La la la la la Africa.

Shameless Self Promotion (that has nothing to do with Africa)

2006-06-15T08:44:00.000-07:00

LittleRedSquare.com
So thats the link to the web page for the play I'm in this summer. It has lots of cool information about show dates and times, set mockups, pretty colors and info about my writer and director (and I think my name may even me on there somewhere). AND its really well put together. I had no idea Sam had such mad HTML skillz. It's like we are actually semi legit or something.
Go, explore, sign up for the mailing list, decide which show you want to see, and maybe even donate?

Mozambique!!!

2006-06-15T07:45:00.000-07:00

A street in Inhabane
I just got back from a trip to Mozambique. I went with 4 of the other Americans and it was very much a last minute thing. But it was a fantastic time.
There’s not actually that much to say we did. We mostly lounged around and took long walks. But it was beautiful and chill. Just the way to end the school year.
Mozambique is very beautiful and very poor. Things have improved greatly in the 10 years since the civil war ended but the roads are, how to put this nicely? utter and complete crap. When Jennifer, Josh and I rented a car we were told we could take it into Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia, Zambia, ZIMBABWE but if we wanted to take it into Mozambique our fees would double.
“That doesn’t make any sense,” I said, “if we take the car into Zimbabwe there’s a good chance that it will be LIT ON FIRE. Why not Mozambique?”
“Because, young lady,” the man said “the roads really are that bad.”
The sidewalks in the capital also have these giant holes in them that go down for about five feet, sometimes more. And because there are no street lights (and I am a giant klutz) I was in constant fear for my life. But, I made it through alive.
The girls in Inhabane. Mama always told me to wear a hat, which is my excuse for my funny expression in this photo. Me, Tina, and Meryl.

We started out in Inhabane which is in the middle of the country. Its very rural and jungley with these beautiful palm forests.
Tina and Meryl outside of the hostel we stayed at in Inhabane.

We then went to Maputo which is the capital and where every single street is named after a communist leader. We stayed on Mao Tse Tung Ave.
A typical Maputo building.

My favorite picture of Tina

A market in Maputo, selling fresh produce, and live chickens as well as really really cheap clothes.

Tina in a beautiful fabric store that I had to be forceably removed from before I bought everything.

The way people get around in Mozambique (unless you are hideously wealthy and are tooling around in an SUV) are in Minibus taxis, or shupas (I think that’s what they were saying). They are also used in South Africa but in Jo'burg every person gets there own seat. Mozambique makes an art of packing as many people into these minibuses as physically possible. There was a point where I was sitting on Tinas lap and the mother sitting next to me handed me her infant to hold. Considering how protective westerners are of their children I was too shocked to appreciate the little bundle of cuteness in my arms.
this picture does not capture the cramptness of a shupa.

Random Fact: Theresa Heinz-Kerry, former first lady candidate, who is Mozambiquean, went to the University of the Witwatersrand (aka, my school).
Random Fact #2: The former Mozambiquan President Samora Machel’s widow, Gracia Machel is now married to Nelsen Mandela, making her the only person in the world to be the first lady of two different countries.

CHAINS

2006-06-06T08:56:00.000-07:00

Some last Chains pics.
Our cast and director Kgafela oa Magogodi (hes the one not dressed in a jumpsuit).

The girls of Chains (and Ben)

In the back : Tembisa and Ben
In front: Meryl, Me, Ntsako, Patience, Mbali

Ben and Nick and their chains.

Happy Birthday to ME!

2006-06-01T10:34:00.000-07:00

Guess who just turned 21!

I think this is incredibly beautiful

2006-05-28T16:09:00.000-07:00

Antjie Krog is an Afrikaans speaking writer who now often works in English. Her book "A change of tounge" talks about the many changes the Afrikaner comunity has had to go through since the fall of Apartheid. She deals in a lot of her writing with how one deals with the guilt that comes from being the oppressor in a way that is wonderful and moving and inspiring and heartbreaking. I highly recomend her.
In my project on Afrikaans language theatre after 94 I came across this essay on translating Nelsen Mandela's Autobiography into Afrikaans. I think it is incredibly lovely so I typed up some of it for you:

However, the biggest decision that has to be made concerns the word ‘Africa.’ Who and what is an African? Mandela uses ‘African’ quite often in his book, but in a rather haphazard way: at the beginning ‘African’ means only the Thembu, then it means the Xhosa, and theater on it refers to everybody black. She enquires about Mandela’s use of the word, and is sent the following answer by his office: he means blacks and coloreds – the Indians and the whites are from the other continents, the blacks and coloreds not.
This may be Mandela’s logical explanation, but during the Treason Trial he used ‘African’ for everyone who wasn’t white, and on Robbin Island he told one of the Afrikaner warders that he was also an African.
The most important question must therefore be answered first: should she follow Mandela’s judgment on the meaning of ‘African’, or should she interpret his use of the word in context, to say that now he means ‘black in general,’ and now he means ‘not white,’ and now he means ‘only black and not colored or Indian?” Although interpretation is part of a translators work, this would perhaps be stretching it too far. In any case, Mandela’s own emotion enlargement of the concept of ‘African’ is an important motif throughout the story itself.
Then for the second obstacle. If she does retain Mandela’s use of the word ‘African’ as it occurs, what shape should the word take in Afrikaans?
…
“Maybe it is time that Afrikaans eyes and ears become used to the word “Afrikaan” in all its grammatical forms, instead of it always seeming , strange, like an imported construct.”
Of course, the word “Afrikaan” is used in Afrikaans but as an adjective it causes real problems. A man from America is an ‘Amerikaanses man’ or and ‘Amerikaner’. A man from Africa ought to be and ‘Afrikaanse man’ or and ‘Afrikaner’, but white Afrikaan speakers awarded themselves these titles centuries ago. As a result, Mandela cannot now be the Afrikaans equivalent of an ‘Afrikaansche man’ or ‘afrikanische Mann’ which onw would find in the Dutch and German translations – unless a serious broadening of the term is in the cards [See appendix 3]! The alternative is to use ‘Afrikaan man’ and ‘Afrikan’, but because this sounds so incorrect grammatically, most speakers simply use the word ‘Afrika’ as in ‘Afrika man’ or ‘man van Afrika’, which in turn leads to further confusion of meaning. ‘Afrikaan nasionalisme’ and ‘Afrika nasionalisme’ are surely two different concepts. If she uses this ‘new’ word, then Fort Hare will be an ‘Afrikaan’ university but Stellenbosch an ‘Afrika’ university.
Writers like Frantz Fanon and Es’kia Mphahlele have insisted that it is important after liberation to rethink society and rename it imaginatively. So as to ensure that old concepts and ideologies do not continue in the guise of the new. SO for her it is very moving to see how the word ‘Afrikaan’ for the first time finds its balance in a paragraph and rigs its sails to the winds of change: ‘’n Afrikaan kind word gebore in ‘n Afrikaan hospital, huis tow geneem in ‘n Afrikaan bus, leef in ‘n Afrikaan woonbuurt en woon ‘n Afrikaan skool by…” [An African child will be born in an Afican hospital, will go home in an African bus, will grow up in an African township and attend an African school.]

