Spudcaster

Sermon: A New Creation

Spudcaster — Sun, 12 Sep 2021 17:06:00 +0200

Philip Bacchioni prepared this sermon for podcast for the Saint Barnabas United Church. It is based on the following scripture readings:

2 corinthians 5 : 16-21
John 17 : 20-24

Sermon: Abundant Life

Spudcaster — Sun, 05 Sep 2021 07:30:00 +0200

Reverend Heidi Petersen prepared this sermon for podcast. It is based on the following scripture reading:

John 10: 1-10

Women's Month Feature

Spudcaster — Tue, 31 Aug 2021 11:36:00 +0200

Shireen Motara

Shireen Motara is a Certified Coach and Founder CEO of Tara Transform.

She is deeply passionate about the potential of Women and Africa, addressing inequality, and committed to social change that values and recognises women’s rights and contributions.

Her conviction is that women should be able to claim their space anywhere.

As an experienced strategist and consultant, Shireen supports clients to design, implement and review strategies that advance social justice and address inequality - nationally, regionally and globally. Her clients include UN agencies, funders and philanthropic agencies; corporates and non-profits. For over two decades she has been working and volunteering for social justice.

Shireen has held roles in management, coaching, executive leadership and consulting in South Africa, SADC and the United Kingdom.

As a Board Leader, Shireen has been serving on boards since 1999. She has deep expertise in governance, and has supported organisations in building effective governance practices; with capable leadership.

Shireen believes in giving back and does so through her board services; as well as serving as a Mentor to youth entrepreneurs at the African Leadership Academy and the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation.

Her qualifications include a Masters degree in Law and post-graduate certifications in Coaching, HR and Business Administration.

Transcript

[00:00:00] spudcaster: baobulb.org is a podcasting platform and a medium for storytelling. This podcast is also available on all the major podcasting apps, including apple and Google podcasts, podcasts your life with baobulb.org

[00:00:15] Shireen: My name is Shireen Motara, and I'm a, um, women's coach, a certified coach. And I work only with women and I also run my own consulting practice where I do various types of work around, um, gender and development.

[00:00:33] Candice: So tell me a little bit about how you got into that particular, um, field of work. Um, what kind of led you there? You know, just a little bit of your background.

[00:00:42] Shireen: So I, I studied law at university and I was at the university of the Western Cape. So, and also I come from a family that was already very much involved in the anti-apartheid movement, which is why I went to UWC.

[00:00:59] And, um, at the university I connected with a group of women, um, and we, we called our group Kopanang and it was a women's group. And really the idea was about educating ourselves around women's rights, um, and understanding, you know, how the world is not ready for women or how the world doesn't just embrace women with open arms.

[00:01:24] So understanding the dynamics around that and how to engage with it. And then when I left university, you know, initially I did look at doing articles and so on, but I had a lot of conflicting emotions about representing, for example, an alleged rapist. Um, you know, it just didn't sit well with me to do that kind of thing.

[00:01:47] So I decided, I mean, well, my first job was at customer services, but after that, I was just looking to work in the women's rights sector and so my second job was in the women's rights sector. And I basically haven't looked back since, so even in my own business, you know, that's my focus. Okay.

[00:02:05] Candice: So that leads me to my next question.

[00:02:07] What are you most passionate about in your work and what drives you or motivates you to, to keep doing it?

[00:02:17] Shireen: So, I mean, I say that I, I exist to make the world a better place for women. In a nutshell, that's what I, um, you know, what I'm passionate about. So everything I do revolves around that, making the world better for women and girls, but coming from a trauma perspective and understanding.

[00:02:38] You know that even if women do a lot of development on themselves, educate themselves, you know, look for opportunities and so on, they still have to understand that there's a system that is holding them hostage or keeping them out. So they have to be able to understand that. So I try to bring both things together in my work.

[00:02:59] So even when I work with women in a coaching way, Um, I very much strive to work, to get them to understand that they have to build their voice and agency so that they can challenge the system and the systemic discrimination wherever they are, because unless we do that, um, you know, we will continue to struggle, um, to reach the kind of levels to achieve the kind of goals that you want to.

[00:03:24] Candice: Then just some context, let's, let's look at this,

[00:03:28] um, the world

[00:03:29] for women. How would you describe the world for women in 2021 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic? What kind of challenges do women face in this world?

[00:03:43] Shireen: Yeah. I mean, having this conversation now in 2021 with COVID and so on, it's it, it's not a good thing.

[00:03:51] Um, so we are not in a good space. Uh, in fact, over the last few years, we've moved backwards, as far as women's advancement is concerned. So COVID has in a sense, put us back. Um, so the world economic forum in their most recent global agenda report indicated that it's now going to take us 136 years to achieve gender equality, um, you know, and covid has exacerbated that.

[00:04:16] And so the issues that we face, uh, in general, we face issues around discrimination of women. Um, based on the fact that we are women. All right. So we kind of assume that we need to have nurturing roles. You only good enough to be mothers and cooking and so on. That has changed to some extent. So yes, some of us, um, are getting education.

[00:04:37] In fact, if you look at education and even in the south African context, we are more women than men in tertiary education, um, all achieving graduate, but then when you start looking at the workplace. Um, women get stuck at a certain level in the workplace. So women get stuck for example, at the professional level in the workplace, but they don't move up into the senior top management levels of the workplace.

[00:05:02] Um, so even when we say, you know, we have transformed boards and so on. The challenge is that boards are not driving a change narrative for women. So women continue to be affected by that. And the other thing that women are affected by is the gender pay gap. So on average women earn 30% less than men in same or similar roles.

[00:05:23] Um, so that also is a big issue. And we have to understand that in the context of, for example, in South Africa, where over 41% of households are headed by women only. So, which means that, you know, the majority of households are looked after by women. And, um, if women are not earning enough, if they don't have meaningful jobs, if they don't have decent work, then it means they are unable to look after their families.

[00:05:51] And that's also in the context where we know we have extremely high levels of poverty inequality. Um, and I mean employment for women as well. And in the south African context, we've seen that over the last two years with COVID as well. So those that are most affected by unemployment are young black women. They are the ones that are the least able to access employment opportunities.

[00:06:15] And they are also the ones that are kind of stuck in the system. So we heard this week about teenage pregnancies. Um, and then we stopped blaming young women for that, but essentially we are not interrogating the system that is a leading to that. You know, how old are the men or the boys that have been having sex with these girls?

[00:06:33] Um, you know, what is happening in the family and the community and the society and all of these issues, um, because we want to pretend that sex is taboo. And then when these things happen, then we want to blame girls. And from a COVID perspective, I mean, the other thing that we've also picked up is that, um, In relation to, for example, the teenage pregnancy issue, but also GBV.

[00:06:56] We had significant lockdowns, you know, and in many of those cases, women, younger women, girl children, boy children for that matter was stuck in homes with abusers were not able to go anyway. Were not able to do anything and as a result we saw that spike in gender based violence as well. And then the unpaid care up to three times more, um, Women's role in unpaid care has increased by three times more than what it usually is, and it already is a lot.

[00:07:25] And now we know with health issues or COVID issues, uh, in the beginning, men were primarily affect. The most. Um, and so women often have to bear that caring role. And then the working from home scenario where employers did not recognise or understand that, you know, working from home. So not, it's not just, I'm moving my laptop in my home.

[00:07:47] And then we all find I can sit there and talk to you for eight hours. It's understanding that when we say it's lockdown, it also means children have to stay home. Education has to be done at home. Um, we have to take care of the household. We have to feed people, et cetera, et cetera. So. Those are some of the things that are happening.

[00:08:07] And essentially we are in a space where globally, and in South Africa, we are moving backwards as far as women's rights are concerned.

[00:08:13] Candice: So that sounds so bleak. I mean, I know it's bleak, you know, that nothing you told me, just shocked me at all, but that sounds bleak. How do you, how do you coach women to navigate that space? How do you kind of break that generational curse?

[00:08:31] That system, because it's been in place for, for, for, for centuries. Um, how do you help women in that space

[00:08:37] Shireen: So, I mean, it's not being totally doom and gloom because you know, you and I can have this conversation because to some extent we have some agency in, in being able to kind of control our lives, right. So it's not totally doom and gloom.

[00:08:54] It's just that we are moving backwards with the regressing based on the progress that we made from, you know, when we became a democratic country and in the early two thousands and so on. So women do have opportunities. For example, my coaching clients are generally women who have who are professionals, um, they have fairly good roles.

[00:09:16] Um, they have fairly good salaries. Bearing in mind the gender pay gap. Um, but the, the problem is always how they have to navigate a system that is set up to keep them out. Um, and you know, this is often the message that I have to tell I have to convey to them, which is, it's not just about you and firstly, it's not you having to fix yourself.

[00:09:39] It's the system having to fix itself, uh, to open up the door for you. You are doing a lot and we see that women go. The extra mile from the education I've seen. Uh, I've had recently a coaching client. She's got two master's degrees because she wants to move into a new area of work. So she decided she must do another master's degree, just so that but she has over 20 years of work experience.

[00:10:05] So, you know, we, we kind of try to think that we have to keep building ourselves doing better, having more degrees, having more experience in order to achieve opportunities, but we can do a lot of that, but the system is not opening up. So we have to work together to challenge the system. And which is why I say to everyone, I mean, any place where you are you have to build, like, one of the things we talk about is building voice and agency, because yes, you have degrees and so on, but if you just keep quiet and you just allow things to happen, then it means you are also letting the

[00:10:42] system do what it does. So we have to start building voice and agency to start challenging that wherever we are. So how in the workplace do we question policies around gender equality? How do we question the structures that are supposed to be supporting us commission for gender equality commission for employment equity, et cetera.

[00:11:00] We need to be holding those people accountable, but then also solidarity, right? How do we support each other? Um, so instead of, you know, standing with our employer in the workplace, because we know what's, you know, what's best for us, we should be supporting other women who are affected. So, you know, for me, it's really about, um, doing that and not being a bystander.

[00:11:27] Um, so, you know, nearly challenging the system in the ways that you possibly can and still be safe because, you know, that's also an issue. So that's what I try to do with my clients. It's, it's the ability to build their own resilience and agency, but also their ability to see the system for what it is, and to think of how they can intervene in that system.

[00:11:53] Candice: Wow. That sounds amazing. When, when, when can you start working on me?

[00:12:01] Shireen: Well I work with you and you work on yourself

[00:12:02] Candice: um, some of your, some of your clients include, uh, UN agencies. Um, just, just tell me about some of the work that you've done in the NGO space for the UN for some of these clients.

[00:12:16] Shireen: Yeah. So in my consulting practice, I do a lot of work around gender in different ways. Um, so for the, I've done a lot of work, for example, with UN women and the UN in South Africa.

[00:12:28] Um, so I don't know if you know about CEDAW. So the convention on the elimination of discrimination against women it's been around for many years, South Africa is a signatory. And, and every year we have to submit that report as a country on our progress. So, um, uh, last year in the beginning of the year, I did the CEDAW report for UN, for all the UN agencies in South Africa.

[00:12:50] Um, and that really requires assessing every aspect of women's lives and where we are at in relation to that convention. And then making, um, recommendations on how to deal with it is, you know, that's where I also got a picture of how we are moving backwards and how things are stuck. Um, so that's part some of the work that I do, I do work for international

[00:13:16] Um, governmental who are located in South Africa. So for example, example, the German development corporation GIZ. I do a lot of work on gender analysis for them on different programs. So they run a number of different programs with the south African government that looks at addressing poverty, addressing unemployment and so on.

[00:13:40] So those would look at, um, new energy, um, you know, new energy models. Accessing biodiversity or leveraging biodiversity as a form of, um, you know, using our what we have the resources we have to improve, um, employment and job creation and so on. Um, and so within those, I would often look at what is the situation of women?

[00:14:04] How are women being affected? How are women needing to be supported in that program? How are women missing from that? And then making recommendations again for them in terms of how they proceed with the program and make sure that they incorporate, you know, the understanding of like men and women's needs are in the system and then how to fix those or support those better.

[00:14:27] Um, I also last year did some research for UN women around covid, the impact of COVID on women. Um, and I've, I've supported UN women on doing, um, uh, workshops on, um, women, small businesses, um, in relation to procurement. I most recently I published an article actually in the, in the business day around this issue of preferential procurement, because our government, um, well, our President

[00:14:55] Uh, most recently at the generation equality forum, which is the global forum that looks at gender equality said that we will now South African women will now be prioritised for 40% of procurement. You know, although that's something he said last year with the womens day, uh, but that we have not made real progress on that.

[00:15:16] And you know, that we’re very quick at throwing out statistics and commitments and so on, and similarly to this year, but we're not moving forward. I kind of bring my, my, my experience as a woman I kind of bring my experience in the women's rights sector. My experience working with women and my technical expertise around gender, too, working with these different agencies, many of them who are here to support the south African government and to help South Africa advance its goals.

[00:15:47] Candice: Awesome. Tell me, tell me a bit about your work on boards and with the African leadership academy and the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation..

[00:15:57] Shireen: Okay. So, uh, for the African leadership academy and the Allan Gray Orbis foundation, I see myself as a youth mentor. Um, so my role in those with the African leadership academy that would include, um, they have a very different model of education, right? So they kind of a high school but a very different kind of high school.

[00:16:17] Um, their emphasis is on leadership, building leadership and entrepreneurial skills. So they have, uh, all the students, um, um, organise themselves into little businesses and they have to kind of sell products or services. And so then each, um, each business needs to have its own board. So I, for the last two years been sitting on some of those boards and the idea is really to support

[00:16:40] these young people to think about how to set up businesses, to think about their market, to think about operations, finance, but also their own role in kind of running a business. Um, so that's, that's what we do with the African leadership Academy and it's really supporting young people to, to, um, to be leaders at a young age and also to embrace entrepreneurship.

[00:17:03] And then similarly, with the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation, I'm also a mentor. And there again I don't know if you know, the foundation is also very much about supporting and, um, use, um, and, and wanting to drive entrepreneurship as the answer to south Africa's problems. And so they support the students from primary school up to university after they have businesses and so on, um, with funding and other support mentoring and so on to kind of drive that goal.

[00:17:37] So I serve as a mentor, uh, on the foundation and I currently mentor, for example, a young man, who's now going to do his masters in, uh, artificial intelligence at Cambridge university. Who's wanting to develop his, um, emotional intelligence and relational skills. So that's the role I play as a youth mentor.

[00:17:59] I also have on my own project, which is called young women thrive. Um, we just started that project this year, which is, um,

Sermon: God Never Grows Weary

Spudcaster — Sun, 29 Aug 2021 07:00:00 +0200

Reverend Heidi Petersen prepared this sermon for podcast for the Saint Barnabas United Church. It is based on the following scripture reading: Isaiah 40 verses 28 - 31

Sermon: Don't Disturb the Patriarchal Order

Spudcaster — Sat, 28 Aug 2021 23:00:00 +0200

Reverend Kelvin Harris prepared this sermon for podcast for the Bosmont Congregational church. It is based on the following scripture readings:

1 Samuel 13: 1-22 (Main Text)
1 Corinthians 1: 27-28
Matthew 5: 13-16

Sermon: God's Command And Promise

Spudcaster — Sun, 22 Aug 2021 12:33:00 +0200

Reverend Heidi Petersen prepared this sermon for podcast for the Saint Barnabas United Church. It is based on Isaiah 41:10.

Sermon: God Makes Everything New

Spudcaster — Sat, 21 Aug 2021 23:00:00 +0200

Reverend Kelvin Harris prepared this sermon for podcast for the Bosmont Congregational church. It is based on the following scripture readings:

Isaiah 10:1-4
Luke 1: 26-36

Sermon: Giving It Up

Spudcaster — Sun, 15 Aug 2021 09:30:00 +0200

Reverend Kelvin Harris prepared this sermon for podcast for the Bosmont Congregational church. It is based on the following scripture readings:

Ruth 1: 16-22
Isaiah 11: 1-5
Matthew 1:5-6

Sermon: Together

Spudcaster — Sun, 15 Aug 2021 07:30:00 +0200

Reverend Heidi Petersen prepared this sermon for podcast for the Saint Barnabas United church. It is based on 1 Corinthians 12 verse 26.

Sermon: Quarantine

Spudcaster — Sun, 08 Aug 2021 08:00:00 +0200

Reverend Heidi Petersen prepared this sermon for podcast for the Saint Barnabas United Church. It is based on Mark 1: 12-13.

Sermon: The Christian Life Is Not Always Plain Sailing

Spudcaster — Sat, 07 Aug 2021 23:00:00 +0200

Reverend Kelvin Harris prepared this sermon for podcast for the Bosmont Congregational church. It is based on Ruth 1: 16-22.

Sermon: Change

Spudcaster — Sun, 01 Aug 2021 07:00:00 +0200

Reverend Heidi Petersen prepared this sermon for podcast for the Saint Barnabas United Church. It is based on Isaiah 43:19.

Sermon: Death - What lies Beyond Death?

Spudcaster — Sat, 31 Jul 2021 23:00:00 +0200

Reverend Kelvin Harris prepared this sermon for podcast for the Bosmont Congregational Church. It is based on the following scripture readings:

Psalm 116: 15-19
Acts 7: 51 - 8:1
Luke 24: 1-12

Sermon: Lord, Heal Our Land

Spudcaster — Sun, 25 Jul 2021 07:30:00 +0200

Reverend Heidi Petersen prepared this sermon for podcast for the Saint Barnabas United Church. It is based on selected versus from Habakuk 1.

Sermon: Obedient Unto Death

Spudcaster — Sat, 24 Jul 2021 23:00:00 +0200

Reverend Kelvin Harris prepared this sermon for podcast for the Bosmont Congregational church. It is based on the following scripture readings:

Psalm 130: 1-8
Acts 7:51 - 8:1
Mark 15: 37-38

Sermon: Hope We Will Not Let You Go

Spudcaster — Sun, 18 Jul 2021 10:18:00 +0200

Reverend Heidi Petersen delivered this sermon for podcast. It is based on isaiah 42 verses 1 - 4. The intercessory prayer is by Abby and Victor Jacobs.

Sermon: They Have It In For Me

Spudcaster — Sat, 17 Jul 2021 23:00:00 +0200

Reverend Kelvin Harris delivered this sermon for podcast for the Bosmont Congregational church. It is based on the following scripture readings:

Psalm 94: 1 - 23
Acts 6: 8 - 15
Mark 14: 57 - 65

How To Podcast: Episode 3

Spudcaster — Mon, 12 Jul 2021 08:00:00 +0200

This episode features Solid Gold Podcasts Gavin Kennedy! We discuss the future of podcasting and the unbridled power of the spoken word. In this podcast series, Candice Nolan interviews professional podcasters or people working in the podcasting industry.

Transcript

Spudcaster: [00:00:00] baobulb.org is a podcasting platform and a medium for storytelling. This podcast is also available on all the major podcasting apps, including apple and Google podcasts, podcasts your life with baobulb.org.

[00:00:24] Candice: [00:00:24] Thank you so much for all of your help in getting this set up and your patience. I appreciate it. So we'll start off first. If you wouldn't mind, just introducing yourself for my listeners, your name for the record and in what capacity you're speaking to me.

[00:00:35] Gavin: [00:00:35] Oh, well, nice to meet you, Candice. I've seen a couple of your posts on social media and seen your website. It's great work you guys are doing as well.

[00:00:42] My name is Gavin Kennedy. I've founded Solid Gold Podcasts a good few years ago. Funny enough, after driving around in my car one day, I just realised I wasn't listening to the radio anymore. I was just listening to podcasts and, uh, And wondered if this was going to be a thing. So, you know, it was a few years ago, added a studio and started making podcasts and added another one and another one and another one.

[00:01:02] And, uh, we're up to 11 studios now. And yeah, we, we got this amazing podcast, creative hub. It's a space where people engage with the spoken words. In and out of the building, people here to research record scripts, voiceover, audio, books, and podcasts. That's what we're doing.

[00:01:23] Candice: [00:01:23] Tell me what was it that, what was the moment when the podcast bug hit?

[00:01:28] Was there like a particular moment where you fell in love with radio? Or has it always been something that's part of you

[00:01:34] Gavin: [00:01:34] I've been in radio and television about 30 years, uh, we were, we were involved in the very early days when broadcasting was deregulated and SABC sold its stations and there were a whole lot of new applicants.

[00:01:49] Uh, we applied for a license and unfortunately we didn't get it, but we kept the solid gold brand and we did a whole lot of other things along the way. So we did in store radio, we've done all sorts of things. Uh, I was first a podcast listener 15, 16 years ago when podcasting first happened, you know, back then it was really hard.

[00:02:05] You had to find an RSS feed and copy it to iTunes and then synchronise iTunes and then synchronise your iPod with iTunes. So I did that for a little while, a couple of years, and then it just, it's just too much work and gave it up and. Must been nearly 10 years again before came back to podcasting and, uh, came back strong.

[00:02:24] You know, it's, the friction has been removed with the iPhone, making it easy to integrate everything. That's probably the thing that made it all revive. And we got back into it again.

[00:02:36] Candice: [00:02:36] But what was the thing that made you fall in love with the spoken word? You mentioned the spoken word.

[00:02:42] Gavin: [00:02:42] Wow. Uh, it's it's it's a long time ago.

[00:02:45] It's kind of a sequence of things. Yeah, well, very funny story. We were sitting in office one Thursday afternoon, when somebody came in and said, we received a temporary broadcast license for an event. And that was Thursday, but we had to be on air by the Sunday. So between Thursday afternoon in a country that had no independent broadcasting, we set up a radio station, built it, equipped, it, hired the people and started broadcasting from the Victoria showgrounds that same Sunday night, it was just such a buzz, um, to start a radio station like that.

[00:03:20] Candice: [00:03:20] Oh, that's awesome. That's like the dream, isn't it? I mean, that's the thing. Wow. That's awesome.

[00:03:26] Gavin: [00:03:26] Okay. It was an interesting time there in the nineties.

[00:03:30] Candice: [00:03:30] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I can imagine that. Must've been really exciting.

[00:03:31] Gavin: [00:03:31] There's lots of other things along the way. I just, I think there's something innate in us.

[00:03:36] I think as, as a species, you know, we're a couple of hundred thousand years old and it's only the last 10 or so thousand years, maybe 20,000 years that we've been able to write down and recall history and our stories. Uh, other than that, for the majority of our human existence, it's been oral, it's just been oral tradition.

[00:03:55] So I think the spoken word and podcasting and audio books and, and this whole genre, this whole thing we're experiencing, I think it taps into something fundamental about being human that we like to tell stories. We like to hear stories. We like to share our experiences in an oral way.

[00:04:11] Candice: [00:04:11] Hmm. No, that's, that's a perfect answer to the question.

[00:04:13] Just give us a bit more information around your background and how you got into podcasting. You mentioned that you worked in television and radio. Um, what, what made you jump to podcasting in particular, did you get bored of radio and TV?

[00:04:32] Gavin: [00:04:32] I think maybe not to do with boredom. Um, it's to do with part of the reason that there are a number of reasons podcasting is exploding, and one of them is the De-networkificationb.

[00:04:40] If, if, uh, if that's a word, you know, most of the time I've been involved in broadcasting, we were reliant on networks. We only got work if SABC or MNET hired us. It wasn't like we could get up one day and say, let's do something let's make television. There was no way to put the television. Let's make radio.

[00:04:56] Now we can't get a license. It was a very restricted network, vertical environment, and very, very controlled. And that's frustrating. You go, I've got this great idea. Let's make this program. Oh, wait, hang on. Let me go first see if it matches what one of the networks wants to do, and if they'll buy it from us and let us make it for them, you know, if they feel nice about it.

[00:05:15] Um, and there's been a democratisation by saying let's de-network. Whatever content I feel like, and put it up there and make it available as a podcast or a YouTube channel, um, without being reliant on a network. So, so it's that shift towards content being the most important thing up until now it well not up until now up until more recently the network was what controlled media, but it's not anymore.

[00:05:38] Now it's content that's going to drive things.

[00:05:40] Candice: [00:05:40] Okay. What do you wish you knew when you started out podcasting? And I'm talking both as a podcaster and as a listener.

[00:05:51] Gavin: [00:05:51] Golden rule. Don't wait to start, just get going, man. Um, if you're not embarrassed about your first podcast then you waited too long to make your first podcast, you know, you really just got to get out there and do it.

[00:06:02] Um, I think that can be a paralysis and spending too much time in planning this perfect series and podcasts. And, and, and I'm not suggesting that pick up your phone and start a 10 pod series without giving it some thought, um, you should have a strategy. You should have a plan. You should have an objective.

[00:06:18] You should have measureables that relate to it, but don't overthink it because by the time you've made three or four episodes, your thinking has changed and your, your creative process should respond to what's happening. So, yeah. Start just start, but have a purpose. Don’t just think that people want to hear you and your two friends sitting around talking garbage and no, they don't, but if you're talking garbage about a specific topic and you're all well versed on it and the purpose is to inform them on it, then yeah.

[00:06:47] There's, there's a possibility that will be engaging. As a studio. Wow. You know, there are a few, there are a few people in South Africa who are quite early to the space and there's some people who've been making podcasts for 10 years, uh, in, in South Africa that that's really something. I think it, would it be nice

[00:07:06] It would have been nice to know when the growth explosion was going to happen. Uh, you know, look into the future. I think one of the advantages we have is we are following a very similar trajectory to what the United States and Europe are following. So it's in a sense it's quite predictable that private podcasting is going to be big. Branded and corporate podcasting is gonna be big.

[00:07:27] Yeah, what do I wish I'd known sooner. That's a really, if I can go back. Yeah. Build, build more studios sooner is what I wish I did.

[00:07:35] Candice: [00:07:35] Okay, just get on top of the curve before it hit basically

[00:07:39] Gavin: [00:07:39] Capacity creates opportunity. If you've got one studio and a whole bunch of people lined up for it, uh, it looks like X. If you've got two, then somebody can walk in with a spontaneous an idea.

[00:07:51] You know, the number of studios we've got. Now, you can pretty much walk in here at any time and not wait very long and we can squeeze you into one of the studios, which means you can go from ideation to published in a very, very short period of time. I think there's value.

[00:08:04] Candice: [00:08:04] Let's dispel some myths and talk about the monetisation question.

[00:08:09] What is the potential of podcasting in terms of, um, generating income or generating some kind of income for hosts or for studios like yourself? Have you guys found the winning formula?

[00:08:24] Gavin: [00:08:24] The three fundamental questions that podcasters are, uh, dealing with, you know, it's, um, advertising or monetisation of podcasts is one of the big challenges and there's no simple answers.

[00:08:34] It's a multifaceted, almost a trick question. So let's look at the highlights of who monetises podcasts best. And then we come to Joe Rogan, podcasting didn't make Joe Rogan famous. He didn't make his money out of podcasting. He was famous already. So Joe Rogan is making podcasting famous, not the other way round.

[00:08:51] He already had a following. He was already able to monetise whatever he does. You know, if he decided to put vinyl stickers on cars with his name on it, he'll make money out of it. Cause he's Joe Rogan. So for you and I to start a podcast and say, we want to be the next Joe Rogan, it's not apples and apples.

[00:09:07] He started famous from somewhere else and brought that fame into a new medium. So in that respect, trying to be a mass medium is really, really hard. It's as hard as trying to be a radio star or a TV store or an influencer it's as hard to make money out of podcasting as it is out of all of those, it's not unique.

[00:09:25] In other regards, you know, when we talk about, uh, the majority of our work is corporate work, we work with brands and, and, and listed companies and SMEs in a lot of respects. Podcasting is like a billboard or a business card. I don't know if you remember business cause pre pandemic, Candice, we used to print them and hand them out.

[00:09:45] Candice: Yeah, yeah,

[00:09:49] Gavin: yeah. Right. So, so, so let's look at a podcast as a form of business card ho how did you justify spending money on business cards? How did you monetise your business cards? Hmm, you're not trying to sell a business card. So the printer can monetise business cards. They print business cards and get paid for them. So in a respect of being a studio is people pay us to make podcasts.

[00:10:07] So that side looks a lot like being a printer, printing business cards, but printing the business card. That's cool. And people look at it and go, oh, that's a cool card. And they remember you. And they remember what you do is the real value of the business card. So if you look at podcasting as that, It's a way to introduce yourself to people, make them understand or help them understand who you are, what you do, and take them through the journey from know who you are.

[00:10:30] Like you trust you, try your product, buy your product, repeat, buy your product, then refer your product to somebody else that, that whole sequence, the podcast can play an important roll in leading customers of your real product and service through that journey, not podcasting being the service to the end product, but r[00:10:52]

[00:10:52] Candice: [00:10:52] I love that answer that analogy because it's actually spot on that's exactly what a podcast is. It's, it's, it's a presentation of something.

[00:11:00] Gavin: [00:11:00] Yeah, it can be it's, you know, it's not, for some people, we get a number of people coming here and they just want to make a podcast. It's like saying, Candice, do you play the piano?

[00:11:11] And you love playing the piano, but you have no intention of playing for an orchestra. There might be part of you that says I can't wait to save up to buy a baby grand piano and spend a couple of hundred thousand on it and play beautiful music in my, in my lounge with no intention of monetising that.

[00:11:25] So, so there's that, I mean, if you take up mountain biking and spend a couple of hundred thousand rent on a bicycle without any intention of monetising it, so it's okay to be a podcast as a whole. And like any other hobby you spend time and money doing it. You don't have to buy a great baby grand piano to monetise and you don't have to make a podcast to monetise it.

[00:11:46] It's perfectly okay for a podcast to be a hobby. It does, it doesn't have to be monetised. Um, but the most sensible way to monetise a podcast. Is to integrate it into overall communication strategy. It's part of that. You wouldn't go well, I made a podcast. I can stop all my printing brochures or I can delete my website.

[00:12:04] No, it just fits into that. It fits in a very useful way in that Google are prioritising voice now. So Google transcribes podcasts and index the spoken word. So a year or two from now, you're gonna be able to search for a sentence in natural language and Google will come back and say, well, that phrase was used in a podcast.

[00:12:23] Would you like to listen to the podcast on that? Candice: Wow. Gavin: And that's extremely valuable.

[00:12:28] Candice: [00:12:28] Yeah, that that would be, I mean, imagine research purposes, just getting your, your information out. It's just the potential is that's awesome. That's cool.

[00:12:38] Gavin: [00:12:38] Voice search optimisation is going to massively overtake search engine optimisation.

[00:12:42] You know, natural language spoken word is very different from the way you use text to search. And if you're looking for a restaurant, you'll just say restaurant, Cape town. But when you're speaking, you'll go, Hey, Google. I’m looking for an Italian restaurant in downtown Joburg or CBD, and that's different.

[00:13:00] And it's going to come back to you with different stuff. When it's spoken word, rather than sending you to a website, it's going to send you to podcasts and you're a hundred percent, right. In terms of research, it's going to be amazing.

[00:13:10] Candice: [00:13:10] This leads me to my next question. What do you think the future is of podcasting?

[00:13:15] Gavin: [00:13:15] You know, podcasting kind of has multiple meanings would podcast. And we're still in a very interesting stage. It's very nascent and there are a lot of people still discovering podcasts for the first time every day. I mean, I'm sure you four or five years ago when you mentioned a podcast, people said, huh, and now they're going, I don't know where to find them.

[00:13:30] And now they're asking for recommendations on which ones to listen to. And there's still people down your street who don't know what a podcast is. So it's early. So what a podcast really. Is a little bit vague for some people. So technically a podcast is something with an RSS feed that you can listen to with a podcast player.

[00:13:49] But when people say I'm going to listen to a podcast, we'll make a podcast. What they really mean is I'm going to record a conversation between me and somebody else and share it with people. So it's like a radio show, but made by me whether it's available on apple, on Spotify or whether I have an audio file that I sent by WhatsApp, that's a podcast.

[00:14:11] So it's kind of has those two meanings. I think the word podcast is going to become less and less important as time goes. You know, you, you don't go down, you don't go down to the nearby shop and get The Argus newspaper. You just go and get The Argus. Yeah, and I think we're going to find, we don't go sit and go listen to the XYZ podcast.

[00:14:29] We're just going to go say, Hey, have you listened to Candice's conversation with Gavin. The word podcast doesn't add so much value five years from now. Right now it helps people contextualise or understand where to find it. But I think that's the only thing that's going to go away. The spoken words, not going anywhere.

