I'll paint my life on this unlimited sheet of canvas

We had to write a piece on who we are in the world for Journalism before exams, and how different things influence us. It is probably important to know yourself and who you are - so here is mine, adapted to sound a little less journalism'istic'... :)

I am an enthusiast. I am intuitive. I have a ton of vision. I am an extrovert. I want to understand the world, to experience it. I absorb ideas and am quick in sizing up a situation. I excite in the thought of new ideas. I look beyond the surface to understand things. I am flexible and learn to adapt quickly. I constantly want to learn more. I am very aware of the possibilities this world has to offer me; I crave adventure. I like to finish what I start, I get things done. I am organised, but more importantly – I am spontaneous. My mind has a lot of thoughts about a lot of things, sometimes too many. I am inventive, creative. I enjoy conversation. I engage in silly topics that make me laugh but I enjoy thought-provoking, deeply interesting ones too.

I am light-hearted – but may seem intense when I express things I feel strongly about. I would make a very bad criminal lawyer, because I am too sympathetic and sensitive to people’s feelings – and would not be able to put my feelings aside in order to be logical. I look at the bigger picture in situations of conflict and rarely react with negative emotions.
I am upbeat, I am prone to giggle, and I am an optimist. I value knowledge and challenging myself. I am very, very curious. I enjoy interacting with people. I am fascinated by the different kinds of people that walk this world. I am gregarious and friendly and so I try my best not to judge before I get to know someone. I am a pacifist.


I am not afraid to feel, or to express myself; I write, I paint, I act, I dance. I am really good at opening up my heart. I am not afraid of love. I am not afraid to feel sad, and I miss people that are not a big part of my life anymore; but I am able to move on and look at the bigger picture. When I love, I open myself up to the positive and the negative, and love no matter what, with all my heart. I am a risk taker, but I am cautious with people’s feelings. I am intimate, and a loyal friend. And I laugh, I laugh a lot.



I am gentle, caring and complex. I am an artist. I put faith into my instincts and intuitions, but I take in other people’s opinions. I look for the good in people. I am patient. I live in the present moment, but I dream about the future all the time. Creative, and absolutely ridiculous dreams. I always want to be active. I make the best out of situations that aren’t necessarily the best. But I also get weak sometimes, and need the help and support of my family or friends. I love music, all kinds. And my imagination is wild and vivid.

I value my independence and am able to be alone. But I wouldn’t be the same without the ones I love in my life. I put other’s needs above my own a lot, and I genuinely care for people. I like to be involved in the things that happen around me, or in activities I take part in. I appreciate the world around me and the people in it. I trust easily, and I am kind. I try look for the good in people. I would rather create harmony than pick arguments. I take time just to think, or sit in the shade and read.

I have travelled, and will travel more. But I am proudly, proudly South African. I have loved, and will love more. I have left my mark in places. I treasure my life. And I want to fulfil it still with the most crazy, adventurous and ridiculous wholesome experiences. I am ready for whatever comes my way, and want to embrace it with all the energy that runs through my veins.

My life is a painting, with every single colour you can imagine blended into the next; it swirls with electrifying hues of bright and vivid colours.

And I never want to stop painting.

I never stop dreaming

I wrote a list of things I had to do in life when I was 15. Silly things, and more serious things. I have done a lot of them, but I have added to the list. I believe you have to live with a drive to want to do something in this life. Whether it is to want to sit back and relax, or climb a mountain, or anything. You have to love something. I have recently read Jane Eyre and The Great Gatsby. Now as scholastic as this might sound, both of them had effects on me other than what the essay topics forced me to think about. As much as the typical student complains about the work they have to do, the awesome thing is that all the English students love the classics really. The beauty of classics is hidden way beneath the surface that most people live on. That's whats great about what I am learning here. Looking beneath the surface. And actually cracking and digging your way through it to be taught, or to be curious or to get to know someone. I mean Jane Eyre. That chick has this crazy, restless, beautiful imagination. Tedious as some might find it, she describes her surroundings with full and ripened words that I really can't help getting caught up in. Ah and Fitzgerald - he writes in this way that you can actually feel what he says. He speaks of wings beating in the trees and the sound of an organ as the full bellows of the earth blew the frogs full of life. If that isn't amazing writing then I really don't know what is.

