Marieclairvoyant

I love the City of Joburg’s new ‘Colour Your Senses’ spring campaign! As Lindiwe Kwele CEO of the Johannesburg Tourism Company put it: we hosted both the opening and closing ceremonies of the World Cup and it proved we are more than a business tourism destination. So September brings it with it lots of exciting leisure, sporting, music, cultural and lifestyle events to engage all your senses, starting with:

* Joburg Arts Alive International Festival Thursday 2 to Sunday 26 September

* Jazz on the Lake Sunday 5 September

Visit Joburg Tourism for more info.

Image I love Joburg

Zodwa Kumalo-Valentine

The American poet, author and activist Alice Walker (she of the great The Color Purple) is giving the Steve Biko Memorial lecture this evening at UCT. She warned earlier on in the week to ‘expect nothing’ saying ‘I live frugally on surprise; that is to say, I don’t foresee even my own behaviour. I prefer to be spontaneous.’
Unfortunately, Prof Walker is notoriously interview shy and likes to keep her private life just that – but what a life she’s had. The first African-American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, she married a jewish civil rights lawyer making them the first legally married interracial couple in the state of missipissi; she’s passionate about race and gender issues and has been arrested for protesting; she’s spoken out about female circumcision, Gaza, and the Rwandan genocide. She’s American but feels a deep sense of belonging in Africa, saying, ‘I take comfort in the reality that we are all Africans. Everywhere, Sweden, Paris we are all Africans.’
Oh and she’s a lady after our own hearts – she’s a blogger. ‘I love blogging,’ she said in an interview. ‘I find it so freeing. I cant wait to hear her speak. (Alice Walker pictured bove with her partner Garrett Larson)
Vanessa MC

This weekend the wonderful people at Porsche arranged for a group of women from around SA to test drive the newly-launched Porsche Panamera. After a relaxing Friday at Oliver’s guest house in White River we set off on Saturday morning for JHB in our convoy of shiny new cars, alternating between the comfort (limousine mode) and sport mode on the open stretches of road. What an experience!