i have just started reading this book by Ron Sider who we got to hang out with a little bit during our time at the Simple Way in Philly a couple of years ago. Recently he visited South Africa and i got to hear him speak and thought it was high time i got hold of this book which has influenced so many people. This part i want to share is just from the Foreword [...]
We caught a glimpse of this in the #IAmStellenbosch campaign where a group of well-meaning students drew up some posters highlighting something about them that made them unique or different to the stereotype that their skin colour or background might typically suggest. It received a huge backlash from the media and people of all races across the country for a number of reasons. Possibly the biggest one was that once again we saw a race problem [...]
So this past week a picture appeared on my Twitterer of a white girl with a statement written on a board that made me cringe: Suddenly more and more of these pictures were popping up all over Social Media and turns out there was an #IAmStellenbosch group inviting students at the University to write statements about themselves which challenge the stereotype of a typical Stellenbosch student and highlight the differences and individualities of each student. [...]
all human we are all fools all believe something which if we were suddenly pressed we would deny quickly or slowly slink away we are all heretics holding onto one secret thought which would make us outcasts we all wish for one thing with all our hearts which, if it came true would leave us wishing for something better we all forgive as little as possible and only if we think we'll get something in [...]
As a follower of Jesus, this really is my mantra. Love one another. This is how you will be known to be My [Jesus] disciples, if you have love one for another. When i spend a decent amount of time online challenging people about their beliefs and actions, this often comes to mind. After all the church has a pretty bad history of typically being known more for what we are against than what we [...]
This week has been a little fighty fighty on the Facebook and i'm not sure why. i strongly suspect it is linked to the Rugby World Cup that has been happening as touching on that 'holy grail' in a country so passionate about the sport definitely touches a nerve. As does most conversation about race. So in the midst of three days of more 'taking people on' than i am typically used to, i had someone [...]
My friends Alexa Russell Matthews and Nicole Joshua recently ran a workshop titled, "The 'Colour' Elephant in the Room" which you can read some of a participant's experience of over here. What stood out to me though was this list of what was referred to as the 'Ten Commandments' which was the basis of a commitment to engage well with each other. For those of us seeking to be positively involved in conversation and action in the [...]
Sometimes as i am typing a comment on Facebook i pause for a moment to think of all the people going, "Oh man, there he goes again." i imagine for a lot of people i am THAT GUY. i found out years ago at church that there was a certain lady, who, anytime i opened my mouth at a meeting, switched off immediately because she knew i was going to rant about a certain thing. [...]
tbV and i were watching 'The Big Fat Anniversary Quiz of the Year' last night as we had some internet to use up before the end of the month [and it all got eaten by the Invisible Internet-Data-Eating Monster] when suddenly Russel Brand and Noel Fielding [in top form in terms of doing fairly little resembling traditional quiz participation] had this moment where they caught a fly, who they named Chris, and then released it. They claimed [...]
stop the noise sometimes when you don't have anything to say the very best way to acknowledge that is to keep your fingers from typing any words [For more of my shorter Micropoems, click here]