The Story of a Woman

She might be an answer to many troubled ladies. Not only has she been beaten but her being broken to the core. Years after her ordeal she has risen beyond all comparison of what she was and today she enjoys who she became, a strong and independent woman!

Walking down the road, watching the people pass me by, some seem so happy but within their eyes you can see and sense their despair, how that was me once. Walking in a daze as thoughts and memories, trying to remember what I still have to do before my love comes home, what I should change to achieve in avoiding his undying anger towards me and my incompetencys. Yet here I walk today smiling a smile of true happiness as I have not that fear lurking within me today but pure exhilaration coursing through my veins for my new love of ten years are waiting for me to go and watch my only surviving child pass her dancing exam, making this day more beautiful than the day before.

Arriving hand in hand, my family and I sit down and await for my angels name to be called, the glory that goes with her name being called with honor and not anger makes my heart explode with euphoria. We watch her descend from the stage, I can not help but be thankful and proud of all the lessons.

I have learned from my past sufferings, as I can not stop the over flowing gratitude that envelopes my heart when I see my child with an everlasting smile shining through her eyes, for losing so many before her, due to an overly light fisted ex husband was only a precaution from above, playing for time to help me grow and age till I was spiritually, mentally and physically ready for what I have received in the end.

Yet time has become an undying friend through all that this mystical mystery called life has given and taken from me, and with each gift I received and had taken away I have learned many lessons and only improved on what I was, into what I am today.

I learned with my ex husband behind bars so many a time, I learned patience and I found my gift for understanding the law, which helped me to end up with a job that I enjoy as a legal assistant today. The death of my unborn children taught me about undying love and compassion for death in it self, and sorrow that goes along with it.
With the ex husband lying I'm in my bed with another, I learned forgiveness.
With each fist that fell, I learned endurance.
With my miracle child's birth, I learned complete love and the survival instinct that helped us to escape.
With my body being sold by my ex husband for his next hit, I learned to observe and to look out for those pitfalls, and with each pitfall comes an undying friend, also to forgive as I had to forgive and forget when I was shot.

Yet my lessons in this life time is not over as of yet, I still have so much to learn, and for that I give thanks to every person and every pitfall that may cross my mythical path in the future. As each one is a mere lesson that I can use and pass on to my child and every person who may need it.

Life is a mythical mystery with so many lessons, yet it is whether the lesson will be learned and remembered, to be used for good in the future as nothing lasts forever, unless you want it to, and therefor work for it.

Everything has a reason, and every reason has a place, as every place has its time.

- Article written by Mythical Mystery Aka : myth

Global Warming

It seems that every television channel stresses out about global warming, so what! Most of our lives are great, we got all the luxuries. Yes the things we can live with and be lost without. Who are they to tell us use less electricity, save the trees and what not. Well guess what, that's what most people think. What happened to bonfires with a friend playing a box guitar, to late night chats wrapped in a blanky with hot water bottles? Visits to the zoo actually stopped when we realize only kids get entertained by staring at caged animals. We need so much of nature yet we take and we take. When do we give back?

Is it that we as humans hope scientists can create a time and space where we can survive when the snow melts and create a big bang with a big enough pool for all of mankind and animal to swim in. No one can shut down existence and pray that earth will be saved. But what if we get a system to work on with nature and not against it. Next time you look at the stars remember the great legends and how they started we can create our own to be remembered through the centuries to come.

- Article Written By Martha

Music: Artists and Albums to Look Out For

Cocorosie - Grey Oceans
CocoRosie consists of the sisters Casady who hail from France. Their music can be categorized as an odd sort of electronic
performance art folk. The subject to most of their songs is generally a very dark take on children's stories. This album consists of 11 tracks and has a sort of soothing thing about it. And I have to be honest, when I first read about them I thought that
this is definitely not my type of music. But now I am definitely getting this album.



We are The Fallen - Tear The World Down
This band has a very Evanescence feel to it and it's no surprise as We Are The Fallen consists of two original members from Evenescence and they take on the vocals of Amercican Idol's Carly Smithson. So if you are an Evenescence fan then this is definitely the album!


