Social media in South Africa have found a common cause and that cause is a against a racial slur made on her Twitter account by some FHM model of the year called Jessica Leandra.

Every where you look there is this righteous indignation – from both the mainstream and online media, especially Twitter.

To be honest, something about the whole affair leaves a really bad taste in my mouth. Not just the fact that this woman felt free to write such blatantly racist remarks and post it to the world wide web. And not only the fact that people actually followed someone on Twitter who have nothing of real value to add to society.

What bothers me most is this mob mentality. Attacking this one woman as if she is the only one in the whole of South Africa who is racist or racially prejudiced.

For goodness sake! www.timeslive.co.za called her ” a truly ugly and repugnant individual”.

And the remarks on Twitter are not much better, some even worse.

Is this maybe a case of protesting too much? What is happening? Are we trying to cover our own inadequacies or does this make us feel better about ourselves because we are not the ones being called all sorts of names.

Are we now social media activists? And what does that even mean? Showing how liberal we are by picking on individuals?

Yes, racist behaviour must be condemned in whatever form it presents itself and at every turn. But to condemn and attack a person in the way that this woman has been attacked just makes me wonder what else is at play.

I’ve mentioned a few times on this blog that I no longer read comments on news or sports websites especially local South African ones –  because they generally turn into ugly displays of hatred and racist bigotry.

Just in the last month I heard a woman use the “k” word to describe a taxi driver in the southern suburbs of Cape Town and earlier in the year at lunch someone referred to Xhosa speaking South Africans in a derogatory way.  None of the perpetrators were white.

Where was this kind of moral outrage when Helen Zille referred to fellow South Africans from the Eastern Cape as refugees?

Where is the outrage when a black person enters a retail outlet and gets followed around like a criminal when a white person get’s free reign in that same store?

Do we speak up and strongly condemn this very common occurrences in our daily lives as we do on Twitter?

It’s easy to pick on and bully a silly model but the issue doesn’t start, nor does it end with her.  It’s easy to sit behind a keyboard and type whatever we want. Very easy.

Look around you at your lunch table or down your street, because racists and the racially prejudiced are not only found on Twitter and Facebook and websites.  And his/her face isn’t only that of a blonde model.

This dish is apparently called a vegetable tian.  I’ve not heard of that dish before, but have put roasted veggies in the oven and covered with cheese.

Serve as a side dish or with a salad and freshly baked bread.

 Ingredients

1 Tablespoon Olive oil
1 medium onion
1 tablespoon crushed garlic
1 medium to large baby marrow
1 medium to large tomato
1 small butternut
1 large potato
dried thyme for seasoning
salt and pepper
1 cup grated cheese

Method:
Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius

Chop the onion and fry with garlic in olive oil until the  onion is translucent.

Slice the rest of the vegetables into very thin slices (this cuts down on cooking time) and season with thyme, salt and pepper.

Butter or spray an oven proof dish and layer with cooked onions.  Arrange the rest of the vegetable slices – alternate slices.

Spread cheese over the vegetables, cover the dish with foil and bake for about 30 minutes.

So I’ve been a very busy bee over the last few months and haven’t seen much of my family.  Much less my Mitchell’s Plain aunty.

But I got the call on Friday morning from my mother informing me that my Mitchell’s Plain aunty was worried about me.  She wondered if she would ever see me again before as she put it “God came to fetch her.”  The woman is all of sixty-three years old and healthy as a horse.

She was sure it was a boyfriend that was keeping me busy.  Or that Facebook!

Mind you I was feeling rather close to my family who had Facebook profiles even though I hadn’t seen some of them for over 10 years and others only briefly at weddings and occasionally at my Mitchell’s Plain aunty’s house.

Facebook, she told my mother, would drive families apart!

What can I say, my Mitchell’s Plain aunty is seldom wrong!  Except about the boyfriend part.  Sort of!

What was I to do?  I had to show some face!

So on Good Friday my mother, sister and three nieces and I did the trek together to Westridge, Mitchell’s Plain for the first time in many months.

We arrived at her house which reeked of pickled fish!  My sister salivated and my mother headed straight for the kitchen for a bowl to take some home to my dad.

I was reconsidering the wisdom of visiting my Mitchell’s Plain aunty on Good Friday.  My least favourite eating holiday.

She gave us all a hug and a plate as we entered her house.  Dish as much as you like, she said.  You see, my Mitchell’s Plain aunty is famous in our family and in her street for making the most abundant and apparently delicious pickled fish.

