One of the signs of privilege in a country is the expectation that everyone else will address you in your mother tongue. This is typically true for white english-speakers in South Africa and not even remotely for black mother tongue Xhosa speakers. i would hate to find out the statistics for white people who can't even say the basics of "Hello" "What is your name?" "My name is..." in an African language but fortunately this [...]
i have just started reading a book called 'With Justice for All' by John Perkins, who was very much involved in the American Civil Rights movement and who i got to listen to at a CCDA conference when we were in Americaland. This first passage, although speaking about his country, resonated with much of what we see, feel and experience in South Africa. His definition of poverty is one i wish all of those who [...]
Greetings Bloglings [Wait, we're calling you that now, right?] and welcome to a very different post from normal, but i was tagged in a 21 question challenge by a new friend, Rashieda, whose challenge you can visit over here, and loving the opportunity to reveal deep and dark secrets about myself [as if!] i thought i would give it a go... 1. What is your current fashion obsession? i don't feel like i get very [...]
So one of my new favourite virtual [for now] friends, Dante, whose incredible Micropoetry can be found over at Original Dante, challenged me to a duel [well kinda, cos he already pulled his trigger in his own fight] which i had already kinda done in someone's comment section, but there is no verifiable proof, so i decided to take him up on it... OD is the reason i got interested in, and brave enough to [...]
My lovely wife Val was of course the hostess for Friday's dinner and deep dive into Race, Boundary and Location conversation that i wrote about over here, and she shares some of her thoughts from the evening: The idea is simple: gather good people around good food and good discussion and see what happens. So we did. We turned off technology and tuned in to people. It was messy and it was chaotic, it was painful and it [...]
Every now and then i will post a status on Facebook or the Twitterer that starts with the words 'Sometimes love looks like...' Which will then go on to mention something [large or small] that my wife, tbV [the beautiful Val, yes folks the 'b' does not stand for 'lovely'!] has done for me as a way of celebrating her more publicly. The latest one looked a little something like this: Sometimes love is walking [...]
So i was nominated for this Spread Love Challenge by TheFabLetters which is this super interesting blog i stumbled on a short while ago where two women write letters to each other which become the premise of the blog posts. Some really good stuff there. The Rules: Write ten four word sentences about what love means to you. Share your favorite quote on love. Nominate ten other bloggers for the same. Now normally i wouldn't be [...]
hey Brett "Fish" [well, this is a little awkward, cos that's me, why are you writing to yourself weirdo?] as the end of the year approaches at pace, i thort i'd i'd just drop in [okay, you're being weird again, you do know this is still you writing, right?] and share some quick thoughts [wait, quick? okay, maybe this isn't you] and comments so you can end 2014 well. [1] Don't stuff your face. i [...]
One of the most moving times of the whole weekend was actually right near the beginning, when after arriving at Robben Island, and dropping our stuff off at our rooms, we met together for introductions. We had to go around the room and introduce ourselves and say why we were there. i had the task of following my incredibly gifted wife who has such a powerful way with words that she immediately won over the [...]
i never particularly wanted to go to Robben Island. in fact, to be honest, for a time i particularly didn't want to go to Robben Island. Something about growing up in a not too politicized environment perhaps and then later not really seeing the point or perhaps thinking it was a 'flavour of the month' kind of vibe with everyone going and it being such a touristy thing. But then somewhere along the line [maybe [...]