Dear Christine
I enjoyed your post as I can totally relate to the feeling of homesickness! I really enjoyed the creative way in which you try to deal with this homesickness through knitting. It is definitely not something I would have thought of, but losing yourself in the colours is something that appeals to me. I am a first year student at Rhodes University in South Africa and have had a fair share of homesickness throughout the year. I have recently started blogging with a group of students and one of my posts was about the "homesickness beastie" and how it affected me. Feel free to check it out.
Gabi
Friday, October 24, 2008
Reflecting on our blog
This course on blogging has stretched me as a person in so many ways and given me a fantastic opportunity to write as much as possible! I remember how excited I was when I first realized that we were doing something as fun as blogging as part of our syllabus.
I was frustrated in the beginning though because I was constantly rehearsing for our drama practical exams and did not have enough time to write extra blog posts when I really wanted to. It is for this reason that my productivity in terms of the blog started off relatively slowly. Luckily I am in a group where everyone takes their work quite seriously and works diligently. This meant that our group meetings generally went quite well even though there were differences in opinion on occasion. It also meant that the work load in initially setting up our blog was shared. I am not the greatest fan of group work, but being part of such an enthusiastic group was refreshing and I learnt to be more tolerant of other people’s ideas instead of wanting to have only my ideas used.
I was amazed by the fact that once my head was in the blogging mode, it became so easy to think of story ideas. Most of my story ideas were things that I would think of at any random point during the day. I did not always blog on these ideas, but the things I did blog about were mostly personal experiences and therefore not really researched as such. My interview for the profile article went really well. Luckily for me, the girl I interviewed, Lara, is very easy to get along with and talkative. I was faced with the dilemma though of not having a story with a big Todorovian disruption of any sorts and no Proppian villains, as Lara had quite a happy first year. I tried very hard to keep the profile piece as interesting as possible with the little bit I had to work with, but was disappointed in the mark I got. This however encouraged me to work even harder on my other posts, be it the academic or extra ones.
After blogging for a while I found that I had fallen naturally into a kind of blogging genre writing style. My blog posts seem to have become quite casual and chatty rather than formal or academic. Because the extra posts only have to be 200 words long, I tended to write each post as one paragraph and when it came to actually writing an essay it felt like I had forgotten how to make paragraphs which gave me a good laugh! I definitely think that the genre restrictions of blogging did limit my writing in some ways. There were often times when I wanted to write about issues that I had thought about but it either didn’t relate to first year and therefore to our blog, or I was not necessarily comfortable sharing it on a blog with group members who know me personally. We had also originally decided to keep our blog quite light hearted, but I found that sometimes a post warranted a more serious tone, in which case I decided to go ahead and write in that tone so long as it was relevant to our blog’s theme. Another thing that I found strange was having to include these “academic” comments on other people’s blogs where we had to incorporate the different narrative theorists into our comments. In light of a blogging genre, it felt unnatural to me to post comments of a more academic nature.
Although my blogging experience as a whole was very positive I had and still have a huge issue with the ethics or lack of ethics involved in some of the other blogs. I enjoyed writing an opinion piece and I found it quite challenging as it is definitely something that is hard to write well. I was absolutely horrified though while reading through some of the opinion pieces on other blogs. There were a few xenophobic and homophobic posts that made my blood curdle because as far as I’m concerned they were bad enough to be classified as hate speech. This is unacceptable in the world of journalism and I do not believe that this is the aim of an opinion piece. I think it is fantastic that people have strong opinions about issues and that they are brave enough to voice them, but to be so blatantly homophobic on a public blog is not on. Click here to see an example of a homophobic blog post.
My group did not seem to have any problems in terms of writing ethically, but after emailing some of my blog posts to my mom yesterday just for her interest, I got quite a surprising reply. My mom who understandably is not familiar with blogging and does not understand the genre was quite offended by one of my posts as she felt that it was stereotyping, unfair and could even be regarded as gender hate speech. I was obviously quite shocked by my mom’s reply as my post was not intended to be stereotypical or hate speech, it was merely commenting on an incident which involved the inappropriate advances by an elderly man, and then relating that issue to a more general audience and appealing to that audience not to fall into the same trap. Although I don’t think my mom realizes the diary nature of blogs and she misunderstood the intention of my post, which was meant to have quite a strong impact, her reaction made me realize that one has to be very careful when writing and always make sure that your intention is clear and that you aren’t employing hate speech or stereotyping devices.
