Moyo is a man in decline who can no longer ignore his own mortality. He lives in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwes premier tourist resort, and works as a receptionist in its grandest hotel, the Mosi-Oa-Tunya. Ordinarily, Moyo would prefer to keep his head down; however, his circumstances and bad luck conspire against him. Moyo becomes an accidental conservationist when he can no longer turn a blind eye to the hypocrisy of his employer. He begins to wonder if the general malaise that seems to beset his drought ravaged country is the product of his peoples neglect of traditional customs that have guided local communities through the centuries. Suddenly, seemingly unrelated events assume ominous significance. Moyos family is thrown into turmoil by the amorous adventures of his eldest son, Bekithemba. While the consequences of Bekithembas misadventures are entirely predictable, the same cannot be said for the capricious repercussions of a notorious crime committed in Moyos neighbourhood. Against his better judgment, and at a time when he is at his most vulnerable, Moyo becomes the unwilling champion of the local pariah, Thembi, who is accused of infanticide. Moyo reluctantly assumes the role of patron of lost causes. He soon discovers that if he is to avert disaster, he needs to reawaken the very best in his family, his friends, his neighbours and, most critically, himself.
Team Building and Other Stories is a collection of eight short stories. The first, Team Building, takes place in Victoria Falls and describes a day in the life of Mbambo. His employer conducts corporate team building exercises and this story follows the absurd misadventures of Mbambos benighted charges who eventually triumph, despite the odds, due to Mbambos inspired leadership, which is worthy of Good Soldier Svejk. Section 3 (g) gets its title from the Miscellaneous Offences Act, a set of colonial laws used by the Zimbabwean government against it own people. Malinga, an enterprising single mother who is a money-changer, is arrested and charged with section3 (g) blocking the pavement. The story follows her struggle against the state security apparatus. The Buffalo is a story set in rural Matabeleland. A lone buffalo visits a remote village setting off a series of events that ultimately ends in tragedy for one of the local identities, Tshabalala, whose misfortunes are the product of his fraught relationship with his daughter. The Eagle also begins in a rural district when a family is visited by a terrifying, supernatural force that demands to be appeased. Unfortunately, this family is unable to present a united front when it is needed most. Majujus Magic is the last of the rural stories and examines the conflict caused by the filial loyalty of Dlodlo for his roguish uncle, Ncube, and his responsibilities as a young professional in the modern world. One Shoe is concerned with the antics of mad Archie, notorious war veteran and debt collector, as he recovers money owed to his friend, Ngwenya. The last two stories are set in Australia and deal with the experiences of the Zimbabwean Diaspora. Little Buddies is about Lubas experiences of racism in primary school. Three Little Birds deals with the political divisions within the Zimbabwean community as they surface during a beauty contest.
Hyperinflation, massive unemployment and chronic fuel shortages, which make black market petrol the most valuable commodity in the land, should be enough to kill Zimbabwes government stone dead. However, its redoubtable president, Robert Mugabe, is not so easily daunted, especially since he has the police, the army, and the fearsome Green Bombers, national service men and women, at his disposal. Ndlovu, a menial worker in a funeral parlour, is an ordinary man with an extraordinary plan who discovers how to make the moribund economy and death work for him. His motley crew of cohorts and hangers-on help him borrow bodies from his work, so they can impersonate bereaved relatives unable to afford the services of undertakers who are transporting their deceased loved ones to remote rural homes. As do-it-yourself undertakers, this entitles them to as much petrol as they need, which they sell on the black market. Ndlovus scheme never runs smoothly, especially since he enlists the support of mad Archie, resident lunatic and notorious dissident. Inevitably, Ndlovu and his gang fall foul of the state security apparatus, and they are victimised by a particularly powerful member of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) who wants in on their scheme. It is only a matter of time before political turmoil and the absurdity of the everyday life catches up with them.
The Frankston Train follows the misadventures of a true denizen of ‘Franghanistan’, Neeley Glasscock. His first world complacency is shattered when he is embroiled in that quintessentially Australian public disturbance, a racist rant on public transport. The Frankston Train is a satire about overt racism and unconscious bias that tests the claim, which is often repeated by luminaries like the present Prime Minister, that ‘Australia is the most successful multicultural society in the world.’ It is easy to identify with Neeley Glasscock; after all, who hasn’t witnessed some disconcerting or unsettling incident on a train, tram, or bus. And like Neeley Glasscock, we have all faced that dilemma of the petty existential hero or heroine – whether to intervene or not, whether to speak up or remain silent. Predictably, in the age of the ubiquitous cell phone, vision of this deplorable episode goes viral. All those involved become instant celebrities. Neeley’s employer, a pay-day lender, tries to exploit Neeley’s fifteen minutes of fame; however, chaos ensues when Neeley devises a devious plan to punish his employer’s cynicism and atone for his moral turpitude.
