Girl talk!!!

Check out my comment on this site @ http://grltlk.wordpress.com/about/

Opinion Piece: All Journalism and Media Studies 1 lectures for first years should be compulsory

You can check out my comment on:
htt://www.combatguide2uni.bolgspot.com

Opinion Piece: Most first years become victims of alchohol abuse.

Coming to varsity is a big step for many young South Africans, especially if you come to Rhodes, because it is famously known for its good education, other than that Rhodents has a bad reputation of being drunkards.This looks attractive to others, but to most it’s not always the case. Most students come to Rhodes with no intentions of becoming slaves to alcohol but this ends up being the case. As a second year student I have seen many first years fall into the trap of alcoholism this is a result of many things, things like peer pressure and having freedom for the first time in their lives.
Many young people leave their parents behind and they have to start a life of their own in varsity (they discover their independence), they get loose in that process because no one sets the rules for them/tells anything (no one tells them where to go, who to go out with, and what time they should come back). This is very tempting for many young people, who have no direction or guidance. Some do this because of friends, they want to fit in or they want to please friends and they want to be seen as cool. This is not only a Rhodes University problem this happens to most universities.
I myself was a victim of this in my first year, I had just come out of boarding school and finally I had my freedom. Varsity was a turning point for me, every weekend I would go out and drink, even on weekdays sometimes, but this wasn’t the case before I came to varsity. Besides myself I know lots of other people (friends) who became slaves of alcohol, some came back the following year some didn’t. This was a sad reality that showed how alcohol can take up your life and mess up your academics
This starts off as a little craze during O-week where you can drink as much as you want because you don’t have compulsory lectures to attend. Most people drink for different reasons but the most common reason for drinking amongst first years is to fit. At first the drinking seems fun, until you fall deeper and deeper, start missing lectures and failing tests that when some realise that it’s too much now. Then the third term which is called O-term (party term for others), this is where things start getting out off control because there are parties everywhere, and the biggest event of them all Tri-varsity. Tri-varsity weekend is a huge event in which most students go binge drinking, from Friday to Sunday, some start as early as Tuesday to celebrate this event. Most people agree that this term is the downfall of most Rhodents; if you didn’t start drinking and partying during you probably start this term.
In the end these are all the ups and downs of varsity life, they all depend on how you deal with them and how adaptable you are to a new environment. Most people get into things not knowing the dangers of them, the sad part is: some make it and some get lost and they don’t make it out.

I Just Bounced our bubble all over tha place

My comment can be found at:

http://vicariousrising.typepad.com/vicarious_rising/2008/10/proper-needs.html?cid=136005157#comments

The Birth of my Blogging Reflex

It was with mild irritation and a bored sigh that I heard the news: fourth term was to be blog term. I will admit, outright and honestly, that I was at first unimpressed. I kinda felt like I do when I feel like a coke and have to settle for crème-soda – not entirely pissed off, but not thrilled either. The idea of group work was enough to make me gag- I’d hoped that such tasks had been left behind in high school. Then again I guess high school follows one until the day one flat lines, so it might have been premature of me to think that.

But- and there it is – as my last week as a first year draws to a close, I can honestly say that the blogging course has been the best course this year so far. I feel like I have been able to express myself and actually use some of the skills I have been taught instead of having them float around my brain and settle in some dusty corner. I found that as much as I thought I’d hate group work, I began to enjoy planning and creating my blog with my group members and those late night blogging sessions and copious cups of coffee really made us bond as a blog team (that’s alliteration). And without sounding a little full of myself I feel as if I really contributed a lot to our blog. To be honest it is the first time in journ this year that I feel as if I have actually used my skills and been able to see how my skills and ‘talent’ is progressing. I also feel as if my writing skills improved tremendously as I was forced to write what would normally take up ten thousand pages and somehow squash it into a neat little box of 500 words (or less). Dealing with sources is always a tad pesky, but it seems the anonymity of the internet was a comfort to some poor souls and so this assignment was not marred by the shameful absence of good quotations and anecdotes.

