WHAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT... right now!

Dene Smuts

Former shadow Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development for the DA, who edited FAIRLADY from 1984 to 1987. I’ve always admired her. She was already, as she put it, ‘a liberal of my own persuasion’ before she joined the then-Democratic Party in 1989. She was SA’s first-ever female whip in Parliament and a gender activist for women’s rights. She was one of the good ones, and we will all feel her absence.

The friendship of women

I love this story about Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe that I read on huffingtonpost.com. Ella wasn’t allowed to play at the Mocambo (then Hollywood’s hottest nightclub) because she was black. Marilyn, who was a huge fan, told the club’s owners that if they hired Ella, she would sit in the front row every night she played. Which they did – and she did. The press went crazy, the two became lifelong friends – and, said Ella, ‘After that, I never had to play a small jazz club again.’ Damn right, too. I love women.

His Purpleness

I loved Prince: his music, his strop (remember TAFKAP?), his extreme control-freakery in all things, his total eccentricity, his tiny prickliness and, obviously, ‘Purple Rain’. Wherever he and David Bowie have landed up, that’s a party I’d like to be at. Nothing Compares 2 them.

CK2

Calvin Klein’s second unisex fragrance in 21 years – clean, spare and very plain in the nicest possible way. Too corny to call it gender fluid, but irresistible anyway.

Really killer whales

Humans and killer whales are among the only animals known to experience menopause, says science writer Faye Flam. Female orcas have two life stages: 1) fertile, and 2) leader. How cool! – first they breed, then they lead. Apparently captive whales don’t behave in the same way. But in the big blue, these older females lead the large hunting pods and call the shots. Now that’s what I’m talking about.