So I'm an idiot.
Last night, during a thunder storm, I decided to move my laptop, and in doing so took it out of the surge protector (I don't have a battery for it), plugging it directly into a wall outlet. Lightning crashes. Power surge. Laptop now acting screwy.
I'm writing this from an Internet Cafe on the outskirts of Jo'burg's tiny Chinatown, otherwise known as Cyrildene. My laptop is in getting inspected and I'm hoping it's not completely fried.
Anyway, expect my blog posts, e-mail responses and Skype chats to be irregular for the immediate future.
Talk to y'all later.
BK
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Work update
I haven't written much about my new job on this thing, so I should probably give you a bit of an update.
The placement itself is by no means perfect, but I'm being exposed to more interesting stuff and it's more flexible.
So I work for The HIV/AIDS and the Media Project , which is run out of the School of Journalism at the University of the Witwatersrand in Braamfontein, Johannesburg. If you click on the link, you can learn more about what the project does generally. My job is mostly as an administrative assistant, helping the project coordinator, Kylie, with the project's daily operations. Sometimes that means writing press releases or contacting local media, other times it means dealing with caterers and putting up posters.
I'm also supposed to monitor the print media for HIV/AIDS coverage and then blog about it, but I haven't been able to do very much of that because we've been busy getting ready for a couple of big events. I've written one blog so far, and you can read it here.
I have a few more blogs almost ready to go, but, like I said, we've been so busy with other stuff that I haven't been able to get them refined and then uploaded.
Seems like a good time to segue into talking about the project's upcoming events.
Tomorrow we will be hosting a large-scale discussion forum entitled "Democratising Science: Science reporting and HIV-prevention trials," which is the event that has been tying up most of our time since I arrived at the project.
The forum aims to open discussion on the reporting of clinical trials for HIV-prevention technologies, with a particular focus on microbicide trials. The forum's participants include researchers currently involved in microbicide trials, HIV-vaccine researchers, health journalists, HIV/AIDS activists, academics and people living with HIV. To read a press release for the forum, go here.
And we will be streaming the forum LIVE, tomorrow at 10 a.m. EST, HERE. I've been told that you'll see a link to the stream somewhere on the site - and you'll need Winamp to listen.
If you've never heard of microbicides as an HIV-prevention technology, I'm sure you can wiki it. In short, it is a cream or gel that can be applied to the vagina to protect a woman against sexually transmitted infections. Currently, an effective microbicide has not been developed, but several clinical trials are in advanced stages. If an effective one is developed, it has the potential to dramatically reduce infection rates among women, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, by allowing them to protect themselves against HIV infection without requiring male assent--potentially life-saving for women who are unable to negotiate safer sex with their partner.
The following day, Friday, we'll be hosting a much smaller seminar talk to showcase the work of some of the project's current fellows, Suzanne Leclerc-Madlala, Mike Saneka and Sabelo Zondo. Their seminar is entitled "Can abstinence kill you?" and it looks into issues of morality, infidelity and the media. You can get a taste of their subject matter here. But we're not streaming that one, so that taste will have to suffice.
After this rather hectic week, I'll be heading out of Jo'burg for a few weeks, mixing some business with some pleasure. Next Tuesday I'll be traveling with my supervisor, Kylie - and her husband and two-year-old child - to Durban to see Suzanne and co. present some more of their findings at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. We may stop for a day or two around Drakensberg, but we're not sure yet. After staying in Durban for a few days, I'll be heading to Port Elizabeth and then after another few days I'll head to Cape Town for a week. In each city I'll be interviewing local HIV/AIDS workers, caregivers, activists, as well as people living with HIV, to ask them what they think of local coverage of HIV/AIDS issues. When I get back to Jo'burg I'll write some kind of report about it and use any recurring themes to make key suggestions for the direction of the project.
So that's my job, pretty much. I'm mostly an administrative and logistical assistant, but there are obviously outlets for more challenging work. And Kylie is wonderful, so I'm very happy.
I think that's a pretty good update. If you have any other questions about my work, you can ask them in the comments section of this post, or just e-mail me.
BK!
The placement itself is by no means perfect, but I'm being exposed to more interesting stuff and it's more flexible.