I remember the feeling of complete frustration when I could not change the html on my template. Pure rage throbbed through me like a steady, angry pulse as I searched in vain for templates that would not be rejected by what I began to see as my stupid blog. I spent hours every day trying to change what now seems so small a detail – however then I saw it as not only the backdrop for what would be my brilliant posts (or so I thought) but as a way of attracting hits like fly paper attracts bugs. And so my moment of victory arrived one night after a chat with my thirteen year old sister. She mentioned off hand a pretty decent template sight and I checked it out. To my amazement the html code worked and I had a brilliantly beautiful new baby of a blog template. And I couldn’t have been more thrilled had my mouse jumped up and started dancing for me!

Although I won’t call this an ethical concern, one gripe that I have is that it seems as if not all blogs were monitored, or wait- it seems as if some ignorant and intolerant, prejudice-fuelled comments were allowed to slip through the blog cracks. Two days before I began this piece saw me sitting on my bed, looking at different blogs and seeing how much mine kicked their arses. I clicked on a blog post entitled “homosexuality” and was horrified to read the narrow minded, discriminatory commentary on sexuality at Rhodes, posted by somebody who excused his or herself because of her/his religion and the fact that they came from the East Rand. As far as I remember, we were all given strict instructions to have respect and decency when writing posts, and although we were encouraged to be provocative, I am pretty sure this did not entail gay-bashing the OUTRhodes society. However that is one small blip on the radar, a miniature-sized spanner in the machinery of my blogging experience.

I am grateful, for the first time this year, for the course that we did this term in journ. I honestly feel as though I have finally learned something this year, a skill that will not only need for my journalism career, but also for my own personal use as well. Sitting in front of the TV and reading SL magazine remained my personal favourite methods of keeping my posts entertaining and innovative, and by being forced to view and use different kinds of media, I feel like I can add more skills to my journalistic repertoire.

Although the course was challenging and frustrating at times, the hours of lost sleep and pizza ordering (I skipped meals and kept Debonairs on speed dial) were all worth it when I think of the glistening reward that I have received and I will definitely rate this a square 9 on the personal development scale. Not only do I feel more excited about taking journ as a subject, but I finally have hope for the next three years of the course (provided I get into JMS 2 of course)! I may not be the most techno-savvy sister around, now I sure have a few tricks up my sleeve that just might woo a potential soul mate (a subject that popped up across blogs many times – creepy but true) but also wow a lecturer or fellow student. The hours spent glued to the technicolour screen of my HP laptop, clicking and dragging my mouse like a deranged tap dancer, have all paid off. The blog- well she is beautiful. And as for me, well, all in all, I’m stoked, because I survived first year journ, and made it through this blogging course a happy camper.

A devastating realisation

I was truly devastated to read this piece on xenophobia. Perhaps I am extremely naive or unaware but I was of the impression that xenophobia was not a problem at Rhodes. Your blog has shown me that this is in fact not the case. It is inexcusable really. What is our country coming to when what they call "the top two percent" of our citizens can possess such a warped and destructive mentality? Our country should, above all others, know what acceptance means. Our peaceful transition from a once disgusting regime into one of democracy has been such a blessing and now it seems that our people are taking it for granted. How easily we forget what pain feels like when we are living in peace. I hope that if Rhodes gives these narrow minded students nothing else, they can at least leave with the realisation that all those amongst are humans, one people that need to come together to make this world a better place. Thank you for making me aware of this problem. Hopefully such words as yours can help to make people aware of their ignorance. Lucy from 4burstbubbles.

Something that just made me MAD!!

I posted this comment in response to a really pathetic blog post on:

http://gerbilthefunkyrhodent.blogspot.com/

Comment on photo comic

I recently saw a photo comic on the blog balancing beams entitled "Cinderella at Rhodes". I found it interesting that they told their readers who their villain and hero were. Although initially I thought this was a bad idea as it should be something subtle that your readers can pick up on without you telling them, it in fact made me think about the different Proppian roles that were granted to their characters in a more in depth manner. It made me wonder wether the student really is the victim of the story. She is the one who has rebelled against the system that is attempting to grant her an education and could therefore lose her DP as a consequence. The "prince charming" could in fact be the villain's sidekick aiding Cinderella's procrastination. The lecturer could be the betrayed victim. This comic shows how much stories can be constructed to show a certain side of the story.