Overall this blogging course has allowed me to write extensively on a very wide range of topics and I would say that my personal growth was about eight. Thank you to Sim and Alette for a challenging but fun course, Hailey for all your help and to my great blog group!
I was frustrated in the beginning though because I was constantly rehearsing for our drama practical exams and did not have enough time to write extra blog posts when I really wanted to. It is for this reason that my productivity in terms of the blog started off relatively slowly. Luckily I am in a group where everyone takes their work quite seriously and works diligently. This meant that our group meetings generally went quite well even though there were differences in opinion on occasion. It also meant that the work load in initially setting up our blog was shared. I am not the greatest fan of group work, but being part of such an enthusiastic group was refreshing and I learnt to be more tolerant of other people’s ideas instead of wanting to have only my ideas used.
I was amazed by the fact that once my head was in the blogging mode, it became so easy to think of story ideas. Most of my story ideas were things that I would think of at any random point during the day. I did not always blog on these ideas, but the things I did blog about were mostly personal experiences and therefore not really researched as such. My interview for the profile article went really well. Luckily for me, the girl I interviewed, Lara, is very easy to get along with and talkative. I was faced with the dilemma though of not having a story with a big Todorovian disruption of any sorts and no Proppian villains, as Lara had quite a happy first year. I tried very hard to keep the profile piece as interesting as possible with the little bit I had to work with, but was disappointed in the mark I got. This however encouraged me to work even harder on my other posts, be it the academic or extra ones.
After blogging for a while I found that I had fallen naturally into a kind of blogging genre writing style. My blog posts seem to have become quite casual and chatty rather than formal or academic. Because the extra posts only have to be 200 words long, I tended to write each post as one paragraph and when it came to actually writing an essay it felt like I had forgotten how to make paragraphs which gave me a good laugh! I definitely think that the genre restrictions of blogging did limit my writing in some ways. There were often times when I wanted to write about issues that I had thought about but it either didn’t relate to first year and therefore to our blog, or I was not necessarily comfortable sharing it on a blog with group members who know me personally. We had also originally decided to keep our blog quite light hearted, but I found that sometimes a post warranted a more serious tone, in which case I decided to go ahead and write in that tone so long as it was relevant to our blog’s theme. Another thing that I found strange was having to include these “academic” comments on other people’s blogs where we had to incorporate the different narrative theorists into our comments. In light of a blogging genre, it felt unnatural to me to post comments of a more academic nature.
Although my blogging experience as a whole was very positive I had and still have a huge issue with the ethics or lack of ethics involved in some of the other blogs. I enjoyed writing an opinion piece and I found it quite challenging as it is definitely something that is hard to write well. I was absolutely horrified though while reading through some of the opinion pieces on other blogs. There were a few xenophobic and homophobic posts that made my blood curdle because as far as I’m concerned they were bad enough to be classified as hate speech. This is unacceptable in the world of journalism and I do not believe that this is the aim of an opinion piece. I think it is fantastic that people have strong opinions about issues and that they are brave enough to voice them, but to be so blatantly homophobic on a public blog is not on. Click here to see an example of a homophobic blog post.
My group did not seem to have any problems in terms of writing ethically, but after emailing some of my blog posts to my mom yesterday just for her interest, I got quite a surprising reply. My mom who understandably is not familiar with blogging and does not understand the genre was quite offended by one of my posts as she felt that it was stereotyping, unfair and could even be regarded as gender hate speech. I was obviously quite shocked by my mom’s reply as my post was not intended to be stereotypical or hate speech, it was merely commenting on an incident which involved the inappropriate advances by an elderly man, and then relating that issue to a more general audience and appealing to that audience not to fall into the same trap. Although I don’t think my mom realizes the diary nature of blogs and she misunderstood the intention of my post, which was meant to have quite a strong impact, her reaction made me realize that one has to be very careful when writing and always make sure that your intention is clear and that you aren’t employing hate speech or stereotyping devices.
Overall this blogging course has allowed me to write extensively on a very wide range of topics and I would say that my personal growth was about eight. Thank you to Sim and Alette for a challenging but fun course, Hailey for all your help and to my great blog group!
I would not trade it for the world...
