Thursday, November 27, 2008

Posted by Anonymous at 2:46 AM

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Thank goodness my internet quota is back. It means I can blog again. It has really been an excruciating wek for me. No blogging, no surfing the net. I wonder why I never learn my lesson. You Tube is dangerous to the health of one's quota.It's about time I invested in a PC. Then I can listen and watch all the movies and videos that I feel like watching. Until then, I'll have to try and stay away from You Tube. Especially now that I'm in the midst of exams.

Posted by Anonymous at 1:34 AM

Friday, October 24, 2008

reflection

Reflexive Piece

Unfortunately I am not entirely sure what to say about blogging, or how to reflect on "personal experiences" or "formative meetings" since I haven’t really been an active member of the blogging community, but I’ll give it a go. If I’m going to be honest then I will admit that blogging was always a strange and unfamiliar concept to me and it never occurred to me that it could be challenging or empowering.
When someone mentioned blogging to me I would immediately think about some girl sitting in the dark, all alone, with a box of kleenex, writing her personal memoirs down for the world to see. I didn’t see any point to it at all. However there I was, sitting in Eden Grove Blue with the words "Blogging: what is a blog and how do you go about it" staring back at me. I thought that I had come to learn about being a journalist and not about exposing myself to public humiliation.
Worse then the public humiliation was the idea of having to do group work. In my opinion when you work in groups you can be sure of two things. Firstly, that there will be people who will do nothing and who will never arrive for meetings. Secondly, that I am almost guaranteed to end up doing that person’s section of the work because I would rather pass then stand around shouting, "it’s the principle of the matter". So you can understand my lack of excitement at the prospect of been forced into another awful group work experience.
Then there was the problem of technical difficulty. I have never really been a whiz-kid of science; in fact I’m absolutely shocking when it comes to anything involving a two prong plug or, god forbid, technical jargon. So you can imagine my sudden flash of panic when people started shouting words like "widget" and "JavaScript" at me. To be perfectly honest a tiny part of me, and I emphasis that this was a mere fraction of me, wanted to spit in the lecturers’ eyes. It just sounded ridiculous, a blogging course in JMS1? I thought that kind of thing was reserved for the lucky few who made it into CompSci 2.
Added to this was the concern of genre constraint and the pressure of confining myself to one particular style of writing for the next five weeks. These challenges seemed insurmountable. This was made worse by the fact that I had to go to Cape Town for 3 weeks, which meant that I missed out on crucial information, on lectures, on group meetings and on the chance to really experience the blogging course in the same way that my peers did.
However I can say that when I did have the opportunity to sit down with my group I really enjoyed it. I know that my productivity was not what it could have been but there wasn’t much that I could do about it considering the circumstances. It was the mumps fault and had absolutely nothing to do with not enjoying the assignments or opportunities to write that blogging presented. I can say that in no way did blogging stifle my creativity. Briefs were always laid out in detail and highlighted the importance of what needed to be done and how to go about it and, although slightly stifling in the style of writing allowed, the topics of discussion were always endless.
Although I am not entirely sure what blogging has come to mean to me yet – I’ll leave that self-discovery for a time closer to my journalism exam – I will say that is a powerful form of writing. Sure it doesn’t classify as a part of the traditional media but it is still powerful and challenges its reader. A blogger is a public informant and writes to serve the reader in the same way a journalist might.
I will also say that that the lectures made this all that more bearable. Blogging really didn’t seem like such a hot idea at the start but they got me to a point where I honestly believed that it wasn’t such a bad idea at all. Hell, I even attempted to get my own private blog up and running but I soon realised the futility when step one bamboozled me. It’s okay though, I just found solace in my trusted pen and pencil.

