“The Man Barbie” experience…

I felt that this term was more challenging than the previous ones because of the amount of group work and constant assignments with strict deadlines that had to be met. It was difficult for us to work as a group because of our different and clashing timetables. We did not get to work on the blog itself, but rather we concentrated on our own, individual work for the course. On a personal note, I felt motivated at first to make this blog look awesome but I found it difficult to achieve, seeming as I am not much of a ‘computer whiz’, nor very competent when it comes to web-page building. Another challenge that resulted from this was that I lost my entire Internet quota, which was a bit of a problem to upload my assignments onto the blog. Also, the workload from other subjects discouraged me to write extra blog posts as my time became severely limited.
I think that what really motivated our story ideas was the nature of our blog, which was quite light-hearted, and the nature of the overall assignments which was limited to first-year experiences. For example, for our comic strip, we chose to stick with the theme of our blog. We used models with Barbie faces, and we scripted a story that relates to first-year issues while using a humourous tone. However, the theme of our blog also restricted me in my choice of stories, because I felt the need to relate them to our blog’s light-hearted and tongue-in-cheek humour. Thus, I decided to write about Karin, a party animal, for my profile article, instead of someone who had more serious issues. I felt sometimes that I would have liked to have dealt with more serious issues such as rape, drug abuse or other such problems at Rhodes, but it would have seemed out of place. This was also a decision by the group not to write too much on over-written issues such as rape. We wanted to offer something different, but this was to the detriment of the quality of our blog, when compared to other blogs.
Furthermore, the theme of the course “Surviving First Year” gave us the advantage of being able to talk about our personal experiences, which made it easier sometimes, but it also limited us with story ideas and our own interests. For example, there were political issues I would liked to have explored, such as American politics or the treatment of women in the Middle East, however these topics would have been out of context with the theme of the course, as well as our blog. Finally, I hesitated when deciding on what to write for my opinion piece. I was afraid to write about the ‘black awards’, an issue I really wanted to explore, but I was concerned that people would misinterpret it within the context of the blog and this could have had serious repercussions. I was not wrong to be afraid, as even the piece I did, which seemed pretty straightforward to me, confused others.
Outside of the tutorial times, we rarely had meetings as a group, because, as explained before, timetables were an issue. The one meeting that everyone could make was for the comic strip. We worked well as a team and everyone put in their bit of effort, whether it was with the props or dialogue, or even ideas for scenes; which made it a success. I did not think that the tutorials were much help regarding the blog and the assignments themselves. I think it would have been more helpful and time-saving if we were given more practical experience in applying what was seen in the lectures and what we had to do for our blog. I was also a bit confused about the style of language we were supposed to use, because blogging is quite informal yet we are still students and this work is for marks, thus the language used is still important. Another thing that bothered me was the mixed signals that we got from the lecturers in terms of their expectations. They told us that it does not necessarily have to be political but then students were criticized for not talking enough about serious issues; as Sim said, “tell it to your grand-mother.” However, this course did allow me to try new genres that I had not really previously explored. It gave me a better understanding of what the expectations and conventions of the different genres are. It allowed me to write on more diverse topics, while exploring outside of my ‘Oppidan Press comfort zone’. Also, I found blogging to be a more personal way of writing, and more opinionated, as opposed to newspaper writing where objectivity is stressed. Thus, I would say that this course allowed me to grow on a scale of 7.
Regarding the research entailed in this blogging course, I did not do any for the more personal pieces such as the letter to my younger self or the photo comic. For my profile article, I found that interviewing a friend for this piece made it easier because I knew her and thus I could talk to her with ease, which also made the writing process easier. I think though that knowing the person you are interviewing could make you more subjective in your description as well as make you question on where to draw the line between an outsider’s relatively objective position – that a journalist is supposed to have - and an insider’s knowledge. Thus, to overcome this dilemma, I interviewed some people in relation to my profiled individual. For my opinion piece, wanting to make sure I was not basing my story merely on my own personal beliefs, I researched some additional information on the Rhodes website and interviewed a few people in order to back up my argument. This was even more important since I knew that other Journalism students might be reading and critiquing my piece; thus I had to make sure that my facts were straight.
I think that blogging’s main flaw is that it is too opinionated and you cannot rely on the information that is given in them as much as in a newspaper, for example. Bloggers do not have to give out their source list, nor do they have to be held accountable to an editor or are checked by sub-editors. Thus, in some way I do not think it is such a reliable form of journalism because of its non-accountability. However, I do believe that this course was important because blogging is becoming an important source of information and debate on current issues, national and international. With the development of computer and online technology, I do believe that blogging and online forums will become more essential, more prominent and respected form of journalism. Furthermore, the advantage of blogging is its immediacy: one can easily keep up to date and discuss directly with the writer through his or her comments; something that is not possible in other media forms such as television and newspaper. Even in radio, where one can phone in, it is restricted and limited to what the radio station wants to hear and the time available. Thus, blogging allows more freedom of speech to not only the writer, but the reader too. Also, through connecting with other blogs, one can establish a global network, linking many diverse opinions and perspectives from different parts of the world; this means one can also reach a wider audience.

