self made puppets
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| at work _______________________________________________________ |
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| being serious |
The Author
Derk Cools was born (1939) and educated in Den Haag ( The Hague), the Netherlands. In his youth, he loved to perform as a magician at school festivities. At the University of Utrecht he studied social geography, economics and economic history.He was director of the Newsletter of the University, Sol Iustitiae and wrote literary critics and political articles. In 1965, he joint the military service. Two years later, he started his career as a civil servant with the Ministry of Economic Affairs, where he became an expert in the field of regional policy and planning, economic programs and project development. He published several papers in these fields. In the nineties, he was consultant for economic and industrial restructuring in Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. He was co-chairman of the joint Committee for technological cooperation of the Netherlands and Indonesia. In 1994, he retired and moved to the Netherlands Antilles, the island of Curacao in the Caribbean.
Since 1995, he frequently has been traveling - with his wife , his son in law or a friend - to the Midwest of America, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, California (in 1994- 1999), to Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand (in 1999 and 2005) and to Central America, Yucatan, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize (in 2004) and Nicaragua and Costa Rica (in 2005).
In 2002, he published a book entitled (in dutch) 'Met de Hoed tegen het Licht' - reizen door Zuid-oost Azië.( A Hat shading the Light - traveling in South-East Asia) In 2009, he visited again South-East Asia and particularly Laos and its former capital Luang Prabang. At the end of 2009, he published a book entitled 'Seven days in the Baliemvalley, West Papua' (written in Dutch: Zeven dagen in de Baliemvallei) In 2010, again he traveled to Malaysia and Singapore, to Java and Bali. See this blogspot.
In 2011, he published a book about friendship, entitled (in Dutch) A daughter of Epicurus (een dochter van Epicurus). It's a memoir about his aunt and her Epicurean way of life after WWII in the Netherlands.
He is married and has 3 children and 4 grandchildren. He loves literature and poetry in particular and classic music. He plays jeu de boules and is a good swimmer. He designed his own puppets on a string. See his bookreviews in Dutch and English on this blogspot.
In 2015, he published a Caribbean novel Charlie Bloem, de Vandalsky papers.
In 2018, he published a booklet 'Slenterwerk van een Geograaf', a philosophical essay on dead cities and the end of history.
In 2015, he published a Caribbean novel Charlie Bloem, de Vandalsky papers.
In 2018, he published a booklet 'Slenterwerk van een Geograaf', a philosophical essay on dead cities and the end of history.
Regional Geography and Studies
Bijzonder Regionaal welzijnsbeleid juni 1975, In CRM blad ( Ministerie van Cultuur Recreatie en Maatschappelijk Werk)
Het Integraal Structuurplan Noorden des Lands, een Planexperiment tussen maatschappelijk pluralisme en bestuurlijke consensus, april 1977, in Intermediair
Regionale Industriële Ontwikkeling in Nederland, Centralisatie of Decentralisatie van het beleid, juli 1979 Paper voor Geografen congres in Groningen
Het Integraal Structuurplan Noorden des Lands, Ervaringen in integrale en regionale Planning, januari 1980
Research, Technology and Regional Policy, OECD workshop Paris, octobre 1983
Science Park Initiatives in the Netherlands, Scope and Facts, april 1986, OECD
Regionaal Beleid als Communicatieproces tussen Centrum en Periferie, voordracht in Groningen.
Regio-Programma's ofwel de Kunst van het Practisch Denken, afscheidspaper van het Regionaal Beleid
Literary Publications
My Ruta Maya; Ruins in Yucatan (Mexico), the Land of the Maya Indians . An essay on ruins and melancholy. In 2004.
Het Snèkbook, Curaçao, bijdrage aan, Ode aan de Snèk. In 2009.
Een dochter van Epicurus. Een verhaal over vriendschap, 1945 - 1980
Charlie Bloem, ( de Vandalsky papers), een novelle, 2014, uitgegeven bij lulu.com
Slenterwerk van een Geograaf . langs verstilde plaatsen. 2017, uitgegeven bij lulu