[00:14:47] Audiobooks overtook eBooks in 2020, Amazon audible sold more audio books than Kindle eBooks. That's not going to slow down. We've seen massive growth in self published, audio books, author read, and I think we're going to see a massive iteration and a massive explosion in the kinds of things that people are doing with spoken word.

[00:15:09] So we're already seeing private podcast intended for companies to use internally, uh, welcome to the company, listened to this series of podcasts as part of your onboarding process, weekly, monthly communication, premium content. So as a company with a client, you push out some of your content to the public, but some of it you make premium value for your paying subscribers or your paying customers, not trying to monetise the podcast, but you're trying to add value to the business that you really run.

[00:15:38] Um, audio books? What makes audible, the gorilla in the room with audio books is that they have a way of protecting the content. But in principle, it's very hard to tell the difference between an audio book and a podcast series. It's...

The Faith of a Child

Spudcaster — Sun, 11 Jul 2021 07:30:00 +0200

Philip Bacchioni prepared this sermon for podcast for the Saint Barnabas United Church.

Funeral Service for the late Denzyl Petersen

Spudcaster — Mon, 05 Jul 2021 12:03:00 +0200

The Saint Barnabas United Church bid farewell to one of it's sons, Denzyl Petersen, who sadly succumbed to covid-19. Reverend Heidi Petersen lead the tributes for her husband. The Reverend Desmond van der Water officiated over the service which has been reproduced as a podcast.

I Want To Become a New Person

Spudcaster — Sun, 04 Jul 2021 11:16:00 +0200

Reverend Kelvin Harris delivered this sermon for podcast for the Bosmont Congregational Church. It is based on the following scripture readings:

Acts 5: 5-10
Isaiah 43: 18-19
Mark 8:35

God Always Outwits the Power of Evil

Spudcaster — Sun, 04 Jul 2021 10:24:00 +0200

Reverend Kelvin Harris delivered this sermon for podcast for the Bosmont Congregational church. It is based on the following scripture readings:

Acts 5: 17-42
Mark 15: 12-15
Mark 16: 6-7

This is a follow up to last week's message entitled "I Want To Become a New person".

Plain Talk

Spudcaster — Sun, 04 Jul 2021 07:30:00 +0200

Philip Bacchioni prepared this sermon for podcast. It is a service to the Saint Barnabas United church in Florida, Gauteng.

Update on Key Projects

Spudcaster — Fri, 02 Jul 2021 08:00:00 +0200

This is a podcast where we talk art and art processes. This week I'll be flying solo, unpacking my research into the pro versus anti vax debate. I also give you the low down on an exciting project involving a youth and street parliament.

Transcript

Wesley: [00:00:00] Everybody Wesley Pepper here and you’re tuned into my podcast, Wesley Pepper’s, art Lexica, which is brought to you by spudcaster and baobulb. Thanks everybody for tuning in, uh, greetings to all my new and existing listeners. Thank you for coming. I mean that, I think. Um, yeah. Thanks for coming in. Thanks for tuning in, man.

[00:00:28] Yeah. Um, let's start off with, um, a recap on last week's episode. Thanks. Thanks to Ikaye for coming through, my brother. Really enjoyed your, uh, your energy. I really enjoyed the energy guys, a very passionate guy. Um, I'm sure you could have heard and really cool coolest insight, I thought it was really insightful how we described, you know, the behind the scenes, side of documentary making the technical side.

[00:00:50] I really enjoyed that. I also enjoyed his opinion on COVID cause he was really honest and I like the way he said it'll change. So I took, I understand you. I, and I understand what you're saying. Yeah, man. Um, moving on to today's episode, uh, I had

[00:01:07] I had to move this episode up by two weeks.

[00:01:12] Actually I was going to do it in a roundabout, uh, round about the 9th of July, but, um, My guests, my originally scheduled guests, um, there was a bit of a scheduling problem, you know, Blessed.

[00:01:25] I mean, he's, he's son, you know, his lady gave birth to his son and Zama also had a bit of a. Yeah. A bit of a scheduling thing, so I had to move things around a bit, but no stress, man. Um, I'll be. Yeah, those, those are two episodes I'm really looking forward to because they're all going to be based all around poetry, which is, I actually never done an episode, which is just about poetry.

[00:01:48] So definitely looking forward to talking to those brothers. Um, and I'll be giving you guys like, you know, I'll be telling you guys when. You know, when they'll be coming up, um, on my social media pages in those handles, I'll give to you at the end of this episode.

[00:02:02] Um, so today's episode I’m flying

[00:02:05] solo and, um, I'm actually going to talk to you about two things.

[00:02:08] Uh, firstly is a project, a really cool, uh, Action research project that I was part of last year with south Africans city network, and Ebukhosini solutions with Baba Buntu.

[00:02:21] It was really, really dope, man. I'm going to explain to you guys why,

[00:02:24] um, also a lot about, um, being by being part of this, um, research project also gave me a lot of insight to, uh, You know what I wanted to invite on this platform because we came up with some really, really intresting data and I would explain it to you guys, but about my, um, my role in it, you know, um, I was a creative coordinator.

[00:02:44] Um, it was really interesting. It was really interesting. So I would unpack that a bit, but, and I will also tell you is, um, give us a bit of a recap, which I think is kind of necessary because as you know, I've been asking my guests every single week about their opinion on, um, COVID-19 so I will give you guys a bit of a recap because I think it's really.

[00:02:59] And it's really something that I'm

[00:03:01] really glad that

[00:03:02] I started, uh, monitoring from the beginning of the year, because I just see it just growing and growing. So, yeah, man, that's, what's, that's, what's going to happen today. Um, I hope you guys will find today's episode kind of interesting. I hope you do, uh, I’ll be doing my best.

[00:03:16] Uh, yeah. So I'll talk to you straight after this.

[00:03:21] spudcaster: [00:03:21] baobulb.org is a podcasting platform and a medium for storytelling. This podcast is also available on all the major podcasting apps, including apple and Google podcasts, podcasts, your life with baobulb.org,

[00:03:39] Wesley: [00:03:39] Hey everybody. Yes. Wesley Pepper here again. Uh, yeah, let's get straight into it.

[00:03:43] Um, as I said in the intro, I'm going to be talking about two topics in particular, the first being the. The data that I collected so far on, um, on, uh,

[00:03:54] the pro versus anti-vax,

[00:03:57] um, top, um, theme that I've been asking all my guests. So just to recap very quickly, I've been doing that since the, uh, since the first episode this year.

[00:04:06] Um, and, uh, I've been asking all my guests right towards the end of the, uh, uh, of the interview, um, reason for doing that is because by that time we were a bit more comfortable and a bit more easier talking to each other. And I will sort of get an honest, um, answer, which is what I was looking for. And the information I've been getting was was, was a lot, um, that's the right word to say, but it was substantial.

[00:04:31] And, um, I've got, um, I categorise it sort of in three. Um, and the first one being the guys who was like, hell no, the, the, the guys in the middle who says, like, we don't really have a choice and the other

[00:04:41] guys were like, nah, or like, well, yes,

[00:04:44] but, uh, You know, there's always a bit of a, but, um, and I guess the, but there at the end of the day is

[00:04:51] I don't think anybody really

[00:04:53] was like too keen to get like that jab in there.

[00:04:57] Um, you know, I can't pick that up. I don't know. I think if, if, if anybody had a choice, they would have probably just said no, but you know, circumstance

[00:05:05] has it that we don't really do. And that's part

[00:05:08] of the reason why. You know, I’m doing this.

[00:05:10] And, um, most of the guys, what I, what I've noticed that the overwhelming majority, um, of my guests are working class people, you know, artists

[00:05:21] who are working,

[00:05:22] they've got responsibilities, et cetera, et cetera. And, uh, You know, we have careers and the career usually comes first. And in order to, I guess, to have a career, you don't really have, have a choice.

[00:05:35] So, um, most of them, um, um, well, we don't really have a choice and that's, that is, that is the vast majority actually, uh,

[00:05:45] of that. I would say

[00:05:46] they, they, they, in about the plus 40% of, uh, you know, uh, just over, let’s say under 50%, definitely. Um, but of that 40 let's just give it a round figures, a lot 45% of them, of those 45%.

[00:06:05] Some of them and don't have the, uh, well, some of them, especially

[00:06:08] the south Africans, uh, I don't have an exact number, which I

[00:06:12] was what I was trying to say. I like, like, we don't really have a choice and some of them are like, yes, we believe in the science,

[00:06:21] but that's like, no, I don't really have a choice.

[00:06:22] I just got to work. And I don't really have a choice. The guys who were

[00:06:25] saying no. Um, like, hell no, like

[00:06:28] keep that shit away from me. Um, these are the guys, uh, who's mostly coming from a Pan Africanist, uh, black consciousness train of thought. And, um, these are the guys who are like, who's using

[00:06:42] there history to

[00:06:43] justify those because as you know, black people, black bodies has been used as experimental things for everything.

[00:06:50] It's not, you know, it’s for everything for years. So that's

[00:06:54] just like, I get them, I get them. But, um,

[00:06:58] Well, geez. I guess time will tell

[00:07:00] a and then the last

[00:07:01] group,

[00:07:02] the ones who are like, yes, yes, yes,

[00:07:04] yes. We believe in science and everything. That's like really the smallest, the smallest group. Um, and, um, I'm part of that group.

[00:07:11] I'll add actually two of my, uh, guests as I, um, you know, w when I was interviewing them already, um, were vaccinated or, um, One was and one was in the process of doing that. So that was also pretty interesting given that here in South Africa, the, uh, the vaccination drive has been, uh, very slow and it was just too many politics around that, but it is very interesting because what I'm going to do with all of this data is, um, till the end of the year I'm going to see, um, how people's perceptions and perspectives has, um, has changed.

[00:07:46] If they have, and I'm going to be sort of conceptualise the artwork around that. It'll definitely be a public. Okay. Maybe not definitely, but. It'll definitely have a interactive nature of audit because I think that's kind of important. Yeah. Uh, given that it is so important and like just my last and closing point on where I am so far in this experiment is that everyone is very opinionated about it.

[00:08:13] Um, everybody has an opinion out of all my guests. I can only recall. Yeah, no, actually only one. Now that I'm looking at his name that was like, you know, I never really

[00:08:24] thought about it.

[00:08:25] And the reason is, because I challenged them on that, was that they were never really, you know, confronted like, okay, I need to travel.

[00:08:32] I need to move. I need to, they were like, ah, I'm okay for now where I am. So I won't think of it. And it's going to be interesting to see how those guys perspectives change over time. So yeah, that's regarding the, uh, let's just call it the project that I'm running.

[00:08:50] Um, the

[00:08:51] anti versus Pro-vax project that I'm running.

[00:08:54] And, um, I asked a whole bunch of people, um, and they were from all over the world, really from, from Europe, from the us, from them, from SA, um, from Botswana. So a little bit from everywhere from . So, uh, I would say I've got a, yeah, let’s just cost the net and say I've got a good. Yeah. Pool of people I'm getting all those data from.

[00:09:19] So, but we'll see how far I get towards the end of the year. That's going to be really interesting. And I'm going to be asking, um, yeah, we're going to see how they're going to change and, um,

[00:09:28] actually that's actually a good point to end off on, um, and moving

[00:09:32] into my, um, Into the next thing I want to talk about today, um, is my, uh, the, the project that I was involved in with south African city network and Ebukhosini solutions.

[00:09:43] Um, so it was a, um, I was drafted. I don’t know if that’s the right word,

[00:09:49] but I became part

[00:09:51] of this project. Because of the work that I've been doing as a street artist in Johannesburg,

[00:09:57] um, I worked. I was more active as a

[00:10:00] street around about between 2013 to about 2016, 2017. After that, like, you know, things just change.

[00:10:10] And I mean, I definitely the last, uh, mural, uh, or it wasn't well it was a mural, but it was a mixed media mural was in 2018 that I did. Um, and that was there in Newtown and Andrew and I were still collaborating with on, um, on that, uh,

[00:10:27] And, uh, yeah,

[00:10:28] that one should still be there, but I know all my other murals around the inner city, I know that, or being worked over or just sort of like disappeared within the inner city, you know, like pollution and dirt, you know, eventually people paste all these posters over.

[00:10:43] And so they sort of like, just become part of the city's landscape eventually, which is sort of part of the, you know, the idea behind it. But yeah, I mean, I got pulled into that, um, because of the, uh, Because all the projects that I used to do on the street was to do with interactive was having people interact, physically interact with art and, um, sort of, you know, that was the experience.

[00:11:05] That was what we were doing was, was what was allowing people to come into the sort of creative space and enjoying the art and then

[00:11:14] leaving and not ask them to buy anything.

[00:11:17] So, yeah, it's with that, that I've got that I got pulled in and. Just to give you guys just a recap on what the project was. So it was a, it's a research project, um, that are trying to document the experiences of young people in urban areas with the aim of understanding their concerns, that South Africans, uh, You know what, trying to understand their concerns.

[00:11:41] Um,

[00:11:42] and so you, why, or sort of understand why there's this gap between the youth and like the rest of us,

[00:11:48] because as we know, um, and what we understood from the research there was that there's this huge gap because the, the, the youth and the youth are, uh, to, to be specific or. Well people from the age of 14 and 35.

[00:12:03] And, um, our research was based only in Gauteng. Um, it was on the east and the west rand, we asked, um, quote unquote, predominantly poor neighbourhoods. Um, but because of COVID-19 because the project was going to be hands-on and we're going to have like actual physical events, but then COVID, you know, the lockdown hit and we had to restructure everything and it was quite stressful, um, and exciting because all of a sudden.

[00:12:29] It's not like, you know, this, this virtual world

[00:12:32] was, was, was, was, was, was foreign to us, but now it was our only way of communicating. And at that time, you know, I still left my apartment in Johannesburg, come back to Kimberly. And, uh, so I physically wasn't there

[00:12:45] and, uh, most of the other, so yeah, there was all

[00:12:49] of those complications at first, but then secondly, um, What I really enjoyed as I, everybody just came together teams.

[00:12:56] Okay. This is what we dealt with. How are we going to work with it? And what happened was that Ebukhosini and Baba Buntu. They got six uh co-researchers and these guys physically went out into these respective, um, neighbourhoods and, um, They, uh, they were in touch with the area's youth groups, uh, organisations and stuff like that, youth organisations and stuff like that.

[00:13:19] And, um, they literally went there and they asked, uh, you know, a bunch of kids between the age of 14 and 35. Well, I don't think there was anybody who was in their 30’s Um, not to my knowledge at least. And, um, but yeah, you kind of get to the bracket and, um, we will asking them a whole bunch of questions, but it was mostly around like, what, you know, what would they

[00:13:41] change in the neighbourhood?

[00:13:42] What do they need? And. Just before I explained to the, the, the

[00:13:47] data and how we collected that, because that was really key to this project was why we did that. And this is why I was so passionate about it. And, um, I was really, it was just very, very cool working on it and it’s, still ongoing is the fact that, um, we unfortunately live in a society where

[00:14:05] the, the distance between the,

[00:14:08] what the youth, um, You know, you know, between the youth parents.

[00:14:12] Oh, let me just say youth in government. Most of these kids have no, are actually quite, um, woke to the idea that their let's call it plight, for lack of a better word will never be heard by government. And they are, it's not like they okay with it. They actually quite angry about it, but that gap is huge.

[00:14:34] Right. So part of this was to understand why and how can, uh, a decision-making bodies sort of come down to their level. And that's where we use the creative or the creative let’s just call it application for now. And that's sort of where I came in. So as part of asking, because if you have researchers going, ask, going out and asking people questions about like, what do you think about government.

[00:14:56] I mean, it’s kind of boring and, um, young people got lots more energy than

[00:15:02] not all old

[00:15:04] people. I like to believe I've got more than most, but you get what I'm saying

[00:15:08] and, um, So, yeah. So when these

[00:15:12] researchers went out, um, we asked them, or to sort of, um, give us feedback on how they see their neighbourhood.

[00:15:21] What do they think needs to be changed? You know, and things like that. But, and they did all that is, um, as artwork. So some people wrote poems. Very beautiful poems. Some people performed it on, um, um, like videos. Some people

[00:15:34] took photos or

[00:15:35] they say like, these are the problem areas. And this is what we think can be changed.

[00:15:38] Um, some people did a mosaic and they arrange a bunch of images, um, which represents sort of the ideal utopian

[00:15:50] um, world or

[00:15:52] that, that they sort of looking for. Some people did very interesting artwork as well, and somewhat quite graphic in terms of like what they say. And, um, it was under those categories that I looked at all of that and I had to catalog them and, um, we came up, there was three main, uh, Topics that the youth was looking for.

[00:16:11] And the first one, which I thought was really blew me away, which was also, I tried to carry that same energy through the podcast was a lot of the youth was looking for was gatvol of government just coming in and having parties in these neighbourhoods, which something, and that blew me away because

[00:16:29] the level is, you know, whenever there's an, any event in the neighbourhood, it'll always be a party

[00:16:34] a bash or whatever.

[00:16:36] And these guys wanted,

[00:16:37] uh,

[00:16:40] you know, they, they, they, they, they wanted events with this entrepreneurs where they can be

[00:16:44] inspired. And then how can I start my own business? Who do I go and speak to? How do I access funding? Um, how do I get...

How To Keep A Vital Faith

Spudcaster — Sun, 27 Jun 2021 07:00:00 +0200

The Saint Barnabas church is in mourning following the death of Denzyl Petersen, husband to the church's minister, Reverend Heidi Petersen. Philip Bacchioni prepared this sermon for podcast.

Art Lexica: Film and Documentary Making

Spudcaster — Fri, 25 Jun 2021 08:00:00 +0200

Wesley Pepper chats to award winning Filmmaker, Documentarian and Editor, Ikaye Masisi. This is a podcast where we talk art and art processes. Masisi also looks at the impact of COVID-19 on the film industry.

Transcript

Wesley: [00:00:00] Everybody Wesley pepper and you're tuned into my podcast. Wesley Pepper’s art Lexica, which is brought to you by spudcaster and baobulb. Yeah. Thanks everybody for tuning in. Uh, welcome to all my new and returning. Listeners, uh, greetings to you all, you know, I hope you guys enjoyed last week's or the last two episodes we had.

[00:00:29] Um, I thought that was really insightful. Thanks to Wilson Ngoni for coming through and blessing us with these time. You know, we really uncovered his entire, uh, Really covered his entire story. As an artist, you look at his work, his processes, and even his book. Uh, and just to recap, you guys are still interested in purchasing his book.

[00:00:49] Remember you can find it on his Facebook page or use WhatsApp number. Um, I don't have the number in front of me, but I know it's on last week's episode, so yeah, you can have a. Or, I mean, if you really, if you can't find that, just holler at me and I'll, you know, I'll forward it through to you. Yeah. I mean, uh, my thanks again to Wilson once again, man.

[00:01:07] Um, as I said I really enjoyed that man. And, um, today's episode. Um, we taking another. Rather, I'm talking to another very, very interesting brother. I'm talking to Ikaye Masisi. He is an editor and a filmmaker. Um, he also does a lot of documentaries. He works on a whole host of, uh, projects, you know, uh, shows that I'm sure some of you are probably are familiar with his work.

[00:01:29] You just didn't know that he was behind the editing of it. He's also quite a, uh, award-winning brother, um, as recently. Um, well, early on this year, he actually won another editing, um, award. Um, and, uh, we definitely gonna be covering that. We're gonna be covering, we're gonna be talking about these processes.

[00:01:46] Of course, you know, how we choose his subject matter, because if you know something about Ikaye’s work, you know, um, he does documentaries on really the, on and he does projects on things that personally, that I'm very, very interested in, you know, um, I remember watching one of these documentaries called I’m a Poet not too long ago and I loved it and I really loved it.

[00:02:05] I loved his approach. I loved his technique and everything. And as you guys know, like I'm really, really passionate and I've got an interesting history where the, um, with the spoken word. Um, so we're going to be covering a bit of all of that today, you know, Talk about these awards and his current and future projects.

[00:02:22] So stay tuned for that. That should be on about, uh, that should be a lot of fun. Um, let's just remember that the art giveaway is well, it's actually always up for grabs, you know, even though, um, um, somebody might win it. I'll just create another one because the thing is, I just want to attract more listeners and I do want to give away more art so that you have a, so if you want an art to receive any of the artwork, you know, just like, and subscribe to this, um, um, Episode, you know, and I'll choose a name at random and you will win yourself, original artwork done by yours truly.

[00:02:51] And, uh, stay tuned for that. Um, or rather I'll talk to you at the end of the interview, um, with regards to future episodes and a bunch of other things brewing on the horizon, you know, there's always, it's always a lot of that. Yeah, man. And, um, I'll chat to you at the end of today's episode with regards to that, but for now, you know, guys, uh, enjoy today's episode, with Ikaye, um, I've actually been looking to get hold of him for some time.

[00:03:16] Now it's just a matter of scheduling and timing and those types of things, but we finally got a hold of him and, um, we looking forward to talking today, so hope you guys enjoy today's episode. Yeah, man. And I'll chat to you’s right after this.

[00:03:29] spudcaster: [00:03:29] baobulb.org is a podcasting platform and a medium for storytelling.

[00:03:35] This podcast is also available on all the major podcasting apps, including apple and Google podcasts, podcasts your life with baobulb.org.

[00:03:47] Wesley: [00:03:47] We good, man. How are you doing Ikaye? Thanks for coming through. Um, Ikaye: I'm blessed, dog. Wesley: Yeah. Yeah. You always got a very laid back vibe to you. You know so

[00:04:04] yeah, you always come back as like it’s just water off a ducks back, um, but I liked that. Uh, it's um, I can feed off it,

[00:04:17] my brother,

[00:04:25] Let’s start off in the beginning, man. So you’re an editor and a filmmaker right. I know you from more the documentary side of everything.

[00:04:30] And as we were saying off air, um, um, we, you know, I read this article which says we actually in the golden area of documentaries which is waar man,

[00:04:38] um, I mean, Filmmakers switching to that medium. And I know there's many other uses and I want to pick your brain about that. But before we get into that, because I know you just recently won an award as well. Um, so let's unpick the elephant bit for bit, and then, uh, let’s just start off for my listeners and then just tell us, uh, where you from that type of thing and how did you get into film making, bra?

[00:05:08] Ikaye: [00:05:08] Okay. That award thing I got nominated at the SAFTAS, I didn't get an award.

[00:05:11] Wesley: [00:05:11] Um,

[00:05:17] uh, I don’t want to get ahead of myself. Sure um, we we'll get to that bit, um, but let's just talk about like, how did you get into filmmaking, bro?

[00:05:26] Ikaye: [00:05:26] Um, filmmaking, right? Um, dog, so like, The first film that I saw that kind of inspired me was like a pair of boots and a bicycle. Right. That vibe, dog, so it was like a pair of boots and a bicycle.

[00:05:46] And then there was that show that, um, it was like a reality, extra reality show, Scoop Makhathini and then kind of was that show. But that show was so hot like, um, One of those two shows those two shows inspired. Right. But then the real, the real, th th the actual documentary that inspired me was this one pair of boots and a bicycle, because like, it was done by black editors, black directors, black producers, like, so, because like, when you watch this, when you watch the credits, it's like a lot of white people.

[00:06:18] So you don't think like, you know what I'm saying? Um, And you don’t see yourself there. Right. But when I saw, like, this is such a dope documentary on SABC 1 nogal, right. Black people that are running this thing, and I'm like, and it's so hot and it's so dope, right. That kind of inspired me. And then later came on uBra meek and the work that they we're doing, uh, about Robert Sobukwe, you know what I'm saying?

[00:06:42] And then [indistinct] Matabane as well, all the works that were like black guys were doing at that time, that actually did. I'm like, okay, cool. It's possible that I, from Thaba Nchu, it’s in the Free State next to. Um, well, it's next to Bloemfontein and whatever. You know what I’m saying. Uh, I'm from that side. That's where I grew up.

[00:07:06] That's where I was born. My parents is at. My mom's is at. My grandma’s is at. That's where, that's where my roots is. If I have to put it in Tswana you feel what I'm saying? So that's what I'm from. Um, so I got inspired by this thing, right. This work that I saw and, you know, kind of tickled my creative, my creative sensibilities.

[00:07:29] Right. And then I felt like I could be able to work this. Right. And there wasn't a time when I was, you know, like after matric and then you have to decide what you want to do. You know, it wasn't that bad at school. You know what I'm saying. It wasn't that bad. At school I wasn’t bad with math. So it wasn't bad. Like, it was pretty cool, but like, It felt like spiritually, my creative sensibilities were more like, like just, you know what I'm saying?

[00:07:54] They were gnawing at me, dog like, you know what I'm saying? And like, um, when I saw this shit, I'm like, fuck, I need to make films, bro. I feel like. There's also that part of under representation as well. I think that's what brought me into feeling that there's so many dope stories, black stories that are out there, our history and whatnot, which is not properly, um, documented and not, you know, and that's what kind of inspired me to like, mess with this.

[00:08:21] You know what I'm saying? Uh, mess with this vibe. Can we curse on you on this podcast Wesley: We can but I mean like this is not a bar

[00:08:41] Ikaye: So for sheezy. So from that. Uh, I came to the J came to the J's that at, uh, uh, I studied at Nemisa, um, I was actually shooting that side. Actually. I was then starting to become an editor. I wanted to shoot, like I wanted to become a cinematographer, but then editing just called me, bro. You know, it's one of those things, like a fate thing, you know what I mean?

[00:09:04] And then you feel me. I've got to meet up with Delize Moabe, Delize’s the guy who actually

[00:09:13] hit me up with SIM SIM SIM SIM SIM SIM Sims. You know what I mean? Um, and that's how I got the connection to go to work with the greatest document, the greatest work. That I did so far was actually with the dude that created a pair of boots and a bicycle, which is Vincent Moloi, you know, it gave me an opportunity.

[00:09:37] you know, give us an opportunity as young editors to come into the game and learn this thing, because this shit is hard to come into is fucking hard, bro. People think this shit is like, it's easy, but like fucking, dog, I think in terms of like filmmaking documentary is the hardest, you know, drama's easy, bro. Dramas scripted.

[00:09:54] Everything's scripted, scripted television is very easy, but like documentary, you've got to fucking find a story. You've got to find this. You got to, and then you've got to say, you gotta, yeah, you gotta set. You literally, it's like literally working on a blank canvas right where everything like literally you have to kind of, um, Draw or paint.

[00:10:22] You feel what I'm saying even with your characters, because the shit that you shoot in the field, it might come back in the timeline and it might not work in the editing suite. Right. And you've got to find a way, you know, uh, so I think like, fuck, the documentary documentary is hard, bro. Documentary is hard, dog. It's hard. But like, I love it.

[00:10:38] I enjoy it because like it's important because it's a way it's a tool to actually catch up people's stories and to tell like those untold stories about people. You know what I'm saying, which way, which is what I feel like the work is important for, uh, for me, you know, as, um, as a visual creative. Yeah.

[00:11:00] That's the five G

[00:11:00] Wesley: [00:11:00] yeah, yeah, yeah. Interesting just a point on that a pair of boots and a bicycle I’ve watched that and just for the listeners that was about the soldiers who fought in world war two. They came back and the government gave them a pair of boots and a bicycle the white boys got land.

[00:11:08] Um,

[00:11:21] Ikaye: [00:11:21] Imagine that shit, dog.

[00:11:30] Do you understand how touching that subject matter is. Like our ancestors

[00:11:33] ancestors, our grandparents, bro! Wesley: for sure. And then we see all these monuments of whoever fought in world war two celebrating those who gave their lives for Europe.

[00:11:43] like one of the one thing that resonated the most from that doccie was the part where the one, one guy says that there was an attack. I think it was in um Egypt somewhere.

[00:11:57] Yeah. Yeah. They didn't have any weapons so they had to hide under the wa. They were literally sort of almost drowning from trying to dodge bullets that was flying. That thing was heavy, and the way they explained that, wow. And like, on that what you were saying about editing I totally get what you’re saying because

[00:12:18] you know, the way the documentary or the film maker presented that, and you could feel the pain,

[00:12:24] uh, the confusion. I guess it just the mayhem and fuck man, that thing was heavy. Find enough here’s just a story. Personal thing on my side, my mother’s father, uh, my mother's grandfather. Who was it? Or was it father, one of them. Yeah. He was a German fella, uh, he fought I don't know with or whatever but he came to South Africa. He got a taste of africa and didn’t want to leave.

[00:12:56] Um, and he was one of the guys where they gave a farm, can you believe that? That’s how my mother's side of the family. So yeah, I could, I could, I could resonate with that, with that thing over there. So moving on, man.

[00:13:16] Ikaye: [00:13:16] Funny story, my great grandfather, my great-grandfather actually went to that war. There’s actually like a gun like them old school guns. He's got that.

[00:13:27] Yeah. Yeah, B yeah, B, he actually went out there, but he actually came back. You know what I'm saying? Um, and like I was told that during the time, my grand, my great-grandmother cause we had a farm at home and we had a school, the first school in Thaba Nchu the first like proper formal education school. Even the first church

[00:13:53] my grandmother was running that shit. She was running this, she was running the church. She was even running the farm, bruh. My grandfather was fighting and then he came back. Shit. That's like fucking crazy. Like when I saw that shit, I’m like yo dog damn it’s, like, I don't know, man. It's some weird shit, but like it's dope.

[00:14:11] It's dope though. You know, it's like the spirits connect. Do you know what I mean?

[00:14:15] Wesley: [00:14:15] That's actually, that's actually where I want to, because you're saying like, one thing I know about artists is like, you are chosen to do this gig. You know, you either have it or you don't. So if you telling me, like all of these things, sort of lead up to you saying I want to tell sort of African stories using the medium of film, that's actually where I went to, where I want to jump to from hear.

[00:14:41] So explain to me. So once you, um, the processes, so once you can see, this is where I want to go, you know, these are my influences. This is, you know, these guys XYZ. I have these skills. Where to from there

[00:15:01] and how did you get into what you're doing right now?

[00:15:03] Ikaye: [00:15:03] Well, it was like a cause with editing, I feel like editing is like long and like hard, you know? So it was like a very long slow process in terms of like developing. Um, so it led from, I feel like it's more like it's, it's both external and internal in terms of like externally the type of projects that you, you find yourself within, you know what I'm saying?

[00:15:35] that kind of build you, yeah. That kind of build a skill right. For, in terms of like storytelling, right. Uh, which is very, very important in terms of that. But when you, when you come up right. To understand what is story, what is correct? Because people take that for granted.

[00:15:55] Wesley: [00:15:55] Yeah, I know what you’re saying.

[00:15:57] Uh, you were saying about the editing, man.

[00:16:01] Ikaye: [00:16:01] Yeah, dog. So I would say the thing with it is that for me, and that's what I kind of feel like in terms of like, development, right? Is that like, this shit is long and it's hard and like, um, it just needs you to kind of. Um, have a love for it. Right. Um, you know, cause like when you see, when you see a picture, when you see a story in television, it feels so simple.

[00:16:25] Right. But like behind the scenes for them to make it that simple, like took sometimes years, you know, just to get it to that level, you feel what I'm saying? So that's the thing with documentary and you can never really, um, kinda like from the start, you can’t say this story. This is where the story's going to be.

[00:16:45] You might might've written it and whatnot. The shit doesn't work out, right. Characters is not working. Even the concept is not working. The themes are. Everything is kind of off and then you kind of just need to adapt. Right. And that's the thing with it. Right. And South Africa doesn't have a very strong documentary culture.

[00:17:01] You feel what I'm saying? Um, just in terms of like, it's there, but like the biggest people that are behind the documentaries is SABC but SABC is falling apart. Right? So like it's a big problem in terms of like developing documentary film makers. Right. It's very tough for us because like now we've got to do it independent shit like that.

[00:17:19] Got to wait for years and whatnot. And it's like gatekeeping, how many? like, it's not, it's not it's it's, it's not somebody from, let's say like film school or somebody that has a film background or somebody that's like wants to get into documentary. Cut documentary straight up, right? Because, um, firstly, you don't have the experience.

[00:17:41] Firstly, we don't trust you like this. There's a lot of things that are happening, right. So you need to prove yourself and for you to prove yourself as like fucking difficult, right? It's very difficult though. Like you mentioned having to cut like a feature, right? Or like, even like a, let's say a 30 minute documentary.

