{"id":603,"date":"2020-08-24T14:46:50","date_gmt":"2020-08-24T14:46:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/?p=603"},"modified":"2020-09-14T15:37:08","modified_gmt":"2020-09-14T15:37:08","slug":"features-on-gpcy-expanded-minds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/?p=603","title":{"rendered":"Features on GPCY Expanded Minds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>On the 23rd of August 2020 a friend of mine, Eshen Moodley, his website, namely, GPCY Expanded Minds. He asked me to write some pieces for the site, and below are what I wrote for some of his catalogues. The link to his website is: <a href=\"https:\/\/gpcy23.myportfolio.com\">https:\/\/gpcy23.myportfolio.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-very-dark-gray-background-color has-very-dark-gray-color\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h4>M &amp; A<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>I believe in soul mates. I really do. What I don\u2019t believe in, however, is best friends. I don\u2019t think you can just say &#8211; this one, this one right here &#8211; that\u2019s my best friend who will be here forever and always. I also don\u2019t think that you can place certain friends in higher regard than others. No. People come and go through our lives for different reasons. People move cities and things change. But truly, the connection will never change.&nbsp; That\u2019s why I believe in soul mates and not best friends. When you have a connection so strong with someone, not just romantic, but platonic too &#8211; it\u2019s eternal. It\u2019s eternal and you know it. Because even when they\u2019re gone, and you hear the song that you always used to sing with them, the strings of your heart pull tighter. When you walk past all of the places that you laughed with them till your bellies ached, you can\u2019t help but smile. And when it\u2019s 3am and your chest feels emptier than it\u2019s ever been, all you wish for is their voice. Because you loved them. Because you will always love them. And if you read this, and your heart rises up in your chest, you must know that you\u2019ve had at least one soul mate in your life. Chances are that you\u2019ve had more than one. How lucky our souls are to burn so brightly in love with other souls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-container-2 wp-block-gallery-1 wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"600\" height=\"427\" src=\"http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/0afdaabe-2e73-4e38-841a-eaf1cc6b134c_rw_600.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"609\" data-full-url=\"http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/0afdaabe-2e73-4e38-841a-eaf1cc6b134c_rw_600.jpg\" data-link=\"http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/?attachment_id=609\" class=\"wp-image-609\" srcset=\"http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/0afdaabe-2e73-4e38-841a-eaf1cc6b134c_rw_600.jpg 600w, http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/0afdaabe-2e73-4e38-841a-eaf1cc6b134c_rw_600-300x214.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-caption\">Photo taken by <a href=\"https:\/\/gpcy23.myportfolio.com\">Eshen Moodley<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-very-dark-gray-background-color has-very-dark-gray-color\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h4>18<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>There is something about the day you turn 18. All of a sudden the universe has transferred freedom into your hands. The ability to do and be whoever you desire. In theory, it sounds like one of the most exciting days of your life. It is up there with those momentous occasions most people dream of &#8211; leaving high school, graduating from university, buying your first home and getting married. But in reality, turning 18 was not the perfect picture I had painted in my head. Sure, I got my driver\u2019s license, I could legally drink, soon I\u2019d be off to my dream university and I\u2019d leave high school far behind me. But it was scary. It was damn scary. Suddenly I had this responsibility to survive. If anything failed now in my life, the only person responsible would be me. The crippling anxiety of growing up is masked behind the big birthday party we all look forward to. But it was that day, that very birthday party, that I realised I needed to step up. That there is more than the perfect picture I had painted in my head. And maybe that actually isn\u2019t scary at all. Maybe that is the most exciting thing that any of us will realise. And I realised it when the clock turned and I became 18 &#8211; there is more. Much, much more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"600\" height=\"900\" src=\"http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/1d42c86c-0712-4078-8035-68ae81f18c2c_rw_600.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-606\" srcset=\"http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/1d42c86c-0712-4078-8035-68ae81f18c2c_rw_600.jpg 600w, http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/1d42c86c-0712-4078-8035-68ae81f18c2c_rw_600-200x300.