We were reviewed!

2006-05-24T02:15:00.000-07:00

And its a possitive review!
The Friday Star

Coming soon to a Theatre in the basement of the Wits Art School

2006-05-21T02:46:00.000-07:00

Chains directed by Kgafela oa Magogodi is the culmination of four months of poetry in perfomance class. Its a strange theatre/poetry hybrid, in which poems and scenes written by us are tied together in a loose narative structure. The narative structure mostly involves us playing with the set which is SO COOL.

Thats right, we have a truck onstage (excuse me, a "baakie"). And we rigged it with weels so we can push it around. We make music with the oil drums, turn the tires into a bus, and dismanttle various pieces of junk. Its very strange and fun.

Trying to make sense of Zuma

2006-05-13T08:57:00.000-07:00

So yeah. According to Judge Wilhem van der Merwe (quite the name, hey?) Jacob Zuma is not a rapist. Good. I’m glad. It’s kind of a disturbing realization when you find out that you wanted someone to be convicted. Why would I wish either a rape or jail on anyone?
And I realize that the reason why I wanted him to be convicted so badly is because I wanted a symbol, some sort of blow to all the men who rape women. Something to say that no matter how powerful you are, you can not get away with rape. And the problem with this case is it became about symbols for everyone. But Zuma is just a man and his accuser is just a woman and it is not fair to anybody. Much like what is going on in the Duke lacrosse case. Its so easy to forget that these are just people. That the boys are not all evil white boys (and I have definitely read editorials about how evil all lacrosse players are) and the woman is not all underprivileged black women.
And the thing about Zuma is that it became so tied up in women’s rights, and culture and ethnicity, and power struggles within the ANC. Zuma is a Zulu and the ANC is mostly Xhosa. There were some people who said that President Thabo Mbeki was forcing Zuma out because he’s a racist. Then there were people who said that it was a conspiracy by the Zulu Inkatha Freedom party to punish Zuma and to keep Zulus from defecting to the ANC.
Honestly, the ANC does not seem that well organized. From everything I’ve read it seems like a miscommunication. Which is a weird sort of limbo area between rape and not rape. Not that I have any idea what I'm talking about. No one knows what happened except Zuma and his accuser and even then memory is so fragile…
It really goes to show that a law court is no way to find out the (capital T) Truth.
(if I knew as much as my friend Jennifer I would start talking about post modern philosophy and how there is no such thing as one capital T Truth anymore and all we have now are our own little t truths. But I don’t know that much. But the idea of TRUTH v. truth is something I would love to explore in a play someday. Stay tuned.)
Redardless Zuma is a big efing idiot who should stay far away from public office.
1. The man had unprotected sex with an HIV positive woman.
2. he then showered to reduce his chance of getting the disease.
a. granted, the chance a man has of getting HIV this way is something like 1 in 100.
b. But that’s still like playing Russian roulette.
3. He said that wearing a sarong means that a woman is asking for sex.
And he said these stupid stupid things in a country with an incredibly high HIV rate and a HUGE rape problem. We were talking in class the other day about how pretty much every play written in the past 5 years deals with rape and someone asked why it was so prevalent as a theme and the only answer was “well, because, its incredibly prevalent in the country.”
And anyway, the real reason Zuma was forced out of government was due to corruption charges that he will face in July.
So yeah, moral of the story is that I have no clue. But I do know that going to the protest on Monday morning and then spending 4 hours glued to the TV waiting for the judgment to be passed down was one of the most emotionally draining days of my life.

Jacob Zuma Trial Protests

2006-05-08T08:47:00.000-07:00

So on Monday Former Deputy Presedent Jacob Zuma was aquitted of rape charges. At some point I will go into what made this such a crazy period in SA history but not right now. Anyway. Jennifer and I went to go look at some of the demonstrations outside the high court.

In this photo you can see the protest, which is swarmed by photojournalists. The people standing on the balcony in the upper right are all journalists. The pretty building in the background is the high court itself. The woman on the bottom right is wearing ANC colored beads.

Photojournalists peer down from above. I've never experenced an event of international import before in my life. And let me tell you, the journalists are really good at hiding themselves in the pictures and video we see in our living rooms. Litterally the place was swarming. They were right in the middle of toyi-toyi (protest dance) circles. They were in the faces of people shouting. Jennifer and I got our pictures taken at least twice.

Again I tried to get a picture of a camera man. In the middle of this photo someone is holding aloft a cross that says "why are you crucifying Jacob Zuma?"

More Toyi-toyi.

There were maybe 20 people protesting against Zuma, and in support of stronger Rape laws. After the verdict was read the Zuma supporters broke through this fence and these women scattered. As far as I know no one was hurt. But still.

A Zuma supporter holds a sign that says "no woman presedent". Thabo Mbeki has said that his successor will be a woman. The woman who replaced Zuma after he was forced to step down is expected to be that woman. I dont know why this was even an issue. But it was.

A Zuma supporter wears a shirt with his picture along with many other heros of the struggle.

Jennifer and I retreated to a coffee shop accross from the high court to watch the procedings on TV. The place was packed with ANC activists and journalists. And then us.

People outside peered in the widows to watch the TV.

Two photo journalists take pictures of the crowd around the TV. My picture may show up on the AP wire.

The police were preping for a riot when we left. Notice the razor wire.

It took another 4 hours after we returned to campus for the descision to finaly be read. Not guilty.

Oh Newsweek.

2006-05-06T10:52:00.000-07:00

Newsweek artical on Jacob Zuma
The above is a decent article summarizing the Jacob Zuma case that has been going on since I got here. As soon as the decision comes down I will write up something. Ive been putting off blogging about it because it is SO bizarre and confusing and gets more so by the day. But Newsweek gives a decent summery.

Not related to Africa at all.

2006-05-06T10:20:00.000-07:00

To everyone who knows and loves me: the play that I am in this summer got accepted to the NYC fringe festival which is so amazingly cool. This means that you have three opportunities to see me act this summer if you so choose. Kansas City at the end of July, Minneapolis at the beginning of August and New York City in mid August.
The details are as follows:
Higher Power
Written by: Sam Ryan
Directed by: Chris Plante
Staring:
Abe – Colin Hunt
Seth – Chris Littler
Holly – Me
Everyone should come see it if humanly feasible. I wouldn’t have agreed to be in it if I didn’t think it was utterly and completely amazingly well written.

Horror Cafe

2006-05-02T15:14:00.000-07:00

So we've been going to open mic night at the Horror cafe since we got here. But so far only Nick has had the guts to go up and perform. Of course, Nick is amazing, and everyone loves him. Well. I finally gots some guts and decided to try it myself.

I didnt actually need the book, because I had it memorized, but I needed a net.

Look at that passion.

Anyway, now I'm hooked and can't wait for next teusday.

Language politics.