[00:17:58] It's fucking tough. It's not easy dog. You know, you see a lot of shit. That's on YouTube and you're like, Hey man. But what the hell is going on here!

[00:18:09] you can see that there's an art to it. You feel me? That's actually what the old cats are still. Are still the ones that are like running this game because like it requires that, you know, it requires that experience and people are able to just trust you with their footage if you've cut that shit before.

[00:18:27] Right. So that's the vibe about it, you know, so, so fuck man. It's I think it's a thing of luck and I think it's also a thing of like calling, purpose

[00:18:41] and also where you are kind of in the industry and what you feel and shit like that. Right. Um, you know what I mean? But like it creates good editors. Documentaries creates good editors. That's what I kind of feel. You know what I mean? That background is like fucking that documentary background. Like for me, it's like, you can figure out a story quick,

[00:19:03] you...

Nothing To See Here, Folks!

Spudcaster — Mon, 21 Jun 2021 08:00:00 +0200

This latest episode of Quintessentially Mental: The Podcast features Nicole Germond. This podcast is hosted by SureEyes.

Transcript

SureEyes: [00:00:00] You're listening to quintessentially mental a podcast hosted by SureEyes , please note that this host is not a mental health practitioner or professional, and this podcast is not made for treatment of any mental illness.

[00:00:37]spudcaster: [00:00:37] Baobulb.org is a podcasting platform and a medium for storytelling. This podcast is also available on all the major podcasting apps, including Apple and Google podcasts, podcast your life with baobulb.org.

[00:00:57] SureEyes: [00:00:57] Hey, y'all this is quintessentially mental, the podcast, and I'm your host SureEyes . Today's episode is called nothing to see here, folks, um, inspired by, you know, just thinking on the early parts of my journey on, on mental health and how, you know, our families almost ignore what's going on, um, or pretend it doesn't exist.

[00:01:25] Um, And so that's kind of what I'd like to chat about today, um, is really how we cope when we feel unseen or unheard, or like what we're going through. Isn't acknowledged. Um, especially by the people closest to us, our family, you know, the people we live with, the people we identify or the first people we identify with, um, And I think, you know, it, and, and obviously the effect of that on our, on our mental health.

[00:02:04] Um, so for today's episode, I'll be chatting to a very good friend of mine. Um, her name is Nicole Germond . She is, we've probably been friends for about 20 odd years. We met in our first year of high school way back in 2000. Um, and yeah, I think, you know, we, we we've, we've watched each other grow and support each other along our, our individual mental health journeys.

[00:02:38] Um, and obviously as teenagers watching us struggle with anxiety, as we navigate depression, anxiety, um, again, in our early adulthood and here at university in Cape town, um, going through quite tumultuous relationships. Um, and then again, as adults, you know, or more matured adults, um, And so we, we have a pretty long history together and have quite a strong understanding of each other's family responses to our individual mental health journeys.

[00:03:22] Um, if I, if I reflect on my own, um, my own journey, I remember as a teenager feeling like I didn't belong, um, feeling. You know, as I, as I've mentioned in a previous podcast, I'm my mother's middle child. And growing up with, you know, my older and youngest sibling, um, before the, the three youngest siblings came along after, my parents divorced, I, I really struggled with.

[00:03:55] Anger anger towards my parents and the relationship specifically, my father and the abuse I witnessed specifically my mom and resenting or not even realizing I resented my mom only realizing that in later years. Um, but just feeling a sense of anger and feeling like. You know what I was experiencing, wasn't normal and long time feeling embarrassed by the events in my family.

[00:04:26] And I remember being probably in about grade nine. Um, and back in those days, we called it standard seven, even just a giveaway to, to my age. And, you know, I, I remember. Feeling lost, unseen. Unheard. Um, just like, as I said, like I didn't belong and you know, I would go on hunger strikes. So to show my, you know, disgust and upset with the way that my father was treating my mom and our family.

[00:05:05] Know, I would refuse to eat any of the food that he bought or refuse to wear any of the clothes that he bought. Um, and this would cause. Obviously going without food for all, you know, infrequent periods of food would affect one's mood. As I, as I now know. Um, and I think that added to my general sense of moodiness.

[00:05:30] And I remember my mom saying to me, you know, instead of delving into these, these issues, her response at that time was. well, you're just feeling sorry for yourself. You're just being self-pitying. And, and that, I guess confused me because I, they, I think further negated how I felt I then further, um, you know, pushed down and ignored what it is I was feeling.

[00:06:06] Because, you know, if, if my, my, my mom's response was that I'm simply feeling sorry for myself, it then means that my, my general sense of feeling whatever that was, you know, as I mentioned it being, um, just unseen, unheard. You know, that, that, that was unjustified. That I didn't have a reason that I didn't, you know, that, that it wasn't.

[00:06:35] neccesary , almost that I was an inconvenience at another time. Her words to me were that I was ungrateful and that stuck with me, you know, that, that response really in later years made me feel that how could I possibly struggle with. Depression or anxiety or have any kind of mood disorder? When I was so blessed when I had a roof, when I had food, when I had, um, an education, when I had a boyfriend, when I had, um, access to a great university, when I had friends, when I had, you know, Those words in later two years would really impact my ability to accept the fact that I had an illness.

[00:07:31] And so I really want Nicole and I have to talk about how. You know, our, our families ignoring whether it's intentional and not conscious or not, you know, based on the individual narratives, if we can really understand how their behavior of ignoring our mental challenges or mental illness, um, affected us.

[00:07:56] At the time and also in later years, so stay tuned. Um, we'll, we'll be back after this ad break, um, to, to welcome Nicole to, to this discussion,

[00:08:09]spudcaster: [00:08:09] This podcast is produced and hosted by spudcaster for baobulb.org .

[00:08:15]SureEyes: [00:08:15] I'm joined now by a very good friend of mine. We've been friends for way too long, maybe 20 years. Um, yeah.

[00:08:27] Hey Nics. How are you?

[00:08:29] Nicole Germond: [00:08:29] Hi. Hi,

[00:08:31] SureEyes: [00:08:31] how are you doing?

[00:08:33] Nicole Germond: [00:08:33] All right. Yeah. I'm okay.

[00:08:35] SureEyes: [00:08:35] Thank you for agreeing to talk to me.

[00:08:38] Nicole Germond: [00:08:38] You most welcome.

[00:08:39] SureEyes: [00:08:39] We've had a, we've had a long mental health history.

[00:08:49] Nicole Germond: [00:08:49] It goes back a long way. It really does.

[00:08:52] SureEyes: [00:08:52] Yeah. So I think, you know, in today's episode, we're just kind of talking about how, when we struggle with mental health issues, in whatever form they take, whether diagnosed or not, or, you know, whether overt or not, and just the reaction from our families, you know, and because of the, I don't know, in my view, the.

[00:09:16] tabooness of it all, like from my perspective, which is the coloured angle, which is keep a stiff upper lip and black people who struggle in life in general. So what are you talking about? You know, families tend to just sweep things under the rug or pretend they're not happening. And so I, I'm going to have this conversation with you because you've experienced almost a similar.

[00:09:41] You know, you've had something similar based on your experience with your family.

[00:09:48] Nicole Germond: [00:09:48] Yeah. Um, you know, I think it is a very prolific problem, especially in South Africa. Um, you know, look, I can't, I can't speak culturally obviously. Uh, but, uh, you know, from, from the people that I've spoken to and, you know, as you've just said, it's we come from.

[00:10:10] Uh, very, uh, stiff upper lip sort of society. Um, you know, and it's not, I think mental health is something that isn't really acknowledged. I think we're getting there. Just globally, you know, day by day, where we're inching towards it being more sort of socially acceptable or you know, that the discussions and the conversations that we're having around, uh, opening up people and families, especially to, to the idea that mental health shouldn't be something to do.

[00:10:42] But I think especially in this country, we were still very far behind, um, you know, on a personal level. I have definitely. Had that experience. It was, you know, I think especially as a teenager and I think my family is, is doing much better with it now because of the shift. But as a teenager, there's definitely, you know, that was a long time ago as you know, because we're all, older people now.

[00:11:18] When we were, when we were teens, you know, and it was, it was very impactful. How our families reacted to, to mental health that was when, when we really needed the support. Um, and I don't think that, that we got it. And I think that is still a problem. Now, you know, we, we have these mental health issues and it's, it's not specific to one sector of people, you know, it's, it's, it's.

[00:11:46] It's across the board, everybody. I mean, not everybody, but you know, people from every culture, from every race, from every unit, there are people across the board that suffered with these mental health issues and to have families, um, you know, who, who have almost stigmatized this, it can be, uh, can make seeking help very difficult.

[00:12:11] Um, you know, it can. It can make you want to hide that part of yourself because to not be accepted by a family, um, you know, it's, it's very isolating. So I think, yeah, it's, it's having these conversations I think is important because families need to be more open minded and to, to kind of open themselves up to.

[00:12:42] Knowing what these issues are and knowing, you know, if you have a family member that, that, uh, is struggling with within mental health, you know, learning the things that you can do to help them and, you know, not ostracizing. And I think, you know, especially in the African cultures, you know, it's, uh, it's people get ostracized incredibly, um, Quite brutally, I think, you know, so why would anybody be open about, about their mental health, if that's the case?

[00:13:11] And that's very unfortunate because we're closing, you know, we're closing those doors for people, you know, they, they, they don't have the opportunity to, to get help. Um, you know, and I mean, personally on a personal level, having my family, um, you know, My family, it wasn't that they didn't acknowledge it. It was that they didn't know necessarily how to deal with it.

[00:13:42] Um, and they did all the wrong things and it, it led to a very, a much longer journey of, of sort of having to have to try and figure it out myself than had they approached the right people or to educate themselves. Um, I think, yeah, I think it's, it would have been much more beneficial to me much, much earlier on,

[00:14:10] SureEyes: [00:14:10] but this is the thing I think at that point in our lives, when we were 13, 14, 15 years old in the normal development of a human being at that point where there's so much confusion around your identity and fitting in with.

[00:14:29] Your family, your social group, your school, your self, you know, the, the additional layer of struggling with things like depression or anxiety or suicidal thoughts or self-harm, or, you know, these things that just add an additional layer of complexity to what is already quite the troubling time. You know, again, like, I'm glad you said that, you know, like my relationships with my mom's specifically is in a much better place now that, you know, she's also had her own experience with mental health challenges in her life.

[00:15:16] But at that time where. You know, she herself didn't have language or understanding it wasn't something that from her generation was spoken about exactly the way she reacted to me then, which is very detrimental to me being able to actually cope with what I was going through. And so, you know, using words, like when I was.

[00:15:45] Because I felt this pressure to almost be happy all the time. Like that was the only, that was the only feeling that was acceptable and to display, anything else was like, I wasn't grateful or I was being self-pitying or, you know, it wasn't, it wasn't appreciated for the response to a context that I was going through. Exactly. I think that.

[00:16:13] That hopefully, you know, starts shifting and maybe, you know, teenagers now have parents who, but it's still not as open as it could be. It's teenagers, but it's definitely not. And maybe it's also the culture we live in. Right? Like everyone's an emo kid. Everyone is. Writing some song about some shit that happened to them, you know, and we are verbalizing our stories a lot more, but not on a I see it, at least not on a, on a real level.

[00:16:47] It's still almost like very superficial level. Exactly. Because we're still scared of being judged or if we're like I know with me. When I had my, when I was working in, in Doha and I had like a huge mental breakdown where I basically told a colleague, a partner like a senior to me that I feel very sorry for his whole family, that they have to be subjected to his presence.

[00:17:18] Like I had a nervous breakdown. And so it was translated that I was incapable of doing my job. Yeah, the translation. And that was only three years ago, two years ago.

[00:17:30]Nicole Germond: [00:17:30] Absolutely. And I think, unfortunately we, we almost ostracize ourselves still, you know, even those of us that have acknowledged and, and, um, uh, come to terms with the fact that we do struggle with mental, mental health and mental health issues and mental illness.

[00:17:48] You know, I think that we. We've also put it on ourselves. I mean, I it's the same thing for me. I also had a period, an episode of the complete mental breakdown. And I didn't even want to tell anybody because I was quite ashamed and, you know, I went into hospital and I had planned not to tell my family and largely that was because, you know, it was so ignored and, and sort of dealt with poorly.

[00:18:20] When I was younger, but it was also because I felt a lot of shame and I didn't want anyone to know that I was going through this period and that I needed to be hospitalized. You know? So, I mean, I think that we, we take that. We take a lot of that on ourselves as well. Um, that we don't, we, we, we don't view it as something.

[00:18:42] Not to say that it's normal, but that is a part of life and that, you know, mental health for the most part in largely, you know, it's, it's illness to some degree, you know, obviously there's, there's environmental factors and, and, and all that, but, you know, we, we talk about mental illness. Uh, but we don't, we don't see it as an illness in ourselves.

[00:19:05] You know, we still see it as something to be ashamed of. You know, you wouldn't be ashamed of, of having cancer ashamed of having diabetes or whatever the case is. Why are we still so shameful about, you know, struggling mentally? Um, you know, so as far as family goes and, and, and ourselves, I mean, just on a personal level, that's, that's very been, been a very, um, Uh, consistent things through, through my experience of dealing, dealing with my family and dealing with mental health is my own shame around it.

[00:19:38] You know? And I think that that's also something that we need to overcome as a society. You know, as you said, we, we speaking about it more, but on quite a superficial level, but I think it's also, we need to talk about it. From from, uh, our own selves and, and, and learn to accept the stuff in ourselves, you know, and learn to embrace the fact that that's a big part of who we are.

[00:20:05] You know, it doesn't define us as people, but it is a part of what makes us us, and it's a part of our story. And it's a part of our struggle. Um, and there's nothing to be ashamed of in that.

[00:20:19] SureEyes: [00:20:19] It's it's funny you say that we, you know, while you were, while you were speaking about the shame you felt about the hospitalization.

[00:20:29] If I think about I've had like, basically four major breakdowns in the past six years, seven years, and the first time it happened, I went to a yoga retreat. I did not go to kennilworth clinic. I was like, I'm just going on. Like, self care mission you know, I wasn't, I wasn't like I'd actually need to be hospitalized because I had

[00:21:01] you know, overdosed and my psychiatrist was like, yeah, you're a risk to yourself. So either this is going to happen or, you know, you're going to be forced to do it. And then the last two middle breakdowns, I avoided hospitalization, but also was quite shameful. In like, explaining what had happened and like having friends,

[00:21:37] like making a joke out of it or like downplaying it. And then in 2019 I was hospitalized for two weeks, um, or 10 days. And there, I was just like, yeah, no fuck, like hospital. Y'all like, this is, you know, and my, my, if I think about what contributed to me feeling less shameful about it was the fact that I had a support system who didn't feel like I needed to, like, I was less of a person or I was.

[00:22:20] You know, so like, even from a work situation, I was in a team where health as a 360 was appreciated. And so I can tell my managers, you're like, I'm struggling. I need to, I'm actually really not. Well, I'm going to, you know, I need to be booked off so that I can go take care of myself. My family is supportive.

[00:22:43] Like my sister, and my mom drove me to the hospital, as opposed to the first time I was like, y'all, let's not even tell them, you know,

[00:22:52] Nicole Germond: [00:22:52] but that's exactly it. You know, I think having that support and. You know, work is, is hugely important to have the support of your colleagues. But, you know, just coming back to the, to the original topic about family, I mean, I think, you know, a big part of not feeling that shame yourself is, is to have your family be accepting of, of.

[00:23:13] Whatever it is, that's going on and be supportive about it. You know, what a big difference it made to you, you know, that your, that your mom and your sister were there. And it was the same for me. And, you know, I have been hospitalized more than once and my first couple of experiences were awful because I didn't feel supported and I didn't feel, um, that people thought that it was okay.

[00:23:33] That I was, that I was in hospital. Whereas, you know, the most recent time. There was a lot more support from my family, from my friends. And I felt like, okay, I'm actually, I'm doing the right thing here for, for my own mental health and for my own, just as you said, sort of holistic health and...

A Word About Sin

Spudcaster — Sun, 20 Jun 2021 07:00:00 +0200

Philip Bacchioni delivered this sermon for podcast for the Saint Barnabas United Church. Reverend Heidi Petersen and her family are unwell at this time.

Words That Are Following You

Spudcaster — Sat, 19 Jun 2021 23:00:00 +0200

Reverend Kelvin Harris prepared this sermon for podcast for the Bosmont Congregational church. It is based on the following scripture readings:

Genesis 21: 8-21
Romans 8:28
John 16: 12-14

Art Lexica: Photo Realism: Part II

Spudcaster — Fri, 18 Jun 2021 08:00:00 +0200

Part II of this two part interview with one of Botswana's most celebrated visual artists, Wilson Ngoni. Art lexical is a podcast where we talk art and art processes.

Transcript

Wesley: [00:00:00] Greetings everybody, uh, wesley pepper here. And this is my podcast wesley pepper’s are Lexica, which is brought to you by Spudcaster and baobulb, yeah. Thanks everybody for tuning in, uh, to all the new listeners and returning listeners greetings to you all. Thank you for tuning in to listen to me, speak for the next hour or so.

[00:00:29] Um, yeah. Thank you. Um, yeah, as you guys know today is, uh, episode two or part two of the interview with Wilson Ngoni. Uh, just to recap on last week's episode, um, last week we pretty much covered is, uh, the first half of his story. So how he got into the arts, how he choose and interacts with the subject matter, um, His philosophy as an artist.

[00:00:57] And, uh, we ended up with him talking on his book. Um, there was a bit of a technical, uh, technical thing in, you know, kind of in a, to a properly, but, um, yeah, well, we were, we just started to talk on his book and I was actually going to end the interview off there back then there was, uh, you know, the line just cut for whatever reason.

[00:01:17] I still don't know. Um, how that happened. Um, yeah, man. And, uh, today's in today's episode, um, we're going to talk about his legacy as an artist. So we're going to focus on his book. Um, we're gonna, we're gonna go into detail on that. Um, so we've cover everything, you know, are we, um, Oh, we got to conceptualising the book, how he did it because he self-published it.

[00:01:39] And, um, to be honest with you, you know, as you guys know, I've worked as a publisher for the longest time and, um, um, actually don't know anybody that has self published, a coffee table book. And for my listeners who doesn't know what a coffee table book is, that's just a local word for a. Well, an art book you notice, usually to think about is usually about the excess of 200, 300 pages, um, you know, hard cover and it's usually quite pricey.

[00:02:03] So, um, we're going to get into that. We're going to look about, we're going to talk about these future, you know, future projects. Uh, artworks shows, et cetera. And, um, he told me also he's looking to do a museum and I found that super, super, super interesting. So I definitely want to hear what his plans is around that.

[00:02:23] Um, I don't know if you guys know that, um, I'm actually very, very interested in that. I mean, sometime ago, I think it was around about 2015, 2016. Um, I was talking to some guys and we were in the process of, you know, research on the person. We were busy researching, putting up a street art museum actually in Fietas.

[00:02:42] Um, uh, but that's another story. Maybe I'll do an episode on that in the, not too distant future. So in other words, it's just something I'm super, super interested in knowing, and I understand the value of a museum too. And, um, Yeah, I wouldn't be covering all of that. So stay tuned for that. But remember, the art giveaway is still up for grabs or whatever, so like subscribe and comment on this current episode and we'll choose a name randomly and you can win an original artwork done by yours

[00:03:08] truly. So, yeah, I mean, I hope you guys are prepared for today's episode. Um, I know. Yeah. I enjoy talking to Wilson the last time and I know it's going to be pretty interesting and he’s probably got a whole bunch of things to say. Um, so yeah, man, uh, hope you guys do enjoy that and I will talk to you at the end of this with, uh, more information on future episodes and to wrap it all up.

[00:03:31] So yeah. Thanks guys for tuning in. And I'll talk to you after this.

[00:03:35] spudcaster: [00:03:35] baobulb.org is a podcasting platform and a medium for storytelling. This podcast is also available on all the major podcasting apps, including apple and Google podcasts. Podcast your life with baobulb.org.

[00:03:55] Wesley: [00:03:55] Um, Wilson Ngoni, thanks for coming through again, my brother, uh, we were just talking a little bit off air. You were saying that, you don’t catch the flu Wilson: um, Yeah. Yeah. Wesley: How do you, how do you do that? Is it your diet, you know, is, uh, Joe, uh, are you you exercising? Are you healthy? How do you manage not to get, uh, cause everyone is complaining in

[00:04:20] South Africa, you know, the cold and the flu and all of that. How do you, how are you managing to stay, stay safe?

[00:04:27] Wilson: [00:04:27] Uh, I don't know. I don't know people, I think naturally if flu is not something that, will easily attack me because was, uh, I have never had flu, uh, all my life. So maybe, well, I might say all my life, I don't know, uh, before, before my life came right now, but you know, I, I don't remember myself catching flu at all.

[00:04:55] Wesley: [00:04:55] That's pretty interesting. Um, I'm a pretty, I'll say a healthy guy myself. So, you know, I exercise, I eat healthy and that type of thing. Um, but I still, yeah, but anyway,

[00:05:08] yeah,

[00:05:08] Wilson: [00:05:08] yeah. At that time I thought that's, you know, because, um, uh, the past, uh, three decades I've been living in, in, in, in my studio, Uh, and with the oil paint. So that at that time I thought maybe it's oil paint that just keeps flu away from me.

[00:05:23] Wesley: [00:05:23] Interesting. I know, I know. I don't know the properties of that, but I know that smell is actually quite intoxicating for me.

[00:05:33] I love it actually. Um, it's yeah, it's comforting because you need to smell that space.

[00:05:42] Wilson: [00:05:42] Yeah. If I stayed for three days out of my studio, I start getting depressed. I don't know if it's something that other artists, but, you know, I start catching, uh, just bad feelings, you know?

[00:05:58] Wesley: [00:05:58] Yeah. Yeah. I know. I get that.

[00:06:02] I understand it. Um, like if I like, as honestly you need to be productive, it's like just yesterday, I sent away artworks yesterday to the gallery. Um, and I need to start a new one. So now it's on my side one, so that it's like, my life is now. I, I need to be busy. I need to wake up. So, so yeah, that's actually quite beautiful.

[00:06:29] My brother.

[00:06:33] Because I understand the, I understand the process of an artist needing to produce, and I understand how important it is. Not just for a commercial respect to the artists, um, mentally, physically, and everything. I think that's really, really important for the artist to keep doing that. Um, So with your, with your side, you've got, like you were saying, that's a substantial, you have a substantial body of work.

[00:06:58] You're well celebrated and received artists as well. So when you were telling us in last week's episode that you put together, this book, this coffee table book on your portfolio. Um, tell us, um, let's, let's start there. My brother, let's start from the beginning. Um, tell me, so, um, how did it all come together?

[00:07:19] Um, what team did you have to pull the guys together? Where did you start a little bit from there?

[00:07:26] Wilson: [00:07:26] Uh, well, uh, in the past, uh, the Pepper, just to, to tell you, uh, a bit of backstory with me and public speaking and writing, I I've been writing for quite some time and. Uh, like what, what, uh, around 1998, uh, I, I put some, a couple of manuscripts, uh, together and try to get them published.

[00:07:52] I gave them to some of my teachers, uh, to, to proofread. They never returned my manuscripts, Pepper and journal. Well, they, they told me that they were lost and you know, it repeated and repeated and repeated when I wrote more and more and more give it to people, to, to proofread, uh, for me. And they never returned my manuscript.

[00:08:16] Uh, and you know, I started even noticing, even when I wrote compositions at school, uh, My teachers will use them as like the, the, the, the, the marking key for, for, for the class. You know? So I, I started noticing even when I wrote, uh, like, uh, some essays in social studies in history, uh, I started realising that, oh, this thing might be something really, really important.

[00:08:45] So if we take, like I say, in the previous, uh, uh, Chat with you that, you know, I was quite gifted academically, but I, I, in school, I didn't like school. So of course there was so much pressure from every subject. Every school wanted me to, to pursue, uh, what they're they're subject to would they have as a vocation at the end of my academic life.

[00:09:11] So, um, W with the writing. I continued to write, I wrote a lot of poetry. I wrote a lot of lyrics. I wrote a lot of, uh, novels books about I, you know, uh, and whenever I give it to people to proofread, it never returned. So, you know, I, I studied that pattern and I actually thought it was, they were stealing my literature.

[00:09:41] And with that, uh, instead of, uh, being angry, I started celebrating that, you know, people will not still trash people was steal gold. Yeah. I agree with you, uh, getting my material, not returning it, it was very, very motivating to me. So, yeah. Uh, some years back, uh, I, I wrote some, some, some books, uh, again poetry, had a local publisher do them and, you know, one of them, uh, they were getting into the academic system, but, you know, I, I didn't get paid, uh, good realities.

[00:10:20] And sometimes even to this day, I never get royalties, but my book has been used in schools. So I making noise and scandals in uh, 2014. Uh, so in 2010, uh, I was one of the artists who was in South Africa, when the Royal Bafokeng stadium was opened for the world cup. So I was one of the artists was exhibiting there and, uh, I was involved in a lot of, um, activities then exhibitions, uh, with the, the, the Royal, uh, uh, chiefs in that region, um, other artists.

[00:11:11] So, and from there, I was also invited to. To, to, to, to come view the world cup. Um, so, uh, I stayed in Cape town while I was in Cape town. I went to Robben island. So at Robben island, uh, we had, uh, people who, um, the likes of Sparks. There's a gentleman called sparks. Uh, was, uh, one of the, uh, tour guides.

[00:11:49] I mean, at the Robben Island museum. So is he narrated the story about how they lived during the oppressive apartheid, South Africa. Uh, I, I could feel it, uh, when I went to Mandela cell cl these people, the people live today and still managed to survive. It managed to make it, you know, I wonder how am I not making it when I have all the freedom that I have, uh, Uh, out here, uh, given that, you know, I lived, um, lives that had a lot of, uh, activity, both harrowing activities and very, very exciting activities as well, like extreme losses and, um, extreme winds.

[00:12:47] Yes. Well, you know, in 2010, when I returned home from after world cup, I started putting up, um, a book that is called doors to my eyes, doors to my eyes it's, um, it's a narration about my life, my childhood experiences. Um, I, I, I lived with a stepmother in a foreign country and how I was treated, uh, as a foreigner in Zimbabwe.

[00:13:12] And when I'd returned to back to Botswana, I was treated for, and, you know, when I visited places like South Africa and Zambia, Ethiopia, and other places, I started fitting in very, very well because, uh, I learned how to survive and even now I will not fail to become an artist and survive as an artist when, uh, for instance, uh, w w when I was growing, uh, in, in some, some, some hoods.

[00:13:41] You know, you see prostitutes along, uh, along the pavement, uh, selling pussy and, you know, you interviewed with them, uh, Pepper, you, you hear that, you know, they're selling pussy as a commodity to feed their families. So you, you start wondering if a prostitute can sell prostitutes, can sell, pussy on the sidewalk and feed their families.

[00:14:06] How we, with all this literature, I failed to write a book that can feed my family,

[00:14:16] failed to produce some good paintings to feed his family or feed himself. So you see, um, everything, everything, uh, became, uh, one thing and also, uh, Pepper. One other thing that made me to, to, to, to write was the quest to package myself as an artist

[00:14:37] if he, if he Pepper pig,

[00:14:43] pig, pig,

[00:14:48] Wesley: [00:14:48] I'm listening. I'm

[00:14:49] Wilson: [00:14:49] listening. Yeah. Yeah, so it, nobody wants to be called a pig. The pig is a washed properly cut properly into nice pieces. Uh, and now it's on the shelf. It becomes very expensive meat.

[00:15:05] Wesley: [00:15:05] That's a good one and a delicious meat,

[00:15:08] Wilson: [00:15:08] delicious meat, for that matter and you know, uh, I just, when I conduct some of my, my writing precesses or my artistic research is, you know, going to shops, uh, find this, uh, big, uh, big belly guy with nice beautiful woman and know, you'll be saying, babe, you want bacon?

[00:15:26] Uh, this like tasty soft, high quality soft meat. Initially it was just a

[00:15:33] pig. See,

[00:15:40] I decided to package myself properly Pepper. You know, if a pig is a pig is packaged, cut and packaged properly, it becomes, uh, it becomes pork.

[00:15:55] Wesley: [00:15:55] I love it. I love that. I love that.

[00:15:59] Wilson: [00:15:59] So you see putting books, putting up a coffee table book like this one, uh, Wilson Ngoni living with the brush. It is a way of packaging myself and launching myself into the ad scene and cementing, uh, my, my dream as an artist, as a professional, it is now my position is it is a appropriate.

[00:16:18] Now it is, I think it's cemented by. By this, uh, book, which is this catalog, which is in a book format, um, packaging, Wilson Ngoni into this book, uh, living with a brush, like my, my, my new book. Um, I feel it's it's it's it's it's success. Sure. I feel also, it will save a lot of other, uh, intentions that I have, like, you know, I can't have exhibitions in museums and galleries around the world right now, due to the COVID-19.

[00:16:53] So why not put a book, you know, uh, in a catalog for so that people can experience my work in their, in their self to have their houses in offices, you know, Besides that, like I said, I'm packaging myself. Like how a pig gets packaged. Uh, this book carries my name it's so it carries my brand.

[00:17:19] So it's branding. So this is like a business card yes, it is hard. And also is a source of revenue because, you know, I, I'm not giving this book for free. Uh, well, unless if I, I find the needs to I'm selling this.

[00:17:38] Wesley: [00:17:38] How much you're selling it for my brother.

[00:17:41] Wilson: [00:17:41] Uh, it's $150

[00:17:44] Wesley: [00:17:44] us dollars.

[00:17:46] Wilson: [00:17:46] Yes.

[00:17:48] Wesley: [00:17:48] Okay. Okay. That's um, that's um, that's

[00:18:00] a good sign, uh, so forth. Um, when did you start working on it? And, um, when was it published?

[00:18:09] Wilson: [00:18:09] I published it last year, December. Uh, I've been working on this book since 2016, 2017. I rated my work though. Uh, I didn't curate it to you, uh, in a, in a way that, you know, I think, uh, professionals do. I think I'm satisfied.

[00:18:29] Wesley: [00:18:29] Explain to me why I wonder, I want to ask you that. How did you manage to choose the artworks? Because usually with those types of books, you know, portfolios and so on, because like your writer knows the market, et cetera. How did you, um, select your artworks?

[00:18:51] Wilson: [00:18:51] Um, well, what I did, the first thing that I did is I just censored myself just to beat both

[00:19:00] Um, write-ups and, um, uh, and, and the pictorial, uh, aspect of the book, uh, I, I removed, uh, provocative work, especially, uh, paintings that is, uh, nudes. Okay. Yes. I didn't put a lot of breasts in this book. Uh, yeah. Uh, you know, I've painted it. Yeah. Uh, thousands and thousands of breasts, uh, uh, because it's one of the breasts, uh, just to say, breasts, Pepper breasts, uh, the greatest generosity of the universe, uh, You know, I, I will not ignore breasts as part of the major inspiration that I live.

[00:19:47] Um, amongst, uh, in this particular book, I decided not to, to put them at home to put them at home. Um, uh, because this book also, I have a son, I decided to do this book to my son. Wesley: Yes. What's his name? Wilson: His name is Essa. Okay. Yeah. So my dedication line to him, um, is, uh, if you're going to be a witch, make sure you're haunted.

[00:20:21] Wesley: [00:20:21] Um, explain to me

[00:20:25] Wilson: [00:20:25] if you are going to be a witch, make sure you haunt. Uh, haunt as in

[00:20:30] Wesley: [00:20:30] T. Yeah. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. So, so, so, so, so what are you telling him to be true to himself?

[00:20:36] Wilson: [00:20:36] Yes. If you go into, to be whatever wants to be in he should make sure that he goes, uh, from one straight to three, to 100. You see if it be an artist, it shouldn't be just like, uh, An artist who waits to explain a lot, uh, really really paint.

[00:20:58] Um, he shouldn't need to do, um, if he's going to be an engineer, he should make sure that he does engineering with his all, uh, so now you understand Pepper, it's not my son who is going to read this book. many other people. but that you're educating your son to be a police officer so that you can catch you. He was not coming to arrest you, uh, you arrest, uh, robbers and protect the whole nation out there.

[00:21:27] So, uh, this book was a lot of people would read it. I walk into motivate them to, to realize themselves and to, to do that. And you know, you never run losses from doing your best.

