Yesterday, working through a rancid bout of jetlag, I wrote this piece for The Walrus, mostly to try and come to terms with the surreal toggle between G20 paranoid Toronto, and World Cup delirious Johannesburg. Apples and oranges, you might say. Not so fast! I’d argue. The two events–both global, both highly publicized, both fraught with organizational peril–have parallels that are worth exploring. Duly explored.

Currently based in Johannesburg, covering the FIFA World Cup Finals for a potpourri of venues, including The Walrus, CBC and the National Post. I won’t provide too much further exposition on this site — I feel like I’m spewing enough ink/bits n bytes as it is — but suffice to say that it has so far been an incredible, if somewhat overwhelming, experience, and one that will take many moons to process. I think it will be difficult to offer punditry on Africa without having been here — there is something at once so incredibly vital and scarily slapdash about the whole thing — and it speaks to the potential not only of South Africa, which has never been a secret, but of the whole darn continent.

Here’s an older Walrus piece on my first visit to Soccer City in January. And here’s a long literary essay on Johannesburg’s writers and their intersection with the Cup Finals.

And you’ll find my first three National Post pieces here, here and here.

There’s nothing like bolting around on book tours that quells any impulse I’d ordinarily have for tweeting, updating, Facebooking and other new verbs. Couple of things worth noting. The Toronto Star published this fine review of Kenk, and PopMatters posted this one.

This weekend, the Kenk crew will be in New York City, unleashing our book on the NYC hipster bike set. Please visit Kenk HQ for details.