2006-04-30T13:05:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I’ve been sort of terrible about posting this past month. I apologize. Things suddenly got very busy.
Rehearsals start for my Poetry in Performance show this week. It should be an interesting show at least, and the design looks pretty. Part of our directors style is to keep rearranging things until the last minute so I have been warned that nothing will be even remotely complete until the day before.
But in preparation I am going to an open mic night in newtown this week to perform. I will update you on how that goes.
I’m also working on this giant research project on language in South African theater. So far my conclusion: it’s a mess. When you have 11 national languages what language do you perform in? the linga franca? That would be English but only 8% of the population speaks English as a mother tongue. So is that a form of colonization? And if you put a play in Tswana on stage how do you make it accessible to a wider audience? Or do you accept that only Tswana speaking people will come? And if you decide to supertitle what language should the supertitles be in? English? But if you supertitle in English that declares that you are an English language institution where right now everything is just sort of undeclared. And so people are just sort of dodging the question even though it really is the next big debate not only in theater but in South African institutions of all types. Law courts happen in either English or Afrikaans. Only 5 of the 21 universitys are bilingual and then its English Afrikaans. Only one university, the university of Stellenbosch is all Afrikaans and attempts are being made to teach more classes in English.
And so should South Africa accept that 11 national languages mean one? If not, it means that they need to work much hard to push the other 10, including Afrikaans (more people speak Afrikaans as a mother language than English).
So what I am trying to say is: I am attempting to tack something that is a MA or PhD project in a month and a half.
That is my excuse.

Oppikoppi

2006-04-22T09:28:00.000-07:00

So over easter weekend, Jennifer, Josh and I rented a car and drove into the bush to go to an Afrikaans music festival. Yes I drove on the wrong side of the road, and didnt die. It was awesome.

The festival itself was on a ranch called Oppikoppi ranch. After we saw Zebras we began to suspect that it might be a game farm. The music itself was very nice and chilled and folky.

Here is Josh driving on the wrong side of the road.

If you blow up this picture you see that the sign says "High Fatality Zone." We couldnt figure out what made it a high fatality zone. I wanted to get a picture of one of the signs that said "Hijack zone." but josh wouldnt slow down the car for some strange reason.

Our little car. I think this should be in ad.

Josh and me exploring the ranch.

Jennifer cooking and enjoying her morning coffee.

My arm, jennifers legs, as we look out of our tent at the sunset. Heaven.

LINKS!!!

2006-04-22T09:19:00.000-07:00

This is a really moving story about a woman living with AIDS that is worth a listen.

mmhmmm

2006-04-17T09:57:00.000-07:00

This picture says it all.
I will write a more extensive post about my adventures at an Afrikaans music festival in the bush later. But right now I need to catch up on school work.
siiiiiiigh.

Video of my friend Eric singing.

2006-04-03T10:14:00.000-07:00

Sunday night we went to go see my friend Eric sing a song he wrote at his church and Brandy brought along her video camera. And then she posted it on YouTube. Oh the wonders of the internet will never cease.
The sound quality isnt that great but if your interested its a pretty cool song. Also I make a cameo in a pan of the audience. Hint: look for the row of white people. I'm 2nd from the end.

Cape town is the first thing you see in any guide book. For good reason.

2006-03-27T08:40:00.000-08:00

Wow. There is so much to say about Cape Town that I really don’t know where to start.
1) Cape Town is so much more beautiful than Jo’burg. Part of this is the fact that Cape Town has existed for 400 years where Jo'burg is barely more than 100 years old. It has all this beautiful Victorian architecture. Plus it has the Ocean and the GIANT mountain. It could possible win the prettiest city award.
2) Because it is a prettier city there are more tourists and there is a much greater tourist infrastructure for better or worse. It made me realize that I am lucky to experience Jo'burg the way I am, because otherwise it is actually quite difficult to get a feel for it.
3) Went to Robbin Island which is HUGE. The island itself, not the prison. Did you know that people live there? Yeah, they have a school, even. BIZARE. The prison itself was creepy as all prisons are and our guide was a former prisoner. Really powerfully weird to touch the bars of a cell and know that Nelsen Mandela touched those bars. Even more so than being in his house.
4) Climbed Table Mountain which was intense. I hope the pictures capture how huge that thing is. I also did it in Converses. Which amused me.
5) Saw the Cape Town penguins which are actually the Simons Town penguins. Like the geek I am, I got insanely excited.
6) Saw the southern most point of Africa where the Atlantic and the Indian oceans meet. Honestly underwhelmed. But then I saw Baboons in the parking lot and that was exciting.
7) Saw San rock painting. Which was cool. And then our guide said “this is estimated to be anywhere from 2000-8000 years old,” and my jaw just dropped. Sometimes I forget just how long human history is. And how little we know about it. I mean most history classes start about 500 years ago. Or maybe they go back to Rome and the Greeks. But humans have been around for SO LONG. And we have been making art for SO LONG.
8) We toured three of the townships which was really weird. When we went into Soweto in Jo’burg we were driven in cars by South Africans and it felt casual and not like a big deal, but here we were all crammed into a tour bus. It was a small tour bus, but still. Even though we saw more of three townships of Langa, Guguletu and Khayelitsha than we saw of Soweto, it felt very weird and disconnected. But much like Soweto I was struck how there are middleclass areas along side the shacks. All we ever hear about is DIRE POVERTY which is mostly true. But its also more complex than that.
9) At one point we all got food poisoning. Which was awful until it became hilarious. We were all on the bus trading pepto bismal and other medicines and we suddenly stopped being miserable and just started laughing.
10) Saw a really traumatizing horror movie in which something called Pinky-Pinky was killing girls in an all girls school in Pietermaritzburg. Really did not know what we were getting into. But we also learned that Pinky-Pinky is the South African version of the Boogy Man so I guess we got something out of it.
11) Bought a purse. The woman said 120 Rand. I was like “can you do 100 Rand?” And she just started laughing at me and said “of course.” I realize I could have gotten her down to 80 at least if I had just tried a little harder. Bother.
12) Disclaimer: PLEASE DON’T FREAK OUT. Cape Town is said to be a much safer city that Jo'burg. But in Jo'burg the only crime the Americans have experienced is the pick pocketing of a cell phone. In Cape Town three people got mugged each in individual incidents. Don’t worry no one was hurt and the only thing that was lost were some cellphones and some cash. The interesting thing was all three were boys. But all three were walking alone, which I guess they feel confident doing because they are boys. You will be happy to know that the girls always walk around in pairs.

Rock Art.

2006-03-27T08:28:00.000-08:00

Can we just appriciate the detail? That has lasted for at least 2000 years?

My arts and culture lecturer examines the art.

Yes I got to art school. With art school kids. You gotta problem with that?

The Simonstown penguins.

2006-03-27T08:20:00.000-08:00

Cape Point

2006-03-27T07:55:00.000-08:00

Okay. We were warned.

Look everybody its the Southern most point of Africa. LOOK LOOK!!! Thats where the oceans meet! LOOK!

Babboons run amuck.

Hiking Table Mt.

2006-03-27T07:31:00.000-08:00

So there were massive forest fires on Table Mt about two months ago. As you can see, some things managed to survive but it looked pretty stark.

This is Jenifer about halfway up. I want you all to appriciate how high up that is. And steep. Thank you very much.

When we finally made it to the top it was more than worth it.

Mom always used to lecture me about having proper hiking attire. Which obviously I didnt.