[00:21:42] Wesley: [00:21:42] Hmm. Interesting. Interesting, interesting. Uh, that's really interesting. That's really interesting. You were saying in our episode last week about the guy who wrote the foreword and, um, we had, uh, um, you know, w I write ups on the book and...

A Tale of Two Cities

Spudcaster — Tue, 15 Jun 2021 08:05:00 +0200

Transcript

[00:01:10] Hey, y'all this is quintessentially mental, the podcast, and I'm your host share eyes. Today's episode is titled a tale of two sisters, obviously. Inspired by a tale of two cities. If I think about the first line of that, or the first sentence of that book, if my memory, my memory doesn't fail me, you know, it goes, it was the best of times. It was the worst of times. And, and that sentence, you know, that, that opening line really sums up, I guess, the difference between my sister and I's experience.

[00:01:51] Growing up with our parents, um, we're five years apart. And so at each point in our early life, you know, we were almost an entire development phase ahead, or I was always a development phase ahead of her, um, eg. She was eight almost pre-teening and I was 13 entering my adolescence. You know, and, and that, that line, it was the best of times.

[00:02:20] It was the worst of times really reflects our experience of, of all our family, um, where, you know, I feel like I, I, I experienced the disintegration of my parents' marriage and that really affected me. Um, and she kind of lived through the aftermath of that. And so in this episode, we really want to dig into the experiences and influence of those experiences on our mental health.

[00:02:57] Of two sisters born of the same parents, um, who experienced different things. So stay tuned.

[00:03:07]Spudcaster: [00:03:07] Baobulb.org is a podcasting platform and a medium for storytelling. This podcast is also available on all the major podcasting apps, including Apple and Google podcasts, podcast your life with baobulb.org ,

[00:03:23]SureEyes: [00:03:23] I guess, for you to truly understand the dynamics of my family. I need to give you a bit of history, bit have a bit of context. So I'm one of six kids that I know of. I say that because I would describe my father as a bit of a loose cannon. Um, Yeah. So I have an older brother who is a half-brother. So my mom's son, but not my father's son. Um, who's five years older than me, but I grew up with him as if he was a brother.

[00:04:01] Um, it's then myself, I am the oldest girl of both my parents. It has then my sister, who I referred to, um, she's five years younger than me and we share parents. Then we have another sister, who's technically a step sister, um, where it's my ex step mom. So my father's second ex-wife, um, her daughter and not my father's daughter.

[00:04:34] Then I have another sister who turns 13 this year. Um, again a half sister. So the said ex second ex-wife and my father's daughter. And then I've got a youngest daughter. I mean our youngest sister. And you see, even I get confused

[00:04:54] youngest sister who will be. Uh, seven this year. So my father is onto his third marriage, which is why, you know, um, we joke and say, this is the kids that we know of. Um, but yeah, so, so to give you a bit of insight, um, you know, during my, and my brother's kind of years coming up as kids and teenagers, we witnessed a lot of abuse.

[00:05:24] Um, Physical. Mental, emotional, psychological, um, which really obviously affected me. I didn't have a very good relationship with my father as I almost viewed it as how can you treat my mother like that? And I guess he struggled to separate his role as a father and his role as a husband. And so. The relationship between the two of us just integrated completely.

[00:06:00] And so by the time my parents got divorced. I was 18. Um, and my, my sister who's five years younger than me was only 13. Now during that time, you know, being my sister was, you know, the youngest at that time, the Apple of my father's eye. And so there was a lot of. I think intentional rift created between us where we, you know, we almost felt like competitors instead of sisters where we were almost pitted against each other, you know, who my birthday being forgotten and hers being, you know, having the greatest fanfare.

[00:06:46] And I think I never really felt resentment towards her. I think I was mostly confused, um, by, by this difference in the way that we were treated, but I know from her side, so whenever my, my father and I would fight, he would then change his attitude towards my sister, which would then create animosity between the two of us.

[00:07:12] And this went on for years. I then lift at the age of 18 to go down to Cape town, to study, um, leaving my mom and my sister. You know, to kind of figure life out and life was pretty rough for my sister. Um, things that I didn't really know about because I was so far away and I think that's something that, you know, really affected her and, uh, you know, it's something I hope to talk to her about in the next segment, you know, is me being away and not really understanding or being

[00:07:49] exposed to the challenges that she faced, that the, you know, the challenges that she and my mom faced and how that really affected her. So while my mental health was greatly influenced by the abuse that I saw the abandonment of my father, of our family and relationship, um, and just the constant rejection, you know, where he's said to me that I'm not his daughter.

[00:08:17] And so I really want to dig into, you know, how the two of us been born of the same DNA we're affected by these two people who went through different things at the different points in our, in our upbringing.

[00:08:32] Welcome back to quintessentially mental. I'm here with my sister Dayle. Um, what's up SIS. Hey, how are you?

[00:08:41] Dayle Rooskrantz: [00:08:41] I'm good. How are you?

[00:08:43]SureEyes: [00:08:43] I'm okay. Thanks for agreeing to chat to me.

[00:08:45] Dayle Rooskrantz: [00:08:45] Well, I thought it was quite interesting that you did that. You actually asked me

[00:08:49] SureEyes: [00:08:49] why?

[00:08:50] Dayle Rooskrantz: [00:08:50] Um, I think it just challenged what I personally think about mental health

[00:08:58] SureEyes: [00:08:58] In what way?

[00:09:00] Dayle Rooskrantz: [00:09:00] So we always, well, we always see people with mental health problems as they not really, as we, because we all experienced them.

[00:09:10] SureEyes: [00:09:10] Okay. So earlier on, in the episode, I spoke a bit about how, you know, we're five years apart. And so my experience of my childhood, we, our parents were still married versus your experience of childhood and adolescence where things had broken down, um, was very different. And so it's interesting that you say that you see it as they, when did you realize you were part of the we?

[00:09:39]Dayle Rooskrantz: [00:09:39] um, it's actually quite recent. Uh, I think that the older I get, the more I reflect on my childhood and my upbringing, so that I can sort of realize where I need to adjust myself as a person, because I do want to be a balanced, stable. Emotionally aware, conscious human being and to be able to.

[00:10:07] Break cycles. I need to go back deep into my upbringing and my experiences with both my parents and the more I look at it on not only internally, but externally looking at other people, everybody is they, everybody is we. Yes,

[00:10:32] exactly. Everybody faces a level of, um, Mental challenges. I think that the difference between the they and the we is that they are people who are conscious of it and who are actively taking steps not to correct it, but to get it under control.

[00:10:51]SureEyes: [00:10:51] Yeah. I mean, we speak quite often about this. Like, I don't really think that it goes away.

[00:10:57] I'm just like, no, I see you. I see you rearing your, your head and then maybe I don't, you know, react as much as I used to, or maybe it doesn't affect me for as long as it used to, but let's go, like let's go into, so I speak a bit about how my upbringing kind of. More. So from my experience with our father, then our mother, like I only realized I had issues from my maternal relationship later on in my life versus realizing my paternal kind of issues.

[00:11:35] Um, if you could like highlight the three things that you maybe struggle with from a mental health perspective that you can see, okay, this is a direct. Uh, this is directly from my upbringing. This is like a direct result of my upbringing. And, you know, maybe just say what those things are and you know, how they affect you.

[00:12:03] And when you, when you made the link that, Oh, it's because of this thing that happened when I was a kid that is now affecting me as an adult.

[00:12:13] Dayle Rooskrantz: [00:12:13] Okay. I think. The biggest thing for me has to be my level of aggression. I'm an extremely aggressive person, also in very you know situations that don't require such a high level of aggression.

[00:12:33] Um, I think I realized this. With my daughter. So my daughter's name is Milan she's. I have to be very specific about this she's eight and a half, and she is a reflection of my aggression. And I noticed that when she'd get anxiety being around me or she'd get really anxious telling me things about her anxiety would.

[00:13:04] Stemming from my aggression and how I would react to really small things. So I sort of realized that that was due to my upbringing or my childhood when I stayed with my mum and my parents, our parents were already apart at that stage. And all she did was complain and be aggressive in every situation where she would talk about my father. She was extremely aggressive towards it. And also a case of, towards me at all and my schooling and different aspects of my life. She was, it was something that I was supposed to do, you know? Um, I think maybe you've spoken about biting the bullet, but we all, it was very. Tough because she was, she had to be so tough and she did it pretty aggressively.

[00:14:04] Um, the second thing would be communication.

[00:14:07] SureEyes: [00:14:07] Join us after the ad break. When we continue the conversation.

[00:14:11]Spudcaster: [00:14:11] Baobulb.org is a podcasting platform and a medium for storytelling. This podcast is also available on all the major podcasting apps, including Apple and Google podcasts, podcast your life with baobulb.org.

[00:14:27] SureEyes: [00:14:27] Welcome back to quintessentially mental the podcast hosted by SureEyes. Okay, wait, but okay. Before we go into the second thing, can we talk a bit about the first thing, or do you want to talk, do you want to kind of cover all three and then get into and then get into it?

[00:14:41] Dayle Rooskrantz: [00:14:41] Yeah.

[00:14:41] SureEyes: [00:14:41] Okay, cool.

[00:14:42] Dayle Rooskrantz: [00:14:42] So the second would be communication.

[00:14:44] I have to be conscious of the way I communicate. My mother is a mute

[00:14:57]SureEyes: [00:14:57] We call her mumbledor

[00:14:59] Dayle Rooskrantz: [00:14:59] that she does not speak about what's going on. Um, and I think it's because she did not feel heard. When she was married and she felt like she just had to get on with it. So she did not communicate within her marriage or with me. Well, I also think it's the generation. She grew up with right. so like.

[00:15:21] SureEyes: [00:15:21] She's to give a bit of context. Our mother just turned 60. And so that age group was very much of the. You know, stiff, upper lip type children are to be seen. And you, you just, you don't talk about things. You just buried them very deep and hope you don't implode, you know? But when you, when you add other things to that mix, like explosion implosion is bound to happen.

[00:15:48] So I think it's more than just, I think getting to a point where, you know, you don't. Express yourself because it's not culturally acceptable. And then being in a relationship where you are silenced, I think has like just exacerbates the situation.

[00:16:05]Dayle Rooskrantz: [00:16:05] I think so you've explained it so well. And so clearly, um, so yeah, I have to be very conscious at on the way I communicate and also pay attention to actually communicating because.

[00:16:22] I can harbour things and then you don't. I know it all sort of, uh, blends and mixes and, you know, the stories we tell ourselves.

[00:16:36] SureEyes: [00:16:36] Sure. And you can make stories up my sister.

[00:16:40] Dayle Rooskrantz: [00:16:40] And then it just explodes one day, usually by a very passive trigger that. Shouldn't actually be a trigger, but due to a lack of communication or communicative skills that sort of that result, the third thing I would say is treating people as if they don't have feelings.

[00:17:01] Um, I actually feel sorry for my husband. He is a direct, what's the word? , he bares the brunt, is it directly in impacts him all the time? So, because people are just supposed to be strong, we're just supposed to do what we have to do. Um, forgetting that there's emotion attached to it. So. And those are the three things for me that really stand out.

[00:17:31] Of course there's more, no, but those are three major ones that I'm trying to work on it. It can get a little frustrating because it's feels like you're taking one step forward and four steps backwards. But I think being conscious of it is, is quite important. So, you know, when I would express certain things to my mom, Or to my father, they would just say, well, it is what it is.

[00:17:59] This is the way it is. There was no explanation. There was no context given there was no understanding that I'm also a human being and they treated me as if I'm just supposed to be strong. Like, so I think I treat other people the same way. Like, why are you getting emotional? This is unnecessary. We need to do what we need to do.

[00:18:21] And it's. It makes me very insensitive towards other people.

[00:18:26]SureEyes: [00:18:26] It's, it's so weird that like, while you're talking now, I'm actually realizing I do the same thing. I do also sometimes treat, I guess I have two States, right? I either treat people. Like they should have a more evolved emotional state of being.

[00:18:46] And so like, why are you even like, if you can't rationalize and reason, and, but yet I go, about my feelings and my emotions, and this hurts me, and this is my emotional response. Or I just like, I'm also, I'm so insensitive. And then also to, to people that I'm in a relationship with, it's not, I show more my baby daddy's.

[00:19:12] He's always, like, I show more compassion to like my friends or my family than I do to him.

[00:19:19] Dayle Rooskrantz: [00:19:19] But this is the conversation that we had earlier. When I was saying that I treat my husband. Like he doesn't have feelings. Like if he, because he struggles with. Alcoholism. And he can get into a state where or if he starts drinking and it makes me anxious and I feel like, you know, he needs to be a certain way.

[00:19:39] That's a certain picture that I envisioned for my family. And if he does not live up to that, I get extremely verbally abusive

[00:19:48] SureEyes: [00:19:48] that that's so big of you to say

[00:19:50] Dayle Rooskrantz: [00:19:50] only contributes more to his issue. So. For me, it's like from in my head addiction doesn't exist. Um, but it's an illness, right. You know, it's a mental illness.

[00:20:01] No, I know. I'm completely aware of that. Yeah. Right in that, when I'm in that emotion emotionally immature state or a state where I cannot show any compassion or understanding or empathy in my mind, addiction is not a choice because of that hardness that I grew up with.

[00:20:20] SureEyes: [00:20:20] You mean, it is a choice?

[00:20:22] Dayle Rooskrantz: [00:20:22] No, it's not, you cannot choose it.

[00:20:25] SureEyes: [00:20:25] Okay. But you're saying in your I'm confused. So maybe I'm not following you in yours when you get like, not compassionate, you go, you think that it is a choice or that it isn't a choice,

[00:20:38] Dayle Rooskrantz: [00:20:38] well, it's not a choice. We cannot choose to be addicted to alcohol. We need to get over it.

[00:20:42] SureEyes: [00:20:42] Oh, I see. Okay. Okay. I see. Okay.

[00:20:45]Dayle Rooskrantz: [00:20:45] Why are you choosing that?

[00:20:46] SureEyes: [00:20:46] Okay. I understand. I understand.

[00:20:48] Dayle Rooskrantz: [00:20:48] When you need to deal with it. And move on because that is how I grew up. So it only contributes more my verbal abuse telling him how useless he is or telling him that he's just an alcoholic and I'm not going to deal with this or how he's incapable as a father.

[00:21:07] Obviously he struggled with that internally already because we, I believe that we are aware of our situations and I just break him down even more.

[00:21:18] SureEyes: [00:21:18] That's really big of you to say

[00:21:20] Dayle Rooskrantz: [00:21:20] it's the truth.

[00:21:20] SureEyes: [00:21:20] I feel like I need to go have a conversation with my baby daddy and be like, so I'm more of a Dick than I'm admitting to.

[00:21:31] Dayle Rooskrantz: [00:21:31] These are the conversations that we have over and over again is because it's like a vicious cycle. I struggled with aggression and he struggled with alcoholism and put the two together and it's a fuck up.

[00:21:43] SureEyes: [00:21:43] Shoo that's hectic. So if, if I, if I think about the three things that you identified as kind of like your, your three main struggles in life stemming from childhood, you're quite affected by your relationship with mommy.

[00:22:00] Dayle Rooskrantz: [00:22:00] I am,

[00:22:01] SureEyes: [00:22:01] it's weird because I I'm like I'm affected, but I'm more affected by what I saw between. Our parents and then my relationship and then lack of relationship with our father. And that's what I'm saying. I only realized I had the maternal problems later on in life. Yeah. And I think I'm a lot more forgiving towards mommy than I am towards our father.

[00:22:28] Because like you mentioned at the beginning of, um, Our conversation is that you saw more between the two of them .

[00:22:35] Dayle Rooskrantz: [00:22:35] Yes,

[00:22:36] SureEyes: [00:22:36] and I think I'll also, I think I've said this to you before. Like I value what she did under the circumstances that she did it. So like it's her job to have mothered us.

[00:22:48] Yeah. That's her job at, you know, or less so now, because we're both

Oh Hello! It's me, SureEyes

Spudcaster — Tue, 15 Jun 2021 08:00:00 +0200

Transcript

SureEyes: [00:00:00] you're listening to quintessentially mental a podcast hosted by SureEyes. Please note that this host is not a mental health practitioner or professional, and this podcast is not made for treatment of any mental illness.

[00:00:25] Spudcaster: [00:00:25] Quintessentially Mental: the podcast is produced and hosted by Spudcaster for Baobulb.org.

[00:00:33] SureEyes: [00:00:33] Welcome, welcome, welcome. A podcast focussed on mental health and mental health journeys and stories. Um, we're hoping that, or I'm hoping that this podcast, you know, helps to de stigmatize mental health. You know, we, we create a space to talk about our main goal, health struggles, celebrations, achievements, journeys, um, all of these different things that allow us to be more functional as mentally healthy people.

[00:01:16] Um, I guess I wanted to start this as a podcast that hopes to, you know, as I said, normalize the conversation around mental health and the way I was hoping to do this, is not only by sharing my story, but about also inviting guests onto my show, um, where we were able to talk about different topics regarding mental health.

[00:01:44] We, um, You know, we can actually just open up the dialogue. We can actually just open up the conversation. Um, I am a 34 year old mom, a new mom. Um, my son is still very young, um, and I've, I've battled mental health and mental illness probably from the time I was about 11 years old. Um, well at least that's when I think it started, I was only formally diagnosed when I was 26 or 27.

[00:02:24] And I've had a number of, you know, additional diagnosis and re diagnosis. You know, mental health is one of these things, we almost feel like if we talk about it, we're admitting our inadequacy, we're admitting our inability. We're admitting that we're not capable. We're admitting that we don't function.

[00:02:49] And while these things might be true. For split seconds or very brief moment in time periodically through our lives. It's not necessarily who we are. It's not necessarily what defines us. It's not necessarily, you know, the thing that makes us who we are. Um, And so I hope that by, by following and listening and engaging in these conversations, that we, we start realizing that talking about our mental health should be as normal as saying I'm just not feeling well today.

[00:03:30] And it happens to be not visible. Um, so yeah, that's, that's just a brief introduction. I'm very excited to be on this journey with you. Um, when I was approached by Candice Nolan from Baobulb, I was very excited me I like talking and to talk about something that I'm very passionate about and something that affects me directly, you know, I don't

[00:04:02] I don't always believe in, you know, offering opinions on things I don't know about. Um, but I think that this is, this is an important part of who I am. Um, or where I've come from on my journey. Um, so just to give you a bit of background on myself, I have been diagnosed primarily with borderline personality disorder.

[00:04:31] Apparently this is one of the more difficult illnesses to diagnose because it's only something that can really be observed over a period. A prolonged period of time. Um, it was suspected that I had BPD probably in 2016, um, and then only, you know, properly diagnosed towards the end of 2016. And having that diagnosis confirmed, um, in about 2017.

[00:05:04] Um, it was, it, wasn't an, I guess this is the way all of my diagnoses have come about. And I guess I was lucky in that I had, um, quite matured in their career, um, mental health professionals working with me and it was never a case of you are a borderline personality disorder sufferer, or you are

[00:05:32] you have bipolar or you have, you know, a substance induced mood disorder or you have, you know, it was more a case of, you know, these behaviors that you're displaying are evidence of a type of illness that many people struggle with. So it was more a case of these, these behaviors, these, these things that we are identifying with you have also been identified with this thing that we call borderline personality disorder, as an example.

[00:06:09] And I think one of, you know, what resonated with me when I, when I received the first diagnosis, I guess my first diagnosis was major depressive disorder. This was back in 2014 where I'd suffered quite a humiliating, quite public nervous breakdown. Um, I'd gone through quite an intense relationship and breakup.

[00:06:40] This was a guy I dated on and off for eight years, probably at a very significant and critical point in my development. I'd met him when I was 18, my first year of university. And, um, we were each other's proverbially, you know, first loves it was quite an intense relationship. I think, you know, Me having come out of a mold that I felt I was forced into, you know, where I was in high school as a straight A student, I was head girl.

[00:07:19] I was, um, You know, achieving from a sports perspective, from a cultural perspective, um, I was very, uh, involved in school, had, you know, great friends. And when I left school, I almost felt like is this who I was forced to be, or is this who I am? And I just went off on a tangent, I guess, a rebellious tangent, um, where I was partying a lot.

[00:07:49] I was drinking a lot. I was smoking. I was, I wasn't exercising. I, you know, I felt like I needed to break the mold of what I had been in so far to figure out who I was or who I am. At that time I also met this guy who also had his own backstory as we all do, obviously, you know, so he comes from a mixed race background.

[00:08:18] Um, mum being Jewish dad being Xhosa, and also struggling with his identity and where he fit in. And, you know, both of us having I dunno, not the best or functional or healthiest relationships with our fathers, respectively. Um, these, these lack of relationships impacting us in different ways, um, and leading to quite a volatile intense

[00:08:51] relationship. I think, you know, obviously at that time, I didn't know that I had a mood disorder or that I had mental health or mental illness, um, mental health issues or mental illness. I didn't know. And, and so it was, you know, I love intensely. It was, I saw his behaviors as a reflection on me. I saw, you know, this was, this was a very significant relationship in my life and being my first serious boyfriend.

[00:09:27] Um, and obviously. Not as obvious to me, it's obvious now that I can look at it in hindsight, but you know, the going, going back, I can, I can kind of say, Ooh, this, this was, it was pretty fucking obvious that the wheels were going to fall off, you know, but when I was in it, when I was going through it, I didn't actually realize

[00:09:54] how unhealthy and how, you know, cliche toxic using that word that I think we throw around too easily. Um, you know, how bad for me this relationship was and how bad for him this relationship was. Um, and so I, you know, we, we broke up and we made up and we broke up and we made up and eventually after you know, having me having lived overseas, coming back and living together, we had, we had numerous cracks in our relationship as a result of our own individual

[00:10:34] mental health journeys that we were on blindly, not blindly. Um, and one of the things I really struggled with in our relationship was infidelity and cheating. And, you know, the fact that I had quite a fragile self esteem to begin with, um, Based on my own, you know, non-relationship with my father or strained relationship with my mom, or just the fact that my, my self esteem seemed to have been rooted in things external to me up until that point had been rooted in things external to me.

[00:11:12] And so the things that were happening in my relationship were quite, um, fragile to me, um, Where I had started drinking excessively. I had, um, you know, I, I was also very ashamed of the bouts of depression that I had been experiencing throughout my university career throughout my early working years. My early career years.

[00:11:41] I was very embarrassed because how can I, who seem to excel at everything I do, who seem to be so extroverted who seem to be so vivacious to, you know, seem to have a together from an external perspective, how could I possibly be struggling with things like anxiety or depression or, you know, trauma related responses or any of those things that created instability in myself as a human.

[00:12:10] And it eventually spiraled to a point where, um, I took an overdose of tablets and I still remember, you know, I still remember quite clearly. Going to the pharmacy trying to act normal. Like this was like, I wasn't thinking about taking 30 pills, you know, and laughing with the pharmacist and just kind of saying, yeah, you know, I just have these like muscle spasms and, you know, I need to find something that can help me deal with the pain and, you know, buying these tablets, knowing full well that I was going to go back to my room

[00:12:51] in our house that I was sharing with, with people who had become my friends, um, and just taking an insane amount of tablets. Um, the boyfriend that I was involved with, we had been broken up for a couple of months. I'd moved out of the place that we were sharing. Um, and he it's it's, it's not that I wanted him.

[00:13:19] I don't know, you know, this is, this is probably the first time that I'm talking about it as openly and publicly as I am, you know, but he was the first person that I spoke to and I said, look, this is what I've done. I've taken an abnormal amount of pills. Um, and of course he would think that it was attention seeking on my side.

[00:13:43] And I think for me, it was really. Being in so much emotional pain and being in so much. Yeah, just being in so much emotional pain that I just wanted the pain to stop. I just wanted to stop feeling I just wanted, and I wanted the person who had caused this pain in me to also feel pain. And so he took me to keep Mediclinic, um, where I couldn't find my medical aid card.

[00:14:16] They started treating me, um, they've given me activated charcoal because at that point, um, making me puke or pumping my stomach, wasn't an option. It was really now trying to deal with what was in my system. Um, Eventually, you know, he had called his mom who's also a practitioner or professional in the medical industry who to this day is a second mom to me.

[00:14:44] And, you know, seeing the look on their faces where, you know, I almost died, um, because of my own actions. And it was there. After that, I saw a psychiatrist for the first time. Um, having been in and out of therapy and in and out of psychological treatment for a number of years. Um, but having being referred to a psychiatrist, because this was now in layman's terms, you know, an attempted suicide.

[00:15:18] I spent the next week in bed, um, at my then ex boyfriend's mom's house. And you know, I barely ate, I barely slept. I barely showered. I barely spoke. I was completely dysfunctional and I think it had, it was crystal clear that I was either going to end up dead or needed to take steps to help myself get better.

[00:15:54] Um, And I remember my, my sec, my, you know, my, my, my ex's mom saying that hospital wasn't a choice. And even though I voluntarily admitted myself to Kenilworth clinic, um, It was, it was hard. It was really, really difficult. I think, admitting to myself that I wasn't healthy, that, you know, it reached a point where I was a danger to myself is really

[00:16:26] it's really a bitter pill to swallow. And I think, I think I'd been a danger to myself for some time leading up to that. While I might not have ended up in hospital, I was definitely, you know, doing very dangerous, very high-risk things that would, that would really, you know, that would really put me in danger, put my life in danger.

[00:16:54] And on reflection, you know, that first hospitalization was the best decision that I could have made. Um, I struggled to talk about, I remember being in group sessions where I struggled to talk about, um, What I had gone through, you know, when people asked, why are you here? It wasn't as easy for me to say, well, I went through a really bad breakup that really affected and impacted me to a point where I felt like I didn't want to live and I overdosed.

[00:17:31] I couldn't say that I was still finding language. I was still finding, understanding in myself. I was still. You know, I remember finding, you know, tools during my group and individual therapy sessions, finding tools that helped me understand myself a lot more and helped me understand where I'd come from and where I was in that, in that point, in that point in my life and finding that there were a lot of.

[00:18:03] It's like I can be angry. Wow. I can be angry and taking that anger to, you know, re embodying and feeling that anger. Um, and still, I hadn't found a comfort. You know, I remember when I was discharged from, from the three week program and one of my best friends picked me up from the hospital. And I remember being on this high, you know, this, Oh my gosh.

[00:18:35] So exciting. I'm healed. I'm healed. I am so like together. And you know, also thinking that I had arrived at a point of I will no longer experience the things that I experienced. Um, And so that was, that was a very critical and very pivotal time in my life. I, I was wow. Yeah, it, it was, it was the best decision I could've made for myself.

[00:19:10] And I think, you know, that was, that hospitalization happened in 2014. Um, Which is a number of years ago and it's taken since then for me to actually get comfortable in sharing my story and sharing my journey and sharing myself on a, on a mental health and mental illness level. And so as part of this podcast, I really wanted to

[00:19:41] provide a space where we can without judgment from others or ourselves share these things that we've gone through that have made us better human beings, um, that help us grow compassion for ourselves and others that help us become more empathetic towards ourselves and others. Um, that helps us become more patient.

[00:20:10] Um, and to help de-stigmatize something that, you know, I was one of the lucky ones. I didn't end up being buried by my family. I, I survived, I survived mental illness and I think, you know, a strong message for me is, or from me is that these things are treatable. These things are manageable. Um, so on that, that very light note, I hope that you will enjoy this, this journey of quintessentially mental with me and our guests.

[00:20:55] And I hope that even if it helps you have one conversation about where you are mentally. With one person. And even if that person is yourself, I feel like I would have achieved something. Darlings, take care of yourself. Look after yourself, love yourself, be kind to yourself. And I look forward to having, having more of these episodes with you. Take care. Toodles

[00:21:29] Spudcaster: [00:21:29] This podcast is produced and hosted by Spudcaster for Baobulb.org.

[00:21:34] SureEyes: [00:21:34] You've been listening to quintessentially mental the podcast, hosted by SureEyes. Join us next week as we continue the conversation about mental health. And remember, we are always perfectly ourselves.

Disclaimer: The views expressed do not reflect those of baobulb.org

Hosea's Three Little Sermons

Spudcaster — Sun, 13 Jun 2021 07:00:00 +0200

Philip Bacchioni delivered this sermon for podcast for the Saint Barnabas United Church. Reverend Heidi Petersen and her family are unwell at this time.

Sin, Evil and Self-centredness Always Lead to Destruction and Punishment

Spudcaster — Sat, 12 Jun 2021 23:00:00 +0200

Reverend Kelvin Harris delivered this sermon for podcast for the Bosmont Congregational church

Photo Realism: Part I

Spudcaster — Fri, 11 Jun 2021 13:46:00 +0200

Part I of this two part interview with one of Botswana's most celebrated visual artists, Wilson Ngoni. Art lexical is a podcast where we talk art and art processes.

Transcript

Wesley: [00:00:12] Hey greetings everybody, this is Wesley pepper here and you're tuning to my podcast Wesley Pepper’s art Lexica, which is brought to you by spudcaster and baobulb. Yeah. Thanks everybody for tuning in. To all my new and returning listeners. Hi, greetings everybody, um, welcome, you know, uh, we have another pretty cool episode lined up for you today.

[00:00:29] You know, it's going to be a double feature, a series, a, we talking to Wilson Ngoni uh, pretty much, um, unpack his entire art story. Um, but before I explain to you what today's episode, uh, a big shout out to last week, you know, camp Cleveland for coming through thanks, my brother, um, you know, all the best with his future travels and his book.

[00:00:49] Um, I'll definitely be keeping, uh, you know, tabs on his book and maybe potentially doing a giveaway on the show. So look forward to that.

[00:00:56] Uh, and, um, The art giveaway

[00:01:00] is still up for grabs. So definitely, you know, like subscribe and comment to this kind of, to this episode and, uh, yeah, you can win yourself, uh, original artwork done by yours truly.

[00:01:12] And, um, yeah. And then moving on to today's episode, like, uh, so Wilson's got quite a,

[00:01:17] uh,

[00:01:18] Yeah, he's got quite a huge story and it's well, I just couldn't go, you know, come back, put it all in one episode, it was just too, it was a, there was just too much. So I'm going to do this double, um,

[00:01:29] this two part series and, um, today's in today's episode, we're gonna look at his.

[00:01:34] Um, well you know how his journey through art started in bots, um, how we interpreted the surroundings, um, and his technique. Um, as you know, he does this really cool photo realist, um, images of how he interacts with his subject mapped out chooses, um, You know how he chooses to act with the subject matter and out we produces the art, you know, we're going to be diving to that entire process.

[00:01:58] It's going to be really cool. Um, and we're going to end off with him talking about his book, which is where next week's episode will start or from where we will, um, Well, we'll look at this book, uh, the content publishing behind it and his legacy because he's doing some really exciting projects. So look forward to that guys.

[00:02:16] Um, I'll chat to use at the end of the episode, um, to give you more detail about next week's episode. So I hope you guys enjoy today.

[00:02:23] And I'll chat to you after this.

[00:02:25] Spudcaster: [00:02:25] baobulb.org is a podcasting platform and a medium for storytelling. This podcast is also available on all the major podcasting apps, including Apple and Google podcasts, podcasts your life with baobulb.org.

[00:02:44] Wesley: [00:02:44] Alright man, Wilson Ngoni. Thanks for coming through my brother all the way from Botswana. Um, I've heard quite a bit and read quite a bit about you in this past few weeks, this past week, actually. Uh, so looking forward to talking to you today. So, um, before we get started, just tell me, like I know it’s very cold here in South Africa today, uh, this morning, how are you doing?

[00:03:05] Wilson: [00:03:05] I'm great, my brother and thank you so much Pepper for inviting me to have this talk with you. Uh, It is, it's such a great honour. Uh, and you know, it gives you, you give me so much energy. So, so my energy too, you know,

[00:03:24] Wesley: [00:03:24] uh, thank you

[00:03:28] Wilson: [00:03:28] You know to be recognised as an artist it's, it's, it's, it's, it's a good thing sometimes, you know, we painting not for money, but, you know, uh, to make life better and you know, when we have people accepting our, uh, uh, intentions, It's great. You know, it shows that we are heading towards the proper direction. So I really, really appreciate this invitation.

