You're a big big girl, in a big big world - grow the %$#* up!

Let me begin by stating that I will not take this opportunity to look down my nose and preach to you about my self-proclaimed immense knowledge about the world, life and love. I am but a fellow student that uses his experience as his weapon. Feel free to stop reading at this point, as I will assume that you have better things to do than read about my complaints (or, what some may euphemistically call ‘constructive criticisms’). Given the title of this piece, one can more or less see where I might be going with this; and this is not a direct attack on anyone, just some gentle advice to a certain type of people as a whole.

First of all, let me begin by stating, rather obviously, that this is an institution where people, predominantly young adults, come for a tertiary education. The kind of education that prepares us for the ‘big bad world’; the kind that ties our shoe laces before we run the race of real life. This is not kindergarten, primary or high school. Here, the university and its lecturers are not fazed if you do not study, if you fail all your subjects, and are asked to leave. To them, you were just another person who came to test drive university life for a year, and couldn’t cope with what was hidden under the hood. The university doesn’t care if you feel as useful as a fashion designer in a nudist colony when they show you door, deal with it.

Forgive my crudeness here, but what really pulls on the short-and-curlies for me is these young adults who come to university still thinking that they are in matric. When I was in grade seven, (then, standard five) I remember the principle telling us that as our last year in primary school, we were big fish in a little pond, and that when moving into high school the following year we would be demoted to little fish in a big pond. Well, moving from matric into university is like going from big fish in a big pond, to a big fish into an ocean. There are much bigger fish in university than high school. This does not refer specifically to age, or size, or status. This refers to a wide variety of different aspects, perhaps among the most dominant is maturity. It should be institutionalized that before a kid moves from matric into university, he/she has to have an ‘injection’…of maturity.

I was in a lecture the other day, and it just so happened (and it is actually quite common) that an assignment for one subject and an assignment for another subject were both due that same day. When the lecturer asked the class if everyone had finished and submitted the assignment that was due, to my complete and utter surprise, this smug little Paris Hilton wannabe in the back of the class had the nerve to say that her reason for not doing the required assignment for that subject was because she was up all night completing the other assignment for the other subject.

Ummm, sweetheart, that is no excuse at all. Firstly, grow the #%@* up. Secondly, having done the ‘assignment’, I was a hair’s width away from standing up and saying to you that a 150 word comment can barely be called ‘an assignment’ at all. This is not an attack on the lecturers; this is a statement to young Miss Hilton in the back row who thinks that a 150 word commentary would actually take her more than 20 minutes to complete. A 2000 word essay can be classified as time-consuming, let us be realistic here. Thirdly, probably the best advice that I could not stress enough, you should learn to plan ahead and manage your time better. This way you might not come to the situation the night before deadline where you have two assignments due the next day, and you have not done either of them.

Fellow first years, especially back-row-Paris, when you are working one day a few years from not, your employers will not tolerate excuses. Deadlines are deadlines. Having been accepted into university just illustrates my point; we are all intelligent human beings. We should have no problem realizing that proper time management is essential to success.

Let me end with a fairly wise quote I heard, “if you work hard, you can play harder”. This is the truth.

Peace...

Code 008 – Licence to stall (with apologies to James Bond… and considerate drivers)

Yes, I’ll admit it. I am a Learner Driver. I am one of those nervous pathetic types that you drive behind in peak traffic and that keeps stalling the car every 10 metres. I am the reason the car has that sticker on that says “Please be patient.” I am the person that licensed drivers have to watch out for at traffic circles, because I have no idea when it is my turn to go or I just can’t stop in time so proceed anyway. My maximum speed at any given time is 60km/h and I’ve never been above third gear (except when I accidentally put it in fifth).

Let me tell the inconsiderate drivers out there something. There’s no need to get aggressive. It’s just rude to roll your eyes (or worse, make facetious hand gestures) at learners when they’re going slowly. The car says “Please be patient”, not “Please be a dumb chop.” You would think you’d be able to read that because you spend so much time behind me while I try to pull off on an incline.

It’s bad enough that you overtake me all the time and scare the living daylights out of me because you’re so close to my car. Would you rather I drive faster and cause an accident? I will if you’d like, but I somehow doubt this would improve relations between us. Your insurance company would not love you either.

