This is possibly the single thing I love most in the world. I cannot quite explain why, but when I look at it I am filled with love. I don’t get to look at it often, because it’s safely folded away in a cupboard, waiting for the day I have a room of my own […]
Lifestyle
Posted inLifestyle
What does security mean to you?
By Everjoice Win That was the question surrounding this year’s 16 Days of Activism. Militarism, conflict, state-sponsored violence, political violence, were some of the sub-themes we campaigned on. We talked about the big stuff, the big news tickets of the moment. The news coming out of Syria continues to be unbearable. Libya is still on […]
Posted inLifestyle
On driving a flashy car in Joburg
It was extraordinary. I’ve never had so many looks from the diners gathered on the pavements of Parkhurst; not even in 2005 when a cyclist crashed into the back of my black Fiat Stilo — MARMITE GP (don’t ask) — at the traffic circle at 4th avenue and 10th street, causing several grand’s worth of […]
Posted inLifestyle
The twilight of testosterone
Something truly extraordinary is happening in the US labour market. At the beginning of 2010, it was revealed, that for the first time in the country’s history, women held a majority of the nation’s jobs. The dramatic rise of women within the ranks of the gainfully employed shouldn’t be seen as solely an American phenomenon. […]
Posted inLifestyle
So much writing, is anyone reading?
By Suntosh Pillay It started innocently enough. But then again, I should have known better. My parents always said don’t go into strange places with strange people. But I couldn’t resist. Before I knew it, I was knee-deep in the online jungle called Amazon. Special offers were popping up in every corner. Books that I’ve […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
If COP17 has to do with survival, why aren’t more people interested?
By Karuna Rana For those in the climate-change arena, the yearly UN climate-change negotiations remain an important event. The Copenhagen Summit in 2009 was a massive let-down. Last year, Cancun was unexpectedly hopeful and, this year, the climate-change negotiations have arrived to Durban, South Africa. COP17 is perhaps more crucial than previous meetings as the […]
Posted inLifestyle
The hell or heaven we create for ourselves
I think it is highly significant that while I teach children I am facing a clock on the wall behind them. They are about ten years old, bodies twinkling with life and laughter, oblivious to “clock time”. They relish the present moment as I try and keep my lessons chock-a-block with games. I am a […]
Posted inLifestyle
Should I just give up on men?
So there I was at the Indaba Hotel with a large group of fellow guests, having my toes twiddled by therapist at the Mangwanani Spa. I’d been tidying my cupboards out (again) and, quite by chance, found a voucher which was due to expire in the next three days. I booked, went along, and spent […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
‘Look, a Black Piet!’
By Marthe van der Wolf Being black and having an Afro most of my life, I heard this once too often. Probably every black person in the Netherlands has been called a “Black Piet” at least once in his or her life. Especially in the weeks prior to December 5. It hurts, it always has […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
There’s a killer in my family
He’s doing 25 years. Then there’s another petty thief cousin who’s been “inside” for pilfering a bottle of Panache from Clicks — for his girlfriend, when he was down and out a few years ago. There’s also my mother’s cousin’s son, the career criminal and regular beater up of women — who spends his time […]
Posted inGeneral, Lifestyle
Can DJ Fresh tweet what he likes about suicide?
This afternoon while scrolling through Twitter as I do, I noticed an unusual exchange. You don’t usually see a hugely popular DJ in a back and forth with the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (Sadag), so I followed the conversation to see what it was all about. And quite frankly, I was appalled. Here […]
Posted inBusiness, General, Lifestyle
Are Christmas gifts just a horrible waste of money?
December is almost upon us and Christmas is less than a month away. Already the malls are heaving with hollow-eyed wrecks ticking off mental lists of people on their Christmas gift lists (some of them fantasising, no doubt, about bombing a place that approximates Dante’s fourth circle of hell). Ernst & Young is predicting a […]