[00:03:47] Wesley: [00:03:47]

[00:03:50] Thank you. Thank you so much. Wow. Uh, that's it. Uh, yeah, man. So, um, look here man, I'm looking at your work. Okay. Um, okay. Before we get to work. What I'm interested in, um, since it's your first time on the show, um, how did you get into the arts? And then so as you know, like what meeting what we do is a calling nobody really does this in the hopes of making money,

[00:04:17] it's a calling you either have it, or you don't, um, yeah, just give us, like, where did you start? When did you realize that you want to draw, uh, technical, uh, academic wise, the, an academic background and that type of thing.

[00:04:37] Wilson: [00:04:37] Yeah. You know, uh, so you know, you, some of these things you start, uh, like,

[00:04:42] Wesley: [00:04:42] okay, I'm listening,

[00:04:49] Wilson: [00:04:49] like playing and, you know, Next thing is it's a foundation. The next thing is this school. The next thing is it's a big field. You understand? Like, you know, when I was a young, um, I wanted to do, to be an author for other things because, um, uh, a lot of influence from home and from school. So I. You, you know, you get the pressure to become a doctor to become an engineer because sometimes you are good at it

[00:05:25] Sometimes you are good at mathematics. So, and you know, for me, like, yeah, we are going to be proud of him and, you know, neighbours, when I say, come in and say, you know, we, we he's going to help his mother is going to make his mother proud. He's going to be the doctor, but, you know, Uh, they, something is like deep down inside you that wants to come out.

[00:05:49] You know? Um, they, they got sun. But he's under the skin and people just see the limp in you, but they don't know the pain that you're feeling. And the underneath the, the, the, the, the key now, uh, it's, you know, you want to take out that thorn it's, you know, the pain of that thorn, you know? Um, it's you feel it.

[00:06:19] Um, so yeah. Uh, wait, wait, wait with me. I I say, uh, pepper. It's hard for me to say exactly. When did I start painting? Because painting is like a language it's hard for you to ask. If I were to ask you hey pepper, when did you start speaking? You can, but you can't remember when did you start speaking?

[00:06:40] Wesley: [00:06:40] I hear exactly what you’re saying

[00:06:45] Wilson: [00:06:45] So it's a language, you know, but now. At least we have a little bit of conscious life now, when did I become conscious of ? Yeah.

[00:07:00] Yeah. So. Yeah. About three decades ago. I'm over 30 years. I'm 42 going 43. This August.

[00:07:11] Wesley: [00:07:11] Yeah me too.

[00:07:18] Wilson: [00:07:18] We have the generation.

[00:07:23] Now

[00:07:32] three, three decades ago, it became quite conscious. Uh, when I was roughly 10, 11, 12, you know, preaching, you know, and I, I had special, special movements, uh, with my hand. Uh, you know, so I, I, I started like taking it a bit serious, you know, because also people just to tell you a bit of my background, like, um, social a bit, uh, I, I, I was born in, in, in a quite dysfunctional family.

[00:08:08] Uh, well, it's not adequate. To, to, to, to break. Cause it's, it's quite common in our communities to have dysfunction. And you know, it's also quite common too, to have a families with poverty, you know, below poverty line. So, you know, when you come from that kind of, uh, background, you didn't need to wake up.

[00:08:33] Because, you know, if you suck your thumb and cry incessantly saying, Hey, I'm a victim of the system, I'm a victim of life circumstances. Uh, even, even Jesus Christ cannot come and help you people.

[00:08:55] Okay. You need to stand up, man, bruh. So, um, I. Yeah. Had to paint to survive. I had to paint because also like I, when I realised the poverty at my home, I knew that money was not invented for us. It was like money was invented for other people. But you know, I, I was not born. I did not invent life you understand Pepper.

[00:09:26] All I needed to come to, to create was a culture. So, you know, I met this culture of painting. I, I painted to try to create my own religion to try to create my own culture. And it was, uh, you see, I was born into life. All religions, all cultures. Are there already and still I I'm born and find nothing for me.

[00:09:57] What do you, do you continue grasping? What is there already and seeing it's not working, even for people who came before you, you really have to devise new methods for you to survive. Um, there's enough bread for everyone in the world Pepper, but you know, it's not available for everyone

[00:10:19] to invent, uh, means, uh, methods of attaining that bread. And for me, it became painting. You understand brush, strokes, Pepper, brush strokes, simple as that. So I started drawing because I didn't do primary school. So, you know, I was one of the people like on the streets and, you know, life was just like, it was not my time but through social workers and my mother and, um, Uh, the late, uh, administrators of, uh, my junior school helped me in the village, uh, help make them go back to school.

[00:11:01] You understand? So, uh, yeah, uh, uh, I, I started, uh, realising that, you know, Even though you are talented school is a place where you come and discover yourself again. It's like you be born again at school. So it's really, really imperative for our youth, for our people to go to school. You know, to have that kind of a little bit of guidance.

[00:11:33] So school guided me further into my, into my, into my talent, you know, into my art. You see, uh, around 1996, 97, 1997, uh, I was like serious now with water colours and acrylics and, you know, auto auto auto paint because I could not afford paint. So, you know, you go to a nearby panelbeater, uh, company, you pick empty tins so that, you know, yes.

[00:11:58] Take the little bit of pain that

[00:12:00] Wesley: [00:12:00] is left.

[00:12:02] Wilson: [00:12:02] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh, and you know, you experiment sometimes Pepper, you don't even afford even a single tube of paint because 96, 97, you know, you end up coming a young person, you know, you fall, you have no market for your paintings. No one recognises art.

[00:12:22] Um, at the same time, you know, it beats one’s mind Pepper to realize that, you know, I'd studied in Africa, but art is not recognised in Africa, how does where's sanity there Pepper?

[00:12:40] Wesley: [00:12:40] Yeah, no, I, I deal with the same problem. Um, I deal with the same problem, so I know what you say,

[00:12:52] Wilson: [00:12:52] but it's, it's a thing that we live. I mean, paintings.

[00:12:57] Uh, it is form of art, our people pay, but they, uh, they decode it. How is it our hearts even like building traditional hats. It's an art in itself, you know, here we use and we use, uh, uh, baskets. You understand? Yeah, all those, those craft paper, uh, cooking sticks, uh, poets, African clay pots, you know, ceramics, you know, beads this craft paper here and, you know, still we refuse to recognise them ourselves.

[00:13:42] So.

[00:13:43] Wesley: [00:13:43] Yeah. I know exactly what you’re saying

[00:13:45] Wilson: [00:13:45] Yeah. So now sometimes it takes, um, a new culture and new force to bring, uh, to the awareness of our people that, you know, we have these. And we need to celebrate what we have because, uh, the other mentors that were brought before us, like really, really waking for us. So, you know, even in that age, um, I felt, you know, I'm going to make a change.

[00:14:10] That's the reason why I pursued this career or my passion, uh, as an artist, despite a lot of challenges, a lot of pressure that was like put forth to, to, to stop me either at home, at school or with friends or in this society generally. So starting art, Pepper is not like, uh, starting painting. I hope, I think w w you needed to ask me, when did you start to resist?

[00:14:46] Wesley: [00:14:46] Okay. Okay. What I'm okay. I'm, I'm, I'm listening to you, very carefully you raising a bunch of points I actually want to tackle

[00:14:53] um, because I'm very interested in looking at. Firstly let me start with this. Let's say I understand what you say. Um, I understand how the, artists tend to be, um, I see how the artists looked at his surroundings conceptualized or rather made his groundings work for him, you know, you know, honestly, I think that's, I can actually have a series of episodes.

[00:15:22] I'm happy because I think artists have the tools or tools that, you know, versus everybody else know people work in offices. I just think we can, we can adapt. Uh, uh, to our surroundings quicker and better and harness it and we actually churn out beautiful work. So that's, uh, that's actually just something that I picked up that you said.

[00:15:42] Um, that was really cool. Uh, what, I'm, what I'm looking at your studio now and looking at your artwork. Um, I noticed a few, uh, trends, so I noticed you focus a lot on the black child. Okay. On the, on the African child. Uh, you do a lot of portraits. So I, um, uh, The portraits are very expressive, uh, they aren’t hungry, you know, they aren’t images of hungry children they actually look like they’ve got strong personalities, like, like the, uh, you know, knowledge of self.

[00:16:20] I see themes of that coming through. Uh, and it’s photo realism. Now there's, there's, there's something that I've noticed through Southern Africa. So a lot in Africa, there's a lot, there's this huge sort of migration towards photo realism, it’s really becoming quite popular,

[00:16:40] especially on social media. So that's actually something I wanna, I want to get to, talk about, um, can you just tell me about your subject matter? Like I'm very interested why you choose those images, how you handle them, you know, Uh, uh, um, and the, your, um, your techniques, are you using acrylics?

[00:16:58] Are you using oils, you know, using pastels. Yeah.

[00:17:01] Wilson: [00:17:01] Uh, Pepper right now, you see with a lot of experiment and, you know, uh, three, three decades of staying on the brush. I felt that acrylic is dead paint. So I'm using oil, oil paints, uh, through and through and through, uh, because oil paint responds very, very well, especially with my light and my studio and with my ideas.

[00:17:25] So it really, really, uh, I have authority over it. And then

[00:17:37] mostly on canvas and regarding the subject of the black child, Africans,

[00:17:51] Pepper, while I was growing, I was advised to migrate to Europe. Um, Still, you know, when I was under pressure, uh, to quit, to pursue the other fields, but, um, my family or my society thought that, you know, success, uh, like, you know, you, you doing very, very well with academics and, uh, your teachers want you to pursue dreams that, you know, They failed to pursue themselves because they were not as good as you are academically.

[00:18:28] Uh, and they tried to get you into those directions. Your mom failed to be a doctor and she wants you to be a doctor. Um, uh, your brother wants you to, to, to, to be a teacher because he failed to be a teacher. So now when you pursue. Can I explain just a little bit, what art is, uh,

[00:18:50] Wesley: [00:18:50] ja, please

[00:18:52] Wilson: [00:18:52] For us artists who did not go to school to study art is not a promise.

[00:19:02] And yet it's a promise. Art is, uh, where you decide to become an artist. You are not promised any success. And do you know, it can be frustrating,

[00:19:18] you know, when you study the PhDs, the, the PhD, I don't mean the pull down syndrome. Um, pull them down,

[00:19:33] pull us down anyway, but.

[00:19:46] Um,

[00:19:49] When you pursue degrees you are promised uh, a job

[00:19:52] and a salary,

[00:19:55] but I'm here in the studio, but no one is promising me anything I'm not promised the promotion. Nothing? No, all I have are my brushes, my tubes like pigments and you know, the canvas and ideas. Now, when I say the promise is me always promising the world that, you know, I'll give something.

[00:20:15] Uh, but you know, the world is not promising anything. So the community see that, you know, you, there is no life they can see further than beyond the horizon. Like you would see beyond life. Like you will see, they try to stop. You. Because sometimes that that's stopping you because they don't want you to pursue art.

[00:20:41] It's like, because they feel bad. They want to see you in with, in a white collar, uh, having a white collar job and having a salary, um, that you can be able to take a loan. For instance, you know, my community will say, yeah, you need to get a job so that you can be able to take a loan and you know, you can blah, blah, blah, blah.

[00:21:05] And I went like my gut. I don't need nothing of that nature. I just need to paint. You know, I, I can’t take a loan to buy a brushes. I can take loan to take, to buy brushes and brushes are what matters to me. So, you know, you decided that, you know, it's me first. So now, uh, w w w w when they saw that you will get amongst the people, they decided to come around again to say, if you can't beat them, join them.

[00:21:45] Now because you know what you see finally, the world is quite envious. When you bring something, they don't understand this, they try to stop you. And when they see you happy and loving it, they start like joining in. So with my arts. Oh yeah. Yeah. Uh, and you know, that's my motto actually that that's my, my artistic philosophy.

[00:22:10] Um, that's, uh, The idea, the notion that governs my everyday life, that, you know, I, I paint to make humanity happier. So I hope to contribute to the general happiness of humanity with my paintings. So when they saw, saw this, they started like joining me and supporting me now, you know, and in that support, I felt that, you know, if I need this support, I need to allow the world, my community to lean against me.

[00:22:40] So this I give to my, my, my community and they leaning, I guess, on me, that's how we support each other. So I need to show. Uh, paintings that, you know, uh, resonate my connect, uh, that speak with, uh, with my community directly because language art is a language and in language is borrowed from your immediate environment.

[00:23:07] So, you know, uh, I needed to paint and I need to paint about my...

How to Podcast: Episode 2

Spudcaster — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 14:17:00 +0200

In this podcast series, Candice Nolan interviews professional podcasters or people working in the podcasting industry. This week features veteran podcaster, Paulo Dias. He is the Audio Content and Convergence Specialist at Ultimate Media, All-round podcast enabler and Contributor Business Live Redzone.

He dispels the myth of the unique podcasting idea, and advises wanna-be podcasters to get stuck in before they lose their nerve. But first, buy a microphone!

Transcript

Spudcaster: [00:00:00] Baobulb.org is a podcasting platform and a medium for storytelling. This podcast is also available on all the major podcasting apps, including apple and Google podcasts. Podcast your life with Baobulb.org.

[00:00:19] Candice: [00:00:19] Hey, how's it. Paulo: All right. Candice: Also, this isn't going to take up too much of your time just to give you a kind of picture of what I'm

[00:00:24] trying to put together.

[00:00:25] So I wanted to give, um, new hosts that sign up with me, kind of like a, like a, a bird's eye view of podcasting, what you need to know, um, where to go to find out information, good resources, um, good questions to ask, you know, with people to ask that kind of stuff. So kind of connecting people in that way.

[00:00:46] And that's where you come in. So before we start, just, just to start, if you would, if you wouldn't mind just stating your name for the record and in what capacity you speaking to me, please.

[00:00:58] Paulo: [00:00:58] My name is Paulo Dias . I am head of convergence, creative and digital audio with Ultimate Media.

[00:01:06] Candice: [00:01:06] Awesome stuff.

[00:01:08] just give us a little bit of a background into how you

[00:01:11] got into podcasting.

[00:01:13] Paulo: [00:01:13] In particular, I was, I've been working in radio since 2002 I'm on all sides of radio. And then sort of like, as I entered radio, the digital side of radio started coming about, and then people would send through a shortcut, send through a keyword to a short code. And get a link.

[00:01:36] Candice: [00:01:36] Um, I missed quite a bit of what you said there.

[00:01:39] The line went a bit iffy if you wouldn't mind. Just starting from the beginning.

[00:01:43] Paulo: [00:01:43] Sorry. No worries. Um, so. I started working in radio in 2002 and sort of like, as I started working in radio and getting my feet under the desk there, the digital side of radio started coming about. And at the time it was a streaming of radio stations.

[00:02:00] As simple as that, just putting a little button on the station website, people would listen online and then we started taking the best on-air features, our most popular features and sending them out to people over SMS, short code. So they would send us the short code. We’d send back a link and they could download that to their phone.

[00:02:18] And then obviously if you progressed into, uh, putting them on to apple, then it was iTunes then. Yeah, it was iTunes then. And there was the early days of podcasting. And then, you know, just through that process, I started discovering podcasting. Myself, um, and started looking at what was happening internationally and things like that, and always had a passion for it and, uh, have sort of like maybe through a bit of will.

[00:02:43] Uh, but mostly through being a bit of a fan boy, I have, from my position of being, working in radio, both radio stations and independently being able to forge and create and force a local podcast industry. Um, and you know, thankfully for pandemic, uh, we finally have one.

[00:03:04] Candice: [00:03:04] All right.

[00:03:04] And if you wouldn't mind just elaborating a little bit about that.

[00:03:07] What do you, what do you think

[00:03:08] the impact of, uh, COVID has been on podcasting in general, but in particular in South Africa.

[00:03:16] Paulo: [00:03:16] So I think there was always like a small, healthy community of podcasters, but it was like, almost like, if you want to imagine the SA music scene in the nineties, And it was loyal and it was a little bit indie.

[00:03:25] It was a little bit underground. Um, it was still being majority. I mean, I suppose different to the music scene, majority controlled by the radio stations. Cause they just got the resources and the content and the platforms and the listeners. Uh, but why podcasting never blew up is because they try to treat podcast listeners like radio listeners and

[00:03:45] I think when it comes to polish and the actual product. Yes. There's similarities. But I think when your user behaviour is so different. And then when I say the impact of COVID is tied into exactly that, uh, people wanted the companionship and the comfort that they perhaps weren't getting in other mediums.

[00:04:05] Uh, you know, we weren't listening to radio, but we still want the power of the human voice. And I think podcasts give you that. I think people. Finally had time to look around at podcasts podcasting. Unfortunately it's not an easy thing to get into. It involves an app and subscribing and downloading that I'm downloading too much.

[00:04:23] It's not user-friendly, but I think people had a little bit of time to go in and discover. And once I discovered that were hooked and then also think just the impact of screens, you know, we’re tired of screens, we go to school on screens, meetings on screens. entertainment's on screens. And now if I don't have to look at a screen for entertainment, maybe

[00:04:42] there is another alternative. And even if you just look technologically, is that the advances in. Headphones Bluetooth speakers. That's where major technological advancement has happened in five years versus screens. You know, phone screens can only get so big, can only get so broad can only have so much resolution where we've seen headphones and ear pods.

[00:05:04] And. Bluetooth speakers really blow up in what they can do and home speakers and Alexis and Google nests and things like that. And I think just that conglomeration and all of those working so well with audio has meant that people go well, you know, let me just adopt this for a podcast.

[00:05:21] Candice: [00:05:21] Okay. Well, that's, that's a very interesting perspective.

[00:05:25] Um, what do you wish you knew, uh, when you started out podcasting, I mean, you mentioned the, how difficult it is to get into and how technically challenging it can be at times. Um, what do you wish you knew right in those early days, um, that you now know that could have benefited you then

[00:05:43] Paulo: [00:05:43] as a producer or as a listener?

[00:05:45] Candice: [00:05:45] I would ask as both.

[00:05:47] Paulo: [00:05:47] I think. What I wish I knew as a producer was to pay as much attention to distribution as you do to the content. Where now I'm very mindful of it where it's like, everyone's got a podcast idea. Everyone knows what their podcast will be about, but you got to think about where you're going to put it.

[00:06:07] Who's going to listen to it, how you're going to get it out to them. And I would say to anyone getting into it, because you know what your podcast idea is about. Spend 40% of your time crafting your content and 60% on your distribution, think about where you go. Everyone wants to be where you get your podcasts, where they can find more podcasts, but that's not necessarily the best thing for you.

[00:06:28] Think about where your podcast needs to go. Who ideally you want to listen. And how big or how vast or what job you want your podcast to do. And I think that's just even more important. That's more important than your podcast, because to be honest, you might think of a podcast idea as unique, and no one's doing it.

[00:06:46] I'll tell you right now there's 500 people doing it and you've just got to figure out how do you get to the right people that you want to talk to? So that's, as a producer that I learned along the way to go think importantly and think strategically about that. I think what I suppose I wish I knew as a listener was to probably to be honest, uh, not have got so embedded into apple podcasts because now I'm stuck in the ecosystem and it is not the most user-friendly ecosystem compared to the others, but I've tried to migrate to simpler podcast platforms and players, and it's not so easy.

[00:07:23] So I wish I was a bit more, um, a bit more, uh, wiser. I wish I was a bit wiser .

[00:07:33] Candice: [00:07:33] You wish you never, bit the apple, right? You wish you never did.

[00:07:38] Paulo: [00:07:38] If you want me to say that, I wish I never bit the apple at the time and what it does. It's fantastic, but I'm stuck in the world now and I can't get my podcasts across.

[00:07:47] I tried last year to go to Spotify. And it's just too hard. So I'm back with apple and that's what I wish.

[00:07:54] Candice: [00:07:54] Awesome. Thank you. That was a really comprehensive answer. Thank you for that. I mentioned, I'll ask everyone as a listener and as a producer,

[00:08:03] do you have any, any particular tips for somebody who has a great podcasting idea?

[00:08:09] They think it's unique. think it's fabulous. They think it's awesome. Why do they need to do, why do they need to know? What do they need to do

[00:08:18] Paulo: [00:08:18] first, firstly, get over that your idea's unique, uh, because someone else would have done it. What you have is they don't have you. So I think it's just about going, like when you're going to get into your podcast and whatever idea you want to do, whatever you want to follow is that don't think that you've got the most unique podcast idea in the world, but just remember that you have you, the next thing I'd say is that if you haven't started your podcast yet, Just start it, just do it because everyone goes, oh, but I'm waiting for this.

[00:08:50] I'm waiting for a mic. I'm waiting for a studio. I'm waiting for, don't wait, do it because I guarantee you, you can have all that set up and go through it. And you'll hate your first episode guaranteed. I’ve recorded podcast episodes with the simplest equipment in people's bedrooms and I’ve recorded in world-class studios, people hate their first episode.

[00:09:09] So just get over that. And I think those are the two barriers to get over first, just one and done, get it done, get it out there. Um, and then, like I say, before you switch on a mic, most importantly, I'd say you can podcast without a mic. You can podcast without fancy equipment. You can podcasts without soundproofing.

[00:09:26] Think about where it's going to go. And that's the most important thing, because if you put your podcasts in the wrong place to begin with, you're going to get no traction, no response, and it's going to put you off. So just think, spend all your time thinking about where it goes and I'll keep bringing it up.

[00:09:43] If it doesn't go in the right place, you're wasting your time. You can have the best idea in the wrong place. No, one's going to listen to it. Right.

[00:09:49] Candice: [00:09:49] And then what do they need to know

[00:09:51] about about podcasting and what lies ahead?

[00:09:54] Paulo: [00:09:54] You're not gonna make money. I think that's, I think that's the misconception or maybe it's maybe it's not a misconception at all. A podcast

[00:10:08] isn't a tool to make money. There are a handful of people in the country that make meaningful money, out of the podcast alone, look at your podcast as a tool to promote you. So maybe you're a consultant. You have a business, you got knowledge, you got a skill. Your podcast is a marketing tool to get people into another side of your business.

[00:10:31] If you're just doing it as fun, and maybe you want to do a sports podcast with your friends. That's fine. Do it as that, but don't expect to become rich and that shouldn't be your main motivating factor. Figure out ways to get rich from your podcast. Use your podcast to promote things that can make you money.

[00:10:47] You know, I mean, if in, in, in more, Or out of COVID times. So, I mean, the merch is easy, but invite people to live recordings of your podcast. Even if you get 20 people in paying a cover charge that pays for a podcast, then the content lives by itself. So you're not going to get rich out of it. Uh, but it's sort of use it to make money or grant expertise, or put yourself in front of people and opportunities that you can make money out of.

[00:11:17] But if that's not your aim, um, Just have fun. Know you're going to suck to start off with, but just one day you'll be great. And you won't remember how you got great, but you just did because you practiced and you did a lot of them. All right.

[00:11:29] Candice: [00:11:29] So I'm going to ask you to do, to think back to your favourite podcast.

[00:11:35] It could be, it could be one that, well, there's two, there's one that you listen to and there's one that you produced. Um, so proudest piece of work. Um, or what you think people should aspire doing in terms of quality in terms of podcast, content creation and that kind of stuff. So it's a two-parter?

[00:12:00] Paulo: [00:12:00] I think that's such an, I think that's such an interesting question, but it's probably the reason why podcasts also popular because there's no one size fits all or one thing for everybody because

[00:12:10] I've heard podcasts done by one person talking to you on a microphone that is engaging as interesting as these podcasts produced in, you know, Grammy award-winning studios. So I think there's a little bit of everything for everybody. And that's the beauty of the medium, um, my favourite podcast and their story is just so fantastic.

[00:12:31] And, and, um, I'm lucky to be in contact with them. It's one of the first podcasts I came across called the football ramble and it's just four guys. And they started out in their kitchen and they four best friends and they started talking about football. And they've now grown themselves over 12, 15 years into like a leading podcast network in the UK of where now they've got like big name, TV, broadcasters on their podcast with them.

[00:12:57] Uh, they're a viable business that all quit their jobs to now, um, you know, work within this podcasting business. They've got 10/12 podcasts that come out of the stable. And, but yet the podcast they show has never changed. It's just four friends talking and it's engaging and it's fun and there's no high end production.

[00:13:15] There's no storytelling, there's no creative. They just really good guys that you like listening to. And just watching their journey has been amazing because, and also, I don't think they ever went into it to make money, but it just happened because they were the right people. Um, And then, then on the other hand.

[00:13:33] So that's what I like listening to. Um, there's not to say, um, I'm more, um, more preferred round table, top of discussion podcasts than the produced narrative, type of ones I tend to, but that's more me. I'm just, I just got no attention span. I prefer biographical stuff than fiction or, or, or anything

[00:13:56] that's a little bit of a produced, so that's not that yeah, there. In terms of what I'm most proud of producing

[00:14:06] is.

[00:14:07] I mean, I've done podcasts for massive, massive brands that do various jobs and, and they work well. But the podcast I'm most proud of is a really tiny podcast. And I'm talking out of podcasts that I do do myself, but it was a really tiny podcasts that we produced. It was two young mothers and they ran a, like a sort of mommy blog.

[00:14:35] And they said to me that like to do a podcast and we produced this podcast for them. And it was just about the struggles that young mothers go to go through and they are two sisters. And they would just come into the studio once a week and would record each week. It'd be a different topic, but they were so real and raw and just, I mean, every episode ended up like a therapy session for the two of them.

[00:14:57] This was just the time in the week, just to offload and talk about their frustrations and the challenges and the joys and the good things that have happened. And they were just normal moms. There was nothing spectacular about it. And they were just normal, real people, but because they were so raw and so real, and we leveraged the blog base and we pushed the podcast out to them to start building a following, but the engagement and the, the, the way people just responded to them, just because they left it all out there.

[00:15:25] There were tears. They were crying. There were things revealed that. I mean, they at times would say, please cut that out to come put that up there. But the audience just resonated and they were just like, my God, I love them. Um, and to this day, people still pick up the content every now and again and get in touch with me and go, Hey, we'd like to do this or that.

[00:15:42] And unfortunately, because they busy moms, they had to stop the podcast. But I think just for them, they weren’t broadcast people they weren’t media people that were really raw and they just opened themselves up and it just created like really, really powerful audio.

[00:16:00] Candice: [00:16:00] Wow. That's really

[00:16:01] awesome. That sounds really awesome.

[00:16:03] I'm gonna, I'm gonna, um, I'm gonna check them out. I think I seen mention of them on your LinkedIn profile, correct?

[00:16:10] Paulo: [00:16:10] Yeah. The rookie, the rookie parents society.

[00:16:13] Candice: [00:16:13] Yes. Equipment tips for,

[00:16:16] for people starting out, you know, do you need a

[00:16:18] microphone? What kind of microphone? Um, you know, that kind of stuff

[00:16:24] Paulo: [00:16:24] In terms of equipment and I think this is the one thing that holds people back. Cause I say, oh, I'm not going to start until I have a microphone. And I think that's like, uh, that's just an excuse for you to not start, uh, look, you know, the same way as that, like you can go into YouTube and film, YouTube videos with your phone.

[00:16:43] You can quite easily, you know, in a well-treated room and you’ve soundproofed, properly even sitting in your car, you can produce a podcast off your phone. I would recommend if you're serious about getting a microphone, at least, um, a decent microphone that you can plug into your laptop or even into your phone, but try to get something can plug into your laptop.

[00:17:01] Um, How much do you spend? I mean, listen, this is up to you and how, how serious you are about it. There's anything ranging, you know, you can spend a fortune on a microphone, but just at least try spend a thousand Rand on a microphone, you know, just commit to it, because then you're going to do it. If you spend a thousand on a microphone, you're gonna make a podcast.

[00:17:21] cause...

Maboneng Life

Spudcaster — Sun, 06 Jun 2021 12:52:00 +0200

Wesley Pepper chats to Taye Uhuru AKA Camp Cleveland. The musician recently authored a book. They talk cooperative economics and pan africanism.

This is a podcast where we talk art and art processes.

Transcript

Wesley: [00:00:00] Greetings everybody this is Wesley Pepper here. And you're tuned into my podcast Wesley Pepper’s art Lexica, which is brought to you by Spudcaster and baobulb. Yes, everybody, greetings to everybody. Um, To all the new listeners and returning listeners. Hi, hello to everybody. Thanks for tuning in this week, man. Uh, for those of you who listened to last week's episode.

[00:00:36] Thanks to Brian Jones and Jane Morris for coming through. I think they were fantastic. I had so much fun talking to them so much energy that they have, and I really believe, uh, in their business strategy. Uh, I think, um, Yeah. I mean, I think they do fantastic. They doing fantastic things over there in Bulawayo in Zimbabwe.

[00:00:56] So, um, yeah, they based in Wales but running out of Bulawayo. So if you, yeah, and just, if you know of them tune to last week’s podcast, if you haven't heard of them, tune in to last week’s podcast. But I think that was really great. Um, Well, that, that was really fantastic. And, um, just two more things before I introduce today's guests, um, the art give is still ongoing.

[00:01:18] So what you should do is like subscribe to our channel to this podcast channel. Um, And you can drop me just a line on Facebook saying that you did. I mean, obviously we will see if you did, uh, uh, well, anyway, you can, um, and we'll choose a random name. And for now the giveaway is only available to my listeners in South Africa, and that's because of

[00:01:44] courier costs because it's coming out of my pocket and that is, uh, yeah. Anyway, I'm sure you get it. Um, so that's ongoing so that it's available. Um, I'll actually tweet, um, or post a picture of the art work I want to give away on my social media pages so you can check it out there. I'll probably do it, um, yeah, very soon.

[00:02:04] So you can look forward to that and, um, I'll talk to you guys with all with regards to what's coming forth to future episodes and future additional features and stuff like that. We add into the show at the end of the interview. So stay tuned for that. So moving on then, uh, today's episode is going to be really exciting, I'm looking forward to it.

[00:02:24] So we're talking to a brother, um, Taye Uhuru, um, from Ohio in the USA. Uh, on social media he goes by the name Camp Cleveland. Um, say he's a, a historian and activist, uh, gynecologist, a student, hiphop artists, and this guy's quite an active traveler. Um, he said he's been to over 70 countries, which is actually, I don't know many people that has been to, uh, so many countries.

[00:02:51] So, uh, that's going to be exciting to talk to him to that. Um, I also had a listen to some of his music videos. Um, so that was really cool because the one video he shot at Mabonengneng and as you know, I used to stay just around the corner from there, uh, and Gary and Jola them, all the artists featured on there.

[00:03:07] So big shout out to Gary and Jola from African Icons um, and two, I'll give you guys another, um, yeah. Hmm. I actually just remembered something, but that's fine. Um, I'll make mention of all of that towards, at the end of the episode, um, with regards to everybody who I'm associated with and all of that. Um, so yeah, man, um, hope you guys will enjoy today's episode.

[00:03:28] Um, I'm certainly looking forward to it. Um, To unpacking his, um, uh, journey and all of that. So stay tuned for that. And I'll talk to you at the end of this.

[00:03:43] Spudcaster: [00:03:43] baobulb.org is a podcasting platform and a medium for storytelling. This podcast is also available on all the major podcasting apps, including apple and Google podcasts, podcasts your life with baobulb.org

[00:04:00] Wesley: [00:04:00] Um, okay man. Taye Uhuru uh, from camp Cleveland, Ohio in the USA. Uh, thanks for coming through my brother. Um, how you been keeping?

[00:04:13] Taye Uhuru: [00:04:13] uh all is well, thanks to you, king. I truly appreciate you for even allowing me to you know, come on your platform is definitely an honour. How you feeling now?

[00:04:22] Wesley: [00:04:22] Man? Me I'm good. Um, entering winter, uh, you know, as, as African people, we don't like the winter, so that's a bit, yeah.

[00:04:31] Other than that, it's all good, man. I'm being real busy. Actually. I've been working on some art. Um, I've got another group show coming up in a few weeks time, but the podcast we'll be hearing about that in the coming weeks. So, yeah, man, that covers me and my brother. Um, let's jump straight into it, man. So I'm you from Ohio and in the USA, you also a world traveler man, which is, which is really cool.

[00:04:52] Um, And, uh, you a historian. a musician. Um, yeah, man, they started with like, um, yeah. Uh, so you basically are you, so tell us a little bit about you, man. Just give us a little for my listeners so just give us a little bit of a background about, um, you know, stuff that's not in your, on your website, you know?

