The Commenters’ Meme

First Jeanne did it. Then Sol did it (and tagged me). Then Aphra did it. Now I’m doing it and I think you should do it, especially if you are doing NaBloPoMo, are locked into an insane 31-day cycle of daily blog posting and are looking for something to post today. Consider it my gesture of support.

The rules:

1. List the last 10 commenters on your blog.

2. If you’re on the list, you’re tagged.

The list:

1. (un)relaxeddad of Relaxed Parents

2. Emily of Telecommuter Talk

3. honeypiehorse of Our Feet are the Same

4. Jen of Jen’s Den of Iniquity

5. Jeanne of Cook Sister! (you don’t have to do it again, Jeanne)

6. Pete of Couch Trip

7. Natalian of Twaddle and Twak

8. Amity of Noble Savage

9. Ian of Letters Home

10. Lisa of Lisa’s Words at Play

Now for the questions:

1. What’s your favourite post from number 3’s blog?

Oh this one, without a doubt. It made me laugh (exploding potatoes! wobbly towers! rude Germans!) and made me feel better about the craziness that happens in my home. Laura is a new blogger - an American living in Bavaria, with her German husband and two children - so please go and shower her with some bloggy love.

2. Has number 10 taken any pictures that moved you?

Funnily enough, Lisa has just been on holiday to the shores of Oregon and taken some lovely moody seascapes, but my favourite picture - which did move me - was that of her hotel bed bestrewn with the pages of her manuscript. It made me look forward to the moment when I print mine out and start going through it. You can see the sea in the picture, as well as Lisa’s tiny and adorable dog nestling in the bedcovers, but it’s the atmosphere of creative work being done that I love. It’s a great picture.

3. Does number 6 reply to comments on his blog?

The fabulous Pete? You betcha!

4. Which part of blogland is number 2 from?

I’d say Emily has carved out her own unique space. She always says she’s not a book blogger, and would love to be, but when she posts about books it’s interesting and insightful. Emily is a little like me in that she won’t be categorised as a certain kind of blogger, and reserves the right to publish on whatsoever she chooses, but the consistent thing about is that she’s always funny. Go right now and read her Alcoholic Meme - the mint juleps! I want some! P.S. Only 4 days till I actually meet Emily. I wonder if there will be cocktails?

5. If you could give one piece of advice to number 7, what would it be?

Spread your love around! You are such a great blogger, and your blog deserves some attention. Go visit people and leave comments. They will politely return the favour and you will make some wonderful blog friends.

6. Have you ever tried something from number 9’s blog?

The lovely Ian is a repository of travel stories, insights into Germany and great recipes. I took his advice on how to deal with a weird Chinese blogger who was completely lifting my blog word-for-word and posting on his site. I have also heeded his example, and tried to ride my bike more.

7. Has number 1 blogged something that inspired you?

Yes, his encyclopaedic knowledge of music. See his Patti Smith post here. Don’t give up on the NaBlos, U-Dad, we need more music posts!

8. How often do you comment on number 4’s blog?

Frequently. I love Jen’s take on life and what she writes chimes with me.

9. Do you wait for number 8 to post excitedly?

I don’t like to put pressure on Amity since she has a new baby, but I do love it when she posts. She’s honest, combatative and funny.

10. How did number 5’s blog change your life?

The Cook Sister rules! Jeanne is the most dedicated blogger - every post is well-researched, well-written, usually funny, always informative. Although her main focus is food, she has an over-arching world-view that informs everything. She’s the poster child for high-quality blogging and has been the deserving recipient of multiple blogging awards. She has inspired me to aim for quality writing and not insult people with the “I picked my nose today” type of posts that you see all over the blogosphere. She also gave me the recipe that forms the basis of my Just So Easy Afro-Teutonic Beer Bread. Thanks to Jeanne, I bake bread and that’s life-changing in and of itself.

Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to pack for New York.

It’s not easy, but someone’s got to do it.

RIP Miriam Makeba

South African singer Miriam Makeba - the nightingale of Africa - died yesterday at a clinic in Italy, only hours after performing in her last concert. She was 76.