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption>Photo taken by <a href=\"https:\/\/gpcy23.myportfolio.com\">Eshen Moodley<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-very-dark-gray-background-color has-very-dark-gray-color\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h4>Italian Love Story<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<h5>Pt1 Love for the Country &#8211; Her Perspective<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m a terrible hopeless romantic. I often fall in love with the covers of books. My knees are weak for many strangers that have once smiled at me. I can create a whole love story in my mind just sitting on a train staring out the window. For me, everything could be a love story.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But there was something unique about my love story with Italy. Maybe it&#8217;s because it&#8217;s in my blood. Italy is in every essence of my being.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think I love Italy because everything about it is so loud. Every person you come across in this country is loud. They&#8217;re loud because they have something to say. And I love that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The food screams it&#8217;s own existence too, because it was prepared with love and pride. What is there not to love about that.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The sceneries&nbsp;in Italy are so overwhelmingly loud that sometimes my dreams of the country make me sad. It makes me sad because before Italy, I never knew you could miss a place so vividly. I can close my eyes and I can see the vibrant colours of Burano, every beach bar in Porto San Giorgio, the flowers of Norcia, the remnants of the Roman empire, the turquoise waters of Lago di Garda&#8230; I can see it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maybe that&#8217;s what love is. Maybe love is loud. It doesn&#8217;t hide itself and it etches a memory that you&#8217;ll never be able to shake. I just hope I never lose this love.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Little did I know my love for you laid across the platform where he looked up and smiled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" src=\"http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/e7151f3e-fc07-45d9-bfe2-30a72638244b_rw_600.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-607\" srcset=\"http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/e7151f3e-fc07-45d9-bfe2-30a72638244b_rw_600.jpg 600w, http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/e7151f3e-fc07-45d9-bfe2-30a72638244b_rw_600-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption>Photo taken by <a href=\"https:\/\/gpcy23.myportfolio.com\">Eshen Moodley<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h5>Pt3 Love for Yourself<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse has-text-align-center\">a year later\nand I think about her every day.\nEvery single day.\n\u2800\u2800\u2800\u2800\u2800\u2800\u2800\u2800\u2800\nI long for her warm waters,\nand her strong statures.\nthe lack of her air\nhas left me in despair.\n\u2800\u2800\u2800\u2800\u2800\u2800\u2800\u2800\u2800\nI am unaware\nof when we can join again.\nbut I no longer pine for her\nbecause I have peace\nknowing God has kept me home\nto finish His masterpiece.\n\u2800\u2800\u2800\u2800\u2800\u2800\u2800\u2800\u2800\nand there is so much more of her\nthat I desire to discover\nbut maybe I need to learn something here.\nand maybe one day\nI will miss this place\njust as much as I miss her.<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"576\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/3df7311b-7887-47bd-be27-346f2a21b4f4_rw_600-576x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-608\" srcset=\"http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/3df7311b-7887-47bd-be27-346f2a21b4f4_rw_600-576x1024.jpg 576w, http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/3df7311b-7887-47bd-be27-346f2a21b4f4_rw_600-169x300.jpg 169w, http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/3df7311b-7887-47bd-be27-346f2a21b4f4_rw_600.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 576px) 100vw, 576px\" \/><figcaption>Photo taken by <a href=\"https:\/\/gpcy23.myportfolio.com\">Eshen Moodley<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-very-dark-gray-background-color has-very-dark-gray-color\"\/>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video controls src=\"http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Soul-Mates.mov\"><\/video><figcaption>This is a video I made for the piece  M&amp;A with a compilation of memories with some of my favourite people. The song used in the video is Not A Single Day (Interlude) by A R I Z O N A<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-very-dark-gray-background-color has-very-dark-gray-color\"\/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On the 23rd of August 2020 a friend of mine, Eshen Moodley, his website, namely, GPCY Expanded Minds. He asked me to write some pieces for the site, and below are what I wrote for some of his catalogues. The link to his website is:&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":613,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[29],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=603"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":617,"href":"http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603\/revisions\/617"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ymmm.co.za\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}