“Nothing beats the printed word” — a tagline by one of Africa’s oldest newspapers The Chronicle (since 1894) from the City of Kings, Bulawayo.
Scribblings by SJ
I was inspired to write by my mother, her sisters and their daughters as we loved reading magazines like Parade (1953-2004; 2012-13), Edgars’ The Club (Zimbabwe, not the boring South African one), Drum (1951-2020), Bona (1960-2020), Your Family (1973-2020), Living & Loving (1973-2020) …
Because my mother, who prided herself in using an ’80s typewriter, and her sisters were not allowed to go to school or work much, I was also inspired by my Magagula uncles-in-law, the late J.Z. and Zhoronimo, and neighbour Limukani Ncube who worked at The Chronicle. While I stopped reading it in 2015, I started hanging out at The Chronicle newsroom when I was 7 in 1993. I also loved the writings of Iden “Muckracker” Wetherell, Lennox Mhlanga, Binyavanga “How Not to Write about Africa” Wainaina, Ranga “Jason Moyo” Mberi, Nqaba Matshazi, Charles Onyango Obbo, William Jethro “Zululizayo” “Mbikokayise” “Dinizulu Macaphulana” Mpofu, Daniel Kalinaki, and the editor who gave me my first paycheck in life, Ferial Haffajee […]
In the Netherlands: Babah Tarawally, Arjan Visser (Ten Commandments is just about the best column I’ve ever read in life), the rawness of young Dan Afrifa […]
The opinions below can and will have been overtaken by time and personal growth. Reader discretion is advised.
SJ’s World, Bantu, & Batwa History blog on Medium
Zimbabwe — A timeline of a near failed state
Zimbabwe dollar — a timeline of a pompous currency
Religion — A timeline of factionalism
Zooming into into trans life in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan – Shakespeare Club (21-07-2020)
Black Lives Matter interview: Tieneke Sumter remembers Audre Lorde – Shakespeare Club (20-07-2020)
Policing the police II – Bulawayo24 News (28-01-2019)
Let’s Talk About the Inconvenient African Wound: ‘Inxeba’ – Huffington Post (09-02-2018)
Understanding sex, consent – Southern Eye (27-06-2015)
Policing the police – Southern Eye (13-06-2015)
Xenophobia spoken in tongues – Southern Eye (01-05-15)
We all have ancestors – Southern Eye (26-03-15)
Caning is another name for violence – Southern Eye (12-02-15)
Easy with the punishment – Southern Eye (29-01-15)
A lesson in grace – Southern Eye (14-01-15)
F is for feminism – Southern Eye (22-12-14)
ZBC: licences to kill – Southern Eye (25-11-14)
Zimbabwe: a closed economy – Southern Eye (20-11-14)
Prophet-eering from poverty – Southern Eye (16-10-2014)
75% local content policy too much – Southern Eye (10-02-2014)
Consent: a key word in sex – Southern Eye (09-11-13)
Radio is the future in Zimbabwe – Southern Eye (26-08-13)
It takes TV to raise a child – Southern Eye (23-06-13)
Generation i – Mail & Guardian (30-04-10)
Rush to catch the rhythm – Mail & Guardian (15-05-09)
Don’t dread my locks* – Mail & Guardian (19-01-09)
*Not only was the money sweet, my first byline in life—on a foreign title— was the selling headline of the paper that week 🙂