thorts of other people : 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

crazytown – a poem by my imaginary friend, Michael Toy

i am busy reading this poetry book which was a gift to me by a friend i have only met online and know through friends of friends but his gift of words and wielding them to weave and create and display and be creative is at the same time obvious and captivating here is a second one that really resonated with me [maybe cos i am all that kinds of crazy myself]: [from the book, [...]

By brettfish|2014-06-22T12:35:37+02:00June 22nd, 2014|challenging thorts, change the world, God stuff, thorts of other people, what i am reading|0 Comments

i will blame it on the huehuetenango [just as soon as i figure out what a huehuetenango is!]

Michael Toy is one of my imaginary friends, you know like the one you had as a kid, that you were convinced was real. Except that this one really is. No seriously, you gotta believe me! Although his last name even suggests that i might have trouble convincing anyone of that. 'Imaginary' in that, though we have been 'friends on Facebook' and have at least 30 mutual friends [most of whom i actually real-life know] [...]

By brettfish|2014-06-20T09:33:07+02:00June 20th, 2014|challenging thorts, inspire-ations, poems and other creativity, thorts of other people, what i am reading|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

Marriage Year 5: Meet Jackie and Tim Barker

We got married on the 28th of November 2009. Best decision ever. Seriously. We have both loved being married and will often wonder how we got to be so blessed. There were a few things we decided on early in our marriage that has made a world of difference, and we have practiced them ever since. Firstly... We decided to never leave the 'honeymoon stage'. Everyone around us who heard how happy we were kept [...]

By brettfish|2014-06-12T22:01:50+02:00June 12th, 2014|love and chocolate, marriage, relationships, thorts of other people|5 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

the smell of feet

This is another extract from ‘Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion’ by Father Gregory Boyle which i am reading and thoroughly enjoying [and you should totally get and read] and this story i read tonite jumped out at me and begged to be shared. From a chapter titled, 'Compassion': The strategy of Jesus is not centered in taking the right stand on issues, but rather in standing in the right place - with [...]

By brettfish|2014-06-03T22:06:31+02:00June 3rd, 2014|challenging thorts, God stuff, thorts of other people, what i am reading|0 Comments