Petty Pendagrass

I walk into her room at res and see her neatly made-up bed with a yellow ‘in love’ emoji pillow on it. On her desk there’s her black and red Lenovo laptop. On her shelf, I notice a box of oats (which she claims doesn’t belong to her while she also apologises for not having snacks in her room), peanut butter, cups and dishes. On her bedside table there are a couple of note books for her different subjects which all her have her name neatly written on them as well as where to find her when the book had been misplaced. I also find sunscreen, Palmer’s coconut oil, tissue oil and different forms of deodorant which insinuated that she just might be one who really cares about her physical appearance. On the contrary, I find a lace wig under her desk which has probably even forgotten that it had an owner or a job to do. I then came to the conclusion that she was probably one who did care about her physical appearance but not so much about being girly. And guess what? I was right.

When an individual has an Instagram name such as Petty Pendagrass, one can’t help but have a couple of questions about who they really are. After having browsed through her Instagram page, I had a clearer understanding of her and how she could have come to having such a name. When analysing her Instagram name I came to see that the word “Petty” described how intricate yet delicate she is. “Pendagrass”? I honestly still don’t know. At first I thought that this word was possibly a synonym for a rebel or outcast, but I was unpleasantly surprised to find out that after doing some research, the word is merely a surname. I prefer my version and definition of the word though, so we’ll stick to it being a synonym for rebel. “Petty Pendagrass”- Intricate and delicate rebel. And so by understanding her name, I already had answers to questions I never knew I had about her. After all, her name means answer.

Karabo Mpho Dikobe- a young 21 year old young woman who lives in a township called Alexandra or also known as Gomora in Johannesburg. Now to describe this young lady- She had recently had her hair blonde, but then after deciding that going blonde wasn’t bold enough, she changed her hair colour into a bright blue. Both her feet had her toenails painted, but one foot had all the toes painted olive while the other had yellow. She wore spectacles. Her accessories weren’t ones to enhance beauty but rather to express oneself. She had on her her double helix and septum piercings. Although she is short, what she lacks in size she compensates for in character. She was quite a contrast. To me she seemed as though she were half unicorn (her love for bright things and how full of life she was) and half biker (how daredevil she seemeed and her love for piercings).

Looking into her history, she spent nine years of her life in a co-ed school and the last three years of high school at an all-girl school in Cape Town. When asking her about her parents and siblings she said, “I am the only common thing between my parents.” As for her siblings, she has three younger brothers- two on her father’s side and one brother on her mother’s. Her father got married to another woman while her mom on one hand was also seeing someone. While inquiring about her childhood, I learned something about her. When answering me she said, “I wish I had the experience of both parents raising me. I barely saw my dad when he married my stepmom”. She had been receiving love from both parents separately, but all she wanted was to receive love in its entirety, love in its fullness, love in its infinite form. Her feeling a void or as though there was something missing in her life made her stronger. With that void came a gift, the gift of independence. She had to learn to be independent from a very young age. This independence lead to her working at Motor Happy as a sales consultant and therefore she could proudly pay for her own registration here at Rhodes.

Her family has a strong religious background. Her? Not so much. Karabo has nothing against religion, though she doesn’t believe in God. She “needs more in order to believe that there is a God”, and so her way of thinking alone has made her the outcast. She has gone against most of the ideologies that were instilled in her while growing up. She was also the first amongst her family members to take a gap year while she also has an older cousin of hers who recently graduated, who is very religious and who always does the right thing. There is always comparison between the two of them as there is only a two year difference between them. Unlike her family member, she believes in fully living life the way one desires, without having restrictions or manual on who to be and how to become that individual. She is against the idea that individuals have to conform to certain norms in order to be deemed appropriate.

The way her family sees her might not change anytime soon, but I definitely now have geoid view of her- a half unicorn, half biker Petty Pendagrass.