By Sarita Pillay
Blog: The Write Side Up
Rating: * * * ½
The title caught my eye immediately – it is intelligent and captivating but not overtly attention-seeking. The title summarises the nature of the blog, thoughtful but inconspicuous and not very colourful.
I found the blog refreshing in that it simply reflected, contextualised and shared. Many of the Journalism 1 student blogs have, in their desperation to be read, over-emphasised their uniqueness and forced their point of view. In contrast, whether purposefully or not, Write Side Up has succeeded in creating a readable blog without much pomp.
Most of the posts, particularly those made by bloggers Chelsea Geach and Justin Archer, are insightful and well-thought out. Varying from Feminism to Julius Malema, the blog posts were relevant, current and readable. A definite positive was the emphasis on South African political side-shows. Interestingly, the blog did not aim to punch above its weight by raising controversial issues or opinions. Positively, this prevented the blog from failing in its pursuit for ‘otherness’ but negatively, it didn’t evoke a response from the readers.
The blog falls short in spelling and grammar with a few telling mistakes. These recurred in cases where proper nouns were not capitalised and where there was a lack of a comma or two. Cringe-worthy spelling errors, like ‘anials’ instead of ‘animals’ and, in one article, four variations of the spelling of ‘Agliotti’, seem to imply a lack of pre-post checking in some instances.
The blog succeeds in creating something astute and readable; however, it fails to add a splash of colour through blog format, vivid pictures or challenging pieces.
Having a Bad Day? Stay at Home! Nice Girls Roam.
Pic: ::big daddy k:: on Flickr.comBy Ayanda Mhlanga
It started with a worsening eye-infection, which resulted in me heading to the doctor for aid. For the first time I stopped to think, how mean some people are. I walked inside the consulting room, weepy eye and all; the dear man made me wait before attending to me even though he was available.
When enquiring of the cause of my little eye infection, he responded, “It’s an infection, how do you get an infection?” I kept quiet after that, feeling a bit small. Later, when I asked if it was contagious he responded, “Well, it’s an infection, how do you think you got it?” I felt both very small and utterly stupid by then, and took the script and left, not knowing how to prevent getting the horrible infection again, but knowing that I couldn’t go tutoring as it was probably contagious and could infect the kids. I didn’t receive a sick note, but I did not mind because I assumed the good ‘ol doctor reckoned I was well in enough to be in public. I reconsidered this assumption when my tears turned green and I was gripped by a headache. I was left walking around, covering my green eye and in great pain.
This led me to the conclusion, that Dr Nasty should take some off days, or stop practising, as he really ruined a nice girl’s day, and could be considered a hazard to society by possibly spreading a horrid eye infection.
I was sick, but I still managed to be civil.
This chicken ‘stew’ looks a lot like a chicken leg.
Pic: www.ru.ac.zaBy Jessica Kriedemann
I don’t think the image of the foot long, green and brown strangled sausage I got slapped onto my plate during orientation week will ever leave my memory. The same can be said for the oh so desirable onion and tomato fish wrapped in tin foil which permanently put me off seafood ever since the first glance...or whiff.
Dining Hall food. Initially, I liked most of it: it was a treat getting slap chips with most meals and by ignoring the worry of first year spread, desert four times a week made me smile.
However, as the year is coming to an end, I miss the simple things like a cheese and tomato toastie. Being served two, big, Sunday lunch-type meals a day can get a bit much and often I’m not too sure what I’m putting in my mouth. Friends of mine have even labelled an unknown meat, “dead street kid” which is controversial, shameful and just gross. Breakfasts were an issue too, when this year the University’s budget cut out things like croissants and French toast and left us with a cup of cereal and a green egg each. We signed petitions, but that seemed to get swept under the rug very quickly.
I am grateful for the food, and as time passes I have learnt ways to give myself some variety. Melted feta on toast tastes a lot like Tassers cheese and cutting up the crumbed chicken and putting it with some salad and chutney, makes for one yummy “crumbed chicken salad with roasted peppers on a bed of fresh greens”.
However, I cannot wait to move into a private digs in third year...because well, in my opinion, veggies need to be cooked properly and I want to be able to open up a fridge at say three in the morning.
I don’t think the image of the foot long, green and brown strangled sausage I got slapped onto my plate during orientation week will ever leave my memory. The same can be said for the oh so desirable onion and tomato fish wrapped in tin foil which permanently put me off seafood ever since the first glance...or whiff.
Dining Hall food. Initially, I liked most of it: it was a treat getting slap chips with most meals and by ignoring the worry of first year spread, desert four times a week made me smile.
However, as the year is coming to an end, I miss the simple things like a cheese and tomato toastie. Being served two, big, Sunday lunch-type meals a day can get a bit much and often I’m not too sure what I’m putting in my mouth. Friends of mine have even labelled an unknown meat, “dead street kid” which is controversial, shameful and just gross. Breakfasts were an issue too, when this year the University’s budget cut out things like croissants and French toast and left us with a cup of cereal and a green egg each. We signed petitions, but that seemed to get swept under the rug very quickly.
I am grateful for the food, and as time passes I have learnt ways to give myself some variety. Melted feta on toast tastes a lot like Tassers cheese and cutting up the crumbed chicken and putting it with some salad and chutney, makes for one yummy “crumbed chicken salad with roasted peppers on a bed of fresh greens”.
However, I cannot wait to move into a private digs in third year...because well, in my opinion, veggies need to be cooked properly and I want to be able to open up a fridge at say three in the morning.
Rhodes isn’t racist. Rhodes is regrettably South African and positively reformist
Rhodes isn’t racist. Race issues at Rhodes University are South Africa’s social psyche and structural issues. Importantly, there exists a reformist attitude towards racism at Rhodes University.
