I'm not the world's most zealous housewife (I'm not a wife for a start). For example, our house is a bit of a mess this week but the first job I turn to (well, after cleaning the toilets...some things just cannot wait...) is sorting out all the piles of newspapers that accumulate here. Mum gets the Independent every day and it does have some good articles so I like to at least flick through each copy before I send them to the garage (for recycling or firebuilding). That has been my housework yesterday and today...does it count?
Some of the papers are very old but that doesn't really matter (an interesting article is an interesting article). Below are links to some of the pieces I think you just shouldn't miss (and none of them are about England's cuddly nazi, Nick Griffin...I have been giving my thoughts on him and his TV appearance on facebook and elsewhere).
Start with this article about 10 year old Isabelle Cain winning the Independent's art competition for children. It's fascinating and possibly particularly of interest to those with autism in the family.
Move on to this interview with Afghan campaigner Malalai Joya (published in July of this year). A huge, huge article that touches on so many subjects. It's one to make a person feel guilty about moaning about stupid little things too.
Back in September the Independent printed this open letter about being an intersex woman (from Sarah Graham to South African athlete Caster Semenya). It's inspiring and revealing.
Finally...I never knew writer Zadie Smith's brother was a rapper but apparently he's a comedian now (read about him and the family here). Usually stories about families full of talented people get on my wick but I really admire Z Smith's work so I can make an exception. If he's half as funny as she is talented then he'll be pretty good. And we need good comics...we really do.
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5 comments:
I'm in love with Isabelle! Thank you for that link; I know exactly how her mother felt when she said she was happy to see her daughter recognised for her talent instead of her disabilities. Nina's article was wonderful to read.
Oh Rachel - how I recognise myself in that person who cannot throw out papers without having a read. I find laying the fire very difficult because as I crumple up the newspaper I always find something I haven't quite read.
So glad you came over for this one, Susan. I thought of some of the great posts you've written about your kids when I read it. And aren't her pictures fantastic?
Yes, Weaver...bits of newspaper all over this house!
That article about Joya is just overwhelming - it's been with me all day and I see that continuing. It happens all over the world and in all kinds of different places but some men's ability to hate and abuse women is just so unrelenting. It is all so close as well to the whole bnp thing that has been around this week...in the sense that it is also about hate...about finding a group of people to blame and punishing them...as often and as horribly as possible.
I find cruelty a really hard thing to understand...to compute...and a woman like Joya who stands up to it in such terrible circumstances...that is real bravery, real character.
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Oh, I read about Isabelle elsewhere: the joy her parents take in her, as she is, is what delighted me.
Have to save the Joya article until my brain is functioning and I'm ready to feel - hallucinating tired at the moment.
And thanks for highlighting Caster Semenya. She has been treated horrendously by the IAAF and inappropriately, indeed deceptively, by her own country. Some reports I watched as the story was first "breaking" made me incandescent with rage. It was as if people ceased to think she was a human being, and that it was appropriate to discuss her like - well, like she was an animal in an agricultural show.
Rapper to comic? Not computing so far.
And in the intersex piece the stats are interesting (and no doubt news to some people). 4% of the population...that's a lot of people!
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