Posted by opinionplease at 1:51 PM

live and let live

Opinion Piece

First year’s all about finding your feet, making mistakes and growing up, so why so many people have concerned themselves with alcohol and drug abuse on campus is beyond me. It’s been said again and again, you are at University to study not to drink away your parent’s money. Believe me, your parents would prefer you get it out of your system when you are 19 then to start at 39.
Anyway, who cares? If you want to drink then drink, if you want to smoke a hallucinogenic substance then smoke it, it’s your life and it’s your choice. You’re at university to discover the person you are going to become. If you have to get drunk and stumble around in a gutter with writing on your forehead to realise that nothing good comes from excessive alcohol consumption then do it. If you drink so much that you fight with your best friend and hurt them but it makes you realise how special they really are then do it .If you smoke too much weed and you can’t study and you end up failing a test but it makes your realise that smoking weed maybe isn’t such a good idea then do it. If you can realise all of these things without abusing addictive substances then give yourself a pat on the back and leave the people who can’t alone.
As you experience things you will find that you - hopefully - start to develop some principles, e.g. I can’t go out tonight, Hannah, I am writing a law test tomorrow morning and you know what happened last time. If you are lucky enough to have some principles then you stand by them, whether or not people accept them. I am sorry if I sound like I’m standing on a pedestal shouting down at the ignorant masses, but let it be known that I am a second year, that I made all of the aforementioned horrific mistakes but that I came out relatively unscathed.
All I’m saying is that first year is one of turmoil, of bad decisions, of awkward moments, of hilarity and above all of growing up. The only way you can ever know what makes you truly happy is by experimenting with everything you have at your disposal. It’s not anyone’s place to judge you or tell you what you are doing is wrong. If you want to pimp around in 90s get up then do it, if you want to scrape past on 50% that’s your choice, if you want to avoid Friars and alcohol and find other ways of making yourself happy then good for you.
Just remember that there is no other time in your life when you can act as selfishly as when you are young. Before you realise it responsibility will come knocking and that knock will send your youth fleeting through the window. So reserve your judgement and give your peers an equal opportunity to make horrific mistakes. If you never make them then you will never learn.

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Posted by opinionplease at 1:49 PM

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Out of your SPACE: Homosexuality at Rhodes

Out of your SPACE: Homosexuality at Rhodes-Concerned about You


First of all, my ignorant friend, it is in your best interest to understand that one’s sexual orientation is a personal and thus private choice. The gay people you speak of fight not to recruit people into their sexuality but, fight to be accepted by the society in which they form part of. How is a persons’ sexuality corrupting anyone in any way? It seems to me like you are the one with the problem. You don’t know who you are which is why it would even occur to you that a few words from a so-called senior gay student could influence you to be gay. You speak as if you live in some sort of place which fears being influenced by the “big bad gay world”. Wake up my darling the world is not there to tip toe around you nor are people here to babysit you. I don’t know whether you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years but gay people are not going anywhere. Your contradictory statements further weaken your argument. Your statements fall flat and add no substantial value to this world, let alone the university.

Posted by opinionplease at 2:40 PM

I am pissed off too!

My First Time: I am pissed off!!#links#links#links

You say, “These men didn’t attack me because they wanted to hurt me. They attacked me because they were cold, hungry and tired of being trampled on by everyone around them. They were tired of living in poverty, hopelessness and pain”. Is this really the reason these men attacked you? Did you ask them this before or after they did it? And the men who rape women before making off with their possessions, is this also because they are tired of living in poverty, hopelessness and pain? Are you suggesting that when one is in pain we should ensure that someone else experiences pain too? Is this the justice you are suggesting? A hurt for a hurt, a scar for a scar? And how does one go about selecting ones victims? Or does this not matter so long as you do not suffer alone. I am not suggesting that we should not try to eliminate poverty but poverty is not a good enough reason to hurt others. And no, they may not have physically hurt you but psychologically they did. And finally when you say, “You have the ability to totally transform every facet of your life and the lives of others” do you mean we have this control by using violence and knives?

Posted by Tough LOve at 2:10 AM

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Reflexive Piece
That day I arrived ten minutes late at the library basement. As I entered it, I could hear the audible sighs of relief from my group members. Io had made it. They were beginning to think I would not come, which would have derailed the group’s progress.”Welcome to blogging”, I said to myself as I joined the others. To be fair this term has been an interesting learning curve but it has not been without its hitches. My approach to academic work is relaxed as I often submit my work the day before it’s due. But group work put a stop to that. The work had to be done some time before it was due. Not to mention that my freedom was curtailed by the fact that I was constrained to a particular genre. But to be frank, I was really productive. I remember the assignment I did on a letter to my younger self. It attracted two interesting comments. I realise that my work would be scrutinised by a broad audience. And because of that, I had no choice but to work hard.