This is the veiw looking down at cape town from the top of Table Mt. You can see lions head peak and then beyond it, Robbin Island.

We only brought the nessesitys. Like water. And stuffed animals.

We are observed by a rock Dassie. Rock dassies jump incredibly fast as this one did heading right for me, just after this picture was taken. They are actually more closely related to elephants than rodents. And did I say they jump? At you?

Brandy befriends a Dassie. I am hiding behind Jennifer to take this picture. I dont know why they were so creepy. Really they are just hoppy guinnie pigs.

Chinatown.

2006-03-16T03:48:00.000-08:00

Today I went with my Japanese friend Ayaka and Jennifer to Chinatown to go shopping and for lunch. Chinatown is essentially two blocks but it has everything my heart desires. Namely cheap rice noodles and Chinese food. YUM.
It was a nice lovely afternoon but there were two very strange and uniquely South African things we observed.
The first was that the shop owners had pooled their money together to hire a security firm to watch over the street. There were two armed guards, one in a watch tower, one wandering around, in bright orange shirts that read “Bad Boyz security” (I kid you not.) Not only that, but they had one machine gun that they passed between them. Since guns are illegal in Japan Ayaka was rather shocked.
The second was the arrival of Immigration while we were having lunch. At first I thought, ‘oh, random sweep,’ but then the restaurant owner told us that they come by once a week to get money from the shops. Jennifer and I were shocked but Ayaka shrugged her shoulders. She told us about how she had been pulled over once when driving and even though she is an exchange student and all her papers are in order, she had to pay off the police officer before he would let her go. Of course, the Immigration officers just ignored me and Jennifer.

Ramblings on the nature of humanity! FUN!

2006-03-13T09:56:00.000-08:00

Had a vaguely epic argument with someone I just met yesterday. (hurray oxymorons). Essentially I argued about South African history and policy with a… wait for it… south African. Which is a first. And I'm kinda proud of myself for holding my own. But the guy was also kinda psycho and while not the brightest crayon in the box he was armed with statistics about places I had never heard of. AND he didn’t argue fair, he kept changing the subject every five minutes. And did I say he was kinda psycho?
It was when he said that Saudi Arabia has a low crime rate because they chop off peoples hands that I realized this. Though I should perhaps have picked up on it when he said that if someone commits a crime they should forfeit their humanity. Seriously. “if someone commits a crime, they are no longer human and should be denied all human rights.”
It took me another half hour at least of arguing our way through the UN, Iraq, US foreign policy before we finally came back to crime which is what we were really talking about in the first place. How do you solve South Africa’s crime problem?
And again this guy said “we should have a strict death penalty.” *
Finally he revealed that the reason he felt this way was because he had been violently mugged at gun point.
Oh.
I am often frustrated by the racism of white south Africans which they claim isn’t racism at all, which is the most frustrating part. “people in the townships are lazy” for example. So many people tout the story of how someone they know knew someone who offered a beggar a job and he said ‘no, I’m doing perfectly well on the streets. I drive a car, etc.’ It’s a sort of urban legend with out the gore.
But the catch is: there ARE people like that. And so many white South Africans have been robbed that their fear and frustration is at least understandable.
And I don’t know the answer. Sometimes I wonder if I am just innocent and naive and that we should cut off the hands of people who steal.
Its so easy to be horrified by the story of a man who shot a 16 year old hoodlum on the New York Subway in the 80s when I live in the New York of the 00’s. When that crime happened the man was held up as a hero, but looking back now people are disgusted. And I guess the true test of your humanity is not how you behave in a peaceful stable society, but how you would behave in Nazi Germany. Or apartheid South Africa.
What is humanity anyway?
And once again I end by saying I know nothing. Which becomes more apparent every day.
Also: I would love it if people commented. I have no idea who is reading this and it feels very much like I am writing into a void. Just a “hey, its ___.” Would be cool. Though I would also love peoples thoughts and reactions too. Do I sound like a pompous asshole? Do my thoughts have ANY relevancy/legitimacy? Do you think I am completely off the wall? Its totally easy. Just click the little thing that says 0 comments.

*note: I don’t support the death penalty in America more on logistic grounds than anything else. Due to the complicated appeals process a death row inmate receives it actually is more expensive to execute someone than to jail them for life. (seriously.) Also, too many people have been exonerated for my comfort. If we haven’t killed an innocent person yet, it feels like we will soon. And I also don’t understand why state sanctioned murder is okay, if other murder is not okay, though I do understand how victims families would want this. I do NOT believe people who support the death penalty are morally bankrupt. I think that there are reasonable people on both sides. But I do not think killing ever Tsotsi they get their hands on will solve anything for South Africa at all.

On walking, and other things.

2006-03-08T22:36:00.000-08:00

(note: this is mostly for my parents, but enough other people got worried too, that I thought I would post this)
I realize that I have said some things here that have been misinterpreted. I guess that is the very nature of working without an editor. Perhaps even scarier that working without that infamous net.
First. I am not stupid. And I have a perfectly reactive gut that tells me when things are iffy. Now due to the social engineering of our country that gut is frankly more reactive to black people than white. I'm a racist. So is everyone. And as evidenced by Crash’s win at the academy awards, other people are beginning to grasp this.
But that is totally a digression. What I am trying to say is that I don’t do anything stupid. I realize that I made it sound that way, more out of poetic license than anything else. Yes I am often the only white person on the street. But not-white does not mean dangerous. Yes this country has problems. But so does New York. So does Missoula, MT. And the longer I am here the more I realize that these problems have been blown completely out of proportion by western media.
And unlike the US which has been in the same state in regards to poverty and race problems for the past 20-30 years, South Africa is getting better. At a shocking rate.
But the media doesn’t pay attention to Africa. God, I realize that has been said so many times but its so SO true.
For example.
CNN.com doesn’t even have an Africa section like Europe and Asia get (yes they also do this to the Americas, and the Middle East but that doesn’t make it okay). When you finally get to the Africa subsection the headlines are thus:
U.N. troops kill Congo rebels
U.N.: Million more Kenyans need food
Zuma raped me, woman tells court
Militants threaten new attacks on oil industry
Okay, yes, these are important major issues, but two out of four are headlines based on something a NEW YORK based organization said. Africa is so much more vibrant than AIDS and starvation and war.
Compare to the headlines taken from the South African Broad Casting website’s Africa section.
Kenya must stop media terrorism: editors
DRC commandos withdrawn after mutiny
Six Nigerian hostages freed
Nigeria suspects illegal imports brought bird flu
Libya names new prime minister, head of oil sector
Yes, they are still depressing. Yes it’s a troubled continent. But there is so much more than what CNN has to say.
And yes I am saying this from the richest country at the very bottom of Africa. And probably 75% of what I say about this country is wrong. Because the longer I am here the more I realize that I know nothing.
But what I have been trying to say this whole time is that the only way I could be 100% safe is if I never left wits campus. No that’s a lie, the only way I could be 100% safe is if I never left my basement room in Missoula, but there I would probably die of carbon monoxide poisoning.
I refuse to accept that.
There are white South Africans here that never go into Newtown which is where we go to perform poetry (I don’t perform but that’s another story about me being a wimp). Newtown has the best theater in Jo’burg. Its an awesome neighborhood, comparable to the east village in Manhattan. I walked there today with Jennifer and we had a grand (and safe) time at a lovely little cafe. But there are people who don’t go. They have never gone into Soweto. 90% of their country remains a mystery to them and I don’t understand why they think that’s okay.
I guess the best way to say it is: walking down a street here is as dangerous as walking down a street in New York. Yes, there are risks, but there are always risks. But if you keep your head about you, you will be okay. And every time you walk, you get better at looking for the risks, and knowing what to be wary of.
I'm sorry for the people I made nervous. But please don’t worry. I have a good head on my shoulders. And I love you all too much to be stupid.

