March 13, 2026
Feature
Give it a Rest
In praise of work
by Henry de Jong
It was a good winter for hunkering down. The steady state of snow and cold gave me permission to hibernate in my computer den. Even the Winter Olympics and the puzzle table failed to lure me away.
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Recent Posts
by Henry J. de Jong
The Age of Aquarius (1/2/2026) The Middledom Manifesto: This is where I stand, neither to the left or to the right, but feet feeling their way through the middle, between the past and the future, between the good and the bad, between certainty and doubt. …
Our Story (12/19/2025) To all family and friends and communities of Herman and Stiny de Jong, and of son Henry, Wendy and Jovita we wish you a blessed Christmas in 2025, and offer to you some Christmas stories that were gifted to us by Herman and Stiny. …
Patriarchy (11/14/2025) Patriarchy has been a problem, not because it’s some grand conspiracy, but because of a lack of good will. …
Wilderness Windows (10/24/2025) I like to imagine what it was like then — my neighbourhood, or ravine-riven Toronto, or the Sarnia savannah. It would be nice, just once, to hike through old woods from the lake shore to the escarpment or High Park to Forest Hill, or along the beach from Centennial to Bright’s Grove, and see nothing… …
Nikolaikirche (10/14/2025) Nicholai Church in Leipzig was the beating heart of East Germany’s Monday demonstrations that led to the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 some 36 years ago …
Vennekerk 2023 (4/25/2025) This is the story of our van der Laan reunion worship service, the summer of 2023, in the now abandoned Vennekerk, the church where my parents came of age. …
Another Good Friday (4/18/2025) Herman de Jong’s prose story of “A Good Friday” has been with me for as long as he’s been gone — twenty-one years now. I wish I had known it before then, just as I wish I could have talked to him about it. …
Welcome to Middledom (2/25/2025) I’ve committed to buckling down for a while to translate and reissue the collected works of Herman de Jong in an accessible format and adding in what family histories I have. …
I am Indigenous (6/16/2024) The parallels between indigenous peoples, like those from Canada or northern Holland, are significant. …
City on a Hill (4/11/2024) I can never relive the experience of Amiens Cathedral, even after all the time I spent in its cavernous space that summer of 2023. …Recently Posted Stories
by Herman de Jong
last night who pops up in my head? johan
slender little johan i wish we had grown up together
So great was the knowledge of the wise men, so great their conviction, that it sank deep inside the heart of Aleb. He knew without a doubt that the wise men’s words were true
And as I stood in front of the cabin, the thought suddenly occurred to me that this is where Jesus was born a couple of days ago. I knew it. It had to be.
I cannot pray, my Lord, I cannot pray… I locked the door to you and cannot find the key to open it.
Recently Featured Memoirs
by Ordinary and Extraordinary People
On the occasion of Justin & Laura’s wedding, July 5, 2025, we remember Harm & Dina’s marriage 91 years ago.
On the eightieth anniversary of the Liberation of the Netherlands, Harry van der Laan looks back with the eyes of a child.
Second World War: 1939-1945
In September 1939 the second World War started. I remember that many people were recruited for the army, the number of unemployed started to decline sharply and the economy picked up so at first we didn’t worry much about the war. We were confident that Holland could stay out of the war. I remember there […]
Poems and Prose
by Herman de Jong
Sunday Morning
sit still! how could i have sat still
when all the colours of the rainbow
quite unexpectedly began to
wiggle through the church?
Birds
birds are endlessly busy in their unlimited sky theirs is a bit of the Kingdom no limits
no subdivisions no wind strong enough
to catch their wings in a downward spiral