“No thank you,” I said and put the plate back on the table.  ”I don’t eat pickled fish.”  Even though I had never liked pickled fish before and this was a well documented family fact which gets forgotten every year, much to my dismay.

My aunty sat down on the nearest chair and looked at my mother with horror.  I was actually concerned for her health for a second or two.

“This is because you spoiled them as children,” she said to my mother.  ”No child of mine will say no to pickled fish on Good Friday!”

“But I’m vegetarian,” I responded.  ”I don’t eat any meat.”

I might as well as told my aunty that I still supported the ANC.  Actually I nearly did to distract her.

Instead I took the plate back and stacked it with hot crossed buns.

“Did you buy it at Woolies,” I asked.  ”And is it Halaal?”

Oh how I missed my Mitchell’s Plain aunty.

Where on earth has the time gone?  Three months of the year is over and I feel like I’ve hardly touched ground!

Life has been busy, busy, busy…

A few times during this month I thought of blogging, but that would have just added another thing to my list of things that needed to get done.  And blogging was never meant to be that for me.

It’s been my creative and emotional outlet. It’s where I come to complain and put up recipes.

So while I was reading and enjoying someone else’s blog, I thought of my own one and what I love about it.

I must say, other people’s blogs always seem more interesting and other writers smarter and/or funnier than mine.  I love blogs where people share their favourite beautiful things.  Or tell stories about their crafts and art work.

Today I was searching for some fashion blogs to get ideas what to do with my winter wardrobe and liked what a lot of them were doing.  Look out of my annual winter fashion blog post – hopefully before the end of winter

The same as with runners getting runner’s envy when we see other people in their running gear on the road, so I get blogger envy when I get to someone else’s blog.

So here I am when I should be either finishing an assignment or completing a database.

I just had to take a moment to remember what blogging feels like.

I could get used to this…

Life has been pretty interesting this year, with my new position at work and my studies and my “non-existent” romantic life. Not to mention my family.

Work

Work has been amazing! It’s mid-March and every morning I wake up excited about going to the office.  In actual fact I’ve been waking up at 4.45, hopping out of bed (yes hopping) and doing work projects.  We’ve still got our office politics and stuff, but then again who doesn’t?

Studies

My UNISA studies match my new work situation almost perfectly.  Everything I’m studying, I’ve been asked to implement at work.  And they don’t even have the details of what my studies includes.

When I started studying I never in my wildest dreams believed that I would be asked to help redesign our internal systems.  To be honest, all I wanted was to build on my knowledge of web design and databases.

Reminds me of a quote in the movie Field of Dreams: “If you build it they will come.”

Family

Some of my family seem to be in the process of immigrating to Australia.  I already have family there.  I’m not at quite sure how I feel about it because Melbourne is a great place to bring up small children.  It’s very child-friendly.

They have been making suggestions about me moving as well…but Cape Town is my home.

So things are as they should be.  Very good, but with a bit of complications here and there just to make life interesting.

So I was thinking of doing a particular blog post which would mainly consist of pictures which I would need to gather online.    Out of the blue I thought of Pinterest at www.pinterest.com.  This could be because suddenly I’m reading about Pinterest EVERYWHERE!

Now I must admit that I’m usually slow on the uptake with new social media platforms and the like.  And while Pinterest isn’t exactly social media as we know it, it does have a social aspect.  From what I understand.

(Mind you, I wasn’t all that impressed with Facebook Timeline until I saw the possibilities for our organisation!)

When I first heard of Pinterest I wondered what I would possibly need it for.  I couldn’t even imagine a purpose.

A week or two ago some of the magazines I subscribe to in real life and Facebook all linked to stuff they put together on Pinterest.  I didn’t follow the links because the idea of viewing other people’s pin boards did not appeal to me.

Maybe once I’ve gotten used to the idea of starting my own pin board.

It wasn’t as easy as I thought, because as was the case with Facebook, Twitter, Gmail and G+ initially you need to be invited to join the website.  In other words you have to request an invitation from Pinterest or get invited by someone who is already a member.

Nice way to create a buzz, don’t you think.  Next they will be wondering how to monetize their offerings to us.

Anyway, I have now sent in my email and can only hope that my request will be favourably considered  But since I’m so behind the times, they will probably make the website open to the entire global internet audience by tomorrow!

All this leaves me wondering how we existed without social websites before. Just imagine…in a few months time I will be wondering how I ever existed without Pinterest. The word pin will forever have new meaning.

I was walking down Main Road in Newlands Saturday morning and noticed brown leaves and red berries had started falling from trees.  Autumn is on it’s way, baby!

Although I love the time of year Americans call fall, it does mean the end of my favourite season.  And there have been times when I dreaded the start of winter.

