AWC Going Dutch Sept 2020

Ramblings from the Editor
by Melissa White
I’m back! For those of you keeping track, I
stepped down as Editor back in May 2017.
I hadn’t stopped loving the feeling of accomplishment
as I received each new issue
of Going Dutch in the mail, but I was burned
out after eight years. In addition, my husband
James was being laid off at the time and our
future in the Netherlands was very uncertain.
Clearly we never did move away and he is
doing his best to keep his consulting business
afloat. Sadly, our status here is still pretty shaky,
but that’s entirely our own fault for being too
stubborn to commit the time to learn Dutch; I
surely won’t be passing any inburgering exams
anytime soon with my standard response to
everything: Mijn nederlands is slecht.
After three years of offering various levels of
behind-the-scenes assistance on Going Dutch
and one pandemic later, I’ve taken back the
reins and am thrilled to be working with
Teresa Mahoney again. Please don’t regard
this as a step backwards, but a leap forwards
as we make some significant changes to our
beloved magazine.
One major change is that we have reduced
the number of issues each year from eight to
five. Thus, each issue will cover two months
with a two-month break over the summer
(September/October, November/December,
January/February, March/April and May/
June). This will result in less of a focus on our
Club’s day-to-day activities, especially during
these uncertain days when we don’t know
if or when there could be another lockdown
or further changes to current social distancing
guidelines. Between our website, eNews and
our Facebook group, there are plenty of ways
for our Members to keep apprised of the latest
updates on activities and events, many of
which are back to being held in person.
Another important change to Going Dutch is
that we will attempt to have a unifying theme
in each issue, especially in an effort to document
this unusual time in our Club’s history.
In this issue, we’re again reflecting on the
pandemic, allowing Members to share how
COVID-19 has impacted their lives. There
are a few sequels to earlier articles including
Giving Birth During a Pandemic and The End
of the Commune (as you’ll see, Members did
such a great job submitting articles for this issue
that I had to keep my sequel to The White
House Commune article relatively short). In
addition, this issue has an in-depth article by
Georgia Regnault to get to know better Jessie
Rodell, a past AWC President and current
Board Advisor who is heroically dealing with
brain cancer (see page 32).
In honor of the AWC’s upcoming 90th anniversary,
our next issue will feature former
AWC Presidents reflecting on how they
worked to overcome some of the Club’s
challenges over the years. We hope this will
be informative as well as another important
way to document our Club’s history. Other
themes being considered include reflecting
on living in Holland, and what the AWC
has meant to our Members. Please feel free
to reach out to me with suggestions on possible
other themes for future issues, or if
you’d like to discuss a possible submission,
at goingdutchmag@awcthehague.org.
Regarding the covers, we’re also going to try
something new this year. Compared to Emily
van Eerten’s incredible cover photo for the
June issue, I know that my photography efforts
could never come close to being as
dramatic or timely. However, I have always
loved taking reflection shots, so will attempt
to come up with some images to tie in with
our ambitions to reflect in this year’s issues.
Of course, we hope that you’ll embrace these
changes to Going Dutch as we work hard to
continue to produce a high-quality magazine
that we hope you look forward to reading.
Melissa
10 GOING DUTCH
SEPTEMBER 2020 11