Small part of the Identity missing .

Up until this day, the reason for me putting on a pair of earrings every morning was just an extension of my outfit plus earrings are the cheapest way of changing my look. Thinking of something to do for the blog was very hard, I hate doing things that are outside of my comfort zone, outcomes I can’t control so every suggestion was met with a loud No! I was not going to mess up my sleep pattern by going to watch the sunrise at the monument, I couldn’t go to the township, it wouldn’t be a new experience I’ve lived there for the better half of my years. My friend mentioned that she had never ever seen me without earrings, and that is exactly what I was going to do.
I took to the task, it seemed easy enough, but boy was I wrong. Most people are probably rolling their eyes right now, thinking “psh, what’s the worst that could happen, without earrings”. It was the longest hour of my life, earrings are part of my identity, just like I need to wear underwear everyday (To much info, I know), I need to wear earrings. I felt as if my ears had become my face, the first thing that people would see about me, girls would be disgusted in me, I felt as if I hadn’t showered , I truly felt empty. I know, I always judge those girls who cry when taking of make-up, I judged them and here I was, feeling as though I should walk around with my head hung low. I have to admit that after 45 minutes I opened my handbag and put on what I had concluded as “my identity” back on.
I learnt a big lesson that day, our identity is made up of so many different things, like a puzzle, ,when one piece is gone the identity is not complete, even though you are the only person who realises that a piece is missing.

Schrodinger's Cat and the HIV corollary.

On Tuesday the 27th of October I had my first HIV test. The day before I went to the Sanatorium with a friend to get some vitamins and we decided on the spot to sign up for a test the following day. I had never really put much thought into getting a test but as soon as I signed up I began to think quite deeply on the subject. I have never doubted my HIV status but I became rather anxious to see the result. I arrived on time and was led to a little room at the end of a corridor where I was left alone with the man entrusted with counselling me and giving me my sentence. The psychologist/counsellor was a nice man, we got along well, having candid conversion and getting through the pre-test counselling. He must have been satisfied with my overall knowledge and confidence on the subject of HIV and my status, apart from when he asked me if I did drugs and shared needles with my friends! A nurse then entered the room and the fear of the unknown started to hit me as she cleaned my right index finger with a small cloth of alcohol/anti-septic. The pain was fleeting and she used a pipette to suck up a small amount of my blood and placed it on the little testing console. She placed it on a counter, covered with a page, and said she would return in 5 minutes to review the result. We made small talk while I waited anxiously, thinking about all the different possibilities at that moment in time. It was like the one thought experiment I heard about in a science lecture, known as Schrodinger’s Cat. Schrodinger’s Cat was a theory s whereby hypothetically a cat was placed in a box along with a vial of poison gas, and at a certain time a hammer would either break the vial releasing the gas and killing the cat or would not, leaving the cat alive. After the allotted amount of time it is postulated that the cat is both alive and dead and one cannot know until you remove the box and have visual evidence. At that moment in time I did not know whether or not I had HIV, and both possibilities existed. The nurse returned and after checking the test kit filled out a form and passed it to the counsellor. After a brief pensive moment he said “You’re fine” and I laughed in relief. I’m glad that I had the test as I think it is the responsibility of all young adults, especially in South Africa, to know one’s status and be aware of the risks and responsibilities that we face.

WHO DID WHAT , WHERE?

http://confessionsofjournstudents.blogspot.com
A secret is something that no one would want other people to know about. When one writes the “CONFESSIONS OF JOURN STUDENTS” it drew my attention to this particular blogpost making me wonder, what could these confessions be that they would want to expose???
This is a blog about three journ students who confess things about their live or what they did. What I found interesting was that, at the beginning one of the journ student introduced the readers of how they were at home and what kind of person they were perceived to be including what kind of personality they were classified to be and over one night just a sip of one drink it totally changed their lives. The writing style of these bloggers just kept me wanting to read more and adding some humour just made it a really great blog to read. The layout of the page was black all over which brought out the content of the blog. By adding pictures was a good idea due to making it easier for the readers to scroll down and look at what they spoke about. These were truly confessions of journ students because I myself would not reveal information that was revealed there. Although it was fun to read this blog and humorous myself i did not find any serious topics that they wanted to share, it was all about having fun , which was not a bad idea. But all in all these are confession that i would say parents should not read. Like the saying says, what happens at university stays at university!

i came , i read, i concord!!

