I recently connected with Fabian and Lavinia Otto during a Johannesburg Heritage Foundation tour of Coronationville and Bosmont. Fabian and Lavinia were our guides for the Coronationville/Bosmont tour but they actually live in Noordgesig, a historically coloured township on the northeastern edge of Soweto.
Fabian and Lavinia, who are leaders in the Noordgesig community, invited me to come check out an event at Noordgesig’s new(ish) public library earlier this week. I eagerly accepted. I went to Noordgesig once before in 2017 on a tour sponsored by the Johannesburg Development Agency – read more about that tour in the second half of this blog post – but had been wanting to go back for a while to check out the new public art that has sprouted up there. I had also never seen the library, which was completed during covid.
I don’t want to say too much about Noordgesig in this post; I have a feeling I’ll be going back soon to work on a longer series. But here are a few pictures that I took on Monday.
My first stop was the library.
Lavinia and Fabian took me on a quick stroll around the neighborhood after the art class. I got to admire a few of the local street art projects, which Lavinia directed as part of a partnership with Art My Jozi.
That’s all on Noordgesig for now. Thanks to Fabian and Lavinia for the invite! I’ll be back soon.
How have I never blogged about 44 Stanley Avenue, the coolest shopping and dining complex in Joburg, which is only five minutes from my house?
I guess it’s wrong to say I’ve never blogged about 44 Stanley; I’ve mentioned it countless times over the years (see here and here) when writing about specific restaurants or shops that are there. But I’ve never written a dedicated post about 44 Stanley as a destination and it’s about time I did – especially now, with the holidays upon us.
I’ve been dreadfully uninspired lately, struggling to think of anything I want to blog about despite having a long list of great ideas (many of which you, my readers, provided in September). I’m finding it hard to feel positive about life at the moment. But on Saturday Thorsten and I got the chance to visit Indwe Park, an indigenous garden and sculpture park in Braamfontein, and I knew I had my topic for today.
In 2020, I published a blog post with tips for Americans living in South Africa who wanted to vote in the U.S. presidential election. I thought about simply resharing that post this year. But then I realized: 1) I want to write a U.S. election post that will be fun and informative for everyone, not just other Americans; and 2) Believe it or not, the U.S. presidential election stakes are even higher in 2024 than they were in 2020. So I’m introducing you to some really cool Americans in Joburg – one who I’ve known forever and two who I just met – and tell you a bit about who they are, why they live here, and why they vote.
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It makes me smile, when I see it.