I read what I like and I like what I read

By Shavaughn Haack

Good journalism blogging isn’t as easy as you would think. You can’t just spew out anything that comes to mind and expect people to read it, a lesson that the journ 1 class have come to realise. The 2009 RU blogs are aimed at journalism students.

With so many bloggers out there, a blog should grab the attention of anyone that stumbles across the site. The goal is to attract readership any way possible but every cyber surfer is likely to have their own criteria of what makes a blog good enough to follow. I will be reviewing my fellow bloggers, Journopad. Their fun personality and colourful look to the blog is what initially attracted me. The use of pictures is adequate enough to keep the reader scrolling down.

What made this blog stand out was the sense of unity between the different members of the group. The pieces relate to each other and a collective vision is apparent. Blogging the F-Bomb was the piece that I found the most interesting and relevant to the course topic. This post is a commentary on the future of feminism in cyberspace; the unique style is something worth having a peek at. Journopad may not cover very serious topics or be particularly evocative but their writing is accessible and fun to read. Journopad has created a platform for expression of their own personal views and commentary of the world through the eyes of a journalism student. A fair effort in my opinion.

Anger, awareness and apologies.

Ok, so after writing that opinion piece, there are a few things I need to ge straight. What hurts me most is not that she's gone, or that I think the Dean has gone about this all in the complete wrong way...no, it is none of that. What hurts me the most is the amount of pain she suffered before she died. In order for her to want to take her own life, she must have been hurting so much and so deeply that the thought of facing tomorrow just seemed impossible.

Although it may not have sounded so in my last post, Winnie and I were once close friends. Things may not have been that way towards the end of her life, but ultimately we were both first years in Allan Gray House. We had gone through O-Week together and bonded a great deal. She had come to me a number of times and explained how she felt down and so unhappy here at Rhodes. I encouraged her to seek help. More than that I do not feel it is right to disclose as our conversations were confidential.

By third term it seemed that her and I were having a sort of tif, I guess you could call it. We had disagreed about something so petty and had allowed our friendship to fall to pieces. I regret this so much now. But I also see that it was her way of pushing people away.

My most fond memory of her is how she would come running to me for a our daily hug, a ritual I had started with the secret intention of letting her know - everyday - that somebody was there for her. Someone cared. I cared, and I know that so many others did too. But I failed her. As her friend and as her res-mate, by allowing something so pathetic to come between us - I wasn't there for her anymore. For that, I am really ashamed.

It was so hard seeing everyone hurt so much when the initial shock hit. And her funeral was horrible...in the sense that so many people were forced to say goodbye to a very special person.
I saw Vivian de Klerk (the Dean of Students) at the funeral...she was sitting in front of me. And I remember just wanting to yell at her for even being there after doing something (I believe) was very insensitive: telling the world a partial lie.

I miss you already Win. And I'm sorry, so, so sorry for the circumstances. I'm sorry that you were living in so much pain. And, mostly, I'm sorry that I was not there for you as much as I should've/could've been.

Suicide. NOT suffocation.

By Cassy van Eeden

Tweet: cassystars THE TRUTH ABOUT WINNIE MAROGA'S DEATH: http://tinyurl.com/yjamv89 #rublogs


“Ms Winnie Maroga, passed away on 19 October as a result of complications following respiratory failure” is what the Dean told the student body of Rhodes University last week. However, this statement is completely untrue, and it really angers me. Winnie Maroga is dead because she chose to take her own life, and not simply because of “respiratory failure”. I realise that some students may feel that my statement is brash and that it is not my right to disclose this information, but I think that it is critically important that everyone know the truth.

I know that I speak for a number of my fellow students when I say that sugar-coating the issue is wrong. I understand that, for ethical purposes, the Dean may have chosen to (at first) keep the facts under wraps, but is it not everybody’s right to know what really happened?! In fact, I think it may even be a helpful lesson on the kind of depression that students often have to deal with. Losing someone to natural causes presents an entirely different situation to that of suicide.

The truth is that Winnie was in so much pain that she could not bear to live another day. Yes, ultimately (and according to the doctor’s report) she died of respiratory failure, but all this was because she had taken steps to end her life and therefore impaired her lungs’ ability to function. Her body did not want to fight…she had already given up. It is a very sad situation, but keeping it a secret is pointless.

Dream a Little, Dream of Me

By Cassy van Eeden

Tweet: cassystarsHey guys! Check out my 'Personal Mission Statement' about my dreams and aspirations on my new blog: http://tinyurl.com/y88aofu #rublogs

When given the task of defining myself and who I am as a journalist and a blogger I came up with one very simple word, a word that perfectly combines all the many things that make up who I am: Cassy. My name has exceptional meaning to me. It is all that I am. I am Cassy. Some days I am creative and inspired and others I am completely irrational and out of control. I am forever changing and my mood is certainly not the most constant thing about me, but the one thing that will always remain the same is who I am, Cassy.

My dreams are what motivate me the most, especially those of becoming a successful director and TV journalist. Working behind the camera is what I feel I would be best at. I think that I could best inform and communicate with the public and fulfil my role as a journalist through the production of television and the many aspects that it involves. Without having these dreams, I would be nobody, the name Cassy would not mean anything to anyone and – perhaps more importantly – it would mean nothing to me.

Motivation has always been something I have battled to maintain in my work ethic. However, recently I adopted a new outlook that I feel helps me more than any form of positive thinking or cheesy mantra ever has. I read a poem entitled ‘You Can Be Whatever You Want to Be’ by Donna Levine. After internalising the somewhat broad point she makes about each person having the potential to be great, I realised what it was about this poem that struck a chord inside me most: “each day, take one step towards your dream”.
Often I feel like my dreams, even though they are sometimes the only thing that keeps me going, are just far too big and out of reach. But I have now realised that as long as I take one step, no matter how small it may be, each and every day towards my dream, I will eventually achieve all that I want to. No matter how small this step may be, it is never insignificant.

With this in mind I am now able to see every assignment, lecture, essay, tutorial or rehearsal as me taking one step closer to achieving my dream. Even when the stress and responsibility becomes overwhelming and all I want to do in crumble into a heap of tears, I hold onto this idea and somehow I make it through. Sometimes even getting out of bed in the morning is a massive struggle, (but who would Cassy be without these never-ending battles) however, these days it is getting easier to wake up and get going with my day because, as soon as I roll out of my duvet and rub the sleep from my eyes, I have taken yet another small step towards my dream.