Amandla! Tsotsi!

2006-03-06T07:21:00.000-08:00

Remember when I told y’all to see Tsotsi because its really beautiful and cool and takes place in Jo’burg?
Well now you REALLY need to see it.
Last night South Africa won its first academy award. Technically for me it was this morning. In fact some people even saw the academy awards as they were getting ready for school.
But anyway. What’s really cool about it is how happy and excited everyone is. Everyone is just as proud as if they knew the people involved. I even heard someone say “we did it man!”
Which is strange because in some times it feels like South Africans have no national pride. It is shockingly difficult to find books written by J.M. Cotzee who won a noble prize.
But people are happy. It made the front page of the newspaper.
Also Dave Matthews = is South African but denies it = not beloved south African
Charlize Theron = Girl from Benoni = beloved South African, especially since she gave a shout out when she won the award.
Gavin Hood = director of Tsotsi = says things like “Nkosi sikelel 'iAfrika!" = most beloved South African yet.

Random stuff

2006-03-04T07:55:00.000-08:00

Its been a lovely few weeks. I’ve fallen into a routine which is nice. I plan to ignore the fact that I have been here for five weeks as of today and that time is going waaaay to fast. I’m enjoying things.
A few things of note:
1) I saw a dance gala thing last night in which four short pieces were done. The first was a very funny but a bit too ironic piece about Zimbabwe that had a live chicken onstage. The second was possibly the most gorgeous man I have ever seen in my life pretending to be a bird (and really capturing it) and the fourth was two men doing physically impossible lifts and throws.
But the third one was my favorite.
When the piece first starts this Indian woman dances onstage dancing a traditional Indian temple dance. But then she suddenly joined by a tall African man dancing a Zulu dance. Then another Indian woman and another African man join until the stage is full of African Men and Indian Women. The choreographer blended and mixed the two traditions until you couldn’t tell them apart. It’s almost impossible to describe. But it was breath taking.
2) went with a friend to vote. He voted. I just hung around and marveled at how voting in the new south Africa is just as boring as voting in the old usa. BUT because this country takes voting seriously, it was a public holiday so I had the day off school. These weren’t even national elections either, just municipal. ANC won 90% of the vote in Jo’burg.
Also they mark peoples fingers with permanent ink. And the ballots have pictures.
3) Fall break is a week away. I still don’t know where I am going. 5 months is not enough time, I am quickly discovering.

Durban

2006-02-22T13:50:00.000-08:00

Sunrise over the indian ocean.

We arrived in Durban at dawn. And imediatly ran into the indian ocean.

My girls on the beach.

We didnt actually do that much except sit around and bask in the sun.

But it was a grand ol time.

My Address

2006-02-22T13:47:00.000-08:00

Send letters to:

LGS
FD5
International House
P.O. Wits 2050
Wits University
Johannesburg, South Africa

I would love postcards, if nothing else. My walls are rather stark at the moment.

oh racism...

2006-02-16T16:27:00.000-08:00

I read a thing yesterday, aimed at African writers about how they should try to break free from “antiseptic English.” It was aimed to help African writers write in their own languages or at least use them in their texts.
But it was very odd/painful for me to read. Because I love English. I think it is a beautiful, tricky, difficult and sneaky language. I love it.
But it is also a language of oppression and of cruelty, not just in South Africa but in America too. Look at how the Blackfeet language is expected to die within our lifetime. Plus the fact that English is attempting to become the world’s language just goes to show that that chauvinism isn’t dead, much as we would like to think so. But then, we’re all monolingists in America. And the native English speakers here are monolingists as well, while people whos native tongue is Zulu will often also speak Xhosa and Sotho and Afrikaans plus a street language known as Tsotsitaal. It’s the language of Shakespeare. But its also the language of Andrew Jackson.
While I can look South African, the second I open my mouth the cat is out of the bag. My accent, which is so apparent (and to many people ugly), marks me off as a foreigner, a rich person, and/or a potential target for mugging. And while in Europe I was proud of my voice, I would drop it here if I could. But there is NO way I could fake a south African accent.
I like to walk down streets that no white person walks down. Its possibly not a good idea but I do it anyway. When we say so one walks in Jo’burg, everyone drives, we are, of course, referring to whites. The blacks got the Parliament but the whites still have the economy. 90% is in still in white hands.
And now there is a growing sentiment that Zimbabwe had the right idea. It’s small, but it’s there. And white people who were part of the struggle are feeling betrayed by the ANC.
The fact that I feel that I am an oppressor here more than when I am in America just goes to show how incredibly marginalized anyone not-white is in our society. Because we are the oppressors there as well. We just like to pretend, even to this day, that the land was empty when we “found” it.

Nothing special.

2006-02-15T11:14:00.000-08:00

Here is a link to one of the other NYU kids blog. He seems to have no issues taking the pictures I don’t want to take. So enjoy.

The following are snippets of a conversation I had with an Egyptian man who lives in International house.

Egyptian: You ever been to Egypt.
Me: no. I would love to go some day.
Egyptian: it is a wonderful country. You should go when you are 25 and married.
Me: ummm.

Egyptian: because you are very pretty you should not go out at night.
Me: I know.
Egyptian: you should not go out at night ever!
Me: ummm, too late.

Where I live and the people I live with.

2006-02-13T08:49:00.000-08:00

So yeah. This is the security wall around Wits. I think its symbolic of the new South Africa. (this is what art school does to you)

This is looking East over the top of international house from the Matrix which is the student center, with Jo'burg in the back ground.

The roof of International House with a beer bottle lying on it.

International house.

Le Americans.

In back: Alex
2nd Row (from left): Me, Eric, Adam (whos from Bozman), Wil, Ben, and Nick (whos brittish but sounds american.
Front row: My girls aka Brandy and Jennifer, Tina, Meryl, Leah, and Andy.

Me and Ledah on the plane to Minn.

2006-02-13T08:46:00.000-08:00

Grain of salt.

