Dear Miss Little Girl You’re cute and everything: and display a great amount of intellect and your sway is quite impressive, but I’m sorry to have to tell you that you are not the queen of all you survey. You particularly have no ownership over that sweet boyfriend of yours (or the women he will...
Category: Editorials
Post
The Woman Every Man Needs …
”This is a salute to the woman that every man needs, The woman who was there before everything…” The one who opened the door at 4am, again, And didn’t ask a single question, Because she knew you were not proud Of the dark path your ambitions made you walk. Before you bought mom the...
Post
This Chair Was Designed Specifically For Cigar Aficionados
Chilean architect, Rodrigo Gonzalez, together with German lawyer, Alexander Sauer, conceived the idea of creating a smoker’s armchair for El Purista. The armchair is made of molded beech and walnut wood, and offers the cigar aficionado a personal retreat to relax, smoke, and enjoy. Photography by Nina Reuter The small drawers hidden within the arms of...
Post
When Malick Sidibé’s Photographs Danced Before Me …
Surprise Party, 1964 By Malick Sidibé My interest in the politics and aesthetics of photography started from an unlikely source: Dambudzo Marechera, the enfantterrible of African literature. In his seminal text The House of Hunger, a coming of age novella set in the 60s and 70s, he writes about Solomon, a township photographer who could...
Post
How To 80/20 Your Life …
In 1906 there was an Italian economist named Vilfredo Pareto. One day Pareto noticed that every year, 20% of the pea pods in his garden produced approximately 80% of the peas. This got him thinking about economic output on a larger scale. Sure enough, he began to find that in various industries, societies and even...
Post
Black Economics …
I have often heard one of my favorite speakers, Vusi Thembekwayo, exclaim “Black people judge success by the car you drive. Fact”. While not necessarily quantifiable, that statement certainly rings true in our townships. Hands up anyone who knows someone that drives a posh car but stays in a shabby looking place. Without counting hands,...
Post
The Day I Drove A Bargain With My Ancestors …
A few days after I was hijacked in 2015, I sat in my flat, physically unhurt by the incident, not angry with the perpetrators and not stressed about losing my car but confused as to why izinyanya, my ancestors, would allow this thing to happen to their child and how something so dangerous could happen...
Post
Happiness Is A Four Letter Word: The Men
The movie “Happiness Is A Four-Letter Word” opened a few weeks ago with record breaking stats in just 10 days. By all intents and purposes, the film – a screen adaptation of the book by the same name, written by Cynthia Jele – is a chick flick; the three leads are all women, namely, Nandi...
Post
This Extravagant League Of Kenyan Grannies …
Big up to African Digital Art for putting us on to Kenya’s League of Extravagant Grannies. NYANYE, the latest editorial from Kenyan digital photographer Osborne Macharia, tells a fictional story of badass grandmas bringing straight fire to Somalia. In other words, it’s the ultimate in #SquadGoals. As Macharia explains: “This is the story of Kenya’s League of...
Post
The Speech That Won’t Go Away …
Address by Stellenbosch University Alumnus demands deep reflection – and action. As the student movement readies itself for the challenges of 2016, an address by Stellenbosch University alumnus, Lovelyn Nwadeyi at its Convocation last month, has laid down serious challenges for the university leadership and for higher education more generally. The speech by Lovelyn Nwadeyi,...