Speeding is also fun for drivers, apparently… not that I would know, being a learner and all that. What I do know is that accelerating down a 45 degree incline while overtaking me is dangerous. I’ll repeat that in case you’ve been deafened by the thumping eardrum-murdering music that pumps out your car. It’s dangerous. What if I decided to turn but forgot to put my indicator on? Not that I’ve ever done that or anything.

I will drive alongside you one day, but for now I would prefer it if you went away and didn’t clog up the road that I try so hard to navigate. I agree with you that K53 is not always the most logical system, but I wish that you remembered all the rules of the road that you were tested on. This way I would not be blamed for causing the near-accident that came about when you drove through the four way stop when it was clearly not your turn. Even I knew that.

So give me a break. I don’t stall at traffic lights on purpose. I don’t do it to annoy you, I promise. Trust me, I’m just as embarrassed as you are enraged. Remember, it may have been last year, it may have been in the last five years or even last millennium, but you did it too. You made those mistakes that you curse me for making. Forgive me then for committing the traffic crimes that are inevitable. Go ahead, sigh and curse under your breath. But please don’t intimidate me – I already have the clutch to fight with.

With any luck I’ll pass my drivers’ licence test in a few months’ time. Then I can be one of your kind. It will be so much fun to run red robots, get speeding fines, hoot at my friends, almost run over pedestrians and generally forget my K53 training as I ride the clutch with the best of you. Honestly, I can’t wait.

First Year is seriously not taken seriously...

Experiencing First Year has been somewhat of a large obstacle to overcome. I say this because it is at this very point in one’s life where there is an escapade of change that he or she needs to deal with. It is filled with trials of all sorts and makes every action result in some sort of outcome whether it is good or bad. This piece will cite reasons as to why people look at First Year University as being so casual. The truth however, is that one has to go through an ordeal that is not exactly simple to overcome to get through to their next year of study. It in fact, takes a toll on them physically, emotionally and mentally. Furthermore, it is this year that determines what one will be aiming to achieve for as long as their course will take them. The above points will be elaborated below.

There are many reasons as to why people take First Year as such a light- hearted and fun- filled experience. Firstly, the impact senior students have on our thought patterns in terms of courses tell us that First Year is the most “chilled” year an there is nothing to worry about. These very thoughts embed themselves in the very flesh of our skins and we practically swear by these very utterances. We as gullible, timid First Years fall prey to such claims and take it easy along the road to our degrees. We party more, socialize more and detract from our work as though we do not have any of it at all. This mindset is one of the main psychological boosters that push us into places like “The Rat…” and completely out of places like lecture theatres. First Years become so laid back and placed into comfort zones that they do not exactly own; this is because First year is far from a comfort zone but rather a time to prove to oneself that they are able to cope with this new transition in their lives as well as to set the foundation for stronger and more fruitful years to come.

With regard to not taking First Year as seriously as we ought to, we expend our energy on other aspects of lives as students, namely, socialising! We tend to stay up late, feel awfully tired and sluggish for the next day’s lectures. Dragging our feet along and dragging our work along, we tie ourselves down to last minute working and just making deadlines! We allow ourselves to become mentally drained and develop unhealthy and obscure eating patterns pumping our systems with junk food and energy drinks. To some this might seem irrelevant. But it is a serious issue and does develop nasty habits in us all. This is especially to the fact that we lack that sense of supervision from our parents, particularly here at Rhodes.

With the above lack of our parents’ watchful eye, we do not feel that added pressure to sit with our books. We tend to take our lives and work too lightly believing that we can manage our time more productively. Though, the truth is we as young adults fail to realize that we do not possess that much will- power especially that we are here alone, able to make our own decisions and use our freedom to the best of our advantage, feeling no restraints by the consequences that will follow.

To conclude, First Year is, in my opinion, not taken seriously at all but rather taken as just a preparatory year for learning about how to live as free as a bird! Our mindsets need to be changed and geared towards work and living life in a more balanced and content way.

Opinion Piece: Library Extention

All you ever hear around campus these days is the whirring noise of drills and the clanking of heavy machinery. Originally one might think that Rhodes is on a maintenance campaign, what with all the peeling paint, the deteriorating walls and the general disrepair – not so. Instead all energies, labour and money are being directed towards the extension of the Rhodes library(http://www.ru.ac.za/modules/blog_include/blog_content.php?blog_id=303).

