OPENGATES

This lead-in artwork, Karoo Gate, by Charles van der Merwe – proudly Maeder’s brother-in-law – introduces this sandpit site as Maeder’s new playpen, and represents Maeder's interpretation of the idea of openness. The old Cape Colony gate is at a livestock area on the farm Hanglip, in the Nuwe Hantam. That farm is now owned by the neighbourhood Rodney Naude and Mal Terblanche families.
The artworks also beckon further discovery of digital journalism's 5 W’s - What? Who? Where? When? And Why? - towards developing and assisting prospective writers. Yesterday’s ancestors include archives of the former trilingual monthly newsjournal, Toverberg Indaba. Today’s and tomorrow’s successor is the current growing website - now in its mid 80’s of newsletters - at https://toverview.co.za, of which opengates is an independent potential server. The dot-Africa domain is a call to explore our own continent with new eyes. And all this is hopefully with the help of some friends, as the song invites.🎵🎵

Maeder’s stoeptalk view of this magical rock engraving feature by anonymous indigenous folk, also on Hanglip farm, nuwe Hantam, Colesberg, can also introduce and represent ideas, her beyond gates? The story here is around movement and change: mixtures of perhaps freedom, perhaps fear, perhaps escape, perhaps liberations? These are some abstract ideas represented to me, by the leaping gates buck (Eland…?) and a running bird (Ostrich? Secretary bird?.Gompow?). . They are moving away from a fixed standing staring animal (a Lion or Lioness…?) (A predator…?). (Food?) (Greed?). The lines around the face of the fixed poised animal, can be seen as part of explorations in modern research into such connecting ‘power lines’; so often a feature of indigenous rock art, worldwide. Maeder likes to suggest that such heritage and ancestry as this rock engraving and its many other nearby and far away examples, also open gates to discoveries of digital journalism, hopefully towards featuring, mentoring and assisting prospective writers. Yesterday’s ancestors include archives of the former trilingual monthly Colesberg district newsjournal, Toverberg Indaba. Today’s and tomorrow’s successor is the current growing website - now around a century of newsletters - at https://toverview.co.za, in principle the mother of this all. Opengates is an independent potential server to toverview. The dot-Africa domain at opengates is a call to explore our own continent with new eyes. And all this is hopefully with the help of some friends, as so many songs and artworks invite and challenge.🎵🎵

Featured Article:

Maeder Osler, Jasper Cook, Jay H Ell

20 July, 2026

University of Cape Town - Judenfrei

Thinker

MO: Just by way of greeting, Jasper, today is the day after my – as always fascinating – travels back from Sedgefield where this time I camped in a forest hill with the lakes’ fisheagles, to reflect urgently again on an international problem we are all part of in further twists to the Isreal-Lebanon-Iran-Quatar Middle East wars, from drones to destructions. Does this sort of ‘problem never evaporated? Even in the village dorp at a bookstall café a charming local lady announces unsolicited that she was praying for Israel. Did that include prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu?.I ventured. Silence. No fish eagles in town?

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