How to #52: Be poetry schooled!

Hale threw fuel on the growing fire of love for writing that there is in my heart again today. I am not sure if I reported about the class that we had to write an analysis of a poem (Poem for my mother – Jennifer Davids) in class for the entire hour. I suppose there is not much to write for you about that, but now I get to come back to you on that.

It seems that what Hale picked up most was that we all looked straight past the basics of poetry analysis, and dove right into the deeper underlying meaning of the poem. We completely forget the power that there is in looking at the structure, theme, tone and mere word use in a poem.

That isn't everything, you said

on the afternoon I brought a poem

to you hunched over the washtub

with your hands

the shrivelled                                         5

burnt granadilla

skin of your hands

covered by foam.

And my words

slid like a ball                                       10

of hard blue soap

into the tub

to be grabbed and used by you

to rub the clothes.

A poem isn't all                                    15

there is to life, you said

with your blue-ringed gaze

scanning the page

once looking over my shoulder

and back at the immediate                  20

dirty water

and my words

being clenched

smaller and

smaller.                                               25

See for yourself what you might learn form this poem if you like. You might learn a little about how important it is for someone with a burning passion for writing to show it to someone who they trust and love to hear their opinion.

How to #51: listen and hear

Night two at Aan De Braak theatre: Chilled vibes with interviewee no. 3. Was very comfortable and an interesting experience.

Niel McDonals is ʼn ou Maties student en is werklik skerp met sy Afrikaanse woorde. Met goeie wyn  in die hand en die mense wat hom ken in die gehoor was hierdie aand werklik ʼn belewenis. Ons elkeen het aan sy lippe gehang met elke nuwe storie wat hy liries vertel. ons het self lekker gelag. maar en daai teater kom mens voel wat dit is om Suid Afrikaans te wees. En trots.

How to: Celebrate no 50! :D

How to #49: Watch the Pretty Blue guns

…With a glass (or two) of wine and company that appreciates good music.

Thanks too Vicky and Faffa from the Hitlist show (weekdays 21:00-24:00) at Mfm, I got a chance to go and see The pretty Blue Guns live at the Aan de Braak theatre, and wow, what a band!

The whole little theatre smelled like sweet from the smoke in the air, the vibe was absolutely electric and Stellenbosch was still outside but it felt like we were in our own world. You could not sit there and not feel your inner rock star stirring to come out. On top of that, they ended off the night with one of my absolute favorite songs ever, Valerie, and man did they nail it! Andre had a bottle of Champers in his hand and was more than just singing the song, he was living it.

So, the context is that Vicky and Faffa asked me to be a part of a feature on their show that they do every month, naturally, because im still working the graveyard shift, I jumped at the opportunity. A restaurant in Stellenbosch treats a Mfm presenter once a week. This month, the Aan de Braak theatre is the ‘restaurant’ that took this opportunity. The presenter is accompanied by someone who they interviewed on air earlier that week. So, I have done 3 interviews, this Thursday will be the last time that I go to studio at 21:00 and question two guys then choose one of them to come to another fabulous Aan De Braak Theatre show with me.

The Pretty Blue Guns was the first show I attended, and my companion, who absolutely loves music, was freaking out about how good the bassist is and he tried very hard to teach me about the physics in music. I tried to understand.

BAND OF THE MONTH!

How to #48: Get it done

(wonder sometimes where i get these titels... : p)

Weekly class reflection

#4:

This week we had to catch up work due to the fact that last week we had no class. Hale had written on the white board about 5 examples from the articles that the group had e-mailed her last week to give us pointers on mistakes she had picked up. There was an opening line concerning a student that had died on Stellenbosch campus last week. This opening line was way too long and almost ‘wishy washy’ in the sense that it left a hanging idea. It had no firm ground to inform the reader directly. It was pointed out that it must be kept in mind to be specific about time and place, and that there mustn’t be unnecessary words thrown into the body of the text.

One of the most prominent mistakes that came up was inaccurate titles. Smart or known catch phrases were adapted to link with the text, but there was a case where a phrase was used incorrectly. Another student’s work provided an example a title that is not at all linked to the story. The idea which the reader would expect by reading the heading was not at all what the article was about.

                *Choice of words indicate the nature of the story

Finally, it must be kept in mind that sentences must not be too ‘wordy’ and that the paragraphs must be ranked in order of importance. The final paragraph would usually be made up of bystanders’ interviews or so.

Think about this: what makes a story newsworthy? What is it about a story that makes it worth printing for people to read and/or even care about?

Song of the week!

How to #47: Stay constant

(What i lie... i'v never managed to stay constant on anything...)

Weekly class reflection

#3:

This week there was no class because it was national woman’s day, so we had a public holiday. We did however get an e-mail from Hale requesting of us to write a 1/2 page news report related to Stellenbosch campus, and e-mail that to her. So I read the info on writing newspaper articles in our class notes and wrote a piece about student’s cell phones. This was motivated mostly on the fact that I had recently got a blackberry, and I’m on it way to much during class...

How to #46: Laugh it off

how to #45: Embrace amiturity

'n metafoor

op 'n kussing voor die vuur
le te na aan die vlamme
al skiet hy my met kooltjies
bly le ek voor die vuur
want dis gemaklik warm
...
maar die son skyn buite

elke nou en dan skop ek die houd rond
om dit beter te maak

____________________________________

Screaming in blue, being heard in red
two who still have to grow
should not be defined as one
or am i wrong?
a hidden endevour disguised as peaceful?

when what is needed is not
understood and
what is understood is totally not
needed

eventually the result is merely a rustle of the
feathers

___________________________________

uitbarsting van die onnodige

statusse oor boomklimtegnieke en nic-nac pryse
laat wakker nagte oor besluite

alleen trane
naels af kou
geforseerde glimlagge

vrae oor gevoelens
antwoorde wat vlous
vooroordeelde opinies van goeters
mense

verdink, herdink, oordink

naels af kou
alleen trane
geforseerde glimlagge

'n snuif van reuke wat ontsnap van ander se potte