From our Mailbag 01/20/04 - 03/18/04




by YOU

THE WORLD - From Bel G., (No City Provided,) USA:

SUBJECT: Hopefully moving to Cape Town!!!!

Hello

I just read your piece "Letter from South Africa - Costs of Living" and am so excited....

I'm in the process of negotiating a move to Cape Town (((My absolute dream)))) and wonder if you could give me an idea of where I can go to get a good idea of how much IT sales people make per month. Will colour make a difference?

How much does it cost for a nice 3 bed house in Cape Town in an area that is safe for a single SMALL female? How much it costs of a loaf of bread? What are the good areas to live in in Cape Town.

MANY, MANY THANKS!!!!

With warmest regards,
Bel


GAYNOR PAYNTER RESPONDS: Dear Bel

So far I have received this information from a friend of mine living in Cape Town.

I am so glad you enjoyed reading my article, heck, I enjoyed writing it!

I hope this information helps. I will send more as I get it.

What line of work are you in by the way?

Love Gaynor

Hi Gutsy

First off the lady in question will probably have to purchase a car once in Cape Town. There are some busess on certain routes, but it all depends on where you live and where you want to go. I'm not all that jacked up on the bus system, but in SA having a car is basically essential.

I'm not sure what the IT's here by us get paid - it depends on your qualifications and experience I guess. Guys who just start out can expect to earn about R4500.00 pm starting salary. Most of the popular IT companies here by us are located in Belville/Mowbray/Observatory, but there are some in Cape Town itself.

Young people seem to mostly go for Observatory - it's a lively place with lots of night life, nightclubs, bars - nightclubs not the sleezy kind :) They normally share a house with other housemates. If you want to buy your own place, I think you would look at about R300 000 - R350 000 for a start. Cape Town is not the cheapest place on earth :) Observatory is not quite the best suburb in town, but it is great for a start if you are looking to make friends.

The safer suburbs would be in the North of Cape Town - Brackenfell, Durbanville and surrounds. It does cost the earth to buy a house here though.

Then of course you have the larney places like Constantia, Wineberg, Tokai - housing also very expensive - and depending on where you work, it could mean a lot of travel.

A loaf of bread costs about R4.50.

Hope this helps.
MBM

From Ric W., Austin, TX, USA:

SUBJECT: romance: imagine it was all imagined: which is the real mask

"What troubles me about our Carnaval is that there is so little romance to it. Debauchery and avarice, yes,-- even over cheap-ass beads-- but no romance. It pales besides the Carnaval of Black Orpheus or that dangerous and mysterious time at the end of Justine. That's a profound disappointment for someone with an historic soul like mine. Where others see and are proud and astonished about the glitz and frivolity, I am saddened by the lack of depth. And I don't mean philosophical depth this time, I mean emotional depth. I mean something that you can take home with you..."

He doesn't get it.
If he just doesn't get it,
why does he call it what it isn't?

He can't fuck up Mardi Gras unless he did what he just did.

He didn't get empty.

	"The writer thanked the producers for the lovely paycheck. Then he shot them." writelikegod.com
	When is the last time you talked politics with your dog? dogshatebush.com

He hasn't unloaded all that shallow righteous crap in his soul.

He hasn't emptied the demons of judgment & self-righteousness.

He still thinks he is in control.

He hasn't learned the secret Henry Miller taught us: the secret of surrender.
Not resignation, not abandonment, but surrender.
He has not yet seen the empty tomb in that peculiar light of that peculiar day.

This empty tomb.
What is the empty tomb?

He hasn't figured out the paradox of emptying by filling up,
by entertaining all those demons
entertaining them, not becoming them or imprisoning them,
but entertaining them.

Shake loose, shake loose.

He cannot let go of his preconceptions about what life is supposed to be look at what life is . . . all beautiful & terrible & waiting to let you partake.

It is not about history
not what life WAS
not the future
of what ISN'T
this is a commitment to now
to the electric potential in now

what he has been what he will be
all that is the mask to throw away

I want to throw him
into a mirror.
The freak show
trick mirror
of entitled inferiority
the self-purported reprobate
an amazing prig
crippling fear
hiding behind the facade
of a Hard Luck Harry

How beautiful he is
& yet all he sees are flaws
the loathsome incapacity to be a god . . .

when he could be the delight of angels.

what he has been what he will be
all that is the mask to throw away

for me & you, my brother,
speaking of the depths as we wade
in the surf of an imagined history

what is the empty tomb?