reading books ha always been a fun thing for me that i do in my spare time.....but finishing a book has never happened before. i usually read the first few chapters than i go the next book. This bad habit needed to stop. Monday afternoon i walked into the school library and went to the second level. I did not want to choose a simple book that had less than 100 pages. On arrival i first walked around than decided to turn to my left, close my eye's and just pull out a book and read it that day and finish it. so i did that! I pulled out the book on the Holocaust....WHAT WAS I THINKING...... i scratched my hair , took a deep breathe and started to read. 11 chapters with 389 pages to read. by wednsay night i was already half way through the book. unfortunalty i got sick during the course of the week and i had set back. the doctors told me i needed to rest and just get better. lying in my bed i was tossing and turning due to bordum.... so i thought to myself , " my body might be week but my mind can still capture information which means i can read so i sat up and finished the book. this was thursday night. i was proud of myself, although i didn finish the task of reading a book in a day i actually managed to read a book and FINISH IT. WHOOP WHOOP !!!!

Wallowing in the S.H.I.T.

Sugar Honey Ice Tea is a blog by 3 fellow JMS1 bloggers, writing under the pseudonym’s Sugar Honey, Ice and Tea. Their personal profiles provide interesting backgrounds on their choice of pseudonym and their lives, as demonstrated by Tea’s statement, “As a student of the school of life I am here to enlighten like a hot cup of TEA swallowed too quickly burning the chest”. Each writer has set out to create a distinctive persona from the beginning, each providing a unique and interesting perspective on various issues. Basically, as the name suggests, this blog is da S.H.I.T! This blog is colourful, creatively designed, full of energy and is always interesting, combining the personalities of three eccentric characters to create a blog that is difficult to forget about. This statement found on the blog sums up its overall ethos: “Welcome to the craziest blog around! Get ready to think and feel like 3 different people - ALL AT THE SAME TIME! This blog is schizophrenic, so you don't have to be... But it sure does help.” The blog's main focus is entertainment news, providing insightful reviews of the latest hip-hop albums to be released, all the while making use of vibrant language, unbiased referencing and colourful and bold writing to capture and keep the reader's attention. The writing, and even the photos that are featured in the blog are permeated throughout with a distinct hip-hop flavour making it unique, amusing and exciting. The S.H.I.T. is a great blog to read, even if you're not interested in the world of entertainment.

Gobbledy Gook, oh my Fook!

I'm constantly finding out that Rhodes offers so many subjects. Everyday I here of someone going a HAM (History and Appreciation of Music) lecture of Classical Civilizations. So when I heard of one of my friends going to a Gobbledy Gook lecture, I couldn't resisit the temptation for a new experience...
It was eerie and spooky, a massive lecture theatre with an odd looking wiry haired man, a distant relative of Albert Einstein I was told, stood with his back facing the audience, his hand poised to write with some chalk. There seemed to be a vacuum that created an echoey space, if you took a wrong step you could be sucked into the vortex which was the lecturn. "Use the Squeeze Theorom to find the Second Order Homogeneous Differential Equations of the
Tangent Plane Approximation" the 'clever guy' said.
Just like I don't trust any human with 11 fingers, the same goes for any word with more than 11 letters. I was highly suspect. Was this a capitalist brainwashing lecture, where subliminal messgaes get flashed through split second frames only to leave you thristing for a Coke at the end of the lecture? My ears pricked up, I wasn't going to be caught off guard. Some more brainwashing ensued, at one stage when the words consisted of 15 plus letters I even blocked my ears for fear of being hypnotised. It was an unsettling experience to say the least. Walking out the lecture I thought the worst was over, I walked out the building and glanced up at a sign "Mathematics Department", more than 11 letters, I quickly shot my eyes to the floor... shoe anthoer close call!

Predator Editor

ETdit... Etdit... Edit! I cannot express my disgust of unedited work. To be reading an article quite pleasantly and run into a grammatical error or poorly used word is off-putting. We aren’t robotic grammar machines, and thank God for that, but when there are so many bulging errors and slap-dash sentences being strung together, it really does show badly on the writer. I conjure up images of drooling idiots with elongated heads that hold nothing but a cranium of cobwebs. The Yellow Brick Rhode is no exception. Koodos to the bloggers however, they have some interesting articles, with some good sports writing by Tucky. As journalist bloggers we are always looking to share opinions and create platforms for feedback, and I think Yellow Brick Rhode has managed to accomplish that. Chris has a provocative writing style, although at sometimes it is too “dude check this out... I’m this... I dig that” (after all this is a journalism blog not a personal diary), that is not just a summary of an interesting article but a written down thought process. So often we tend to regurgitate other people’s writings in a more concise way, when we should be broadening our readers’ thoughts on the topic. Sinikiwe Mqadi, I’m afraid to say, is a huge culprit for all that is wrong with blogging. I presume he was eating supper, learning for Statistics and brushing his teeth at the same time as writing the article. To make those many mistakes and not be consciously aware of it is mind boggling, not that there was a mind to boggle in the first place. I’m a debater so I know that there is always a rebuttal, so feel free to comb through my post, but don’t feel embarrassed when you don’t find any editing mistakes!