In my first term of Journalism, we dissected the contemporary concept of race and racism. Similarly, boisterous discussions about racism have occurred in the first-year History and Politics lectures. Rhodes is reformist in this regard; race issues actually feature in the curriculum as a vivid reality – not as a distant concept. Similarly, racism is confronted, not ignored. The response by our vice-chancellor to a racist incident on campus was admirable, the university could easily have dealt with it simply by internal investigation and, perhaps, a notice on the website. However, the aggressive “Rhodes Rejects Racism” campaign proved steadfast dedication to a non-racist campus.
Upon observation of student dynamics at a reputable university in Gauteng, I was struck by the obvious lack of integration of different racial groups. A friend of mine from that university visited Rhodes this year and noticed the high levels of integration here immediately. Although racial social groups are still evident, I believe this is the result of closed communities and divided South African bubbles of existence, a social psyche issue. A structural issue which threatens Rhodes’s reforms is the visible lack of black lecturers and senior university staff. This is a South African problem, a historically and economically embedded problem. Rhodes is not racist. Rhodes is positively reformist and any racial baggage it carries is carried by the regrettable South African.
puppets or pioneers of truth
The first year journalism students at Rhodes University were taught that most of the news stories being exposed to the masses are controlled and censored by elite people, mainly politicians. The collapse or rise of an empire is due to military trends, this means war. The USA has been glamourising war for years. They use ploys such as 'Uncle Sam', who commanded "we want you". The media called the war against Iraq, the war against terrorism and the cold war, the war against communism, controversial words which justify the act of killing thousands and shodows the truth. The truth is that power-thirsty politicians want an excuse to be able to invade countries and gain power of their worthy assets, such as oil.
Albert Gore, the former opponent of George W. Bush for presidency, claimed that the government was secretly searching people's emails and interrogating lawyers. What is America so afraid of and why are the people of America not knowlegable of this fact? If the American government is so supportive of the invasion of the public's privacy and their personal lives being hacked into then why can American politicains not joyfuly share their deepest secrets. Gore says that the government has a mass of shocking secrets that are constantly being hidden under a huge, iron-solid fist and that fist is at the mercy of the powerful media.
As journalists and members of the media it is our decision wether we will become the puppets of politicians or like Gore decide to tell the truth even if it is inconvenient.
Albert Gore, the former opponent of George W. Bush for presidency, claimed that the government was secretly searching people's emails and interrogating lawyers. What is America so afraid of and why are the people of America not knowlegable of this fact? If the American government is so supportive of the invasion of the public's privacy and their personal lives being hacked into then why can American politicains not joyfuly share their deepest secrets. Gore says that the government has a mass of shocking secrets that are constantly being hidden under a huge, iron-solid fist and that fist is at the mercy of the powerful media.
As journalists and members of the media it is our decision wether we will become the puppets of politicians or like Gore decide to tell the truth even if it is inconvenient.
Classic Media-on-Malema approach
(Picture: Mail and Guardian Online) By Sarita Pillay
Recent online media reports covering Julius Malema’s nomination for a Feather award, in the drama queen category, were written with the expected media-on-Malema approach. The media probably knew that all that was needed to make the story was Julius’s reply. The Feather Awards were started this year by the gay community to raise dialogue around sexuality. The organisers of the awards picked well, dialogue is Malema’s forte and if nobody knew the awards existed before, now they do.
I found the that The Times composed the story quite effectively, a picture of a smiling Julius cutting a birthday cake with a scantily dressed local celeb at his side (completely unrelated to the story) along with the headline, "Julie’s such a drama queen, doll" would make even the most discerning of readers stop and read. Julius, the media’s jest, had returned and the ‘Julius the clueless’ theme, popular among many in the South African media, was the main angle of The Times. Julius’s apparent lack of understanding of the term ‘drama queen’ is used to great patronising effect through a quote.
The Sunday World, a tabloid, also opted for a humorous headline once Malema had rejected the nomination, "Hail Queen Ju-Ju baby! - But Malema spurns the royal title". The tabloid adds a twist to the story, quoting a mysterious ‘source’ as sighting the nomination as an orchestrated attempt by Malema’s political opponents to ridicule him. It is Malema after all, and journalists can't resist throwing the usual counter-revolutionary spanner into the works.
Barak's Peace Prize
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Pic: macondaily.com
By Jessica Kriedemann
As if the mention of the name, ‘Barak Obama’ isn’t enough to get a three hour debate going, now he has been awarded the Nobel Prize for 2009. Many seem to be upset by the fact that America’s first black president hasn’t really done anything to deserve the highest award for peace...just yet.
With eight months in office and his continuous struggle with harmony in the Middle East, the Norwegian Nobel Committee states that the award was given for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples”.
However, the possibility of the prize simply being another jab at the anti-Bush campaign has been brought up in many recent dining hall discussions.
In comparison with Nelson Mandela who jointly won the prize with F.W. de Klerk in 1993 after suffering in jail for 27 years and returning to peacefully help build a democratic state without bitterness, one can see why Obama’s win doesn’t seem justified. He certainly has become an iconic figure who has seemingly united the nation with a promise for a brighter future and his attitude and values are something that should be recognized and admired, but maybe not awarded for at this stage.
With already high expectations of the new president, I’m sure receiving this award adds on the pressure as well. Venezuela's socialist leader Hugo Chavez harshly compared Obama to a basketball player who had won his trophy before a match, with the promise of winning the game.
I don’t believe that the prize was unjustified, as I have high hopes for Barak, but I do think that the committee should have waited at least another year allowing him to deliver on promises made.