According to The Independent, she suffered a heart attack after a 30-minute performance against organised crime. Makeba was an outspoken critic against apartheid, and was involuntarily exiled for 30 years when the Nationalist government revoked her passport.

“One of the greatest songstresses of our time has ceased to sing,” Foreign Affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma said in a statement.

“Throughout her life, Mama Makeba communicated a positive message to the world about the struggle of the people of South Africa and the certainty of victory over the dark forces of apartheid and colonialism through the art of song.”

Here is Mama Makeba singing Soweto Blues, written by her former husband Hugh Masekela:

Which Book Shall I Take to New York?

In four sleeps’ time, I depart for my long-awaited holiday in New York with my dear friend, V. Not the world’s lightest packer, I am beset with decisions: what clothes to take, which shoes, do I need a cocktail dress, what to leave behind, laptop or no laptop? When I get there will my first drink be a Manhattan or a G&T? What’s in a Manhattan anyway? First Avenue or Century 21? Big Broadway show or little smoky dive? Pastrami or lox? You can see, dear reader, that I am troubled. In a good way. But the one question that is literally keeping me awake at night is: which book to take on the plane? And you can save me by voting in the poll below.

Do I take the latest Candace Bushnell novel, to get me into major retail-therapy, Carrie Bradshawesque Manhattan mode? Do I take my teenage favourite Catcher in the Rye for a taste of Fifties New York noir? Or should I take a classic in order to picture the city in a more innocent and genteel time?

In order to ensure that I arrive in the city fresh, without disfiguring bags under my eyes from lack of sleep, please help me decide which novel should accompany me on the plane. PollDaddy will allow you to make another suggestion, if you disparage my choices. Enjoy testing out WordPress’s new poll functionality, to which I potentially could become addicted. (I imagine future polls: “Reader, should I get up or stay in bed?”, “Wine or chocolate?”, “Love-god: Barack Obama or Colin Firth?”)

So without further ado, I give you the big question:

Thank you for voting! I’ll be so glad you did.

Just So Easy Afro-Teutonic Beer Bread

The lovely Jeanne has tagged me to take part in Breadline Africa’s Worldwide Blogger Bake-Off. According to Jeanne, Breadline Africa is a:

South African-based charity that is seeking to put a lasting end to poverty South Africa (and further afield in Africa) by breaking the cycle of poverty and helping comunities to achieve long-term self-sustainability. Breadline Africa was founded in 1993 when a group of community and social workers in South Africa (who had first-hand knowledge of the uniquely African problems that they faced) formed an alliance with like-minded colleagues in Europe (who were well-placed to source donations in valuable foreign currency). Armed with this unique combination of skills, Breadline Africa has been able to raise funds in Europe and use their local knowledge to identify which small, ground-level projects in Africa are most likely to succeed with a financial boost.

On Blog Action Day, Breadline Africa launched their Worldwide Blogger Bake-Off campaign. The aim is to raise $1 million in funds for a project to convert shipping containers into locations for food production and distribution in Africa. It is hoped that these sustainable community kitchens will not only provide food such as bread and soup to those in need, but also opportunities for skills development within poor communities.

So how does the Breadline Africa Worldwide Blogger Bake Off Campaign work?

Quite simply: bake bread, give dough. You can sign up for the campaign, make a donation, upload your bread recipes and document your culinary adventures in the media centre to spread the word. Bloggers can go even further by downloading the Blogger Bake-off widget and tagging five other bloggers to do the same - which I have done. My five tagged bloggers are:

1. Alida of Here We Go … Again

2. Helen of A Was Alarmed

3. The Very Wise Mandarine

4. Herschelian of The 3 Rs.

5. Tanya of Just Me

And now, to the bread …

The thing is, though I bake, I don’t make bread. Being good South Africans, we barbeque or braai, all the way through summer. I have a way with salads, and desserts, and Germany’s Top Husband does his thing at the grill, but our repertoire has never included bread. However, two summers ago, I borrowed a South African beer bread recipe from Jeanne because it was just so easy. The original recipe called for thyme and cheddar cheese, but since neither were available to me, I replaced them with rosemary and Emmenthaler, bringing a lovely German twist to a South African recipe. Unfortunately I have never photographed it, but I assure you it looks and smells as delicious as it tastes. There are never any leftovers, because everyone ADORES it. Try it, and preen at your new-found skills!