On hearing that we would be blogging during this course my first thought was of disbelief and went along the lines of “I did not come to university to learn how to blog, any idiot can do that”. Well having today at exactly 11:15 officially reached the end of the narrative and genre course I am happy to admit that I was wrong and that although blogging was very different from anything that I have seen or done before it deserves its place in the Journalism & Media Studies course.
Most of the work that we have done in our Journalism & Media Studies course has been done individually, which suited me fine as I tend to be a perfectionist. You know the old saying “if you want something done right you need to do it yourself” well I’m pretty sure they based that on me. I was then as you can imagine not exactly impressed to find out that our blog assignment was to be done in groups. Now no one who has ever done group work can blame me for my initial feelings of “oh no” and the sarcastic “this is going to be fun” as eight out of ten times group work results in a few people carrying the weight of the entire group. The nightmare that is usually group work turned into a dream for me as I was lucky enough to be placed with four fantastic ladies who have made working in a group an absolute pleasure. Meetings were easily organised and attendance was never a problem. We approached our blog as if we were adventurers exploring newly found territory each watching out for our fellow explorers. Together we navigated the technical difficulties and even on one occasion fought and defeated the ‘Comeeko beast’.
The course had the constraint of a genre but that never stopped our creativity as it could work along side the genre. Our blogs had to be based on the experiences of being a first year at university, which was not a difficult genre to work within as all five of us are currently first years at Rhodes University. It was actually a liberating experience because besides the compulsory posts such as the profile, opinion and the letter to our younger selves’ pieces we were given creative licence to blog about whatever we liked as long as it related to first years or university students. In this respect even though we were working in groups each teammate was responsible for their own productivity in the form of posts. I really enjoyed this aspect of the assignment as it allowed me to work as an individual within the team. I discovered that blogging could be a great way to relieve stress and get things off my chest. These made me more productive and actually want to blog. Especially when I realised that by sharing events and feelings that were happening in my life I could help other people realise that they are not alone in the way they felt.
The character of our blog never restricted my story ideas as it was ‘a day in the life of five diverse students’ which allowed us a broad scope for imagination and creativity. I did feel that I was restricted slightly by the imagined audience’s judgement of my opinions. I always thought carefully about how my fellow classmates would react to what I had written before I hit the ‘publish post’ button. I do not consider this a negative aspect because I think that all writers whether professionals or amateurs should think about the impact of their words before they release them upon the world as once they are out there you can not take them back.
It is for this reason that research is also of importance as what you write is going to be read not only by your classmates but by anyone in the world. It is therefore wise to make sure that you have researched your subject and do not write rubbish that will undermine your credibility. I learnt this early on just because I did not want to be embarrassed by my posts especially the profile that I did. The profile was the post that required the most research as well as dealing with people as sources. People love to talk or at else the ladies in my residence do which made getting story ideas that much easier.
I believe that during this assignment my writing has flourished. I have learnt from my mistakes as well as those of my classmates in what has a positive or negative impact. It also allowed me to experiment with my writing techniques and try new things like the letter to my younger self which I never would have written if it were not for this course. Blogging has opened a whole new world for me in terms of personal growth and a different way in which to fulfil my professional goals. I have actually started my own blog which I intended to use to showcase my photographs and interact with other photography bloggers in order to expand on my skills.
At the beginning of this course I thought that blogging was something akin to a diary and had absolutely nothing to do with journalism but I was wrong. This kind of citizen journalism could be the news of the future. It is interactive, informative and fun. What more could you ask for!
Reminiscing
I found the genre of blogging for people my own age highly stimulating. At first I didn’t blog beyond my assignments but gradually I became more comfortable with the genre and would come back to res with lots of ideas for blog posts. Putting an opinion out there is both scary and liberating. Chances are that someone has had a similar experience. This has lead me to understand that often I think I’m the only one whose felt lonely or conflicted but instead these are common issues within the first year group.
I found myself writing far more this term than ever before. And I really enjoyed being able to explore opinion pieces as well as revisit Profile writing. I found that, especially in my Profile, my writing had improved greatly. I think this is because I’ve written far more than in previous terms which has meant that I’ve began to practice writing skills. For the first time I felt like I merged the theory of writing with the practice of it.
