Two things have taken place recently that wouldn’t have been a general possibility — maybe not even a remote likelihood — a year ago. A year ago, when I was still coming down from the terrible, wonderful glee of finishing my thesis, the idea that I could take up a hobby and have a lick […]
Category: writing
Moving Commas
“I have spent most of the day putting in a comma and the rest of the day taking it out.” — Oscar Wilde I liked reporting well enough, I liked meeting people and chasing news. But when I became an editor, I connected to journalism and to the crafting of words in a deeper way. […]
Jumelage
Last year when I was packing up my apartment in Johannesburg, I watched a few too many episodes of the reality show Hoarders, where people with obvious, serious problems are hectored into shape over an episode’s arc of denial, shame, anger, acceptance and redemption. Around this narrative I watched half-full bottles of condiments and bubble […]
One Fell Swoop
There’s a chirpy pop song that came out a while back, where the singer exhorts us to be brave, with uplifting lyrics that seem targeted at anxious kids. They’ve been prattling around in my head lately. Bravery is a great concept for a song. In real life, it’s a way of life, a dedication to […]
Week Three: A Fault of Memory
A few years ago, I can’t remember exactly when, I was trying to recall the name of the newspaper in Montreal that I wrote a few freelance pieces for, the main English daily. I searched for the name in the recesses of my memory, not so much a wracking of my brain as scouring for […]