Healthy Glow: Healthy Eating, La Mode & Ramblings
“Split Halves”:
‘Split-Halves’ is commentary on the difficulties that come across towards diverse sexual orientation. This series of portraits focuses on androgynous people living in central Johannesburg. This subject is unique because androgyny is still an unexplored, taboo topic in South Africa. I am interested in androgynous people because they are still considered out of place in everyday life. I’m concerned with how society relates to these people and how they interact with society. I am one of these people and I feel our presence in the world is not always positively acknowledged or appreciated. Androgynous people often want to be invisible. A photo essay of this nature addresses these concerns.”
“The ‘Split Halves’ series also questions how society perceives beauty. This includes the idea of androgyny, two- spiritedness, ambiguity, the boy/girl, the divided soul. I approached the people in my photographs individually, informed them of my project and spent two or three days with each person, documenting and interacting.”
More of Kelebogile Ntladi’s images can be found in her portfolio and on her blog.
Information via Africa is a Country Blog.
Fashion Attack: Portraits of Some of the Best Dressed Men in Africa, The Swenkas
There is something about African men. Yes, I may be biased since my family is from Ghana, but it is the way they carry themselves. Even when times are tough and things get hard, attitude is what makes the most difference. Like the Swenkas (which I assume is derived from the word ”swank”) carry the weight of the world but also undeniable swagger, cockiness, and unbelivable style. From the color of their suits, to their wide smiles, these men have it.
There is no way you could deny that The Swenkas got it right. I dare you to say otherwise.
Portraits of some of The Swenkas of Johannesburg, photographed by Marc Shoul, men who dress up every Saturday night, in their Sunday best, and compete in a mixture of fashion of choreography for prizes and prestige.
(x)
(via obruniradio)
My African Culture: Get to Know the African Leadership Academy
picture via ALA
This past Tuesday my boyfriend invited me to the a formal dinner celebrating and sharing information about the African Leadership Academy (ALA). During the dinner, I met some of the current students, alumni, and supporters.
The African Leadership Academy (ALA) is a residential, secondary institution located outside of Johannesburg, South Africa for 15–18 year-olds, from all 54 African nations and around the world. ALA seeks “to transform Africa by identifying, developing, and connecting the next generation of African leaders.” Their Leadership Development formula is relatively simple: harness potential, practice continued leadership development, and guide young African leaders toward opportunities in their lives and the long-term transformation of Africa.
ALA was founded in 2004 by Fred Swaniker, Chris Bradford, Peter Mombaur, and Acha Leke, and in September 2008 started with their an inaugural class of 97 students. ALA teaches a two-year curriculum in African studies, leadership and entrepreneurship, as well as the usual academic core subjects.
I am trying to direct my life toward finding a renewed sense of purpose and dedication and ALA has renewed my spirit.
Have a awe-inspiring day!
My African Culture: “When China Met Africa”
Starting on the 13th of June in Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa, The Encounters Documentary Film Festival will feature a series of African and other international documentaries including the likes of this one.
![My African Culture: Nelson Mandel ’s 8 Lessons on Leadership
“I was not a messiah, but an ordinary man who had become a leader because of extraordinary circumstances.”
In the revolution led by Mandela to transform a model of racial division and oppression into an open democracy, he demonstrated that he didn’t flinch from taking up arms, but his real qualities came to the fore after his time as an activist—during his 27 years in prison and in the eight years since his release, when he had to negotiate the challenge of turning a myth into a man. Below are Nelsons practical rules for success, many of them stem directly from his personal experience. All of them are calibrated to cause the best kind of trouble: the trouble that forces us to ask how we can make the world a better place.
Courage is not the absence of fear — it’s inspiring others to move beyond it
. In 1994, during the presidential-election campaign, Mandela got on a tiny propeller plane to fly down to the killing fields of Natal and give a speech to his Zulu supporters. Richard Stengel his Autobiography writer agreed to meet him at the airport, where we would continue our work after his speech. When the plane was 20 minutes from landing, one of its engines failed. Some on the plane began to panic. The only thing that calmed them was looking at Mandela, who quietly read his newspaper as if he were a commuter on his morning train to the office. The airport prepared for an emergency landing, and the pilot managed to land the plane safely. When Mandela and Stengel got in the backseat of his bulletproof BMW that would take us to the rally, he turned to Stengel and said, “Man, I was terrified up there!”
Lead from the front — but don’t leave your base behind Mandela is cagey. in 1985 he was operated on for an enlarged prostate. When he was returned to prison, he was separated from his colleagues and friends for the first time in 21 years. They protested. But as his longtime friend Ahmed Kathrada recalls, he said to them, “Wait a minute, chaps. Some good may come of this.”
Lead from the back — and let others believe they are in front. Mandela loved to reminisce about his boyhood and his lazy afternoons herding cattle. “You know,” he would say, “you can only lead them from behind.”
Know your enemy — and learn about his favorite sport. As far back as the 1960s, Mandela began studying Afrikaans, the language of the white South Africans who created apartheid. His comrades in the ANC teased him about it, but he wanted to understand the Afrikaner’s worldview; he knew that one day he would be fighting them or negotiating with them, and either way, his destiny was tied to theirs.
Keep your friends close — and your rivals even closer. Many of the guests Mandela invited to the house he built in Qunu were people whom, he told Stengel , he did not wholly trust. He had them to dinner; he called to consult with them; he flattered them and gave them gifts. Mandela is a man of invincible charm — and he has often used that charm to even greater effect on his rivals than on his allies.