F[read]om Writers

By: Zama Ndaba
So you might ask yourself what a girl from a KZN township, a boy dedicated to hip-hop, a white girl in dreadlocks have in common, well they are all contributors to the blog F[read]om writers. They make no promises of what they might offer, but the diversity of their apparent personalities and backgrounds ignite excitement.
The blog itself appears to be easy going, on the sidelines; a booklist and not to much frillies, if you are not big on colour this is not the blog for you, the background they used seems to be a bit cluttered. The name of the blog portrays who they are, free, spirited people. They all give a different feel to the blog, so although all posts say they are posted by F[read]om writers, there is this sense of individual writing style, that become apparent, e.g. in her mission statement Cat Pennels (contributor), blogs about the environment, and Tshegofatso Masoba (contributor) blogs about Hip-hop. The fusion of the differing ways in which they see the world is interesting, it does not become awkward nor does seem to be all over the place, it merely merges in harmony. Most of the posts seem to very subjective, one of the posts is seem to go against meat eating and even though it doesn’t openly say that, meat eaters are portrayed are awful and “an issue of greed and cruelty”.
One of the problems I had with this blog is that all of them are too comfortable in their spheres. None of them venture into unknown topics like do a piece on politics or technology they all seem to be too warm in the cuddle of environment, Hip-hop and soccer. I would have liked to see more in-depth research in their posts, all of the posts are opinion after opinion.

Somalia pirates just making a statement "Back off".

Just like the rest of the world, you are probably thinking that the Somalia pirates are good for nothings, who are taking the easy way out, stealing peoples ‘gold’ like that. We have been punked. In all of this we have forgotten to ask why these people would do something so ancient like piracy, maybe like me you thought they do this just for the kick, or to fulfil childhood dreams of being ‘Captain eye patch’.
To be a pirate in Somalia is seen as an honour, something like the men used to feel in Britain when they went to war. They protect their waters from ‘predators’, who illegally fish there for profits, damage the Somalis economy and don’t pay. Somalia is one of the few countries that would not be considered a state, that do not have a government running things, this means that there are no laws hence there is no way of protecting the waters along their coast. European and Asian countries are seeing this as an opportunity to make huge profits (millions) by stealing the countries food supply through the pervasive illegal rummage of fish, lobster, and many other types of seafood.
Somalis pirates don’t do what they do to fulfil childhood dreams of being pirates; wearing eye patches and having hooks as hands. The world has not been made aware of the fact that there is a valid reason for the Somalis pirates doing what they do; the country is already living below the breadline, one in four girls actually attend school. Unless somebody in the country does something about the fact that countries are taking from their coast and not giving them compensation, the pirates will make sure that illegal poaching of their resources is kept to the minimum. The key to this is about survival trying to maintain that the country does not go worse of that it already is.

Fed-up with no education: Africa’s age-old problem

Food aid should not be sent to Africa, it’s a waste and will only lead to further problems. I’m baffled by the amount money donated to African charities by profile-raising celebrities and “no-strings-attached” countries. Logic has it that more money means more food means less starvation. Why is the ship still sinking? Why are people still going hungry, and the bread line still getting longer? I refer you to an article by The Times (UK): http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6886167.ece. This article is spot on. There is no doubt that blindly feeding corrupt countries like horses, is doing them no good – never mind that most of the money reaches only as far as the back pocket of a beaurocratic Congolese official before it miraculously turns into a Russian pistol. Where does this age-old problem lay hidden? In education. But how do we educate the uneducated in order for them to be able to educate the masses? Firstly, black-cat corporations who are capitalist driven selfish “entrepreneurs” must stop the exploitation that they are consciously doing. Loaning money, investing in oil and providing charitable aid is not helping poverty stricken countries. What would help is if these investors, instead of thinking of the next diamond they are going to buy for a mistress patiently waiting in a five-star hotel room, if they used their influence to highlight the need for education, not only in some media splurge but within their corporations. It has been an age old trick to make yourself feel better by swiping your credit card, but superficiality just isn’t acceptable.

