i have an invitation for you... Much like i've started speaking about Christmas a little early so that we can be intentional about putting plans and traditions into effect before the fact, i want to take a look at this whole going into the New Year thing. i've never been a huge fan of the whole New Year's Resolutions' vibe, because my understanding of how they work is that you make a bunch of promises [...]
So #BlackMonday was a thing. And wasn't, depending on who you were. And was accidentally so for tbV and others who just happened to realise into the day that they had unintentionally worn black. For me it had to be a lot more intentionally as probably eighty percent of my shirts are black. So i wore my blue 'Peace to the world' shirt which felt somewhat appropriate. What i found interesting when looking on my [...]
Yesterday i shared a whole bunch of thoughts - mine and others - about the concept of #BlackMonday and wearing black to honour the lives of farmers who have died. Two statuses i added later in the day, which many may not have seen, but which i think sum up some of my thoughts on the matter were this one: People who have been murdered on farms is heart-breaking and horrific and i imagine that [...]
My friend Claudia bravely shares some of her journey with Bipolar2: 15 is far too young to decide to stand on a railway track and end it all. But if you felt like the world is around you is a dark vortex of despair, hate and no hope death seems like a really good option. Or at least that is what it felt like to me. 3 other attempts followed in the next 20 years. [...]
Those who know me well know that one of the ways i count the success of a year is how late in the year i hear my first Christmas Carol [holding thumbs - still not there!] But looks like i am the 'there is always one' this time around as we have barely crawled our way into October and i am already bringing up Christmas? Well, i know not everyone is a champion leave-it-all-for-the-night-before-and-then-go-on-a-panic-shopping-spree guy [...]
i just started reading 'Between the World and Me' by Ta-Nehisi Coates, which has been on my to-read pile for a while now. It is written in the form of a series of letters between him and his son and speaks into race in America and beyond. This is another book well worth reading, especially as someone trying to understand more the race dynamics of our day and age. This extract jumped out at me: [...]
So last night was the annual Outliers event and it was incredible - six speakers, six talks, ten minutes each, with ten slides accompanying them. With my wife tbV kicking it off and setting the foundation and then just amazing speaker after amazing speaker knocking it out of the park. The edited videos will be up in a while, but i think some of the talks are already available on their Facebook page over here. [...]
i shared some of Neville Alexander's thoughts with regards to capitalism in my first post on his book, 'Thoughts on the New South Africa' which you can read over here. This is a second passage which stood out for me. In it, Neville Alexander speaks against the notion of fighting for top spot and creates a vision of the creatives and visionaries of the country helping create a road map to lead us to where [...]
So yesterday i visited my first ever stroke victim's support group. i should perhaps clarify up front that i have not had a stroke. My friend Stephanie runs the group and invited me to come and check it out after i had an encounter with a stroke victim at the clinic she runs speech therapy at, which led to this status last week: i walked into a clinic today to drop a book off for [...]
"What a chop!" "What a flippin punk!" "Oi!" These are statements i utter in my brain space, and sometimes out loud, when young people who i know are passionate and committed to the cause of racism interruption and poverty transformation and reconciliation and restitution jump on to social media and act like... well, like teenagers really, little kids on a bad day. And it happens a lot. To be fair, i imagine i inspire my [...]
