It’s an Interesting World:  3

Video of the week: Fox News was greatly offended by Sesame Street’s depiction of fictitious news organization “Pox News”, somehow implying that Fox, it well, I don’t know, is an infectious disease? Sensitive much since the Obama Administration shut-out? On Romenesko, Sesame Street responds: “The whole segment was a parody of CNN (called GNN) or the ‘Grouch News Network.’ Children who watch Sesame Street know that Oscar the Grouch is a contrarian. He lives in a trash can and loves everything ‘yucky,’ and ‘disgustin.’ For a Grouch, ‘Trashy’ is high praise! Not only would child-viewers be unlikely to connect ‘Pox News’ to Fox News, in the context of this scene, they would understand the characters to be saying that ‘Pox News’ is better than ‘GNN.’”

Personally, I’m a HUGE fan of GNN!!

Speaking of contrarians and grouchy grouches:

… what started as passionate Jozi-lovers contributing to a list of awesome places to visit in response to a Guardian article a Mail & Guardian Online, degenerated into an argument about Cape Town being a racist city, black racism, white racism and insult-slinging amongst users who clearly missed the point. Gees! We can be such a nice, polite, optimistic country sometimes!

Quotes of the week:

“To do good work you have to love the work you do: don’t settle.” – Reuters colleague.

“Nichts ist so penetrant wie die Zukunft von gestern.” (Nothing is as penetrating as the future of yesterday)

“Verbotener Satz: jeder, in dem das wort “sachzwänge” vorkommt.” (Forbidden sentence: Every [sentence] in which the word “practical constraints” appears.) – Harald Staun, media editor of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Favourite find of the week (thoughI think I’m going to be ill): http://thisiswhyyourefat.com

mmm...homemade yumminess

Speaking of food, an excursion to Central Park last week to enjoy the fall colors and last remants of warm weather was accompanied by grilled chicken-pesto mayonaise-brie sandwiches, sparkling apple cider and cranberry walnut cake. Home cooked!! Seriously guys, what’s happening to me? I thought New York City was supposed to turn me into some kind of sophisticated, sexy Carrie Bradshaw type character, not a domesticated Jackie!! But hey, I can’t help it. Because damn, that cake was good!

It’s either climate change or New York’s freakishly odd weather changes, but last time this year it was pretty cold – damn near snowing. Last Sunday we enjoyed quite a pleasant temperature of 18 degrees with blasting sun, and it was rather disturbing. Should New York turn to weather control as the Chinese have?!

Controlling much? 16 million tons of snow fell on Beijing last week – the earliest snowfall in ages, mostly due to the fact that it was caused by silver iodide being sprayed over the clouds to enduce the snowfall and ease a drought. The BBC describes ‘cloud seeding’ and Beijing’s weather modification program. Some scientists are skeptical, however, as to whether the seeding works – or if the rain / snowfall is just spontaneous. I’m very weirded about by this. Though we constantly seek ways to mess with nature and the ‘natural’ ways of the world, I’m slightly freaked out about the long-term consequences of more sophsticated weather control.

And on a very sad note, this shows you that humanity is equal everywhere. This story really gave me the grills. A  15-year-old girl is assaulted and gang raped by several people in California outside a high school homecoming dance, a crowd gathers, up to twenty people watch, and no one calls 911 or calls one of the policemen PRESENT AT THE SCHOOL to chaperone the dance.

PeJ reports that the incident earns more coverage in the blogosphere than in print. Is the mainstream media too caught up in the tragedy of its possible demise than to devote more coverage to this hideous illustration of human cruelty?

How can the world be so beautiful, and so terrible, at exactly the same time?

Central Park, Fall 2009

Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman, how do they fare?

We’ve seen some really bad attempts at South African accents over the last few years. My worst memory was Val Kilmer, pretending to be a South African artist in The Saint. Turning to his lady love in a flouncy shirt, he looks at her with great intensity and says, quite quietly: “Jussus.” That’s like Daniel Craig as James Bond turning to a hot actress and going: “O.M.G.” – it’s out of context in the worst way possible. (I might get killed for comparing Craig to Kilmer, but it’s late at night, okay?!

