User:Phillip Kesumo/Sketches and Annotations

Sketches and drawings

Clara's bedroom.

Clara's bedroom: This is a scene from my book where my main character, Clara harbors a fugitive in her bedroom during the Nazi occupation of Holland. My character, Clara, likes to gossip positively about others and in this scene, she shows that positive energy to her roommate and lover, Benjamin. This also work as reverse gossiping because she is showing love and compassion for somebody in secret whereas gossiping is usually talking about others in public where they don't have direct ears on.

Clara carrying Rose

Clara carrying Rose: This scene from my book is where my character, Clara, carries and shelters a Jewish girl named Rose, through the battlefield. This takes place in the village of Groesbeek, a real life Dutch village which was historically caught in the frontline during the Second World War. This scene is intimate and shows how her positive gossiping manifests in person through their interactions.

Circe tries to kill Clara

Circe tries to kill Clara: This comes from a scene in my book where my character, Circe, a witch, is sent to assassinate Clara who is living in Nijmegen. Circe is dispatched as part of the 30th British Corps to participate in Operation Market Garden which was a cover up plan for an assassination plot on Clara. Circe is part of a conspiracy and this relates to gossiping as secret societies often talk behind the public ears.

Clara protects Thomas from the crowd

This scene shows my main character, Clara, cradling Thomas, a black transgender male boy from the crowd who throws things at her because she is protecting him from them. They jeer at her because she loves unnatural people. This is gossiping because the people are talking behind her back and they are saying bad things about her but there is a small positive light in this because Clara is also gossiping positive things to Thomas behind their backs.

Clara cradling Chris in Hotel Tafelberg

In this scene, Clara is cradling Chris, a paratrooper of the British 1st Airborne Division, in Hotel Tafelberg Oosterbeek, who is destined to be her killer. Clara goes on a quest to rescue him from the battlefield while pleading for him to end her life should she ever transform to hurt the people around her. She bonds with him very quickly and the other paratroopers through her love and compassion, hence becoming known as the Angel of Arnhem, an actual title held by Kate Ter Horst in real history. This is positive gossiping because Clara also writes a letter to her boyfriend, Alex, about taking care of his brother, Chris, after she is gone. Alex opposes Clara for risking her own life to save his brother because she wants to reunite his family. Clara also gossips positively to Chris about sacrificing herself to save the ones she loves while everyone else is asleep, and away from her boyfriend, Alex.

Clara helps paratroopers escape during Operation Berlin

In this scene, Clara helps British paratroopers escape across the Lower Rhine River during the night of Operation Berlin, a real life strategy during WW2 after the failure of Operation Market Garden to evacuate the British paratroopers surrounded in the village of Oosterbeek. The Allies wore newspaper in their boots while it was raining heavily in the dark of night to mask their footsteps. They set up a white ribbon mile throughout the village to guide themselves through the terrain to reach the crossing point from which they were to cross the Rhine River to allied territory. In my fictional book, Clara helps them while planning to leave herself behind and sacrifice herself. This continues from the positive gossiping scene in the previous scene.

Clara getting intimate with Benjamin in the Van Lin family cafe in Overasselt

In this scene, Clara straddles her disabled boyfriend, Benjamin who is off frame as if the viewers are placed in his shoes. She gossips positive things about him by saying that he is more beautiful than people say he is. He also gossips positively back to her by saying that her heart is as big as an ocean and that he knows she will go with the Allies to help them, risking her own safety, because they mean as much to her as he does.

Clara comforting Veronica from her trauma.

In this scene, Clara is hugging to comfort her high school teacher, Veronica, who is mentally transported back into her time during concentration camp. This is a very dark scene, however, Clara is once again gossiping positively to Veronica who is Jewish, by saying good things about her behind the Nazis. Veronica is also opening up and becoming vulnerable with her. Veronica once hated Clara because her father is Hitler and everyone in class gossips behind Clara's back. But here, Clara’s positive gossiping helps warm up to Veronica.

Clara having coffee with you in Paris

Clara hugging you at Oktoberfest

Clara carries a disabled Asian boy up the hills of Neuschwanstein Castle.

I started a new series titled "Clara: A Legacy of Love" to explore how my character, Clara Van Bloemendaal shows love, kindness, and compassion to people around the world. These images explore three different ways: Spending time together, hugging (Touch), and helping others in need. My personal way of feeling loved is through touch and spending time together, but others may feel loved in different ways.

Map of Arnhem

When you exit Arnhem Central Station, turn left towards the Willemsplein. Here is where engines roared in the skies and balls of flames dropped on Sunday, the 17th of September 1944, as they destroyed the Willemskazerne barracks. People were in church then as they experienced the destruction of their town. When you turn right onto the Jansstraat, then left onto Vijzelstraat, and then right again onto the Bakkerstraat, you will come across a special street where people were executed for unknown reasons, although some say they were hiding something. Go further down the street again and you will come across the Jewish synagogue where multiple attempts have been made to set it on fire. Ahead and left, here comes the st. Eusebius Church where people were in service before the bombing of Arnhem began. They heard loud noises which interrupted the pastor's speech. Next to it is the Devil's House which is a medieval house used to kept prisoners of war during the Battle of Arnhem. You can hear screams coming from down below. Finally ahead, you reach the John Frost Bridge where Lieutenant Colonel John Dutton Frost and his platoon shed sweat and blood to defend the bridge from the Germans for four days before surrendering to the Germans. The 30th British Corps never arrived. The bridge itself was destroyed on the 7th of October 1944 by the RAF to prevent the enemy from crossing into the Betuwe. Further to the east lies the Musis Sacrum, the opera house which the Germans used as their "Wehrmachtheim" or Nazi entertainment center during the occupation, and a place to keep their British prisoners of war during the Battle of Arnhem.

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