Read about my journey of discovering my role in the world, and the importance of it.
Reading like a writer: An annotated reading list
My interests and style of writing revolve primarily around literature, reading and storytelling, and so these primarily informed my reading material this semester. My experience of the country-wide student protests that shook history this semester also led to me reading around the topic of storytelling in activism and social movements.
My opinion is not better than yours
This year I have worked as the Assistant Opinion Editor of The Oppidan Press, a student newspaper at Rhodes University, and have developed my own opinions about the place of columns and opinion pieces in the journalism industry. Basically, they are dead.
Pigflesh
I loved the taste of warthog from the moment it touched my lips.
What if I wrote this 150 years ago?
This article is based on a recent trip I took to the Eastern Star Gallery in Grahamstown, an incredible museum illustrating the past of printing and publication. It was an incredible experience, and I owe a great deal of thanks to the museum’s curator, Richard Berneister, for the experience.
How different it would be if I was writing and publishing this in the 1800s.
We frame our own versions of the world
World-renowned South African photographer Jodi Bieber skips to the next photo in her presentation. It is of a public swimming pool in Orlando West, from her collection “Soweto“.
Orlando West Swimming Pool, Orlando West, 19 December 2009. PHOTO: Jodi Bieber
“You don’t see it here,” she tells the crowded room of journalism lecturers and students, “because I didn’t want to show it, but it’s a huge party.”
The story of an unnamed man who jumped out of a tree to save my life
There is nothing more boring, pointless or vexing to a child than long car drives to nowhere. Unfortunately, this activity is something my dad particularly loved, especially when we would vacation to The Wild Coast over December holidays as a family.
It was the day after Christmas in 2004, and finer beach weather could not have been asked for in the Eastern Cape coastal town of Morgan Bay. My grandparents decided to stay in the holiday house for the day, still recovering from the previous day’s lunchtime engorgement. While 10-year-old me was in my baggy swimming trunks as soon as I arose, with a boogie-board in hand and swirling thoughts in mind.
Are formal dinners outdated?
A remarkable number of Rhodes University students in residence do not attend their dining halls’ formal dinners, bringing in to question what they are for:
Inspired by an author
When I was 11 years old I took my first shot at writing a novel. I managed a solid 40 pages before abandoning my masterpiece forever more. I have always dreamed of writing a book, but have never managed to complete the task. I suppose I am too much of a perfectionist.
That is why when South African author Jacob Dlamini said to me: “If you find a perfect book, you should be suspicious”, I realised where I had gone wrong.
Transparent twists ideas of talent
When one thinks of dance, one imagines grace, beauty and discipline. Ester van der Walt’s Transparent, which showed at the Rhodes University Drama Department’s Box Theatre on the 24 and 25 July as part of the Best of Fest series, breaks all of these definitions, replacing them with comedy, self-reflection and, above all else, individual expression.
Van der Walt struggles throughout her career to emulate the artistry of those past performers she revered and studied. She references them throughout Transparent, from renowned dancers like Pina Bausch and Yvonne Rainer to contemporary performers like Yolandi Visser and Zooey Deschanel. She has always drawn inspiration from all of these and more, but her attempts to emulate their work have always seemed to fall short.
Stier of the Nation 