I am pleasantly surprised by the attempts at South African accents in the new film ‘Invictus’, which tells the story of the 1995 Rugby World Cup, hosted by South Africa as it simultaneously struggled to emerge from the deep and very dark shadows of apartheid. Many South Africans considered it to be a uniting event – helped by our win of course. Mat Damon plays blond-haired affable rugby captain Francois Pienaar. Morgan Freedman plays – you guessed it – Mandela. Damon’s accent sounds spot on to my ears, and I want to hug him for it. It makes me so happy! AND it’s directed by Clint Eastwood. I have high hopes for this flick.

Vote and feel free to comment and share your worst experience of a South African accent on the big screen!

It’s an Interesting World: 2

My dahling friend James in Oz sent me this pic of  Greenpoint Stadium in Cape Town, to which I replied: “I have no words,” to which he replied: “You have no idea how often I get that from chicks.”

A lovely picture of Greenpoint Stadium in Cape Town, submitted to Australia's ABC News by Ann Young

Another thing that left me at a loss for words recently was a moment at St. John the Divine, a massive unfinished gothic cathedral on the Upper West Side. I love going there when I can, the gardens are beautiful (especially on stunning Fall days when the sun is shining and the air is crisp) and the cathedral is volumous and awe-inspiring. I was sitting in one of the pews thinking about my view on blessings and misfortune (which I think I have gotten reasonably close to formulating), and I looked up to see … none other than Vanessa Redgrave’s face broadcast on several large screens, which I had previously not seen in the darkness of the cathedral. Redgrave, an outstanding actress and matriach of a great acting family, was on a small wooden stage a few metres away, quietly rehearsing a scene from a Joan Didion play that would be performed in the coming week.

Yes, the cathedral is big enough for someone to rehease a play – and be a mega-celebrity in – without you noticing. It was completely random and as a result, absolutely wonderful!

Quote of the week:

“I do believe that you can achieve more if you’re willing to take risks,” Lars said in a recent phone interview. “There’s almost a total correlation between the amount of risk you’re willing to take and then the amount of stuff you then potentially can get done.”

- Lars Rasmussen, one of the brothers responsible for Google Maps and upcoming Google Wave (being hyped as a revolution in online communication) in an interview with CNN.

Video of the week: Barbed Wireless

An animation commissioned by Global Partners & Associates looking at how new technologies are affecting the way Human Rights and Freedom activists must approach rights and freedoms in the digital age.

Let the ethical debates begin: Womb transplants

“Ethicists, medics and feminists have long argued as to whether infertility is a disease or a cultural phenomenon born of a society where women feel they have no value if they cannot reproduce. But illness or otherwise, it is not a fatal disease, and the suggestion that women could undergo major transplant surgery to fulfil their desire for a child may prompt unease.”

Cross-cultural mishap of the week: chalk it down to not watching enough American TV as a child – or maybe the shows I was watching were too dated!

I recently had to write a report that mentioned cellphones a lot, and I got very confused – this may have had something to do with the fact that it was late in the afternoon! First, I used the word mobile phone, because when I was in London that’s all anyone ever used, and in Germany and Switzerland, people used “Mobile” too (or “Handy” which I loved) Then I realized (<– note the z, I’m so confused) that the U.S. uses “cellphone” so I started using that, only to see Microsoft Word annoyingly underline the word every time I used it. I had to turn around to my neighbor, hold up the thing that I talk into wirelessly and ask: “This is a ‘cellphone’ right?” “Yes,” she responded in the kindest way. I explained my dilemma and spelt it out for her. Turns out that in the U.S. they spell it as two words, not one: cell phone. How was I to know?

I think it’s a sign that all those cell [space] phone ads in the U.S. aren’t making their mark on my brain, which is good. In the 14 months I’ve been here I’ve xperienced a myriad of cross-cultural, lingual misunderstandings, much to the surprise of my ego; I had previously thought of myself as quite “worldly”. Sigh, what’s a girl to do?!

Don’t even get me started on when punctuation marks (PERIODS AND COMMAS) go INSIDE quotation marks. I actually have a lengthy Google doc entitled “Grammar” which I’m still trying to get through. I do so wish I’d paid more attention to the more complex titles of grammar at school – God help me if I’m ever asked to differentiate between prepositional phrases, appositive phrases, participial phrases, infinitive phrases, and absolute phrases.

I’m not sure I could do this: The New York Times presents a story on one of the few reporters left to cover executions. What a macabre beat to have! One Reporter’s Lonely Beat, Witnessing Executions

And that’s it for this week’s update. 54 days until I see home again!!

