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www.thevillagenews.co.za
15 April 2020
FROM THE EDITOR
We need to create the ‘new normal’ The next edition of The Village NEWS will be available on 22 April 2020. The NEWS can be found at over 300 distribution points in the Overberg.
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De Waal Steyn
PUBLISHING EDITOR dewaal@thevillagenews.co.za
It is difficult to explain the deep sense of despondency that at times overwhelms one during this extended lockdown. Our normal daily activities have ground to a halt and the comfort of our daily routines are fast fading into the background as we realise that not only the world we live in, but even more so our close-knit community, will never be the same.
But when it is proclaimed that the present state of disaster will be a “new normal,” we have a duty to do more than listen. We need to start a conversation on what we need the new normal to be. When we finally get back to “normal,” what should it look like?
For us to create a new normal, now is the time we already need to ask and find answers to the questions on how to be strong enough to survive, but also flexible and innovative enough to adapt to all the new challenges.
We have no choice but to adapt to a new normal without any certainty as to exactly what it will be. Scientific arguments dictating the COVID-19 response are to be respected, and
The extended lockdown has already had a devastating impact on our economy, and the livelihoods of many of our residents are in jeopardy. We are already starting to see its
As we find these answers, we must start to implement them sooner rather than later. It is possible to be both strong and adaptive. In this time of crisis, constructive engage-
Hedda Mittner
hedda@thevillagenews.co.za
ONLINE EDITOR
raphael@thevillagenews.co.za
Elaine Davie
By Murray Stewart murray.stewart49@gmail.com
C
heer your friends and family up during these stressful times with some interesting facts that will elevate their moods from morbid boredom to ‘for fact’s same, I didn’t know that’. Works every time. Oranges and lemons
SUB-EDITOR & JOURNALIST elaine@thevillagenews.co.za
Taylum Meyer PHOTOGRAPHER & PRODUCTION MANAGER taylum@thevillagenews.co.za
Alta Pretorius MARKETING MANAGER alta@thevillagenews.co.za
Charé van der Walt MARKETING REPRESENTATIVE chare@thevillagenews.co.za
Tania Hamman
ment and proper scrutiny of our approach are critical to ensure we are always on the right path. As a first step, we need to challenge our old ways and start supporting local only. This is not easy, but ask yourself whenever you go out to buy essentials: Is this money staying local, or will it end up in corporate coffers? Remember to be kind, compassionate and caring, and of course, to stay at home. If we do this, we will emerge stronger from this crisis. This is the good NEWS – Ed.
Cryptic art, trivialities and mother-munchers
CONTENT EDITOR
Raphael da Silva
impact as businesses buckle under the pressure and thousands of people go hungry. This effect will be felt for years to come.
right now we need to heed the warnings and advice of scientists and doctors.
Mark Twain was a shrewd observer of humanity’s frailties and foibles. He had the knack – while blindfolded – of being able to find a hammer and a nail in life’s satirical storeroom, and hit it squarely on the head without mincing words or thumbs. Few escaped his irony or caustic wit, and he was somewhat cynical about some of the famous French and Italian Renaissance painters with their murky interiors, unappetising bowls of food and gloomy flower arrangements. “If the old masters had labelled their fruit,” he wrote, “we wouldn’t be so likely to mistake pears for turnips.” Which brings us to the question of
the humble orange – thankfully not the one in the White House, but those depicted in some dubious renditions of historical events. Like the Last Supper, for example. Famous artists like Titian, Sandro Botticelli and even our more famous chum, Lenny da Vinci were lured by the orange temptation – perhaps to inject more colour into their works, or perhaps it was simple ignorance – but sadly they got it wrong. These Renaissance painters were depicting scenes from the time of Christ, 15 centuries earlier, and to put it bluntly, there were no oranges in Jerusalem back then. In the 12th century, when the Crusaders returned to Europe from the Middle East, they brought with them a fleshy, juicy, bright orange fruit which had only recently arrived there from exotic lands much further to the east. Wisely, they decided not to call it a plum or an aubergine, and seeing that it was orange, they decided to call it one. By the time the painters created their masterpieces, centuries after the Crusades, oranges were not uncommon
in Europe. But whether they labelled them or not, an orange on the table in any depiction of the Last Supper was, though colourful, just wishful thinking. There weren’t any – full stop. Not for over a thousand years. More words, words, words • Hitch-hike - This term originated in the 19th century to describe how two men could travel with only one horse. One would ride ahead for an allotted time, then hitch the horse and continue on foot. Number two, who was on foot, would arrive at the horse, hop on and ride past number one for the similar allotted time. He’d then hitch the horse again for number one and start hiking. • Gazette - Newspapers often incorporate this in their titles. A gazetta was a small Italian coin which was the price of a government newspaper published in Venice around 1536, and the term spread. Alternatively, some say it may come from the Italian gazza – tittle-tattle or gossip. • Deliberate - This originally comes from the Latin libra, referring to scales – to ‘weigh in the balance’. Anyone making a decision after careful thought is said to be acting ‘deliber-
ately’. From the same root comes the pound weight – lb. • Trivial - In ancient Rome, serious business was carried out in the Forum, the main gathering place for constructive debate. Gossipers among the less privileged would gather outside at a crossroads of three streets, the Tri-Via, and the word came to reflect the idle chatter they exchanged. Mother’s delight Don’t discuss this over dinner. There is a type of fly, the cecidomyia gall midge, which reproduces by either laying eggs fertilised by a male, or by parthenogenesis, which basically means the female can self-fertilise without rumpy-pumpy. In these cases, the female never reaches adulthood. She reproduces while still a larva or pupa, and the kids develop inside mom’s body tissue – not just the uterus. In order to grow they eat mom from the inside and when they emerge, all that remains is her shell. Within a couple of days the kids’ own kids start developing and devour their moms in turn. What a life!
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