Gabriëlle Ausems (1966)
GABRIELLE AUSEMS HEYNEKAMP
in een mail aan Marinus Potman
Dear Marinus,
Sorry to write in English, but my IPad makes problems when I try to use Dutch. I do still speak Dutch, tho sometimes it is more ‘Denglish’. And the language changed enough in 45 years that Dutch papers seem, well, not exactly ‘ABN’.
I suppose we both attended the Journalism School in Utrecht from 1966 thru 1969. I apologize for not remembering you. It’s been a long time.
I interned at the NRC in Rotterdam and freelanced a bit for them in 1968. In 1969 I interned at Elseviers Magazine and then got a job there after graduating.
Got married two years later and moved to Phoenix, Arizona. From there my husband (a general surgeon) and I moved to a place in eastern Arizona in the mountains where he set up a huge rural practice. I had 4 kids in 6 years and wrote a bit in the local tiny paper. I set up a horse trading business and kept very busy. To relax I took up painting and managed to even sell quite a few paintings.
Anyway we moved to an even smaller, more remote place in western New Mexico where we indulged our love of cowboying and other western fun. Wrote a bit for a local, even smaller, paper.
Kids are now grown up and provided us with 9 grandkids, spread over the USA and even New Zealand. I still paint, work with horses, garden and walk the hills. Not much love for writing.
As for a school reunion: I have no urges to return to the Netherlands. That tightly packed country as my youngest son calls it. Too many people, too much rain, mud and wind. I remember the poem about “land of mist and mud and clammy chilly rain”, a free translation of the “Boutade”. However, I am curious to hear any stories about fellow graduates of the School. What became of them etc. I understand that Journalism is now a study at the Utrecht University. What is the degree called for graduating?! I never knew if I had a Ba or a Masters degree.
Well, hope to hear back from you!
Sincerely, Gabrielle Ausems Heynekamp