Scorched

Goblins in the cupboard (M&G)

Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 | Mail & Guardian column, rational thought | No Comments

According to an arcane superstition pre-dating the Enlightenment, I can be a bitch at times. We all can, now and then, but my predisposition was determined by the position of our sun in relation to a specific arrangement of celestial bodies a few hundred light years away, at the time of my birth. If, like me, you came bellowing into this world in late October or most of November, you’re the bearer of grudges and have an almighty sting in your tail. You can’t help it, you’re a Scorpio.

Our relationship with the night skies may have started with astrology — that tottering, nappy-bummed imp that was the early observing human — but since Galileo and Newton we’ve graduated to a more mature relationship with the heavens. › Continue reading

Tags: astrology, superstition

The Retro Edition (Extra Virgin)

Thursday, May 1st, 2008 | uncategorized | No Comments

There’s something soft and elegantly proud about the clean lines of the Art Deco period – which belie the extraordinarily difficult times in which it was born. Leonie Joubert wonders whether our faltering economy might return us to the austere consumption levels of war-ravaged Europe. If nothing else, it’ll shrink our environmental footprint.

A few years back, like so many other people from the Eastern Cape, I “immigrated” to Cape Town in search of work. I shared a flat with an engineering student: a smart and somewhat eccentric fellow with a cultivated look which was tailored around corduroy and facial hair. › Continue reading