This started out as something else

Most art does.. :')

xoxo

TEDx Soweto 2012

I really don't even know where to start with this post - my goodness! What a lovely eye-opening, heart-stretching, mind-numbing, thought-provoking experience.

Having seen the international talks from the TED platform, when I found out we were getting even a slither of the same thing in our backyard, I nearly fell over myself trying to contain my excitement. 

TedxSoweto is one of thousands of locally organized TED supported conversation aiming to spread the   ideas that matter worldwide. The talks feature innovative forward thinkers from varied disciplines - tech, language, art, architecture, social culture etcetera. It's about building a culture problem solvers and innovators that can present solutions to some of the most complex social issues both locally and globally and as such bridging the wealth divide to eradicate poverty.

I know this all sounds very la-di-da, but it really is responsibility of the youth of a given time to champion the innovation and revolution of their time. Ted is one of the few platforms that encourage that. 

Throughout the day there were a number of speakers shook my very insides - bidding questions I have often shied away from or palmed off as someone else's jurisdiction. Attending the talk reminded me that the time is always now, the person is always me. 

I won't go into an in-depth break-down of all the talks, I'm sure  they'll have videos up on the site soon. I'll just share some pics with a couple of short descriptions on the caption and one or two of my favorite quotes for the day.

"A great country is built on literature and art, not Hennesy." - Malo8

"An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea who's time has come. - Victor Hugo 

"Africa doesn't need handouts, what Africa needs is innovation. Africa needs I.C.T - Innovation, creativity and talent." - Yaron Assabi

"People look at preservation in a backward looking light. That's not how I see preservation. When we were growing up we used to create a walking path in the grass, and to preserve it we would have to keep walking along that same path. It's the same with preserving our languages and ideas, we must come up with a solution path and be the champions that keep walking it to keep it alive." - Phiway Mbuyazi

"We will tell the world how to see our Soweto" - I See a Different You

PICTURES***

Architect Denver Hendricks - Energy conservation and new ideas on efficient energy use within home structures.  

A very different view on food consumption - Miche Fabre Lewin, an Artist-cuisniere, Culinary Activist. "We must stop being food consumers and become food citizens." 

Some clothing on sale from Thesis - Spotted an item or two I must get.

Phiway Mbuyazi, Mother tongue evangelist and one of my favorite speakers for the day. "Mother tongue education can help close the wealth gap." 

The Girls :) Mukondi, Nwabisa, Zintle and Cassandra... Not such a good pic though.

Lively performance by Durban Hip-Hop group BIG FKN GUN

The goose that lays the golden eggs :) haha I See A Different You in all their splendor. Innocent Mukheli, Vuyo Mpantsha and Justice Mukheli.

"Soweto is our love - we wanted to share that with the world" - I See A Different You's Vuyo Mpantsha

A spirit awakening performance by world renowned drummer Tlale Makhene



Love&Light.

Hello Real Love

Too often we shy away from beauty -We call it safety and security, we call acceptable practice, we call it sanity. It's such a shame that we miss out on the true reflections of ourselves because of a glorified fear...fear disguised as practical thinking or societally acceptable behavior. The status quo means absolutely nothing in my opinion. - it's all a matter of space and time. We should never be bound by the projections of others of what is right and fit for us. One often steers away from a decision as simple as cutting their hair because one or two people said "It's so not like you". Absurd isn't it? Are you not the only you that can say whether or not something is "you" or not?

I'm rambling...in gibberish even...it's only because I'm so ignited by a friend of mines recent change of heart. It's a simple thing but it has made me aware of her freedom from conformity. She cut her hair and it looks great! If you've read a couple of my recent posts you'll know that the hair discourse is a favorite of mine lately. That's because it really annoys me that hair has become one of those things that gets shoved down our throats as an absolute extension of our personalities - ugh! It's just hair right? Turning mere strands of DNA into a definitive just grates my cheese.

I'm just happy that some women will not be bound to the mumbo-jumbo linked to which hairstyle means what. Either it's there or not..."well-groomed" or not...that doesn't change the pink matter that makes up your mind.

Change the way you will. In a strange way I'm proud of my friend. - it's not a life changing move but it's a symbol of a little piece of freedom...Self love.  I've always viewed self love as a freedom of sorts. 

Here's a pic of the gorgling herself. :)

@TshegoMLP 

Oh Well

Have you pondered like I have?
Skipping about thoughts like river stones across the waters of topic?
Have you meandered along the winding ways of notion ?
Wondering. Wandering.

Are we brick and mortar?
Are we soil and water?
Are we mould...to be sold?
Are we strong to bend?
Or are we weak? Or malleable? Might those be the same thing?

We are women...sure.
But are we brick or mortar or soil or mould or sold or strong or weak or the same women?

Have you thought these thoughts?
Have you asked my questions?
Are you thinking what I'm thinking?
Has it never been about us?

Oh Well.

Look who's getting spotted on the fabulous blogosphere :)

Found on Miss Vie's http://viemyselfandi.blogspot.com/2012/10/style-spotting-at-marie-claire-trunk.html

Hair is

Hair has become so contentious. It shouldn't be. Hair is not currency. Hair isn't identity. Hair isn't an accurate measure of how one values oneself. Hair or lack thereof is not self-love nor is it self-hate. The texture or style of it shouldn't connote or denote ANYTHING. Hair just is.

We have got to get to the point in our lives where we have built and defined who we are so well that our very essence isn't affected by the strands of protein et al that come out of our skin. It is ludicrous.

Seriously,
:/
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