Generation Of Swine

As student journalists we are heavily encouraged to read as much as we can, and this is something I strongly stand for. I have been an avid reader since a young age and it is something I have tried to get my younger brother to appreciate, through force and careful persuasion, but to no avail. He seems to appreciate the beauty and value in our great literary history but will not venture into this landscape of symbols and dreams. He is far more inclined to sit in front of the TV watching filth spewed out of Hollywood, LA or listen to electro music on full blast while “talking” to friends on his mobile. It takes me about 10 minutes to crack and start swearing at him whenever I go home for a holiday as all I want is for him to develop a relationship with literature. However, I recently came across a piece of writing that I think just might be able to plant the seeds of interest in him that in me have begun to bloom. It had to be by one of my favourite authors, Hunter S. Thompson, and I think that it will appeal to his adolescent ideology. It goes like this; “Maybe there is no Heaven. Or maybe this is all pure gibberish – a product of the demented imagination of a lazy drunken hillbilly with a heart full of hate who has found out a way to live out there where the real winds blow – to sleep late, have fun, get wild, drink whiskey and drive fast on empty streets with nothing in mind except falling in love and not getting arrested...”

Reitz 4 walk, "in the name of reconciliation"

Shocking that 15 years into our democracy, some can still commit such acts of ‘racism’ like the four students at the University of Free States, even more shocking when those actions against human dignity are pardoned in the name of reconciliation.
Four students from the University of Free States(known as the reitz 4) were charged, for making the cleaners, as part of a prank, eat food that had been urinated on, the whole incident was recorded on video. The new Vice Chancellor, Prof Jonathan Jansen, said that that “the issue of racism will not be resolved in the courts, unless we do something differently.” I fail to see how students who have not taken the initiatives themselves, towards a South Africa full of ‘sunshine and roses’ can be forgiven; they have not made public apologies nor have they shown remorse for their actions. Dropping the charges will not in any way heal the past, in actual fact it will be a case were issues facing South Africa are zigzagged around and not dealt with head on. Problem is, we are scared of actually admitting that the students were wrong in what they did, lord forbid people don’t do such things in the new South Africa. It is not only because they were white and the cleaners were black but because they did something that undermines a persons dignity.
Issues like this are the reason South Africa will not move on, because people are trying to hard not to be racist. In lecture theatres when issues involving politics, like Black Economic Empower are so approached with the delicately everybody trying really hard to be politically correct (an opinion piece for another time). If South Africa wishes to move on from the politically correct society we are living in, then pardoning people for transgressions in the name of reconciliation should be, dropping the charges will not change the mindset of the students.
http://www.news24.com/Content/SouthAfrica/News/1059/d3e7bc1a742241f9a4462c1a622a6659/21-10-2009-10-31/Punish,_then_forgive_Reitz_4

what is love?

What is love?
Real love is unconditional. All other “forms” of love are not really love. Most parents and kids don’t love each other, most people in relationships don’t love each other, most people on the planet never experience unconditional love in their entire lives… or at least it sure looks that way. When you love someone and they have done wrong your love covers it all and you wonder why you cannot stay angry at them. Love is that look that your mother gave you when you were born .To love someone unconditionally means that you love the person exactly as they are, exactly as they were before, and exactly as they will be in the future – because people change all the time, so if you love the person, you will love them even if they become something you disagree with. How many parents can say that about their kids? How many people can say that about their “lover”? Love is not about you or your pleasure or your amusement. It’s not about what you get out of it or what the other person can give to you. It’s not about having a trophy you can show off with and tell people “This is *MY* girlfriend/boyfriend/wife/husband/son/daughter/whatever”. You do not “own” anyone. It’s not about you feeling ‘proud’ to be with someone who always agrees with everything you say and do and never does anything you disagree with. Unconditional love means that the person can just live their life exactly as they choose and you will always be there for them no matter what. Possessiveness is not love, Jealousy is not love, Lust is not love, Fear is not love, Keeping people all to yourself is not love, Expecting something from someone is not love

Selebi Trial

Former National Commissioner of SAPS Jackie Selebi is currently a guest at the High Court, where he stands as the accused in a much publicised corruption trial. He faces two charges of corruption and one of defeating the ends of justice relating to payments he allegedly received from ex-Hyundai boss Billy Rautenbach, and slain mining boss Brett Kebble and his associate Glenn Agliotti, who is accused of murdering Kebble. This all makes for an intense and interesting case, and if the allegations prove to be true the consequences are immense. It would provide an inexplicable link between Selebi and the murder of Brett Kebble, and would seem that Agglioti may have acted as Selebi’s assassin, sent to murder Kebble.

