Katinka Hesselink - my other lenses

I was born in 1974 in Utrecht, The Netherlands (that's Europe). I was born a month early, so I spent my first weeks in an incubator. We soon moved, after my first brother was born, to Groningen, another town in The Netherlands. My dad got a job there as an assistant professor in mathematics at university.

This is me looking thoughtful, probably on the beach somewhere. Picture taken by my grandmother, probably:



When I was 7 I got a new baby brother (my second brother). You can see I adored him:



At about the same age you can see me working in the garden of our Groningen house. Yes, I'm actually wearing wooden shoes. [Can't believe it. I hated those things and would have expected to refuse wearing them]



And this is me bathing, again looking thoughtful.



We moved for a year to Austin, Texas in the United States when I was 12 - which is where I learned the basis of my English. I went to Middle School there.

This is my favorite bowl so far. Don't you love those colors? See also my Ceramics portfolio. The text is in Dutch, but the images do speak for themselves I think.

I've been in college on and off since high school.

I began as a Chemistry major - but quit because I wasn't getting the grades.

I went on to nursing school, where I failed on the practical side of things.

Then I became a teacher of math and chemistry. This is the first college after High School I actually finished - so I have two bachelors degrees from a teachers college. I tried teaching for three years, but found out that I'm not really cut out for that.

Next I went back to university to study the love of my life: religion and spirituality. I'm still there, hoping to get my BA degree in the summer of 2008.

I didn't get that degree: the writing of the final papers did not go well at all. Taking stock of my financial situation (and what was I doing this for) I quit. That was a huge relief. Turns out I hadn't been enjoying college for a while.

I feel it's important to reach out and contribute to a better world. Unfortunately I don't have all that much money to spare. The one good cause I have supported since my first years in college (more than 10 years ago) is Amnesty International.

Another lens on the environment (yes, global warming is real): I gathered my favorite environmental lenses here.

The lenses in this category will donate their proceeds to the good causes they are about - if the cause is listed for charity within Squidoo.

If that wasn't enough, you can also follow me on Stumbleupon where I blog on and off about anything that interests me. Or you can just find out about my spiritual interests on my spiritual lensography. I'm also on Myspace.

If you don't know that much about webdesign, myspace or search engine optimization, my website is a good place to start.