Most first years abuse the freedom and independency:

As we all know, university is nothing like high school. With university there comes more responsibility, independence, freedom and less “spoon feeding”. When entering into university it is time to do your part and on your own.

During first year there are no parents to tell you what you can or can not do, there is no one on your back about doing your work or not going out to party, and there is no one to tell you when to come home or where to go. This is all up to you and it lies in your decision. In university you are free to go out when you want and come back when you want to, you are free to miss your lectures and some hand-ins, and you can are free to go wherever you want to go with whoever you want to go with. You can even sleep over wherever you want to sleep. That is the beauty of university, the independence and freedom. It gives you a feeling of maturity to make your own decisions and gives you a sense of respect and trust from others. First year is time to be all grown up and responsible.

Unfortunately many first years tend to abuse this power. They can sometimes take it too far and take full advantage of it and this may not always be a good thing. In Developing Independence - Parent Times - University Relations Publications - The University of Iowa it states that first year students will have to hear the alarm clock themselves and will have to manage their own checkbook. This is very much abused as first year students tend to believe that first year is a “walk in the park” and is just “one big party”. They start to miss that alarm clock more and more each week, not one day any more but it starts to be weeks at a time. They also start to waste their money on Steers down the road or their regular trips to the Rat and Parrot. I’m sure we can all agree that it is great that we can get cheap “booze”, but it becomes a lot of money when it happens 3 times a week. It also states, as an example, in Developing Independence that Kaitlin Shepherd, a first year student, could walk to town without telling anyone. This could be very dangerous if no one knows where you are in case of an emergency, what if you were raped, or stalked? First years also tend to believe that the work is not too important or that they can get it done the day before the due date. They think that first year work is easy enough to leave until the last minute. They go out two to three times a week, being the regular student night on a Wednesday, the next big night on a Friday, and sometimes even a Saturday, coming back at early hours of the next morning. This then causes them to skip lectures on a Thursday or sleep the weekend days away and neglect their work. Their assignments are then late, missed or a 5 minute job and tests are not always taken seriously.

Many also have a mind set that they have to fit in somewhere specific and in order to do so they must rebel to a certain extent, in other words they must go party when everyone else is doing it, they must leave their work to the last minute so that they are not seen as nerds and they must have money to spend. This party scene and neglecting the work becomes part of the first year ideology and people tend to take to it, sometimes a little too much. I have a friend, for example, who loves partying and whenever I ask if she is going out her reply will be something like “of course I am”. She is also a good example of someone who leaves her work for the day before the due date and this causes work to pile up and you eventually become tired put and drained. In Your First Year at University it states that students have a reputation for partying, not going to lectures and spending lots of money. This is the view that many first years take on and try to live up to.

I think that first years should try to organize their lives and create an equal balance between partying or their social life and their work. They should also try and manage their money better. They need to take the freedom, which comes along with university, with responsibility and start looking out for themselves. What students do not like to party? I understand that and agree that we need a social life, but we also need a balance for work, after all, isn’t that the reason why we are here?