“It’s a Interesting World” is my attempt to provide a coherent update on this blog every week. In the process of looking through various websites for research purposes, reading Twitter streams, following links on Facebook and then following those links to other links (etc, etc in an endless cycle of reading and attempting not to get lost, Bing advertisement style), I come across some odd, interesting and often times, seemingly useless pieces of information that I get a kick out of reading. And you might too!

You might argue over whether everything I post is “interesting” but let’s not argue semantics. Deal with it! Here goes!

It’s an Interesting World: 1

Quote of the week:

“…he ended by warning the students to be ever mindful of those “threats that come from elevating the values of consensus, conformity, and comfort above the value of truth.”

An excerpt from Larry Summer’s 2006 Harvard address, his last as president of the university, in a Oct 12 New Yorker profile piece

If you want to while away a couple of hours chuckling in front of the computer (most of these updates will detail ways to do that), then I would strongly recommend reading the Reuters blog “Oddly Enough“, which is, well, there’s no way to describe it really. Blogger Robert Basler writes satire at its best. Lately Blaser’s target has been the fashion industry, a veritable buffet of things to mock!

We picked the apples, we baked the pie. Yes, it’s true. Justin and I took on the envious task of baking an apple pie this week. The result was pure deliciousness! The recipe was incredibly easy (we used six Fuji apples we picked in New Paltz over the weekend) and I did a half-decent job on the lattice cover. I used a combination of recipes, but took most of my guidance from Pillsbury’s Perfect Apple Pie recipe, which was provided conveniently on the box of dough we bought. No, I did not make the crust from scratch. Not on a work night! I am both proud of myself and slightly disturbed at my domestic bliss.

An update on Maddoff: The Daily Beast’s Cheat Sheet picked up a story on Wednesday from the Huffington Post on what Maddoff is up to in jail. The highlight of this summary? Maddoff enjoys pizza cooked by a child molester and bunks with a drug offender. Finally company worth of the man!

Favourite find of the week: I only recently discovered that the Faculty of Philosophy at Oxford University has made several of its lectures available on iTunes U for free. They’ve been doing it since 2008, so I’m a bit late to the game, but I think it’s fantastic. Now the subway mornings are made more interesting a “romp through the history of philosophy”. Lectures AND handouts from the John Locke Lecture philosophy series are available for download as well: http://www.philosophy.ox.ac.uk/lectures/john_locke_lectures. I love the Interwebs!

Weirdness that makes me angry: Only Rush Limbaugh would compare environmentalists to suicide bombers. Media Matters explains the whole debacle quite nicely, but here’s a brief breakdown. New York Times environmental reporter Andrew Revkin recently wrote a column describing the correlation between population growth and carbon emissions (a pretty basic causal relation). He discussed how carbon dioxide emmissions could be reduced simply by making birth control accesible to millions of woman worldwide. He also more controversially described a “thought experiment” in which families might one day participate in the carbon credit economy – those with less children would recieve carbon credits for offsetting their carbon emmissions.

Rush Limbaugh, known (by some) for his wildly offensive statements and inability to participate in constructive debate and rational and fair public discourse responded to this on his radio show by saying:

“I think these militant environmentalists, these wackos, have so much in common with the jihad guys. Let me explain this. What do the jihad guys do? The jihad guys go to families under their control and they convince these families to strap explosives on who? Not them. On their kids. Grab your 3-year-old, grab your 4-year-old, grab your 6-year-old, and we’re gonna strap explosives on there, and then we’re going to send you on a bus, or we’re going to send you to a shopping center, and we’re gonna tell you when to pull the trigger, and you’re gonna blow up, and you’re gonna blow up everybody around you, and you’re gonna head up to wherever you’re going, 73 virgins are gonna be there. The little 3- or 4-year-old doesn’t have the presence of mind, so what about you? If it’s so great up there, why don’t you go? Why don’t you strap explosives on you — and their parents don’t have the guts to tell the jihad guys, “You do it! Why do you want my kid to go blow himself up?” The jihad guys will just shoot ‘em, ’cause the jihad guys have to maintain control.

“The environmentalist wackos are the same way. This guy from The New York Times, if he really thinks that humanity is destroying the planet, humanity is destroying the climate, that human beings in their natural existence are going to cause the extinction of life on Earth — Andrew Revkin. Mr. Revkin, why don’t you just go kill yourself and help the planet by dying?”