When our society today is visibly moving from the information of books to computer literacy I find it laughable that the ‘powers that be’ deem fit that Rhodes should remain with its archaic reputation pouring its money in to the “wonderful development” of the new library. Complaining that the campus is running out of space, Rhodes University has decided to invest in a library which will contain the 450 000 volumes, yet all of the information contained in the books can be stalled in minimal megabital space! I also want to know what goes on behind all those closed doors on the first and second floors. According to my calculations, there is sufficient space in this ‘off-limit’ zone to expand.

The one advantage that the building of the extension to library is its aiding South Africa in its unemployment (oops, I meant employment) policy. Already overstaffed with grumpy, ‘don’t care two hoots’ staff who are seemingly employed to type personal e-mails, Rhodes will not only need to employ more library staff but construction staff.

When more than half of South Africa’s population( http://www.naledi.org.za/docs/Poverty%20and%20unemployment%20in%20South%20Africa%20Feb%202006.pdf) are struggling to survive it is deemed fit that one should expand what one already has, effectively decreasing the rest of your community’s wealth. Spending R90-million on a building which can at any time be burn down, flooded or even blown away by a tornado (one can never be sure with Grahamstown weather) seems a waste when a third of our fellow South Africans are struggling to survive.

Another ‘advantage’, as the motivators of the project regard the extension, is the unity which will be achieved in housing all departmental books under one roof. Can you imagine precise, meticulous physicists being in close proximity to the over exuberant, flamboyant characters of the drama department? Or if that doesn’t work what about paint smeared, over creative Fine Art Students working along side Geologists who hypothesis when a particular type of gem suddenly changes colour to a luminous green. Well, I suppose it would provide an interesting case study for the psychologists!

Lecturers claim that the ‘beep beep’ of a received message is disconcerting yet they are happily oblivious to the beeping signalling the reversing trucks, the continual roaring of cement mixers and the ear piercing explosions. Noise pollution smears the air while doing that last minuet ‘tut’ in the library or having that journ interview over a cup of coffee at the Kaif. I hate to think how the nearby residents cope, I originally thought it was due to the promise of earplugs, yet these have never materialized. And are we going to have communal earplugs for passers-by and areas located within the area? Well cabbages would definitely be cheaper, even beating Fruit and Veg.

With all the emphasis of being designed as an environmentally friendly building, with its “natural lighting, natural cooling and sensible use of power” the fact that an avenue of trees had to be forfeited is totally forgotten. It is ironic that the librarians have catalogued sections of books on the destruction of eco-systems, the crisis caused by deforestation and the hot topic of global warming not realizing that they play a part; in turning the page of that book (what is paper made of?) and actively destroying what little resources they had the authority to protect!
What more can one say about this horrific scheme to destroy students, fee payers and our environment? One can only conclude that the project is anything but what the protagonists claim!

Survivor SRC Comic (Click on comic to enlarge)

Blog Action Day 2008

"I wouldn't change a thing..."

Like so many others, she comes from a home of divorced parents. But this has not impeded her ability to handle her life wisely, as she is a confident young woman who brings joy to those around her.
She will remain nameless for the time being, as it is in hope that she will linger absolutely free from any judgment until the time is right. She is a journalism student who is in a similar situation to her fellow students, as she doesn’t know if she is doing the right thing with her studies.
“I’m not sure if I want to do journalism,” she says, “it’s not the kind of journalism I had in mind.”
It is here at Rhodes University where she would get the opportunity to fulfil her passion though, which is photography. This bright young photo-junkie has set her sights on eventually becoming a conservation photographer, taking awe-inspiring photographs of wild life that would make even the Dalai Lama breathless in utter peace of mind.
“If I don’t get into photo-journ, I’ll change degree,” says the prospective photography journalism student. She has reason to be tense as a fish in a leaking bowl, as there is much competition amongst the students due to the limited number of available places in the ‘photo-journ’ class.
This has been in the centre of her thoughts lately, as she has already successfully survived her first year at Rhodes University. There are some who may think that this is already a colossal accomplishment on its own. This is because not all students metaphorically live to tell the tale of a triumph over the battle of first year at University, especially one as ‘unique’ (by which untamed might sometimes be a more effective substitute) as Rhodes University.With her eyes jokingly pointed down, she revealed the secret behind her assistance to first year survival, “Alcohol,” she said with an ear-to-ear smile revealing pearly whites.
“The main piece of advice that I could give a first year student is to work hard,” she asserted. “Students should choose their subjects wisely so that they don’t waste time on subjects they don’t like.”
“A whole year of philosophy was a waste of time because I wasn’t interested in it,” she revealed.
There is little doubt that university life makes small, or sometimes large, alterations to a person with regard to who they are as people. As a student at Rhodes University, this prospective future photo journalist proclaims that one must have responsibility.
“University life has made me more responsible. There is no one here who will tell you to go to lectures or do your assignments; you have to make your own time for your work. There are no parents or teachers pushing you to get things done.”
While twirling her hair around her index, she provides some sensible words of guidance on how to not go about flunking your degree because of the overwhelming freedom and responsibility of first year university life.
Looking back on first year as a whole, Kate Roswell (pseudonym) is satisfied with her choices.
“With regard to my thoughts on first year, I wouldn’t change a thing… except maybe study harder.”