[00:05:14] Um, yeah.

[00:05:16] Taye Uhuru: [00:05:16] Oh, okay. Yeah, I'm definitely, um, I'm a musician. I'm an MC I'm an author. I just wrote my first book.

[00:05:23] It's called The Afro Set. Uh, I'm into

[00:05:26] genealogy. I'm a historian.

[00:05:29] And also I'm a world traveler. Um,

[00:05:31] I visited almost 70 countries around the world. I've been to almost 20 countries in Africa.

[00:05:38] Wesley: [00:05:38] That's like, that's like pretty cool, man.

[00:05:40] Like, to be honest with you, I know a lot of travelers, but 70 countries that's outstanding. Uh, just for the listeners. Can you tell us like, which of those, because there's 20 in Africa. Where else have you been, man? Um, Europe. Asia, where all over?

[00:05:56] Taye Uhuru: [00:05:56] Yeah, definitely all over.

[00:05:58] Um, and as far as

[00:06:00] Africa I've been there, I've been to South Africa, Mozambique, uh, Botswana, Zimbabwe.

[00:06:07] Kenya Madagascar, Seychelles, Camaros, uh, Ethiopia, Egypt, Senegal, Cape Verde. Guinea-Bissau Morocco. I've been to south America, Brazil, uh, Dominican Republic, Mexico, uh, all over Europe, you know, Philippines, Taiwan. Thailand Japan. China. Yeah.

[00:06:32] Wesley: [00:06:32] Wow. Wow. Wow. That's extensive. And that's extensive. So from what I can understand that you pan African is that correct.

[00:06:40] You, are you consider yourself as pan africanist?

[00:06:43] Taye Uhuru: [00:06:43] Well, yeah, I guess it depends on your definition of it. So I think that. Uh, being black is a global thing. So I look at it as

[00:06:51] black people in India, black people in Asia, as black people in Africa, black people in Mexico and Brazil and America. You know what I'm saying?

[00:07:00] Wesley: [00:07:00] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, because, because I'm looking at, because like the first thing that, um, I found a picture of buyer that jumps to me, man, is that historian part, because I'm a history buff myself. Um, you know, um, yeah man, I also, co-run a website we've been around for. A long, long, long, long time consciousness where we publish specifically, um, um, uh, stuff around African history and art, uh, essays, poetry, music, and everything around the, um, the African diaspora.

[00:07:31] And, um, tell me, man, is your, uh, is your history studies, um, uh, part of the reason why you travel such a lot or where did the traveling of where and why did the traveling bug really bite? You know,

[00:07:45] Taye Uhuru: [00:07:45] Oh, okay. Um, it kind of mostly goes back to

[00:07:48] my family's history. So I would say my, my great-grandfather. He was a follower of Marcus Garvey, you know, in the 1920s.

[00:07:57] Um, he joined the UNIA. I didn't, I never met my great-grandfather, but his daughter, my grandmother, she would tell them more about, you know, cause she was there. She went to some of the meeting. She was at the parade. She seen the raising of the red, black and green flag. And she told me about him, you know, like he felt like we were Africans and we should go back to Africa.

[00:08:18] And things like that. And then my grandmother's son, my uncle, he started his own black power organisation. It was called The Afro Set. So Afro at that time was short for Africa. So his organisation, it was at the forefront of re-introducing black Americans to African history, African culture, African language, African dance, and African fashion, African news, you know, and things like that.

[00:08:45] And, um, you know, my mom, she gave me black history books. When I was young, she used to draw, she drove the

[00:08:51] Greyhound and she would take us to

[00:08:52] different places around, around the country. You know, New York, Chicago, Cincinnati. Detroit, uh, you know, just different places around the way. So that's when I first started traveling and learning about black history.

[00:09:06] So I've always admired African people and African culture and African history ever since I was younger. Uh,

[00:09:11] Wesley: [00:09:11] that's interesting. Interesting. So tell me, uh, through that, like inspired you to start traveling throughout the continent. Is that, um, is that, is that, is that, is that correct?

[00:09:22] Taye Uhuru: [00:09:22] Well, yeah, but it took some time because like I say, I started when I was

[00:09:24] young and then once I became an adult, you know, I continued to travel on my own.

[00:09:29] You know, I was still making music at this time. So I would go to different cities and different states, you know, we

[00:09:34] will promote our music, perform,

[00:09:36] pass out CDs and different things like that. And then once I had pretty much seen the majority of the states in America, I’ve been to like 45 states out of 50.

[00:09:46] So, you know, I wanted to see more and learn more. Again, I got my passport in 2010, and then that's when I started going to different countries in different parts of the world.

[00:09:56] Wesley: [00:09:56] Well, so you said you traveled to about more than 70 countries since 2010. That's like the past 11 years. Taye Uhuru: Yeah, 11 years. Wesley: Yeah, shit, man.

[00:10:05] That's like, that's like a lot of mileage in 11 years.

[00:10:08] Taye Uhuru: [00:10:08] Yeah. Yeah. I was moving at a high speed.

[00:10:12] Wesley: [00:10:12] Yeah, fuck. Yeah, absolutely. Um, just for interest sake now that COVID has, uh, is like affected everything. Um, how has that affected your movement? Have you been traveling? Um, what is the, since March last year? Yeah.

[00:10:26] Taye Uhuru: [00:10:26] Yeah. I still been traveling. Definitely.

[00:10:28] So in January of 2020, I came to Africa. I was in South Africa. So I was there during the

[00:10:34] lockdown during COVID shut down and everything level four, level three, you know, waiting around and stuff. So I was in Africa for most of the time

[00:10:46] Wesley: [00:10:46] uh, where in South Africa were you at that time?

[00:10:49] Taye Uhuru: [00:10:49] I was in Johannesburg. I was living in Maboneng. I had an apartment in Maboneng. That's where I shot the music video at

[00:10:55] Wesley: [00:10:55] my brother, I actually used to stay around the corner from there. Um, yeah, man, I lost my apartment since then. Uh, we actually give up the apartment in, uh, Taye Uhuru: when was it? Wesley: January February this year.

[00:11:10] Um, so since then I moved back to Kimberly in the Northern Cape, which is like 500 Ks outside of Johannesburg. But like, but like, that's my, that's my hood, man. Actually, I wanna, I wanna get to that because I've been looking at your looking and listening to your music. Um, and I sort of want to unpack, but like I sorta want to first, see, you know, the whole traveling thing and all that, um, sort of like added to your, uh, I would say your creative arsenal and like unpack that thing.

[00:11:36] But, but, um, so if you were saying that you've been to like 20 countries in, in, in Africa is pretty cool. Um, that that's pretty cool. So yeah. What I'm what I'm interested to know. So I know a lot of, uh, American guys coming to South Africa, um, obviously worked with quite a few as well. And it's interesting for me, how they interpret or how they see the continent, man?

[00:11:57] Um, and the expectations and all of that. But as somebody like with you, like, like coming to South Africa, um, I guess, like, what is, uh, what do you, what do you, what is the first thing you try to learn or, you know, experience from, uh, from, from, from, from, uh, from, uh, from, from a country?

[00:12:16] Taye Uhuru: [00:12:16] Um, well, it depends on the country in terms of South Africa, you know, I had a little bit of,

[00:12:22] um, understanding and knowledge of the history before I

[00:12:25] actually came to visit.

[00:12:27] You know, from my first visit, I've been to South

[00:12:29] Africa, at least five or six times. Like I said, I lived in Maboneng almost a year. Um, but I was reading different books. Like I read, uh, Nelson Mandela's book. I read, uh, Steve Biko book. I read, uh, Oh, my God. Uh, Robert Subukwe, you know, I was learning about apartheid and watching Shaka, Zulu, you know, different movies, cry freedom and stuff like that, and catch a fire and, you know,

[00:12:54] just different things.

[00:12:55] So I kind of built up

[00:12:57] a certain level of anticipation before I went there. So I knew what I wanted

[00:13:01] to see. I tapped into some of the music, and then I had knew someone that was living

[00:13:05] in South Africa. So I was communicating with them before I came out there, but when I, um,

[00:13:12] when I first came to South Africa, this was maybe like 2013.

[00:13:16] So it wasn't a lot of constant positive content

[00:13:20] about South Africa. You know, back then, like you said, it was about

[00:13:25] these eight or nine years ago. So if you Googled South Africa, it would be something

[00:13:29] negative rape murder, a

[00:13:32] poverty.

[00:13:33] But you know, when I got to Cape town, that was the first place I went. I seen

[00:13:38] malls.

[00:13:39] I seen beautiful women, beautiful beaches. Cars, Benzes, Bentleys, BMWs. You know, I've just seen so many my brother.

[00:13:46] Wesley: [00:13:46] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like I get you. I get you like that also thing. Um, one thing, I've one thing I've picked up. Like I know a lot of scholars, um, actually I know some from Chicago was pretty close friends of mine and, uh, they've actually been doing a project in the Northern KZN, with the rural women.

[00:14:07] So we get a, um, it's also. For me as a, for me as, as an artist, because I'm a visual artist, like that's my core. So, so, so I interpret things. Yeah. Visually and I'm also Pan-Africanist as well. So, um, When I find out when I see a lot of, um, um, yeah, for me, it's always interesting. Are the other Americans like, like back, because as you say, like if you see all this fucking rape and all this type of shit.

[00:14:35] Yeah. Well, um, yeah, yeah. That's how the, uh, that's the stuff has been as bad as, you know, if you scratch deeper, there's a lot. Yeah. Um, um, there's a, there's, there's a lot of culture, there’s a lot of history. Um, is that a context as thing which, which gives out which, which gives our music and our artistic expression such a, I guess, such a texture and vibe energy and all of that.

[00:14:56] So, um, you know, reading up a few, a few, you mentioned movies like cry, freedom, um, um, That actually quite a, that's actually quite something interesting. Um, so, uh, how, or what parts of the Africa, what part of, um, if you, if I must make it specific about Joburg, like really struck with you, man, you know, what was the, um, and I'm sort of trying to build up to your music because I was listening to your lyrics, um, as well, but yeah.

[00:15:24] What part of Joburg, and then, South Africa really, you know, grabbed you.

[00:15:30] Taye Uhuru: [00:15:30] Man. It's hard to say because all of South Africa has been amazing, you know, from my experience. Well, yeah, I, I really was feeling Joburg. I mean, I guess, cause you know, Joburg got the money. It seems like, you know,

[00:15:42] looking from the outside.

[00:15:43] So Maboneng was just like the ultimate place

[00:15:46] to be, you know, as photographers, as dancers, as poets,

[00:15:51] drummers, as singers, as painters s producers. And like even during a lockdown, you know, it was three or four different music studios in my building. It was producers

[00:16:00] and rappers that I could just go next door or go upstairs.

[00:16:04] So, you know, I never seen a place like Maboneng. So, so maybe that may have been the most, you know, uh, remarkable place for me.

[00:16:14] Wesley: [00:16:14] So you were staying at main street life in . Um, we, uh, in that hotel, were you staying there? Taye Uhuru: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, Wesley: yeah, fuck. Um, I know that place pretty well. Um, I used to stay down, um, Betty Street, so it will be, um, just on the corner by Burtrand by that French restaurant.

[00:16:36] Um, if you're looking left, um, I stayed just one, just two blocks from the, um, but yeah, like, um, after the, um, after, because as a visual artist, um, Yeah. I mean, once everything got shut down. Yeah, man, it really it's out long story we had to give up the apartment. But anyway, um, I'm still based, um, you know, my stuff's in storage that side and all of that.

[00:16:59] Um, so yeah. So if you were, you were there through our thought lockdown, right? Uh, Geewhizz how was that for you, because, because over here, which means that you experienced, uh, alcohol and tobacco prohibition, uh, and, uh, you know, the politics around movement. Cause we couldn't go anywhere and it was really odd.

[00:17:19] Cool man. And, um, I know the inner city, there's a lot of people there there's a lot of movement. Uh, uh, I don't know, like what, uh, because it was 21 days and the government moved it out to a few more days. What did you do to keep yourself busy?

[00:17:35] Taye Uhuru: [00:17:35] Well, I mean, you know, I was shocked like everybody else, so we didn't

[00:17:38] know what was next, but, you know, as far as being locked down somewhere, I couldn't have picked a more, better place to be.

[00:17:44] Like I said, cause I was...

Hope For A Time Such As This

Spudcaster — Sun, 06 Jun 2021 07:30:00 +0200

Reverend Heidi Petersen delivered this sermon for podcast. It is based on Romans 15 verse 13.

Extraordinary Men

Spudcaster — Sat, 05 Jun 2021 23:00:00 +0200

Reverend Kelvin Harris delivered this sermon for podcast. It is based on the following scripture readings:

Psalm 138: 1-8
Acts 3: 1-10
Mark 3: 31-35

Disclaimer: The views expressed do not reflect those of baobulb.org

Trinity Sunday

Spudcaster — Sun, 30 May 2021 14:42:00 +0200

Reverend Heidi Petersen delivered this sermon this morning at the Saint Barnabas United Church. The scripture reading is taken from Isaiah 6:1 - 8

Disclaimer: The views expressed do not reflect those of baobulb.org

God's Power is Among Us

Spudcaster — Sat, 29 May 2021 23:00:00 +0200

Reverend Kelvin Harris prepared this sermon for podcast as a service to the Bosmont Congregational church in South Africa.

Scripture readings:

Psalm 24:7-10
Acts 1:1-11
Ephesians 1:17-23
Luke 24:46-53

Disclaimer: The views expressed do not reflect those of baobulb.org

Selling Books

Spudcaster — Fri, 28 May 2021 08:00:00 +0200

Wesley Pepper sits down with Jane Morris and Brian Jones from amaBooks publishing. They take a look at the world of publishing through the lens of Covid.

Disclaimer: The views expressed do not reflect those of baobulb.org

Transcript

Wesley: [00:00:00] Everybody this is Wesley Pepper here. And your tuning in to my podcasts wesley peppers art lexica. And remember we are brought to you by spot Costa and Bible, and thanks to all my new and returning listeners. Uh uh, thanks for coming for coming in to check on my platform. Uh, it's much appreciated. I know the local, the listeners are growing and there's some shout outs I've been getting and thanks to everybody, uh, much appreciated.

[00:00:38] Uh, yeah, yeah. Um, yeah. Anyway, I'm not very good at that type of thing. So it's just like, thank you. And, uh, yeah, let me continue making sound really dope ass arts based content, which I'm really passionate about man and I really, really enjoy doing. And, um, let's just touch base on last week's episode. Uh, Lerato Sibanda thanks alot my sister for coming through the poetry really gave the episode a lot of.

[00:01:04] But very limited, really layered, really textured. I really, I really loved it. I thought it was, uh, it was, uh, it was really beautiful. And, um, and what I loved about it was, um, yeah, I don't know, organic, everything was so big up to that, uh, today's episode. Um, we are talking to some really interesting for, uh, really interesting people talking to, um, Jane Morris and Brian Jones they from amaBooks, publisher publishing.

[00:01:31] Um, they're based in Zimbabwe but currently are in Wales, in cardigan. Um, we spoke with earlier in the week and I say, uh, book Saturday, uh, event in cardigan over the weekend. So promoting Bryony Rheam’s book, and we'll be talking a little bit about that. So when we're focusing on the, you know, pretty much the A to Zed about them?

[00:01:51] So in talking about, uh, how they came out, how they came to being, um, just to give it some perspective, um, they, uh, how they, uh, curate or, um, How they curate their, um, uh, authors they're their writers. I know that they publishing work is based mostly on, um, you know, stories, you know, short stories, a lot, a lot of poetry, uh, or rather some poetry or some history book.

[00:02:14] So that's really interesting, man. So when we are going to be talking a little bit about why they choose to sell that specific genre books, their author’s are top selling authors, how they will, um, adapting to the COVID pandemic as we always do on this platform and getting to know them just personally, really, you know, um, and giving my listeners or you listeners just a face to the, to the brand, which is amaBooks publishing.

[00:02:38] So. Yeah, man. Um, look forward to that. That's coming really soon. Um, with regards to the, uh, art giveaway, it is still going on. Um, remember to, um, you can catch me on all my social media platforms. So that's, uh, um, Facebook that’s twitter, that’s @wesleypepper, and, uh, Instagram is with the underscore pepper. So you can catch me on there.

[00:03:01] Um, but remember to like subscribe and comment to this channel, um, and we'll select somebody for now a disclaimer that is only available to, uh, South African based listeners. And that's just a money thing. Because it’s all coming out of my pocket. For now. Um, so yeah, man. And, um, so that's something that's, that's going to be ongoing, but like, but I'll explain a little bit more too about that at the end of the episode.

[00:03:27] Um, and in the outro, but for now, um, yeah, I look forward to listen to Brian, to Jane and Brian. Um, from amaBooks and we'll chat after that. And I hope you enjoy today's episode.

[00:03:38] Spudcaster: [00:03:38] Baobulb.org is a podcasting platform and a medium for storytelling. This podcast is also available on all the major podcasting apps, including apple and Google podcasts podcast, your life with baobulb.org.

[00:03:55] Wesley: [00:03:55] I'm just gonna hit record already. Um, and I'm gonna click the video. So, uh, okay. Uh, Jane Morris, Brian Jones. Thank you so much for coming. Um, thank you so much for coming. Um, they are from amaBooks and, uh, good morning.

[00:04:15] Jane: [00:04:15] How are you? Hello? Yeah, we’re very quiet people.

[00:04:20] Wesley: [00:04:20] Oh, all of a sudden it was so quiet.

[00:04:26] Good morning. Good morning, Brian. Uh, yeah, so you guys are based in Wales for now, but we'll get to that. Um, so just briefly, because we there's about, there's a bunch of things I want to unpack, um, in today's episode. So just briefly, like, uh, where’s amaBooks based, you know, uh, what do you guys sell? I mean, I think I sell books, but what genre of books do you sell?

[00:04:50] Um, yeah. So just give us like a brief, a little bit about amaBooks.

[00:04:54] Brian: [00:04:54] Um, well, we now living in Wales, but, um, the publishing company is still based in, in Zimbabwe where we started 20 years ago. Um, and we've been publishing a couple of books every year. At that time we started off doing mainly fiction, but we did a few nonfiction titles.

[00:05:19] Um, the culture of Matabeleland in Zimbabwe. Um, but since then we've moved, we really concentrated on, on fictional novels. Collections of short stories and I suppose we're most famous. We are famous. Jane: No imfamous.

[00:05:43] Brian: for the collections of short stories that we did, um,

[00:05:50] If we did, as we just spoke informally now to try and encourage an interest in a wider population. I think you know so we’d get sort of 20 writers in each edition. And if they came in a few of their families for the launch, we'd have lots of people,

[00:06:09] lots of interest and enthusiasm.

[00:06:13] Jane: [00:06:13] The, the idea behind that also was to have writers from different backgrounds. So, um, Rural urban black, white coloured, and people who were already here known as writers, people who were new writers. So we wanted to mix because we thought by having some established writers in the, um, the compilations, it would bring on the new writers too.

[00:06:42] So we thought that was a good model to take. Um, we've done quite a few of those collections and they have been, they have been popular and they've. It's been wonderful because there'd been the platform for some writers to go on, to develop their own thing and to write their, their own novels or poetry books.

[00:07:00] Christopher Miller last year has gone on Bryony Rheam has, um, there have been others, but my mind just got blank. Um, wonderful. As a publisher to just see the writers develop in that way and go on to greater things.

[00:07:15] Wesley: [00:07:15] Interesting. Interesting. Like, I think that as a, as a, as, as a, as a concept is, is really cool.

[00:07:22] So you have the short stories. So, um, I guess like, um, so you guys started 20 years ago, right? One thing I'm very interested in exploring on this, on this platform. And we spoke quite kind of informally earlier on, and I just want to get into I to explain to you is firstly, why. Um, um, is that, you know, this on this platform, I like to, I like to talk about, um, um, artists process and I call artists as a loose either blanket term pardon for like basically every creative, you know, fine art, music, et cetera, uh, poets and all of that writers.

[00:07:51] Um, so I know that like, The creatives in, in, in, in, in Africa, you don’t.. to be an artist it's a calling it's it's, it's, it's something that, that you either have it, or you don't. And I understand the complexity is behind publishing too. Um, So 20 years ago was a long time ago, that was before the tech boom and the social media.

[00:08:15] Boom. So I'm sure your personal strategy, uh, was, was different than you just made mention of, of, of, of, of, of the short stories, which is brilliant. I think that's the concept was brilliant. So, I mean like, so like just explain to me, how did amaBooks come to being and, um, you know, what was your, um, Original strategy and I'm 20 years on is a long time.

[00:08:34] So, um, how have you guys changed over, um, over the past 20 years?

[00:08:50] Jane: [00:08:50] we’re alot greyer! Okay. Brian's pointed at me. So I think it's over to me to answer this one. So I, in, in Zimbabwe, we have, I was a clinical social worker and I was involved in setting up Childline in Bulawayo. It was already established in Harare. And I was part of the training team training, the volunteers, and we needed to raise money for Childline.

[00:09:12] So, um, there was a writer in, um, quite, quite a well known writer called John Eppel who was both.

[00:09:19] Wesley: [00:09:19] Yes, yes, yes. I'm familiar with John

[00:09:23] Jane: [00:09:23] Okay so John came along and said, look, I'll give you a collection of poetry, um, for free. Um, so he said, um, would we take, you know, did we want to, so we said, yeah, that would be great. So the task of publishing fell to Brian and myself for some reason.

[00:09:39] So total novices. Although my background is in literature, I did literature at university. Um, so we put it on and we really enjoyed the process. We had a very, um, helpful printer who guided us through it. Um, so we did this poetry book. And all proceeds were for charity for Childline. Um, we did a print run of a thousand.

[00:10:01] Um, you might know the poetry generally doesn't sell a lot that well, unless you’re in some place like the Czech Republic. They sell a lot of poetry in the Czech Republic, but this was Zimbabwe and we sold out the print run, um, in six months. So we were really, really pleased by that. And following that John Eppel actually approached us and said, You know, why not?

[00:10:24] Why don't we form a publishing company? So we a formed amaBooks, which, uh, you know, as I said, we could have been called accidental publishers because we fell into it. It was accidental. We have no business plan. So you're talking about, our strategy was just to hopefully sell some books and enjoy the process.

[00:10:49] And give a platform for writers. And, um, of course when we started, we didn't really know many writers in Zimbabwe in particularly Matabeleland at that time, but it's amazing. We put out an ad, we published a few of John's novellas to start John Eppel. And then we put saying, submit, uh, you know, and that the first.

[00:11:12] Um, short writings we did, as we call them, are hard fiction pieces, nonfiction, and poetry. Um, whereas, um, luckily it became just fiction pieces and we were really heartened by the response from different, um, different communities submitted and, um, and amaBooks were off.

[00:11:33] Wesley: [00:11:33] Fantastic. Fantastic. Yeah, it's actually quite a beautiful story.

[00:11:41] And like, it's like, um, I like that with like, like in the us, like, like when, when the energy is right, they just come together and things just happen, you know, it’s just an organic process and like definitely can relate to that. Um, I'm actually quite familiar with, uh, with Johnny Eppel’s work.

[00:12:03] Jane: [00:12:03] He’s won a couple of south African prices he’s won The Ingrid Jonker

[00:12:10] He is a well-known writer.

[00:12:15] Wesley: [00:12:15] Yes he is. Right, right. Um, is, um, I know there's a writer Philani Nyoni. He is a good buddy of mine. Um, yeah,

[00:12:24] Jane: [00:12:24] I know Philani very well.

[00:12:28] Wesley: [00:12:28] Yeah. No, no, no. That's a, that's a fellow collaborator of mine and like he's worked extensively and like, um, yeah. Yeah. So, and also I'm also familiar that, that John has got a real status. Um, as, as I writer in Zim like basically every writer I know some how reference or was influenced by him, which is outstanding.

[00:12:46] Um, um, yeah. Um, do you guys still publish his more recent work? Just for interest sake.

[00:12:53] Jane: [00:12:53] Well, um the last one we published of John's would have been a collection called textures, which was, um, a book of poetry by John Eppel and to God [indistinct]. Um, Which, um, well, obviously which is a beautiful poetry book.

[00:13:12] Um, prior to that, I think the one before that was, um, called together, which was again, poetry, poetry, and short stories that time by John Eppel and Julius Chingono. Um, And we, we actually enjoyed that having the two poets as they were speaking to one another in the book. And for instance, the one with Julius and John, they from very different backgrounds and John's a teacher Julius worked in the mines, um, From from different areas of Zimbabwe, we, and, um, but they really respected each other's writing.

[00:13:50] Um, it really worked and it was quite an exciting venture. And when we did together, we were living, um, out to town in a peri-urban area. So I was sort of, um, technology wasn't too advanced. What we had was we had, um, cause Julius lived outside. Harare. So we have one writer actually, um, type the poems up for us.

[00:14:17] Another one went to collect them from, from, um, uh, Julius. So it was very much a co-op cooperative?

[00:14:25] Brian: [00:14:25] Julius was very good at writing sort of rough poems on bits of paper. So we have to get someone to go and, um, Understand what he written.

[00:14:40] Jane: [00:14:40] Yeah, no computer, no computer. And they have not accessed any technology.

[00:14:46] So, uh, it was just, it was just lovely. The way that, um, writers in that area really came together and help get the book out and we really, really appreciated that.

[00:14:56] Wesley: [00:14:56] Interesting. That's, that's, that's a fascinating story. So just like a few questions on that, like, uh, do you think like, um, I love the fact, like, like it's, like, it was almost an ecosystem of writers and, and, and like they sort of work together.

[00:15:10] Do you think that adds to the, uh, because, because, um, my understanding is that the one writer would have to interpret what the other wrote. do you think that type of thing takes away or adds to the writing? Um, or does it make it, um, unique? You know,

[00:15:25] Brian: [00:15:25] I think it does add. I mean, the writers get together, talk to each other and discuss what poems they're going to put in so that it makes it sort of complete package.

[00:15:38] And so they, they learn to appreciate each other's work. Learn from each other. I think that's important

[00:15:47] Jane: [00:15:47] and it makes launches fun. I mean,

[00:15:53] You’ve gotta have fun in this business. There's no point doing it, but texture’s one of the poems I mean, we just acted out. So, um, there were two Gara. We had a couple of other friends in this poem. Took part in it as well. And it's just really nice involving in other people to make it feel more of a, um, a community thing really.

[00:16:18] And there's nothing nicer than walking around Bulawayo and people saying morning amaBooks. Hi, it was just really, really nice.

[00:16:26] Wesley: [00:16:26] Um, that's actually quite a, I love that story. Uh, I love that, that, that those ecosystems grown and now it’s got a face it’s got a personality and has got brand, which is, which is, which is we just, which is quite interesting because, um, Yeah, that's Africa.

[00:16:44] I w when I worked, um, because I used to publish poetry books and poetry anthologies, and I used to illustrate them. So I worked with a group of people and we'd, you know, we, we, we did this like real cheap or cheap printed books and you could sell them pretty quickly. So before, um, Social media, the social media, boom.

[00:17:05] It's just go to fist sessions, vocalisation, et cetera, and sell them there. So what, I'm, what I'm really interested to know because, uh, last year, um, just to give you some context, um, Last year with the SA book week, uh, when the, so it was in September. Um, so the pandemic was already long in it's I think, well, we were on level three, or we came down and dah, dah, dah, all those Covid things.

[00:17:29] But point was like when we had this workshop, uh, many. Uh, businesses was effected directly. Uh, so what I picked up a note as was like, uh, businesses that, and publishers in particular that, uh, was founded, let's say in the late nineties, early two thousands, when they, um, Though those boundaries and their business model in particular, uh, that didn't adapt to the, uh, because now since the pandemic, you know, movement has been restricted, uh, you know, shipping and all that, I'm sure you guys all familiar with, um, with all of that and, you know, gathering of people and like our industry people, that's really a very important aspect of, uh, uh, the, the industry ecosystem.

[00:18:11] And since that was not a move, um, I was I'm, I'm, I'm really interested to know man because, um, like, like explain there that, that, that, that ecosystem is beautiful, man. That has a face that's personal. And, and, and now that the politics of movement is becoming a thing, how has that affected amaBooks and, um, how are you guys dealing or how is adapting to it?

[00:18:33] Jane: [00:18:33] Okay. I'm not sure if I picked up the question, are you saying, how will we innovated to still be? I think what's interesting. I'm using the example of, of somebody else. There there's a writer, um, in, in Bulawayo called [indistinct] and he self published his work. But what was, was lovely. I think about the example of his work was, um, I was involved in it.

[00:18:57] I, I did the final edits. And other people edited it as well. And proof-read, um, was it, it was very much a community project also. And he sold out very quickly because of social media. He was on Facebook a lot and he just got out there and did it himself. And I know there's quite a lot of, um, Writers in South Africa, selling books from the boot of their car.

[00:19:22] And I think we have to be, um, into that much more. We, at one point we tried to sell our books on the street. You know, you get the, the guys on the street, you know, with the books in front of them, trying to, trying to sell it. But then we found, when we went round to these guys, they already had our books. They pirated them.

[00:19:40] So that, that wasn’t exactly a great success.

[00:19:46] Brian: [00:19:46] One of the guys I went back to talk to him too see if he could get our books, and I talked to him about them. And he said, yeah, he was interested. And then we heard a week or so later that he was indeed selling books. He was actually stealing them from the national gallery in Bulawayo, just down the road, selling it. And then one of the people who worked in the national gallery noticed

[00:20:14] Jane: [00:20:14] yeah. I mean there's a lot of piracy. Yeah. Okay. At the moment, the latest book we've done, I know you interviewed, um, Bryony Rheam

[00:20:29] Her latest book um, cause maybe that where we can hinge the question on. And

Breathe On Us, Breath of God

Spudcaster — Sun, 23 May 2021 07:00:00 +0200

Reverend Heidi Petersen delivered this sermon for podcast. It is based on Acts 2.

Disclaimer: The views expressed do not reflect those of baobulb.org

Can These Dry Bones Live

Spudcaster — Sat, 22 May 2021 23:00:00 +0200

Reverend Kelvin Harris delivered this sermon for podcast. It is based on the following scripture readings:

Ezekiel 34: 1-14;
Psalm 104: 24-34;
Acts 2: 1-3;
John 15: 26-27

Disclaimer: The views expressed do not reflect those of baobulb.org

Art Lexica's One Year Birthday

Spudcaster — Fri, 21 May 2021 08:00:00 +0200

Wesley announces plans for the Artwork give-away to mark his 52nd episode. This week, he chats to Cape Town based author Lerato Lerry Scribess Sibanda about the recent National Arts Council sit in. This is our 52nd episode, meaning we've been running this podcast for exactly one year! Born out of lockdown, it remains one of Wesley's most successful project's since 2020. This is a podcast where we talk art and art processes. So check us out wherever you get your podcasts!

Disclaimer: The views expressed do not reflect those of baobulb.org

Transcript

Wesley: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. This is Wesley pepper and you're tuned to my podcast wesley pepper’s art Lexica and its brought to you by Spudcaster and baobulb. Yeah, man. Thanks for everybody for tuning in. If you're in the Southern part of.. if you’re in South Africa or the Southern part of the hemisphere, we are entering winter now and it's pretty chilly where I'm sitting and, uh, yeah.

[00:00:35] So just bear with me. I might have a dripping nose and a Cough and winter related nonsense. So yeah, just bear with me regarding that. And then there also might be some unfortunate noise in the background, but , you can, yeah.

[00:00:49] Anyway. Yeah. Just bear with me, please. For today. It won't

[00:00:52] be too distracting though, but they will be something anyway, moving on to, um, to recap last week's episode, thanks to violette for coming through.

[00:00:59] Um, and the book, Mulberry dreams, all the best with that, my sister. I really, really had fun talking to and talking to about all those, about the book and process and all of that I thought was really outstanding content. Uh, moving on to today's episode, uh, today we're talking to Lerato, uh, Sibanda,

[00:01:16] she's originally

[00:01:17] from, um, Pretoria, but she's now in Cape town.

[00:01:21] She's a multi-disciplinary,

[00:01:23] uh, artists, but she's mostly in the writing field. So she does a lot of poetry. Actually. I know her through the poetry and the journalism route through working through consciousness, that's you, that's it.

[00:01:33] And we'll touch we'll. Um, we'll actually

[00:01:34] touch base, um, with touch on that as well.

