When I’m listening to a conversation - an interview on the radio, teachings by a popular person via podcasts or even eavesdropping nje - there is always a point when I go: hm, how would I answer that? I don’t know if you do this too but, often, I get this excited feeling because the question is so good. Or the person’s answer is thought-provoking and leaves me questioning my own feelings. This happened to me on my drive home from work today. I was listening to a conversation between...
Two years ago, I swore I’d never go to Oppikoppi again. Nothing bad happened. I had just been going to the festival in Limp City since I was a baby writer. I’d missed some years but overall, part of my job was attending festivals like that and I did it on and off for years. The only sucky thing about it: I hate camping. And I have anxiety about being unable to share experiences with people I love but that’s a story for another day. Fast forward to two years...
April 3. My one year radioversary came and went last month and I couldn't bring myself to write about it. If you know me, you know radio has been the best thing to ever happen to me - and I've had some pretty epic things happen to me. Over the weekend, someone I love asked me how my show was going. It hit me: it's been an entire month off air and no one noticed. That's testament to two things: 1) I have had no impact 2) Support can have...
What I've been doing? Oh, just sweating about how I'm going to take my ideas out of my head and onto the screen in your hand and/or in your house. Wish me luck.
Anxiety is a bitch. At the beginning of this month, my Dude was sprawled across our sofa couch as sun rays licked and lulled him into sleep while he pretended he was really concentrating on this stupid movie he insisted we watch. His eyelashes curved up as salutation. When I was much younger, I used to religiously read Demetria L Lucas’ blog. On the day of the bad movie, I’d just stopped going down a rabbit hole of really old posts from her blog. I stopped because of this line:...
I just spent what feels like 10 minutes - although it was probably shorter than that - scrolling through Facebook. I found out that Masta Ace has a Tiny Desk Concert out. Good job, NPR! I mean, just two days ago, my Dude and I were in a convenience store and saw the American soft drink and I yelled: “somebody gon’ slice him and send him to Dr Peppa!” But that’s not what I was looking for. What I couldn’t find was this post - I forgot who uploaded it...
As a journalist for so long, you’d think I respect a deadline... Hello, again. It’s been a very long time since I put up a blog post. I’d love to say it’s because I’ve been so busy. I have been busy. But that’s not why I’ve been away. I haven’t quite known how to come back. I wanted to come back, with something significant to say, and the courage to say it regularly. So I set a deadline: 1 April 2018. A big part of me is like: you can...
I’ll be honest, I’ve had a very sad start to my week. I actually didn’t even feel like writing this post (and I still don’t have an artist date for this week, but I trust the Universe’s timing) but in my initial The Artist’s Way post, I said I would try to give some feedback. So I hope you can find strength in me to persevere when you don’t feel like doing the things you committed to doing. So, yeah, last week was my first The Artist’s Way week and...
My favourite thing in the world used to be talking to musicians… about music. This marks the 12th year since my byline first appeared in print and I’ll admit: my favourite thing in the world is still talking to musicians...about music. But I didn’t always know that that was what it was. I used to think my favourite thing was writing. After a few years of what seemed like writing articles only my editor read, my love for writing began to wane. And every year my imposter syndrome (a blog...
I'm a recovering people-pleaser. There. I said it. In the past six months, though, I've been forcing myself to be ok with potentially making someone upset. I've been forcing myself to be comfortable in my own skin. To not hide my double chin. You've seen my InstaStories. You know what I mean. Essentially, I have been learning to become more of myself whether someone else sees that or not. Yesterday, my brother sweetly posted a picture of me on social media and someone commented that I look like Mandela. I...
I want to blog every day and in an effort to be a woman of my word, here is today's post. It's short but it counts. I was driving home and listening to the radio - my CD player is broken and I believe that's the Universe trying to teach me how to be a better broadcaster by forcing me to listen to even the stations I wouldn't ordinarily mess with. I was listening to this other station while driving and they played an Alicia Keys song that instantly made...
Before I ever accepted that I was going to be a music journalist, I was and am a music lover. That fact sometimes gets in the way of me being a Karen Civil type. A decade later, I still go geek when I hear a song I like or when an artist teases, for the third year in a row, that that album really is coming “by Dezemba.” Every now and then, I get reminded that the music doesn’t exist without the musicians. Obvious, I know. But as fans, we...