Peas on Toast

THE MAN BARBIE: Marketing blog

Marketing blog

This is a blog that relates directly to the genre of my blog as it deals with the writers own personal experiences and that is exactly the take and appeal that we were aiming to achieve in our blog. The bloggers personal experiences are very real and true which make it easy to relate to and it takes on a form that enables the reader to be able to interpret and adapt her experiences into their own life experiences. Her blog is a daily blog and that is what we were aiming for. It incorporates humour as well as serious issues which make it easy to read and light hearted as well as an informative tool on events and issues taking place in Johannesburg. The writer is in her early adult years and thus the content is very personal yet realistic. Our blog had the same ideals as this blog as we incorporated all our own experiences and hoped that our target audience will be able to interpret, relate and learn from our experiences.

Reflexive Piece

Blogging as a genre was relatively easy, quite flexible and adaptive trying to convey my points of view. My blog had a contemporary, real and personal feel to it that made my ideas come across in a personal easy to relate to way. My blogs genre was based on the concept of teaching or informing others about specific issues through my own personal experience, thus taking on an older sibling effect. The restraints that were presented were the topics that were given out for each assignment, I thought that the whole concept of blogging is that one is enabled to reflect on their own experiences and thoughts however giving us specific topics restricted us from expressing ourselves completely. I wished that I could express myself in my own individual way in order to capture my desired target market. The reason we chose such a personal genre is because we hoped to be able to relate to our specified target market of young adult’s namely first year students, this would engage them into the lives of first year students and our good and bad experiences will inevitably help them in the long run.
This terms work was really different compared to the rest of the years work because working within a genre does not allow one to come up with their own thoughts and express themselves completely without having to fit into the ideas of someone else’s ideals. This term was comprised of group work, which I do not enjoy as I prefer working on an individual basis whereby I can work in my own time and not have to compromise my schedule to fit in with the others.
We generated story ideas through our blog genre as it was based on our experiences, so every topic that was presented we could adapt to an experience that has an element of the topic. The genre we chose made our stories relatively easy to adapt to the topic at hand, although the formal tone that was needed to be applied for the opinion piece was quite challenging as I had to research my topic to a certain degree which minimized my personal tone that I wanted to achieve with my blog genre.
Working within a group was very frustrating as I have a very busy schedule and on weekend I tend to go away which only leaves the weekdays for meetings with my group. I found it very difficult to juggle everyone’s schedule because when I was free then someone always had something that clashed ,thus compromising was essential. I felt quite despondent in my group meetings as I knew that there is always one person who works harder in a group than the others. Our first scheduled meeting proved my theory as only two of the members of our group, including me pitched up for our meeting. However, when we finally came up with our final meeting point we had a very effective working group and the work that was divided was accomplished way before the deadline. Our group worked through the differences between the assignment topics, our own personal contradictions and the character of our blog by first agreeing on a specific character that we wished to adopt for our blog which immediately resolved any issues relating to our blog, the assignments that were given were relatively adaptable to our blog genre as it was easily manipulated around our genre.
This course made me more aware of the actual journalistic process which made me grow in the sense that I realise now that it is not just your actual thoughts that have to be reported but it includes the truth and some research to actually reach a non-bias true reflection of a story. I felt that this course was invaluable as no learning experience is ever a waste of time, I learned more about the connective features on the internet and this will help me to be able to communicate and put my ideas out into the public world. I grew as a writer in the sense that I was able to learn how to write in the correct format that a journalist would use and although I felt that this was a limitation, but I can always apply it to a more forma piece I writing. On a scale of one to ten, I think this course let me grow about a six.
I feel that blogging is a form of journalism as it incorporates writing, reflecting and communicating with others. It embodies the essence of journalism as it is story telling in words and visual elements on behalf of public interests and thoughts. Blogging is even more personal which makes one more relative to their target audience, making it a very connective tool. I find that my strengths lie in my ability to be true and share my real life stories with the world; I find that I have a weakness when it comes to incorporating research and opinion into words. The constraint of the genre helped me realise that I want to write about fun, interesting and personal stories and not necessarily about news and hard fact stories.
The research aspect of the course made more concerned with getting the true facts across instead of just pure opinion however I do feel that exaggerated and interesting stories are better appreciated by the audience as they are more interesting. The bits of research that I did use were well researched so that my audience was reading true facts. Our personal blog genre did not need research but experience and the main form of research that we used was by talking and reflecting on personal matters and issues. I enjoyed knowing that my stories could be read by the world as this excited the story contents. All my sources were really easy to talk to and very real they did not conceal anything that would add an edge to my story. The sources I chose were not randomly picked but chosen as I knew what I wanted to take from each source. I felt an ethical factor of not being able to express myself fully through some words that could be conveyed as harsh however I think I got my message across despite this issue.
I really appreciated learning how to blog as it is a skill that can be used forever and it can help get your message across to the world at large. Blogging is the future and I feel that it is an intricate yet fundamental part of communicating and journalism.

