What do the spaces you inhabit say about you? On Saturday i shared an invitation with my white friends on Facebook: White friends. Do this experiment. Be aware of the spaces you occupy today. And tomorrow. Then take a moment to reflect Sunday night. How many of those spaces (gym, dinner table, sports club, restaurant, church, coffee hangout) were 100% filled with white people? (except those who were serving you/cleaning up) How many of those [...]
Last week on the hockey field, a masters player [meaning over 35 years old although this guy was easily 50] called me a Fucking Imbecile after an incident between us. Later, after i had had a drink with my team and was walking to my car he came up to me and said something along the lines of, "I apologise for losing my temper!" i kinda half shrugged it off with a "Sure, buddy, whatever" [...]
Is it ever okay to be angry? In this book i am reading, there is a line that jumped out at me: In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. Now the second part might seem a little foreign to you, because maybe you don't believe in the devil, so let's leave that for a moment. In fact, the [...]
Cape Town Water Day Zero approaches rapidly with April 12th being the latest prediction. And people are talking about it everywhere... and there is some really helpful stuff... and so i thought it might help if we collected a bunch of it together for easy access, you know, like 25L water bottles in that one guy's trolley! If you find any of these links helpful, please pass them on and feel free to share them [...]
i have written and shared a number of posts about the water crisis in Cape Town and the approaching Day Zero. It is super important that we think about those things. And continue to. BUT, this too will pass, and if we are still alive at the end of it, then we will need to take some things into account so that we don't keep Groundhog Daying slash Dejavu'ing this scenario again and again. [...]
This is a post for all those of you who have seen the original H & M advert of the little black boy wearing the hoodie with the slogan 'Coolest Monkey in the Jungle' on it. He was pictured next to a white boy who had the slogan 'Survival Expert' on his hoodie. Because it seems like this is still being discussed, and because a whole lot of white people seem not to understand why [...]
Dear South Africa, I would have liked to have more of an upbeat and hopeful letter to you but the reality, the real reality, is that we’re a country of deep division and intense trauma. We are a people who do not know each other, once the babalas of the rainbow nation faded away we were left to face the decisions that were made the night before. We had to look into each other’s faces [...]
Liewe Afrikanermense in Suid-Afrika, Ek het nou onlangs terug gedink aan ons laerskoolklas wat elke Vrydag na tweede pouse vir twee periodes (met ander woorde ’n volle uur lank) sangklas gehad het. Gegewe die spesifieke uitdagings hieraan verbonde, kan ‘n mens dus nie ons musiekonderwyseres kwalik neem dat sy dikwels gekies het om ons na stories op langspeelplate te laat luister in plaas daarvan om ons aan die sing te probeer kry nie… Die enigste [...]
Dear South Africa, LOVE BLACK PEOPLE It only dawned on me recently, how we need this. Desperately need this. I cannot speak for all Black people, I cannot even speak for the majority of Black people, but I can speak for Black people like me. Love us. It has been alleged that the idea was ‘stolen’ from someone else, so I will not state where I saw it, but the premise was that people from [...]
Dear South Africa... And so the letter begins. A letter penned to a nation. Well, not 'penned' per say, because who does that anymore? Typed. A letter typed to a beloved country. But what type of letter might that be? How would yours look? Would it be filled with hope or be more likely to resemble a tired, worn out missive of anger and accusation? Might it call people out to be what we've seen [...]
