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‘I am 51, but look younger. My doctor thinks it is my veganism’
I get up, look in the mirror, pout my lips, raise my eyebrows, wink and think, “Wow, it all works!” Then I go for a run, in celebration of being alive
My dreads are part of the Rasta-farian idea. Rastafarianism was a backlash against black people who felt the need to copy white people, to lighten up and straighten their hair. We have white and Japanese people with dreadlocks now – it’s a bit of a style thing. People ask, “Do you care about this?” Religious and nonreligious historians can identify when the comb was invented, so before that, we all had dreadlocks. So I say, anybody can wear dreads.
I am 51, but look younger. My doctor thinks it is my veganism – I’ve been vegan since I was 13. I try not to have fried food and don’t drink alcohol or smoke. I also do yoga and t’ai chi. It’s important to learn how to be relaxed; if you are tense and miserable, it stamps itself on your face
I wrote a novel called Face. People were expecting a kind of black gangsta novel, something about racial or sexual discrimination. I thought, “Let’s do something about facial discrimination.” We judge people by their looks, and people invest so much time and money in rearranging their faces. I went to visit a woman once and she said, “I can’t open the door, I haven’t got my face on.” She was never seen without make-up. I’ve met people with severe facial disfigurements and they have the best attitude. They know the face is superficial. They are just happy they can breathe and see – that their faces work
SOURCE: www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/jan/30/benjamin-zephaniah-interview
