A random day in the life of a Jozi girl in NYC June 19, 2009

This is how terribly exciting my life in New York City is … **

** this post mostly for the fam, who are probably the only people interested in my daily activities!!

First, I wake up and stream the Alex Lester show online (*sings*BBC RA-D-IOOOO TWWWWOOO). Lester’s show is my favorite thing to listen to in the morning, next to NPR’s Morning Edition.

I also have this thing about making my bed, I HAVE to make my bed before I go and shower, I just can’t.EXIST.with an unmade bed. Seriously.

This is the messiest my desk will ever get...!

What the world thinks of South African men June 18, 2009

In between tales of Confederate Cup games and rugby team excursions, World Cup preparations and political escapades, this story has reverberated through media in the U.S and the U.K.:

MRC: Quarter of men in South Africa admit rape

“One in four men in South Africa have admitted to rape and many confess to attacking more than one victim, according to a study that exposes the country’s endemic culture of sexual violence.

Three out of four rapists first attacked while still in their teens, the study found. One in 20 men said they had raped a woman or girl in the last year.”

I find it deeply frustrating that my home – a country I love so much – is becoming renown for its violence against women.

My opinion on this story, and a list of international coverage after the jump …

Change is ridiculous June 15, 2009

One day when I’m rich enough, I’ll live like this …

Why do I suddenly feel like I went to sleep at 18, and woke up seven years later an adult, my mind occupied by savings and debt and career moves and job opportunities?

Part of me longs for the days when my biggest distraction was music and a self-absorbed outlook on life!!

Wait, with those criteria, not much has changed!

So I thought I’d change the blog slightly. I find myself in an odd period of transition right now. I graduated in May – something that I didn’t have time to blog about (terrible really) and have started interning at Time Out New York and am continuing my internship at the BBC. Today marks my first real day of hunting for a post-internship job (and here I am, updating my Twitter feed and blogging, it’s going GREAT!)

Difficult times in the U.S. of A April 30, 2009

To briefly paraphrase / plagiarize / Internetize Jon Stewart of The Daily Show, last week it seemed like things were getting a bit better for New Yorkers … Over the weekend the weather was beautiful, Central Park was full, mentions of protests on Wall Street had simmered down and Obama had survived his first 100 days in office and was doing reasonably well, according to the Pew Research Center at least.

Describing an afternoon ‘disco blading’ through Central Park in his newly-cut ‘jean shorts’ Stewart says: “I gotta tell you, I really felt, you know what, we’re about to turn this thing around.”
[CUT TO THE SCARY PRESENTERS AT FOX]
Female presenter: “This is a FOX. NEWS. ALERT. The White House now declaring a public health emergency to deal with the threat of the SWINE FLU…” (You’ll understand the emphases if you listen to her talk)
[CUT TO ANDERSON COOPER AND HIS BEAUTIFUL SILVERY HAIR]
The Silver Fox: “Breaking news. A fast moving new strain of the flu, and at this hour, the death toll is rising.” Another correspondent asks, is this a pandemic?
[Cut to Jon Stewart, lip stuck out next to a picture of a pig with the banner: SNOUTBREAK '09.]
Jon Stewart: “MOTHERF—!! A pandemic. Seriously?! You’re adding a pandemic?”

April Fever: Yankees, the last weeks of school and obsessive compulsive volunteer disorder April 20, 2009

Gaia and I *SMILE* for the camera at Esme's birthday party!

Many many things are racing through my mind at the moment – this is a state of being I’m becoming quite used to, and every now and again when I manage to calm down and become “unmanic”, I get quite proud of myself.

One thing I’ve realized is that I have a major problem with volunteering for things. I just can’t help myself. I feel compelled to be present at every activity or task that someone asks for help with. It’s compulsive – especially when there’s free food, I just can’t resist!

The new beat is the same old street April 1, 2009

Riel Fisher (10), Sadira Crowder (10 and a half) and Quinshaun Williams (11) get to work reporting the event.

Meet Riel Fisher, Sadira Crowder and A.J. Morales. They’re street reporters and today, pen and notepad in hand, they’re serious about covering the Unemployment Olympics in Tompkins Square Park in the East Village.

Today, Fisher, Crowler and Morales are learning the importance of on-the-ground local reporting.
“How did you feel when you lost your job? What will you do with the money if you win a game? How are you going to find another job?” ask the fifth graders, noting down answers by hand.

Whether it appears in a blog or in the grey print of a paper, reporting skills remain the same. But are they citizen journalists or professionals in training? Well, only time will tell.

The J-school Career “Scare” March 30, 2009

Some videos documenting the Career Fair yesterday … which was somewhat odd.

I woke up on Saturday morning at 6am after a very rough week (handing in the Master’s Project, interview with the BBC) and not so many hours of sleep, and recorded me thoughts:

Gaia shares her thoughts before the start of the fair:

A five minute attempt to stream my consciousness March 26, 2009

In this post:

I continue my obsession with Edward Monkton, whose simple cartoons and captions continue to summarize my life in the most convenient way!

And for our magazine on digital trends, mag.net, a stream of consciouness that is meant to reflect the split in attention we have to grapple with these days.

The persistent ring of an incoming Skype call nags me awake from a quick nap at my desk. I’ve missed a call from my parents in South Africa who will no doubt phone my mobile in a few minutes to check I am alive (I barely feel it.) I stare blearily at my reflection in a compact mirror. The reddish imprint of my iPod shuffle distorts my cheek. What time zone am I in? Is it 3am, or 3pm? Why do I have Faithless stuck in my head – I swear I was listening to a podcast. Was the podcast about Faithless?

The new new new journalism? March 11, 2009

Apologies for the delay.

Look – I exist, and am alive and well (albeit extremely pale)!

The reason I haven’t updated in some time is that I’ve spent the last 6 weeks working on and updating other websites (yes, they exist!), and after several hours of doing that every day, the last thing you want to do is come home and spend another hour thinking of something clever enough to say about what you’ve been doing – which, at the end of the day, is not too interesting to most people anyway.

Hmm – what do I mean by that?

Jo’burg, unhinged January 27, 2009

I’m going to use this post to tout a new documentary on Johannesburg that I just learnt about today – “Unhinged: Surviving Jo’burg” (subtitle: “a black documentary”) which is coming out sometime this year. I loved the promo, which you can view here:

You can also visit their website and / or become a fan of their Facebook page.

I’d like to see two things on their site though: some background on the people producing the show (company, funding, organization etc etc) and a more concrete release date. The release date will help drum up hype in my opinion, and as a journalist I’m inclined to be curious about authorship.  The promo looks great although I think the text against the black background runs for a bit too long – second I wondered (somewhat irrationally) if the whole video was going to be text with dramatic sound effects! Love the aspect of spoken poetry in the narration (very well written.) It’s shot and cut incredibly well and has a nice tongue-in-cheek aspect. I’m a fan already and look forward to seeing the whole thing. The doc looks like it will explore both the good and the bad elements of Johanesburg which, as followers of this blog may know, I am a huge fan of doing.

Props to the makers, would love to learn more about you!

Thoughts, comments anyone?