The Read Aunt Mzansi

Just as life doesn't ask you when to peak, death doesn't ask you when to come.  It's rarely ever about you, really. But because it is about your people, the people in and around your life, it really will affect you. And because God is God, he will give you courtesy as His Child, which you'll mistake for confirmation that the inevitable will be delayed, or won't happen. Loss is real. Loss is hard. Loss will find you. None of us can escape it. It doesn't matter who or what, when loss hits, it hits where it hurts the most. As if losing a friend can be handled (RIP Sibulele Mgudlwa) , in less than 4 days, I receive the news that another incredible human being has left us. My High School Class Teacher, Meneer Teffo aka Mothokoa -   if you got that close. I am here bleeding on my keyboard and as Rupi Kaur put it, I don't know if this writing is healing or detroying me.  :'( :'( You remember your first day in High School where there'll be that First...

what do you do? what do you say? what do you feel, really? you knew him  but not really you spoke but not too much you shared a piece of each other, with each other but not every piece (how much is enough, anyway?) you laughed about life you cried also but you continued to live still to love to share he was what courage looked like bravery and all its fearlessness he had his cross to bear but he still helped others carry theirs seeing potential in others he  did believing that the ultimate truth will find us all he's gone today but in us he remains a pART of us he stays God knows, right? He knew See you soon [Now, I'm gonna go have that cup of Tea and pour a lot of brandy in it like Joseph Stalin used to , I'll make it two, actually. Cheers!] . Rest In Perfect Peace and Power, Sibulele Mgudlwa. Uyathandwa, wethu.

In a society where we are constantly forced to conform to pressure and the status quo, nothing gets as much attention as protest does. I'm not talking toyi-toying down the streets kind of protest, no. I am talking using the body to defy the norm and speak up. Breaking the Cycle, choreographed and performed by Funeka Ramorula, was out to speak up, protest. He used dance to say to the world, I am who and what I am. His piece conveyed messages we know all too well, issues of finding Self in a society that's constantly looking to change you and make you who they want you to be. We missed a connection with the performer on more occasions than one, his face was rather invisible - maybe as a form of protest - but for those of us who do not know dance, we would have liked to pick up some of his emotions through his facial expressions. As a horrible dancer, I wondered if my thoughts of 'I can do that' every time he jumped or swayed on stage, meant that he makes it look easy or...