Out of this charge many other interrelated cases of fraud and corruption have been popping up. “Convicted drug trafficker Glenn Agliotti stood firm in his conviction that payments made to former top cop Jackie Selebi were innocent gestures of generosity, the High Court in Johannesburg heard of Friday.” In an attempt to save Jackie Selebi, State Witness Agliotti has attempted to wave off the whole accusation, claiming that the payments made to Selebi were merely gifts."I've helped friends before. I've given presents to friends before. That's just how I am," he said during cross-examination during Selebi's corruption trial. Defence lawyer Jaap Cilliers put forward the notion that benevolence was Agliotti's general intention in paying Selebi and other friends money. The way I see it, Agliotti gave Selebi a ‘gift’ so that he would shut his mouth if a murder case was ever opened against him.

News commentary - AWB Re-Launch

I got interested in the South African Afrikaner political party the AWB (Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging), after watching Louis Theroux, a British investigative journalist. He was doing a story on racism in South Africa, which no doubt led him to Eugène Terre'Blanche. This is a link to videos of his programme on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=louis+theroux+south+africa&search_type=&aq=f
I recently came across an article about the re-launch of the AWB by Terre’Blanche himself. However, the article was further spiced up as the writer compared both Terre’Blanche and Julius Malema, as they had been throwing insults at eachother. I laughed when the writer said that they “have fired volleys at each other in what is sure to be one of the most entertaining battles ever fought in the South African political arena.” I smile at the thought of two strong minded gusto leaders defending what they view as right. Never mind that Malema has been seriously slammed in the media for being untactful and stupid. If you go back and look at past stories about the actual re-launch of the AWB you can watch a video of Terre’Blanche’s speech. I always wonder what goes through his mind, the scary thought that his ideologies are so deeply entrenched him. I urge everyone to watch the Louis Theroux documentary and while you at it all his other stories, which are equally as interesting.

Prize for Initiative...

President Barak Obama was awarded the prestigious Nobel peace prize. The award was form the Norwegian government for his extra ordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between people and nations.
People around the globe were not impressed “his been in office for just nine months”, most said. Critics said that it put pressure on him to put all his theory into practice.
What I think that most people do not understand is that the award was not for work he had done, but rather for the initiative he had taken towards world peace ( if any is possible) unlike his preceding , George Bush. The award Obama himself said that he realises that the people who had received the award before him had made significant change. However in his defence, it would already seem that the Muslim world is softening up to the West. Obama is also lionized for bringing the United States closer to serious issues like the global warming and multilaterism. I feel that it was clearly stated that he did not get the award for being the wonderful president ending war globally, but the award is for the initiative he has taken towards having a world without nuclear arms. Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics, people are now more hopeful than ever before. He is having talks with states that seemed would never be possible.
I understand that people think that he is still new at this and all the people before him had worked hard for their prizes, in restoring some type of world peace. However it should not be forgotten that he has taken giant steps toward world peace.

will a new coach really help the SA TEAM?

2010 is around the corner and it seems the boys are still not ready for the upcoming world cup. After yesterdays lose to Ireland "Bafana ba runa" are still not upping their game. The fans are not happy about this, and indeed it makes sense. If we did not automatically qualify for the 2010 cup i really do not think we would have qualified at all. Some want the coach to go....but isn’t time that we looked at the players instead of putting the blame on the coach? I mean this is my opinion. He is there every day training these boys to do their best and now they want to fire him. We cannot afford to get a new coach, not so close to the world cup. You can take a horse to the river but you cannot force it to drink water from it, same goes with the soccer team. You can coach them but it is up to them to play their best on that field. The coach cannot always be the blame. That is one thing I have realised about South Africans, whenever there is a problem we either fire the person or find a replacement or we just put the blame on someone else and hope for the problem to be solved. Come on SOUTH AFRICANS let’s try and not be negative.

DOES OBAMA REALLY DESERVE THE NOBEL ?

