My name is Tanja de Bie, and I was born in Scheveningen (the Hague, Netherlands) in 1970. Together with my younger sister I was raised in Voorschoten, Houston (Texas, USA), and then Alphen a/d Rijn before I moved to Leiden for university (and never left).
My parents were politically engaged, and also amateur historians, both of them figuring out their family tree quite successfully during my youth. From hunting graveyards till experienced and responsible archive users and safe guarding historical sources. I still assist my father with literature and archive research, as well as transcribing the odd letter. My father’s work is listed here (in Dutch).
My father was really forward looking in regards to digital technology (being an innovator beta himself) and introduced Pong in our household in 1975, followed by the Sinclair ZX80 and Commodor 64. I could game and code before I went to highschool, and was happy to use a computer to write papers as well. My first diploma was for typing, on my father’s insistence, so I could beter operate a keyboard.
My mother and other wise women family members, meanwhile, gave me a love of gardening, networking and organizing, and made me realize equality & sustainability issues are central to humanity’s continued existence. Even in the seventies I was campaigning for a better greener Earth, and sadly this activism is still necessary.
My children were born in 1995, 2002 and 2004 and do me proud. While I might mention them from time to time, and they are pictured here in their youth in what I call the “Boselfjes” picture, they do prefer me to keep them private on the internet. I did raise them to be deliberate and careful about what they do in cyberspace. All the same they are politically engaged, game, write fanfiction and on occasion, yes, they troll (especially their mother).