A Little Bit Of Sunshine

"None of my friends are becoming legendary  directors, and I'm getting concerned."  - Sthuthukile Biyela, 2025  It’s been a few years since Issa Rae coined the term 'networking across' in an interview and changed my brain chemistry forever.  As a young creative, I was prone to watching inspirational videos of my idols: Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou and, um... Shonda Rhimes.  While their words stoked a fire in my heart, the sheer size of their legend created a large dissonance in my mind. What miracle would it take for me to become like them?  Then I saw Issa Rae speak on networking across – the idea that the greatest resources you had were the people around you, the people who shared your passion and goals. Those were the people who could propel you towards greatness and help you achieve your wildest dreams. I began to think of how many success stories started out as a simple favour to a friend, or a joint project that probably never saw the light of day....

Various Vases, by Sthuthukile Biyela  (crayon on paper)  "Take out your creativity books , "   my teacher says.  It's my favourite time in class I am really good at literasy   And I am fine with numbers But creativity is where I tip my hat and greet the stars Win a race with my flying car And off I go, near and far Then land back on my desk Before anyone notices I was gone.  Mrs Kroutz leans over my shoulder "That's a pretty drawing, sweetie..."

We chew our gum ever so politely and stick it under our seat When it's time to share our piece Mine is about trees again Willows with wilting leaves  and poplars happily chatting away...  I can pull out a tree metaphor Faster than a weed But today is different As the circle goes around, I crumple up my pretty perfect words and turn to the lost and found section  Of my notebook  Here the words are murky and leave an ugly residue  They're the thoughts I've buried in my head I'm not proud to share But even the oldest wounds needs some air As I let it bleed  I'm closest to a tree than I've ever been

"The only thing worse than dying in a zombie apocalypse, is surviving one."    Zombie media has taken over the world by storm (pun intended). With cultural staples like Zombieland and The Walking Dead, and   modern interpretations such as The Maze Runner and The Last of Us,  the zombie apocalypse has been an area of fascination in pop culture for some time. Recent contributions from Korean cinema such as  Train to Busan, Kingdom and  All of Us are Dead have introduced a whole new type of zombie and revived the once-stale genre. These zombies are cunning, fast, and have little to no weaknesses. Why are we so fascinated with them?  1. Well, they trigger our evolutionary instinct to survive at all costs.  2. They are freaking terrifying. The idea of the entire world succumbing to a virus/infection/mutation that causes us to lose our humanity and freewill is a fate that makes us uneasy. It also makes us seasoned survival experts from the comfort of ou...