The Just So Easy Afro-Teutonic Beer Bread Recipe

Ingredients:

500g self-raising flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

125g Emmenthaler cubed

340ml beer

50ml water

1 tablespoon of fresh rosemary chopped

Maldon (or kosher) salt to sprinkle

Method:

Preheat oven to 180°.

Grease a small loaf tin.

Sift flour and salt into a mixing bowl.

Stir in beer, cheese, water, rosemary.

Mix until all the flour is moistened the dough forms a consistent mass.

Transfer to loaf tin, sprinkle with salt and place in oven.

Test with skewer after one hour and if it comes clean, remove from the oven.

Eat with large slabs of butter and thank me. Oh, and Jeanne too.

(PS After an hour’s struggling, I am giving up trying to upload the widget. I will return when I have more strength. But in the meanwhile, please click, donate, bake bread, vote for my recipe or do something to help raise people out of poverty. Thank you.)

I Want To Be In Chicago!

I have just woken up to the amazing news that a black man has been elected President of the USA, and I am in bits. As a South African, who witnessed Nelson Mandela become President of South Africa in 1994, I know just how good Americans are feeling right now. We embraced change then, and you have embraced change now. In the words of our great President on his inauguration in Pretoria:

The time for the healing of the wounds has come.

The moment to bridge the chasms that divide us has come.

The time to build is upon us.

We have, at last, achieved our political emancipation. We pledge ourselves to liberate all our people from the continuing bondage of poverty, deprivation, suffering, gender and other discrimination.

We succeeded to take our last steps to freedom in conditions of relative peace. We commit ourselves to the construction of a complete, just and lasting peace.

We have triumphed in the effort to implant hope in the breasts of the millions of our people. We enter into a covenant that we shall build the society in which all South Africans, both black and white, will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts, assured of their inalienable right to human dignity - a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world.

I think that Barack Obama has succeeded in implanting hope. He will be an amazing leader - dignified, strong, decisive, humane, compassionate - very unlike the kinds of leaders that the world has seen in the last eight years. I hope this is not only a new era in the USA but a new era of leadership in the world. I also think there are going to be some amazing parties in Chicago and all over the USA tonight!

PS: Thanks to the American nation, I will never dye my hair again. I’m going grey with Obama.

I’m posting this as part of the Virtual Post-Election Bash, being hosted by the wonderful Diane of Martinis for Two. Check out the other bloggers who are taking part:

Andrea (Germany)
Christina (Germany)
Claire (Germany)
Claire (Great Britain)
Diane Mandy
Dianne (U.S.)
Eusmaca (U.S.)
Evercurious (U.S.)
G in Berlin (Germany)
Ian in Hamburg (Germany)
J (Germany)
Jul (Germany)
Princess Extraordinaire (U.S.)
Sizzle (U.S)
Snooker (Germany)
Vailian (Germany)

I Love Your Blog

Many thanks to Jeanne of the wonderful Cook Sister! blog who gave me this award:

And now I have to pass it on. The rules are:

1) Add the logo of the award to your blog.
2) Add a link to the person who awarded it to you (as shown above).
3) Nominate at least seven other blogs.
4) Add links to those blogs on your blog.

I want to spread the love but how the hell who to choose? I have 144 blogs on my feed reader - writer’s blogs, book blogs, mummy blogs, food blogs, feminist blogs, literary agents’ blogs. There are bloggers who have been with me since Day One, and new bloggers who I love. Many have become my friends, and we have made the effort to meet up.

