Tag: #word of the day

Freudenstadt im Schwarzwald

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This town was badly destroyed in the last days of the second world war by French troups. The rebuilding was characterised by discussions between mainly two factions, rebuilding more in the traditional style and the more modernist planners who wanted to take the demands of modern traffic etc. into account. They found a compromise leaning more toward the traditional, it went relatively fast (sometimes dubbed as the “miracle of Freudenstadt” and the citizens had a monument build with this woman on top looking toward a future while still trying to retain contact with the past, symbolising the revival of Freudenstadt.

Word of the Day: Revival

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See you in Soweto

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The first time I heard the word “township” was in the context of South African apartheid policy. Soweto, as I learned, is not an exotic word from an African language but stands for South Western Township. I’ve been to Soweto when it wasn’t officially allowed – it would have never ocurred to me to take photos at the time.

PJ Powers and Hotline was the first really successful “crossover” band in South Africa, crossover referencing the fact that they had white and black fans (and coloureds, too – yes, in South Africa there used to be a difference, the powers that were believed in “divide and conquer”, and there were actually many more distinctions referreing to “race” – ignoring the fact that there are no different human races).

One of their hits was “Jabulani” (a Zulu word for rejoicing and a fairly common male first name, incidentally the name of our oldest son). Another one is “See you in Soweto”, if you’ve never heard it enjoy it here on youtube.

Word of the Day: Township

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