Normally the prize has been presented, even controversially, for accomplishment, The choice of President Barack Obama for the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, less than nine months into his eventful presidency, was an unexpected honor that elicited praise and puzzlement around the globe. President Obama has not yet proved to the world that he deserves to be president and already he is being awared the award that great men such as Nelson Mandela,FW De Klerk and Albert Luthuli were awarded for their great work. Im not trying to be negative but it was really way too soon for him to have been given that award. its good for people to have faith in someone but for President Obama i feel that the man is given too much credit tooo soon. He had promised to bring back the troops back home if he was elected into presidency and instead, he is still sending more men there. when i look down all the winner from 1901 to 2008 i feel happy that those people showed the world why they deserved that award before it was given to them...could it be that he was the first black president of America???? on the one hand you get the one's that say he deserves it.. for what i do not know.On the other hand there are those who say he's still new what has he done? (point there) and than there are those who could not care or those who are still confused. This was what the Norwegian Nobel Commitee said why they thought he deserved it, "the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." point taken but there are big shoes that man still needs to fill ...... This is not some lets fight Obama campaign. i do see this man making something out of America just in time...... not right now. perfection takes time

Sun setting

The war may be over but the memory still lives on....

it has been 14 yrs since The Rwandan Genocide in 1994 were mass killing of hundreds of thousands of Rwanda's Tutsis and Hutu political moderates by Hutus under the Hutu Power ideology. Over the course of approximately 100 days, from the 6 April through mid-July, at least 500,000 people were killed. Most estimates indicate a death toll between 800,000 and 1,000,000, which could be as high as 20% of the total population.
Today i was in an international relations class and we are studying the UN and the role they play in the world and in sustaing peace world wide. when my professor was talking over these past days about the role of the UN I was actually pleased that there was a group of leaders who work together with other countries to prevent wars from happening or genocides fron repeating itself.but today 6th October 2009 i saw a different side of life that brought tears to my eyes and anger. When the Movie hotel Rwanda was released it was a good movies but had its falls of not showing how the people died and how the bodies decomposed themselves as the people wait for help and the UN did nothing. This documentary was told from a another professors point of view of while the people were dying the UN was taking its time to come up with a solution of how they were going to end the genocide and save the people. The fact that after world war two the UN promised that there will not be another war or genocide in the near future was all talk and no action. if that was true than how come so many people died in Rwanda? How come the Un only sent in a few troops to help the people? how come after a couple of months the UN decieded to pull out and call back thier troops back home and leave the people, with newly born babies and children to die? how come they have soilders to go and collect the "white" people who where working in Rwanda at that time and leave the rest to die? How come the UN only sent soilders to Rwanda months after they had said at a general meeting that they would sent troops to go and help the people ? the NERVE of US former president Bill Clinton to go to Rwanda after the genocide and to say that they are SORRY they did not realise that things would get so bad..... were they waiting for the bodies to float or pill up before they actually took action and helped those helpless people? Their apology will never bring back the families of those who have lived to see today. their sorry will never erase or heal the pains of those who saw thier parent s being killed or those who were raped repeatedly by more than one man. how can one have faith in the UN while even till today the Somali incicdent has not been resolved.....im trying to understand that how do these people sleep at night when they think to themselves that they could have saved so many people's lives if only they took action...or even those soilders who left the church where thousands of the people where hidding out to go back to Belguim because they were told to come back.... you might think that the past is in the past but the pain still lives on and memeories. people who i looked up to thinking that they were my hero's are infact murderers. a journalist was interviewed during the documentary and she said that she wanted to take these people and help but the UN plane only has space enuf for the people they were sent to fetch. during the documentary the white people were seen taking thier belongings and dogs on the plane.....DOGS????? were dogs mosre important than human lives? im not a racist or attacking the white people some may see it but the fact that people died while the rest of the world did nothing fills me with anger. i guess it is up to our generation to make a differnce and make our world a better place. Im just a student speaking what is own my mind, as a journalist i plan on telling the truth as it is im part of a generation that will make a difference and speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. i stand up for what is right because only the truth shall set you free. hate me or love me but you shall be hating me for telling the truth and speakin my mind because thats what real journalists do TELL THE TRUTH!

Who Am I?

A blog is a space in which a person can record their feelings, thoughts and emotions, similar to a personal diary or journal. However, unlike a personal diary a blog can be viewed, followed or “creeped” on by anyone with a computer and an internet connection. So anyone anywhere in the world can take time out of their day to read what you have to say about your lovely little life. The trick is to try and make it really interesting so that you can gather as many followers as possible and then you can feel all warm and fluffy inside. In my view it an extremely narcissistic exercise but that’s the way everyone seems today. However, I do understand that it can be a beneficial exercise and that there are thousands or even millions of blogs that are extremely important and have been helpful in some way to countless people.