So I decided to honour the six bloggers who I am meeting in New York in a couple of weeks’ time for a fabulous day of eating, walking and bookshop-visiting. Two live in the city but the rest are travelling from further afield to be there. My soon-to-be-met blogger friends are:

1. Emily of Telecommuter Talk

2. Dorothy of Of Books and Bicycles

3. Hobb of The Hobgoblin of Little Minds

4. Cam of Cam’s Commentary

5. Becky of Musings from the Sofa

6. ZoesMom

I love your blogs and I look forward to meeting you all!

I haven’t forgotten number seven. This goes to the blogger who nearly made it to the NY meet-up:

7. Courtney of The Public, the Private and Everything In Between. I love your blog too!

PS. I’ve just noticed that this is my 400th post. That’s a lorra lorra writing.

Going Grey with Obama

Please note that I:

am in very good company:

Barack going grey

I swear here and now, in the company of my three children and some discarded pieces of Lego, that if Obama gets in and becomes President of the USA, I will never dye, highlight or ever maltreat my hair again.

After all, we grey-hairs must stick together.

Pouting and Reading

To quote the Sunday Times, I’ve been “doing a lot of pouting and staying in bed late”, not because I’m Madonna, but because I’ve had a three-day migraine. Germany’s top husband has, as the article says, been playing chef, diplomat and domestic fluffer, which has included his coming into the bedroom frequently and putting down the blinds to rest my eyes. About 30 seconds after he leaves I leap up, and roll them up again so that I can read. It probably prolonged the headache, but I can’t lie in bed during the day and not read. Also, the books were so good that I had to.

First up was Geraldine Brooks’ People of the Book, which definitely rates as my third book of the year (first was Half of a Yellow Sun and second was The Lay of the Land). People of the Book is hard to define - it’s part thriller, part love-story, part historical novel and part something all its own. I got that shivery feeling on the first page that I was going to love it, and I did (no, it wasn’t the migraine). It tells the story of Hanna, an Australian book restorer who is called to Sarajevo in 1996 on behalf of the UN to restore an ancient Jewish manuscript - the Haggadah - which was rescued from destruction during the Bosnian war by its Muslim librarian. Hanna restores the text, but also finds objects between its pages - a grain of salt, a fragment of a butterfly wing, a wine stain - that give her clues to the book’s previous owners. Large sections of the novel are given to uncovering who these people, the people of the book, were and tracing the Haggadah’s journey from Spain to Italy and finally to Sarajevo over a 500-year period.

Geraldine Brooks was a war correspondent in Bosnia, Somalia and the Middle East and People of the Book is testament to her experience in parts of the world where many cultures meet and her journalistic ability to uncover and represent facts. The novel traces the history of the Jews in Europe, and thus the history of religious intolerance and prejudice, from the Spanish Inquisition to the Venetian Geto to the cultural richness that was Sarajevo before the World War II via characters who become curators and care-takers of the book. I found this part of the novel fascinating, and the way she winds it into the modern strand reminded me a little of Kate Mosse’s Labyrinth or Elizabeth Kostova’s The Historian.

However, Brooks is also now a prize-winning novelist, and it is her ability to imagine characters that is her ultimate success. Hanna is a completely appealing narrator: she has a snappy, self-deprecating Aussie wit, an appalling relationship with her mother which provides a satisfying sub-plot and a penchant for heroes disguised as librarians. Her passion for restoration and detail, which in other hands could have been dull, illuminates the novel so that, as a reader, I felt as if I was on her journey with her, uncovering the people and the history of the book.

People of the Book is about layers and mysteries, about history and fiction, and about ordinary people who in moments of historical crisis, become heroes. Apart from being a superb read, it also strongly underlines the fact that religious intolerance and the struggle for Muslim, Jew and Christian to co-exist peacefully is an ancient one. However, since the curators of the Haggadah were, over the centuries, Muslim and Christian as well as Jewish, Brooks’ message is a positive one: that people who love the written word will try to overcome their differences in order to save books. For, as Hanna reminds us:

Book burnings. Always the forerunners. Heralds of the stake, the ovens, the mass graves.