What I find most disturbing about his statement (beyond his suggestion that Revkin commit suicide) is the notion that human beings currently live a “natural existence.” I’d have to disagree. With the amount of energy we consume and waste we produce, it’s hardly natural!

And that’s this week’s post, let me know what you think!
Jax

I’ve always admired the balls (or literal lack thereof) of Tina Brown, former editor of The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and general all-round magazine queen. To the surprise of everyone in the print publishing world, she left news print last year to launch the online news aggregator The Daily Beast. No one thought she could get it right, but of course she did. I’ve heard that she’s a manic task master at The Beast, and the site looks all the better for it. The design is sleek, modern and in your face. The Cheat Sheet is a clever and smart daily must read and she’s started to tackle online advertising woes by working with clients to create innovative advertising ideas.

There has been some controversy over the way in which adverts are embedded as articles – illustrating how thin the line between advertising and editorial can be online- but this is the Internet, and there’s no denying that new ways have to be found to make money. I trust that Brown is a journalist down to the core, and would never do anything to compromise the site’s principles. I hope.

The site’s commenting function is very innovative: readers have the ability to respond to specific comments, and these “threads” within a comments section can be collapsed, making other comments easier to read. I’ve never seen a website deal with off-topic comments and back and forth arguments so efficiently before.

She’s also made some daring decisions, widening the site’s scope with “The Sexy Beast” (entertainment and fashion), “The Book Beast” (print publishing of books less than 50, 000 words by Beast writers) and my favorite, the recently launched “The Giving Beast” in partnership with the Global Philanthropy Group. At first glance – I haven’t looked at it much – the site highlights causes championed by celebrities (a smart move considering that everyone loves a good celebrity just as much as they love a bad one) and has blog posts detailing innovative approaches to the world’s problems.

Beyond her reputation as a driven woman with high expectations for her staff, Brown is also considered a dahling in social circles, and most people love her, which is surprising for such a powerful woman who has smashed her way up the magazine career ladder – in both the U.K and the U.S. Writers respect her, publishers listen to her, investors invest in her online schemes in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression!

I also love the fact that she has perfectly coiffed blond short hair, almost always rocks a form-fitting kick-ass leather jacket, can be erudite and call bullshit at the same time, and has a longer marriage with a much older husband that looks like it’s characterized by love, respect and kindness in every single society photo op.

The Financial Times recently wrote an article on Brown on the occasion of the first anniversary of The Daily Beast titled: “The Beast of New Journalism” (another shrewd move on the part of Brown, the sites’s name lends itself to hundreds of great headlines and puns). The article describes some of the challenges Brown and the Beast will face, trying to find sustainable funding after their initial start-up investments run out. I have a feeling that if anyone can figure out how to find a sustainable, classy and ethical way to get money from online advertising, it’s Brown.

Read more of Brown's columns here: http://www.thedailybeast.com/author/tina-brown/

I really admire the woman for all she’s achieved in her career, but I particularly admire her class. She spoke at the Journalism School while I was there and I loved every minute of her frank and honest speech. in which she shared ideas, her inspiration behind the Beast and her commitment to narrative journalism, which she admitted she is still trying to figure out how to do online. I’d love to get away with having balls and still be liked as a successful woman one day!

Have you read the site? What do you guys think?

In a random fit of inspiration this afternoon (perhaps brought on by the terrible weather) I started a new blog. It’s different to this one in that it’s meant to be interactive, and its success depends on the participation and contributions of readers.

The design is very basic and pared down. It’s called “I Wish I Had Known“

The blog invites people to write in about lessons, advice and tips they wish they had known when they were younger. Eventually, I hope the blog becomes a collective pool of shared wisdom, where readers can stumble upon life lessons that they maybe never thought of sharing with their families, friends, children…

I want as many people to come to the blog as possible, so please feel free to share the blog’s URL with as many people as possible! The full link is: http://iwishihadknown.wordpress.com/

‘Are all the girls from Queens as tough as you?’ ‘The girls are.
The women will cut your liver when your head is turned and
polish it off with a nice chianti.’
– 2005 movie, “Love, Ludlow”

I share an apartment with two roommates on the third floor of a three storey "family home" - each floor is a self-contained apartment. We're in the building with the black car parked outside!