Who Am I? So far I have established quite a negative persona, and if you are reading this and know me personally, or think you know me, this attitude may surprise you as I am always seen to have one of these J on my face. Consider this quote from Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, "L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux". When I look at our world it makes me depressed, not happy. We keep ourselves busy with meaningless chatter, Fbook, casual flings and “maring”. I require a daily fix of music, tea and friendly people to keep me smiling. I am aware that my current pessimistic attitude is filtering through into my writing, but “I write what I like.” I recently spent a weekend at the beach in Kenton which was filled with both euphoria and melancholy and I have since earned such nicknames as “Captain Planet”, “Anti-Human” and “Lobster” because of my lovely sunburn. While at the beach I left my friends and spent some time alone wandering among the dunes and swimming in the sea, pondering my past and future, and I emerged back into civilization with a rather negative outlook on society in general. As my man Hunter said, “"He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man". I just need a few days to return to a normal state of numb complacency. I must admit that writing this has already had a calming, cathartic effect on my tormented soul.

As our blog name suggests we will be treating this blog as a diary of our lives in little Grahamstown. As journalists we have been given permission to blog what we like, of course so long as we meet the assessment criteria, don’t step on any toes, submit it on time, make it “gleam” and so on. So as a blogger my aim is to try and keep everybody happy, including myself, while blogging what I like. I hope you enjoy, or at least appreciate, what I have to say. Have a nice day.

land of the aliens - District 9 movie review

Movie Info

Genre(s): Sci-fi

Written by: Neill Blomkamp
Terri Tatchell

Directed by: Neill Blomkamp

Release Date:
Theatrical: August 14, 2009

Running Time: minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: R for bloody violence and pervasive language

Starring Sharlto Copley, and David James

Over twenty years ago, aliens made first contact with Earth. Humans waited for the hostile attack, or the giant advances in technology. Neither came. Instead, the aliens were refugees, the last survivors of their home world. The creatures were set up in a makeshift home in South Africa’s District 9 as the world’s nations argued over what to do with them. Now, patience over the alien situation has run out. The tension between the aliens and the humans comes to a head when a human field operative, Wikus van der Merwe, contracts a mysterious virus that begins changing his DNA. Wikus quickly becomes the most hunted man in the world, as well as the most valuable – he is the key to unlocking the secrets of alien technology. Ostracized and friendless, there is only one place left for him to hide: District 9. (Sony Pictures)

www.metacritic.com/film/titles/district9

What university was like...or is like

Okay so they made us do this quick exercise of what university was like 20 years ago. All the non- whites in my lecture theatre were asked to go to the front, and only the whites were left behind. I wondered briefly, is it still not like that, people just see the people who have the skin colour like them. We totally ignore people of the other race. This is just a thought proving what has been said over and over again, the new generation is segregating itself, because of things that have nothing t do with us. And the second activity was for males to go the front so we could see what the theatres were like when men were at war, again in the BA degree we hardly ever see males, esp. at Rhodes.

Are'nt we still fighting that battle

In the journalism industry it works like that, how far you take a story depends on the colour of your skin. I mean take David Bullard, had it had been a black person would the story still have been thought of as "reeking of nineteenth century racism" ( his editor said that) or would it just have been seen as a funny columist with too much to say? Why was David Bullard seen as rascist at that time, with that article look at all his articles they are all the same:www.moneyweb.co.za/mw/view/mw/en/page292677

Interesting Freedom of the press? Anyway there is nothing much to tell you. Dave
wrote the column. Dave got fired. To say the least I am sad. I loved his stuff.
Nice and controversial

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In South Africa its like that and it ain't about to change anytime soon. Maybe its that mentality that is keeping us behind.

Do you Know who I am?

If I was to explain to someone what I looked like, my complexion, the colour of my eyes my height and weight, would they know who I was? Say I told them my age, my distinctive marks and peculiarities and habits would they be able to tell me from a crowd?

