RaDical MiDDle - ColdType

68 | denis beckett
6
Milking sheds
My career as “consultant” consisted of one commission.
Ted Sceales was managing director of Drum magazine, the
most renowned local black periodical. He wanted a plan for
an educational supplement. Jim Bailey, Drum’s inimitable
proprietor, thereupon decided I was a “Drum Man” and I got
the traditional “Drum Man” treatment – viz, invitation to Jim’s
exquisite farm near Broederstroom, man-to-man stroll through
the woods, irresistible job offer somewhere near the milking
sheds.
I was “Group assistant editor”. I didn’t know what that
meant, nor did Jim. Jim wanted an intention of permanent
fealty. I was scratchy about “black” publishing and wanting
fullness, people, not blacks or whites. This was December
and I was going to america in april, on one of uncle Sam’s
handy expense-paid tours for foreign journalists. Jim was
sure that by then I’d be a life-long Drum devotee. I was sure
that by then he’d have swallowed my ideas for an “all South