The Crime of Caring

It is different when it happens to you. Your heart beats viciously against your chest as if it is fighting to be free of its bodily constraints; your eyes scan the room desperately in search of help; your hands shake and fumble through the many things in your oversized bag as you search for the leather sensation that will hopefully satisfy his hand and grant you your freedom… It is different when it happens to you. Perhaps it is because you never think it will happen to you.
I was once entertained by small town Rhodes students (some of whom have never even seen a highway) who spoke nervously about Johannesburg referring to its dangerous roads and “hijack hotspots”. I now find the irony quite hilarious for the only time I have ever truly feared for my life was about three weeks ago in the safe haven that is Grahamstown.
There is a misconception amongst Rhodes first year students about the safety in Grahamstown. Many people come from big cities such as Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town with the idea that the little town of Grahamstown is harmless. One first year journalism student came to Rhodes University as he felt it was a “small and slow paced community, the ideal environment to study.” I know that that was certainly my perception. I use to live quite a paranoid existence in Johannesburg always checking at least twice every night that the alarm was on. Part of the attraction of Grahamstown was the idea of living a stress free life away from the madness and buzz of the city life. This is not to say that you do not get that in Grahamstown but it is to say that we should not be naïve in out presumption that a smaller town will have less crime. In a country in which so many are starving it must surely be expected. How devastating is it that we have to settle for such circumstances? Another journalism 1 student’s preconception was also shattered and she shares this with her fellow students as she writes on her blog that “it is ridiculous that even in such a small place like Grahamstown, crime is such a potent issue.”
It is a strange process to go through. You initially just feel shocked, literally unable to believe that you were just held at knife point by two teenage boys in the place in which you spend up to ten hours a day, the drama department – your second home. When it finally sinks in you break down, strengthen, and become angry that you have been violated. Then when time starts to allow your anger to settle you begin to think past your initial feeling of fear and irritation. You start to question. Why did they do that? Why should two young boys have to point a knife at a young girl? And then guilt begins to eat at you. While the worst thing that has happened to you is that you have had a silver blade shoved into your face, these boys must struggle for food and survival everyday of their lives. It is a sad time in South Africa when we become use to such incidents and the common response is “at least you weren’t hurt.” It is the hurt that I hold from seeing the lack of fear in a young boys eyes that now truly burdens me.
Crime and more importantly poverty is a national problem. No small town will allow us to escape that. Other first year journalism students are starting to pick up on it one admitting that “Now I’m really worried. In fact, I’m really scared”. But we should not accept it as something that just happens for it is not something that is remotely acceptable. Everyday the Rhodes website has new headings such as WARNING: MUGGING and REPORTED RAPE in which they remind students to be aware and safe. I should not have to be on guard while rehearsing in the drama department on Rhodes campus.
I do not even have advice for future first years. I just have sad words of warning to the entire country. We have a problem. We need to do something about it. A fellow journalism 1 student believes what is in need is a “revolution of the mind” otherwise it could get to the point where the one who is affected by it is somebody close to you or even you yourself and I know.. It is different when it happens to you…

The Thing Is..

It’s what I always end up saying whenever I can’t express what I am trying to say. And it makes me sound like a dithering idiot, and since I am not the kind of girl (ok woman), who wants to sound like a dithering idiot, this is not good for me at all. It seems that as Mxit and Facebook and Google Chat become more popular with university students, so their being able to express themselves outside of these contexts seems to become impossible. I may be wrong, in fact many will argue with me that never before has communication been so direct, so simple and so expressive. And yet, I find myself unable to articulate half of what I mean a lot these days. It may just be that I am English major with an English teacher for a mother and so am just prone to picking up on these things. And you may be thinking that I should just go back to reading a book and stop bothering you with this nonsensical psychobabble, and you may be right, but next time you are trying to explain yourself to somebody and simply can’t, you might just give me a chance.

Killing Me Softly: Why Many First Year Women Fall Prey to the Terrible Trio (Eating Disorders, Self harm and Depression).

For many a young woman at Rhodes, sticking her index finger down her throat and throwing up a res lunch is not an uncommon practice. As my first year in the land of purple draws to a close, memories of self destructive habits, of both my own and other women, surface and replay like filmstrips in my mind.

I know that I am not alone when I say that a woman and her thoughts can be more dangerous than walking home from Friars on a winter night. After speaking to one of my close friends, who is at the moment recovering from a serious eating disorder, I realised that self destructive habits do not sign post themselves in your brain and alert you to the fact that you are not acting like yourself. Instead they creep under your skin, feeding on your insecurities and stress and homesickness and before you know it, you’re hooked on doing whatever you must to get that sense of control in your life. Many female Rhodents feel overwhelmed as work, love life issues and res life all pile up at once, often leaving one feeling exhausted and hopeless, afraid to fail and above all, angry at herself for feeling this way.