My new home, Astoria in Queens, is the most ethnically diverse place I’ve ever lived in! I’ve only been here a week and I’m already fascinated by the diversity of people that live in this area and run businesses – the Chinese woman from the 99c store, the Mexican deli down the road, the numerous Greek restaurants. All I have to do is walk out of the door of the three-storey family home I currently reside in, and I have the option to eat Thai, Phillipino, Chinese, Vietnamese, Mexican, Greek and American food; visit an Irish bar; or browse through the well-stocked international aisle at the Bravo supermarket nearby.

I love it! I haven’t lived in too many places around the world, just a few. In South Africa, despite the obvious after-effects of segregation by race, there’s always been segregation by class, and that was evident in the places I lived in Johannesburg. We have incredible diversity, but communities are still divided. In Germany and Switzerland, diversity was hidden in pockets: communities lived tucked away in corners of the city and I rarely had the chance to engage with them, except in my German class at the local Hochschule.

New York can blow you away with its immigrant groups and the worlds they create in the areas they settle. Reporting from Crown Heights in Brooklyn for the J-school last year really illustrated to me the incredible history of immigrants in this city, and the conflict they experience trying to hold on to their heritage while at the same time trying immerse themselves in American life. The Caribbean-West Indian festival, held in September last year, was an intense experience of color, music, dance and pride that I felt envelop the crowd and carry it throughout the day. The reserved speech and conversation of the Hasidic Jews reminded me of the beauty (and strength) of preserved traditions. Of course, the segregation and tension between these two communities in Crown Heights is evident, but less so than years before.

Here’s the neighborhood in relation to Manhattan. The city is easy to reach with the subway – a direct 20 or so minute ride to Times Square.

View Larger Map

Astoria is … different. The neighborhood is so mixed and so busy that everybody blends in. I have the feeling that it will be the next popular place to stay after the hipsterville neighborhood of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, loses its sheen. (Poor Astorians!) Before Justin moved here in July, the only thing I knew about Queens was that the main character from The Nanny originated from here. I’ve had the theme song of the show stuck in my head for weeks! (See below, you can thank me later) Cosby was also located and filmed in Astoria, and the original Sesame Street studios are here as well. It’s also the location of two great (and HUGE) beer gardens.

The intersection of Steinway and Broadway ... it calls to me!!

So I’ve gotten my library card, changed my address, found a new doctor and familiarized myself with the area … I’m trying my best to stay away from Broadway and Steinway streets, they intersect two blocks from my house and they are the busiest shopping streets in the neighborhood. You could probably find anything here. There’s a FedEx and a Gap and a Planet Fitness, Express and Children’s Place, El Mundo’s discount store (which has been “going out of business” for ages but still seems to be doing fine!) and a thousand delis and places to buy food and … ah!!! It’s not the most conducive environment for someone who is too easily swayed by the pull of consumerism. I think I should rather explore some of the other Wikipedia listed ‘places of interest’:

• Attractions in Astoria include the Kaufman Astoria Studios‘ Museum of the Moving Image, Isamu Noguchi Museum, and Socrates Sculpture Park. Astoria Park, along the East River, is Astoria’s largest park and also contains the largest of New York City’s public pools which was also the former site of the U.S. Olympic trials.
• The Hell Gate Bridge and New York Connecting Railroad viaduct rise high above Astoria.
• The oldest beer garden in New York City, Bohemian Hall, was founded in 1910 when Astoria was largely Irish, Italian, Bohemian (Czech), and Slovak.^[7]
• The Greater Astoria Historical Society in the historic Quinn Memorial Building on the corner of Broadway and 36th Street serves as a valuable historical resource as well as providing tourist information.
• St. Michael’s Cemetery on Astoria Boulevard is the burial place of composer and pianist Scott Joplin.^[8]

With graduate school and my internships behind me, moving has been a nice distraction from the stress of job-hunting and freelancing. Here’s hoping the universe gives me my break.

What bothers me the most in this city – aside from the crazy people and the subway in the height of summer – is the way some parents treat their children. I can’t say it’s unique to New York City, that would be an awful generalization, but I’ve had many a chance to observe it in the  hours I have accumulated gratuitously “people-watching” on the subway, as they call it here (voyeurism by any other name …)

The words that I have heard parents spit at their their children at times feel like venom, dripping with hate and frustration at young innocents who somehow intentionally ruined their parents lives by virtue of their birth. A week ago I watched appalled as a young mother, walking with her son and daughter on the Upper East Side, turned to her son and said, as if to an adult: “You know what your problem is? You have a big mouth. You talk too much.” Not once, or twice, but three times she said it as the little boy circled her nervously, not wanting to stray too far from the only center he had on the busy street.

