“The Pirate’s Compass Points Analogue: Following the Dutch Back to Solid Ground” We Dutch have always prided ourselves on our commercial instincts. Call it a neurotypical business gene, if you will. After all, we’re the pioneering spirits who launched the world’s first stock market while everyone else was still bartering chickens. Wi-Fi? You’re welcome. That…
Category: phaedrasfoodfederation.com
“Oxidated leafes, Orchides & Roots”
Between Roots and Clouds: Birthday Reflections There is a peculiar clarity that arrives with birthdays, like sunlight filtering through oxidated leaves. We find ourselves standing at the intersection of what was and what might be, suddenly aware of our solitude and connections. Perhaps it’s the surprise of it—the professional congratulations outnumber the friends who remembered…
“Raw, Real, and Unapologetical”
Field Notes from the Borderlands: Age 55 The anthropologist in me observes with detached fascination. The entrepreneur plots the next move. At 55, I stand at the threshold of a chapter that wasn’t in the original table of contents. My body has become its own research subject. Each new symptom is a data point, and…
“Erdo-Can, Extractions & Entanglement”
Extraction Economies: Currencies of Time and Truth I arrived punctually, trying to blend in with the “on the dot” approach despite my Dutch instinct to be at least ten minutes early. My cultural programming was temporarily suppressed in favour of local norms. Punctuality is that unspoken contract between a professional and a client. I wouldn’t…
“Animist, Anima & Animals”
The alliterative trinity suggests the grand cosmic joke of existence.Let me continue this sardonic mix of memories, spirits, souls, and our beastly behaviour. In the sacred corners of my childhood memory, mother’s “baboes” (servants) would place little food offerings to appease household spirits—a superstition (to us Europeans) that could seem relevant while pondering Myanmar’s paradox.How…
“BROKERS, BANDITS, BASEMENTS & BURKINA”
When Reality Outshines the Movie Scene: A Diamond Hustle Too Real to Scam I’ve always had a knack for stumbling into the extraordinary. Take that early 2000s encounter with Andrea – a Harvard-educated Genovese with model looks who preferred his parents’ basement to the high life his credentials might have offered. We clicked instantly –…
“LOTTERY LOITERING”
A FATHER’S DAY FREEDOM Gambling lingers at the edges of our lives, A strange ritual we pretend to understand.In Spain, it’s tradition, celebration, faith— Millions wagering on possibility. I never felt its pull. Until the day I met her— Ninety-four years old, eyes bright with hope, Lottery tickets clutched in weathered hands. How could I…
“Staring Down the Business End of a Glock and a Gramophone”
“The Gramophone Spins, the Glock Speaks: Lessons in Adaptable Wisdom” There’s something deliciously ironic about how we’ve managed to arm ourselves to the teeth with both rules and the means to ignore them. On the one hand, my country churns out regulations like a factory on steroids—an endless stream of shalt and thou-shalt-nots that would…
“Oil on Crumpets and Butter on Naan”
As a land that welcomes refugees, we face one moral masterful merit: figuring out how to provide these people with proper education.The question of language arises immediately.Which alphabet should we teach? They need ours to navigate their new home, certainly. But if they eventually leave, shouldn’t they be prepared to make a better land of…
“Chic & Covered Colonialism”
Someone asked me the other day, “What do you miss about your city (Amsterdam)?” I had to think deeply for a while until it popped: Sjaakie Swart. People who know about him would not immediately connect why, but of course, I will explain. For those who don’t know, Sjaakie Swart was a legendary Ajax football…
The C.O.M.C. Files 