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"C-O-V-E-R- S-T-O-R-Y"
Mark C. Deren gets step by step the pieces of the puzzle together
American Dream coming true in Holland
Heemskerk – He has seen many countries and once met a variety of heads of state. He emigrated from Holland, PA to the Netherlands and started a new life here. He is a well travelled, photographer and journalist; all important links in his work as presenter at Radio Heemskerk. Mark C. Deren, a born and bread American has lived and worked for the past 11 years in Heemskerk. Kennemerland op zondag looked him up. This time Mark is the interviewee.
In the United States of America, a land of unlimited possibility, surely everyone has an “American Dream.” The young Mark Christopher Deren dreamt of being a diplomat. The bedroom in his boyhood home was filled with posters of countries he wished to visit.
He wanted to travel and represent his country. Mark never became a diplomat, but his dream of travelling and meeting important people did become reality.
“I grew up in a town called Holland in the state of Pennsylvania. In my first year of college, I studied Political Science. After that year, I took a year off to visit Australia and New Zealand. There I became more interested in writing and photography,” said Mark.
Mark successfully completed a course in journalism. His relationship went less well. “My former girlfriend (wife) had rather high expectations of me. She saw me standing there before her in a tailored suit and carrying a leather briefcase. But my American Dream was somewhat different. I saw myself waking up in the middle of a national park and opening my tent window to a heavenly panorama.”
Cold
The relationship failed and Mark desired a break. He flew to Europe, hitchhiked from country to country and ended up in Scotland. “At Loch Ness, on a cold and rainy night, I slept out without a tent. When I awoke I was cold and soaking wet. It was on that night I came up with the idea to move to Florida.” There Mark found a fitting job. He became business manager to a well known portrait painter and travelled around the world in “first class” delivering portraits to a variety of heads of state.
He visited such figures as the Sultan of Brunei, Sheik Zayed and the Chilean President Pinochet. “Within a year of the break up in my relationship I was flying from country to country with a tailored suit and a leather briefcase in my hand. I had to laugh when I thought about the big wish of my ex-girlfriend. If she could have only seen me now.”
After Mark did that work for six years, he stopped. His boss had required rather much of him. Mark had to be available to him day and night for all sorts of chores and research work. It was too much.
“Meanwhile, I had a Dutch girlfriend. We got married and settled in Pennsylvania. After three years of living there she got homesick. We decided to move to her hometown: Heemskerk. After first travelling around Australia and New Zealand for 3 ˝ months, we arrived in Heemskerk on March 20, 1993. Mark tried immediately to find work in his field, but couldn’t. Eventually, he got a job at the local swimming complex “De Waterakkers.” “In America, I was once a springboard diver, and also had lots of swimming experience. I thought my work at De Waterakkers was only temporary, but I started to like it more and more. Swimming there proved to be a good way to keep in good physical condition as I got older.”
Jingle
After two years of intensive study Mark passed the state exams in the Dutch language and was now able to present a radio program in the Dutch language. He originally asked just to make a jingle for the station with his charmed American accent, but was quickly offered an entire program. “It was one of the happiest days of my life, because I knew that with my background, I could make a special radio program. I had also been a huge music fan since my early teens. There was however a setback. In 1996 his Dutch wife and he got divorced, as a result of conflicting goals, schedules, etc. Mark worked though it through hard work.
Because Mark only works as a volunteer at Radio Heemskerk, he combines his vacations with meeting with musicians in their home countries. In this way he visited to England, Italy and Russia. In May, he will travel to Finland. Famous names that the American Netherlander has interviewed are, for example, Pete Best (ex-Beatle), Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull), Fish (Marillion) en Steve Hogarth. Famous Dutch musicians such as Jan Akkerman, Thijs van Leer, Jerney Kaagman, Hans Dulfer and Sharon den Adel (Within Temptation) have also worked on the program. “Recently in the Patronaat in Haarlem I saw “The Animals” in concert. After the show, I arranged an interview with the original Animals drummer John Steel. Skilled rock musicians don’t get enough attention in our country, yet they work very hard. That’s why I invite them in my program…..because they deserve it!”
Apparent is that the American Dream of Mark C. Deren has become reality: He does his own weekly radio program, he travels to diverse countries, takes photographs, and chats with giants of music. He does all of that without having to swim into the deep end.
And…..his tie and briefcase live in the basement.
Text: Arjan Hoogvoorst - Photo: Henriette Tuil/Rodi Media
©1997-2004 RADIOMAN
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