“Jou narrative is nou in sy moer in,” my good friend Juan WhatsApped me after I told him the news. I thought: there it is, the opening line for a blog post I know I need to write and which has proved to be harder than pretty much anything I’ve submitted to Thought Leader. Juan […]
Sarah Britten
During the day Sarah Britten is a communication strategist; by night she writes books and blog entries. And sometimes paints. With lipstick. It helps to have insomnia.
Posted inLifestyle
The Exercise
“Let’s do an exercise,” my husband says. It is something he last did 20 years ago, at Harvard; this is the piece he wrote about it at the time. Dinner is over. Our friend Musa, the scientist, says that he thinks he has heard of this exercise. Tonight, the conversation has ranged from Neal Stephenson’s […]
Posted inMedia
Bic, and why creativity matters
When the Bic Women’s Day outrage first hit the social media fan, I was driving back from the Tembe Elephant Park where my husband and I had spent our first anniversary. I am in Durban this week for the Loeries, so creativity is top of mind – which is relevant, because creativity is central to […]
Posted inLifestyle
Exposed in Japan
“It’s good exposure,” Barbara says. She is a German woman of a certain age who represents a gallery with branches in Chicago, Berlin, London and Rome. “And it’s affordable,” she adds. “Some of the big art shows cost €10 000. My stand here was £600.” “Enough exposure and you develop pneumonia.” I laugh wanly, thinking of […]
Posted inGeneral, Lifestyle
Big in Japan (I hope)
Today, I board a Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong. I’ll have a lot of luggage with me: a suitcase filled with weather-appropriate clothing, 2 large portfolio bags filled with paintings in lipstick, a selection of A4 prints, flyers, business cards, and 30 metres of Velcro. From there, my husband and my friend Juan will […]
Posted inGeneral, Lifestyle
An open letter to 2014
Dear 2014, I know a lot of people can’t wait to the see the back of you. They say they hated you, you were horrible and they’d rather forget you. Quite frankly, they say (and they don’t even bother to whisper) you were crap. So I wanted you to know that not everyone feels that […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Take drugs? Don’t help the piranhas
I’ve never taken drugs. Well, not the illegal kind anyway. I prefer to walk up to the counter at the pharmacy, recite my request and wait mournfully to be told that Discovery isn’t paying. As a kid in primary school, I regularly took overdoses of my asthma pills (Microfillin; active ingredient theophylline) in order to […]
Posted inGeneral
South Africans! Beware of the sea
Are you planning a seaside holiday in December? Are you thinking about putting on a swimming cossie and entering the water? Perhaps you should reconsider. I have been reading the Daily Sun since 2006, and amid all the stories about tokoloshes, 4-5s, muthi and sangomas, it was this piece of advice that stood out for […]
Posted inLifestyle
Amazing how a year can change a story
It’s August 15. I’m enjoying the Joburg spring weather at a table at one of my favourite haunts, Doppio Zero in Rosebank, typing up copy changes on a client newsletter in between forkfuls of salmon fishcake. On this day a year ago I spoke at TEDxJohannesburg. You can watch the video here. “In the end, […]
Posted inNews/Politics
They can’t vote. We can. They need our help.
Are you voting next Wednesday? (I hope so.) Here’s something to think about. You’re not just voting for yourself — you’re voting on behalf of a whole lot of South Africans who can’t. Eighteen million of them, in fact — 37% of South Africans are under the age of 18, and they are the ones […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
An EFF beret, Nkandla and Freedom Day
I have mixed feelings about Freedom Day. A sense of relief is mixed with a sense of frustration. Optimism is muddled with ineffable loss of something different, something a little better than what we have now. I think Nomboniso Gasa said it far better than I on Facebook yesterday: Freedom, I think, is never complete. […]
Posted inLifestyle
New weird adventures in internet dating
It was short and to the point. As was: Yes, I’ve recently had another crack at internet dating and yes, it can be depressing. Though this did make me smile: Right now, I probably know more about internet dating than anyone else, because recently I spent 10 days procuring four consecutive dates on one day. […]