At http://my1stime.blogspot.com/2008/10/when-you-miss-your-mommy.html the issue of homesickness and what to do with these feelings is discussed. I feel it is an important article because it looks at an issue that is often over looked by students when they first come to Rhodes – the fact that yes, you will be missing your mom, no matter how many times you fought with her or found her annoying.

Women are known to be hard on themselves, but for perfectionists who come to Rhodes expecting their academic path to be paved with as much gold as it was in high school, pressure can be a dangerous trigger for all kinds of strange behaviour.
A girl that I know in res, let’s call her Amy, has been a self mutilator since the beginning of second term. She is very open about the fact that she is a cutter, not as a means to get attention, but to try and overcome the terrible practice herself. She tells me that as soon as she starts becoming secretive about things that she does to herself, she finds herself falling into that familiar trap of self harming all over again. She says that although she has it under control at the moment, her second term was one huge nightmare. She says that what many people do not realise is that cutting often accompanies eating disorders and depression, and that these three issues form a love triangle that can easily become life threateningly dangerous. She came to Rhodes a healthy, happy past prefect from a private school in Cape Town, and soon learned that the pressure of varsity was sometimes too much for her to bear. Alone one night, after dinner, she made a conscious decision to skip every meal the next day and work on her Journ assignment. Starving herself didn’t last just one day. In fact, it hasn’t yet ended.
Amy is just one example of many women at Rhodes who sometimes find some of the pressure of varsity life too great to overcome. Unfortunately, not all women turn to the healthier ways of trying to deal with this stress. And ok, although not every stressed first year woman becomes best friends with knives and razor blades, statistics show that self mutilation and other forms of self destructive behaviour is on the proverbial rise. Which is a problem because this means that many first year women are becoming incapable of handling their emotions without resorting to irresponsible methods of dealing with them.

On http://1styearspread.blogspot.com/2008/10/miss-independent.html a first year Rhodent is interviewed about her self-harming, and, in a very frank and honest reply to questions that she is asked, she talks about how she used self-harm to deal with the stresses of varsity living.
Although there are countless first year women who do not fall prey to the tight grip of the terrible trio (eating disorders, depression and self harm), and instead embrace university life and manage to handle the whole Rhodes package, it is a sad and true fact that many women do. For them, reality is a harsh one, as they are trapped in bodies that they despise, by minds that try to trick them and with spirits that slowly diminish under the power of self destructive habits. I feel that this is an issue more important than how much first year students drink, and should be addressed with the seriousness that was present at the name change of the Union to Bantu Steve Biko Building. If student support groups want to help these women, they need to help them see that they have options – and that they do not always have to involve a razor, pills or throwing up.

When first you look at her, she strikes as you the bitchy type, but the minute she talks you get to see another side of her, that she actually sweet . Getting to know Bonisiwe Mngoma a second year BA student was an interesting experience, she is very open about her life and she’s not scared to say whatever. Bonnie (as known by her friends) says she has always been the girl who been misunderstood. To most people she is known as a wild party animal, but she there a side of her that people don’t know. They don’t know she’s just a fragile creature, who loves and treasures people close to her heart. She says that she always portrayed wrong and people often get the wrong impression about her, “most people that I know always tell me that I’m a crazy girl whose an alcoholic because when I’m out they always see me drunk”, she says.
“I think of my self as a friendly person, it’s just as a Gemini (her star sign) I have a split personality, there’s a Bonnie that people know when they see me at the club and there’s another that’s very private that most people don’t know she’s only known by her close friends.” She says that she quite different from the girl that knew in high school, back then she was a bit more reserved “Rhodes really changed me because I didn’t drink in high school as much as I do now, its different because everyone drinks and the place just consumes you”. Sometimes she wonders why she didn’t prepare for varsity because first year bought so many surprises in her life.
Another thing that’s been a problem for her since coming here is the issue of choosing the right friends and learning to trust people “I have had lots of people that I thought were my best friends but in the end they betrayed my trust, I guess first year was about learning not to trust too much, my trust has become limited now”. Another thing that limited her trust is a break up with a boyfriend who she left back home in Newcastle (KZN). She found out from friends that he was getting married with some other girl, while they were still dating. “It was really a down point in my life because I didn’t see that coming, I really didn’t expect him to hurt me like that and it was one of my worst experiences in first year” she says. She says maybe that’s why she’s got issues with relationships and guys “I’m not a relationship person, I’m over men and falling in love it’s so overrated”. She says one day she would love to have a boyfriend at some point but the problem is whenever she starts falling for someone she ends up being hurt, “I always fall for the wrong guy”
All in all she says that coming to Rhodes changed her, “It actually made me discover my self, it made me see a different side of me that really scares me at time, and I sometimes feel I have lost my innocence, I have tried so hard to preserve it. But she says deep down there’s a bit of innocence still in her but it gets clouded by other things, if people got the time to get to know her better they know her better “I’m a softie at heart”.