I found generating ideas for the group assignments like the blog planner or Comic very easy because the audience were people like me. I felt confident voicing my opinions with my group as they are all people whose I respect as equals. The dynamic in our group was a good one with everyone being accountable to their work. In working a group I got a better sense of what interests the average first year as I was working with four of them. Often their response to issues would inspire my story ideas. The assignment briefs were also rather open to interpretation which meant that I didn’t feel stifled. The things that I felt passionate about, like Student Volunteership, could often be used in an assignment.
Working in a group meant learning to work around other people’s schedules instead of my own. I found this challenging as most of the time the meetings would happen at the end of the day or in the evening, times when I really wasn’t in the mood to debate colour choices of text for 20 minutes. All of us had strong opions often leading to lengthy debates about the blog. But these debates always resulted in good choices for our blog even if it involved 20 minutes of discussion. All of us are creative people meaning that we could build on one another’s ideas thereby making the idea stronger and better.
I felt that this term was about a seven in personal growth. I intend on specialising in television so working with a group is a fundamental part of this discipline. And if I take nothing away from this experience, I’ll take the skills of group work with me. I learnt to be far more cooperative in a group as well as learning not try to control everything. Delegation was another major skill I learnt. I tend to want to do everything on my own but I was able to trust my group to do their work. I was able to become far more accountable in terms of doing my share of the work and in coming to meetings. So personally I’m far more patient and supportive of others. Professionally I am cementing the skills that I’ll need in my future career.
I do believe that Blogging can be used as a form of Journalism as journalism is founded on the ability to communicate with the masses. As we move forward into a far more technological age where face-to-face communication is being bypassed by the web, Journalism needs to adapt to meet its consumers’ new lifestyles. This can be done through blogging. Blogging not only appeals to the masses that have internet access but also connects many people via the internet. Blogging also moves journalism out of the professional realm and into the civilian journalist arena. This has been happening for a while what with pictures from people's cell phones being used in hard news. Blogging also requires far less time and money than a television broadcast needs.
This theme meant that we were never short of ideas as most people in first year were experiencing what we were. We could draw inspiration from our personal lives as well as from Grahamstown. The disadvantages were that I soon grew tired of the restrictions of the category. It seemed that everyone was tackling the same issue like first year spread and it became harder to put an original spin on an issue. For example with our photo comic, we had to think quite hard to find something original in the overused idea of spiked drinks.
With regards to researching facts, I found that most of my blog posts didn’t need any research since they were inspired by personal experience and therefore very subjective. In the instance when I blogged on student volunteering, I only referenced the CSD webpage on the Rhodes homepage though hyperlinks. When writing my profile article my research was limited to Franci Williamson’s facebook page and to her friends. I feel that my blogging assignments didn’t need any research. Had I been doing an article that was based on facts and statistics and not my own personal experience then research would have been necessary.
Dealing with sources was remarkably easy since most of the first years on campus had heard about the Journ one blogging assignments and were interested in them. Most people weren’t intimidated by the fact that their opinions could be read all over the world. Instead they were excited and far more willing to participate. The issues that we dealt with weren’t heavy for the blog since everyone is affected by spiked drinks or sexual harassment. This gave us the freedom to express ourselves relatively anonymously.
I really enjoyed the relaxed genre of blogging. I was able to make my writing far more personal by discussing my personal opinions and experiences. I didn’t feel restricted by style and tone which made me feel far more comfortable with blogging. In fact I often came back to res inspired by the day and wanting to blog about it.
This week when I wanted to post Philippa Yaa De Villiers’ poem Tea is for Thabo, I stopped myself since it is quite a controversial poem. I realised that even though I feel free to express my political views others don’t feel the same. I would post it on my own blog since I think many South Africans needs to read it but I wouldn’t post it on my group’s blog because it doesn’t represent everyone’s feelings. So ethically I realised that even though blogging allows for a lot of freedom, I should be sensitive about posting things which aren’t shared by my team members.
Looking back, this assignment of blogging has been the most fun and interesting. The combination of theory, practice as well as group work have made it both educational and fun.
I found myself writing far more this term than ever before. And I really enjoyed being able to explore opinion pieces as well as revisit Profile writing. I found that, especially in my Profile, my writing had improved greatly. I think this is because I’ve written far more than in previous terms which has meant that I’ve began to practice writing skills. For the first time I felt like I merged the theory of writing with the practice of it.
