CULTURE, LIFE, THE ARTS

More than a fairytale

My nine-year-old nephew recently performed in the Cape Town Opera’s production of Cinderella/Cendrillon at the Artscape Theatre Centre in Cape Town in the July school holidays. I am very proud of this young boy who has wanted to be on the stage since he was about two years old and pinched his grandmothers’ scarves to […]

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LITERATURE, POLITICS

Banning Books, Silencing Voices

Featured Illustration: Jane Mount I have been watching the escalating trend of banning books in the USA with a feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach. It’s a bit like reliving a nightmare, since the banning of books was an apartheid staple. Having travelled through the south of the United States of America […]

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POLITICS, WORLD ISSUES

A Colonial Parable

A long, long time ago, some travellers from a northern country sailed into a bay to seek shelter on their journey around the world. They were weary from months at sea, hoping for fresh water, fruit, and vegetables, or even some kind of meat would be wonderful. They found all this, and more, in the […]

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LIFE

This Writing Life

Featured Image: Etienne Girardet I’ve been struggling to write the last few months. Well, the truth is that I write every day in some form or another, but I don’t feel that I have been particularly productive this year. The work that has gone to print was available online last year, and I’ve waited patiently […]

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EMPOWERMENT, OPINION, WOMEN'S HEALTH

Embracing Ageing

I spent the morning at a chair yoga workshop recently, talking about the effects of ageing on the body. While I’m not quite ready to get off the mat, there were definitely pointers to share with my mum and adaptations to consider when aches and pains give me a nudge (as they do nowadays). This […]

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CULTURE, EMPOWERMENT

What’s in a Name?

Up along the west coast of South Africa, towards its border with Namibia, lies the Kamiesberg (or Kamies mountain), about five hours drive on the N7 from Cape Town. The mountain range is in a semi-desert area, the largest and most sparsely inhabited province of South Africa. For millennia the mountain has been an oasis […]

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LIFE, MENTAL HEALTH, WORLD ISSUES

Goodbye, Arch: Sharing Sorrow

South Africa lost a much-loved leader in Nobel Peace laureate and Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, Desmond Tutu, in December 2021. A kind and principled man and the moral compass for our country both during apartheid and after democracy in 1994, he fought vociferously to bring about change. He was an avid campaigner for international […]

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OPINION, POLITICS, WORLD ISSUES

The Right to Vote

Featured Illustration: Melissa Koby Earlier this month, South Africa held local government elections (South Africa has a three-tier government system, i.e., national, provincial and municipal). In 1994 the country held its first democratic elections, ending almost fifty years of legalised racial discrimination and ushering in the African National Congress (ANC) government led by Nelson Mandela. […]

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