T a l l s p i r e s. a n d. t r a n q u i l i t y.

B y_K i m b e r l y

The cathedral in High Street stand tall, watching over Grahamstown with a kindly eye. Not being a religious person, I had not been inside the cathedral. On Tuesday morning, I decided to see just what this magnificent building contained.

A grand entrance welcomed me, and I stepped forward, pushing open the heavy wooden door. Inside, was an immediate sense of tranquillity, a stilness in contrast to the rushing traffic just outside. The interior of the cathedral was a sight of grandeur, stain-glass windows letting a spectrum of light into the vast space before me.

The experience was an intriguing one for me, entering such a beautiful place, but having no connection to it as I am not religious. I think I appreciated it more for its architectural value more than anything else.

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T a k e i t f r o m t h e m

B y_K i m b e r l y

Upon opening the blog called “Take it from us”, I was struck by the eccentric, colourful graphics that sat at the head of the page. My first impression had me taking an instantaneous liking to this blog.

The layout and interesting graphics used draw in the youth, aiming at funky designs and a fun, alternative look for what could be a very standard looking blog page. The use of a clipboard as the backdrop for their actual articles adds a twist to how we look at the articles themselves.

The style of writing follows a casual flow, a mixture of colloquialisms and slang that appeals to the student reader. Though the individuality of each blogger is clearly presented through their writing. However, there is an unnecessary lack of spelling and punctuation in many of the posts.

The variation of topics and ideas are innovative and interesting, personal accounts of their world around them. The graphic backdrop definitely stands out to be the blog’s strongpoint. First impressions really can make all the difference. This is a blog that will appeal to the young minds, creating the movement of ideas from one to another.

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Equality of opportunity”, the true essence of the saying

As an aspiring journalist student it bothers me to see most young people unable to make their way through school because of funding, this seems to be a national issue and although bursaries and loans from the government have been made available it is still not enough to cover for every learner. Even for those people who merely seek skills development there seems to be no attempt made to assist them, more needs to be done if youth development is the main aim of the new government.
Implementing free education at institutions of higher learning may become a bit of a struggle but there should be ways in which more schemes from the government are put in place to accommodate students as one scheme will not be able to cover everyone, a change needs to be made with that.
It is the responsibility of every person to do the best that they can as it is survival of the fittest in this competitive world but a system that caters to everyone should be introduced even if it means free education has to be introduced to level the equality of opportunity, yes, it is up to each learner to work hard but how will this cover everyone if there is a lack of resources and funds? The government needs to again look at how they can assist our leaders of the future, more needs to be done.
By Sinayo

is it really a difference in interest or race?

Putting 105 girls in the same res, now there are bound to be some problems. We are the new res of this school and already we are being hated on. Despite the fact that other people hate us, we hate ourselves. There are so many bitter people here. Some people will just dislike you because you are loud and flamboyant.
When some won’t even have a reason why they hate you.
The most frustrating thing about this res is that when there are events, people will not attend. My house warden is always saying we are bitter and don’t show the spirit of togetherness. That only a certain group of people will attend events all the time when the other won’t. What is troubling here is the fact that we all know white people are the ones who do not attend any events. Yet they say it might be because our interests are different. When we have fashion shows, awards evenings, corridor parties and movie nights they will not attend. Well can someone say they are not interested in all those things?I think we must start being honest and stop sugar coating the fact that this is a race issue hence people choose to lock themselves in their rooms. It’s not a matter of different interest but more of a fact that all those events have an influx of black people and whites don’t want to mingle with them.

Rap Music, EVIL??

By Michael
Some people think rap music is evil, why? Do they mean to say that the rappers are evil? or they just mean to say that they ‘hate the game not the player’?

I strongly disagree to that notion of rap music being evil. It is just artists ‘spiting on the mic’. They talk sense just like any other kind of music artists. Rap music does not hesitate to bring out to the audience the hidden meanings of words in the worlds. But to some people, the moment one starts to listen to rap music, the more susceptible they are to a lifestyle of crime and deviance. Nick Noveli differs to this approach, he says that rap music is just a way of expressing one’s feelings, because everyone has something different to say, so are the ways of expressing the differences.

It is a fact however that rappers like T.I have been convicted plenty of times for serious crimes, therefore one can deduce from such facts that rap music is evil. On the contrary to conclude that rap music is evil is an overstatement; this is so because there are also genres like Gospel Rap or Holy Hip Hop. There are some artists like KJ52 and John Cook. What they sing is gospel in content and the medium they use is Rap which explains that rap is not evil, but maybe what one does after listening to it may be evil. Rap music has also been used to educate the people on what legends like Martin Luther King said.

So pay attention to the words, maybe forget the rhythm but Rap is not Evil!!

Top officials at it again

In the article “Mthethwa racks up another massive hotel bill” in http://Mail and Guardian Online ,the police minister Nathi Mthethwa has been accused yet again of using up the taxpayers money for personal interests, this is not the first accusation of this regard and it has been proven to be true. This just highlights the level of corruption that is present in senior positions, they are taking advantage of their position and abusing the money that they have access to.
In this article the police minister is exposed for spending holidays at expensive hotels with other police members and over days like Christmas and New year claiming to be doing police business. The article has a focus on political parties and what their views are of this situation, instead of trying to eliminate the problem or find the source of the problem, blame is placed upon the current leading party, making it once again a political issue more than it is a crime.
The money spent on the cars and hotel visits is the money that should be given to other police officers who are hard at work but earn peanuts as compared to the minister who is always getting privileges on his job, this article is merely a brief outline of some of the scandals that happen within governmental positions. The question we need to ask ourselves is why these people are abusing their power and why they are constantly voted into these positions.
http://www.mg.co.za/article/2009-10-19-mthethwa-racks-up-another-massive-hotel-bill
By Sinayo

S e r v e d with i c e?

B y_K i m b e r l y


The issue that I am covering is that of the effect of global warming on the polar ice caps. The British Times Online published a particularly interesting article on the matter, updating us on the status of the ice at the North Pole. Ben Webster’s article “The Arctic will be ice-free in summer within 20 years, research says”, addresses the very real consequences of global warming by stating the results of the most recent research expeditions.
A problem that we almost hear about on a daily tends to lose some of that initial impact. However, statistics can have a shocking effect, even on a well-covered event in the media. Ending with quite a bombshell, the articles reveals to us how the loss of sea ice have a much larger effect on our world than just the polar region: “Without ice to reflect sunlight, the Arctic ocean would warm more quickly, resulting in the release of greenhouse gases stored in the Arctic permafrost soils.” The eventual effect could lead to a rise in the sea levels causing flooding.
This is a reality that is always taken seriously. For many global warming is still an abstract concept. Providing statistics and the ever-updated results of scientific research can help this issue to hit home.

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