I found generating ideas for the group assignments like the blog planner or Comic very easy because the audience were people like me. I felt confident voicing my opinions with my group as they are all people whose I respect as equals. The dynamic in our group was a good one with everyone being accountable to their work. In working a group I got a better sense of what interests the average first year as I was working with four of them. Often their response to issues would inspire my story ideas. The assignment briefs were also rather open to interpretation which meant that I didn’t feel stifled. The things that I felt passionate about, like Student Volunteership, could often be used in an assignment.
Working in a group meant learning to work around other people’s schedules instead of my own. I found this challenging as most of the time the meetings would happen at the end of the day or in the evening, times when I really wasn’t in the mood to debate colour choices of text for 20 minutes. All of us had strong opions often leading to lengthy debates about the blog. But these debates always resulted in good choices for our blog even if it involved 20 minutes of discussion. All of us are creative people meaning that we could build on one another’s ideas thereby making the idea stronger and better.
I felt that this term was about a seven in personal growth. I intend on specialising in television so working with a group is a fundamental part of this discipline. And if I take nothing away from this experience, I’ll take the skills of group work with me. I learnt to be far more cooperative in a group as well as learning not try to control everything. Delegation was another major skill I learnt. I tend to want to do everything on my own but I was able to trust my group to do their work. I was able to become far more accountable in terms of doing my share of the work and in coming to meetings. So personally I’m far more patient and supportive of others. Professionally I am cementing the skills that I’ll need in my future career.
I do believe that Blogging can be used as a form of Journalism as journalism is founded on the ability to communicate with the masses. As we move forward into a far more technological age where face-to-face communication is being bypassed by the web, Journalism needs to adapt to meet its consumers’ new lifestyles. This can be done through blogging. Blogging not only appeals to the masses that have internet access but also connects many people via the internet. Blogging also moves journalism out of the professional realm and into the civilian journalist arena. This has been happening for a while what with pictures from people's cell phones being used in hard news. Blogging also requires far less time and money than a television broadcast needs.
This theme meant that we were never short of ideas as most people in first year were experiencing what we were. We could draw inspiration from our personal lives as well as from Grahamstown. The disadvantages were that I soon grew tired of the restrictions of the category. It seemed that everyone was tackling the same issue like first year spread and it became harder to put an original spin on an issue. For example with our photo comic, we had to think quite hard to find something original in the overused idea of spiked drinks.
With regards to researching facts, I found that most of my blog posts didn’t need any research since they were inspired by personal experience and therefore very subjective. In the instance when I blogged on student volunteering, I only referenced the CSD webpage on the Rhodes homepage though hyperlinks. When writing my profile article my research was limited to Franci Williamson’s facebook page and to her friends. I feel that my blogging assignments didn’t need any research. Had I been doing an article that was based on facts and statistics and not my own personal experience then research would have been necessary.
Dealing with sources was remarkably easy since most of the first years on campus had heard about the Journ one blogging assignments and were interested in them. Most people weren’t intimidated by the fact that their opinions could be read all over the world. Instead they were excited and far more willing to participate. The issues that we dealt with weren’t heavy for the blog since everyone is affected by spiked drinks or sexual harassment. This gave us the freedom to express ourselves relatively anonymously.
I really enjoyed the relaxed genre of blogging. I was able to make my writing far more personal by discussing my personal opinions and experiences. I didn’t feel restricted by style and tone which made me feel far more comfortable with blogging. In fact I often came back to res inspired by the day and wanting to blog about it.
This week when I wanted to post Philippa Yaa De Villiers’ poem Tea is for Thabo, I stopped myself since it is quite a controversial poem. I realised that even though I feel free to express my political views others don’t feel the same. I would post it on my own blog since I think many South Africans needs to read it but I wouldn’t post it on my group’s blog because it doesn’t represent everyone’s feelings. So ethically I realised that even though blogging allows for a lot of freedom, I should be sensitive about posting things which aren’t shared by my team members.
Looking back, this assignment of blogging has been the most fun and interesting. The combination of theory, practice as well as group work have made it both educational and fun.
Connecting our blog with the outside world
Hi Ashlea,
My name is Tarryn and I am currently a Journalism & Media Studies student at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa. I just want to say how much I enjoyed reading your blog and thank you for the advice that you give in this post in particular. I am just about to write my first year final exams and have been doubting whether I should be studying at all. Stumbling across your blog inspired me again as it always helps to hear of people who have achieved and found a way to the end of the studying tunnel. It is also reassuring to know that there are those that think it is worth the effort, time and investment. Our journalism class is currently doing a new media course in which we are blogging in groups to learn about narrative and genre. Our group is called 'Tales from a Rhodent' if you would like to take a look. I also have my own blog that I just started called 'Drawing Life with Light'.