2006-02-13T04:01:00.000-08:00

Still no internet. I’ve gotten past the frustration part. Now I'm just want it to come.
ANYWAY. So classes are now in full swing. I dropped Zulu and replaced it with South African Theater so the list comes to: Poetry in Performance, Creative Writing, Art and Culture in Post-Apartheid South Africa, and South African Theater History. Which is a really arty list. But then I am in art school after all. All the classes seem really awesome. Creative Writing is just fun. South African Theater History is actually taught by Greg our program coordinator which means I need to do well and get all the reading done because he has the power to evict me. Also he’s cool and I want him to keep liking the Americans. It's examining what happens when the western/ Aristotelian model of theater collides with indigenous models and what that means for the importance of plot versus spectacle and the relationship between performer and audience. Plus a bunch of other stuff. Its really cool, and re-inspiring my love of theater. Which quite honestly was sort of killed last semester.
Arts and Culture seems like its going to be a nice supplement to Theater history. Its the one class that all the Americans take together and is only for us. Hopefully it will be a place for us to ask stupid questions we would be embarrassed to ask anywhere else. I, however, have to give a presentation on South African History next week. This is what I get for admitting I took that class. Crap.
Poetry in Performance is my most challenging class. Even though I have to read about 8 novels for Art and Culture I am scared of Poetry in Performance. But I knew it would be hard. And it is the reason why I came. I am having a really difficult time getting myself to write in the style that is required. I write the way people talk and that’s not the way spoken word poetry works. At all. But it will be good, and even if I end up falling flat on my face I'm really glad I'm trying.
….
Saturday we went touristing around Jo’burg or Jozi as its sometimes called (this town has more names than it needs). We went to the Apartheid Museum. Which is right across from an Amusement park. And is funded by a Casino. I feel that this fully sums up South Africa. It’s a crazy country.
Apartheid Museum was exactly what you would expect. Heartbreaking and yet also inspiring. What was bizarre was our attempts to get there. The person driving was… well… not smart. We literally drove past this giant building that has these huge pillars coming out of it that says things like “liberty” and “freedom” and written across the side in giant letters is “Apartheid Museum.” The driver turns to us and says “I’m sorry but we’re a little bit lost.” I go “isn’t that a sign right there.” “where?” “there, that grey sign dead in front of us that says “Apartheid Museum”” “I don’t see it.” “its right in front of us.” He then drove up to the guard in front and asked “is this the apartheid museum?” “Yes” “Is this the only Apartheid museum in Jo’burg.” “Yes. All the apartheid is right there.” “really” “Apartheid is in there.” It was… absurd.
When you enter the museum you are arbitrarily assigned a card that says either “white” or “non-white” and then go through the first part of the museum segregated. Simple. Yet effective.
Aside from that I don’t know what else to say. Human beings suck. Yet they also are capable of amazing things. I’m so deep, I know.
…
I think the most remarkable thing about South Africa is how hopeful people are and how there seem to be very few cynics. Or maybe people are keeping quiet. I have this habit of saying something here and then immediately being proven wrong. Like “I haven’t heard any sirens since we got here,” and immediately being bombarded with sirens. Or “I haven’t seen any graffiti” and then seeing loads. Or “I seem to be the only person with a nose piercing.”
But people do seem remarkably optimistic about the future. I mean, so much has changed in 12 years it is really inspiring.
I asked Russell about it and he seemed almost confused. He was like “yeah, some people are stuck in the past.” And I was like “no, I mean, are there people who think there hasn’t been enough change or they thought it would be better 12 years after democracy.”
Russell: “people are proud to be South African. The people who aren’t left and now live in New Zealand--“
“Or Orange County!”
“Yes. For the most part people are very proud of what amazing things this country has achieved in just 12 years. There will always be people who complain. But I think people are happy with what has happened.”
…
Something that does bother me and I cant quite get a handle on is the level of Homophobia. Sexual Orientation is protected in the Constitution and both Jo’burg and Cape Town have huge Gay scenes but that doesn’t seem to influence the rest of the country. I have yet to meet any openly gay people, and the “lets go to the gay bar hahahaha” joke seems to be incredibly popular. I haven’t figured out how to ask people about it because I honestly am not sure how people would react to that question. No one will say “yeah, I'm homophobic.” But still, its an odd feeling especially after New York. Yet another reminder that I live in a bubble.
...
Okay, so litterally 5 min after writing this I met two gay south african men. TAKE EVERYTHING I SAY WITH A GRAIN OF SALT.

And a note:

2006-02-08T11:01:00.000-08:00

So I don't actually have internet yet. But I have harnessed the power of the USB memory stick. There was some mix up at the international office so its going to be another week. So everyone who wrote me emails: I love you and thank you and as soon as I can I will write you back. Know that Im am thinking of you.
Oh and please excuse all typos. I also dont have spell check.

UPDATE!!!

2006-02-08T10:51:00.000-08:00

1/25/06
I am at JFK airport in New York ( by the time I post this I imagine I will be in SA) but I already feel like I am out of the country. The British airways/Iberia terminal is COMPLETELY unlike the Northwest terminal. Its actually tackier. But the chairs are comfier. And I am surrounded by Britts. Eh, wot?
IÂm not going to go into the whole visa debacle except to say I have it NOW and that really is all that matters. (yes there was a period when I thought I wasnÂt going to get it). But at one point, when things looked their worst, my friend David, who is Australian, sat down next to me and asked me what was wrong. I explained and he asked Âso what kind of visa are you applying for? F1?Â
ÂUm, a standard student visa.Â
ÂHa! You donÂt even know the official title?Â
ÂumÂ.Â
ÂIt could be worse you know. You could be coming to the US. When I went to get my visa I was in line behind this girl who had scheduled her appointment to turn in her papers three months ago and the woman sniffed her paper and went Âdid you get perfume on this? Did perfume spill in your bag? IÂm sorry, we canÂt take this. Come back in three months.ÂÂ
ÂumÂ.Â
ÂI know people whoÂve gotten their visaÂs rejected because they used the wrong type of pen.Â
Âoh dear.Â
ÂSo yeah, it could be worse.Â
Â
I got to the airport obscenely early, because this is the first flight I booked through a travel agency and honestly I expected something to go wrong. But everything was fine, there was no line and I literally waltzed through security.
I donÂt honestly know why I was suspicious of the travel agency but I am also suspicious of my program as well. Someone is supposed to pick me up from the air port in Johannesburg (or JoÂburg as I should get used to calling it) and I donÂt actually trust that its going to happen. Totally a hold over from me-being-only-dependent-on-myself-on-my-last-adventure. I got so used to waltzing off the plane and on to a bus and going to a hostel that I looked up etc etc etc. Even if I got to Wits on my own they wouldnÂt let me on campus until I had a Wits ID. So yeah, hereÂs hoping that they remember to pick me up.
Type A personality? The hilarious thing is that I'm not this control freaky usually. Or maybe I am and I just havenÂt noticed it.

1/26/06
Madrid? I did not appreciate Madrid. I was jet lagged and homesick and I just wanted to get back on the plane so I could finish the journey.
However, the one interesting thing that happened was at least two people started talking to me in Spanish and I would go. ÂYo no hablo espanol.Â They would look at me and then very slooooowly and loooooooudly continue to speak Spanish. Of course I still didnÂt understand them. No amount of enouciation will make you understand a language you donÂt know. But I do think it was some form of revenge against stupid Americans who do that in English. Yay!

