This is a post for all those of you who have seen the original H & M advert of the little black boy wearing the hoodie with the slogan 'Coolest Monkey in the Jungle' on it. He was pictured next to a white boy who had the slogan 'Survival Expert' on his hoodie. Because it seems like this is still being discussed, and because a whole lot of white people seem not to understand why [...]
Dear South Africa, I would have liked to have more of an upbeat and hopeful letter to you but the reality, the real reality, is that we’re a country of deep division and intense trauma. We are a people who do not know each other, once the babalas of the rainbow nation faded away we were left to face the decisions that were made the night before. We had to look into each other’s faces [...]
Every year i try to have a word or phrase to focus on and give me some direction and purpose for the year ahead. Last year's word was Interdependence, the idea of things and people being connected to move forward well rather than independence which focuses on going it alone and trying to get ahead. At the start of 2018 my wife tbV [the beautiful Val] and i went to a restuarant in Muizenberg overlooking [...]
i really loved Americanah - let's just get that out the way - best novel i have read in a long, long time. Also it was written by a black African woman and so ticks a whole lot of the boxes of the majority of books i am trying to read these days - different gender, different colour, different country... tick, tick, tick. Before i got started with the book, i came into contact with [...]
What days do you think we should celebrate that we don't? Well one of them was the day we got the big cheese himself, Jeff Dwoskin aka @bigmacher , who runs the Hashtag Roundup app with his wife Robyn, to come and co-host a frikkin hashtag game... [The Story So Far: Every Wednesday at 12 noon South African time [6 am EDT] an inspired and growing number of brilliant, creative and absolutely fun people from all around the world take [...]
Liewe Afrikanermense in Suid-Afrika, Ek het nou onlangs terug gedink aan ons laerskoolklas wat elke Vrydag na tweede pouse vir twee periodes (met ander woorde ’n volle uur lank) sangklas gehad het. Gegewe die spesifieke uitdagings hieraan verbonde, kan ‘n mens dus nie ons musiekonderwyseres kwalik neem dat sy dikwels gekies het om ons na stories op langspeelplate te laat luister in plaas daarvan om ons aan die sing te probeer kry nie… Die enigste [...]
So the Protea cricket team took on the Indians at Newlands in Cape Town this week - first of three tests. And we won convincingly, so that was fun. DRESSUP FOR NEWLANDS It has become a tradition for tbV and me with my friend MJ and whoever else might be with us [looking at you, American former housemates!] to pick a theme and go to the cricket dressed appropriately. So last time was Star Wars: [...]
Dear South Africa, LOVE BLACK PEOPLE It only dawned on me recently, how we need this. Desperately need this. I cannot speak for all Black people, I cannot even speak for the majority of Black people, but I can speak for Black people like me. Love us. It has been alleged that the idea was ‘stolen’ from someone else, so I will not state where I saw it, but the premise was that people from [...]
We continue with Part II of #AnimalTopTwentySongs [For Part I, click here] where we move beyond the trends and celebs and bots to the tweets that really matter, those made by YOU... that's right, so many Fish List of Prizeworthyness [F.L.O.P.] tweets that they could not be contained in just one post. There were really a whole lot of super good and amazing and funny and clever tweets in this game and this list is [...]
i normally run the Top Tweets list a few weeks after the game but #AnimalTopTwentySongs was such a hit i felt it needed to happen this same week to celebrate the momentum... We decided to imagine what songs might appear on an animal Top 20 Hits list and everybody got on board with one of the most fun games in recent history... [The Story So Far: Every Wednesday at 12 noon South African time [6 [...]