The Frankston Train follows the misadventures of a true denizen of ‘Franghanistan’, Neeley Glasscock. His first world complacency is shattered when he is embroiled in that quintessentially Australian public disturbance, a racist rant on public transport. The Frankston Train is a satire about overt racism and unconscious bias that tests the claim, which is often repeated by luminaries like the present Prime Minister, that ‘Australia is the most successful multicultural society in the world.’ It is easy to identify with Neeley Glasscock; after all, who hasn’t witnessed some disconcerting or unsettling incident on a train, tram, or bus. And like Neeley Glasscock, we have all faced that dilemma of the petty existential hero or heroine – whether to intervene or not, whether to speak up or remain silent. Predictably, in the age of the ubiquitous cell phone, vision of this deplorable episode goes viral. All those involved become instant celebrities. Neeley’s employer, a pay-day lender, tries to exploit Neeley’s fifteen minutes of fame; however, chaos ensues when Neeley devises a devious plan to punish his employer’s cynicism and atone for his moral turpitude.
Moyo is a man in decline who can no longer ignore his own mortality. He lives in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwes premier tourist resort, and works as a receptionist in its grandest hotel, the Mosi-Oa-Tunya. Ordinarily, Moyo would prefer to keep his head down; however, his circumstances and bad luck conspire against him. Moyo becomes an accidental conservationist when he can no longer turn a blind eye to the hypocrisy of his employer. He begins to wonder if the general malaise that seems to beset his drought ravaged country is the product of his peoples neglect of traditional customs that have guided local communities through the centuries. Suddenly, seemingly unrelated events assume ominous significance. Moyos family is thrown into turmoil by the amorous adventures of his eldest son, Bekithemba. While the consequences of Bekithembas misadventures are entirely predictable, the same cannot be said for the capricious repercussions of a notorious crime committed in Moyos neighbourhood. Against his better judgment, and at a time when he is at his most vulnerable, Moyo becomes the unwilling champion of the local pariah, Thembi, who is accused of infanticide. Moyo reluctantly assumes the role of patron of lost causes. He soon discovers that if he is to avert disaster, he needs to reawaken the very best in his family, his friends, his neighbours and, most critically, himself.
Hyperinflation, massive unemployment and chronic fuel shortages, which make black market petrol the most valuable commodity in the land, should be enough to kill Zimbabwes government stone dead. However, its redoubtable president, Robert Mugabe, is not so easily daunted, especially since he has the police, the army, and the fearsome Green Bombers, national service men and women, at his disposal. Ndlovu, a menial worker in a funeral parlour, is an ordinary man with an extraordinary plan who discovers how to make the moribund economy and death work for him. His motley crew of cohorts and hangers-on help him borrow bodies from his work, so they can impersonate bereaved relatives unable to afford the services of undertakers who are transporting their deceased loved ones to remote rural homes. As do-it-yourself undertakers, this entitles them to as much petrol as they need, which they sell on the black market. Ndlovus scheme never runs smoothly, especially since he enlists the support of mad Archie, resident lunatic and notorious dissident. Inevitably, Ndlovu and his gang fall foul of the state security apparatus, and they are victimised by a particularly powerful member of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) who wants in on their scheme. It is only a matter of time before political turmoil and the absurdity of the everyday life catches up with them.
Team Building and Other Stories is a collection of eight short stories. The first, Team Building, takes place in Victoria Falls and describes a day in the life of Mbambo. His employer conducts corporate team building exercises and this story follows the absurd misadventures of Mbambos benighted charges who eventually triumph, despite the odds, due to Mbambos inspired leadership, which is worthy of Good Soldier Svejk. Section 3 (g) gets its title from the Miscellaneous Offences Act, a set of colonial laws used by the Zimbabwean government against it own people. Malinga, an enterprising single mother who is a money-changer, is arrested and charged with section3 (g) blocking the pavement. The story follows her struggle against the state security apparatus. The Buffalo is a story set in rural Matabeleland. A lone buffalo visits a remote village setting off a series of events that ultimately ends in tragedy for one of the local identities, Tshabalala, whose misfortunes are the product of his fraught relationship with his daughter. The Eagle also begins in a rural district when a family is visited by a terrifying, supernatural force that demands to be appeased. Unfortunately, this family is unable to present a united front when it is needed most. Majujus Magic is the last of the rural stories and examines the conflict caused by the filial loyalty of Dlodlo for his roguish uncle, Ncube, and his responsibilities as a young professional in the modern world. One Shoe is concerned with the antics of mad Archie, notorious war veteran and debt collector, as he recovers money owed to his friend, Ngwenya. The last two stories are set in Australia and deal with the experiences of the Zimbabwean Diaspora. Little Buddies is about Lubas experiences of racism in primary school. Three Little Birds deals with the political divisions within the Zimbabwean community as they surface during a beauty contest.
