Blog : Brett Fish

Book Review: I’m still here by Austin Channing Brown

pain and Hope, positive ideas for change, race vibes, thorts of other people, what i am reading

Book Review: I’m still here by Austin Channing Brown

i have just started reading - and almost finished - Austin Channing Brown's 'I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a world made for whiteness'. i highly recommend it. While 'White Fragility: Why it's so hard for white people to talk about racism' by Robin DiAngelo was super helpful hearing ideas, challenges and analogies from a white woman, so 'I'm Still Here' has been profoundly challenging and helpful, hearing the story from the perspective of [...]

By brettfish|2019-03-06T12:24:33+02:00March 6th, 2019|pain and Hope, positive ideas for change, race vibes, thorts of other people, what i am reading|0 Comments

i’m not trying to change your mind

inspire-ations, pain and Hope, positive ideas for change, race vibes, South Africa

i’m not trying to change your mind

My dream is that i will one day live in a nation where people will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. Sound familiar? i am busy reading 'The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.' and so that has been influencing me quite a bit. But that really is my heart. And to that end i don't want white people to feel guilty or unincluded or [...]

By brettfish|2019-02-04T12:41:17+02:00February 4th, 2019|inspire-ations, pain and Hope, positive ideas for change, race vibes, South Africa|6 Comments

The power of a network to flip a country on its head

inspire-ations, pain and Hope, positive ideas for change, South Africa, Uncategorized

The power of a network to flip a country on its head

This past week has been tough. Sitting with a R40 000 bill over our heads [alongside the more manageable R12000 to fix our car] for driving into a BMW is not to be found on the list of 'Ten Ways to De-Stress your life'. But, we are surrounded by people who know and love us and there is no way conceivable to us that tbV [the beautiful Val] and i are going to find ourselves [...]

By brettfish|2019-01-30T11:31:22+02:00January 30th, 2019|inspire-ations, pain and Hope, positive ideas for change, South Africa, Uncategorized|2 Comments

The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. – a book review, of sorts

book vibes, inspire-ations, race vibes, things to wrestle with, thorts of other people, what i am reading

The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. – a book review, of sorts

i have wanted to read some Martin Luther King, Jr. for the longest time. So when tbV gave me 'The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. edited by Clayborn Carson' as part of our Christmas book exchange i was super stoked. My serious journey towards becoming conscientised [an ongoing work, by the way] began largely in America when i lived there for three years and i saw [and still see] so much overlap between the [...]

By brettfish|2019-01-28T11:25:56+02:00January 28th, 2019|book vibes, inspire-ations, race vibes, things to wrestle with, thorts of other people, what i am reading|1 Comment

The best of birthday words

#NotOnOurWatch, activities, race vibes, reflections, South Africa

The best of birthday words

Birthdays are cool, once you get past that number ticking up vibe. For me birthdays are always about the people - how can i get to spend as much time with as many people who i really love as is humanly possible. Which is why i used to always drag mine out to a week - have as many different occasions for different friends from different spaces to congregate. But they are also about [...]

By brettfish|2019-01-22T09:58:17+02:00January 22nd, 2019|#NotOnOurWatch, activities, race vibes, reflections, South Africa|0 Comments

#NotAllPoisons

challenging thorts, shtupidt people, South Africa, things to wrestle with

#NotAllPoisons

Would you drink from a glass if you knew there was a 10% chance you would be drinking poison? The absurdity of a #NotAllMen or #NotAllWhitePeople response to a generalised statement (something usually becomes a generalisation because of how it is generally true) can be compared to me standing you in front of a table containing 100 glasses of liquid and saying, "Don't drink from the glasses because they are filled with poison!" and someone who knows that [...]

By brettfish|2019-01-21T07:30:09+02:00January 21st, 2019|challenging thorts, shtupidt people, South Africa, things to wrestle with|0 Comments

What i want for my birthday.

me vibes

What i want for my birthday.

Sho. So this birthday snuck up on me. Christmas vibes into New Year's vibes into Cricket Test into friends-visiting-from-USA-and-Kruger-roadtripping vibes into arriving back in Cape Town last night with enough time to go to bed and wake up to my 45th birthday. 'Age is just a number' i like to say, but my number is certainly getting bigger. In the good old days [not too long ago] i used to stretch my birthday for a [...]

By brettfish|2019-01-20T07:12:16+02:00January 20th, 2019|me vibes|0 Comments

Where did you seat yourself in the Laerskool Schweizer-Reneke debacle?

#NotOnOurWatch, race vibes, shtupidt people, South Africa, things to wrestle with

Where did you seat yourself in the Laerskool Schweizer-Reneke debacle?

When the Laerskool Schweizer-Reneke incident of segregated children in the classroom broke, people quickly seemed to rush to pick sides, with a lot of white people doing soem rather impressive gymnastics to try and defend the white teacher. This is such a helpful comment from my friend Nobuntu Webster which expresses better than i did what i was trying to say earlier: = = = = = = = = = "What you all may not realise [...]

By brettfish|2019-01-11T19:07:26+02:00January 11th, 2019|#NotOnOurWatch, race vibes, shtupidt people, South Africa, things to wrestle with|0 Comments

To build a better country, ask the question.

positive ideas for change, South Africa, things to wrestle with

To build a better country, ask the question.

How do you change a country? Firstly, it has to begin in the mirror. What am i doing to make a difference? How am i spending my time, money, skills and energy and using my things to help make my small space one that builds and grows and inspires and assists? The key though is asking the question. Or questions. Big furore happens over Woolworths using some lady's design for their baby-carrying bags. Within [...]

By brettfish|2019-01-10T10:58:43+02:00January 10th, 2019|positive ideas for change, South Africa, things to wrestle with|1 Comment

Melusi’s Everyday Zulu: a book review of sorts

book vibes, South Africa, thorts of other people, what i am reading

Melusi’s Everyday Zulu: a book review of sorts

i have just finished reading Melusi Tshabalala's 'Melusi's Everyday Zulu' which was one of the books my wife gave me for Christmas. It is funny, it is irreverent in places, it is jaw-drop-he-didn't-just-say-that in others, it is inspiring and challenging in terms of understanding South Africa and South Africans and mostly it is educational and just a really fun read. Get yourself a copy. From the back cover: Six days a week, Melusi Tshabalala, [...]

By brettfish|2019-01-09T09:34:08+02:00January 9th, 2019|book vibes, South Africa, thorts of other people, what i am reading|0 Comments