This is it folks

Well now that the end of the fourth and final term is near, what with lectures coming to a close as of Friday and exams looming closer, it seems that this is the end for our dear blog. The start of this term looked to be pointless, what with starting a blog from scratch, monitoring it and then posting relevant assignments. I kept thinking: "what is the point?" Well, what I did not realise is that it was all actually worthwhile. By exposing us to new medias such as blogging, we were able to create our own journalistic outlet, four journalism students uniting to place their views and opinions for anyone in the world to view and comment on. This is a truly powerful form of media that is becoming more and more popular. It was therefore smart of the JMS1 course coordinator to include blogging into the syllabus, so that we 'future journalists and media workers' know this new media and can work with it.

I believe that we have put a large amount of effort into this blog, and the relevant assignments we have had to complete. We have even managed to post a few extra pieces, bring across our views and opinions. On the whole this blog has been hard work, especially when you are technologically challenged like I am. But now that it is the end, I would just like to thank Cassy, Kirst and Shavaughn (my team mates) for their hard work in making this blog something we can all be proud of. Now lets hope our marks reflect it!

Drawing to a close...

By Shavaughn Haack

As the final term of Journ 1 draws to an end this post serves as my last for cigarettesandcoffee. The assignment for this piece is to do something I have never done before. I suppose the reasoning behind this is to ignite the natural journalistic inquisitiveness and curiosity that’s inside each one of us. Sooo something I have never done before?

Bereft of ideas I started asking around and realised some things I have never done simply because I am not prepared to do so. I then decided to just try my hand at a few different things. I thought exploring would be as adventurous as I would get, so a group of friends and I went up Mountain Drive at night for a sort of picnic. It was an amazing experience, being out in the pitch black of night, it was so quiet. Nevertheless we soon got over our freezing solitude and packed up for a much warmer cup of hot chocolate indoors. Another day I had lunch on a bench outside the Grahamstown Cathedral. It was a pleasant experience as there were so many interesting people around that I wouldn’t normally come into contact with. Then in preparation for my German oral exam I spoke a lot of German to myself, something I am not prone to do. I’m not convinced it all made grammatical sense all of the time but it sure did help me in the exam. Then for a bit of random fun I put my clothes on inside-out and back-to-front. The most difficult thing about this was actually getting my clothes on and fastening buttons and zips. The banana feet brought back a feeling of nostalgia as I remember not being able to tell the difference between my left and my right shoe as a little girl.

I would definitely recommend trying something you’ve never done before. Try seeing things a little differently or considering a new perspective or just to remember. I’m pretty sure it helps us appreciate life a little more.

So with this final post and in the words of the Von Trapp children “So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye. Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye”

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.

You want blunt… well here you have it!

While skimming through the blog titles that were listed for reviewing… and believe me, there were a lot of them, I came across a title that really intrigued me, “Blunt Red Pencil”. I was looking for bloggers that were pouring their thoughts and opinions onto the screen, not just looking for marks in their blog assignments. I have to say, I was not disappointed.

When first opening the page, I was a little taken aback by the lack of colour and creativity. I thought there would be more than just a black background a white heading. But again, this intrigued me into reading further. You see, these bloggers couldn’t be bothered with making their blog look ‘pretty,’ their sole purpose is to put across their ideas, questioning issues and inviting you to critically analyse what they have brought up. They successfully do this, not only through their compelling writing styles, but also by posting the blogs in bright, neon colours which compliment against the plain black background.

There seems to be a common thread of social and political issues that are addressed and in each post, the reader is probed into questioning and debating with the writer. IN conjunction with this, the bloggers are brutally honest about everything that they write. They are not scared to share their opinions which I, as a fellow journalism student, admire.

This blog deserves recognition and acclamation. I highly recommend it to any person, whether a journalism student or not, as it is a compelling read that you will actually enjoy. You will definitely be going back for more.