Letter of the day: Reconsider expanding your own home
It is regularly reported that housing construction in the Netherlands is stagnating due to a shortage of construction workers. Anyone who visits a neighborhood with many owner-occupied homes during the week knows that this is not true. It is full of construction workers’ buses.
But all those construction workers are not building new homes. They are mainly engaged in making houses that are often already small even bigger with kitchens, garden rooms, dormer windows and other structures and extensions. This is probably also much more lucrative for the construction sector than new construction.
Homeowners who allow their children and grandchildren a home of their own might consider reconsidering their expansion plans. So that more construction workers can work on expanding the housing stock. And to keep homes affordable for all children and grandchildren.
Eric JansenWageningen
Van Roosmalen
This had to be a parody. A reporter from de VolkskrantGijs Beukers, interviews Marcel van Roosmalen, the man who is a good friend of Gijs Groenteman, who sometimes writes for de Volkskrant† Gijs is married to Aaf Brand Corstius, columnist of de Volkskrantand he also makes podcasts with Pieter Klok, editor-in-chief of de Volkskrant†
The interviewee is also good friends with Jean-Pierre Geelen, journalist for the Volkskrant and is married to Eva Hoeke, Magazine columnist at de Volkskrant† All this in response to a book of 800 pages that is about the covert Van Roosmalen himself.
A rather egocentric man that seems to read, who had to work hard on ‘own brand’ and ‘market value’ because of finances, especially praised along the way by said friends from the media. It seemed too crazy to be true. But the man is real, the story realistic, nothing parody.
And suddenly I see it: Van Roosmalen, with his Adidas sneakers, is a Dutch variation of Chauncey Gardiner from the book Being There by Kosinski, in which, through strange misunderstandings, an illiterate gardener evolves into a famous guru whose simple aphorisms are noted as profound wisdom.
So this story is the ultimate pastiche. Three tributes.
Trees RooseHaren
Van Roosmalen (2)
Every day I think: could it get any worse? The war in Ukraine is getting worse and we can hardly help; next winter we will be stuck in the cold; you can’t buy anything anymore or go out to eat because no staff, real doom and gloom. At least, that’s what I often feel after reading the newspaper. But then Tuesday. I laughed tears at that report about Marcel van Roosmalen, an exceptional man and a very loving father.
Gijs Beukers has done such a fantastic job, humor can and will save us, I am convinced of that.
Yolanda DerksenAmersfoort
Chances
Teun van de Keuken writes in his column of 30 May about having equal opportunities or not. I saw two mothers with the child in front. A child sat in a bicycle seat. The other child stood at the front of the scooter.
Q: Which child has the best odds?
Ben van den BergZeist
Work less
In the responses to Sander Schimmelpenninck’s column, I miss another option: don’t work more, but consume less (and above all differently). The whole house of cards of services and professions in the service of consumerism is now being maintained, while it would be better for everyone, rich and poor, to take a step back in wishes and demands, and to make different choices.
The marginalized group ‘highly educated, idealistic, creative with little money’ can take the lead in this.
Marie BaarspulAmsterdam
Ukraine and peace
Reading Sander van Walsum’s opinion article and Arie Elshout’s column makes me very confused. Should we embrace French President Macron’s ‘Realpolitik’ towards Russian President Putin or, following Ivo Daalder, take a stand against it? Both take past experiences as a starting point for their vision.
Perhaps the two journalists should discuss it among themselves, after hearing each other’s points of view, try to arrive at a shared vision and report on this to the reader in a subsequent article.
If they succeed, they will create a useful template for the inevitable peace negotiations in the long run. If it does not work, then it may be concluded that, after the current war in Ukraine, the negotiations afterwards will also be lengthy and difficult.
I am very curious if my suggestion will be followed.
KJ BrouwerRotterdam
Graduation
Obtaining your diploma in higher education is an achievement that you can be proud of. It stands for enduring years of stress, pressure to perform and more than fifty-hour work weeks. A ceremonial graduation ceremony marks the end of your studies, which you celebrate together with family, friends, and classmates.
For many transgender students (and also non-binary or gender non-conforming students) with a new self-chosen name, on the other hand, it is a situation of misjudgment, discomfort or even paralysis. Transgender people often choose a new name that fits the person they are. Most higher education institutions only issue diplomas with a legal name on them, while these students do not recognize themselves in this.
A name that someone no longer uses is called a dead name. Hearing that is painful, because it often reminds transgender people of the difficult times when they were a different person. Using a self-chosen name is a lengthy bureaucratic battle, in which the dead name symbolizes an unfortunate history that cannot be erased. Students have to jump through countless hoops to have their chosen names carry through.
Educational institutions must therefore take measures to protect transgender people and to provide equal treatment. With the current demeanor, many transgender students fear that things will go wrong during the graduation ceremony. Mentioning someone’s dead name can force them out of the closet. Intimate information about you is shared publicly; you lose control of your identity. Also, some transgender students do not want to be photographed with their diplomas, which is normally an indispensable moment at your graduation ceremony. Should such negative emotions really dominate during a festive ceremony?
Currently, names on legal diplomas can only be changed after official changes in the basic registration, although you need an expensive expert statement for this. Yet there is a good alternative: ceremonial diplomas. In collaboration with its student council, Amsterdam University College, for example, started collecting students’ names of their own choosing last year. This simple intervention allows educational institutions to make their graduation ceremonies a party for everyone.
Tuyet Stooker and Jules Declerieux of student union Asva, Amsterdam