Essays by Phumzile
Questioning the obvious
A place to step away from the noise. To pause, think and question.
Living in Cape Town, originally from the dusty roads of e-Bende, a village in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province.
New here? Start with this one → The girl I never spoke to
I’ve been writing since I was a kid, starting with broken-English raps when I couldn’t string proper sentences together.
As someone who’s always been introverted, my journals were the friends who never judged my quirks.
Here’s what you’ll typically find me exploring:
• Everyday absurdities and social quirks
• The friction between modern life and village roots
• Things that make me wonder, “Does anyone else see this?”
A person thinking out loud, glad you pulled up a chair 🙂
Start reading
- Is this a door or a window?Back in primary and high school my mates and I had a tendency of being super excited on matchday. If… Read more: Is this a door or a window?
I also put some of these thoughts into a book — Silent Laws →
Kindred spirits (influences)
Khaya Dlanga showed me our village stories matter
George Orwell taught me to call out nonsense, even when it’s unpopular
J.D. Salinger wrote like rules didn’t exist
Naval Ravikant makes complex ideas simple
Mos Def, through his lyricism, showed me a single line can do what a paragraph can’t