmet.

Daedaleopsis confragosa on a tree.

Alnicola scolecina.

Old World royal ferns. Cranberries grow as well in this marshy part. And the rare plants marsh cinquefoil and bog-bean.

Deceiver fungus.

Taphrina amentorum.

Daisies, still flowering.

Turkey tail fungus.

On a tree stump, three species: oyster mushroom; Coprinellus disseminatus; and sulphur tuft.

A bit further, a tree, on which artist’s bracket fungi feed.

On the meadow, mallard and wigeon ducks. Domestic geese, a few grey lag geese, Canada geese, and a lone black swan.

Then, the forest near the old castle. White saddle fungus.

Earthy inocybe. Coprinellus micaceus.

This year, for the first time, nest boxes for tawny owls were put in the forest; resulting in a couple nesting successfully.

Also, the first nesting white stork couple this year.

In the grey heron colony, a spoonbill couple tried to nest; unsuccessfully.

Clavaria acuta.

A honey fungus.

Scaly earthball.

Stinking dapperling.

On a fallen tree: Pluteus salicinus.

Collared earthstar.

Ascocoryne sarcoides.

Finally, Bjerkandera fumosa on a fallen tree trunk.

Good fungi year on Texel island: here.

Dutch coastal fungi: here.

Hygrophorus fungi: here.

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Poetry, music, and elections

On Sunday, 9 September, in Leiden, the Netherlands, there was an afternoon of poetry and other things.

First on stage was poetess Amber-Helena Reisig, from Heerlen in the southern Netherlands. Soon, her first novel and her first book of poetry will be published.

Then, Ed Citroen, guitar and vocals.

Then, a column by yours truly, on the 12 September elections, Mary Shelley, and Bram Stoker.

After a pause came Thomas van ‘t Groenewout, still at secondary school, with his poems. His subjects included a bus, a giraffe, and the band Joy Division.

Riekje Renes told a story about saving money.

Then, music by Ed Citroen again.

After another pause, two poets: Leo van Zanen and Hanneke van Eijken.

Finally, Ed Citroen again.

Churches and castle in Leiden city

Sunday 9 September was national monuments’ day in the Netherlands.

In Leiden city that meant that medieval and later buildings, not always open to the public, were open today.

Near the medieval Pieterskerk church, there were comedians in seventeenth century-style clothes.

Inside the church, a copy of the famous Last Judgment painting by Lucas van Leyden (the original is in the Lakenhal museum).

Not far from the church, the Gravensteen, the counts’ castle. Originally from the 13th century, built by the counts of Holland against their rivals, the bishops of Utrecht. The building was also a prison for the count’s enemies.

In 1463, the count transferred the building to Leiden city authorities. They added new buildings to the complex. Eg, in 1556, an extra cell block was added because of the big numbers of protestants jailed by the Roman Catholic inquisition.

To try to convert the “heretic” prisoners to Roman Catholicism again, frescoes depicting Jesus Christ, and religious slogans were painted on the cell walls. Supposedly, if the heretics would repent just before their execution, they might not have to burn in hell. However, last minute conversions did not mean that the prisoners would not get the death penalty.

After the Dutch revolt against the Roman Catholic king of Spain, the new protestant authorities had the frescoes covered with whitewash. They were discovered again in the twentieth century.

Executions of prisoners were on the square before the Gravensteen. From a gallery near their courtroom, judges could see the killing of the prisoners. This happened there for the last time in 1853.

Today, Leiden University owns the Gravensteen.

After the Gravensteen, we went to another monument, at Langebrug 63. Originally built as a medieval house. Since 1912, it is a Plymouth Brethren church.

Today, there was (mainly classical) music there, by Het Nonet.