i saw this picture and statement on Facebook today: Count me out. I need a break from South African politics and leadership dynamics. The poverty I have seen today visiting a rural area has me in a minor depression, I cant imagine WHEN the leaders will stop shielding and blaming each other and start serving this country. I DON'T want to be right, I don't want the other side to be wrong. I just [...]
Are we responsible for the sins and legacy of the past? This seems to be a stumbling point for younger people today, who didn't live through apartheid and so "Why should we be held responsible for it?" i saw this illustration on Facebook today and think it helps address legacy so very well: How do we make sense of the past as it relates to our present A lot of the race conversations [...]
The internet can be a confusing and scary place to try and figure out race vibes [or parenting/immigration/religion/sexuality and so on...] - if you're brave then check out 'Ozzy Man reviews Arguing on the Internet' because it is harsh but funny and sadly not too far from the truth. Trying to figure out race vibes offline can also be counterproductive if the people around you are more echo chamber than collaborative sounding board, which [...]
i am busy reading a book called 'The Man who Founded the ANC' by Bongani Ngqulunga. It is the biography of a man called Pixley ka Isaka Seme [Pixley, son of Isaka Seme] who i never knew before last week. i had also never heard of Bongani Ngqulunga, although apparently he currently serves as the chief of staff and spokesperson of the President of the Republic of South Africa. And when i thought of [...]
On the evening of the election, tbV [the beautiful Val] and i hosted our own party. #ISeeWhatIDidThere We invited around ten of our friends for food and drinks and cake and conversation and just hung out - no agenda beyond celebrating friendship and being in a trusted space with people we love. And it was a diverse group of people. And it was good. Then last night we gatecrashed [kinda] another dinner with some [...]
Sho. So this birthday snuck up on me. Christmas vibes into New Year's vibes into Cricket Test into friends-visiting-from-USA-and-Kruger-roadtripping vibes into arriving back in Cape Town last night with enough time to go to bed and wake up to my 45th birthday. 'Age is just a number' i like to say, but my number is certainly getting bigger. In the good old days [not too long ago] i used to stretch my birthday for a [...]
When the Laerskool Schweizer-Reneke incident of segregated children in the classroom broke, people quickly seemed to rush to pick sides, with a lot of white people doing soem rather impressive gymnastics to try and defend the white teacher. This is such a helpful comment from my friend Nobuntu Webster which expresses better than i did what i was trying to say earlier: = = = = = = = = = "What you all may not realise [...]
How do you change a country? Firstly, it has to begin in the mirror. What am i doing to make a difference? How am i spending my time, money, skills and energy and using my things to help make my small space one that builds and grows and inspires and assists? The key though is asking the question. Or questions. Big furore happens over Woolworths using some lady's design for their baby-carrying bags. Within [...]
Sho. Racists? i just don't understand you. Except that it HAS to be othering. That's all i can think of. The cure for racism then has to be connection... That was a thought that came to mind as Val and myself sat on the pavement just off De Waal drive last night, about 100m from our house, watching the incredible festivities that were a part of an African wedding reception taking place across the street.How [...]
What are you doing Friday night? Going to a workshop that interrogates whiteness. Wait, what? And I am paying for it. Those words might seem like they come out of an SNL sketch if South Africa had an SNL type show. But we don't. And it was the brave decision of eight white people to respond to an invitation that my friend and colleague Megan Furniss put out on Facebook: I am Megan Furniss, a [...]