So I work for The HIV/AIDS and the Media Project , which is run out of the School of Journalism at the University of the Witwatersrand in Braamfontein, Johannesburg. If you click on the link, you can learn more about what the project does generally. My job is mostly as an administrative assistant, helping the project coordinator, Kylie, with the project's daily operations. Sometimes that means writing press releases or contacting local media, other times it means dealing with caterers and putting up posters.
I'm also supposed to monitor the print media for HIV/AIDS coverage and then blog about it, but I haven't been able to do very much of that because we've been busy getting ready for a couple of big events. I've written one blog so far, and you can read it here.
I have a few more blogs almost ready to go, but, like I said, we've been so busy with other stuff that I haven't been able to get them refined and then uploaded.
Seems like a good time to segue into talking about the project's upcoming events.
Tomorrow we will be hosting a large-scale discussion forum entitled "Democratising Science: Science reporting and HIV-prevention trials," which is the event that has been tying up most of our time since I arrived at the project.
The forum aims to open discussion on the reporting of clinical trials for HIV-prevention technologies, with a particular focus on microbicide trials. The forum's participants include researchers currently involved in microbicide trials, HIV-vaccine researchers, health journalists, HIV/AIDS activists, academics and people living with HIV. To read a press release for the forum, go here.
And we will be streaming the forum LIVE, tomorrow at 10 a.m. EST, HERE. I've been told that you'll see a link to the stream somewhere on the site - and you'll need Winamp to listen.
If you've never heard of microbicides as an HIV-prevention technology, I'm sure you can wiki it. In short, it is a cream or gel that can be applied to the vagina to protect a woman against sexually transmitted infections. Currently, an effective microbicide has not been developed, but several clinical trials are in advanced stages. If an effective one is developed, it has the potential to dramatically reduce infection rates among women, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, by allowing them to protect themselves against HIV infection without requiring male assent--potentially life-saving for women who are unable to negotiate safer sex with their partner.
The following day, Friday, we'll be hosting a much smaller seminar talk to showcase the work of some of the project's current fellows, Suzanne Leclerc-Madlala, Mike Saneka and Sabelo Zondo. Their seminar is entitled "Can abstinence kill you?" and it looks into issues of morality, infidelity and the media. You can get a taste of their subject matter here. But we're not streaming that one, so that taste will have to suffice.
After this rather hectic week, I'll be heading out of Jo'burg for a few weeks, mixing some business with some pleasure. Next Tuesday I'll be traveling with my supervisor, Kylie - and her husband and two-year-old child - to Durban to see Suzanne and co. present some more of their findings at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. We may stop for a day or two around Drakensberg, but we're not sure yet. After staying in Durban for a few days, I'll be heading to Port Elizabeth and then after another few days I'll head to Cape Town for a week. In each city I'll be interviewing local HIV/AIDS workers, caregivers, activists, as well as people living with HIV, to ask them what they think of local coverage of HIV/AIDS issues. When I get back to Jo'burg I'll write some kind of report about it and use any recurring themes to make key suggestions for the direction of the project.
So that's my job, pretty much. I'm mostly an administrative and logistical assistant, but there are obviously outlets for more challenging work. And Kylie is wonderful, so I'm very happy.
I think that's a pretty good update. If you have any other questions about my work, you can ask them in the comments section of this post, or just e-mail me.
BK!
My Zulu chief ...
... is the one on the left, otherwise known as Mpho. The dude in between us is his friend Clement who tagged along for this week's lesson.
Clement was pretty hilarious: he ate about 19 popsicles over the course of the two hours that we hung out, and he was all hyper-active and fidgety through the whole thing. He was also not as patient as Mpho; every time I stammered or struggled with something Mpho was quizzing me on, he'd be all like, "Oh my God, that's soooo easy."
Anyway, I thought I'd post a pic to show y'all who's behind my weekly Zulu lessons.
Clement was pretty hilarious: he ate about 19 popsicles over the course of the two hours that we hung out, and he was all hyper-active and fidgety through the whole thing. He was also not as patient as Mpho; every time I stammered or struggled with something Mpho was quizzing me on, he'd be all like, "Oh my God, that's soooo easy."
Anyway, I thought I'd post a pic to show y'all who's behind my weekly Zulu lessons.
For Bert
Sorry it took me so long. Click the photo for a zoomed-out shot. I'm also about to post photos of a bunch of interesting walls from my neighbourhood. You might find them interesting, too.
... and I added a pretty hilarious photo of Erin standing next to the Church of Scientology to the blog about her leaving (scroll down a bit). The Church is actually only about 10 mins from our place. Erin and I talked about going in one day to see what it was like, but we never got around to it.