Nyummo Res Food?

Always beaming, while peering our through her glasses Refilwe Mpshe proudly claims “I have survived a year of res food, although there has been a few dodgy moments!” Coming from the restaurant laden Jo’berg to the little nook of ‘G’town’ where the air is heavy with the smell of oil or burnt veggies has “been quite something,” remarks Refilwe, “with the hectic fees that we pay, res food is just not up to standard.”

Refilwe came to Rhodes used to communal eating having worked on her gap year for a Healing and Deliverance organization in England. Joining the young people’s team she helped in many of the day to day chores, including working in the kitchen. Because the organization catered internationally the meal had to suit every person partaking likes, dislikes, religious beliefs and traditional customs. Being sent on specific courses Refilwe humbly admits that she knows “more than most people.”

Because Refilwe believes she can make a difference is one of the reasons she is running for Residence Food Rep. She believes that although there are eight varieties one can pick from for a meal, a fundamental component is left out - that of a light meal. Instead of two heavy meals a day Refilwe admits that in her opinion this is an overload. “Salads are the answer,” she grins before continuing “a variety of colour is also essential!” “This option is also viable in its practicality” according to Refilwe in that it saves money.

Similarly Refilwe sees herself as the perfect channel between the students and the kitchen staff. “We, as the students are always complaining amongst ourselves yet how do the kitchen staff know in what aspects they can improve?” she questioningly asked, raising her eyebrows, “the kitchen staff can and will only improve with feedback!”

Refilwe went on to explain about her lowest moment, her worst meal, and her most disgusting experience. That of having her friend finding a congealed mass in her chicken. When dissecting her own meal, Refilwe found that she also had the slimy amalgamation. “We still do not know what it was” she hesitantly added “I was put off res food for life, but my student budget doesn’t allow for that!” After a week of eating out, Refilwe’s pocket was empty forcing her to pluck up courage to return to the hall dining room.

This has not been the only time that Refilwe has got more than she had bargained for. Who knows what goes into res food, but I do not call finger nails (I’m assuming it wasn’t a toe nail) an essential ingredient in any recipe. Following in this line of thought, I have yet to meet a person who thinks that hair is delicious, loves the taste of sand and mince and thinks that a mixture of peas and stink bugs are a delectable canapé.

Refilwe’s advice to all first years is to eat blindfolded! Having thought of the impracticality of this she recommends that one should discover your choice menu in ‘O Week’ as you are still wealthy enough to go down the road for Nandoes. She also cautions first years that there is no luminous yellow trade mark of the M in Grahamstown.

Personally Refilwe is a McDonald’s fan. She jokes that the Big Mac Burger gives her reason to live. This is naturally her first stop when returning home for vac!

Being in res prohibits Refilwe from her hobby of baking. She has inherited both of her parents cooking genes. Her father makes her favorite meal of Pap Le Sebcti, yet this is only done when his sisters come and visit, making her want to extend an invitation to them daily. Refilwe’s mother provides the family with daily sustenance – her trade mark being her amazing sweet potatoes.

Who better to have than a food rep who loves setting the table and watching people eat while their enjoyment lights up their face and who lives by the motto that we should “not eat to live, but to live to eat!”