That happy note leads me to the second book I read this weekend. It was a toss-up between the new Le Carre and, after a shuffle through my to-be-read pile, another Brooks’ novel The Year of Wonders. I decided on a feast of Geraldine, and I was rewarded. TYOW rests on Brooks’ twin pillars of historical veracity (the evocation of an English village in 1666, the Plague year) and compelling, believable characters. Having read March earlier this year, I am in awe of her ability to imagine herself into a distant world and make it real through a combination of exacting research and beautiful writing. Thanks to her, I forgot my migraine and stopped pouting, just for a while.

Friday Fessing - Because Someone Has To

I started Chapter 10 this week. I started Chapter 10 this week. I started Chapter 10 this week.

And that’s all I have to say about that.

However, I did manage to have two very useful conversations about the writing process. One with Courtney who very kindly listened to my moans and complaints and self-doubt and said many useful things along the lines of “Get on with it”, and the other with my main cheerleader who listened carefully and made sensible suggestions as I talked through where the story is going and my characters’ motivations. Thank you both! You made me feel a little less lonely and scared.

I think thinking about writing is harder than doing it. When I’m thinking about it, I’m in imperative mode. I should, I should, I should. But when I’m actually writing, I am usually in a happy place of flow. It’s a bit like the difference between thinking about doing yoga (Oh, I really should) and doing it (God, this feels good).

On the topic of writing feeling good, here’s an excerpt from Susan O’Doherty’s post today:

Writing can be arduous, terrifying work, even when it goes well. The submission process can be intimidating and even humiliating, and publication itself is often a minefield. Yet we keep going, and not because we’re masochists.

This week, two writer clients articulated the benefits they derive from the act of writing. The first, a gifted nonfiction writer who grapples with clinical depression, reported that she had recently completed two long blog posts after an extended period of being unable to focus. “I feel better when I’m writing,” she said, “even physically. It’s as good as swimming laps at the Y.”

The second is struggling to find the time to revise her brilliant novel. She is pressed by tight deadlines as well as by a number of family and business crises that drain her time and energy. Yet she reports feeling nourished, rather than stressed, by her rushed writing sessions: “Writing, I’m my best self,” she said. “I like the person I am when I’m working well.”

These are hard times for nearly everyone I know. Amid all of the anxiety and despair, it may be helpful to reflect on how fortunate we are that, unlike, say, alcoholics or gamblers, the thing we are driven to do may also be the best thing for us.

Writing is the best thing for me. As my friend JP said in one of his posts this week, it’s not about the outcome but about the journey. I also like who I am when I’m writing.

So my goal for this coming week is to take Courtney’s advice and try getting up early to write instead of leaving till night when I’m exhausted, and to make some notable progress on Chapter 10.

And to enjoy the full endorphin rush of it.

Women, AIDS and Poverty

I am writing a novel about AIDS in South Africa. God knows if it will ever sell, because it’s very depressing, but it’s also about love, hope and ridiculous self-belief so maybe there’s a small chance. The thing that angers me most about the AIDS epidemic in South Africa is that it affects the poorest, the most vulnerable, the least educated and of this group, the largest proportion is women. It’s as if for them, apartheid is happening all over again, but it’s an apartheid of rich versus poor, of haves versus have-nots, of those with sexual power and those without.

So, to mark this year’s Blog Action Day - which has poverty as its main theme - I want to talk about the place where poverty collides with gender inequality, and how both affect the AIDS epidemic in South Africa. When Thabo Mbeki became South Africa’s ex-president a few weeks ago, the one thing that stood out for me in the reams of press copy I read was this:

First his culpability in the death of hundreds of thousands of ­people in South Africa with HIV/Aids cannot be underestimated and its impact will be felt for generations. Death certification by Stats SA shows more than 1,5-million deaths in the ages 0-49 and more than two million new infections during his rule. The long-overdue roll-out of a comprehensive antiretroviral programme, compounded by state-sponsored pseudo-science, has left 524 000 people desperately in need of the life-saving treatment unable to access it. As a direct result life expectancy has dropped every year Mbeki has been in office.