Sometimes the parents do not even care to listen or respond – however bitterly – to their kids, as if the act of birth awakened no primal energy in them, liberated no parental pride or innate love. Today on the F train, coming from Jamaica in Queens, I watched as a young boy, clutching his grandmother’s hand, pointed excitedly at a bright sign on the wall of the subway and shouted, “Daddy, Daddy, look up there!” By the third or fourth call his father – an extremely young-looking man – nodded slightly at his son as he leant against the subway door, mouthing the words to the song blaring out of his inadequate earphones. The boy looked down at the floor, shook it off and beamed at his grandmother. This is not the first time I’ve seen a parent block out their child with the ever-handy, ever-present portable music device. Somehow its popularity makes it OK to only half-heartedly participate in the world.

I judge incessantly, I know I do. Maybe I should give these parents a chance. Their treatment of their children is probably a result of ill-treatment by their parents, and their parents’ parents before them. But isn’t one of humanity’s redeeming characteristics the ability to learn from the mistakes of our forebearers? History tells me that this is something we strive for, but often fail to achieve.

A while back in Spring, while waiting for a subway at the 96th Street station on the Upper West Side, I watched as a harassed mother stood with her two hot and bothered young children while struggling to carry, or fold, a complicated pushchair. Above the sounds of the rumbling screeching trains and the constant chatter of waiting passengers, I heard her scream at the children to “Shut up, shut up, shut up!” Asking them over again: “What is wrong with you?” Boring into them how little worth they had in her life with her words. It’s not just the words, bad enough as they are, it’s just as much the way they’re said that crushes my heart and wipes away my sympathy for the parent. Minutes later, I turned again to see the mother berate her son for some irritance and watched – almost in slow motion – as his older sister, who must’ve been around 8 years old, took a hold of his hand, pulled him towards her, spread his fingers and smacked his hand three or four times. The sound of the smacks reverberated in the echo of the subway station, followed by a second of silence and then his shrill wail.

It’s what it does to them that drives me crazy. The way they start off life excited and curious and they slowly become apathetic and mean, because where has curiousity led them to, other than a harsh word or a smack? How do you learn kindness and fairness when you’ve never known it?

And these are the wanted children, there existence chosen. Sometimes I feel like that choice is made in an attempt to fix something else, to fill some void. And when the children fail to solve the problem, it’s on them.

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...!

Then I go shower and when I come back, I get dressed, feed the plant Malia gave me, and THEN open the blinds, only in that order.

I don't know why I feel compelled to show you guys this!

Then, it’s makeup and accessorizing and packing whilst the kettle is boiling.

Makeup and cutlery, the two most important things in a girls cupboard.

Then I prepare breakfast and eat while furiously checking Facebook, Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail, Twitter, HandV forum, the New York Times, Newsweek, the Mail & Guardian and The Times.co.za!! Then it’s a rush to check I have everything in my bag, throw on my coat, put my iPod shuffle, Metrocard and cellphone in my pockets, slather on some lip gloss and  run out the door, usually with a coffee in my hand (this time I stopped briefly to take a pic!)

Late ... eek!

Run down the road (generally in flats, which I wear until I get to the coffee shop at the office and change into heels), take the escalator up to the 125th Street subway stop, wait for the 1, get on the 1, try to avoid bumping into the irate / crazy / asleep / Kellogs Frosted Flakes hyper kids / head-bopping hip-hop / newspaper-reading business like subway passengers, get off at 96th Street, wait for the express, try find a seat, arrive here:

34th Street, Penn Station! I use this stop for both the BBC and TONY, who are coincidentally very close to each other.

This is probably the worst part of my morning. Penn Station is ALWAYS mad, with people rushing to get to trains, rushing from trains to get to the subway, buskers, police, vendors … It is the walking version of a traffic jam. After 3 months of using this stop, I finally know the short cut to exit here:

33rd and 7th, more popularly known as the location for Madison Square Garden!

Then I have to walk a rather excruciating 15 minutes to get to either of the offices I work at. Today it’s the BBC and my favorite thing to do is stop at the cafe downstairs to get a coffee and change my shoes (except today, the day I made a very unwise decision to wear heels the whole way. Bad idea!)