Appearances matter — and remember to smile. When Mandela was a poor law student in Johannesburg wearing his one threadbare suit, he was taken to see Walter Sisulu. Sisulu was a real estate agent and a young leader of the ANC. Mandela saw a sophisticated and successful black man whom he could emulate. Sisulu saw the future.
Nothing is black or white. When Richard Stengel began a series of interviews, he would often ask Mandela questions like this one: When you decided to suspend the armed struggle, was it because you realized you did not have the strength to overthrow the government or because you knew you could win over international opinion by choosing nonviolence? He would then give him a curious glance and say, “Why not both?”
Quitting is leading too. In 1993, Mandela asked Richard Stengel knew of any countries where the minimum voting age was under 18. Stengel presented him with a rather undistinguished list: Indonesia, Cuba, Nicaragua, North Korea and Iran. He nodded and uttered his highest praise: “Very good, very good.” Two weeks later, Mandela went on South African television and proposed that the voting age be lowered to 14. “He tried to sell us the idea,” recalls Ramaphosa, “but he was the only [supporter]. And he had to face the reality that it would not win the day. He accepted it with great humility. He doesn’t sulk. That was also a lesson in leadership.”
Read more here.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lmhcx1QOYM1qgfbgio1_400.jpg)
My African Culture: Nelson Mandel ’s 8 Lessons on Leadership
“I was not a messiah, but an ordinary man who had become a leader because of extraordinary circumstances.”
In the revolution led by Mandela to transform a model of racial division and oppression into an open democracy, he demonstrated that he didn’t flinch from taking up arms, but his real qualities came to the fore after his time as an activist—during his 27 years in prison and in the eight years since his release, when he had to negotiate the challenge of turning a myth into a man. Below are Nelsons practical rules for success, many of them stem directly from his personal experience. All of them are calibrated to cause the best kind of trouble: the trouble that forces us to ask how we can make the world a better place.
- Courage is not the absence of fear — it’s inspiring others to move beyond it . In 1994, during the presidential-election campaign, Mandela got on a tiny propeller plane to fly down to the killing fields of Natal and give a speech to his Zulu supporters. Richard Stengel his Autobiography writer agreed to meet him at the airport, where we would continue our work after his speech. When the plane was 20 minutes from landing, one of its engines failed. Some on the plane began to panic. The only thing that calmed them was looking at Mandela, who quietly read his newspaper as if he were a commuter on his morning train to the office. The airport prepared for an emergency landing, and the pilot managed to land the plane safely. When Mandela and Stengel got in the backseat of his bulletproof BMW that would take us to the rally, he turned to Stengel and said, “Man, I was terrified up there!”
- Lead from the front — but don’t leave your base behind Mandela is cagey. in 1985 he was operated on for an enlarged prostate. When he was returned to prison, he was separated from his colleagues and friends for the first time in 21 years. They protested. But as his longtime friend Ahmed Kathrada recalls, he said to them, “Wait a minute, chaps. Some good may come of this.”
- Lead from the back — and let others believe they are in front. Mandela loved to reminisce about his boyhood and his lazy afternoons herding cattle. “You know,” he would say, “you can only lead them from behind.”
- Know your enemy — and learn about his favorite sport. As far back as the 1960s, Mandela began studying Afrikaans, the language of the white South Africans who created apartheid. His comrades in the ANC teased him about it, but he wanted to understand the Afrikaner’s worldview; he knew that one day he would be fighting them or negotiating with them, and either way, his destiny was tied to theirs.
- Keep your friends close — and your rivals even closer. Many of the guests Mandela invited to the house he built in Qunu were people whom, he told Stengel , he did not wholly trust. He had them to dinner; he called to consult with them; he flattered them and gave them gifts. Mandela is a man of invincible charm — and he has often used that charm to even greater effect on his rivals than on his allies.
- Appearances matter — and remember to smile. When Mandela was a poor law student in Johannesburg wearing his one threadbare suit, he was taken to see Walter Sisulu. Sisulu was a real estate agent and a young leader of the ANC. Mandela saw a sophisticated and successful black man whom he could emulate. Sisulu saw the future.
- Nothing is black or white. When Richard Stengel began a series of interviews, he would often ask Mandela questions like this one: When you decided to suspend the armed struggle, was it because you realized you did not have the strength to overthrow the government or because you knew you could win over international opinion by choosing nonviolence? He would then give him a curious glance and say, “Why not both?”
- Quitting is leading too. In 1993, Mandela asked Richard Stengel knew of any countries where the minimum voting age was under 18. Stengel presented him with a rather undistinguished list: Indonesia, Cuba, Nicaragua, North Korea and Iran. He nodded and uttered his highest praise: “Very good, very good.” Two weeks later, Mandela went on South African television and proposed that the voting age be lowered to 14. “He tried to sell us the idea,” recalls Ramaphosa, “but he was the only [supporter]. And he had to face the reality that it would not win the day. He accepted it with great humility. He doesn’t sulk. That was also a lesson in leadership.”
Read more here.
MTV is currently filming, “Clifton Shores,” a reality TV series about a group of young people (four Americans and three South Africans “serving as their tour guides to life in South Africa”) predictably working for an events company and “having fun” in Clifton, a wealthy district of Cape Town on the other side of Table Mountain. The producers promise that Cape Town, “… a new and exotic location for US audiences,” has “European style and African spirit in equal abundance,” and that the show “… will showcase the glamorous lifestyle of Cape Town’s rich and fabulous.”
Find out more here, here, and watch the full trailer here.
I will put my two cents in afterwards. But from the looks of the trailor you would not even KNOW that the show is in South Africa. I CAN’T. Watch, I will probably get sucked in -_-.
My International Culture: Jo’burg Fashion Week
I die.
