Press Freedom and the ANC

It took a long, hard walk to freedom to end Apartheid in South Africa in 1994. During Apartheid, people of non-white origin were humiliated and oppressed by a delusional minority party that managed to cling to power for about 46 years too long.

After years of struggle and movements for liberation, Apartheid was finally overthrown, and South Africa could not, for the most part, be happier. Our future looked bright, and our leadership party was young, vibrant, energetic and revolutionary. I assume (being barely older than sixteen myself) that many South Africans felt that they could once again, or maybe even for the first time, feel hopeful, and dream, for their future and the futures of their children.

The ANC, the party instrumental to the attainment of freedom for all races, has now been in power for 16 years. It has been a short while, many say. We cannot expect change too quickly. My complaint is not, however, with poor service delivery or government corruption. It is not with police brutality. I have many more words for that.

Today, I need to ask a very important question of the ANC. Please, look into your past, look at your faded ideals and vision. Look at the role the press has played during your birth, your infancy, your learning to walk, and talk, and fight. Yes, the print media have been abused by all systems of government. In many instances it was used to justify Apartheid and the cruel treatment of the masses at the hands of the NP. But didn't the press play an incredible role in guiding you to the fulfillment of your goals as revolutionary party? International sanctions and pressure were placed on the NP because of one thing - the media. News, news, news.

Maybe you are so used to being a revolutionary party that you haven't realised that the struggle is over. Why do you bare your teeth so viciously, why do your hackles raise so menacingly, why does the hair on your back stand up as if you are being attacked when you are being fairly questioned and criticised? Criticism and interrogation, uncovering the truth, the lack of political affiliation... this has always been something I have been proud of South Africa for. Our press has never backed down from justifiably evaluating your leadership skills as a governing party. This, this, this, this, this... This is the sign of a healthy press, a healthy democracy, and healthy governance of a country.

Every piece of criticism and every question is not a sign of an attack on our 'brittle' democracy. Our democracy is - or was, if your new laws are passed - not frail or weak. A free press is a sign of a healthy, breathing, lively democracy. Don't kill that.

It seems it happens too easily that a once revolutionary party never gives up fighting, and fights and fights and fights and fights , until it has killed itself in the process. Do not become everything you have been born to overcome. You have a massive utility truck of weapons at your disposal, but you don't seem to have found peace a very useful one as yet. Anger, deception, corruption, violence, allegations, misinformation and childish shouting matches have their time and place. It is not here, and it is not now.

There is a time to break down, and a time to build up.

Stop fighting.

Start building.

Come on.

And us in fish net hats and canvas shoes as was the style that year...

I'm so incredibly sorry that my blog posts have been as scarce as blog posts in a tightly packed schedule, but my schedule has been unbelievably tight.

After a beautiful, but chilly, day at the beach at Port Alfred, I am quite exhausted and very excited for the next week. Coming up, I am working on some stories for Women Inc. and I am completing my Allan Gray Orbis Foundation fellowship application, and I also have my interviews lined up for the Activate section editorial positions I am interested in.

In the past week, I have become involved in documenting some spoken word poetry by Bruce Haynes, an incredibly talented fellow Journalism student. The poetry is beautiful, and I have had quite an interesting time filming some of his poetry for Activate.

I don't have any profound thoughts or revelations for today... Just tired. So tired. Need holiday.

Love.

I kept smelling some sort of blown-out candles...

Starting life at Rhodes after my long-but-short six-week holiday in Johannesburg was a little bit of a shock to the system. Staying busy during the break helped acclimatise me to the huge influx of work I faced upon my return, though.

The five pieces I wrote for Activate's Politics and Business sections needed to be sourced and edited within two days of my return, which meant that interviews needed to be sniffed out, requested and held, along with my usual lectures and tutorials.

This, though, was not even the beginning of the work I needed to get stuck into when I came back. Last week, I had to complete and hand in applications for executive editorial positions for Activate along with CVs and cover letters for the two positions I am interested in - Politics editor and Opinions editor. I also had to get right back to writing stories for the next edition of Activate, as well as shoot, edit and compile and compelling little piece of multimedia work for Activate's online Opinions section concerning Rhodes's activism weeks, such as the LGBTI (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual and Intersexual) week that has just passed.

