An area i am well rich in is friends. That might seem trite or bumper stickery or Oprah-informed or something, but it's not. It is an absolute truth. If there is an area that i feel most privileged in in life it is in the area of Friendship. i struggle to get my head around it. i read a quote on the internet that said: Good friends talk about their sex lives. Best friends talk [...]
Do you remember where you voted in 1994? Where you were when the twin towers fell on 9/11? How about when we won the 1995 World Cup of Rugby? More importantly, where did you stand in 2016? The year everything changed... We are in the middle of making History. It started picking up pace with Rhodes Must Fall which was followed by Fees Must Fall and either the Anti-Corruption marches or the Zuma Must Fall [...]
You can do it! You can take one more step! i think i know to some extent how you are feeling. You're tired. You're frustrated. You've really been making an effort in terms of these race and privilege conversations and you just want to get through another day without having to feel bad about something else. You feel attacked when you've tried to give an opinion. You feel misunderstood when you have made every effort [...]
"When I came back from overseas, the road I had grown up on had been changed to Robert Sobukwe drive. That is all I knew of him." One of the comments after the Robert Sobukwe documentary 60 to 80 of us watched together last night in a cafe called Jou Ma Se Kombuis situated on the edge of Manenberg. i was not oblivious to the fact that the majority of people in the room [although [...]
For anyone who doesn't know, last year i self-published a book called 'i, church'. On the back cover of the book there is a bit of a summation and part of it reads like this: To those of you who believe church is the worst thing ever: You're right! To those of you who believe church is the best thing ever: You're right! i call this book, 'i, church' because more than a building or [...]
i am hope-filled for South Africa. i am not so naive to not suspect how much of a knife point this country feels on at the moment and to know that at any moment things could suddenly go horribly wrong. We have a LONG way to go still and time feels short. But being in contact and engagement with an incredible growing amount of people who get it or are working towards getting it, really [...]
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Or maybe just the most hectic of times. Having just moved across to a newer fresher website and blog for Irresistibly Fish, i wrote two posts which really got people responding A LOT in the last 48 hours. The first being the provocatively titled, 'Sodomy: A South African Love Story' and the second the way more controversial [somehow] 'The Passion of the Chris' [which despite the [...]
Who do you know? Graeme Codrington shared an article on my Facebook page today with this statement at the top of it: For my South African friends, we're having an interesting time at the moment, as we talk again about race relations. It's hard, and sometimes hurting, but I love that we're having this conversation. It's better than not having it! That really struck me. He went on to list about 20 names of different [...]
Hey, you! Yes, YOU! i see you! Is that maybe not everything we want to hear and know? That i am seen. That someone acknowledges my existence and my presence. That someone knows my name. That i count. i matter. DO YOU SEE? Think back over this week… What was the name of the car guard you tipped with a R2 you found in the corner of your purse? The [...]
'Books are a very important part of my life. Books are my wealth and pay my bills. Books have a magic that keeps me going through hard times.' [Philani Dladla, The Pavement Bookworm, opening line] Meet Philani Dladla. You may have seen glimpses of his story that went viral a while back as a young man on a street corner selling book reviews to people. But yesterday morning i got to meet him. i was [...]
