House style… just a waste of time?
House style guides are part of an editor’s toolkit. But are they useful in contexts where resources are thin on the ground?
Author: Renee Moodie
Moments of joy, found on a wall
Cape Town – A long time ago I bought a painting. It was hanging in a small shop in Muizenberg village, and was called Cat On A Warm African Night. I fell in love with it instantly but it cost R850, a great deal of money at the time. I hummed and hawed but I had to have it. Eventually I bought it (all this time later I can’t remember where I found the money…
Saving the world, one dog at a time
Cape Town – A long time ago I copied down something out of Time magazine, from an interview with the Dalai Lama. This is what he said: “Whenever I leave a hotel room, I always try to switch off the light. In a way, it’s silly. But if another ten persons follow my example, then 100 persons, there is an effect. From that point of view, I believe that constant effort, tireless effort, pursuing clear…
Dinner, with a side order of story
Welcome to my Great Big Bad Hair Life
Cape Town – When I was at school, there was a girl who had shiny, straight, black hair. I wanted her hair more than almost anything. Mine was (and is) an unmanageable mess – a wavy, frizzy, bumpy, boring brown mass of hair. Short or long, it has kinks and cowslicks and crinkles, and a tendency to go to dreadlocks if I neglect to brush it with great fierceness at least twice a day.
Why we love Lego, kits and all
According to British TV presenter Ben Fogle, Lego is a Bad Thing. Apparently Fogle is an adventurer (though perhaps not as well known in South Africa as Bear Grylls), and he had a rush of blood to the head at the annual conference of the Boarding Schools’ Association in Manchester. Oddly, as he was once a brand ambassador for Lego, he is reported to have told the gathering that modern Lego is harming children’s development…
SA history just an exercise in boredom?
Cape Town – So, Freedom Day. On Tuesday night I reflected quietly on the freedom of not setting an alarm for the following morning, but resisted the temptation to share the thought on social media for fear of seeming to trivialise the day [April 27]. On Wednesday we had a friend round for a braai, who said that as she was driving to our house someone on the radio was talking about how we voted…