A Masterpiece in the Making

“The beauty of jazz is in its improvisation. Although the musician has a set plan, when he goes up on stage he improvises, creating a masterpiece in the moment.”

With a definite intention to achieve her dream Roxanne Henderson is much like the soulful style of music she so adores. With writing as her instrument and a plan to obtain her degree in journalism she will take the world as her stage and will create with life, what will surely be a powerful masterpiece.This is a conclusion I easily draw as Roxanne sits opposite me in a flowing floral dress which shows off her petite but strong shoulders. Her background of dance is easily seen in how well she holds herself, her open shoulders suggesting the commading way in which she has taken on the adventure that university is offering her. With an eloquent sophistication and refreshing air of confidence she is able to answer my questions easily and openly, at one point even interrupting me because she had not finished saying what she needed to say – a testimony to the strength in her beliefs and a desire to share her knowledge. Her great presence quickly overshadows her tiny physique as she draws me into a narrative of her dreams and ideas.

Roxanne is eighteen years old and has only been in Grahamstown, Rhodes University for thre crazy and exciting weeks - facts that are not reflected in her wealth of knowledge or comfort in being. Leaving her family in Cape Town Roxanne has stepped out of her comfort zone in hope of change. Believing that South Africa is “alive with possibilities” she wants to return to her place of birth seeing the country not through the eyes of a ‘Cape Tonian’ but rather through those of a South African. Roxanne has a very positive outlook on South Africa and believes that this is largely thanks to her parents. As coloureds in South Africa during the Apartheid era, they were both victims of the cruel system. Her mother’s family was forcefully removed from their home in District Six while her father was beaten by policemen for simply being coloured. Even after they were given ample reason to hold a grudge both have embraced the new South Africa and have encouraged their daughter to do the same. Her mom is now the only coloured member of staff in a school in Cape Town and her father was the only coloured man in his class for masters in psychology.

Completely defined by her own personality Roxanne believes that she is a person before she is a race and sees the struggle not as “white vs. black” but rather as “privileged vs. non-privileged.” Roxanne cannot not say how it feels to be coloured. Her response is simply, “I can’t answer that question because I’ve never been white. I’m just me.” And that is truly who she is – independent minded and self-respecting. Comments towards her race do not offend her personally but rather make her feel sad for that person and concerned for the state of the country.

Yet even this cannot pull her down, the situation only makes her want to push harder for change.She laughs when sharing what she hopes to achieve with a degree in journalism saying, “don’t we all just want to change the world?” She then gives serious thought to the discussion but does not change her mind. She simply elaborates on her response. As a realistic idealist she hopes to change the world by first changing herself – hence her journey to Rhodes. She is looking at Rhodes as an opportunity to meet new people and broaden her view on life. Worried about her observation that “people don’t see the world as it is but rather as they are,” she ultimately wants to change people’s lives and be changed by others through her writing as well as through life. She feels that we as humans all have a purpose and a duty and wants to change the perception that only certain skills are great enough to be put to use, “I want to be living testimony that talent is not about glamour.”

