John Garth Raubenheimer (21/12/1947 / Johannesburg)

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Queen Vic, Johannesburg, breech birth. First of five children, I grew up under apartheid on a poultry farm run by my mother. My father was an inventor. He was BIG John, I was little John. He was a formidable man (See my poems 'Muh And The Moon' and 'Father, Son') My father and mother started off their life together as teachers, she of English, he of Maths and Science. They were rationalist humanists. One day I walked into the local chemist - I was about 15 - and heard one of my aunts gossiping. 'It's a scandal, ' she was saying. 'That Lydia! She's never told her kids they're Jewish. ' (I slid out. A signal moment. I felt protective of our 'Muh' - our name for her when we were little...) ... more »

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