But as I get older I am a bit more accepting of the things I cannot change, until I win the Lotto!

I’m digressing again…

I’ve been a very busy woman lately.  There were some problems with my UNISA registration, which eventually got sorted after much frustration.

Because it was so late, I am busily doing assignments, trying to catch up!

Work has been a dream come true!

There has not been a day this year when I did not want to go to work and even better, I have been looking forward to it!  This hasn’t been the case in years, if EVER!

I’m so excited and happy that my studies and work are very much in sync – creating information systems amongst other things.  And just writing about this has my heart beating faster.

On the other hand, my romantic possibilities have dwindled to nothing.  I decided to try online dating again after many years, to get more balance in my life.   Once again I came to the conclusion that I just can’t do it  and fortunately for me, I don’t even want that sifting.

A funny thing happened though.  A former colleague of mine added me as a possibility on his list of favourites.  I did not reciprocate because there is no way! But it was a bit funny and a bit strange to find someone I know on a dating site.

Right now I’m as content as I can be and I’m accepting it without struggle because one thing is guaranteed…nothing stays the same.

Many news media outlets – including respected ones like the BBC and New York Times – are today reporting that Nelson Mandela was hospitalised for a stomach problem. Some reported about an operation even.

For some reason I’m feeling really annoyed with this kind of reporting. Irritated, really!

They are behaving like vultures circling, waiting for a dead body. Wanting to be the first to report when the man passes.

Can’t we just leave this very dignified man in peace now and hear about any news when his family wants to share private health matters with the whole world?

What has really driven me over the edge is the following tweet by @ewnreporter (567 Capetalk and 702 news):

“#Mandela Steve Biko Academic hospital is very quiet. Still unclear where Madiba has been admitted. GN”

WTF is wrong with these reporters? It’s not good enough to report on the former president’s health whenever he sneezes, but now we need to know where he is being treated.

If the family or the former president wanted the media to know, I’m sure they would have told them.

For heaven’s sake! Leave the man alone. It is beyond macabre not to mention disrespectful to stand outside his house and wait for the man to die.
I personally don’t care where he is being treated and for what, just that he is well taken care of, living on his own terms and enjoying doing whatever keeps him entertained these days.

The rest is none of my or anyone outside his inner circle’s business!

Like nearly 140000 other Twitter users, I have been following Julius Malema, soon to be former ANCYL leader on Twitter, @Julius_S_Malema.

I follow him mainly to see what he’s up to and maybe get some insight into who he is in his own words. Mostly he makes sexist jokes and says silly things like:

“Monogamy only works if you cheat. – Denny Crane”

Two days after Whitney Houston’s death he said this:

“Sure black people can’t swim but drowning in a bath tub?! Aowa batho, you must be *high* to do that”

And

“Apparently if u sniff Whitney Houston’s cremated remains u can still be high from all the drugs left in her sys”

You know, things that showcases his lack of self-restraint and sense of decency more than anything.

Anyway, about a week or so ago on 13 February 2012, Malema declared that he had to stop using Twitter because in his own words:

“This account is now working against me in my mitigation of sentence appeal. To prove to ANC NDC it’s NOT me tweeting Dali asked me to stop”

And

“I officially bow out of twitterverse. Šalang gabotse!”

And

“Why I’m leaving twitter: ever greeted a lady & she ran to the cops claiming you raped her? That’s what just happened. Credibility harmed”

So what was he Tweeting that could harm his case even more?

Well…decide for youself if this would endear him to his bosses or the SA public in general, regardless of any disciplinary hearing.

@Julius_S_Malema : #WaysToHonourMadiba create a religion rivaling Christianity that idolises Madiba as the modern day Messiah

#WaysToHonourMadiba if you already have a child; mandatory tatoo of his face on your right shoulder

#WaysToHonourMadiba it should be mandatory to name your first born Nelson or Rolihlahla

And

“It was agreed that Pres. Zuma’s head is too big to fit bank notes; unless it’s an A4 size paper.”

This after the announcement last week that the former president Mandela’s image would be portrayed on all new SA bank notes.

Malema did not Tweet a thing for the rest of last week. Until this morning we got this morsel of a Tweet. In actual fact a ReTweet:

@G_XCON (Gayton Mckenzie): We sometimes get killed by the ones we willing to die for.

I wonder if a ReTweet counts as being off Twitter

Pictures of Beyonce and Jay Z’s baby Blue Ivy has been released by the family.

The baby was born on 7 January 2012 in New York City.

This little girl is already a looker, like her mother!

See more pictures here.