Summing up her short term goal she quotes Michael Jackson, “I’m searching for the man in the mirror, I’m asking him to change his ways.” This leads us into a lighter topic of conversation that centres on music. It becomes clear, as she taps her hands on the table to a rhythm in her mind that her vibrancy and passionate way of being does not only surface when she is talking about changing the world but is something that lies deep within her. Energy radiates from her as she talks expressively about her love for jazz and her attraction to musicians. She is amused when asked what she thinks of the song by Police entitled ‘Roxanne” and laughs saying that, “It’s a beautiful song. My only problem with guys singing it to me is that it’s a bit unoriginal!”

Self-respecting and optimistic Roxanne Henderson has taken on the challenge that Rhodes has presented to her and with it hopes to challenge life. She is a masterpiece in the making...

Soldiering through the work...

Survivng the work load:
While smiling happily and enthusiastically, she answers the questions directed at her in a friendly manner. Barbara Brand, a BMus student at Rhodes University, has found it both challenging as well as possible getting through her first year of work.
This newly independent first year tells us how she has found this year so far for her and she starts by confidently saying how she has grown up through the year. “Apart from refreshing as opposed to high school”, she giggles, “there is a lot more freedom and even though the work load is a lot, you are studying what you want to so you tend to enjoy it a bit more”. Barbara seems to be coping with her work load quite alright. “The whole idea passed to you about varsity is that you will not manage”, but she makes it quite clear, with a stern look and tone in her voice that you will manage if you manage your time properly. Being a BMus student there is no doubt a rather heavy work load in place for her but she goes on to tell us encouragingly that it is not impossible. As she looks at her work, she assures that it is stressful at times meeting deadlines, pulling “all nighters with multiple assignments”, but she manages her time well. On the topic of her social life, Barbara has a look of shame on her face and starts to smile sheepishly, “My work tends to be sacrificed a bit when it comes to my boyfriend”. She attempts to excuse herself by hastily explaining that before, her practicing took up her free time but now her free time goes to her boyfriend and that’s because the relationship is new. She happily assures that once they are further into the relationship she will be able to “juggle her time better”. As for her partying life, that doesn’t seem to have the biggest impact, “I don’t go out much, I enjoy it, but only go occasionally”. Barbara is a very confident person who lives her own life. Alcohol clearly has no effect on her work at the moment. “In the beginning I felt pressured to go out during the week to make friends and because everyone was going out, but it dies down once you get settled”. She touches on the topic of friends and with a smile on her face she speaks of getting to know who your real friends are so that it is easier to say no without judgment from them. As she looks back on the year she goes on to tell, in a more serious tone, that in the beginning it had an effect on her work but it “calms down during the year”. Her work is a practical course and therefore much of her time is mostly practicing. Unfortunately, Barbara struggles for time with friends, “I would love to spend more time with them, but I am always practicing and it’s also hard now with my boyfriend”, she says with a longing and sad look in her eyes as she looks around the room at photos, which clearly show that she still has good times with her friends when she can. Although first year work can be tough and you have to work around time for friends, social life and work, Barbara tells her story which shows that it is possible to get through it all and that all it takes is time management.