Along with this, I have been notified of an amazing opportunity offered by the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation in the form of a study bursary or fellowship - covering tuition, residence, book fees, and an allowance. I have a very small chance of getting this sought-after fellowship, but a small chance is a chance nonetheless.

This weekend, I also went to look at a 'digs' (a house filled with students and debauchery) with some friends and Ben for next year. The digs is beautiful, with a massive six-bedroom house, a luscious, spacious garden, a one-person flat and a two-person flat. If all goes as planned, Ben and I will be signing the lease for the two-person flat this week. I will post pictures of the digs on Facebook once I have a small opportunity to catch my breath and catch up on my social networking. My digsmates - Katja, Lizzy, Jenna, Ben (Katz), my Ben, and Dwayne - are very cool and seem like the perfect people with which I would like to live, fight, laugh with and get to know.

I have also been offered a small - but very satisfying - job writing articles for online women's magazine Women Inc. about life lessons, books, products, and inspirational women. I now have a small addition to make to my pocket money and savings, which makes me feel a lot more grown-up and ready to take on new challenges in life.

This is an update on my academic and professional life.

An update on my personal life and emotional well-being? No news there. I still don't know who I am or what I want to do or be or say or think... So I'll just be sitting here, doing, thinking, being and saying exactly what I feel like. That is kind of what life is about - it'll happen, whether you're prepared for it or not. So, I'm enjoying this right now, just venturing off into the deliciously unknown, taking every step for exactly what it is - another step, another experience, another source of wonder, amusement, amazement, and new-found understanding about what it is to be human.

I'm very scared of my interview for the position of Politics editor - I don't ever seem to know quite enough, although reading the news daily has made a valuable contribution to my political knowledge.

**And the Monterey birches were there,
raising their skinny arms to the stars in surrender...**

My thoughts were so loud, I couldn't hear my mouth...

So, here I am again. I am back in Johannesburg (and have been for some time now) and pondering the meaning of my existence. Quite a pesky question, this one. Comedy group Monty Python's promisingly titled "The Meaning of Life", although crammed full of inappropriate laughs, is a major disappointment when it comes to answering life's most intriguing and badly addressed question... of all time.

Of Platoism, Aristotelianism, Cynicism, Cyrenaicism, Epicureanism, Stoicism, Enlightenment philosophy, Classical liberalism, Kantianism, Utilitarianism, Nihilism, Pragmatism, Existentialism, Absurdism, Secular humanism, Logical positivism, Postmodernism, Instinctivism, Social Darwinism and Evolutionary Psychology, Naturalistic pantheism, Western and Middle Eastern religions, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Bahá'í Faith, Advaita and Dvaita Hinduism, Vaishnavism, Jainism, Shinto, Taoism, Confucianism and other religious and philosophical ideas I do not claim to know much. Heck, I don't know what the hell I just said.

Here is my perspective.

Yesterday, while we were getting into the car, my mom said something interesting. "Accomplishment," she said, "is the best feeling in the world". I thought about this. Yes, that morning I had written two articles for Activate and was feeling quite good about myself, but was this the meaning of life? Was this what I had to strive for in life? I had a sudden flash of myself in ten years, a desperate workaholic, pushing away family, friends, and loved ones with my frantic and panicked searches for meaning in yet another pay raise, yet another successful article written. No... This wasn't it for me.

Many people find the begin-all and end-all of their wishes, expectations, ideals and dreams for themselves and their loved ones in a religion. No matter the religion, you will find many mindless followers trawling in its destructive wake. Some of the worst world atrocities have been committed (and continue to be committed) in the name of a deity, a belief, or a way of life. In Marie Claire, a fashion magazine in South Africa, I read about a girl who had attended an innocent get-together at a friend's house for her sixteenth birthday wearing a mini-skirt. Instead of receiving presents, or birthday cards, she was arrested and given 40 lashings by a government-funded group that enforced Islamic morality in Iran. Religion, no matter how mildly applied, has never brought peace or understanding to my life. Accepting complete responsibility, with a helpful dash of Occam's Razor*, has lead me to live a life independent of spiritual or religious dependency. Although I do not condemn it in the lives of others, this is not my calling either.