4AM - Light From Light
All members of the band have over the years established themselves in various South African bands. Their music can be described as pop rock with hints of electro sampling. Their musical influences are Biffy Clyro, Snow Patrol, Death Cab For Cutie, Moments in Grace and Angels and Airwaves. And I have to say is you can definitely hear those influences incorporated in their music.



Janelle Monae - ArchAndroid
Monae herself describes this album as "Musically, The ArchAndroid is an epic James Bond film in outer space". The musical influences on this album stretches from Stevie Wonders Music of My Mind to David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust and some jamming experimental hip hop stuff like Stankonia. I can assure you that this album will have you up and dancing in no time or at least make your feet move uncontrollably.

And then if you have not heard the Official Soccer World Cup 2010 song, the one that has been stuck in my head for days, here it is:


- Article Written By Megan

Technology : The Weird and Wonderful

Head Bubbles
Let's start of with something I found very, uhm, interesting to say the least. Head Bubbles were created to drown out the background noises when in bars or pubs. In all honesty who would wear this in a public place? And what's the fun in actually hearing what the other person has to say. It is just so much more fun to play the Guess What This Person Is Saying game.


KUG - A Kettle and Mug
This little gadget is what all us lazy people need. It is a Kettle and a mug all in one. No more standing up and going to go make coffee. All you need to do is flip the switch and in 90 seconds it is at boiling point. But let's say you have to go off to a meeting and can't take your coffee with or you forgot it, there is no worry as the KUG can also keep your beverage warm until your ready to drink it.





iANGLE
Yes you guessed right this is something for the Apple lovers. The iANGLE in my opinion is a really nice gadget. For those of you who
have either a iPhone or iTouch this is ideal as it is a stand and an ear bud holder all in one.






Rock & Roll : Made in Italy
If you ever wanted to live the rock & roll lifestyle then now is the time to invest in that lifestyle as Rocket has created a line
of furniture to suit your needs. They have everything from a Wine Jack, Wine Rack to a Dish Jockey, tray to GuiTray, shot tray and
so much more. Go check out their website to see some more.





Gold iPad
For all you bling bling loving ladies out there, here is a peek at the Gold iPad. Unfortunately there was only 10 made which
means it will cost about as much as I will never make in my lifetime. But we can all still look at the picture and smile and maybe think luckily I didn't buy this as this is South Africa and in 2 hours of buying this it would probably could possibly be stolen.


Lighted Safety Umbrella
What a smart umbrella. It keeps you dry and you can see in the dark! And maybe those hard working ladies on the street can use these
so they can be seen and they won't have to worry about the rain messing up their hair-do in the winter. Think about it, it would
literally be like window shopping at night.



Rent-a-Local Friend
Now this is not a gadget but it is really interesting. This site let's you actually rent-a-friend who will almost be like your own personal tour guide when you go abroad. Which I think is really amazing unless you end up with some pshyco killer/stalker. But if you do decide to use this service it could really make your travels so much more interesting and entertaining. You can really get a feel for the culture. At the moment the rent-a-friend is only available in a few countries. To find out more about this service you can go to their official website.

Now these two to follow I left for last on purpose as I am hoping someone will buy this for my birthday which is in a few days. *wink* *wink*

Blob and Flow
These cute little "creatures" can keep you company when you are feeling a little lonely at your computer. All you have to do when you need some company is tap it and it will respond to your touch in different ways. And when you feel you had enough company you
just hold your finger on it for a little longer and it will fall asleep again.



Yoda USB Desk Protector
Have you ever wandered from your desk and found something is missing and no one in the office can tell you where it went? Well now Yoda is here to protect your desk, he will. Yoda's motion activation will pick you up from anywhere between 1 to 2 meters. When activated his light saber lights up and it will play one of 6 phrases which include, "A disturbance in the Force there is", "Retreat, Cover you I will".



- Article Written By Megan

Homophobia: The View To Disaster

There's one word gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people hate and it's homophobia. We all know what the word means. We have gone through emotional conflicts about homosexuality.



Living in South Africa we still have so much apartheid we as LGBT people must face the consequences for being human it doesn't matter what religion, race, culture or status you are. Most of our families, friends, co-workers, employers and societies discriminate against LGBT people.



