pain and Hope : Brett Fish

Taboo Topics: Dealing with the grief of losing someone you love: Meet Kim Overbeck and Tegan

'I've never forgotten him. Dare I say I miss him? I do. I miss him. I still see him in my dreams. They are nightmares mostly, but nightmares tinged with love. Such is the strangeness of the human heart. I still cannot understand how he could abandon me so unceremoniously, without any sort of goodbye, without looking back even once. The pain is like an axe that chops my heart.' [The Life of Pi] This [...]

By brettfish|2014-07-01T05:42:41+02:00July 1st, 2014|pain and Hope, Taboo Topics, thorts of other people|0 Comments

The Power of Water

One of the most powerful passages from the book i am busy finishing at the moment, because it will start with laughter and end in tears. Such a powerful read: I suppose that the number of homies I've baptised over the decades is in the thousands. Gang members find themselves locked up and get around to doing things their parents didn't arrange for them. Homies are always walking up to me at Homeboy Industries or [...]

By brettfish|2014-06-18T08:56:36+02:00June 18th, 2014|inspire-ations, pain and Hope, thorts of other people, what i am reading|0 Comments

Standing with the least likely to succeed

If i was sharing every chapter and excerpt i enjoyed from ‘Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion’ by Father Gregory Boyle, which i have been reading and really being deeply moved by, then the whole book would pretty much be in here. But i am wanting you to get hold of the book and so am only sharing a story or a passage from every couple of chapters in the book. There is some [...]

By brettfish|2014-06-15T08:01:29+02:00June 15th, 2014|change the world, inspire-ations, pain and Hope, thorts of other people, what i am watching|0 Comments

When enemies work together

A third extract from ‘Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion’ by Father Gregory Boyle, which you should clearly be able to gather by now i am adding to my 'Books i would love for all my friends to read' list so just do it already. So brief background to this short piece is that Father Boyle works predominantly with gangsters and ex-gangsters through a number of different businesses that fall under the banner of Homeboy [...]

By brettfish|2014-06-13T09:12:04+02:00June 13th, 2014|activities, inspire-ations, pain and Hope, people, thorts of other people, what i am reading|0 Comments

i’m not sure you’re against that thing you think you’re against: part rape culture

What does the term 'Rape Culture' mean? The phrase is off-putting and in some ways misleading [to someone who doesn't understand what it means at any rate]. Tell a guy he is a part of the existing rape culture and he is most likely to react strongly against that: "How dare you suggest I'm a rapist? Or put me in the same grouping as rapists as if I could be one of them." Well, sometimes [...]

By brettfish|2019-10-18T09:31:06+02:00June 12th, 2014|change the world, pain and Hope|9 Comments

i'm not sure you're against that thing you think you're against [Intro]

Sometimes two sides of a vociferous argument can both be right. A silly [but true] example could be someone from Americaland arguing that mayonnaise is horrible [i have lived here for three years and am still to find one i find overly edible] Whereas, having tasted South African mayo, and especially the no name brand big jar version, i might argue that mayonnaise is incredible. We would both be telling the truth in terms of [...]

By brettfish|2014-06-11T01:07:43+02:00June 11th, 2014|activities, change the world, pain and Hope, shtupidt people, thorts of other people, world news|0 Comments

Taboo Topics: Race – The Panel – Questions from you about Race-related things – Q3/Q4

Finishing off this first run of the panel with these last two questions that came in - only two responses at the moment but will add more as they come in... QUESTION 3: [Suzane Hoffman] We have seen our country go down hill. We have watched apartheid in reverse . reconciliation is fantasy. All that happens is now the blacks control and the whites still suffer and get the blame. With real reconciliation there would [...]

By brettfish|2014-06-06T23:40:03+02:00June 6th, 2014|activities, pain and Hope, Taboo Topics, thorts of other people|0 Comments

#YesAllWomen: a lament

i go outside and sit on the top step in front of my apartment and look around... taking in the sights listening to the noise a family preparing for a celebration across the street the sound of a car backfiring, further down the road a laugh, an ambulance siren, a child's excited scream, the sound of two cats fighting, the music starting up and all seems normal this all feels right and good i pause [...]

By brettfish|2014-06-03T15:51:26+02:00June 3rd, 2014|change the world, inspire-ations, pain and Hope, poems and other creativity, world news|4 Comments

Taboo Topics: Race – The Panel – Questions from you about Race-related things – Q2: Being ‘over’ apartheid?

QUESTION 2: [Graeme Broster] I don't believe we can even begin to discuss issues of race, reconciliation etc before we begin to discuss and answer the issue of identity. Not sure if it's clear but give it some thought Race panel question: When, if ever, will it be OK to be "over" apartheid? If possible put a number of years to your answer. [Brett: Hot question i know but i followed it up with Graeme to [...]

By brettfish|2014-06-01T22:21:37+02:00June 1st, 2014|challenging thorts, inspire-ations, life, pain and Hope, Taboo Topics, thorts of other people|2 Comments

Taboo Topics: Race – The Panel – Questions from you about Race-related things – Q2: Being 'over' apartheid?

QUESTION 2: [Graeme Broster] I don't believe we can even begin to discuss issues of race, reconciliation etc before we begin to discuss and answer the issue of identity. Not sure if it's clear but give it some thought Race panel question: When, if ever, will it be OK to be "over" apartheid? If possible put a number of years to your answer. [Brett: Hot question i know but i followed it up with Graeme to [...]

By brettfish|2014-06-01T22:21:37+02:00June 1st, 2014|challenging thorts, inspire-ations, life, pain and Hope, Taboo Topics, thorts of other people|0 Comments