1/27/06
I realize now that I am not going to have access to the internet for two weeks. My very first culture shock I suppose. So anyway, I'm going to try to keep this going so I have something to upload when I actually get connected.
Â
So yeah, I made it to South Africa safe and sound. All that you read above? Everything went smoothly. Except jet lag. Which never goes smoothly.
The strangest thing is probably how NOT culture shocked I am. The English South Africans actually have an accent similar to ours. Just a little more melodious. The parts of JoÂburg IÂm in look just like Europe or America. Except for the razor wire and electric fencing. But that makes it even weirder when someone talks to me in Afrikaans or when I hear a streetlight referred to as a Ârobot.Â Or when people driving after 11 just ignore red robots because that is the best way to avoid a carjacking. Or when I nearly get hit by a car driving on the wrong side of the road. (Seen Closer?)
Also culture-shocky is how well they treat us. My room is gorgeous. International House puts NYU dorms to shame. Its very rectangular but in a beautiful Frank Lloyd Wright sort of way, not in a soviet way. My room is only slightly smaller than the room in New York that I shared and it comes with pots and pans and a water boiler. And the kitchen is bigger. Fancy that.
My giant window overlooks a greenhouse that is crawling with cats. I donÂt know if they are feral or not, but they look well groomed. I have decided they will be my friends, regardless. Also there are trees with interesting birds I have never seen before. Not in a tropical-rainforest-ungodly-colors-sort-of-way. But just strange. I think I may have to get a bird book.
Everything is lush and green. Apparently that is unusual and its because of unseasonable rain, but the city is gorgeous because of it. JoÂburg is so vegetated its practically a forest. The hilarious part is that it was all empty grassy planes before settlement. (Edit 1/30: actually, JoÂburg is classified as the largest manmade forest in the world.)
Every now and again the sky will open up and pour as though it were just turned on. Its not at any particular time the way I'm told Indonesia is. But its still intense.
So far (12 hours in) there isnÂt anything I havenÂt been able to find. Twinnings tea is ungodly expensive, but I will crack and buy it because I am spoiled and its absurd to have my parents ship it to me. There is lots strange meat that I will have to taste (hello ostrich).
Tonight we went out to eat in this wonderful artists area called Melville which seems similar to bleeker street but with cooler people. I had a pasta dish that was fantastic and would have cost me $15-20 back in the states. Finally total (including drink) $8.
The strange thing about homesickness is that its always more intense than you expect/remember it to be and shorter that it feels like it will be. I literally spent all yesterday wandering around Madrid in a jetlaged stupor crying and wanting to go home. I donÂt think it helped that I spent 30 minutes staring at PicassoÂs Gurnica.
But now that IÂm here and IÂve met some of the other students and started to explore I am feeling better. IÂm still frightened about the program, about being the only person in it who isnÂt an actor, but that will get better once we start (I hope).
Â
In the mid nineties car theft was rampant (its still rampant but dropping). Poor people with out jobs and prospects discovered that if they watched peoples cars and made sure they werenÂt stolen the people would tip them. They would even help drivers into a tight parallel parking space. As the practice became widespread territorial disputes broke out. The city realized that it couldnÂt ban it and so it institutionalized it. They mandated that every public area would have parking attendants (keep in mind that these are parallel parking areas, not a garage) and gave them funny lime green vests.
Â
Quotas:
40% of the music on all South African Radio stations must be South African.

1/29/06
So 10 out of 13 people in our program have arrived. I donÂt know when the other three get here. Even though IÂve been a wee bit bored the past few days I'm glad I got here when I did. The four of us who were here the first day are tight (as tight as you can be after three days) and we feel like we have mastered the campus, Melville, taxis and the Wits bus. The new people just sort of wander around dazed.
Last night 8 of us went out partying in Melville. If one of us can pass as South Africa (I got asked for directions twice yesterday) then 8 of us STAND OUT LIKE A SOAR THUMB. But it was fun anyway.
In JoÂburg you donÂt hail a taxi, you call a service and they send someone to you. TheyÂre a bit expensive but seeing as JoÂburg has no public transportation, and the Wits bus are impractical they seem to be our only option. Until we make friends with people with cars. Then the world is ours.
Taxi drivers are primarily African though we had an afrikaaner driver today. They try to cheat us but we caught on quick and have gotten good at bartering them down. Though I do feel bad about it because when I say a taxi ride is expensive, I mean after you split it three ways it costs a buck fifty, and really thatÂs nothing. And that extra 10 or 20 rand they are trying to get out of us they probably really need. But we also donÂt want to get taken advantage of. So.. yeah, conundrum.
We caught a taxi today after going grocery shopping and we asked him to open the trunk.
ÂZe vat?Â (this was the Afrikaaner driver)
Âthe trunk the trunk.Â
ÂVat? Vat?Â
ÂThe bloody trunk.Â
ÂHuh?Â
Âoh, um, could you open the boot please.Â
ÂAh Ja, vhy didnÂt you say so.Â

1/31/06
Before I came here friend of mine who had lived in Ghana and Rwanda sat me down and gave me a bunch of advice about Africa. One of which was brings things like vitamines and pain killer because you wont nessisarilly be able to get it there.
She was sorta wrong.
Jo'burg has all these malls that look like they belong in LA. Big shiny places with American brands and Claires jewlery. They give me a headache in the same way American malls do. It's easy to forget that you are in Africa when you are looking at Aldo shoes.
I know that the reason that Greg, our coridinater keeps taking us to places like these malls is because they are safe. And you cant exactly send a bunch of Jet laged american college students wandering around Soweto on their own without expecting something bad to happen. But less than a week in I am sick of rich-Jo'burg. It's exactly the same as the reast of the developed world.

2/2/06
Wits does not belive in making life easy. Internet is impossible to get, for example. Everything is done by paper. And even though Wits has an ENORMOUS forgien student population they make them sit for FOUR BLOODY HOURS to regester with the international office. FOUR HOURS.

2/3/06
I have offically been here for a week. In theory I will have internet in another week. At the rate things are going, I really highly doubt it.
Yesterday, the cleaning lady woke me up at 8. Yes we have cleaners. Which is very nice, but I also am a big fan of the sanctity of my space ( which NYU housing has tried desperatly to kill.) And now there is this cleaning lady who has a key and and can come and go as she likes from MY space. She is very nice and introduced herself to me but it still makes me uncomfortable. Yes it is a job that needs to be created (south africa has a huge unemployement problem) but I also dont like having my privalage waved in my face.
Wait... I go to Wits. And NYU. YAY privalage.
I am sure there are these statistics somewhere but here is my guess at the demographics of Wits
50% africa.
50% Indian
50% white
25% Asian.
25% Muslim
.02% American
THOSE TOTALLY ADD UP I SWEAR!

