"The story was the bushman’s most sacred possession. These people knew what we do not; that without a story you have not got a nation, or culture, or civilisation. Without a story of your own, you haven’t got a life of your own." Laurens Van der Post
Remember the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland who is anxiously looking at his watch and worrying about his tardiness? Well I have a similar feeling running through me at the moment. I keep getting images of the white rabbit and recalling his harassed mutterings of, “I’m late.” I don’t recall other end-of-years having this same sense of foreboding termination, but I’m trying to work out why I am filled with this sensation. When Alice does fall down the rabbit hole or move through the looking glass she enters into alternative
"Expect anything worthwhile to take a long time." Debbie Millman
I came across this idea recently where someone had asked celebrities to write down their thoughts that completed the following statement: “ When I was younger, I wish I had known…” Now, I am no celebrity and perhaps no one would really care about what I wish I’d known, but something I find myself telling my children is this: “When I was younger, I wish I’d known that the things I worried about (like what job I’d get, or if I’d ever find someone to love or if I’d have healthy children) were a waste of my energy. Things will
A few people have asked me how I come up with my ideas for the The Caliverse that I write on a regular basis. I haven't ever tried to lockstep a process and I am cautious of trying to do so. To me it's like trying to distil the essence of love as if it were some sort of jus to be served up with a good rib eye. No good will come from putting process onto some things. However, I am aware of a stream of creative stimulus that is constantly available to me, which I will try to describe. I turn to that Pixar classic Finding Nemo
“Creativity is just connecting things. When people ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesise new things.” Steve Jobs
Once upon a time, when I was a little boy, there was one story I would return to time and again. Before I learned to read, it was my mother or my sister I nagged to read to me and I would even ask my nanny, Edna, to read it to me. Edna was illiterate so we used to discuss the pictures and I suppose I would tell her the story, which by then I had learned by heart. That story was The Ginger Bread Man. There was something in that story about this gingerbread boy leaping away and running from the old woman, the old man, the pig,
"There is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think.” A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh
"People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for." Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
So a couple of weeks ago, we established I have a very talented niece. Now it is time to share with you one of my children’s talentss. My daughter is in Year 12 and is busy putting together a portfolio for her Year 12 Visual Arts. Her first assignment is called Culture and Spirituality and she is playing with the paradoxes between the first world and the third world. As African migrants, we have this duality that has coloured our lives and that, as a family, we have struggled to make sense of and to be at peace with based on our