Richard Stupart

“Welcome to Rhodes – I hope you enjoy studying here”, said the man at the counter.  I grinned like an idiot. I don’t think even first years grin with such an overpowering glow of stupidity. Yes, in part the glow emanates from the place in me that likes the fact that Rhodes – a tiny little town-university in the Eastern Cape – actually feels like a cosy little university. Like a community, where my alma mater, the University of the Witwatersrand never did.  But the truly stupid part of my glow was coming from somewhere else. From the thrill of taking a tiny, but terribly significant, step in my life.

Read the rest of this entry »

To choose forever between following a distant star or trading with the devil for a lesser truth. This, above all else, is the decision with which we must live.

Strange days indeed. But breezily refreshing to the big questions. The ones that matter. A friend who knows where her heart would lead her – half way across the planet to another life. Another who cannot seem to find a place in this world of pursuits, of endless jostling and comparison. And my own most fundamental challenge to, in carefully planned time, begin to live consistently with what I believe of the world. To live in defiance of the order that raised me. Taking what I have become and denying it my obedient payback. Read the rest of this entry »

The great thing about a blog, besides the opportunity to endlessly tweak layout options and being continually surprised at which posts are the most regularly revisited (hint – I should open a help desk for backpackers going to Mozambique) is the freedom of the whole enterprise. I get to put my thoughts out on the interwebs and Darwin takes them in his gentle hands and decides to pulverise or popularise them. It’s a fair trade. I learn to write better or watch things become very quiet all of a sudden (cue tumbleweed). But having an audience is not really a sufficient reason to want to blog – no more than it would be a reason to stand naked in the center of town juggling small animals. Which would likely generate far more attention.

Read the rest of this entry »

So we are driving back from a fun-and-fire-filled day yesterday afternoon. Kelly and I, that is. It’s  long drive back, with at least five hours of fields, mountains, small towns, more fields, more mountains and so on. Depending on your company, these trips generally tend to go one of two ways. Either the two of you don’t really engage and will spend much of the trip listening to music of some variety (depending on the company, this notion of variety may stretch quite far) or you end up in the sorts of long and meandering conversations that such trips can often bring about. This was the latter (and my preference by far). I have come to relish those wandering exchanges and am thankful for the friends with whom I can have them. The ones where you talk about this big issues in life, teasing out ideas and perspectives on how you presently answer them and try to follow that forever-fascinating rabbithole together.  Which is how this tale begins.

Read the rest of this entry »

The thing about living in a country is that you all too often fail to appreciate (or frequently even see) much of what makes it so interesting to the rest of the world. I think sometimes you just get stuck in the anecdotal rut and forget that there are people who travel halfway across the planet to see the sights that you are missing. Occasionally, when I remember this, it makes for a nice change to step out for a weekend and go and see the things that the travelers to my corner of the world get to see. I can report that it is a wholly satisfying experience.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’m mad. That’s what she said anyway.  Mad. But that she understands. I’m not really sure how that works. I mean, if I am really nuts then the understanding bit should not be possible, or at least be abnormally difficult.

Read the rest of this entry »