as Kirk Franklin would say. If you are on this site, you received an invitation to be. I had a couple of, shall we say, unexpected South African visitors to the site (feel free to email me for more info on that one), and it was hampering my ability to talk about what I was doing here and, more importantly, my ability to be snarky about it. New readers are welcome, they just need to email me for access. So take heart: you're a small, select group, the elite in-crowd, just like you wanted to be back in middle school.
SO: what's been going on? I am working on two projects here in Cape Town. The first is creating a document for an organization called The Foundation for Church-Led Restitution, to be used by churches becoming interested in a restitution-vs-charity paradigm. It's very interesting, although I have some ideological problems with it the deeper in I get. I'm eyeballs-deep in finishing a draft of it by Tuesday so I'll write more reflectively about it later.
The second is the script for an exhibition St. George's Cathedral--known as "The People's Cathedral," or more colloquially to most of us, "Desmond Tutu's church"--is creating to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Peace March of September 13 1989, which was one of the biggest marches Cape Town had ever seen and one of the death knells of apartheid (it happened just a few days after F.W. de Klerk, who would ultimately win the Nobel Peace Prize with Mandela, had taken over from P.W. Botha--apparently Afrikaner politicians are only allowed to have initials, not actual names). The Cathedral is creating a Space of Memory and Witness, which is a nice and slightly theological way of saying a museum, to commemorate the role it has played in justice movements over time, and this is its first exhibition, so I'm pretty excited to be the author of it. It's also allowed me to meet and interview some really interesting folks, including Allan Boesak--there's a post coming up on him--and the then-mayor and a lot of struggle activists. Who are a screwed-up lot as a whole, an observation which deserves its own post.
I have a script due tomorrow for them, which is obviously why I've chosen to blog now.
Anyway: welcome to the newly selective Cape Town to Cambridge! Consider yourself a VIP--I sure do.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Rock on. Good luck with the paper and the script. I hope that the "Space of Something and Witness" will be in full effect when I get there next June for World Cup, so I can tour and marvel (while telling everyone, "My friend Shannon wrote this!").
There should definitely be stuff up and running by the World Cup, Spiff, so I would be gratified if you would actually walk through shouting "My friend Shannon wrote this." Actually I can probably get you a guided tour if you want, by the guy I told you about in March, no less. ;)
Awww.. I totally feel loved and special. And I feel like I'm in the same room as you, which is even better... You always know how to make me smile, Shans! Thanks for always brightening my day... sure wish I could blog about my day and have it sound half as interesting... Oh, and I'll be sure to have an extra latte for you...
Dorothy, please do have a latte in my honor. I'll be glad that someone, somewhere is having one!
And of course you're special and loved, girl.
I am very relieved to be back in the Land of Exclusivity. You know I don't do well with "The Element," especially when they are lecherous and crazy.
Since there is no World Cup excursion in my future, please be sure to let me know where I can get a photo of this exhibition, so that I can place it on display and proudly proclaim - my friend Shannon wrote this (and she knows Demond TuTu !!)
Post a Comment