On Friday I read a 2025 article about this monument in Zimbabwe which has irked me so much that I have written a 3500 word response to correct errors, misattribution, deliberate erasing of aspects of its history & more. Now to see if the journal in question will publish it!

Does anyone know of any literature on the role of cultural tour guides as educators & communicators about history at the sites and places they work? Glimmerings of the idea of a publication here based on my own knowledge and experiences but seeking examples from everywhere I can.

Happy Anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street, to all decent people.

It really cannot be stressed how much the current AI push is working in tandem with the rise in fascism around the world. These freaks are coming together over mass dehumanisation and rejection of humanity as anything worthwhile in this world.

1/Went to my local post office to stock up on missing first day covers for my collection. Shocked they are now $8 each! A rather odd compendium of instruments, although I would disagree that a microphone is a musical instrument, rather a medium of recording and transmitting sound.

The Gukurahundi genocide which directly impacted my family is one of the most heartbreaking stories in a country awash with them for a century The callous violence, murderous intent & complete lack of accountability make for queasy but necessary reading Bravo @thecontinent.org for talking about it!

The past is always visible and relevant no matter what is done to ignore or cover it up! Amused that this sign has been like this for over 5 years now

Love this time of year

The Matobo Hills truly are the pinnacle of creation. My photos never do justice to the magnificent beauty that is this landscape, its history and people.

Overly excited to be asked to write a story for an African Travel magazine on the main sites of the Zimbabwe Culture with my beloved wife. Tight word count which is a challenge but it has promoted clarity in what to include and how. Alway feel like I've left so, so much out though!

My church

I have just read an article about the Ndebele people that has so deeply annoyed me, I have written to the editors to ask for the right of response to its many incorrect assumptions, use of outdated reference materials & failure to fully engage with current thinking and theory on African colonisation

Just completed a brief biography of L.S. Jameson for a new book on View of the World and its complicated, contested history. Certainly a fascinating character whose life and attitudes inspired Kipling's poem, "If..."

Life among the vines.

Now have 12 filing cabinet drawers of information on many aspects of Bulawayo's story filed & ready to read through. Companies, buildings, suburbs, politics (local & national), water, economy, sports, culture, arts, development policy, law & much else besides.

Change in Skies.

The happiest of all my offices

From losing all leaves to a new canopy in just over two weeks! Trees are incredible.

I adore this grand old lady. It's been 16 years since I saw her first in the Matobo Hills.

I ache to excavate this and similar furnaces in the Matobo Hills one day. Much speculation as to age, purpose and functionality. Smithing or smelting, iron or copper, fairly recent or quite ancient, operated by who?

Still the best presidential portrait we've ever had.

Finally beginning to write up my decade long research project into this art of the Matobo Hills World Heritage Site, Zimbabwe. Better yet, it's to hopefully be included in a festschrift to the man who began my love affair with archaeology!

Seen at the crossing just outside of Marondera, Zimbabwe. Would that this was still the primary means of moving bulk cargo across the country instead of the dangerous and destructive heavy trucks.

Been happily filing all day today, all for a new project on the history of Bulawayo. Have filled three four-drawer filing cabinets with paperwork - cuttings, printouts, pamphlets and much more.

Just saw the new Superman film. It's the first movie I've watched this year that made me shout for joy in certain scenes & laugh out loud occasionally. A fantastic, convoluted story of hope in difficult choices, with so many homages to the comics I loved growing up. Thank you @jamesgunn.bsky.social

Great post on the risk of Google Scholar disappearing! Obligatory self promotion, here’s my own from last year on possible alternatives blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsoci...

Garden Commodore

Sunlit Great Enclosure, Great Zimbabwe

Peace at Lake Mutirikwi

Happy to have visited Kongezi Ruins last week.

Terry Pratchett with the relevant philosophical win - as always. From his magisterial book, Thud.

Waiting for bath time.

I wonder what tidbits you accepted from Uncle Cecil and Leander Starr? Still do, perhaps? -- John Eppel, Songs My Country Taught Me, 2005

Missy the Bushpig emerges from the darkness while we chatted on the verandah at a farmhouse in Shangani, Zimbabwe.

And here he is teaching American kids to treat refugees with respect in the 1960s:

Yes, this is a genuine 1949 DC Comics illustration printed on book covers distributed to schools in the US and an 1950s updated colour version:

Here's how you remove Google AI from your mobile devices.

My church.

A good day in my other office

Always grateful to the Catholic Bishops Conference for doing this in Zimbabwe, for over 60 years, much to the outrage and chagrin of our dear leaders.

So very proud to have published this poetry collection for John Eppel. A friend, mentor, extraordinary talent, lover of Zimbabwe & quite possibly the greatest poet ever to have come out of Zimbabwe. Certainly he's the best living poet & this book is another example of the master & his craft.

I refuse to give the NYT my eyeballs, so I can't speak to the specifics of this article. But any historians attempting to use AI for either writing or research should be run out of the field. AI is inherently unable to do anything we need it to do to understand and communicate history.

History requires deep, extensive research a lot of that research will end up not being directly relevant. You won't know that until you get in it. Research isn't just pulling a doc with all the answers, it's finding connections, it's understanding what's *not* being said, it's knowing context.

Thanks to my wonderful wife, who showed me how to pay for & then download an app on my phone, I now have DStretch! Have now spent several hours going through my collection of rock art images & playing with various enhancements. Just incredible & I can't wait to see what it does to improve my work!

Beauty behind bars, Bulawayo

termites flying towards a formling in the Matobo Hills

One of my favourite buildings in Bulawayo. The clock and the crown remain iconic.

Ilizwe elitsha

Not my picture but definitely my sentiments!

Winter sunset in the Matobo Hills World Heritage Site