We are sometimes forced to live double lives, hide our identity and sometimes swallow our tears and smile. Now there is no single definition for the word homophobia as it covers a wide range of different viewpoints and attitudes it also manifests itself in different forms. Homophobic jokes, physical attacks, discrimination, raping LGBT people to become straight and the list goes on.
The first time the word homosexual appeared was in 1892 in the English translation of Kraft-Ebbings', Psychopatia Sexualis. If people still can't accept something after so many years, something definitely failed the human system. We may never change peoples viewpoints but we all have human rights. Stand up for who you are and be proud of it!




- Article Written By Martha

Girl / Girl Scene : "Lovers' Spit" (Episode 1)

Based on the lives and loves of a group of young lesbians, this series goes between the sheets and into the minds and hearts of unapologetically queer women living in Middle America. Refreshingly non-judgmental and atypical in its embrace of stereotype, with its funny, provocative and controversial storylines, Girl/Girl Scene is a vibrant, vital and honest reflection of today's young lesbian culture.

Created by Tucky Williams, Executive Produced by Nic Brown and Directed by Eric Butts. Starring Kate Moody, Katie Stewart, Joe Elswick, Cyndy Allen and Jackson E. Cofer. With Music by Jane Jensen and Spooky Qs.


For more information check out the official Girl/Girl Scene website.

Zanele Muholi

Zaneli Muholi, a photographer born in Umlazi, Durban in 1972 held her first exhibition at the Johannesburg Art Gallery in 2004. She has worked as a community relations officer for the Forum for the Empowerment of Women (FEW). FEW is a black lesbian organisation based in the Gauteng region. Zaneli also worked as a photographer and reporter for Behind The Mask, an online magazine dealing with the gay & lesbian issues in Africa. Her work represents the black female body in ways that challenges the history of the potrayel of black women's bodies in documentary photography.

The pictures shown is from her exhibition Being. Zanele wrote the following about her Being exhibition:

Being is an exploration of both our existence and our resistance as lesbians/women loving women, as black women living our intersecting identities in a country that claims equality for all within the LGBTI community, and beyond.

The work is aimed at erasing the very stigmatisation of our sexualities as 'unAfrican', even as our very existence disrupts dominant (hetero)sexualities, patriarchies and oppressions that were not of our own making. Since slavery and colonialism, images of us African women have been used to reproduce heterosexuality and white patriarchy, and these systems of power have so organised our everyday lives that it is difficult to visualise ourselves as we actually are in our respective communities. Moreover, the images we see rely on binaries that were long prescribed for us (hetero/homo, male/female, African/unAfrican). From birth on, we are taught to internalise their existences, sometimes forgetting that if bodies are connected, connecting, the sensuousness goes beyond simplistic understandings of gender and sexuality.

Despite the fact that, in contrast to most other African states, our South African Bill of Rights guarantees us legal protections against homophobia, there are still no loving, intimate photographs of black lesbians. As a visual artist, one is always confronted with the politics of representation. I have the choice to portray my community in a manner that will turn us once again into a commodity to be consumed by the outside world, or to create a body of meaning that is welcomed by us as a community of queer black women. I choose the latter path, because it is through capturing the visual pleasures and erotica of my communitythat our being comes into focus, into community and national consciousness. And it is through seeing ourselves as we find love, laughter, joy that we can sustain our strength and regain our sanity as we move into a future that is sadly still filled with the threat of insecurities - HIV/AIDS, hate crimes, violence against women, poverty, unemployment.
In the past year, I have lost two of my friends to AIDS-related illnesses (one in April 2006 and the other in March 2007). Both of these women made herstory within the lesbian community, but because of resource politics, their stories are not publicly celebrated. Consequently, an aspect of these images is to create awareness around how we as lesbians need to take precautions when we engage sexually with other women. Researchers routinely perpetuate the wrong notion that we are less at risk for infection and transmission because we do not sleep with men. But the reality is that our fellow sistahs are raped and killed in this country every day. I wanted to capture photographs of 'my people' before we are no more.

Being is part of an ongoing journey to interrogate the construction of our sexualities and selves, and then to deconstruct ourselves, identity by painfully-earned identity, in order to see the parts that make up our whole.

If you would like to read or see more of her amazing photography you can check out her website.

- Article written by Megan