... and I added a pretty hilarious photo of Erin standing next to the Church of Scientology to the blog about her leaving (scroll down a bit). The Church is actually only about 10 mins from our place. Erin and I talked about going in one day to see what it was like, but we never got around to it.
Have some extra money lying around?
I'm a little late on this, but I read on Meghan Sheffield's blog about Tidal Mass going on in Kingston a little while back, and it got me thinking (not for the first time) about the potential for Kingston to sustain a decent alt-weekly. It seems that now would be the right time to start thinking about it anyway: the new entertainment centre should be done by the new year, Queen's looks like it will be expanding over the next decade, the Artel is now in its second year, this Apple Crisp music series seems to be pretty cool, King-Can and reelOUT film fests are still going strong and I know music venues have been closing almost annually, but there seems to be a really vibrant core of young, creative people living in the city these days.
But it's basically hopeless if Kingston can't support it on its own, because it's too close to major centres and not close enough to any other middle players. See, 'cause I know Guelph, Kitchener and Waterloo share an alt-weekly called the Tri-City something, and that might be the problem with one working in Kingston: there's nobody to share it with. And I do worry a little about what an alt-weekly might do to the Journal's music coverage.
Maybe I'm being totally naive.
But if anyone is in the mood to make a super risky investment in me and any friends I can arm-twist into this potentially hopeless endeavour, you know how to find me.
(Why am I writing about this? Didn't I make a pact to not write about non-SA issues a while back?)
But it's basically hopeless if Kingston can't support it on its own, because it's too close to major centres and not close enough to any other middle players. See, 'cause I know Guelph, Kitchener and Waterloo share an alt-weekly called the Tri-City something, and that might be the problem with one working in Kingston: there's nobody to share it with. And I do worry a little about what an alt-weekly might do to the Journal's music coverage.
Maybe I'm being totally naive.
But if anyone is in the mood to make a super risky investment in me and any friends I can arm-twist into this potentially hopeless endeavour, you know how to find me.
(Why am I writing about this? Didn't I make a pact to not write about non-SA issues a while back?)
"All I have to say is that my life is pretty plain"
You got it, "No Rain" by Blind Melon.
And there's been no rain in Jo'burg ... until tonight. I was going to write a blog about how the last time we had any precipitation was that crazy day when it snowed. Other than that, it had only rained once since I arrived - and that was in early June - until tonight.
So I was going to write about how it was so dry and dust was getting into my eyes and throat when I was walking around and how much we just really needed the rain. (And how tragically ironic it is that East and West Africa -- mainly Ghana and Uganda, it seems -- are dealing with horrible floods at the moment while Swaziland and Lesotho are suffering through devastating droughts.)
But tonight it rained. You want to know how I noticed? I'm downstairs, listening to music and checking my e-mail when I start hearing a sharp, crackling noise snapping every second, regularly, like a metronome. I go outside to see what it is, and it seems that the electric fence surrounding my house is, kind of, shorting out or something because of the rain; sparks are flying and everything. I tried to take a picture, but it didn't really turn out.
Wild.
Anyway, I may not have my usual home protection tonight, but at least the rain has finally come.
And there's been no rain in Jo'burg ... until tonight. I was going to write a blog about how the last time we had any precipitation was that crazy day when it snowed. Other than that, it had only rained once since I arrived - and that was in early June - until tonight.
So I was going to write about how it was so dry and dust was getting into my eyes and throat when I was walking around and how much we just really needed the rain. (And how tragically ironic it is that East and West Africa -- mainly Ghana and Uganda, it seems -- are dealing with horrible floods at the moment while Swaziland and Lesotho are suffering through devastating droughts.)
But tonight it rained. You want to know how I noticed? I'm downstairs, listening to music and checking my e-mail when I start hearing a sharp, crackling noise snapping every second, regularly, like a metronome. I go outside to see what it is, and it seems that the electric fence surrounding my house is, kind of, shorting out or something because of the rain; sparks are flying and everything. I tried to take a picture, but it didn't really turn out.
Wild.
Anyway, I may not have my usual home protection tonight, but at least the rain has finally come.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Hilarious
So last night I took a cab home from the northern suburbs that cost me more than the plane ticket I bought earlier in the day that will take me from Cape Town to Jo'burg.
