Juan Vandendorp

What follows is a brief e-mail interview with Juan Vandendorp, winner of our Coffee Shop Chronicles contest.  I was humbled by his responses to my questions, and moved by his descriptions.  His answer to the third question feels like a story in itself, and – like all good storytellers – Juan left me wanting more!  I’m sure you’ll join me in once again extending our warmest congratulations to this extaordinary person.

****************************************

A Word with You Press: How does it feel to have garnered the top honors in our contest, especially after working so hard on your piece?  I imagine it feels spectacular – but please tell us the specific ways in which it feels spectacular to you, personally.

Juan Vandendorp: I feel like that Zen master who was asked what enlightenment felt like. He said:  “It’s like everyday life, only two inches off the ground.”

I have spent the last few hours re-living the whole thing. It has been an amazing journey. I never dared to call myself a writer because of names like Faulkner, Woolf, Flaubert, Poe. How could one write like that? But some beautiful soul, or perhaps an angel, told me that one is a writer because one writes, not because one sells books, or publishes; in the same way that a duster is something that dusts.  After this experience, I feel more confident to let the stories inside of me see the light.

There are many tales and people that I would like to write about. People that have suffered tremendously. I am a child that was born in the midst of a brutal military dictatorship. I lived in fear all my life. But I was one of the lucky ones. I was able to escape.

It took me 35 years to understand J. Krishnamurti’s idea that I was the world. You are the world, he said, and that statement baffled me. “What does that mean?” I know now.

The deepest questions take decades to be answered (Z. Hurston said that).

All the love that all of you have poured over me makes me feel safe for the first time in my life.  Thank you.

AWWYP: What a name!  Are you Spanish-Dutch?  Dutch-Portuguese?  Flemish-Argentinian?  I’m intrigued . . .

JV: I am Flemish-Spanish-Argentinian. My grandfather was from Belgium and my grandmother was born in Santa Lucia, Spain.  My last name means “from the village.”

AWWYP: What was the inspiration for your story?  Is it based on an experience you had, or did you just spin gold out of thin air?

JV: The story is a composite of images and feellings that took place after 1978, when I arrived in Paris. When I saw Charlotte Rampling in The Verdict with Paul Newman, I was blown away by her. I thought it was the most mysterious face I had ever seen. I saw her again in The Porter and other movies.

The Yves St. Laurent suit was worn by a young woman with whom I had had a relationship.  The stain on the ceiling was from a trip to India where I stayed in the dirtiest room one could possibly imagine.

I think coffee made me think of Paris because the French do two things, they drink coffee and smoke.

AWWYP: What’s the strangest place you’ve ever had a cup of coffee?

JV: Imagine a shanty town in the suburbs of Buenos Aires. A blue one bedroom house standing on four legs over a marsh polluted with oil. A woman heating up water on a gas stove. When the water boils, she pours a dark substance that releases the most exquisite smell. She stirs the liquid with a wooden spoon and a little boy of five gives her the strainer that he’s been holding in his hand. The mother pours the magic dark liquid into a metal cup and gives it to the little boy who is as happy as a little puppy who had not eaten for two days. The little boy munches on “facturas” which resemble a danish pastry or some American doughnut. The little boy was me.

To this day, including this morning, I always have one coffee and a doughnut. I guess I will always be that little boy.

**************************************

To read Juan’s winning entry again – or perhaps for the first time! – click here.  If you haven’t read it, you’ll savor every word.  If you have read it, you can appreciate it even more the second time.

If you entered the contest but haven’t yet filled out the online form that will allow us to publish your work (if selected) for The Coffee Shop Chronicles, Volume 1:  Oh, the Places I Have Bean! AND give you a $25 gift certificate for the coffee shop of your choice, click here.  Go ahead – you know you want free coffee!