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Mail & Guardian
Lerato Tshabalala

Creator

Lerato Tshabalala

Lerato Tshabalala is an author, podcaster, a tastemaker, unconscious bias advocate and the M&G Friday editor

Zero to hero: Although initially rejected, American photographer David LaChapelle has become popular. Photo: David Benett/ Getty Images

Friday is a feeling: The art of acknowledging your worth

Friday editor Lerato Tshabalala is here to tell you people will question you, they’ll gaslight you and make you doubt your worth but remember who you are. You’re a masterpiece

Retold wrong: An auction of enslaved people in America in the early 19th century. Image: Rischgitz/Getty Images

Friday is a feeling | Call me old-fashioned but human beings are still valuable

AI has set time ticking for humanity

‘Bitches Brew’: ‘A Married Torso Presenting a Plum in the Left Hand and Hiding a Knife in the Right Hand’ by Lady Skollie.

Friday is a feeling |  Why too much pubic discourse can be a distraction

Bitchin’ about discourse: Forget ugly feet – we have real issues

Rihanna attends the “China: Through The Looking Glass” Costume Institute Benefit Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 4, 2015 / Getty Images

Friday is a feeling | Met Gala fashion hall of fame

Red carpet event fashions memories

Grand old age: Models in the ‘Elder Series’, which has been taken up by the likes of Essence, CNN and the BBC. Photos: Slickcity Media

Friday is a feeling | Why our society is so comfortable with the invisibility of our elders, especially in fashion.

We might not win the ageing war but …

Songstress: Gloria Bosman

Friday is a Feeling | Celebrating 30 years of Boom Shaka and choosing love

Dare to love deeply – the risk is worth it

Tourist hub: Visitors on a bicycle tour along Vilakazi Street in Soweto.  It’s hard for those who grew up in Joburg’s oldest township to leave.

My love/hate relationship with Soweto

This is not a story unique to Joburg — the same happened in District Six in Cape Town — but Soweto is my lived experience so that’s what I’m going to focus on.

To close off the fact that it’s Black History Month in the United States, Kim M Reynolds looks at the unveiling of the controversial The Embrace, a sculpture erected in Boston to celebrate Martin Luther King. Photo: Supplied

Time for healers to rise

We have to rely on ancient coding within us to figure out how to heal ourselves because expensive designer bags and cars are not working.

The Best Man: The Final Chapters

The series is a celebration of friendship, black love and ageing with sex appeal

Kiernan was here

Like all of us, deserved grace, forgiveness and kindness. I hope Kiernan knows no matter what, he was here, he was loved and he was Mega. His last words were: “Wherever I go, you…

Zakes Bantwini, Nomcebo Zikode and Wouter Kellerman won a Grammy for their hit song. Photo: Supplied

Africa — your time is still now

Let’s make it our business to make creating art worthwhile for the artists who are committed to being here and lifting us higher

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Toni Morrison photographed in New York City in 1979. (Photo by Jack Mitchell/Getty Images)

Giving up is not an option

Losing now doesn’t make you a loser

EW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 13: Usain Bolt walks the runway at PUMA presents Futrograde during New York Fashion Week at Cipriani 25 Broadway on September 13, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Taylor Hill/WireImage)

Ten things that bring me joy

The only reason I couldn’t go straight to joy is because peace is the only route to joy.

Rich legacy: Trombonist, composer and cultural activist Jonas Gwangwa embodied the people’s struggle. Photo: Veli Nhlapo/Sowetan/Gallo Images

Let’s find our peace before we rest: Sibongile Khumalo, Oliver Mtukudzi, Hugh Masekela and Jonas Gwangwa

I have come to realise that death is the ultimate rest. It is the “peace” part where the problems start

Meditation and mindfulness training offers a breath of calm in the classroom

Fewer breaks, less physical movement and less stillness eventually make “20twentyfree”

2023: Choose you – it’s the right thing to do

Poking fun: Trevor Noah on stage during his I Wish You Would comedy special filmed in Toronto, Canada. Photo: Matt Wilson/Netflix

One Show, Two Takes: I Wish You Would

Trevor Noah’s latest Netflix special tackles everything from the pandemic to Queen Elizabeth’s death

‘My commitment going into this year — and beyond — is about the triple B’s’

Take time for boundaries, balance and breaks

Doomsday Clock moves a minute closer to midnight

‘Time is probably one of the most precious things we have as human beings.’

Use your precious time off over the festive season to read

Circle of life: Lebo M worked on the music for the animated The Lion King and is also involved in the live-action remake. Photo Delwyn Verasamy

‘Evolving is one of the toughest things to do because it’s not pretty and many people prefer you to remain the same’

We all related to the universal themes of destiny, family and impostor syndrome in ‘The Lion King’

One Movie, Two Takes: Wakanda Forever

This blockbuster sequel is a well-intentioned but painfully average tribute to the star of the first movie, Chadwick Boseman