2/6/06
So you know how I came here to take a break from play writing? I did emphasize the "play" and not the "writing" part right?
Friday I had my first class and it was amazing. It was creative writing. ( ::cough cough:: I KNOW OKAY, I JUST DONT KNOW HOW IT QUIT IT.) My teacher is in many ways the steyrotypical creative writing teacher, shes very dramatic and gives us lectures on the seriousness of play. She's also ungodly beautiful and she is one of those women who looks even more gorgious when she's pregnate (shes due in 3 months). She gave us a lecture on paying attention to the flavor of words which made me fall out of my chair. After a year and a half of being told "every single word must move the story forward," its liberating to hear that.
Saturday we went into Soweto. Soweto is essentiallly what I thought South Africa would look like. I am sure many of my rich (white) south african friends would object, but its true.
Soweto, for those of you who dont know, was a shanty town (parts of it still are). In the '50's the Johannesburg governement removed all black people from Johannesburg proper and dumped them in Soweto. It became a thriving comunity though and one street, Vilakazi street, has produced two nobel peace laureates (Mandela and Bishop Tutu). In the 1970's, students protesting the Apartheid government we fired upon by police. 200 children were killed.
We went to the Hector Peiterson museum which comemorates/honors the Soweto student uprising. Hector Pieterson was the first student killed. He was thirteen.
We all were kind of in shock afterwards. Halfway through, Russell, a south African boy who was helping to drive us around came up to me and asked "what do you think."
I just sort of gaped at him and was like "um, I, um, I dont, know, um. I cant really say." But to answer Russells question clinicly it was a remarkably well organized and effective museum.
Then we went to a sheeben which are unlicensed bars, and got lunch, though this was more a touristy place so I doubt very much its actually unlicensed. But the food was fantastic even if we didnt nesisarrly know what we were eating. I know there were intestines somewhere, but I think I avoided them.
Then we went to Nelsen Mandela's old house. Which is about the size of a two bedroom appartment in manhattan. Four people used to live there. The house has been made into a museum and our tour guide was very VERY happy to be working in Nelsen Mandela's house.
It was cool but I would have liked some time to just BE in Soweto which is interesting and thriving in a way the much richer Jo'burg suburbs are missing. While Jo'burg has abandoned it's city center, rich blacks are moving back to Soweto and trying to bring more life to the economy. There are lovely houses and then there are shacks and sometimes they sit right next to each other. Unfortunatly, due to my lack of car and my skin color, Soweto is not really a place I can explore on my own.
Sunday was South African comedy night. Oh, and trying to do grocery shopping but thanks to the Wits bus which came 45 min late my milk spoiled. Grrrrrrr.
So yeah, anyway, we went to this place called cool runnings (classy, I know) which has standup every sunday. It was just me Jennifer and Brandy and Russell who took us so we were a little less conspicious than when we travel as a herd of 13. I would say we understood about 75% with Russell there to translate. But 25% just went over our heads compleatly. Still, for only having been in the country a week I think thats a pretty goor ratio.
Here is what south africans seem to find funny (in order from least to most):
5. Poverty
4. Thabo Mbeki's voice.
3. The Poverty of Afrikaaners.
2. Crime
1. The poverty of fat Afrikaaners.
There actually werent any American Jokes but I think that's because the MC didnt discover us in the audience. He did however find both an Arab and an Israeli sitting on opposite sides of the room and went to town. Also made fun of a brittish bloak and a croatian.
Words I need to add to my vocabulary:
Cheers.
Dodgy.

2/8/06
Yesterday me and my american friend Eric decided we were going to walk across the Nelsen Mandela bridge. Cause we didnt have anything better to do. The Nelsen Mandela bridge opened maybe three years ago and was built to conect Braamfontein (which is where Wits is) to Newtown which is inner city Joburg. Its part of an attempt to revitalize the innercity which experenced a devistating flight of industry in the mid ninteys when crime was spiraling out of control. Newtown is becoming safer and more vibrant and houses the Market theater which is the Public of Joburg. But next door Hillbrow I have been told to avoid at all costs.
Anyway, we set off for the Mandela bridge but actually we headed in the compleatly wrong direction (oops) but luckly, eric's friend Neo found us and took us around. It was nice to get out of WIts. I've been feeling very clostrophobic and traped. Not that someone who looks like me should walk across the bridge alone. (As we were wandering around Newtown I was very happy I was walking with two black men.)
Again, Newtown is what I though Joburg would be like: a combo of poverty and art. We didn't spend very much time there because Neo had to get back to campus but we are going back this Saturday to go to a play at the Market theater. I will report back.
Note: I belive the South African film Tsotsi is opening in the US soon. Its beautiful and moving AND takes place in Jo'burg AND has several shots of the Nelsen Mandela bridge. All reasons you should go see it.

So here's the deal

2006-02-04T11:31:00.000-08:00

I dont have internet on my computer and probably wont for another 2 weeks. Which is why I havent updated. But I have been typing stuff and when the internet finally shows up its gonna be AH-MAZ-ING. So, it will be worth the wait.
But I have been having an awsome time and Jo'burg is beautiful and its SUMMER.
Love you all,
Larke

sublimating the medical history

2006-01-21T11:24:00.000-08:00

So… I have started to freak out. This is natural, I suppose. Considering how much I have traveled you would think I would be used to it. But no. Mostly I’m displacing my anxiety on last minute forms that need filling out (that sentence originally read “Mostly, I’m sublimating my anxiety…” until my father informed me that it was wrong wrong wrong) and being nervous that my visa hasn’t gone through yet. Not that there is any reason why my visa would have gone through at this point. But still…
When I went backpacking I freaked out about getting a back pack.
And when I went to Berlin I just withdrew from my friends for a month.
So yeah, this is all part of a long noble lineage of me-not-dealing-with-my-feelings. What else is new?
Anyway, I had to get another copy of my medical history filled out (don’t ask why) and the doctors office was being an evil wench. I got up at 8:30 so I could be there right when they opened (and if you know me, you know that’s a big deal). They said they couldn’t get to it until the afternoon. I went back at 4:00 and they said they couldn’t get to it until Monday. I tried informing them that I would be in New York on Monday, that NYU was threatening to not register me for classes until I got this form in, that if there was any any any way, they could get to it, that if they would just give me my file, I would fill it in---
“We can’t give you your file.” (Side note: why not? It’s my file isn’t it?)
“But, this is really important. I know it was my screw up but…”
:: cue tears::
“I’m sorry, is there anyone you can have come pick it up on Monday?”
I leave.
Defeated.
My mom calls me “so you got that form right?”
I explain the situation, how I'm trying not to freak out, how dad talked me down from the tree of panic.
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“Ma, its 4:55, they're about to go home. I tried everything I could do.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
Later my mom comes home, marches upstairs, and proudly gives me an envelope with my medical history.
I don’t know how she did it. But she did.
Moral of the story: never send a daughter to do a mother’s job.

welcome.

2006-01-17T12:07:00.000-08:00

So, Hi. Welcome. This is my Africa blog and should be an easy way to keep everyone up to date on all the adventures and school work I will be doing.
As of right now I am in cold cold Montana waiting for my visa to come through and for the calendar to reach January 25th. At that point I will fly from New York to Madrid, spend 12 hours in Madrid and then fly straight down to Johannesburg on the morning of January 27th. Which is ten days from now. Weirrrrrrrrrrrd.
I will be studying Poetry in Performance, Arts and Culture in Post-Apartheid South Africa, and, with luck, Zulu.
Aside from that, I honestly don’t really know what I will be doing. Fun, hopefully. And I will have a far more interesting post to make once I actually get there.

I'm sorry dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.

2006-01-15T22:33:00.000-08:00

This is not a test.