Rosebank to Kensington by cab (about half an hour) = R170
Cape Town to Jo'burg by plane = R159 (I found a wicked seat sale)
From Oct. 2 to Oct. 19, I'll be mixing some business with pleasure as I travel to Durban, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town and then back to Jo'burg. The project is covering my travel from Jo'burg to Durban and Durban to Port Elizabeth, and I found a great, last-minute seat sale to nab cheap seats on flights from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town and Cape Town to Jo'burg. Those two flights, in total, are only costing me R420, which is, like, $60 CAD.
We'll be visiting with the project's current fellows in Durban, then I'm going on a bit of tour to talk to local HIV/AIDS advocates to interview them about local media coverage of HIV/AIDS issues. I'll also be reading newspapers and clipping stuff along the way. Yeah, it's a pretty sweet deal, but I'll be paying for most of it myself.
Yeah, so last night I went to see an American doc called Have you Heard From Johannesburg? which was playing in Rosebank as part of the Tri-Continental Film Festival. I think the film takes its title from a Gil Scott-Heron song, "Johannesburg."
It's so weird: all these cool film festivals always take place in the fancy northern suburbs which are such a hassle for me to get to. It's like instead of going to Bathurst and Bloor to see a cool movie, you'd have to go to Richmond Hill or Vaughn. Or, for my friends in Kingston, it'd be like going to Sharbot Lake or Napanee instead of Princess and Montreal.
Anyway, the film was great - one of those gripping docs that makes you disappointed when it's over. It was one part of a multi-part series about the global anti-apartheid movement, which I imagine will make it to PBS one day. The part they screened at the fest was only about the movement in the U.S. in the '80s, and specifically the divestment movement.
The filmmaker was in attendance and their was a pretty lively Q&A after the film, mostly, I think, because the South Africans watching the film seemed to think that some might perceive the film as suggesting that post-apartheid South Africa is a big happy place and all the struggles have been won. But it was a film about a specific time, place and event, and I don't think you can expect a filmmaker to tell a comprehensive story about a country. The filmmaker was an American, who was telling an American story, and she had a great response to the person who was upset at how the film didn't talk about the ongoing struggles; she said, "I hope you make that film."
Rosebank to Kensington by cab (about half an hour) = R170
Cape Town to Jo'burg by plane = R159 (I found a wicked seat sale)
From Oct. 2 to Oct. 19, I'll be mixing some business with pleasure as I travel to Durban, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town and then back to Jo'burg. The project is covering my travel from Jo'burg to Durban and Durban to Port Elizabeth, and I found a great, last-minute seat sale to nab cheap seats on flights from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town and Cape Town to Jo'burg. Those two flights, in total, are only costing me R420, which is, like, $60 CAD.
We'll be visiting with the project's current fellows in Durban, then I'm going on a bit of tour to talk to local HIV/AIDS advocates to interview them about local media coverage of HIV/AIDS issues. I'll also be reading newspapers and clipping stuff along the way. Yeah, it's a pretty sweet deal, but I'll be paying for most of it myself.
Yeah, so last night I went to see an American doc called Have you Heard From Johannesburg? which was playing in Rosebank as part of the Tri-Continental Film Festival. I think the film takes its title from a Gil Scott-Heron song, "Johannesburg."
It's so weird: all these cool film festivals always take place in the fancy northern suburbs which are such a hassle for me to get to. It's like instead of going to Bathurst and Bloor to see a cool movie, you'd have to go to Richmond Hill or Vaughn. Or, for my friends in Kingston, it'd be like going to Sharbot Lake or Napanee instead of Princess and Montreal.
Anyway, the film was great - one of those gripping docs that makes you disappointed when it's over. It was one part of a multi-part series about the global anti-apartheid movement, which I imagine will make it to PBS one day. The part they screened at the fest was only about the movement in the U.S. in the '80s, and specifically the divestment movement.
The filmmaker was in attendance and their was a pretty lively Q&A after the film, mostly, I think, because the South Africans watching the film seemed to think that some might perceive the film as suggesting that post-apartheid South Africa is a big happy place and all the struggles have been won. But it was a film about a specific time, place and event, and I don't think you can expect a filmmaker to tell a comprehensive story about a country. The filmmaker was an American, who was telling an American story, and she had a great response to the person who was upset at how the film didn't talk about the ongoing struggles; she said, "I hope you make that film."
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