I've been thinking . . .

Today despite working all day, I managed to get a bit of shopping in at the Gilles St Markets where my friend had a stall selling gorgeous jewellery, scarves, and vintage and handmade clothing. I'd been looking for a new skirt for ages and finally came across this very cute short pink polkadot Tigerlily skirt :) yay!


I've also been thinking lately, about so many things I wish I could change. One of my best friends is reading Nelson Mandela's biography and it made me wish I had more time to read informative, meaningful books in between uni, work, friends and family. For instance I realised how little I truly know about what is going on in the world around me, such as the situation with the apartheid in South Africa. I remember a few years ago, in 2007, I met a friend from South Africa who told me how serious and apparent it still was, after so many years. Segregation is everywhere. For instance, he told me in bathrooms in restaurants and other public places there would be on one side of the bathroom, a clean, white vanity with a mirror and washbasin, and a separate toilet cubicle all beneath a sign saying "Whites", and on the other side of the room in the corner would be a dirty, rusting tap above a simple hole in the ground, with the sign "Non-whites".  Hearing my friend tell me this made me furious, that we live in the 21st century, a century of science, discovery, technology and a general multicultural acceptance and yet there is such a primitive, ongoing prejudice against different skin colours. I think that truly, deep down, most people have a small prejudice inside them against another of a different race. I'm not calling everyone racist, but I'm saying that you can look at someone who has the opposite skin colour to you and there will instantly arise a pre-determined image, an impression that you have, before you have met them. Of course most people will not say anything about this or let this small prejudice manifest into something bigger, and upon meeting the person perhaps this pre-existing impression will disappear; but what I'm saying is that this discrimination is there initially, inside us. 

For instance, if you were a white woman walking down the street and you see another white man walking towards you, a normal occurrence is that you would just pass on your way and perhaps give a nod of acknowledgement to the man. However if it was a black man walking towards you, would you react the exact same way as with the white man? Perhaps some people, without realising the difference in response, and with no real emotion evoked, would subconsciously look down as they pass by the black man, avoiding eye contact. Maybe not, maybe so.



Now on a lighter note, some images I love.

'A kiss before I go . . .'

One of the most naturally beautiful faces I've seen.

Betty Grable.

Naomi Campbell, Harper's Bazaar, September 2009.

I WANT THOSE SHOES.