In The Zero Marginal Cost Society,New York Times bestselling author Jeremy Rifkin describes how the emerging Internet of Things is speeding us to an era of nearly free goods and services, precipitating the meteoric rise of a global Collaborative Commons and the eclipse of capitalism. Rifkin uncovers a paradox at the heart of capitalism that has propelled it to greatness but is now taking it to its death—the inherent entrepreneurial dynamism of competitive markets that drives productivity up and marginal costs down, enabling businesses to reduce the price of their goods and services in order to win over consumers and market share. (Marginal cost is the cost of producing additional units of a good or service, if fixed costs are not counted.) While economists have always welcomed a reduction in marginal cost, they never anticipated the possibility of a technological revolution that might bring marginal costs to near zero, making goods and services priceless, nearly free, and abundant, and no longer subject to market forces. Now, a formidable new technology infrastructure—the Internet of things (IoT)—is emerging with the potential of pushing large segments of economic life to near zero marginal cost in the years ahead. Rifkin describes how the Communication Internet is converging with a nascent Energy Internet and Logistics Internet to create a new technology platform that connects everything and everyone. Billions of sensors are being attached to natural resources, production lines, the electricity grid, logistics networks, recycling flows, and implanted in homes, offices, stores, vehicles, and even human beings, feeding Big Data into an IoT global neural network. Prosumers can connect to the network and use Big Data, analytics, and algorithms to accelerate efficiency, dramatically increase productivity, and lower the marginal cost of producing and sharing a wide range of products and services to near zero, just like they now do with information goods. The plummeting of marginal costs is spawning a hybrid economy—part capitalist market and part Collaborative Commons—with far reaching implications for society, according to Rifkin. Hundreds of millions of people are already transferring parts of their economic lives to the global Collaborative Commons. Prosumers are plugging into the fledgling IoT and making and sharing their own information, entertainment, green energy, and 3D-printed products at near zero marginal cost. They are also sharing cars, homes, clothes and other items via social media sites, rentals, redistribution clubs, and cooperatives at low or near zero marginal cost. Students are enrolling in free massive open online courses (MOOCs) that operate at near zero marginal cost. Social entrepreneurs are even bypassing the banking establishment and using crowdfunding to finance startup businesses as well as creating alternative currencies in the fledgling sharing economy. In this new world, social capital is as important as financial capital, access trumps ownership, sustainability supersedes consumerism, cooperation ousts competition, and "exchange value" in the capitalist marketplace is increasingly replaced by "sharable value" on the Collaborative Commons. Rifkin concludes that capitalism will remain with us, albeit in an increasingly streamlined role, primarily as an aggregator of network services and solutions, allowing it to flourish as a powerful niche player in the coming era. We are, however, says Rifkin, entering a world beyond markets where we are learning how to live together in an increasingly interdependent global Collaborative Commons.
In a world where people are driven tirelessly by the "me first" mentality, Jesus challenges us to descend to true greatness. Be last! Humility + Service = Greatness.
An incisive analysis of contemporary crime film in Brazil, this book focuses on how movies in this genre represent masculinity and how their messages connect to twenty-first-century sociopolitical issues. Jeremy Lehnen argues that these films promote an agenda in support of the nation’s recent swing toward authoritarianism that culminated in the 2018 election of far-right president Jair Bolsonaro. Lehnen examines the integral role of masculinity in several archetypal crime films, most of which foreground urban violence, including Cidade de Deus, Quase Dois Irmãos, Tropa de Elite, O Homem do Ano, and O Doutrinador. Within these films, Lehnen finds representations that criminalize the poor, marginalized male; emasculate the civilian middle-class male intellectual, casting him as unable to respond to crime; and portray state security as the only power able to stem increasing crime rates. Drawing on insights from masculinity studies, Lehnen contends that Brazilian crime films are ideologically charged mediums that assert and normalize the presence of the neo-authoritarian male within society. This book demonstrates how gendered scripts can become widely accepted by audiences and contribute to very real power structures beyond the sphere of cinema. A volume in the series Reframing Media, Technology, and Culture in Latin/o America, edited by Héctor Fernández L’Hoeste and Juan Carlos Rodríguez Publication of this work made possible by a Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The associations between negative events and people's assumptive worlds appear to be more complex than previously believed. Changes in assumptive worlds after negative events may reflect increased wisdom, rather than shattered assumptions.
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