thorts of other people : Brett Fish

Taboo Topics: Race – Mixed Race Connections – Meet Roxanne Rhoda and Gregory Jewell

[Disclaimer: while in Americaland, the term "coloured" is a strongly negative term, in South Africa there is a unique group of people who have come from a heritage of different cultures but now have developed their own distinct culture. They are neither black nor white, nor are they mixed race, and they would call themselves 'coloured'.] We’re no different than any other couple. Well, we are. Roxanne is from South Africa and colo(u)red and Greg [...]

By brettfish|2024-10-31T00:03:06+02:00May 8th, 2014|love and chocolate, relationships, shtupidt people, thorts of other people|0 Comments

Taboo Topics: Race – Don't be colour blind, be colour brave!

i just watched this TED talk by a woman called Mellody Hobson on the introduction of a topic she called 'Colour Braveness' While the focus of the clip is very much from a 'The American Dream' point of view, and so doesn't necessarily have the end point i would focus on [become a CEO of a company!] there are some interesting and helpful points she raises and so it is well worth a viewing... Some [...]

By brettfish|2014-05-07T21:03:46+02:00May 7th, 2014|change the world, inspire-ations, pain and Hope, people, thorts of other people, what i am watching|0 Comments

Taboo Topics: Race – Mixed Race Connections – Meet James Davis and Sherrell Nesmith

American-African meets African-American. We met at university; both of us were on student leadership for our respective halls. Sherrell’s from Durham, NC. James is from Cape Town, South Africa (Well, mostly). Naturally, there are a lot of cultural differences we’ve discovered along the way. For starters, we have different likes and dislikes, some of them diametrically opposite each other, ranging from the superficial, like our tastes in music and to how we like to [...]

By brettfish|2014-05-07T05:56:31+02:00May 7th, 2014|love and chocolate, people, relationships, Taboo Topics, thorts of other people|0 Comments

Taboo Topics: Race – What I would love my white friends to hear – Meet John Scheepers

One of the most insidious forms of racism or paternalism is to take the voice of another away from them. I do not intend to speak for black people in this post and so rob them of their own dignity and humanity. You see, I am white and so I can only ever speak as a white male. While I can resist speaking for another I can choose to speak with another so adding strength [...]

By brettfish|2014-05-06T16:51:15+02:00May 6th, 2014|change the world, friends and enemas, inspire-ations, pain and Hope, shtupidt people, thorts of other people|0 Comments

What my Married Friends would like their Single Friends to know – Meet Alexa and Charles Matthews

Things that I wish I could say to my single friends…. When I saw Brett request this I thought “pick me pick me”! Then I started thinking about how to write this with honesty & candour but in a way which honours my husband, marriage and my friends. I am so aware that I am still VERY new at this – Charles and I only got married 6 months ago (on the 9th November to be [...]

By brettfish|2014-05-04T05:35:52+02:00May 4th, 2014|friends and enemas, love and chocolate, marriage, pain and Hope, thorts of other people|4 Comments

Taboo Topics: Race – Mixed Race Connections – Meet Beth Lee Jooste and Ockerd Ojay Langeveldt [Engaged]

Hi brett. I saw you put up a request for inter- racial relationship stories: here's a bit of mine: in 150 days i'm marrying my best friend and the love of my life. He is coloured and i'm white and we are the best for each other. When I look at him I don't see my culture or his - I see two people working out life with a different approach and mentality... this goes [...]

By brettfish|2014-05-01T19:14:55+02:00May 1st, 2014|love and chocolate, people, relationships, Taboo Topics, thorts of other people|0 Comments

Taboo Topics: Race – Mixed Race and Culture Connections

As we have started talking about different aspects of Race on my blog, one area that quickly came to mind was that of mixed race/culture relationships. Hard to believe that this was illegal when i was growing up. And that it was normal for it to be so. And even when it wasn't, it took a bit of a while for it to become more of a regular [less stared at] thing and so i imagine [...]

By brettfish|2024-10-31T00:07:42+02:00May 1st, 2014|friends and enemas, love and chocolate, pain and Hope, relationships, thorts of other people|0 Comments

i see old people…

i came across that proverb this morning and it blew me away. i remember hanging out with my uncle John Fee [my mom's british brother] a few years ago when they came to visit us in South Africa and we had met up a bunch of times in life, although i was generally of the seen-and-not-heard age and so we didn't engage in much meaningful conversation... and then this day he was in the lounge [...]

By brettfish|2014-05-01T12:55:36+02:00May 1st, 2014|challenging thorts, change the world, inspire-ations, thorts of other people|0 Comments

On publically criticising and being criticised…

"Not taking offense is 10 times harder than not giving it. Try going a day without taking offense when criticized." That is how Peter Enns ends off this simple but profound blog piece titled '6 thoughts–let’s call them tips–on publicly criticizing and being criticized' and while you should totally go and read the whole piece to see his explanations of each point, i thought i would simply share the six points he makes: 1. To write is [...]

By brettfish|2019-11-08T11:19:41+02:00April 30th, 2014|activities, and other animals., people, shtupidt people, silly things, thorts of other people|0 Comments

Marriage Year 10: Meet Lu-Shane and Marco Alexander

When I was young, I always dreamed of being married & having children. Today I am a proud wife & mother of 2 beautiful boys. Its is only by the grace of God that we are now able to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary on the 1st May 2014. As with any marriage, there are many challenges and yes most of them not easy, but even though we were caught up in our problems [...]

By brettfish|2014-04-28T22:20:17+02:00April 28th, 2014|family, love and chocolate, marriage, relationships, thorts of other people|0 Comments