The Blue Book

A Vote of Thanks

Digital thanks for a digital-native book have been done here.

However, it also appropriate to thank the flesh-and-blood heart-people so intimately involved in the crafting of this work.

It takes a village to raise a child: to Richard, Debbie, Steve, Ian, Joan, Aislinn, Matthew, Ross, Duncan and June Tudhope; Nellie Qaqa; Reuben, Moira, Peter, Trisha, Hailey, Jayda, Josh and Cole Maller; Nikki and Sarah Engelbrecht; Judy and Bill Newcombe; Mary and Rick Owens; Sue Morgan; Phyllis Sterne; Dennis, Dino, Maria and Gerry Cambanos; Cecilia, Frank, Marc and Nicolas Neto; Peter, Karin, Alex and David Backwell; Di and Brian Ray; Matthew Birch; Kristen de Jager; Bev and Graham Edkins; Cameron, Caitlin and Anne Sugden.

And a whole culture to educate them: to all my wonderful teachers at St. Peter’s for the thirteen formative years I spent there.

Servate fidem: Mr.’s Royce, Clackworthy, Clarke, Nothard, Benson, Bench, Willis, Jansen and Cade; Mrs.’s Price, Pearson, Schoon, Shield, Duffield and Attlee, Juffrou De Kok, Nkozikazi Baloyi and the many other great Prep School staff. Abie Rakgoale, Jordan Sweke, Shaun Campbell, David Veitch, Jonty Rawlins, Andreas Forsyth-Thompson, Nicolas Saville, Jonathan Prinsloo, Matthew Penaluna, David Turner, Liam Royce, David Horscroft, Jonathan Howell, Zano Mthembu, Kyle Welsh and so many other awesome playmates.

Just keep swimming: Paul and Tanya Friar; Steve and Liz Haupt and all the members of Haupt/Wahoo Swimming for some of the best times of my childhood.

In futurum fortiter: Santie Louw, Shelly Matthews, Julia Bailey, Debbie Park-Dobell, Fiona Kampmann, Natalie Shields, Graham Howarth, Brett Kreidemann, Brian Armitage, Ryan Weidemann, Rui Morais, Adam Dobson, Le Panto Bean, Dario Doneda, Reinhardt de Klerk and the rest of the High School staff. Michael Haird, Michelle Howarth, Lisa-Kate Sutherland, Michele Copolla, Brontë Peeters, Andrew Jackson, Rogan Bruce, Aaron Young, Tsephi Makhata, Sam Dry, Christel Brewis, Zoë and Chalice Eggling, Gloria Mpofu, Stephen Pinks, Nils and Julia Bradvedt, Blaine Vlantis, Wesley Walton, Matthew Hunter, Dylan Smith, Devin Ramsden, Jean and Tammy Michau, Marc Gaskell, Craig Gallimore, Detlef Winkelmann, Dennis and Anjulie Webster, Jayd Williams, Jeanette Tarr, Storm Brown and all the others who endured my adolescence.

A special vote of thanks to both Emma Jackson and JJ van der Vyver, who continue to lead me through some of the most interesting thoughts long after we left school.

Vis, vertus, veritas: All Rhodes lead to Paul Walters, Deborah Seddon, Minesh Das, Jamie MacGregor, Sam Naidu, Mike and Sue Marais, Dan Wylie, Ray Haggard, David Roux, Anthony Sullivan, Joey Medved and the many other lecturers who honed my mind in Grahamstown. Kate Janssen, Dan Huxham, Tim Brown, Abby Robertson, Theo, Manosa, Zak, Brendan, Karlien, Zoë Breët, Zoë Palmer, Keith Lawless, Bertie Malgas, Jonathan Kenyon, Thabang Mashiolane, Camagu, Enzo and Kuda, Luke Duncan, Heather Prince, Oliver Boyers, Craig Rae, Carl Unsworth and too many others to name. A special vote of thanks, though, to the whole English Honours Class of 2013 - literally the best class I have ever had the privilege in which to participate.

Also, my undying thanks to Harry Owen - the man most responsible for teaching me a love of poetry - and the whole Cycle of Knowledge who gathered in Grahamstown, including Ulizwi Mvuyisi and Thembani Ma’at Onceya.

Dominus illuminatio mea: Michelle Kelly, Nadia Khamis, Martin Larke, Ben Hamer, Peter Finnerty III, Peter Fiske; Tim, Mel, Prachi, Ruth, Fred, Stephanie, John, and the rest of another amazing English class in Oxford. My eternal thanks also to Barbara Gerber for bringing me back from some of the more abstract thoughts I found myself entangled in on returning to African soils.

Now the dance: which is mostly digital. But special thanks to Mohamed Bulbulia for teaching me more than can ever be said with words, and to Stefan and Candella for the most amazing tango I have ever had the privilege of witnessing. To Tamara Hauvuy, Raffaela Napoli, Kai Edwards, Lucie Sarati and Dominique Wiggill for dancing in a forest with me; and Ricky Thomas, Marc Coppin, Ben Robinson, Lize Steyn, Peter Hayward, Michal Shachman, the whole ChainSafe team and the rest of Camp 404 who helped get us all properly lost in a desert.

And, finally, to the mindset, who helped me validate in very wild and practical reality some of the deeper ideas in this book: Kassie Paschke, Nick du Preez, Armelle Duivesart, Jordan-Laine Calder, Nicola Lazenby, Anna Sevel, Vicky Smith, Keith Rasmussen, Jean Goodall, Shane Eades, and Jayden De Wet.

One last, honourable mention to Gauthier Amedro: a gentle and brilliant soul if ever there was one. Salut Gaulois!