Rocking the Rhodent- a Profile on Alice Mckay

Alice Mckay nicknamed “Gran” by her roommate, lights a Dunhill Light at her desk. Inhaling deeply, she hums along to Counting Crows, her favourite band. Alice came to Rhodes an outspoken, irreverent and amusing ANC supporter, and has remained the same person since. While many other people have transformed themselves into the people they supposedly wish to be, Alice has never compromised herself in order to “conform to the boxed-in version of a typical Rhodent”.
“I feel sorry for those people, the ones who feel they have to change or have to become something just because they’re in varsity. Ok sure, I’m one for self development but I’m not here to improve my image or anything”. Clad in All Stars and a Sex Pistols t-shirt, Alice feels that there is more to university life than trying to “bungee or poppie it up”. She ashes in a pink coffee mug and laughs loudly when her roommate chastises her for it, quickly putting on a straight face when her roommate threatens to throw the mug at her. “Sometimes I just couldn’t be bothered with the small things, the details; life is about bigger things than where I smoke my cigarette”
Although she is not completely outrageous, in either dress or conduct, Alice has remained true to herself, not compromising her moral standards at all in first year, an achievement that is impressive in a world where naps and cane train are seen as more important than lectures. “I just made this decision in O-week, I saw so many people just throwing name and although mine wasn’t a completely sober one either, I wanted to remain the same person that I’d arrived here as”. So while an endless parade of new first years painted New Street with Cane-coloured coolness, Alice kept her dignity intact. Although she had a good time, she made a promise to herself that she would never lose herself amidst the Union-worshipping crowd. “I just want to care about more than getting pissed on a Friday night; I want my life to mean something”.
Alice picks up ‘Country of My Skull’ by Antjie Krog, and turns the book over in her hands, carefully studying the cover illustration. “I don’t want to live a lie and live within constructs that are not my own” she says, while discussing her political views and religious beliefs. “I have always been an open minded person, that’s the one thing I cannot stand- these BCOM students who just study for a well paying job one day. They’re capitalist monsters who are all jumping off the same bridge”.
She is politically incorrect, sometimes rude, but most times she is honest, straightforward and a rebel who stands up for what she believes in. Alice walks through campus a true Rhodent, one who embodies the spirit of forward thinking and humanitarian views. She is a leader in her own right, a red wine-loving African who is defiant in her views on life. She will never give herself up to “the slaughter of open minds” that many others do, and expresses her anger at the political apathy of the students who did not register to vote in the IEC elections next year. “Those too lazy to get a sticker in their ids should just immigrate to Canada and New Zealand- South Africa doesn’t need a whole bunch of idiots living here”.
It is this combination of her wicked sense of humour and anti-establishment attitude that smashes boldly through the Rhodes student cliché, placing her indefinitely among the minority of students who have managed to scrape through first year with their personalities and standards unscathed by negative influence. Laughing, she tells me she wants to be an English teacher, and does not care about the salary issue. “Life is not about money, and if we all just realised that, people would be a lot happier. I want to teach and love and learn, not gloat over my new BMW and a mock-Tuscan ‘villa’”.

WARNING: First Year at Rhodes=CHANGE

I came to varsity thinking that I would a) never smoke, b) never question my religion and c) skip a lecture..
well well well, reality soon hit me with the crystal clearness of a cane train. After the rowdy revelry of O-week, and the apple bottom-adventure of first term, the novelty of attending every lecture, abstaining from the smoky cigarettes that floated around in the Rat and attending Mass every Sunday soon wore off. I'm not one to compromise my morals or have double standards- in fact I've usually been one of those people who refused to ever be anyone but myself, but student life and having to depend on myself to do the things that I believe in have really changed my attitude on these issues.
Without even knowing it, skipping Journ on a thursday soon turned to skipping Journ 3 times a week. By the end of second term, it was a joke that I never attended lectures. As for the smoking, it may sound like a small deal to the average Joanna, but I am a serious asthmatic, the kind who sounds like that guy from Malcolm in the Middle with an inhaler, so smoking was always a strictly no go area. However, one siff Rhodent night at the Union and a bottle of St Claire's later, I was walking around with a vodka and coke in one hand and a cigarette balanced precariously between two glossy lips. Inhaling like a demon, I woke up the next morning with a cough that sounded like I was suffering form a serious bout of temporary lung cancer or something else totally disgusting.
As for the religious thing, after various philosophy classes and random attendances at the Athiest society, I began to doubt my traditional middle class Christian upbringing. I didn't pray for a whole term, I took down my rosary, and soon enough, swore off ever stepping foot in a religious institution again.
My point is that not varsity changes you, although it does and it will.
My point is that varsity, especially an excellent academic institution such as Rhodes, which teaches you to constantly question things around you, will bring out aspects of your personality that you were unaware ever existed. And this is all OK and part of our development as normal human beings, except sometimes you may not be ready for the change.
I am writing this to simply warn you that you WILL change, your beliefs MAY differ by the end of first year and you will have almost DEFINITELY have done something that you swore never to do. Too much tequila can do that to you. Jokes aside, before you get to Rhodes, take stock of who you are, remember the things that you have always believed in and get ready to ride the Rhodent roller coaster of change!!