Cape Town: Lynnesanity

We have arrived in Cape Town and it is officially AWESOME. Joburg kids are jealous. It's beautiful here AND we are on Long Street, which is basically Cape Town Party Central. (Not that anyone's been taking advantage of that or anything. Nope. For the record, I MYSELF actually haven't.)

We are actually staying in a hotel called Daddy Long Legs--a lot of people thought I was kidding. I'm not. We're staying in apartments rather than hotel rooms, and they're nicer than my apartment at school. Actually, about as nice as my house back in Cincinnati. I'm rooming with the lovely Nina Leff, and our other three Cape Town interns are across the hall in a separate apartment (Abby, Zach, and Lauren).

Today we went to Parliament and listened in on a public hearing about the Protection of State Information Bill, which most people are calling the Secrecy Bill. This bill is making serious waves and is relevant to us since we're media interns. Essentially, in its present form, the bill would allow the government to come down hard on journalists who publish state information--this includes confidential information and other information that the state defines as information that should not be released to the public. There is no public interest defense in the bill (i.e. information that is relevant to the public interest, like details on the Watergate scandal, can be published even if they are damaging to the state) or any mention of public domain (information that is already public should be protected). The bill is sweeping and gives the government a lot of punitive power and, as it stands, encourages journalists not to pursue potentially important stories that are damaging to the government in any way. Many want the bill to be revised and are waging war in the media and in hearings like the one we were at today. I can't see how it will pass without some revisions--it's far too severe as it is.

On a brighter note, I got to go to the Cape Times today! I didn't think I would get to go before I started my internship. I met my boss, and he was basically like, "Hi. When you get here, you're going to start writing immediately. OK bye." So I may not even get a shadowing period. We'll see how that goes. The office seems nice and the people seem friendly though, and it's within walking distance from the apartment.

Scenery-wise, Table Mountain bathes Cape Town in its shadow, hanging over it like a protector. Here's a picture: http://www.sa-venues.com/gallery/table-mountain-17.jpg

It's beautiful. Every time I look up, I see it. I've never lived in a city so closely bordered by a mountain, so I keep thinking that it's storm clouds and then I'm all, "OH MY GOD THAT'S A MOUNTAIN." There are so many tourist things I want to do here--go to the top of Table Mountain, go on the Garden Route, visit Cape Point...so little time!

Sorry about the Lynne-centric post. I'm just really excited about Cape Town.