PA Editors Blog: Homophobia and Racism: Why the political is always personal#comment-3270767

Hey Gregory!

I really enjoyed your article and totally agree with you. If you are interested, I have also written an article about racism and homophobia at my university - Rhodes in South Africa; here's the link: http://themanbarbie.blogspot.com/2008/10/racist-homophobic-and-obviously_17.html

thanks

Lovecats

Hey Starfish from “Bungee My Life”

Bungee My Life: First year relationships: are they mutual or sexual?

At first I thought you made some good points about ‘love-making’ playing an important role in relationships. I do believe that many guys at Rhodes, and more generally men, just want to have sex, and for this varsity is perfect. Young ‘innocent’ and naive girls, fresh out of school and eager to experience new things, to take risks, are the ideal victims for these ‘American Pie’ boys. I also think that it is a sad world we live in where we feel we need to ‘get it on’ in order to feel adult enough for varsity or indeed the world. I think many guys feel the social pressure to ‘do’ as many girls as possible to prove how ‘kiff’ and ‘oh so manly’ they are; ‘seal clubbing’ and ‘hunt the grunt’ are proof of this stupid and unemotional relationship some guys have with girls.
However, I also think that not all men are ‘evil’ and that you can’t just generalise like that. First of all, maybe all guys do ultimately just want sex, but don’t girls too? I think girls are just less obvious and less blunt about their intentions. Although, I do believe that girls are more emotional and want something more than just sex, but they still want it. For example, I know a guy who has had casual sex with a girl, and she has consented to this, while realising that they won’t ever have a relationship as such; they both just need to relieve some stress, I guess. Thus, I think it is possible for girls to just want to ‘do it’, without the relationship idea coming into play. Furthermore, this just proves that the title of your opinion piece “First year relationships: Are they mutual or sexual?” is badly formulated, because a relationship can be “mutual” and “sexual”; actually, most ‘real’ relationships are both mutual and sexual. Thus, your stereotypical idea of girls always being the victims and guys being the villains is flawed.
Secondly, I don’t think you can say that “your relationship can only work if you are having sex” and that first year relationships don’t last. I’m going out with someone I met here, at Rhodes, eight months ago and we don’t feel the need to ‘do it’ in every dark corner to keep our relationship going. And I definitely don’t think that guys are always the ones pushing their girlfriends to do it; believe it or not, girls like it and need it too. I know for a fact that many first year relationships do last, as I know many examples of couples that are now in their third or fourth year and are still going strong. Finally, I think it is also insensitive and insulting to some guys who are actually decent and of whom have been hurt by other girls who have just wanted sex.

P.S: I’m sorry you haven’t yet found a decent guy on campus. “Once you stop looking, that person will appear.”