Would that person be able to know that I want to be a world class journalist, and that I think that the reason the world engages in war and hates on people they have never seen before, is because they are ill informed and ignorant, if I told that person I had 4 piercings would they know? When I tell someone that I look a certain way and I am of a certain nationality, that is only a piece of the pie and a very small one, its like a shell with nothing inside only when I tell you that I dream of going to work for Time magazine one day and that when I read a newspaper and see someone’s by-line, for half a second I see my name on it, will my build not matter. What kind of person am I, with my friends I am someone else, with my family I am another totally different person, what do I think I will bring to the journalism industry with this type of complex behaviour. I want people to be able to say that I changed their point of view about the Zimbabwean issue or a person confronting a government issue because I wrote that story that some deemed to boring and for uneducated people who don’t even read never-mind by the paper. When every body conforms to the money world, writes for money, or become lawyers and accountants, I want to be the person who always stood by her word, to help inform and educate and make them laugh.

Hence until you spare some of your time to talk to me, you would never know that in today’s money hungry world, only drive will take me to were I want to be and knowing that someone out there still likes to read their newspaper with a cup of coffee in the morning. Therefore I am confident to say that you would not have been able to tell by my facial hair round neck and eyebrows.

all you need to know

“Journalism is organized gossip.”
Edward Eggleston

Gossip is a powerful tool in journalism. But more so, information that people don’t know is a powerful tool. It is human nature to want to know what others know. So, if you think about it logically, being a journalist therefore gives you alot of power, it makes you an important person. I want to be an important person. I want to have power. I can tell you now that I’m not going to get that through Bob Mugabe death tactics. So thats why i’m a Rhodes first year journalism student. My name is Andrew Brukman. I’m from Cape Town but went to school in Grahamstown.Our blog is about sharing experiences through writing – or blogging to be more specific. People experience different events and places in different ways because so many different factors, race, sex or ways of viewing life. So why not blog about these different perspectives of events. We are gong to be challenging eachother to do things which we wouldn’t normally do. Something out of our comfort zone. We believe that by doing this it opens up your perspective of life and makes you consciously think of what you are experiencing. Something which is different gives you the ability to compare what is normal to you. How are we going to do this? We have in our group two black girls and two white guys. What better way than to have a set of people so opposite in order to experience different events or places. The great thing about this is that these challenged will no doubt spark debates and issues will be raised which we will be able to write about. This is going to be fun

“Photography records the gamut of feelings written on the human face, the beauty of the earth and skies that man has inherited, and the wealth and confusion man has created. It is a major force in explaining man to man.”
Edward Steichen

what kind of blogger am i?

Different people have different personalities. With each person we interact with some parts of your personality is shown to them but with each person we interact with we present ourselves in a different way.
Being a journalism student enables one to voice their opinions on the world we live in. when one becomes a journalist your views on life change or you develop greater knowledge than you had before due to the different thoughts and views that are expressed over time. When one blogs they express their personal views on a certain issues for instance the type of political system we are living in compared to the one years ago, but also at the same time accepts other people’s opinions and tries not to be negative. The kind of style that is written is usually aimed at journalism students who might find what you write interesting and might want to contrast and compare it to their own personal knowledge. We might all live in the same world but we see life differently to others. As a journalist student you speak and project your voice for those who are never listened to when spoken and try not to be biased. When one blogs you learn about how other people live, you interact with other journalists in different societies that you never imagined would be possible. As a journalist you read and get inspired by those who have written and blogged pieces of writing that might changed your life but also you question and challenge your ways of thinking. It is never about you look like but it is all about your personality and the type of characteristics you have, and how ambitious you are about life that makes you a good journalist. One must never think that learning stops at a certain but everyday you learn something that might help you in the near future. What some people never understand is that without journalist the world would never be as advanced and connected as it is today. People always say that solders in the wars are the most important people but I say the journalist who put their lives in front for a story so that the world would be informed is the true solider. They never get called up but volunteer for them that this is what I want, this is my job and it is up to me to make a difference. If being a journalist is all about the pay check at the end of the month than you are at the wrong place but if it is about the passion and the love for journalist that toy are a journalist student. A true journalist never stops reading because a reading journalist is a good journalist.

who are we?

this is the team.....
we are journalism student from grahamstown, rhodes univeristy. as you have already noticed our blog name is grahamstown diaries. we will be covering various things in our blog for instant our members consists of two white guys and two black girls. we will be challenging eachother to do things that are outside our comfort zone. we will attempin the unattempted things. other topics will be covered for instance music review, movies reviews, politics in grahamstown and as students that affect us in our everyday lives. what is the latest trend in fashion and any issues that will be on our mind that we would like to address. the main aim of this group is to show that it doesn matter weather your black or white we all can do the unexpected.