All the best with your thesis!
Kind regards
Tarryn
My name is Tarryn and I am currently a Journalism & Media Studies student at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa. I just want to say how much I enjoyed reading your blog and thank you for the advice that you give in this post in particular. I am just about to write my first year final exams and have been doubting whether I should be studying at all. Stumbling across your blog inspired me again as it always helps to hear of people who have achieved and found a way to the end of the studying tunnel. It is also reassuring to know that there are those that think it is worth the effort, time and investment. Our journalism class is currently doing a new media course in which we are blogging in groups to learn about narrative and genre. Our group is called 'Tales from a Rhodent' if you would like to take a look. I also have my own blog that I just started called 'Drawing Life with Light'.
All the best with your thesis!
Kind regards
Tarryn
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Vanilla and Caramel scoops taste good together!
*Ice-Cream*: Have the same flavoured ice-cream...
Hi Miss Persy
From the point of view from someone who has been in an interracial relationship for a year and a half, I have to say that I disagree with a lot of what you had to say. I am a white woman who dated a guy with an Indian father and Chinese mother. You mentioned that having an interracial relationship is complicated, yet don't you think that if you manage to overcome those complications your relationship will be stronger? You also say that it is not easy accommodating something different. I think that this depends on each individual as for everyone it will be different. I know that I embraced my boyfriend's family and the cultural differences just as they embraced me. My family members that met my boyfriend also accepted him, even though I did not expect them to, because they managed to see him as a person rather than as someone who is different from us. In many ways I found that I related to this "Chindian" guy alot better than I did to my "own kind" as you call it. You will experience difficulties in any relationship whether it be interracial or not and it is how you handle those difficulties that will determine how your relationship turns out. Being in an interracial relationship you learn to ignore comments from narrow-minded people and concentrate rather on your own happiness. Having been in an interracial relationship is something I would never want to change- it was by far one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life and I would recommend it to everyone. If it wasn't for the distance that now separates me and my Chindian man, we would most probably still be together...
Gabi
Hi Miss Persy
From the point of view from someone who has been in an interracial relationship for a year and a half, I have to say that I disagree with a lot of what you had to say. I am a white woman who dated a guy with an Indian father and Chinese mother. You mentioned that having an interracial relationship is complicated, yet don't you think that if you manage to overcome those complications your relationship will be stronger? You also say that it is not easy accommodating something different. I think that this depends on each individual as for everyone it will be different. I know that I embraced my boyfriend's family and the cultural differences just as they embraced me. My family members that met my boyfriend also accepted him, even though I did not expect them to, because they managed to see him as a person rather than as someone who is different from us. In many ways I found that I related to this "Chindian" guy alot better than I did to my "own kind" as you call it. You will experience difficulties in any relationship whether it be interracial or not and it is how you handle those difficulties that will determine how your relationship turns out. Being in an interracial relationship you learn to ignore comments from narrow-minded people and concentrate rather on your own happiness. Having been in an interracial relationship is something I would never want to change- it was by far one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life and I would recommend it to everyone. If it wasn't for the distance that now separates me and my Chindian man, we would most probably still be together...
Gabi
Complaints to the Next Teller Please
Death by Journalism: Cry of the Complainer
I happen to disagree with your argument that many of the first year Journalism students complain about the course work and due dates given due to them having a negative effect on their social lives. I, together with four friends who also do JMS1, have not had much of a social life this whole year due to our various subject choices. Taking Journalism together with subjects such as English, Politics and Drama have proven to be lethal combinations that require constant dedication and many all-nighters from us. Together with Journalism, I am also a Drama 1 student and have spent the past few weeks of my life on centre stage rehearsing for our practical exams and not out at the Rat and Parrot getting sloshed. On top of the late night rehearsals I have had English and Classical Civilizations essays and readings as well as Journalism assignments ranging from 150 words to 1000 words. I understand that many people do not like to pull their weight and expect to be spoon fed answers but when many of us complain about some of the assignments given, it is mainly due to them clashing with other assignments from other courses and not out of shear laziness. I enjoy Journalism and its competitiveness, and understand that varsity is not just a joy ride but on top of essays and assignments, not all of us can produce written masterpieces within a 15 minute period as some lecturers might think. It is also important and healthy that students have fun at varsity whilst focusing on the academic aspects of varsity life, so going out with friends on a Friday night or playing for a sports team instead of spending the night studying might not be such a bad thing. Maybe you should interview more than one person who complains about Journalism and find out the reasons why we make such complaints before making such claims.