[00:01:37] In what she, um, in, in her writing and all the work that she did for consciousness, um, as you guys know, I've been working with them for, or rather I've been involved with them for

[00:01:47] the better part of 15, 16 years. So it's been awhile,

[00:01:50] it's been awhile and we still, and we still around,

[00:01:52] we still alive. So yeah, man, it's still consciousness.

[00:01:54] Let's see what I'd say. Uh, yeah, you can still check it out. So we'll definitely touch

[00:01:58] base with all that. Talk about

[00:01:59] her writing processes and given that, um, um, that was the papers. Art later is almost a year old. Um,

[00:02:05] with the recording of this episode, we'll touch base on some

[00:02:07] about, uh, major themes, um, that I have, you know, that I spoke about throughout the, um, throughout the past 52 weeks, you know?

[00:02:16] Uh, so we’re gonna touch base get Lerato’s, uh, opinion on some of the things like the tech boom, uh, the NAC sit-in and so on, but that will be the latter part of the interview. We're gonna be focusing on her. Uh, writing. I know she's, um, I've been listening to a YouTube channel, uh,

[00:02:34] over the past week.

[00:02:35] So she's been doing a lot of singing, which is really fantastic. She's got quite an interesting, I think, quite a

[00:02:40] smooth, uh, voice. So we're going to be seeing what direction she's planning to go with that and her journalism of course. Um, she'd like, as I said, she did some interesting work for us on consciousness and, um, Yeah.

[00:02:52] So she's a very smart sister as well. So when we covering the A to Z on her processes and who she is as a human being and as an artist and so on. And, um, yeah, I guess as you guys know, um, you know, the podcast is a year old and, um, I'm doing my giveaway. So finally we are there. We know we're going to, we are going to be doing an art giveaway.

[00:03:11] I'm gonna be giving away one of my art pieces. So stay tuned for that, uh, towards the, um, at the outro, um, explaining how you guys go about doing it. It’s going to be real simple, real simple. And, um, this giveaway for now is open to South

[00:03:27] African audiences, mostly because I think it's kind of out of my own pocket and for me to send the work

[00:03:32] Wesley: [00:03:32] to the likes of Ireland or the USA ja well with COVID

[00:03:37] and all of these things ja, uh, this thing is for now only just for the South African-based listeners. But I'll explain to you guys how to go about doing it towards the end of the episode. So stay tuned for that. And, uh, yeah, man, I hope you guys enjoy today's episode. I certainly am. I know, I know Lerato is a bundle of energy.

[00:03:54] Uh,

[00:03:56] Yeah, lots and lots. Lots of energy, lots of, uh, of vibrant. You got a very vibrant personality.

[00:04:01] So, so, so yeah, that's going to be, that's going to be really interesting

[00:04:04] and see what she's been up to. So stay tuned for that. And yeah, man,

[00:04:08] Wesley: [00:04:08] uh, I hope you guys are safe wherever you guys are and to all the new listeners and current listeners it's been a year.

[00:04:15] So

[00:04:15] if you listen to this, you most

[00:04:17] Wesley: [00:04:17] probably listened to more than one of my episodes. So I'm very, very grateful for that. And, um, yeah, man, I'm going to be giving back to all of the listeners from now on, you know, these free giveaway, something I wanna do consistently. Um, probably like once a month type of thing, and as an, a range from books to, um, probably music as well, um, type of thing, but stay tuned for that.

[00:04:37] And you can see all, you can get what you want to find more information on that you can always find that on my social media pages and I'll be giving away my social media handles at the end of the episode. So stay tuned for that guys. And I'll chat to you

[00:04:47] after

[00:04:48] this.

[00:04:49] Spudcaster: [00:04:49] Baobulb.org is a podcasting platform and a medium for storytelling.

[00:04:55] This podcast is also available on all the major podcasting apps, including apple and Google podcasts, podcasts, your life with baobulb.org.

[00:05:07] Wesley: [00:05:07] Okay. So we are live, uh, with Lerato Sibanda, uh, all the way from, from Cape town. Um, but like we were chatting yesterday. You say you're not a kaapenaar yet. And, um, well, I think that's a good thing.

[00:05:24] Um, yeah, because as you know, um, there's always a bit of a, I dunno, Cape town folks, not that I'm dissing Cape town people, but, um, yeah. They different.

[00:05:39] Lerato: [00:05:39] They are totally different and I’ll vouch for that.

[00:05:45] Wesley: [00:05:45] They are, they are. So, uh, let's, let's get straight into it, man. Um, in my intro, I introduced you as a, um, as a multidisciplinary artists whose focus is mostly on the writing.

[00:05:58] Um, I got to know you through working with consciousness.co.za and you are one of our, one of the contributors. Um, I know you did a whole lot of writing. I know you also a very good poet. Um, I know you're a vocalist. I've been listening to your YouTube channel. Um, I've been listening to your yeah, I've been, um, yeah, man.

[00:06:20] So I've actually, I didn't know you were much of a, of like a vocal of a singer. I was more schooled on your, on your, on your poetry and your, and your journalism. So just for my listeners, right? Can you just give us a, agh man can you just gooi us, like who you are, uh, where you from, and

[00:06:39] Wesley: [00:06:39] that type of thing

[00:06:41] Lerato: [00:06:41] Lerato Sibanda

[00:06:41] is from Pretoria. Born. Bred and Buttered. I would say the capital city and I grew up mostly in, on the periphery, but I was schooled in the city. So I always had this polarity of upbringing township and city township and city. And yes, you're right spot on I’m a writer first and foremost is how I describe myself.

[00:07:16] Um, And then I entered into this fear of the urban culture through consciousness. As you mentioned straight from Tukkies. Um, I was, I did a BA BA languages specialise in English, uh, for my undergrad. And then I specialised in cultural and media. So those are my interests areas and then I met Karabo believe it or not, I'm at a underground hip hop gig in [indistinct].

[00:07:52] Sure. And counter culture and pop culture has always been kind of my vibe, you know, and in meeting Karabo he was just looking for somebody to partner with, um, in terms of the editorial content of consciousness, he needed like somebody who would, you know, uh, uh, help him with the proofing and

[00:08:15] the subbing of the stories would also help him, um, scout talent. And so he basically pushed to me to be an editor, but for some reason we never quite formalised it. It was almost like this, an agreement between the him and more on a pro bono basis. So I wasn’t just a contributor for consciousness, I was also very much one of the brand strategists as well.

[00:08:47] And I don't know if you remember, we had, um, we relaunched consciousness in, in 2010 and it was my idea. I sat down and I bought it out and basically I was like the events planner,

[00:09:06] um, when I worked for consciousness it was writing, but it also was more about cultural activation, you know, amongst people and just basically building African pride and consciousness through the art space. But yeah. If somebody asks me who is Lerato, usually I just tell them I’m just a writer.

[00:09:32] Wesley: [00:09:32] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know. I'm glad you, I'm glad you touched base on the whole consciousness, uh, your involvement there.

[00:09:40] Cause I was going to start off or I was going to move in that direction. So, um, yeah, just for my listeners.

[00:09:47] Lerato: [00:09:47] I don't know if people know that Wes. The Wes. Wesley Pepper

[00:09:56] Yeah. Like it was just a collective of interesting, burgeoning minds people who, you know, artistic, but also revolutionary, I would say in consciousness. And I guess so, cause for some reason we just sort of gravitated towards one another. I gravitated towards Karabo. And I know you’d be one of the people. Karabo, we’d

[00:10:21] be hanging out at his place, you know? And he’d go “yo there’s this guy called Wesley! Joh that guy’s mind”. I remember one time he said we spoke for like hours last night. And I was like who’s this cat, you know?

[00:10:41] Wesley: [00:10:41] Wow. Geez. I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I don't know what to say. Thank you. Uh, yeah. Geez. Wow. Thank you. Uh, actually I wanted to jump up on that, like, um, just for our listeners, I would explain my involvement with consciousness, uh, stretches back to 2009. Was it 2008 or something like that? Or was it even before that?

[00:11:02] It was, it was a while back because I started just giving, uh, Karabo, uh, artwork, you know, say, Hey man, I'm an artist. Boom, boom, boom, boom. And, uh, we became friends and um, long story, long story is like almost 15 years. It's more than 15. Yeah. Yeah. It's it, it it's, it's been one of the, one of the most, uh, outstanding, um, Um, thinking about consciousness as like, when it was, when, when, uh, when Karabo launched it and we went mainstream, it also included like Vangie yourself, uh, Khaya, others Matthew.

[00:11:33] I mean, these are really, really great talent. I mean, like very, very talented people. Lerato: And Wesley Pepper

[00:11:43] Wesley: Oh yeah. Oh yeah. There was another guy somewhere and, um, we still, um, we still around like, we’ve outlived everybody, uh, because as you know, like the internet has evolved and, and, and, and our, we consume content has evolved. I know social media played a huge ass role in that as well. Uh, so, but consciousness still exists.

[00:12:03] Like, um, I still look at the stats every now and again, and we still getting like over a hundred hits a day. So, uh, not every single day, but like we still average, which is, which is outstanding, which is outstanding. So, yeah, that was just for my listeners just to give them more context. Um, so. so, uh, yeah. So you were saying you were there from, from an editorial perspective, you are, uh, also helped with the content.

[00:12:27] Uh, yeah, man, what type of a content were you supply or were, um, you creating, you know, what type of stuff are you editing?

[00:12:37] Lerato: [00:12:37] Um, mostly, mostly I would say opinion, editorials around heritage, heritage, African history, you know, the rewriting of African history. Also just recounting, um, recounting, just different stories from the continent.

[00:12:58] about timbuktu the museum in timbuktu also just talking about clans. African clans. So that's mostly, mostly around heritage and history and then we became more political as time went on.

[00:13:22] Wesley: [00:13:22] I want to, I want to get to that.

[00:13:24] Lerato: [00:13:24] Yeah, I get the more that we're coming together, having conversations, being informed the outselves, I mean, it's very important to mention that when we became a collective, we were mostly students, you know, so obviously we also engage in what w what we're being taught at school, you know, but as we were talking and sharing about stuff and we were also reading.

[00:13:50] I remember Karabo had encouraged that at a point, then listen, whatever books that you guys are reading, how about we, like you guys drop them at my place. I mean, So we'll almost be like an in-house library will always, you know, circulate. I mean, and you know I think of us like [indistinct] we were like a whole different kind of people because here you are about 22/23 reading deep stuff.

[00:14:18] Wesley: [00:14:18] Yeah.

[00:14:28] Lerato: [00:14:28] And then someway somehow I became more politically, uh, conscientised how, um, I think Khaya played a huge role in that, always

[00:14:39] engaging what is happening, you know? And that got me wanting to start to write opinion, editorials that were more political and as God would have it, or other people would say the universe. Um, I, I thought I wanted a job in industry cause I just finished my honours and, um, independent newspapers was looking for 15, 15 young people from the country, you know, from all the provinces to train for the newsrooms.

[00:15:18] Um, this is for mainstream news, you know, and I applied for that, I got into that. So once I got into mainstream traditional journalism, I became more and more.

[00:15:35] Wesley: [00:15:35] So, um, explain to, because, because you mentioned becoming political probably three times now and, um, clearly it's, it was,

[00:15:41] uh,

[00:15:44] So, um, yeah, this platform is not really a political platform, but you know, I mean like specific like ANC EFF type of thing, like, no, no, no, no, no, but, uh, what, what, uh, what should I say resonates heavy.

[00:15:57] And, um,

[00:15:58] for the listeners explain to us, like, when you say, uh, because being politicised or. Yeah.

[00:16:04] Politicise means different things to different people, um, and different people exercise it differently. So what I'm asking is how did you, how were you, or, or rather than which, uh, uh, direction were you politicised because, you know, we were Pan-Africanist. Um, and, um, you know, like you're saying with the history,

[00:16:24] that's something in me personally, I'm also very passionate about and, um, that has definitely shaped, uh, African history has definitely shaped my, um,

[00:16:33] my direction, my creative

[00:16:34] direction and my processes in how I create art. Um, and I want to get to that too, but later about like, um, how did you, in what direction did the politics sort of shape you, man?

[00:16:45] And, uh, when it did shape you, how did you decide or rather, what was it that decided? Okay, yo, I wanna write up about this. So why did you want to write up about it?

[00:16:55] Lerato: [00:16:55] Yeah. Mentioning that there's different kind of, you know, um, political consciousness. I'm not, I'm not a conventional one in the sense that I see myself more as an, as a commentator, even with my poetry.

[00:17:12] Um, and even with my singing, actually, you know, I see myself as more of a commentator on the peripheries of things. For example, I am not an avid follower of any political party. Of course when I, when it's time I vote, but I'm not, I'm not, I'm not signed up to any. Um, so I would say as social political commentator, I came up out of the ground, you know?

[00:17:42] Um, so it's more advocacy. My, my, my drive and my, the processes in which I write my poetry is more to advocate, you know, for the marginalised that, for those who do not have a voice, you know, And where this comes from, I would say that it started with my honours program. Because I’d been reading alot about.

[00:18:06] And I guess I'm going to repeat this a lot because that's a really pivotal role in who I am in, in, in, in my art as well. So reading a lot about African history and African writers, such as Chinua Achebe

[00:18:28] uh, Homi Bhabha, you know, and I was blown away. And this was like

[00:18:33] in my honours level. And even in my undergrad, I was like, what in the world? I never knew that this is what Africa is. And I didn’t know that there was so much uncut, um, beauty

[00:18:50] to, to this continent, you know? So I think that sort of really convicted me that with the knowledge that I had gained from my studies with the talent that you’d much rather use that to, you know, just to enlighten myself and my people and people from the continent about the beauty that we have that has not been documented. And unfortunately you do not in your education

[00:19:21] all the way from primary school to varsity, so I'm more of a social political person rather than, um, you know, wanting, you know, advocating for whatever in that sense. I'm on the other side a moment I would say. Yeah.

[00:19:46] Wesley: [00:19:46] Yeah. Um, I'd like to, I'd like to come in there real quick, just give a comment. Um, I hear exactly what you're saying.

[00:19:51] And personally, I believe that the role you playing, um, and I know there’s others that got, um, politicised similarly. I think those are very, very important given that, uh, the age and COVID has just exploded the thing and made it even more complex is now we're living in this, you know, the information age, but there's so much information out...

Dare We Hope for Unity

Spudcaster — Sat, 15 May 2021 18:02:00 +0200

Reverend Heidi Petersen delivered this sermon for podcast. The scripture reading is taken from John 17. This podcast was set up as a service to the Saint Barnabas United church and community.

Disclaimer: The views expressed do not reflect those of baobulb.org

Jesus, The King of Glory, returned home; Jesus called us to Be Witnesses

Spudcaster — Sat, 15 May 2021 13:42:00 +0200

Reverend Kelvin Harris prepared this sermon for podcast for the Bosmont Congregational church. This podcast was set up over a year ago almost in response to the lockdown.

Disclaimer: The views expressed do not reflect those of baobulb.org

Mulberry Dreams

Spudcaster — Sat, 15 May 2021 13:33:00 +0200

We chat to Violette from Bulawayo, an author with a strong journalistic background.

We will be unpacking her latest novel Mulberry Dreams and looking into her the politics and perspectives around the 'coloured issue' , identity - both social and political and the Zimbabwe story.

This is a podcast where we talk art and art processes.

Disclaimer: The views expressed do not reflect those of baobulb.org

Transcript

Wesley Pepper: [00:00:00] Hey greetings everybody. This is Wesley pepper and you're tuned into my podcast Wesley Pepper’s Art Lexica, which is brought to you by spudcaster and baobulb, um, yeah, man, um, Just before we start, like, uh, recap on last week's episode. I had a lot of fun with the Erica last, um, last week, I think we touched on some really cool stuff.

[00:00:33] We spoke about some really cool stuff. And, um, she does, um, um, you know, I really think those, uh, uh, ice sculptures are incredibly beautiful. And, uh, I know she was also working on that, uh, trying to raise funds for that project in Worcester. So all the best for that. I kind of hope that my, um, our episode yesterday, would help somewhat, you know, maybe somebody would hear it somewhere, some potential or whatever.

[00:00:59] Yeah. So yeah, big up to her for that. I think that was a, that was a lot of, that was fantastic. Fantastic episode. Yeah, man. Uh, moving on to this week, um, this week we're talking to an author from Bulawayo in Zimbabwe. Uh, her name is Violette Sohaili Kee-tui. Um, I hope I pronounced that correct. Um, so she's the, uh, um, she's an author of a book titled, uh, Mulberry dreams.

[00:01:30] And I actually came across the book very interestingly enough, um, through Philani, uh, we know we spoken with, we spoke to him a few times on this podcast and, uh, Philani made me, uh, uh, you know, made me do it and like added what he said about it. And I read the, uh, uh, what John Eppel, uh, was also a very, uh, for those of you don't know, he's a really highly rated, um, um, poet in Zimbabwe where I've read a lot, bunch of his stuff too.

[00:02:00] And I think he's an incredible writer as well. Um, and that really made me like, then I got really, um, or other, those, you know, reading up about that, like really I said, okay, sure. I really would like to talk to this, um, to, um, to talk to the author and, um, you know, we set it up in and everything and like one of the things that, um, Um, from what I can, from what I can tell that, um, that she writes about, um, something that strikes home to me, you know, given that I am, um, um, um, mixed race or whatever you want to call it.

[00:02:33] Um, yeah, is the, you know, is the whole like, uh, I guess Southern African, uh, um, Identity politics around mixed race people. Um, you know, I don't speak to it. I don't speak about it too much. In fact, I've memory serves me. This will actually be the first episode where I sort of tackle or, or speak about that through, um, through, um, through another artist’s work.

[00:03:00] Uh, yeah. Cause it's a topic that is just so complicated for me and so layered. And I think it'll just take me for you, for me to give. Uh, for other, for me to give you my perspectives on, that'll take a whole bunch of episodes and it's a really complicated thing. Um, but yeah, but anyway, um, but besides that, that's not just, we're going to talk about, about the entire book, about publishing or rather her career before.

[00:03:25] Um, I know she started off as a journalist, so we were talking about her career before she started, um, um, um, um, you know, became a full-time writer and what she's doing now and of course moving forward and like, you know, like with everybody else, I'm also interested in how about, how are they adapting to the post COVID world, you know?

[00:03:42] Oh, in terms of technology? Um, yeah, so, so a lot of cool stuff to look forward to our chat, to you’s towards the end of the episode about, um, The last few, uh, about future, uh, all future episodes and, uh, yeah. Well, it's all important art giveaway. And so stay tuned for that. Um, hope you enjoyed today's episode and I'll chat to you at the end of this.

[00:04:12] spudcaster: [00:04:12] baobulb.org is a podcasting platform and a medium for storytelling.

[00:04:17] This podcast is also available on all the major podcasting apps, including Apple and Google podcasts, podcasts your life with baobulb.org

[00:04:29] Wesley Pepper: [00:04:29] Okay, here we go. Uh, Violette, um, let me get your name, right, because I'm not, I've sometimes more and more than often, sometimes pronounce things incorrectly. So it's Violette

[00:04:41] Sohaili, is that right?

[00:04:44] Violette Sohaili Kee-tui: [00:04:44] Um, so it's, it's, uh, Violette

[00:04:51] problem. It's a common mistake.

[00:04:54] Wesley Pepper: [00:04:54] Okay. Is the surname a nickname? Is it a surname surname, or is it like a stage name or?

[00:05:01] Violette Sohaili Kee-tui: [00:05:01] So the Sohaili is my maiden name. And I established myself as a writer, as a journalist with the names. Sohaili now I'm known professionally as , which was my married name. So the book actually is just Violette Kee-tui but on Facebook and other

[00:05:23] Places, because I'm trying to connect with people who knew me before I use Sohaili too, is I know it's a mouthful,

[00:05:31] Wesley Pepper: [00:05:31] but no it's it's, it's, uh, it's interesting. It is interesting because yeah. Interesting, interesting, interesting. Yeah. So you try to try to connect with your journalists or other people will still read you as a journalist and you're kind of your fan base that you're creating now, right?

[00:05:49] Violette Sohaili Kee-tui: [00:05:49] Right. Yes. Yeah. And especially with Facebook, because I'm trying to connect with high school student, um, high school classmates, um, I've used the full name. Um, and so it's quite a mix of, um, ethnic backgrounds as well. Um, the, so Sohaili my

[00:06:05] Wesley Pepper: [00:06:05] yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Tell me about that. Okay. Okay.

[00:06:10] Violette Sohaili Kee-tui: [00:06:10] Parents are Iranian by, by birth though.

[00:06:13] I was born in Zimbabwe. And then my ex-husband is half Chinese, so yeah, we got the whole United nations going.

[00:06:23] Wesley Pepper: [00:06:23] Yeah. Apparently I

[00:06:25] spudcaster: [00:06:25] like it.

[00:06:27] Wesley Pepper: [00:06:27] Yeah. You got to go to Asia. You go, wow. Okay. Africa is represented. So that's actually definitely very cool to like, to like, to like kickstart because, um, yeah, man, like you said, like I, from what I understand, you had a long journalist, a long career as a journalist.

[00:06:45] Right. And, um, yes, actually I want to touch base on that, but like since of the first time you are like on the, uh, on, um, on my show, uh, just give my listeners like just a brief thing. You're like, you know where you're from, what you did, did it, how you became a yeah. You know, just a very brief thing on that.

[00:07:05] Uh, yeah, we come what you did. Yeah. That type of thing. Okay.

[00:07:10] Violette Sohaili Kee-tui: [00:07:10] Great. Well, first of all, thank you so much for having me, and it's a pleasure to be sharing, um, my thoughts and my book with you. I appreciate that. Um, so I'm born in full awares Zimbabwe of Iranian parents. Um, I started as a trainee journalist when I was 18.

[00:07:31] I had plans to go to a media college and the very same day that I got the acceptance, I had the opportunity to train under two extremely experienced editors. So it was just at the time when our government run newspapers were becoming a lot more restrictive. And these two editors, um, wanted to enjoy the freedom that they had of speech and of the media.

[00:07:59] They started their own independent newspaper and, um, they took me on as a trainee. So I was this 18 year old with. Very little experience except a love of writing, working under these two unbelievable editors. No, not early in some Baba, but throughout the region, like fierce editors. Um, so it was kind of a baptism by fire.

[00:08:24] Yeah. They taught me the, the trade incredibly well. Um, I went on from there to work at the national newspaper, the Chronicle, one of them, um, can I start it on the news desk, just for that, you know, to, to tighten my writing and my experience. And then very soon I moved to the features desk because it became clear.

[00:08:47] I wasn't the chase down ambulances type of journalist. I was the one who liked to sit and, and get the stories and, and talk about people and experiences. And I was clearly a feature writer from the beginning of it. I needed that. News writing under deadline to hone my skill. And I appreciate that time. It was, yeah, it was during some quite dicey in our politics.

[00:09:14] So I S I saw a few things which made me quite sure that I wanted to do more in the feature writing side than the political side of things, um, sets my journalism background. I, I carried on most of my adult life as a journalist. I've worked for the Edgar's club magazine, where I was editor for some years.

[00:09:40] I've worked for Zimbabwe sun where I was a lifestyle magazine editor. I've done freelancing, um, pretty much anything that is written word as I've done in my adult life. But it's

[00:09:55] stupid.

[00:09:55] spudcaster: [00:09:55] Anyway,

[00:09:57] Violette Sohaili Kee-tui: [00:09:57] that's the journalism background.

[00:10:01] spudcaster: [00:10:01] Okay. Okay. Yeah,

[00:10:03] Wesley Pepper: [00:10:03] yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And this kind of, let's kind of, let's kind of pause there because there's a few questions I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna touch on the, uh, the first one, the first one is, and this one, I'm sure we're going to need up to this.

[00:10:14] When we talk about the book, uh, when you were saying, um, as a, as a journalist, you were saying about that very interesting times, politically what's happening is, um, so when a Bach was at and water and, you know, what was it specifically that, uh, I would say quite under your skin?

[00:10:30] Violette Sohaili Kee-tui: [00:10:30] Hmm. So it was the early eighties, uh, too.

[00:10:35] It was the eighties we had, we had the whole ugly, um, part of our history and a great deal of, of military activity in, in my part of the country, which is motivating them. And yes, there was, there was a time when I was the only journalist on duty on a Sunday and had to drive into quite a remote area. And, um, it, it was, it was a frightening time, um, with, with people being killed by the thousands, which numbers were early finding out.

[00:11:18] No. Um, and so, yes, I think it was all a very political and heated time, both in our country and the newspaper became quite a hotbed of, of, um, under, um, sort of under covering political, um, issues and unearthed the scandal while I was there a government scandal. So our newspaper, the Chronicle became really well-known and I remember we used to have to line up.

[00:11:49] Uh, we'll try to get street mobs of people to get to the office every day because people weren't there trying to get a copy of the paper to see what was the new development. So there was a big scandal called the will avail scandal, which came at the same time and our newspaper, there was a government one, the editor stepped out and he exposed it.

[00:12:10] Um, so it was quite an exciting and heady time. I could understand a journalist and to be at the Chronicle. Um, but yeah, as I say, I quickly went on to, um, telling the stories of, of the people rather than the news and the political events I felt impacts could still be made.

[00:12:29] Wesley Pepper: [00:12:29] That's a, that's a, I actually wanted to lead into that question after that.

[00:12:33] Uh, um, well, you actually answered it by saying that, um, like, you know, if, if lucrative and what, what part of it impacted you the most, if you're talking about the, about that, the people who are, I guess my question is, uh, or other, I think, um, uh, or what type of store is, uh, where you, where you telling where you're telling the political story, or you're telling how the politics are, uh, affecting, uh, the people or, you know, or what, or what side of the story, um, um, um, were you looking at at that day?

[00:13:08] Violette Sohaili Kee-tui: [00:13:08] Um, I was looking more at the, the social impact and, um, which continued today. And I don't think you have to really make a political statement or, or talk at length about the politics to see that. People are struggling in different ways. And, um, the impact from the eighties are still being felt. Um, and as you know, in South Africa, it is, um, it's not an easy road to finding, um, you know, today it's quite ironic cause it's size and Barbara independence day.

[00:13:49] Yeah. And independence is one thing that can be declared, but to feel it into

[00:13:59] Wesley Pepper: [00:13:59] thing.

[00:14:00] Violette Sohaili Kee-tui: [00:14:00] Um, and so I, I quickly got put onto a woman's section where I wrote a Wiki women's column and women's programs or yeah. Women's empowerment issues or just the stories about women's courage and sure. And freedoms or lack of freedoms.

[00:14:21] And that led one thing to another. I mean, this, this was some years ago and I probably changed a lot in both my attitude and in, in what I would write about, but those were my early years.

[00:14:33] spudcaster: [00:14:33] And, um,

[00:14:35] Wesley Pepper: [00:14:35] um, um, yeah, I, I want to, I want to touch on that because I know as a, um, on this, on this podcast, we talked to a lot of creators, a lot of artists in different fields and so on.

[00:14:43] And like one of the things I know, even in my own, in my own practice is that, um, um, those things that move you specifically in your early twenties, uh, Monday around where you're young as a big impact on the art that you create later on in the year. So from what I can understand those, um, I guess like what, what, what happened over there?

[00:15:01] How you conceptualize that, uh, um, Well, we're kind of, we'll kind of get to that, but like, I, I would assume that like you use some of that for your, um, for Mulberry dreams, is that correct? Or some of the, some of the experiences or

[00:15:17] Violette Sohaili Kee-tui: [00:15:17] I think more, maybe some of the people that I met. So what I want to stress about the book and, um, hope you will get to read it.

[00:15:26] If it, if it makes any kind of political statement, that's completely what the reader would read into it. It's not, it's written as a, a story about, as a human story. And I'd like to think that it would, to some extent transcend any community and any country, because it's a lot more about the struggles of, of being people in this crazy world when we're taught to be separate, rather than together, whether that sets societal level or political level.

[00:16:02] At the heart of it were just people who are feeling disappointment and hope and love and loss and, um, you know, um, tragedy and celebration. Um, and so it's a very human story, which is set against the backdrop of, um, some things that had an impact politically and in our parts of the world that had huge ratio.

[00:16:27] Yeah. Um, implications. It's not, uh, It's not a political book, it's a human

[00:16:37] spudcaster: [00:16:37] story, but

[00:16:39] Violette Sohaili Kee-tui: [00:16:39] politics, politics, they should be about humans. They should be about the individual. They become about something completely different, but politicians and politics should be about the people and not just how they vote, but

[00:16:57] spudcaster: [00:16:57] are and what their needs, their aspirations.

[00:17:02] Violette Sohaili Kee-tui: [00:17:02] Um, so yes, yeah.

[00:17:07] Finish off my journalistic background. Yes, I then after that stint at the, uh, the local newspaper, the national newspaper, but based in Bulawayo, I went to London and I studied journalism. I just felt that I had the hands-on experience and I now needed the formal qualification. So I did an honors diploma journalism.

[00:17:32] And then came back and worked largely in feature writing from then

[00:17:37] spudcaster: [00:17:37] on.

[00:17:38] Wesley Pepper: [00:17:38] Yeah. Okay. Um, in your, um, you consider yourself as a narrative journalist, right. Or when you were a journalist, right. And United saying we're moving to the future. I think, um, what is a narrative journalist?

[00:17:52] Violette Sohaili Kee-tui: [00:17:52] So it's kind of a made up term because it's a journalist who wants to tell stories and dear friend of mine, um, and mentor Johnny April, um, use that expression.

[00:18:08] And I think it really works because it's far more than a feature writer. What does that say? But a narrative journalist who still sticks to the facts, but tells a story.

[00:18:20] spudcaster: [00:18:20] That's

[00:18:20] Violette Sohaili Kee-tui: [00:18:20] that's I'm looking at. So it still has qualities of a, uh, of a narrative with the description of the person setting, but it still hinges on the fact either the person you're interviewing or the place or the project.

[00:18:39] So it's a mix of imagination in terms of describing, but very much factual.

[00:18:46] spudcaster: [00:18:46] I like that. Uh, yeah,

[00:18:47] Wesley Pepper: [00:18:47] I can actually see that. I see that. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I can relate to that. Yeah. Story

[00:18:56] Violette Sohaili Kee-tui: [00:18:56] through the

[00:18:56] spudcaster: [00:18:56] story. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:18:57] Wesley Pepper: [00:18:57] And I can see how that gets sort of built up into actually putting together a formal publication, uh, because the stories would stick and so on and so on.

[00:19:06] Yeah, I get that. That's actually quite interesting. So now that we've covered the journalist thing and can end, um, you know, and that we can understand like where, um, The Headspace ease. And now with a description of nitrogen, I can see like what style writing and where you going and so on. So, um, just a, um, just a question on, um, underwriting

[00:19:24] spudcaster: [00:19:24] as a, uh, as a, as a, uh,

[00:19:27] Wesley Pepper: [00:19:27] uh, I would say as a profession, I know that from a South African perspective and I...

How to Podcast: Episode 1

Spudcaster — Mon, 10 May 2021 10:50:00 +0200

In this podcast series, Candice Nolan interviews professional podcasters or people working in the podcasting industry. This week features "Sound Wizard" Richard Newton. Richard is a top rated Audio Engineer and Podcast Producer. Before COVID he used to produce live concerts. But his skills have translated well in a COVID-19 world. He shares equipment and other tips.

Disclaimer: The views expressed do not reflect the views of baobulb.org

Mothers Day

Spudcaster — Sun, 09 May 2021 12:30:00 +0200

Disclaimer: The views expressed do not reflect those of baobulb.org

Reverend Heidi Petersen of the Saint Barnabas United Church delivered this sermon for podcast.

Lord, Here Am I. Send Me.

Spudcaster — Sat, 08 May 2021 23:00:00 +0200

Disclaimer: The views expressed do not reflect those of baobulb.org

Reverend Kelvin Harris delivered this sermon for podcast. It is in service to the Bosmont Congregational church and it's ministry.

The Detective Novelist

Spudcaster — Fri, 07 May 2021 18:50:00 +0200

In this episode I talk to award winning Zimbabwean author Bryony Rheam about her writing process behind her two novels ' That September Sun" and latest All Come To Dust.

This is a podcast where we talk art and art processes. Don't forget to like, share and subscribe!