Writing is quite challenging, even more so on a blog where it has to be constant. When we got the assignment brief, I got a sinking feeling in my stomach. I felt that it was too constraining, as was the character of the blog. But when I sat down to think of stories, I surprised myself. There were a great many stories I could come up within the context of the defined character of the blog. And imagining my work being read by an audience enhanced my determination to come up with creative ideas. But I sometimes had problems at the formative meetings. Our tutor was quite helpful and the group was really cooperative. But I felt as if I could say more or come up with more yet when someone came up with a ,suggestion, I felt bad about contradicted them, so I kept quiet, even though I thought the one I had was quite brilliant. Generally, I went along with what the group deemed to be the best thing.
They say life is a journey with different stages. At each stage you grow in a certain way. I regard this course as one of the stages of my life. In terms of personal growth, I could not have asked for more. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would give myself an 8. Personally, I learnt to work with a group of different people of different backgrounds and how to get along with them. The members of my group were quite fun. Some had a hilarious sense of humour, some took on the role of the wise ones, and some were feisty and hardworking and other characteristics. They did have an effect on my personal growth. Professionally, I learnt to be an opinionated individual.I can now stand my ground on any matter, which is a useful attribute in any academic field.
I love freedom. To be free one of the best things one can achieve. I always believed that reporting demanded one to have a certain n amount of freedom. I must admit that initially, I did not like working within the confines of genre. There was an assignment brief to adhere to, the blog character to consider, not to mention the imagined audience. But this experience taught me that it can be interesting to work in the confines of genre. You can direct your energies top that particular genre and produce maximum results,. Well, for me it worked that way.
Before this course, I had never heard of blogging. To me , journalism was concerned with the print media and television. But I realise now that blogging is a form of journalism. Journalism has to do with disseminating information to the public. Ands a great proportion of the public now uses the internet, particularly the young. Since blogging is used to disseminate information on certain issues to these people on the internet, I consider it to be a form of journalism. Though now the journalism is between lay people, those who previously exclusively relied on television and the print media. I have learnt that blogging is indeed journalism, though this time around it is a type of journalism restricted to accredited professionals.
For me, the first year experience has been unbelievable. From academics to love, from social functions to other interesting things, I’ve seen it all. So it was a bonus to have a theme about surviving first year. There was so much to talk about. Besides my own experiences, there were the experiences of other first years. This was a great theme indeed. But since nothing is wholly good, there some weaknesses with the theme. Rhodes is not all about first years only. Since I was constrained to the theme, I had to ignore other interesting issues. Even Grahamstown itself had many interesting stories to offer. A broader theme would have made it easy to blog about just about anything and ensure that the blogging is ever interesting. There are so many things you can write about one theme. Like everyone else, I did try my best though.
One of the drawbacks to laziness is that research seems to be a lot of hard work. But since I was blogging to a potential audience, I had no choice but to research. I mainly researched by interviewing fellow first years. Sometimes I picked up things from conversations. And I corroborated the information with some internet research. Io learnt that research is necessary for a good story. I did extensive research on my stories, though in the first days it was superficial. With sources, I had no problem at all. First years are generally a willing group of people. But I had to be careful with how I used the information they gave me, since it would be read by a great number of people.
Everyday we learn new things. Blogging taught me a lot in terms of writing. In terms of organisation, I became a master. I could say I almost made the genre mine. I experimented a lot when I was blogging, tackling first year issues from different controversial angles. I overcame the fear of calling a spade a spade. To be frank though, I had some ethical concerns with the content some of my peers placed on blogs. In my culture, some things, like sex, are spoken off indirectly. I was initially shocked by the blatant handling of some sexual issues in relation to first years. But I got over it.
It has been an interesting course, no doubt about that. A valuable learning curve. A wonderful experience. An insight into a wholly different aspect of journalism. A period of growth. What more could one ask for? For me, the course was in way life changing. To abuse the words of Julius Caesar, I came, I saw, I blogged. And in the process, I learnt a lot.

Posted by Anonymous at 7:13 AM