by 2summers | Jan 22, 2021 | Churches and Religion, COVID-19, Ekurhuleni (East Rand), Johannesburg
In the middle of 2020, I started seeing social media posts about the fence outside St. James Presbyterian Church in Bedford Gardens. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the staff at St. James were tying one white ribbon to the church’s palisade fence for every...
by 2summers | Jan 11, 2021 | COVID-19, Johannesburg
It’s Monday, January 11th, 2021. It’s dark and rainy in Joburg and the holidays are officially over. South Africa is suffering through a second wave of covid-19 — worse than the first wave, as many experts predicted, and likely to worsen further as...
by 2summers | Jan 7, 2021 | Emotions, Joburg Weekend Getaways, Parks/Nature Reserves, Pretoria
NOTE: I originally wrote this post before January 6th, when pro-Trump insurrectionists stormed the U.S. Capitol and mounted the biggest threat to American democracy since the Civil War. I’m having a hard time feeling quite so positive today, on January 7th, but...
by 2summers | Dec 26, 2020 | Parks/Nature Reserves, Pretoria
Happy Boxing Day, everyone. It’s the height of summer in South Africa and Christmas trees (at least real ones) aren’t really a thing here. But in recognition of the holiday spirit I am writing a post about a different kind of tree, which is festive in its...
by 2summers | Dec 18, 2020 | Museums and Buildings, Pretoria
Two days ago, on December 16th, I went with Thorsten of Dagwood sandwich fame to visit the Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria. The Voortrekker Monument. I’ve been thinking hard over the past 48 hours about how to frame this post. The Voortrekker Monument is...