The ceramics teacher wanted to make mothers of us, ‘Make yourself in your image,’ and we all got to work, squeezing these wet slabs, pressing, thumbing, stretching lids over eyes, strands over scalps, building a mirror from the dust that layered every hand. Back from the kiln, the ward, its birthing heat, and I…
Creative Writing, Venue
His Last Gift
She found his letters in a black chest in the attic, the morning after his funeral. Her eldest told her to be careful, but as soon as she found out her husband had left her something, no rickety stairs or cobwebs could deter her. She sat cross-legged in front of the chest and unlocked it….
Climate Change, Science
Droughts continue to devastate regions of South Africa
In the midst of South Africa’s World Cup successes, it is perhaps less widely known that the country is also facing its worst drought in living memory. The country has taken up various emergency measures and is declaring several parts of the country as disaster areas. Smaller towns in its Northern and Eastern Cape provinces…
Global
Police remove 1,600 migrants from Paris camps
Following promises of increased immigration crackdowns and controls, two of Paris’ large migrant camps, one at Porte de la Chapelle and one at Seine-Saint-Denis, were raided on Thursday 7 November. The dismantling of the camps came just a day after the French president Macron declared that the government would work towards closing down all makeshift…
Creative Writing
Period
Sharp pangs Stab my stomach On my back, In pain. A hole inside of me, I am not complete. My vagina is a gateway for the other. I want to take a needle and pierce the eye with red thread, I want to sew together the lips that engulf my emptiness. Red. Flesh. Raw. My…
Creative Writing
Treptow-Köpenick
Away from the centre, from the anxious headache, The mad rush of Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag, Tiergarten, Bundestag, Pull me out, lift me up, and let me take My own small piece Of this German Manhattan: Ich möchte retten The city I see splashed over postcards and shot on film, The clichéd Berlin – oh please…
Film
Time, illness and Melancholia
Time. It’s our human instinct to fear it, to be cautious of it, to fight it. Our entire existences are dominated by time and influenced by change, so it’s not surprising that these themes show up repeatedly in cinema. Lars Von Tier’s Melancholia follows Justine (Kirsten Dunst), as she attempts to cope with her severe…
Creative Writing
Out of Time
‘Time is running out of time’ and I’m not happy with myself ‘Time is running out of time’ in the absence of mother’s help ‘Time is running out of time’ and I’m not virtuous nor keen ‘Time is running out of time’ in this era of antiquity we are out of halos and horns and…
Creative Writing
An open book
8:00 Leia Butler Confused blinks A stretch and a yawn Hesitant clumsy movements in the wake of dawn 8:05 Creased eyebrows Rumble rumble Gorging on cornflakes to appease the grumble 9:00 Arms wrapped around chest Lips starting to turn blue Toes wriggle against the fur lined shoe 12:00 Veins popping with hues of purple and…
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