Elections

Tomorrow it's election time. I fear the worst. After last week's murder of Fortuyn, his party is threatening to become even bigger than anticipated. In the last poll, they were second. In the meantime, they have shown that they are not worth of any votes. Since Wednesday, there have been at least four self-proclaimed leaders of the party, fighting over the power. Some of them have done some interviews that make you fear the very worst. One compared the minister of health with Bin Laden, as 'more people have died on the waiting list than through the terrorist'. Others accused the left of creating a climate in which murder was inevitable. They fell just short of accusing the leaders of the two main left wing parties directly of the murder. A well-known lawyer is investigating the possibility of a courtcase against the Prime Minister, some other politicians, some journalists and a newspaper. By criticising Fortuyn they were part of the conspiracy or something like that. It has gotten out of hand big time. Let's just hope that tomorrow common sense will prevail.

I'm still undecided what to vote myself. Doubting between principles and practical politics. Both left wing offcourse. I'll probably decide at the spot. I'll continue my decade old tradition of voting for a woman though. With more women in power, the world would look much nicer.

(no subject)

Still at school. Exams. Second round, so only a few here. They try to make sense out of databases and spreadsheets. If they could, they wouldn't have been here..

I'm just browsing a bit on the web. Just saw the finish of the Giro-stage of today, at least a description of it, read some news on the elections (got to vote tonight!) and checked my mail (hardly any).

Might start doing some correctionwork.

Marek van der Jagt - Monogaam (02-11)

Just a little book, but plenty to talk. I read this one in the bus on my way to Spain. The students laughed at me, as I fell asleep at some point with the book on me, they saw the front page, a naked lady seen from the back. The hardly visible nipple, she's half turned, caused a bit of a stir amongst them.

It was hardly an investment. In the 'boekenweek' this essay was a bargain. Van der Jagt lives in Vienna, though not everybody is convinced that he is who he claims to be. He wrote a novel, his second novel is due to appear. Many critics thought they recognised Arnon Grunberg in him. Only yesterday, I read an article in the paper that there was proof of their hypothesis. According to a group of Italian mathematicians, Van der Jagt is Grunberg. Apparently, the structure of his words can be analysed by foreigners, although they cannot speak the language. Allow me to remain sceptical.

Whatever the case, I enjoyed reading this book. Van der Jagt does a lot of self analysis in this essay, his search for love, or better sex, turns out to be a quest for power. He decides to treat his father as a guinea pig. He wants to have absolute control over everyone in his life. He wants to rule their lives. He has a few relationships, though the importance of them is clear when he doesn't even name them. An initial or a profession is how he describes them. He is a born adulterer. Throughout the essay, it becomes clearer what a psychopath he is. It makes for interesting reading and funny statements. The idea that a large penis is there to clear out the womb from other semen, is an original one (at least for me). I enjoyed reading this book.

One of my students read it on the way home from Spain. She was shocked. By that time several were lining up for the little book. The only one who finished it still occasionally mentions the name of the author. I shan't tell you exactly her idea what she wants to do, should she meet him. Some others read a page at random. How they managed to select page 32 remains another question. The statement: "Survival means the destruction of the opponent. In this vagina, this black hole, in this lovely hell there is no room for the both of us." The reaction of 17-year-old girls wasn't surprising. Perhaps when they grow up they see a deeper truth instead of just some vulgar language. Perhaps not. However, isn't that the force of literature?

Election results

Sometimes I wish my country was a bit more backward. Problems with ballots or something, votes recounted, slow processing. All of that seems impossible here. The results of the election leave little room for optimism. The only hope at the moment seems that a new government is getting in soon and fucks up big time soon. Next elections next year. One can but dream.