Faith

Faith. Such a small word with so much meaning. Faith can make people do anything, it can make miracles happen. Faith can also make people kill, it might actually be the number one killer in the world. 

Sometimes, I can truly feel my faith in humanity slipping away, ever so slowly. The way we speak to each other, the way we judge. Even me, I judge people who don't do what i believe to be right. the way we exploit nature and destroy the natural world. The same natural world that was apparently so well thought out by the one and only. The truth is, not enough people care. 

In times like these, when i am truly at a loss of faith in humanity, i recite a list of names. 

Dian Fossey, Jane Goodall, David Attenbarough, Steve Irwin, Bette White, RuPaul, Harvey Milk, etc. 

All the people that have done good in the world, people that have fought through things no matter the cost. Yes, it's mostly made up of people who fight for conservation and gay rights, but that's my truth, they restore my faith.

I it was up to me the world would be filled with a bunch of Lgbtqi people and allies and we would all be vegan! And if you want meat, you take responsibility for killing and butcehring and preparing the animal, no life lost without meaning. 

Maybe one day!  

Books: Margaret Atwood: Oryx and Crake

Books. I like to think that I am a reader, meaning I like to sit down and read. Genre of choice, fantasy and Sci-fi. Garth Nix introduced me to fantasy with "Sabriel". AAAhhh Sabriel. That book was one that changed me, it opened this whole new realm of possibilities!! Magic, love, defeat, treachery, dragons and all that follows. Another great  writer, the great and late Terry Pratchett. Man, he really got me hooked. Not only can you have fantasy, you can have humour, and death and birth and all that on the back of a giant turtle world!

My point... My girlfriend is an avid reader, as in, finishes a book in a day! she is also in the literature industry, and she has a very extensive library at her house. So the other day, when I ignorantly asked: "Who is Margerat Atwood, and why do you have so many of her books?" she almost fell off her chair. It's little reactions like that in a person that makes you know they are passionate about something. I instantly recognized this reaction in her, because I too have that reaction when people don't know what a pangolin is, or "Rhino's are being poached?"...let's not go there, yet. Anyways, i digress. She immediately gave me two books of Margaret Atwood, insisting that I will like it. And low and behold... I love it.

Oryx and Crake takes place after an apocalypse of sorts (I am a sucker for a good apocalypse). The human race basically drove themselves to extinction, and they played the creator by making new animals. You have things like the wolvog (wolf and a dog), a cunning creature that lures you in by acting like a puppy and then the pack attacks, or a rakunk, skunk and racoon (adorable apparently). What is most striking about the book is that it would seem we, as a race, are heading in that direction. They found a way to grow human organs with in pigoons (pigs). People can give stem-cells, and then any organ can be grown within the pig, in case you might need it one day. They also talk about cloning as an every day thing. There are disturbing bits in it, like the fact that, before the apocalypse, people took part in very questionable activities. There are all these different sites on the internet where you can watch people being beheaded, or being legally injected, websites where people assist and film people committing suicide, or eating life animals for prices. The most disturbing are the pornography sites they describe, I won't go into it but, the problem is, some of these things are out there. Messed up things.


The point of this blog, books can change you. Books can change your mind about the world, people around you, and most importantly, it changes your thoughts, ideas, and you. It changes you in such small ways that it isn't even noticeable at first, then you read more, and then one day, you just know you are different, something in you just clicks.

Family, Love, Pride

This weekend is the 12th Annual Cape Town Gay Pride parade. It will be the second one I attend, since I have been away the past 2 years.
This year is extra special because my family and I are going to have a float, all decorated and stuff. My parents are kind of the "managers" of the Cape Town PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays). By managers I mean they started the group on Facebook and try to give advice to those who ask. I am obviously extremely proud of them for doing this, and I love them even more for supporting me.

My family is kind of sprinkled with a lot of homosexuals. Like, A LOT! So this is a great weekend to celebrate all that is, and was and will be. Celebrating life and family and freedom and of course RAINBOWS!

Environmental Education

We were told that we can write about anything. That we need to choose a subject and learn about that throughout the year. Well my subject is environmental education.

I have been interested in this for a very long time.I was fortunate enough to be in charge of the outreach to local schools at my previous job. Living and working in Limpopo really oped my eyes to the different challenges that we all face on a daily basis. Where I lived, on a private game reserve, we had no power and we were totally seperated from the world. I remember moving back to Stellenbosch and listening to the radio while driving around. I had this overwhelming sense that the world was ending because I would hear of murders and people kicking babies, and accidents and death. I asked told my mom one day that I think something in the world has shifted, people are acting crazy all of a sudden, doing horrendous things, she just said "No, you've just been out of society, away on your island of the African bush". In that moment I felt so sad, lost almost, what has happened to people? More importantly, how could I allow myself to become so oblivious to everything? I felt so selfish.

Anyways, back to the topic at hand, environmental education, and what my current education is teaching me.

In diversity and inclusivity we learn about how a child's background can affect their learning, their school life and social life. That economic status gives a child an advantage or disadvantage of sorts. I found this very interesting, and a lot of things makes sense since I have been learning about this.

I have also learned more about the affects of nature on learning, or what people do with knowledge about the environment.

I am not quite sure exactly what I am going to do with this new knowledge, but I am sure we will find out together.

Here's to peace and love and and that jazz!

What is digital Pedagogy?

If you think of what pedagogy is, the philosophy of learning, then digital pedagogy should be the philosophy of learning through technology. To me, it is much more than that. It is about discovering new thins whilst look for your answer. If you think about it, have you ever googled something specific, and then 30min later you realise that you are learning things about a topic that is not really related to your original topic. Yet, it is. Everything is connected! You start looking at a cute cat video on Youtube, that leads you to big African cats, then it's hyena's attacking lions, leading to vultures feeding on a carcass, leading to harmful chemicals in natural water sources... Cats lead to harmful water sources, in a sense at least.

It's a wild wild, matie world

I have recently moved back to Stellenbosch, after being away for 4 years. A lot has happened in these four years, both to me and Stellenbosch.

First I will tell you what happened to me... isn't that what self reflection is all about? Self reflection shared with THE WORLD WIDE WEB. Anyways... After I graduated, I went to South Korea for 13 months (no, I cannot say '1 year' because that extra month made a difference) to teach English to a bunch of cute, yet naughty, 6 year olds. After that I came back to the rainbow nation, the land of wild animals and even wilder people, to became a qualified game rangers (since my undergrad was in BSc Conservation Ecology). So, for the past 18 months, I have been in the African Bush (No, not THAT kind...wink wink). Confusing sexual innuendo aside, I have to say I miss it with every fiber of my being. More on this later... Now, I find myself here, in this 'lab' full of computers and people.

I cannot help but draw certain parallels between wild animal behaviour and "wild matie" behaviour. I am sure this insight (for lack of a better word) will go away over time, but for now, I still find myself needing to analyse animal behaviour, and since there are no pride of lions, or herd of impala's around, the jocks, nerds, 'poppies' and misfit maties will have to do.

This is not all I will be writing about on the blog. I am passionate about a lot of things, and mildly interested in even more. So, since this platform is here, I will use it, as often as possible.

Peace out!

Photo: 2 male dung beetles fighting over this very well constructed dung ball. How acuurate!