I’m back on the beat of the Oscar trial after time away from the action. Like a voyeur, I’ve been playing catch-up, tracking the replays of the Oscar Pistorius trial on Channel 199 as his uncertain fate nears. I’ve missed writing about Oscar. Like anyone with a habit, I had withdrawal symptoms and couldn’t wean […]
SUZANNE'S WORLD
SUZANNE'S WORLD is the new all-encompassing umbrella for features, blogs and interviews either new or archived on my website. It is also the new home of what was Melville News.
Above: The pin board in my office is a collage of of my world...
For a long time I've been searching for a name that immediately conveys, but doesn't limit, the scope of editorial content I publish on my website. As simple a task as one may think it to be, I have rejected every suggestion for not meeting those criteria. "What's in a name?" asked more than one friend, echoing Juliet in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. ("What's in a name? that which we call a rose by any other name would smells as sweet," says Juliet in a passage reflecting her wishful thinking.)
As Juliet discovered, there's a lot in a name, and in my case, the perfect solution wasn't presenting itself. Suzanne's World is an honest and broad attempt to to capture the spirit of this page. As the pin board reveals, in my case it is a personal if somewhat random collection of people and places in my professional and private life, which is intended to be symbolic.
It is here too where colleagues and friends will be encouraged to share their original, thought-provoking and entertaining words to engage readers old and new.
And now that I have settled on Suzanne's World, I hope to give up stressing about names and to get on with the writing. I'm working towards forming partnerships with other sites, which will provide yet more options for the short-attention-span age in which we find ourselves.
I'm happy to say that the launch of this new segment coincides with a feature and an extended paragraph (I'm being facetious) from John Miller, an old friend and colleague who lives in Wales... but let him tell his own stories.
Welcome to my world.
Melville News – Issue No. 18
Issue No. 18 – September 2014 The free newsletter aimed at fostering goodwill among residents, merchants and visitors to Melville I’ve spent a lot of time with Oscar for a good part of this year and if you’re on this planet, one name will do. What began as a vague interest in “the trial […]
Melville News – Issue No. 17
Issue No. 17 – December 2013 The free newsletter aimed at fostering goodwill among residents, merchants and visitors to Melville It’s only since I’ve been living in Johannesburg that Guy Fawkes has assumed any meaning each November 5. As a pet owner, it concerns me so it was a pleasant surprise this year that no […]
A MEMORABLE ENCOUNTER WITH LOU REED
Fifteen years ago, we were in New York for my nephew’s bar mitzvah at a little synagogue in Manhattan. Lou Reed was among the invited guests called up to read or recite a prayer, which he did nervously, in Hebrew. A long-time fan of Velvet Underground and their frontman, I’d be lying if I said […]
DARLING – THE FINAL DAYS : A memoir by the magazine’s last editor, Suzanne Brenner
My introduction to Republican Press was a real baptism by fire. Luckily, I was not fazed by challenges, but the uproar that surrounded my appointment as editor of DARLING was nonetheless a test of endurance. Perhaps I need to start at the beginning. A Durbanite by birth, I’d written since my schooldays. Eve Stuart had […]