I happen to disagree with your argument that many of the first year Journalism students complain about the course work and due dates given due to them having a negative effect on their social lives. I, together with four friends who also do JMS1, have not had much of a social life this whole year due to our various subject choices. Taking Journalism together with subjects such as English, Politics and Drama have proven to be lethal combinations that require constant dedication and many all-nighters from us. Together with Journalism, I am also a Drama 1 student and have spent the past few weeks of my life on centre stage rehearsing for our practical exams and not out at the Rat and Parrot getting sloshed. On top of the late night rehearsals I have had English and Classical Civilizations essays and readings as well as Journalism assignments ranging from 150 words to 1000 words. I understand that many people do not like to pull their weight and expect to be spoon fed answers but when many of us complain about some of the assignments given, it is mainly due to them clashing with other assignments from other courses and not out of shear laziness. I enjoy Journalism and its competitiveness, and understand that varsity is not just a joy ride but on top of essays and assignments, not all of us can produce written masterpieces within a 15 minute period as some lecturers might think. It is also important and healthy that students have fun at varsity whilst focusing on the academic aspects of varsity life, so going out with friends on a Friday night or playing for a sports team instead of spending the night studying might not be such a bad thing. Maybe you should interview more than one person who complains about Journalism and find out the reasons why we make such complaints before making such claims.
Experiences. Stories. First Year.: Oh shame, you went to a private school.
Experiences. Stories. First Year.: Oh shame, you went to a private school.: I agree with your argument that the being from a private school can often be detrimental. As a matriculant from Crawford College, I’ve had my fair share of ‘rich girl’ and ‘snob’ comments. I often feel uncomfortable admitting to being from Crawford. But I disagree with you when you say that you aren’t sure what your parents paid for. I know that the education I received was above par for most people. And I’m grateful for the lengths that Crawford went to, to ensure the high standard of Matric results that I received. These included early morning tutorials and a week of winter school where we corrected problems from the June exams. I know that often, the private school category works against us like in the JMS2 application but I know that the education I received has ensured that I am coping academically and that the jump from Matric to University has been that small compared to others. So yes, the system isn’t fair. But the benefits of my private school education have ensured that I am more than ready for second and third year and can move beyond the system.
Out of your SPACE: Homosexuality at Rhodes
Out of your SPACE: Homosexuality at Rhodes
Firstly I would like to congratulate you for having the courage to post this opinion on your blog. It is obviously a topic that you feel deeply about or you just felt like stirring the pot knowing that your post would not go down well. I personally thought that your argument lacked authority and was filled with assumptions which challenged your credibility. I was left with many absurd questions like how do ‘innocent’ people become ‘victims’ of gay/lesbians? If you were referring to the fact that a straight person might receive unwanted attention from a gay/lesbian then I would not necessarily consider that a ‘victim’ situation. Never mind the use of the terms ‘innocent’ and ‘victim’ which I find rather offensive. I can not believe that someone living in South Africa could be so anti-tolerant of people’s cultures and personal choices, as that is how you came across. The fact that you think that Rhodes and senior students have “corrupted a lot of first years” into becoming gay is ridiculous and as an argument has no legs to stand on.
If your intention was to cause a stir well you definitely succeeded but I’m afraid you will find that you failed to gain any support for your argument.
Firstly I would like to congratulate you for having the courage to post this opinion on your blog. It is obviously a topic that you feel deeply about or you just felt like stirring the pot knowing that your post would not go down well. I personally thought that your argument lacked authority and was filled with assumptions which challenged your credibility. I was left with many absurd questions like how do ‘innocent’ people become ‘victims’ of gay/lesbians? If you were referring to the fact that a straight person might receive unwanted attention from a gay/lesbian then I would not necessarily consider that a ‘victim’ situation. Never mind the use of the terms ‘innocent’ and ‘victim’ which I find rather offensive. I can not believe that someone living in South Africa could be so anti-tolerant of people’s cultures and personal choices, as that is how you came across. The fact that you think that Rhodes and senior students have “corrupted a lot of first years” into becoming gay is ridiculous and as an argument has no legs to stand on.