(Zackie Achmat of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), writing in the M&G, 27 September. Whole article here.)

That’s 1,5 million people - children and their young, economically active parents - who are now dead. That’s another two million who have become infected, of whom a quarter cannot access the life-enhancing drugs. Of these people most were, and are, poor. What a legacy, Mr Mbeki. According to the TAC’s website, most of the people who are infected live in informal settlements. There are more women infected than men, and most of those infected are black South Africans.

As part of my research for my novel, I have read a book by Edwin Cameron, a judge who sits on South Africa’s Supreme Court and who is living with HIV. Called Witness to AIDS, the book is part autobiography, part analysis and it is gripping. In it he describes the guilt he feels in being able to afford, just barely, the anti-retroviral treatment he needs to stay alive when so many millions in the country were being denied access. Cameron also bravely decided to go public with his HIV status in 1999, in order to begin to counteract the negative stereotypes of people with AIDS. He says:

The external manifestations of stigma are horrific enough. At Christmastime 1998, a 36-year-old South African woman, Gugu Dlamini, was stoned and stabbed to death. The horror of her death has never been fully investigated, because her murderers were never held to account. The prosecution brought charges, but dropped them for lack of evidence. What is clear is that shortly before her death Gugu told Zulu-language radio listeners that she was living with HIV. Three weeks later, members of her own neighbourhood rounded on her. Her attackers accused her of shaming her community by announcing her HIV status … Three months after Gugu died I decided to announce publically that I was living with HIV.

One of the main topics in Witness to AIDS, and of vital importance to non-governmental organisations (NGOs) like the TAC is access to drugs. There are two types of patients in South Africa: those who are privately insured and who acquire their drugs from dispensing doctors or pharmacies, and those who use the public health system. Here they can expect long queues and inconsistent service. Also, they have to get there. If you are poor and sick with AIDS and live in a rural village, you still need to find someone to help get you to the clinic in order to get your drugs. Poverty impedes people from getting treatment.

So, how do AIDS/HIV and poverty affect women specifically?

1. Women and girls will be expected to give up their jobs and schooling to tend the sick, thus fuelling a cycle of poverty.
2. The poorest households are mostly female-headed. Very often grandmothers, having nursed and buried their children, are left to raise their grandchildren, many of whom are also ill.
3. There are also orphan-headed households, where the oldest child or oldest girl, takes care of the younger children.
4. Society and customs do not allow women to abstain from sex or insist on condom use, so they are at heightened risk of infection.
5. Women and girls in poverty are often forced to sell sex to survive, which opens them up to more risk of infection.
6. Fear of abuse, or community retribution, discourage women from getting tested and seeking treatment.
7. Lack of respect, and the custom of seeing women as commodities, means they are at risk of sexual abuse, rape and thus infection.

According to a paper by the HIV and Development Programme on poverty and AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, the HIV epidemic has its origins in African poverty and unless and until poverty is reduced there will be little progress either with reducing transmission of the virus or an enhanced capacity to cope with its socio-economic consequences (my emphasis).

And the that question remains, for those who care, is what to do? There are many small ways to help make a difference:

1. Donate to Oxfam or another reputable NGO.

2. Join the Stop AIDS in Children campaign (see my side-bar).

3. Join a global volunteer programme.

4. Volunteer your professional services (I edit for an NGO in South Africa, and am about to start doing the same for one in Kenya).

5. Become a fan of The Girl Effect and spread the word that girls are the future.

6. Help a family affected by AIDS. PACSA is an NGO in the heart of the South African AIDS epidemic. I can put you in touch with the director, Danielle Gennrich. Through her, I am sending money to the widow and children of Tony Shelembe, an AIDS worker who died last year.

Edited to add: Following the wonderful example of LadyFi, I will make a donation for every comment on this post today to Global Giving’s project to Fight HIV/AIDS and build lives in South Africa. Why don’t you go and have a look at the amazing work they are doing?