The thing I struggle the most with in the U.S. is the huge quantities of food you find everywhere. Standing in line for a coffee looks something like this:

Food everywhere you go...

And the cookies … THE COOKIES!

Finally, I arrive at my destination (for today). On time nogal!

BBC, New York bureau!

The proud, and already exhausted intern.

Sadly it doesn't have my picture on it. But as long as it gets me where I need to go, it'll do!

I’m not sure what’s worse. Going through this every morning, or battling the traffic and general madness of the Jozi streets! I kind of prefer the solitude of a car in the morning … with the radio and your coffee and the texting in between robots (traffic lights!) On the other hand the subway, which has no cellphone signal, provides you with an rare opportunity to read and people-stare, which are two of my favorite things to do! But perhaps because of my personality, both end up being equally crazy morning activities.

And that’s a random day in the life!

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 …

But first, are the topics of politics and sexual assault related? Absolutely. One example is the situation our current President faced a few years ago, standing trial for rape and failing to condemn the behaviour of protestors outside, screaming “Burn the bitch” and setting women’s underwear alight.

Another example is the fact that, as reported in the Mail & Guardian, “only a fraction [of rapes] are reported, and only a fraction of those lead to a conviction.”

This last fact is a result of, in my opinion, a government that has not prioritised issues of sexual violence, one that has failed to provide protection to, and support for, women who experience incidences of brutality and abuse.

South African cartoonist Zapiro often spotlights our terrible statistics and attitude towards rape in his satirical cartoons.

The research for this study was conducted by Professor Rachel Jewkes of the Medical Research Council, whom the M&G quote as saying: “The social space for debating these gender issues is now smaller than it was a few years ago. We need our government to show political leadership in changing attitudes. We need South African men, from the top to the grassroots, to take responsibility.”

Most South African women care for large families, form a substantial part of the “second economy“, deal with the practicalities of living with overwhelming rates of HIV-infection and mother-to-child-transmission, and earn less than men for equal positions. They also live these challenges under a suffocating patriarchy, experiencing prejudice, disrespect and violence on a daily basis.

We may have a large number of women in Parliament, and a reputation for having impressive female politicians, business leaders and entrepeneurs, but that reputation means nothing in the face of statistics like these. It is honestly my belief that disrespect and violence against one female citizen of a country is an abuse of all female members of that society.

It’s always been my opinion that you can assess the state of a country and its potential to thrive by the way it treats its female citizens, by the prioritisation of gender equality on all levels of society. And by this measure, South Africa has failed.

The government itself writes:

Oppressive gender relations are not a natural phenomenon but socially constructed practices. Gender relations can therefore be changed by the very society that created them.

Government has since 1994 embarked on a deliberate campaign to reverse this odious history of gender oppression. No doubt it will take a very long time of hard work before this challenge could be fully and adequately addressed.

This is not a “challenge”. This is a CATASTROPHE. This is a war, waged against women daily. The Commission on Gender Equality needs to regroup, fix its website and push government and communities to honestly and agressively address the issue of gender equality and violence against women - starting with young children in schools who are undoubtedly learning lessons of gender inequality from friends, families, peers and communities who are struggling to deal with sexual violence alone.

The web has great potential for this as well. The web can provide safe spaces for abused women to interact or share their experiences and provide each other with support. Advocacy groups can  gather signatures to petition for local and national government and produce education modules for young children and teenagers to explore after school, or for young adults to study as part of continued education … advertisements, videos, interactive multimedia, press releases – Gender Links, where is your online reaction to this study?!

I believe in the power, strength and beauty of South African women, who I know will forge on and protect their families and communities despite their suffering. They should know that they are not alone though. While they can’t be reassured that government is on their side right now, they should at least know that the people across the world are – including this Jozi girl in the States.

South African rape survey shock BBC
Quarter of men in South Africa admit rape, survey finds guardian.co.uk
One in four SAfrican men admit to rape: study AFP
Shocking study: One in four admit to rape in South Africa Indian Express

At home, we tend to forget how shocking statistics like these are for the global community. People are truly horrified, and struggle to reconcile their perception of the post-apartheid South Africa of Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu with a society of men who feel compelled to rape. It may be easier for South Africans who are aware of and experience the legacy of apartheid every day. Politically, things have changed massively since Nelson Mandela stepped down some time ago. The realities of daily life are dealt with by South Africans as best they can. But it’s still very hard for non-South Africans to comprehend these shocking statistics.

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.”