antidote to the
Mouthpiece Media agitprop

g21 #380: 8th Anniversary Gala Celebration DAY ONE G21 AFRICA G21 EUROPE AMERICAN DREAMS G21 BOTTOM 10 OF 2003 G21 Digital Internet Postcards JOIN OUR MAILING LIST. The A-LIST starts here. G21 E-MAIL NEWSLETTER IRISH EYES LETTER FROM SOUTH AFRICA NEW YORK STATE (Of Mind) MY GLASS HOUSE POWERSSOUND RADIOACTIVE RDR THE RIGHT STUFF VOX POPULI Search our Site: sitemap RECOMMENDED DAILY REQUIREMENT ARCHIVES. LAST WEEK's EDITION MEET THE G-CREW! These are the people behind this jam-band every week. HOME TABLE OF CONTENTS & BACK ISSUES

ROD RESPONDS: Once again, I have to defer to Woody Allen, who said it best in his famed scene with Christopher Walken in the film "Annie Hall": "Pardon me, but I have an appointment on planet Earth..."


From D.C. S., Tampa Bay, FL, USA:

SUBJECT: The Towel Paradox

Rod,

I haven't been writing at all of late, but did sit down and jot this one off for your enjoyment after reading today's G21...

My wife and I raised two daughters. My experience in an otherwise all female household says that you you will never have enough of two items: toilet paper and clean towels.

Men can use the same wash cloth and towel for a week. Unless, of course, we wipe our filthy mitts on the towel after working on the car without washing them thoroughly first. Females, on the other hand, require at least two clean towels -- one for the body and one for the hair -- from the linen closet each time they take a shower. Which, for the female teenagers is at least twice a day. No wonder Martha Stewart got rich selling linens at K-Mart.

I tried on several ocassions to discuss this behavior with my offending daughters. All for naught.

I tried threats. It didn't work. I tried logic. They just looked at me and said, "Huh?"

You see, I think female towel logic is fatally flawed. Let's examine it.

First, you take a clean towel from the linen closet. You drop it on the commode (yes, after putting the lid down) and climb in the shower. You lather up good with the $25 bar of soap that you charged to my credit card. You rinse off. You lather up again to be sure you, like the towel on the commode lid, are clean. You rinse off again. You now proclaim yourself clean.

You exit the shower and dry your newly clean body with the clean towel. In mopping up the clean water from your clean body, the towel mysteriously becomes dirty.

Now, what do you do with the supposedly dirty towel? You put it in the dirty clothes hamper, right? Then you dump it in the washing machine with assorted stained underwear and well-used handkerchiefs, pour in some soap powder and let all of that stuff mix itself up into a yucky soup.

You put the now "clean" towel in the dryer and then fold it and put it back in the linen closet.

It's a towel paradox: A towel gets dirty mopping up clean water and gets clean when you mix it with used snot rags and underwear.

Does this make sense to you?

dc


ROD RESPONDS: D.C., many thanks! I got a good chuckle out of that and passed it on to my pal Tom Hart for his consideration. Cheers!


From Robert P., (No City Provided,) PA, USA:

SUBJECT: G21 #379: Blows Against the Empire

"... WHO DO YOU RECOMMEND GET THE "OFFICIAL" ENDORSEMENT OF THE WORLD'S MAGAZINE FOR NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES?"

If you endorse anyone other than John Kerry, you're in effect supporting the re-election of our Supreme Vacuousness (Narcissists for Nader notwithstanding).

BTW, Rod, I don't think I shared this with you. In a reason email conversation with my 82 year-old Mom, I expressed the hope that Bush could be beaten. Her reply:

I sincerely hope you're right. I sincerely hope we see the last of flyboy (it matters not if you keep it zipped if you lie about everything else).

Snow jobs are worse than blow jobs.

Love,
Mom

Happy trails,
Bob


From Thomas R., Brighton, UK:

SUBJECT: Bob Powers

Dear Sir;

I have noticed the absence of your music writer, Mr. Bob Powers in recent issues of your Web zine. I enjoyed his intelligent comments on the jazz scene immensely and trust that he is still writing for you.

Sincerely,
Thomas R.,
Brighton


ROD RESPONDS: Thomas, thanks for writing and your concern. Yes, indeed, Bob Powers is still in the fold -- but his computer is not at the moment. One of the drawbacks of publishing on the Internet is that we are all at the mercy of our Memory Machines. Expect Bob's euphonous presence again in future editions. Cheers!

+++ THE PREVIOUS VOX POPULI +++ THE NEXT VOX POPULI +++

RETURN TO TOP OF PAGE
We want your feedback on this stuff. Go to the TALK BACK page and tell us what you think!

via e-mail