It is really a Shame on us

My First Time#links#links#links

I’m with you on this one Maryjane, South Africa must learn to have some sense of hospitality on the people come from African countries, and the truth must be told to those who pretend to be Anti-Xenophobic while still calling a Zimbabwean or Nigerian amakwere-kwere. Most South Africans not only just Rhodes first year’s students are xenophobic and ignorant not that I exclude myself because I am also a South African. The way we treat our fellow Africans it’s like South Africa has a continent of its own outside Africa which makes us to be special and better than the other African countries. We tend to judge and denigrate black foreigners because they come from Africa, while admiring those ones from the western countries. Here at Rhodes the issue of Xenophobia is not really dealt with in public because people hide their true colours under carpet, they pretend to be innocent saints and when they are asked about how they feel about foreigners… the only respond you get is that they don’t have anything against them while they calling them by names.

ANC is not a playground for anyone

As a young black South African I’m very concerned about the future of this country, because I think in years to come we are going to be in a havoc where a black man will kill his own brother fighting for being in a position of leader of the house which they built together to become their home, but this can be prevented at some point if some people like the back stabbers of ANC can use their minds to think with not their feet. From what is happening today inside the ANC, it’s a shock because it does not give a good example to the future generation on how to create a better place for our people. It is very disappointing to see the people who fought for the freedom of this country, people who we perceived as the leaders of our nation bringing down the dignity and pride of the party (ANC) because of their senseless motives of selfishness. This is a shame to the heroes and heroines who sacrificed their lives for the better of this nation. Instead of concentrating on how to improve the conditions of this country, they are just concerned about trying to destroy one another in order to satisfied their personal interest, forgetting that even today most black people are still drowning in the ocean of poverty where lot of damage control caused by apartheid needs to be done.So I think it is time of our politicians most especially black politicians, those who are trying to bring humiliation to ANC, they must start to acting like people who have morals and respect to the ANC, people like Mosiuoa Lekota the former Minister of Defence who broke away from ANC in an unmannered way, he needs to know that ANC it is not just a political party as he may regard it, but it is also representation of the history of us black people showing us how far we have travel and also an honour to our fellow South Africans who died for South Africa to be what it is today. So to our former President Mr Thabo Mbeki, he had failed to unite the people of this country, instead he had just created more conflict because he was just a power-hungry who never wanted to give other people a chance to lead this country, if he really respects the family of ANC, he should take a break from politics or just give up because really it was about time for him to step down as a President; his period was long overdue before the Polokwane Conference. And for Mr Jacob Zuma the ANC president I hope when the elections come next year he will become a good president who respects the values of ANC and it’s people, and he will also prove many people who have don’t believe in him that he will do a good job for the country.
Bantu Abamnyama (Black People) Let us not forget where we come from.

Zombie, I am - Comment on "RU A ZOMBIE?"

Really original narrative with the disruption of the students’ brainstorming – the initial equilibrium – with the arrival of a zombie; it’s really funny and satirical. The dialogue was really entertaining. I like the idea of how they parody the life of Journ students, drawing on their own experiences. What was also amusing was their melodramatic reactions to the threat of the villain. Furthermore, the heroes, Dean and Thirusha, are so obvious in their actions and thus the narrative seems predictable, however, the ending, where Chris is going to be fed to the students and the heroes, creates an interesting and amusing twist to the story. Therefore, the reader thinks that peace, a new equilibrium, has been restored, but instead a new disruption occurs at the end, which shocks the reader.

Comment on a photo comic

I really enjoyed the photo comic by Sotally Tober, named “Cane train to the Rescue.” It incorporated all the elements of Todorov’s theory as it begins with a girl presenting her problem to a friend which is the initial equilibrium and then the alcohol gives her ‘dutch courage’ which enables her to go speak to the man she fancies. There is a disruption which is when a rude man knocks into the girl and then the fight is resolved and the new couple goes off into the sunset which can be seen as the new equilibrium. They also make use of Proppian’s characters as there is a princess which needs to be rescued, and this is the girl, there is a villain, who is the man that knocks into her and then there is the hero, who is the man that the girl fancies and they end up with the proverbial ending of ‘happily ever after.’ The story line is very simple however this is effective as the comic is catchy and witty. There could have been more of a twist at the end to add some excitement in their plot but it was well thought out and well presented. There plot related well to their blog genre.