The other day i spent about an hour learning how to add some videos and subscriber links to the end of my videos. Not rocket scientistry and i'm sure the moves i learnt are pretty basic and can be done much better by the pros but you can check out the finished result at the end of my latest Erik [with a k] video, where Erik [with a k] reads the poem Self-Sacrifice by Hanane [...]
A few weeks ago i got to help out at a camp with The LifeMatters Foundation, on this occasion with grade seven pupils from three different schools in the Cape Flats. They are doing some incredible things in schools and so i asked them to share a little bit of who they are: Who we are We are The LifeMatters Foundation, a proudly South African Non-Profit Organisation promoting holistic development in children through literacy, numeracy, life skills workshops, counselling and [...]
i know a lot of people in Cape Town who are involved in some exciting educational non-profit organisations doing a range of inspirational things with the young people in our province, particularly those in less resourced schools. One such group is Outliers and i asked them to share a little bit about what they are about: In South Africa, only 50% of children who originally enroll in school make it to matric. In addition, an [...]
Last night i went to support my friend Megan Furniss, by watching a group of high school learners perform an improv show following some training she had done with them. It was aptly titled, 'Oy's Line Is It Anyway?' and ended up being quite delightful. Let me be honest. Heading off to go and watch school kids perform improv is not something that in itself excites one. Not this one, anyway. However, their first game [...]
"Where did you two meet?" "That's easy. He [me] is an activist and I [Napoleon] am an activist. We were introduced by another activist [Nigel Branken]." That was part of an exchange that happened yesterday as i got to hang out with my friend Napoleon Webster who i hadn't seen since he was released from spending over 200 days in prison for a crime he did not commit. But let's backpedal a bit... The Marikana [...]
i have just finished reading 'The Housemaid's Daughter' by Barbara Mutch which i pretty much sped through [thanks to some exam invigilating giving me free paid-for reading time] and having just finished 'Half of a Yellow Sun' by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie it was a very different read. But it really did suck me in through the strong relationships it depicted in particular. It basically tells the story of the friendship between an Irish woman, Cathleen [...]
Can i just start by saying that i absolutely LOVE the [majority of the] community who wrestle with me with aspects of race and privilege and poverty and more on social media. It is probably a wonder that more of you haven't given up on me, but when you stick around and when you push back and when we seriously engage with the topics at hand [and those hiding behind the hand] we learn so [...]
By now you have probably heard about the Roseanne Barr racist tweet and cancelling of her show incident. i have maybe watched Roseanne the show once in my whole life and it didn't do enough to get me back. So i don't really know Roseanne Barr much besides glimpses of her on interview shows and random celebrity news from time to time. But this post isn't really about her. In a nutshell, Roseanne posted a [...]
My friend Shelley Frost wrote this as her status on Facebook today and i couldn't not sure because it is such a gracefully written invitation to men to seize the opportunity to be a part of the much needed transformation that is needed in the world and so i repost it here as an endorsement. If as a male, and particularly a white male, you feel defensive when you read this, before you jump on [...]
When i say "Cape Flats", you say "Violence!" "Cape Flats!" "VIOLENCE!!" "Cape Flats!" "VIOLENCE!!" Because, along with Nazareth and townships and maybe even Africa as a whole, that is the kind of mindset that too many of us hold, right? The mindset that says [or suggests, or at the very least thinks]: What good ever came out of the Cape Flats...? Time to flip this narrative This past weekend i had the privilege - and [...]