Transcript

wesley: [00:00:00] Hey, good and swirl. This is Wesley Pepper. Yeah. And this is my podcast with the Peppers art Lexia, and is brought to you by Spudcaster and Baobulb. Um, and, uh, on that, uh, yo man, this is like recording of my 50th episode. Like. 50. So a big up despite Spudcaster and Baobulb being there, like they listen to my voice for 15 weeks.

[00:00:34] Right. Um, yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure they certainly have an ear full, um, big up to them for all of that, that I think that's quite an achievement for both of us. Um, And yeah, man, as you know, I've been talking up the whole thing of a giveaway, which I'm doing a 52nd episode and more beautiful follow at the outro.

[00:00:57] Uh, before we move on to today's episode, uh, first of all, big ups to violet. For coming through, uh, last week, like Mulberry dreams. Uh, really interesting, man. I think I really enjoyed speaking to, uh, um, about, uh, yeah man, I thought the way we, uh, spoke last week that we'll be back, uh, both as a brand or as a writer, you know what actually.

[00:01:24] Great. It was great. Uh, so thanks for coming. Um, um, to that, and on that, we're gonna kind of keep on that, um, lighter theme. Should I call it or at least today's and Allison barber and the writer, um, and she tours all the way from Bulawayo. So we spoke in to Bryony, Rheem. Order them. I'm not sure if I pronounce his surname correctly, we'll find out.

[00:01:49] Yeah, man. It should be in pronouncing names. Yeah. Um, yo man, she's pretty interesting. I she's, I'm going to be talking a little bit about, well, She's a, um, she's an award winning, um, I'm a writer and, um, she's just released her second book. Um, my second, um, novel and we'll be unpacking both that novel, but also a first one, the, of the September side and or this.

[00:02:11] September 2nd, it was better this way. Just thing, because the book actually got translated into Arabic. So that was, I find that really interesting. So we talking a little bit about that latest book or come to task, um, a little bit about highlighting what inspired and you know, she's based in Zim. Um, and you know what I, on this platform, I'm always interested in, uh, focusing on the artists.

[00:02:29] Processes and how they pretty much take their environment and interpret what, uh, you know, what's happening around them. And, and, and like, do you, my brothers and sisters from Zimbabwe, you know, like I've got much love for them, what they're doing there. So, uh, we will unpack a little bit about that if that, and to see what future project to use and so on and so on.

[00:02:50] And so I'm, yeah, I'm at least we'll back, um, or rather look forward to all of that. And, um, Yeah, I'll talk to you guys at the end of the episode, uh, with advice for future episodes and yeah, man, that's the 50th one. So I feel, I feel kind of that's a long week, 50, 50 weeks is a long time. It's a, it's a long time given that, um, you know, like this, um, this art thing, um, you know, we pretty much work as freelancers and to do something for 50 weeks on, on one, I think is quite a phenomenal achievement.

[00:03:21] So yeah, I mean, I think it's all the new listeners. Um, you know, and remember, you can always catch me on all my, uh, social media pages. So that's, where's the Pepper at Twitter. Twitter, Facebook and Instagram underscore Pepper underscore. So, yeah, but I'll, uh, talk more about all those other interesting things at the end of the episode.

[00:03:43] I hope you guys, uh, enjoyed today. You know, I'm definitely looking forward to it and, um, Yeah, man. It's um, let's see what Brian has to say. So stay tuned for that.

[00:03:55] Spudcaster: [00:03:55] Baobulb.org is a podcasting platform and a medium for storytelling. This podcast is also available on all the major podcasting apps, including Apple and Google podcasts podcast, your life with baobulb.org.

[00:04:12] wesley: [00:04:12] Okay, so we are recording. Uh, hi Bryony. Oh yeah. We had a bit of technical embarrassment there, but it's all sorted out now. Thanks for coming through. And, um, I guess let's just start off like, uh, firstly, I know you had a, um, you had a break, was it in some way? Uh, for like a few days or was it a week or so?

[00:04:33] So you should feel refreshed. Um, so how are you doing, you know, how are you doing the Sunday morning?

[00:04:40] Bryony: [00:04:40] Yeah, I'm, I'm actually, I'm feeling really great. Um, you know, as you say, I've been away for a few days. Um, we went up to the Eastern Highlands in Zimbabwe and. It was just great, you know, just wonderful to get away and, um, actually leave for the first time in over a year, I think.

[00:05:01] Um, so that was good.

[00:05:02] wesley: [00:05:02] Yeah. No, that I can, you definitely sound quite chilled out. Um, so, um, yeah man, like for my listeners, um, you know, since you FaceTime on this platform, um, just so just give us a, uh, Just a brief, I know that you were, uh, you were an award winning writer and we're going to be unpacking, uh, both novels.

[00:05:23] Uh, what's the emphasis on the, on the, on the last one. Cause it's, um, It's out now. Um, but yeah, man, um, we're going to focus on your, uh, journey as I'd like to as well. So just the listeners, like where did the writing bug start? You know, um, like how long have you been writing for, um, that type of thing and, uh, sort of like, um, the, the, the story up until you became a full-on or full-time, um, or published.

[00:05:50] Bryony: [00:05:50] Um, okay. Well, I, you know, I've always, always loved writing and, um, And I can even remember, uh, being probably about grade one, you know, any about six years old and I would write little stories, um, and actually make them into books, you know, sort of, um, get the old state lout and, and make these little books.

[00:06:13] So I've always had that, that, um, desire to write. Um, I mean, um, when I was about 11, my dad worked me a typewriter. Um, I'm one of those old ones. And I used to love, you know, sort of sitting there thinking that I was right. Um, and, and also, you know, even then I started, I actually started sending stuff off to publishes and that never got any way.

[00:06:42] Of course. I mean, I was far too young, um, and, uh, Then I suppose, you know, there was stuff at school, you know, writing for competitions and all that kind of thing. Um, but it will, although I always wanted to be a writer. There was a kind of feeling that I still needed to do something else, you know, um, be a journalist or be a teacher or whatever, you know, I think that there's a funny thing with a writer.

[00:07:10] It's not like you just leave school and you become a writer, you know, it's, uh, it's not like other jobs. Um, so, uh, you know, I was, I went to university, I studied English literature and all that kind of thing. And, um, I suppose it really wasn't until I was about, maybe about 22. Two 23, um, that I actually started writing stuff down and keeping a notebook.

[00:07:36] Um, and I used to actually just write anything down, things that happened during the day. It was people at seed and, um, I was off to university. I went to London for a bit and I, I did what so many Zimbabweans do. You know, you, you share a house with about 25 other people so that your rent is very minimal.

[00:07:59] You know, you have to share a room in a room with people and you know, and I'm not, I'm not the kind of, I'm pretty, I'm pretty much a person who has lots of space. So, um, what happened there is I, you know, I followed this refuge in my writing, you know, I would, I had, you know, my bed was my only space. And so I used to lie on the bed writing and, and that's actually where I started my first novel, which was the September sun, um, you know, just from those snippets that writing down.

[00:08:35] Um, but then my first short story was, was published. Um, Uh, actually before anything else, you know, I, I, um, I just saw an advert one day. It was in the art gallery and they were looking for short stories for an anthology. So I, you know, I wrote the short story and, and actually I think everything really came from that because, you know, after that, I started going to writing workshop and, you know, um, Really thinking about that, being a writer.

[00:09:11] Hmm.

[00:09:11] wesley: [00:09:11] Interesting. Tell us about the short story. What was the title and what was it about?

[00:09:16] Bryony: [00:09:16] So, um, the title of the short story was the cue. And, um, it, it was actually based on an incident that I'd seen a few years before where I was, um, at a post office. Um, and there was a, there was a queue of people, you know, getting stuff done and, um, There was this elderly, the elderly lady in front of me.

[00:09:40] And, uh, you know, we'd been queuing a while and this guy just walked in. He walked into the post office, he went straight to the cashier and he started, you know, doing all his business and whatever. And of course we all started looking at each other, like, you know, this guy has just jumped the queue. We've all been standing here and, um, And, uh, but of course, as usual, nobody sort of says anything, you know, but this old lady, she, she, she went for the sky, you know, and she kept, she started shouting at him.

[00:10:12] She kept saying, this is a cue. This is a cue. We've all been queuing, you know, get to the back of the queue. And then she started having a go at the cashier saying, you know, why, why was she serving this man? When he, she knew that he had just walked in and jumped the queue. And so this, this incident had stayed with me.

[00:10:31] And, uh, when I saw this advert, I sort of thinking about the story that had always been sort of knocking around in my mind. And so I wrote it from the point of view of the old lady, you know, like, um, that's terrible day that she's having and all this kind of thing and how she got to this point where she just lost her.

[00:10:55] wesley: [00:10:55] Interesting. Interesting. I have, I have I've I've two questions. Uh, one sort of an observation type of question thingy. Um, and I guess Island's a little follow on, on that. So, uh, just to rewind it, but you were saying that, um, Um, you know, you had like this journal, you know, that should drop down thoughts.

[00:11:14] And I know that's, that's a very personal space personally. I also had, um, you know, she used to keep something of that. So it's, I kind of know the it's real personal thing. So, um, and I know, and I'm assuming, yeah. And I kind of want you to comment on that. Um, That those thoughts are the features of like what's happening around you, is that correct?

[00:11:32] So you're talking about your experiences every day and, and, and, and that type of thing. So what I wanna, what I kinda wanna know, because if I must relate that to your, um, to the, to the short story, the Q a it's a personal experience. And if you say you're writing from the old ladies, um, I know that in Africa, uh, queuing is a part of everyone's, uh, Mondays you're in the higher end bracket.

[00:11:55] Of course. Uh, uh, I guess daily routine at Saks personally, I hate you. I hate you as, uh, I really like to avoid them at all costs sometimes even drastically. Um, so, so I sort of understand those, the frustration and, and, and, and it's a real, it's a real African thing, actually. So, um, my question is, um, Um, um, um, uh, um, and you know, this, this, this is before we get to the September song, because you said you were, you started to write that, that a similar process as well.

[00:12:28] So what is it about your everyday experiences? Uh, you know, uh, I guess sticks out for you, you know, and like, Um, you know, as, as, yeah, in, um, in, on, on the continent, you know, we got a very, or you, you basically, you have to be political. Yeah. Even if you're not, you have to be in that type of thing. So I guess what I'm asking you is what is it about tricks, you know, much everyday experiences that really grabs you and, and, and, um, uh, you know, Saudi that eventually finds its way into a novel.

[00:13:00] Yeah,

[00:13:00] Bryony: [00:13:00] it's, it's quite an interesting thing. You know, I love, I love being an observer. Um, you know, uh, one thing I really liked doing is, you know, going into a cafe or, um, you know, sitting in a, in a public place and just watching people probably sounds a bit creepy, but, um, you know, just, uh, people watching.

[00:13:22] Um, you know, I think that the just ordinary everyday life is interesting. You know, you, you don't always have to have, um, a story with, um, you know, aliens landing and, um, uh, you know, some great gold, you know, everyday life was just full of character. And people and, you know, and that's what life interesting, you know?

[00:13:50] So sometimes it's just that, that observation of the way people act, you know, or react, um, you know, uh, that the sayings that they use, the way they talk, um, you know, different kinds of people, um, you know, that's, I think that's what I really liked. Observing. Um, and you know, I suppose, you know, if you want to sort of look at things politically, you know, it's, it's also interesting to look at the way, um, uh, I suppose different people of different races react to different situations, you know, how you get that whole range of people again.

[00:14:26] And, um, but, but to me, I think what, what is most important is, is the personal, you know, the, the, the person I think is, you know, um, The most important thing to, to be looking at.

[00:14:43] wesley: [00:14:43] Interesting. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I, I can actually relate to that. Um, there's um, there's something I picked up, uh, when I, when I was reading up about you, um, is that you use Agatha Christie enthusiastic.

[00:14:55] Right? So, um, personally I've never did any of her books, but I definitely know a lot about, and I'm as funny. Um, I actually did some water heating up on Agatha Christie, cause I, I like to know things, man. Um, and, um, I was trying to find kind of find, uh, similarities between her writing and your books, because I know she was famous for being a detective writer.

[00:15:20] And, um, I know like in that year, when she was around, I mean like women basically at are very few positions in power or influence and she was right up there. So, um, If I didn't have also there that she sold like over a billion copies, which is wow. Okay.

[00:15:42] Did it leave a note? Right. This can sell that amount. Um, so, um, I found really interesting that she was the scenario. Um, uh, I mean she has a commercial shop. Like explosion. Um, so what is it about, uh, uh, you know, what is it about our writing? Um, I know, you know, she's a detective and I know you also follow with some of the genre and I kind of want to get to that.

[00:16:05] Um, because it's because I find it interesting that you saying you look at the individual. So I thought that's why, let me bring this question up and see how. Yeah. What relationship or what is it about Agatha Christie's writing, you know, your, uh, perception of the world, your processes? How do those two worlds meet?

[00:16:22] And I guess what's the, what's the, what's the style of writing and what's the, yeah. Anyway, I'm asking to you, it's just, um, yeah, just,

[00:16:35] Bryony: [00:16:35] it's so difficult sometimes to. Explain why I like her writing so much. Um, I think, um, It's the puzzle. It's the puzzle that she, you know, that she obviously has in her story, the way that you know, what I've learned, um, through, through reading. So many of her books now is that like, you've, you've got to constantly be alert from, from day one.

[00:17:00] You know, that she's always, even before someone's been murdered or whatever, she's, she's giving you all these clues all the time. And she does it in such a way that. Not to actually drawing attention to the fact that, Oh, look, this is a clue, you know, you need to be, you need to be aware of this. It's, it's all, um, it's almost like a picture in which you have to find a few things that are hidden, you know?

[00:17:25] Um, so I like that scenes. I like the puzzle, you know, I like trying to work out, um, who did it and also to sort of try and see if I can pick out those clues, you know, the right. Um, because obviously lots of wrong crews, um,

[00:17:49] is actually the, the, again, the character, the way she draws characters know creates characters. I really, really like that. Um, uh, Uh, you know, she created very specific people and, um, uh, they're quite memorable, you know, some books see, you know, you can read them. Um, but I, but I, I think characters tend to stand out.

[00:18:15] Um, um, and, um, yeah, I, I think I admire that about her.

[00:18:21] wesley: [00:18:21] Yeah. So, so I would assume like in your books you also have a very similar process with the come see your main characters. Is that correct? You, um, you're like even your readers clues in your, in the, in the first few chapters.

[00:18:36] Bryony: [00:18:36] Yeah. I like to think that I've, you know, I've been doing that, you know, to, um, to sort of, uh, Yeah, drop, drop those clues, but also sort of some maybe misleading conditions as well.

[00:18:49] Um, as clever as she, she really does.

[00:18:59] wesley: [00:18:59] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, there was another thing. Um, it actually. I wanted to ask you this in the beginning, but I just thought that I wanted to jump that Agatha Christie thing now, because of what you said earlier on, uh, they say into that in 2017, uh, you were one of the five recipients for the miles, uh Farland foundation.

[00:19:19] And from what I can understand, you had a chair out, quite a lot of words, um, into that. Uh, or as, uh, as part of, um, being selected for that. Um, so what, um, um, what book or novel, or why did you write about, um, as part as, um, as part of being part of, um, be selected as part of that foundation?

[00:19:41] Bryony: [00:19:41] Um, okay. So yo, um, now at this point I had, um, the September stuff already published.

[00:19:50] Um, and I'd actually finished writing. I'd finished writing all come to dusk, but it was still being edited. Um, so the book that I chose to write, um, I've actually finished it now. Um, and it's with the publishers and they are, you...

The Finger of Thomas

Spudcaster — Mon, 03 May 2021 14:09:00 +0200

Disclaimer: The views expressed do not reflect those of baobulb.org

Reverend Kelvin Harris delivered this sermon for podcast as a service to the Bosmont Congregational Church community.

Chaotic CBD

Spudcaster — Fri, 30 Apr 2021 17:19:00 +0200

Wesley Pepper sits down with Zolile Petshane, a visual artist who works mostly in oil pastels and mixed media. They discuss his upcoming exhibition at Lizamore & Associates fine art gallery. Art lexical is a podcast where we talk art and art processes.

Transcript

Wesley Pepper: [00:00:00] Hey everybody, this is wesley pepper and you are tuned in to my podcast. Wesley Pepper’s Art Lexica, and it's brought to you by Spudcaster. And Baobulb, uh, we are into episode 46. Um, I normally. Just forget to mention what episode we in, you know, but I'm always aware what episode I was recording. So we're close to that number 50 Mark man.

[00:00:33] And that gets me really excited because I'm like, I may say in the episodes I wanted to do a give away and now it's getting more and more like a reality. Uh, but I'll keep you up to speed with that, especially on my social media. And you can always check me out on Facebook @wesleypepper. Twitter @wesleypepper and, and, and, or Instagram, or even LinkedIn at say by the same name, Wesley pepper, but so you can give me, uh, you can catch me, um, or either find out what else has been coming, um, or coming.

[00:01:02] And what's happening on the show on those, on those handles. Um, yeah, man, moving on, let's talk about, uh, or rather last week's episode, with Dipou from Obtain art gallery for coming through. Um, You know, remember we spoke about, um, that group show that they were doing. And, um, one thing that always that's sitting in my mind from episode was the whole virtual gallery space.

[00:01:26] That's something I'm definitely going to be keeping an eye on. And, um, yeah, most definitely will follow up on that. Absolutely. For sure. Because yeah, I mean, as you know, we try to, um, focus a lot on how arts is adapting. To technology, um, how we're using it, um, and all that type of thing.

[00:01:45] And I think that's super cool. So that's something really cool to look forward to, uh, today's episode. Um, I've got somebody really, um, I think, um, quite large, um, you know, well, you know, we'll break up how I, what I mean in that in the interview, but today I'll be talking to Zolile Petshane. Um, Mostly about his, um, solo show coming up on the 4th of April Lizamore & Associates fine art gallery, um, title, chaotic CBD, uh, you know, like I would classify zolile as a abstract artist, you know?

[00:02:23] Um, cause he does this really fantastic, interesting conceptual work. Um, and he uses it in a more mixed medium, but I know it's more oil pastel based. Um, and if you're really familiar with the medium oil pastel actually has a very, uh, I think it's, um, you know, it's greens and, and reds got a, got a very specific look and feel, um, colour I'm talking colour and, um, and texture.

[00:02:44] And I know Zolile as an absolute master of that because. Um, I'm quite familiar. I mean, um, I mean, I know personally for the longest time, but, um, I'm also quite familiar with this technique and I know you started off a many many years ago when APS needed those monoprints. So, um, we’re kind of going to track that, uh, the history of his process and how it's led up to that because oil has been making some massive moves and big up brother to that.

[00:03:07] Um, so we would be unpacking all of that. Um, and his show, his processes and how he feels about covid because, um, yeah, man, it's. The politics that aren't, this vaccine is becoming more and more political and I'm, I'm, I'm getting some wild fucking stories around it. So if this time I, you know, I'm going to pick his brain about that, but we can be focusing more on his work.

[00:03:31] And, um, yeah, man. So big up to all the new listeners, um, new and old. Um, I know you out there, um, I know you were listening in, I know you enjoying what you're listening and that's. Fucking great. That's awesome. Thank you for that. Uh, you know, in the past episodes, I was, I was sort of giving you a, um, or rather voicing my opinion about the NAC sitting.

[00:03:55] Well, as of the recording of this episode, they are still sitting in, um, and the story this has been growing and growing and growing, uh, once again, I pledged my solidarity to what they are doing there. I absolutely, uh, stand with them in it. In the, um, in their plight, uh, because to be there so long, um, jislaaikit, man, I don't know how you do it.

[00:04:14] So, um, and from where I'm sitting in for what I'm following, um, I don't know what the end result is going to be. Um, right now it's not looking very good, but. Yeah, man. I can't be for vein, you know, uh, in previous episodes I was voicing my critique on the, uh, strategy, you know, and like waiting for government.

[00:04:36] I'm still with that. Um, and maybe, maybe we'll see if Zolile, um, has something to say about that, but yeah, man, um, I'll be catching you or telling yous about what's happening in future episodes in the outro. So look forward to that. Now, hope you guys enjoyed today's episode and stay tuned for that.

[00:05:01] Spudcaster: [00:05:01] baobulb.org is a podcasting platform and a medium for storytelling. This podcast is also available on all the major podcasting apps, including Apple and Google podcasts podcast, your life with baobulb.org.

[00:05:20] Wesley Pepper: [00:05:20] Um, alright man, how you doing? My brother? Zolile Petshane: No, I’m good and you? Wesley Pepper: Um, um, well that depends, but mostly I’m okay. Um, yeah, man, um, in my, um, in my intro, And I, um, I, um, I kind of describe you as a, uh, abstract or rather your work as being abstract personally. I think the word, uh, that that's a bit of a loose term so I kind of want to just hold on. Um, so I kind of want us to, um, sort of explore your technique.

[00:05:53] You know, um, your body of, um, your, um, your show that starting on the, um, starting in April on the 10th, I think. Um, and, um, yeah, we'll sort of, you know, unpack your entire story, um, you know, but by, but then focus on your processes and your technique and, um, you know, what does it mean? And, um, rather your show and the idea behind the show and all that.

[00:06:18] So, um, but before we get into that, but, but, but, um, you started off as a visual as a printmaker, right? Um, just give my listeners just like a, just a very brief on who Zolile petshane is. Where's he from? Where did you study and how did you get into the arts and that type of thing?

[00:06:50] Zolile Petshane: [00:06:50] uh, I was born and brought up in a local primary school and a local high school. And then later I went to Vaka where I did my, uh, my art, where I did art history painting as a subject, not as an extra mural activity. And then later I joined APS studied with APS, uh, practice printmaking for what, seven years, and then later

[00:07:22] through WITS where I did my advanced diploma in fine art. And after that. Um, yeah, I never, um, yeah, I basically moved from printmaking to painting and painting for, for very long time. Now I think it's more than more than 15 years now. Wesley Pepper: Yeah. Actually, I actually want to unpack that one there because I know you started hello.

[00:07:53] Oh, sorry. It just went really quiet. Sorry about that. Um, yeah, I might actually, I wanna, I wanna unpack that, um, your, your process in particular. So, um, I remember you did, uh, um, you didn't, you did a solo show years ago, um, in Braamfontein, I think it was unity gallery where you did, um, Um, if my memory serves me, this was a long time ago, man, but you did it in etching, but it was more graphic based.

[00:08:19] So I sort of like know your technique from, from, from there. And I know back then you also doing a lot of those monoprints and if I must look it. Um, because I was looking through the catalog, um, if I must look good from a technical point of view, right. Um, your technique, those monoprints that you used to do at APS.

[00:08:36] So this was what, early two thousands, but you'll correct me there. Um, you know, um, I really see, like, you've really become or, uh, you really mastered that and that's like over 20 years. So, um, tell us, how did you get into the technique? You know, what, um, why did you, why. Or rather because, um, because, because this style of work, um, you either can do it or you can’t, you know?

[00:09:01] Um, um, so, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, you went away there for whatever, just yeah, yeah,

[00:09:15] yeah. It happens. Um, yeah. And, you know, I complain about, and such a lot in this podcast, you won't believe, man. Um, anyway, um, did you get my last question, uh, as I was asking you about like your technique and sort of way, um, can you explain to the listeners, like where did it start or from, and that whole direction of what I'll sort of unpack it, but like we had started off and like, what was it that pulled you towards, um, um, Um, abstract.

[00:09:51] Zolile Petshane: Um, when I started off doing abstract, it was more like an experimental with printmaking where I would use anything that I find interesting. Like the orange, uh, mesh sacks or bags. Yeah.

[00:10:14] Yeah. You say this and people think you’re saying something else.

[00:10:21] but I would use the orange bags to play around with the, with that texture. How do use different material printers material and to create an artwork. So I I've never used your traditional copper plates, uh, now, um, steel plates to etch and print. So I’d use the, um, the Monotype monoprint make mono print. As an approach to what I wanted to create at the time, because anything that I find interesting I’d use that.

[00:10:56] Um, so that's how I. Ventured towards the direction of painting. And then I started mixing print oil pastel with, uh, with monotypes and then eventually that grew into painting and then the printmaking. Yeah, it faded away. So I don't do pretty much if I do a print, it's just that I needed to take a break from painting and just do something completely different.

[00:11:28] So, yeah, that's how I went. That that's how that direction to a painting, moved. Um, so I’m more like a DJ that introducing introduces a different sound. Uh, while you play a vinyl A Uh, and they get to vinyl B, but you don't want to bring vinyl B like in your face, but you just. Just, just bring it just a slide.

[00:11:56] So that's how I moved to painting. Um, so I just, Wesley Pepper: yeah, sorry, continue. Zolile Petshane: And then speaking of the show that I did with unity gallery, um, those were actually the body of work that I produced and printed at APS

[00:12:15] Yes. And then I contributed that. Um, cause at the time I wanted to showcase what I've been doing and what I've been producing. And that is, let me, let me show case what I've done. Uh, uh, uh, put together that is there, the etching Schuler lift and, and line etching, um, points those, all those were the works that I did at that time.

[00:12:43] I still have some old, those works. Wesley Pepper: Hmm. Um, yeah, but, uh, yeah,

[00:12:53] yeah, no, I, I, you, uh, our, to just ask with technical thing on those lines, because I can actually remember some of the images, uh, and, um, um, it was you looking at your, uh, face on like a spoon and all these types of objects. Um, Funny enough. Uh, this is a bit of insight into, and to why I remember it because I, myself, at that time I was starting a graphic sort of, um, you know, I was starting a drawing project, which eventually became, you know, my publishing company.

[00:13:24] And like, I was really, I, um, I saw that graphic type style work. Do you still use that technique, um, of drawing, um, of, um, of line work because looking at your current work? You know? Zolile Petshane: Yeah, I do. I still do that, but now what I do is I use a graphite pencil now add, so that's what I use. I use the etching, which in the works. Speaking of the work,

[00:14:01] um, there, the, the wax, how it came about, just moved out from the house that we rented, me and my friends. And then when, while I was in that room, that I rented out I was still trying to feel what is next. And then eventually I just look at this spoon and I saw my portrait. And I thought it would be interesting using a spoon as a mirror. Um,

[00:14:29] Wesley Pepper: Um, yeah, it does actually quite, uh, quite an interesting, um, I like to start,

[00:14:48] I was going to ask you another technical thing. Um, more based on, um, you calling them paintings. Um, I find that, um, like the definition quite interesting. So explain to me because, um, this is from me just looking at them, right. Not knowing or understanding the processes and I'm talking about the current body of work, the, um, chaotic CBD, um, because I guess I know you, uh, Uh, uh, work with pastels.

[00:15:13] So I guess my eye is used to, um, just, I was assuming that they, you know, that the whole thing is well pastels because I know, well, pastels has a very specific texture to it and, and, and, and, um, and the colours are, are very specific. So for the listeners, for my listeners, um, just explain to me. Um, because this body work, um, the majority colour there is white as well, because I know in, in, in, in, in previous work you made reference to the ones, um, those, those texture bottle printers used to do.

[00:15:43] Um, actually I recall that as well. Um, they will, they will, they were very rich in colour. Um, and I guess that's one of the things that really draws one up is one, um, or otherwise I can still recall them so well, like the colour was very rich, Zolile Petshane: sorry. You're breaking. Can you repeat the question?

[00:16:05] the challenge I have here. let me go inside and see if I can go back to the kitchen. Wesley Pepper: Yeah, yeah. Let's try that. Zolile Petshane: Can you hear me now? Wesley Pepper: I can. I can, I can hear you. Okay. That's actually a little bit better. Um, and it's not that noisy either. Hello. So, yeah, we're having a bit of a technical issue. There's a bit of a breakdown agh there’s abit of delay in the line and yeah, I say, well, shit, man, same old shit.

[00:16:36] Um, but just for us, just to repeat the question, I was, um, I was, uh, uh, um, just before the break or before the, um, before the break was that, um, um, I was.. Zolile, you can still hear me right. All right. So, uh, yeah, I was making a reference to, uh, a technical question, um, on your previous work, um, on the, on the painting.

[00:17:03] So if I recall, um, your work from like the early two thousands, they were very rich in colour. They add a lot of 'em as well. They were just really rich. Um, I remember a lot of yellow and orange and so on and so on and so on. Uh, and it added really, it was very eye catching and now, um, Uh, the majority is a very light grey sort of, um, uh, white.

[00:17:29] So, um, I know with abstract paintings, um, that how you mix the colours and how you use your colours is very important. So I find, I guess, like, just for the listeners, um, just explain to us your, uh, processes behind, um, creating chaotic, CBD, um, with specific reference to the use of colour. Zolile Petshane: With with, with this current issue, um, was exploring the idea and the concept of migration, where people move from one area to the other area in search of your greener pastures and use colours as a representation of that.

[00:18:12] Um, I would use a colour as a representation of people. Of different, uh, nationalities moving in one area and yeah, and, and, and some, sometimes some people that are moved into that I would create a area where it represent, um, the idea of being a endangered species. But I I'll try to find an element that says that, but I.

[00:18:45] I normally use, um, calculation and using my mathematics that is not a, yeah. I don't know if that the proper mathematician will actually agree with that, but what I make things and trying to, uh, play around with the idea or miscalculating. When you think that you have calculated well and things, when you get to the answer, aish it’s not what you thought the answer is a problem.

[00:19:17] So I use colour as a representation or as a language to say something. Um, I used to bring out life, you know, uh, despite the effect that you move to a city aish your life is a mess. Now colour brings out happiness. Colour brings out life. it’s a different season, um, yeah. A different time that we need to. Yeah, forget about that.

[00:19:50] the winter season now we on this. Everything has to be vibing. So I, I use such a approach in terms of that colour, even though my works, um, I've never done any black and white painting to the represent that season or winter. Uh, most of the time, these. Wesley Pepper: Hmm. Interesting. Interesting, interesting. Um, another technical question, my brother, based off the, uh, body of work.

[00:20:25] Um, are you using any symbols? Um, well you are using but like, um, what are some of the main, because you've got the, um, the body work is quite substantial and they are, and they vary. Um, I see a lot of, um, Um, I would say splash like marks. Um, I see a lot of detail to some buildings and, um, there's some really interesting, uh, um, um, real fine details, which are, which personally I think is actually quite beautiful.

[00:20:53] So I guess my question is meant like, um, what does some of these symbols mean? Do some of them have meaning? If so, what? And so on. Zolile Petshane: Well, one of the works I used the pipe that we normally get on the side of the road in, especially in industrial side, um, that the pipe is normally is when there’s a fire, the fire brigades, this that I see that I'll use that to access water. I would use the pyramid.

[00:21:22] Um, sometimes in mathematics, there is that sign that looks like a pyramid. Now, there was a time when I started, when I started exploring the concept of numbers, I'll use the pyramid, um, to represent that, uh, I would use the concrete lip, um, to represent a numbering. Cause I don't normally use a lot of numbers in my work sometimes.

[00:21:49] I use elements that represent, uh, numbers. Now remember everything that we see around us, uh, the influence of calculation that's of mathematics tells the engineers to tell you that this slab is in, uh, it can last two for more than 20 years. So I would use numbers. Use some of the elements as a representation of numbers or something that revolves around numbers. So I’d use that.

[00:22:27] Wesley Pepper: Hmm. Interesting. Interesting, interesting. Um, alright man. So I guess for me, that sort of covers the technical side, right? Um, just a question on your process. So, um, how do you, uh, I guess I should ask this or wait um, before we get to the process, let me first take you a step back to the concept, uh, because I guess once we understand the concept and we can add up, we explain how to interpret, interpreted, because, um, so, um, from what I can understand that, um, through the brief and like through looking at the artwork and listening to you speak now, uh, you have a very critical, uh, or other viewpoint on what's happening in the, sort of the, of the social political, um, framework what's happening inside the...

Practice the Resurrection - Through Worship

Spudcaster — Sun, 25 Apr 2021 12:36:00 +0200

Disclaimer: The views expressed do not reflect the views of baobulb.org

Reverend Heidi Petersen delivered this sermon for podcast. It is based on the following scripture readings:

Ephensians 5 verses 1 - 2

The opening hymn, All Praise To Our Redeeming Lord is performed by the Northallerton Methodist Church Choir. And the closing hymn is by Taize. This podcast is produced as a service to the church community and friends. So visit our Spudcaster page for more.

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