Sinterklaas en Zwarte Piet

Take a walk around the center of any Dutch city this time of year and you will run into Zwarte Piet and maybe Sinterklaas. Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet are the Dutch equivalent of Santa Claus and his elves. Actually, the jolly ho-ho-ho-ing overweight Santa is based on the Dutch Sinterklaas. The physical resemblance is also obvious, though Sinterklaas is a skinny tall man (like most Dutchies.)

Zwarte Piet and Santa's elves have little in common, except their task to support their Saint. Zwarte Piet is typically a white man in black face, dressed kind of funny. One story is that Piet got black because of all the traveling up and down chimneys to deliver gifts to kids. However, it also has links back to slavery.

There are people in the Netherlands who call for and end to the tradition of Zwarte Piet because of its political incorrectness. However, tradition is strong and most Dutch seem to want to keep Zwarte Piet part of the annual Sinterklaas festivities. Sint and Piet arrive each year by steam engine ship into a Dutch town, a nationally televised event. They both leave quietly after December 6 when all Dutch families have unwrapped their gifts.

Here are some shots taken this weekend in Haarlem and Rijswijk, Netherlands.

Two Zwarte Pieten walk through the Grote Houtstraat in Haarlem.

Zwarte Piet in a baker's store window in Rijswijk

Sinterklaas in the same bakery. The celebration usually includes lots of chocolate and marzipan.

Lunch in Sky Londa

One of the great things about life in the San Francisco Bay Area is being able to escape urban sprawl and be in the country in minutes.

This Sunday a group of friends and I hiked in the Santa Cruz mountains on a great trail where we saw zero other hikers and only a few mountain bikers. The weather was so-so, but mist with some drizzle made the woods even more spectacular and smell great. We parked at Skeggs Point on Skyline and hiked into the open space preserve.

Afterwards we headed to the restaurant in the photo for a late lunch. It isn't really the middle of nowhere because they serve kobe beef burgers. All burgers are named after motorbikes as this place is frequented by bikers. I recommend the kobe BMW :)

Another great thing about the area, my hiking partners were from all over the world: Ireland, Italy, Germany and the US.

Socialism

The corner of Stevens Creek and Winchester is one of the busiest intersections in San Jose, CA. The crossroads is the site of two of San Jose's major shopping areas, Westfield Valley Fair and Santana Row.


View Larger Map

Every weekend protesters come to the intersection carrying banners, advocating for peace, for a certain political candidate or whatever other cause. I have seen protests for and against gay marriage, for and against George Bush's administration and for and against Barack Obama.

On my drive home from work last week I saw one of the largest groups of protesters I have seen on the intersection, especially on a weekday. Most of the people were protesting for health care reform, but a few were against.

One sign had a faded image of Barack Obama with sickly reddish lips. Under the scary image was printed the word: Socialist.

Socialism in the U.S. is a bad word, even for those left of center. To some, folks more on the right, "socialism" is almost as evil as Osama bin Laden. Does that go back to fear of communism and the propaganda of McCarthy? It might.

Being from Western Europe this is all foreign to me. All of Western Europe is filled with Social Democrats and people are perfectly happy there, happier than most are here, if you follow polls and surveys like those done by the UN.

Socialism comes in many forms and isn't evil or by default anti anything that has to do with capitalism. There's a happy median that can and should be found. No country should leave its people perish without health care, especially the world's richest nation. The U.S. is still growing up and coming of age. Taking care of the people in the country should be part of that, instead of the old Wild West principal of every man for himself.

I pay taxes in the US. I am happy to pay taxes--and even to pay more in taxes--as long as the money goes to support things I can stand for. That would include health care for everyone and a good educational system as well as safe airports, public transit and good roads. It would exclude certain military operations or funding continued efforts by the US to remain the world's cop.

Adding a few socialist principles to the U.S. system won't upset the American Way or American Dream. It is an evolution, not a revolution. Try it, you might like it.

Go Mama

A sculpture on California Ave. in Palo Alto.