After doing a lot of thinking, I have come to two things I value highly in my life. Relationships with people I respect and learn from, and learning in itself. Meeting people I have something in common with or whom I admire and desire to learn from is the most exciting thing I could ever imagine. Spending time with Benjamin has proven this theory time and time again. He has never stopped fascinating and teaching me in the time we have been together. Together, we share experiences, thoughts, information, knowledge, feelings and emotions. I never, ever want to stop.

This is what I think about the meaning of life right now.

That's about it. Now I will go back to waiting in a nail-bitingly stressful haze for Marie Claire to reply to my e-mails and (hopefully) accept me as a baby intern for a week at their beautiful magazine.

*entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem

Eat the city, eat it whole

Three down, two to go! English is over, and it went very well. A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romanticism, and The Great Gatsby were all very good to me, which is exactly what I deserved for my studies. On Tuesday, I am writing History. I have a whole week of 'me-time' ahead of me! Benjamin is studying very hard for Philosophy today, because his exam is tomorrow. It seems as though my first university exams are going to be as good as can be hoped for!

Ahead of me lies a week of watching series, Wikipeding History topics, snuggling deeply in bed on rainy mornings, and hopefully going to dad's for some delicious, wood oven food.

Here is a funny quote for you to enjoy:

Overheard in the Newsroom #4397: Copy Editor in reference to Justin Bieber: “If I looked like that when I was 15, I think I would have gotten pantsed.”

Economics queen 1 - 'Great' Gatsby 0

After having aced my first Economics exam meritoriously and chasing it down with a cold shot of Sociological brilliance, I am cool, calm, and collected for English tomorrow. After English, I have a free week in which I hope to visit my dad with Ben (a very welcome respite) and sleep for ridiculous amounts of time.

So, right now I am studying Renaissance and Romantic poetry, poetic narration in The Great Gatsby, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. I'm going to nail this bad boy to my Wall of Victories! That is why I am writing a blog right now - to show it that I am not scared of it at all, and that it kan maar BRING IT.

Well, I might write again tomorrow, after my exam. I'm feeling very happy, and ready to take on the world. To everybody who always knew what a wunderkind I was, I am happy to prove you right.

Don't Waste Time Doing Things You Hate

And so it has come to pass that today, on the afternoon of my first ever university exam, I finally have a whisper of a glimpse of a moment of peace and quiet. Since my last post, nothing has, in any way or form, improved in my life.

Now, don't get me wrong, my life has been great - who doesn't love perpetual lectures, assignments, tests, essays, studying, oily res meals and zero sleep? It's just that I haven't had a moment to myself yet. When I see myself in the mirror, I still get a fright at times because I have forgotten who I am. I thought I was G10R1626, BJourn 1, 2010? I have a face, a name, a brain? What is this life you speak of?

Jokes aside, the past four weeks have been quite the challenge for me. But, as all challenges do, this one brought rewards aplenty. Having four of my articles published in Activate (all of which you will se upon my return), creating the first ever multimedia "vlog" (video blog) for Activate online, getting firsts (75%+) for most of my assignments, essays and tests, working my butt of and learning to write more than 3,000 words in one day have made the past month more than worth it.

Benjamin is doing very well, and he is looking over my shoulder as I write thi- oh, wait? Where did he go? When he saw his name, he ran away to the warmth and anonimity of the corner of my room, saying "No! DOn't write about me!". Haha. He is teaching me how to play squash, and in the process he is making me very fit (and I love it too!). His first exam is Sociology on Friday, with me.

Today I wrote Economics, which went extremely well. I daresay it might even be one of my best subjects! After Sociology on Friday, I write English on Tuesday, History on the 1st of June and JMS on the 5th of June. Time is flying, though, and soon I'll be finished with all of this and back home.

In other news - last week, my raven-haired self was reborn, and from the flames of her death was born the new, fire-headed me. Check Facebook for pictures of my transformation!

Plans for the future: there is a big chance of my getting an internship or 'shadow week' at True Love magazine, voted one of the Top 10 women's glossies in South Africa. Very excited!

Well, I better be off. I need to study feral children, ideology, education, socialisation, orientalism and all kinds of other funky buzzwords now.

I love you!