If your intention was to cause a stir well you definitely succeeded but I’m afraid you will find that you failed to gain any support for your argument.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
I never knew just what it was about this old Coffee Shop I love so much
Today when it was spitting rain for the entire day, all I wanted was to sit in a coffee shop akin to Central Perk in Friends. Coffee shops epitomise what it means to be a student; a place for intellectual conversations surrounded by books and artistic people. Forget drinks at the Rat or dancing at Union! Maybe I’ve been influenced by Friends or by the days when the Impressionist Artists gathered in French café’s to talk about art, politics and literature. Normally, I get my caffeine fix from Homeground Cafe (which serves Joburg standard coffee but at Joburg prices). But by the time I got to Homeground it was closed. This led me to try out Reddits, this tiny café down New Street. As I stepped out of the rain, I was greeted by a warm fire and friendly smiles. Reddits is both a café and bookshop. Surrounded by books and enjoying a steaming hot cappuccino epitomised my vision of varsity. Even better are the prices of drinks and food with a cappuccino only costing R10. Reddits has a book room, upstairs café and garden area. If you’re anything like me and value a good cappuccino, tranquil atmosphere and a little intellectual stimulation you’ll love Reddits.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Weekday distractions: Part 2
Like I mentioned in part one, on Tuesday night I was distracted and landed up at the Old Gaol. But I wasn’t the only one being distracted. The Gaol is the type of place where you meet new people very quickly and easily. So it wasn’t long before I was chatting to a married man, who informed me that he had a 12-day-old daughter, and also to a funky, sexy female British student who happens to be engaged. To cut a long story short at some point during the night, married man told sexy girl that if he wasn’t married and she wasn’t engaged then he would be kissing her... It is this type of comment that makes my blood boil and has contributed to the disillusionment and man-hate that I am already feeling at the moment. What happened to the days when marriage was a sacred union? Or am I just being old-fashioned? Although I am not particularly religious, I still believe that if you get married (esp. In a church), you are not only making a promise to your new spouse, but also to God. Although not everyone believes in this it is still something that should be taken into consideration otherwise what on earth is the point on getting married in the first place??? I am not against a married person going out and having fun either, but once you are married there are certain ways of behaving that become inappropriate. Once again I question myself and ask if am I just reinforcing these conventions of society or am I right in believing that a promise is something that should be respected and honoured? These are distractions that could cost you your marriage and it could cost a 12-day-old little girl the privilege of growing up in an unbroken family.
Weekday distractions: Part 1
Going out is a normal part of most first year’s experience at University. My going out experiences started somewhat slower than the rest of the other first years though. I had a lot of fun in O-week, but never totally let go and once lectures etc started I made sure that I only went out on weekend nights and not during the week. I can’t say that I wasn’t envious of all the girls in my res who would make an effort to dress up for Wednesday night theme parties at the Union while I conscientiously stayed in to work. The corridors on Wednesday evenings were always filled with laughter and the mad running around of girls looking for crazy outfits to wear. I would have loved to have joined them but a combination of shyness and not knowing how to approach them and wanting to take my work seriously meant that I never did. The first semester turned out to be a hellish one for me, but by the second semester I felt more settled, happier and the third term became my O-week. I started going out every weekend and at least one night a week if not more. I have since met many fantastic people and my group of friends has grown! We are right in the middle of fourth term, yet I still find myself tempted to go out during the week whether I have work to do or not. And for some reason Tuesday nights are the most tempting. No, not because of the R10 draughts served at The Rat on Tuesdays, but purely by coincidence. Take last Tuesday night for example: After getting back from the film festival, a friend came to visit and eventually I got dragged off to chill at a digs VIA the Old Gaol. Now, I don’t regret this at all, but I suffered from a lack of sleep the next day and a bit more work to do than necessary. The previous Tuesday was meant to be a quiet ice-cream at Steers, which turned into quiet R10 draughts at the Rat. The Tuesday before that was Cow Moon Theory, The Rat, The Old Gaol... etc etc etc. I have decided to give up fighting weekday distractions as they are not necessarily a bad thing. So long as I still manage to strike a balance between work and play without getting overly distracted, I should be fine...
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