From the Editor
My first brush with celebrity was when I was about six years old and Kit, the talking car from Knight Rider, came to our local shopping mall. At the time I didn’t think to question why “he” would take time out of his busy crime-busting, Hoff-driving schedule to come all the way to suburban Pietermaritzburg – I was just too excited that he actually knew my name!
Several years later, I joined a crowd of screaming fans to meet Michelle Bruce, Miss South Africa 1988 (the one with the cool wavy hair) at the local BP. I left with more than just a memory, but an actual autograph! I added to my collection four years later when I joined the queue at Game to meet cricketing legend Jonty Rhodes. As he is a Natal boy, I was interested to meet a real local legend. But if I am being totally honest, the main reason I stood in that queue was to secure an autograph for a particular boy in my std. 6 class – an avid Jonty fan – who I had a major crush on. (The autograph went down a treat, but then his family emigrated to New Zealand and my plans were well and truly thwarted.)
In my adult life I have been lucky enough to interview a number of South African celebs – who usually turn out to be normal, everyday folk – but that still didn’t stop me from getting extremely excited when I spotted Irish actor Gabriel Byrne crossing a street in Dublin. So clearly I am not yet immune to the allure of celebrity.
Recently, however, I rediscovered my childhood autograph book, with the precious signatures from Jonty and Michelle still in it. It is a pretty book made up of pages of different coloured paper and obviously – as celebrities in Pietermaritzburg were few and far between – I was loathe to waste it, and instead filled it with messages from my friends and teachers as I graduated first primary and then high school. And it was these messages (and not the much cherished celebrity signatures) that I found myself lingering longer over.
It has made me realise that many of us spend far too much time and energy immersed in the daily ins and outs of our favourite celebrities, while ignoring the real celebrities in our lives, those special people who actually make a tangible difference to who we are. Like my std. 2 teacher, Miss Ross, who showed me that learning could be fun, and so quite literally changed the entire course of my life. Or close friends who had the guts to tell me the truth when I needed it most; my mum for always offering a shoulder to cry on when the truth finally sunk in; or my dear partner who always completes my day, whether in spirit or in person. These are the people we should be idolising and the ones we should be excited to see every day, not someone on the other side of the world who just happens to know how to rock a pair of Louboutins.
Given the choice to spend some quality time with another episode of The Kardashians or with someone near and dear, I think the choice is obvious.
Nicky
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