Because I love news from the Arnhem region, I treated myself to a digital subscription to Gilderlander. There is no way to nudge old news so well or take it out of context as this newspaper. They toss the ingredients in a bowl, let the press stir it vigorously, then let it cool for a while, and voila, another novelty has been baked. A little salt or pepper on top and he eats well too.

My eyes fell on a message about comedian Gandino Assporat who, according to impressive FVD alderman Gino Laursen, was wrongly excluded from a guest lecture at the ROC Rijn IJssel by the mayor and aldermen. Was this consistent with the municipality’s diversity policy? There’s always something nice when someone on behalf of the FVD takes an interest in diversity, are there really people who take that up?

It may be a few and they may have been related to the people in Rijn IJssel who thought it good for Jandino Asporaat to give a guest lecture on money. Is “he has a lot of money” enough to get an experience stamp? Or is the bar set even lower in Rijn IJssel?

On the plane, I saw a movie by Jandino Asporaat, Bon Bini Holland 2. It was a lot of Jandino and very little story. I didn’t understand it at all and felt sorry for Jandino for having to work with such a scenario, but it turns out he made it up himself. In the time of Corona, he walked with the demonstrations himself. Of course he has to figure it out himself, but as a school community I wouldn’t think of him first in a guest lecture.

I imagine Mayor Marcush and his aides were shocked when they learned of this arrangement and that the day the comedian questioned the moon landing and the attack on the Twin Towers must have been an unexpected gift.

Anyone wondering about the moon landing is of course very welcome in Arnhem, there are also Arnhemmers who don’t know where Spain is and there is also a selection that thinks you can connect with cauliflower.

They are safe in Arnhem.

We don’t pay extra attention to it, but we do watch it. The moment they start guest-lecturing children, the government steps in, even if the subject—money—is close to the speaker’s heart.

Read the incomprehensible report in language Gilderlander I felt like coming home, it’s nice that things still happen there that can’t be explained. Arnhem once again felt like the social experiment in which I had grown up.

Marcel van Roosmalen He writes an exchange column with Elaine Dikowitz here.