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Alexander Matthews
Alexander Matthews

445 Followers

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Feb 21

The sheer magic of exploring Singita’s Kruger concession on foot

Mountains, mahoganies — and two dozing lions — Of all the safari destinations I’ve been lucky enough to visit, Singita Sweni Lodge, perched on the banks of the Sweni River in the Kruger National Park, is among my absolute favourites. Life unfolds here with a sumptuously slower rhythm — as you’ll discover when you wallow in the infinity…

Safari

4 min read

The sheer magic of exploring Singita’s  Kruger concession on foot
The sheer magic of exploring Singita’s  Kruger concession on foot
Safari

4 min read


Jun 14, 2022

Scenes from AIDS/LifeCycle 2022

San Francisco to Los Angeles on two wheels.

2 min read

Scenes from AIDS/LifeCycle 2022
Scenes from AIDS/LifeCycle 2022

2 min read


May 29, 2020

Screen-less Saturdays: In Praise of a Digital Sabbath

24 hours of being totally unplugged feels like a mini-vacation — During this eternal sped-up slo-mo spring, I’ve been oscillating between feverish bursts of productivity and glassy-eyed inertia. …

Mental Health

4 min read

Screen-less Saturdays: In Praise of a Digital Sabbath
Screen-less Saturdays: In Praise of a Digital Sabbath
Mental Health

4 min read


Nov 20, 2019

Do We Really Need a Cabal of Posh Oxford-Educated Whites Telling Us How the World Should Be Run?

A shocking lack of diversity at “The Economist” is damaging the publication’s credibility — Of the many things that stand out in Pankaj Mishra’s masterful New Yorker review of Alexander Zevin’s Liberalism at Large, a history of The Economist since it began publishing in 1843, was this: The staff, predominantly white, is recruited overwhelmingly from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and a disproportionate…

Politics

6 min read

Do We Really Need a Cabal of Posh Oxford-Educated Whites Telling Us How the World Should Be Run?
Do We Really Need a Cabal of Posh Oxford-Educated Whites Telling Us How the World Should Be Run?
Politics

6 min read


Nov 14, 2019

How to Stop Wasting So Much Time on Instagram and Despairing About the News

The mind-altering power of being in nature without your smartphone — In spite of months ago having abandoned social media and deleted my phone’s news apps, I still seem to be bombarded by dispiriting news. In my birth country, South Africa, I only so much as have to glance at the front of a newspaper to see headlines about rapes in…

Nature

6 min read

How to Stop Wasting So Much Time on Instagram and Despairing About the News
How to Stop Wasting So Much Time on Instagram and Despairing About the News
Nature

6 min read


Sep 9, 2019

“Hollywood is a Verb”: A Love-Hate Letter to LA

The City of Angels is, by turns, enchanting and infuriating — I’m not sure when I first fell for Los Angeles. Was it when I watched LA Confidential? Or read Christopher Isherwood’s A Single Man? Or started following lifeserial (back when I was still on Instagram)? Regardless, when I finally met the city in person — back in 2015 — my…

Los Angeles

5 min read

“Hollywood is a Verb”: A Love-Hate Letter to LA
“Hollywood is a Verb”: A Love-Hate Letter to LA
Los Angeles

5 min read


Sep 5, 2019

What Working on a Remote Scottish Farm Gave Me

Two weeks of physical labour left me with far more than just dirt under my fingernails — From Glasgow to the Scottish island of Jura it’s half-an-hour by helicopter. Not having one of those at my disposal, though, it takes me most of the day to get there. First, a large bus winding along moody lochs and around mountains to Kennacraig. Then the big CalMac ferry to…

Travel

8 min read

What Working on a Remote Scottish Farm Gave Me
What Working on a Remote Scottish Farm Gave Me
Travel

8 min read


Published in One Table, One World

·Aug 30, 2019

Whale-Watching and Wild Salmon: Adventures in the Pacific Northwest

The land of good food and the great outdoors — Seattle, my first taste of the Pacific Northwest, was a good place to start: a sprawling, vibrant, multicultural city surrounded by water. …

Travel

6 min read

Whale-Watching and Wild Salmon: Adventures in the Pacific Northwest:
Whale-Watching and Wild Salmon: Adventures in the Pacific Northwest:
Travel

6 min read


Published in Human Parts

·Jul 17, 2019

Being Gay in Abu Dhabi

Breaking sharia law was a lot of fun — and a little scary too — On my first evening in Abu Dhabi, we take a taxi to McGinnigans, an Irish pub where everyone — all the expats — end up on Friday nights. …

LGBTQ

18 min read

Being Gay in Abu Dhabi
Being Gay in Abu Dhabi
LGBTQ

18 min read


Jun 25, 2019

Is This the Most Brilliant Debut Novel of the Year?

“On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous” is a startlingly powerful portrait of the immigrant experience — and an unflinching dissection of tragedy and trauma, large and small. — Every so often you read a novel that leaves you a little breathless. A novel so darn good that it haunts you like a bruised rib, reminding you of the power of fiction, the potential it has to move, connect, provoke, and bear witness.

Books

4 min read

Is This the Most Brilliant Debut Novel of the Year?
Is This the Most Brilliant Debut Novel of the Year?
Books

4 min read

Alexander Matthews

Alexander Matthews

445 Followers

alexandermatthews.net

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