A Postcard From Brighter Times

Mandela casting his vote in the 1994 South African elections. Photo: Paul Weinberg. CC BY-SA 3.0

On February 11,1990, Nelson Mandela was released from Victor Verster prison in South Africa after having been incarcerated for twenty-seven years.

On that same day I was trying, not very successfully, to recover from a slew of personal hardships. My partner had died, too young, not long before. After nursing him over four painful years, I fell into incapacity myself, utterly drained and dispirited.