I'm quite weird. I enjoy things like that. When I read something, I try my best to take it allll in, and not just skim over it so that it fades into tthe back of my memory not to be thought of again. And it isn't oly English that has this effect. I have come accustomed to the theatre here at Rhodes like it is where I have meant to be spending time all my life. And being involved in additional pieces other than the work we have in lecture time is just a really fun experience. I try find excuses to be at the theatre. I never want to stop being involved. I remember something really clearly in my mind. Last year in Egnland, to get into town from Canford, you had to walk along the river, and there was this awesome shortcut I found halfway throguh the year. If I walked up a few stares and up onto the bridge over the river - you could make your way through the trees. You could barely see 5m in front of you, but I somehow always ended up where I needed to be. Well, they didn't really look like this picture - but the scope of it was simlilar. I used to do that just for fun, and just sit there and take it all in. I'm quite weird like that.

Journalism is shaping up too. The most interesting thing we've done is look at how the mediated world has an effect on how we shape ourselves. It is really true - I shape myself from the people around me, form what I ahve done, and form what I want to do. I get inspiration from doing this, from writing, and from music adn books. I got to read a few other people's blurbs on who they thought they were in the world. See, this is what I am interested in. One day, I want to travel, and meet the ordinary person on the street, and find out what it is that makes them extraordianry. 

And I want to write about them. And express myself. And see the world. And paint. And act and dance and love.

 My mom always says that I should have been born in the 50s, so I could have grown up in the 60s. :) with a van and a life like Kimya Dawson sings about in My Rollarcoaster. I would have realy loved that. I met loads of people in my town I lived in last year that were like that. I loved them. Rod even had a van with a sunflower on it and the dogs that have bouncing heads on his dashboard.
But I feel I still fit in well in this advanced and fast moving world. The thing that makes it special though is that there are places and times and people that can teach you how to slow down. There's no rush in this life. It is never too late to do something you want to do. I spoke to someone last night that says there is no such word as 'tomorrow' in his vocab, there is only the now. Seriously though, in the words of Tom Petty - life is a highway adn I want to ride it. And every day is a winding road - taking the good with the bad and appreciating everything around you. But you have to be dreaming all the time. And have dreams, and then try put them into a reality that will happen when it happens. Or you make it happen. But either way - there has to be something you live for.

 I think I might put that list up soon.
 

Back to the vibes

That is me at the beach taking in the atmosphere. I love the sea, there is actually nothing more theraputic than just sitting at the sea and listening to the waves. Painting is also a good one. :)

So I'm back at Rhodes. It is really nice to be back in this surrounding. Easter vac was really great and it was awesome to be spending time with my oldest friends and my family. One of the highlights of it was definitely going to the beach with Mom and Gregs. I love spending time with them, and I am always pleasently surprised at how much I have missed my brother who gives me endearing nicknames like fatty and ugly. <3

I was also quite shocked at how much I missed my friends from Rhodes company. Especially after only knowing them for 3 months. It just shows how quickly you can grow to be close to people. Once you get used to people being around you, and then they aren't for a while, you realise how special they actually are.

But now I am back and it is sweet. The workload is already piling up as it is exam term, and rehearsals for the Decisive Play Greg and I are in will be starting soon. The student newspaper, Activate, likes to have long and tedious meetins that take up my time. Haha but I am not complaining because it will pay off eventually to be involved.

Last term I wrote a blog for Journalism, we are getting it back today. So here it is, uneditted and unmarked. It was called Authors of Identity, and is pretty self-explanatory. I really really enjoyed writing it.

Life’s authors write a new page

By Robynne Peatfield

My name: Robynne Peatfield. First year student at Rhodes University. 19 years old, Western English culture, Christian, comfortable and happy in life.

Subject: Vuyiswa Mame. Cleaner at Rhodes University, 32 years old, isiXhosa culture, Christian, comfortable and happy in life.

It is a difficult task to answer questions about yourself, your brain really gets a good workout. You have to dig deep in order to be honest, and you don’t want to come across as someone you’re not. I thought about what culture I belonged to, and came up with a general answer; western English. My reasons for this were quite simple, I have grown up speaking English, it is my home language and forms part of my identity. I have also been fortunate enough to grow up surrounded by advanced technology and have always felt educated, and connected to the world.

I decided to look at this perspective when I spoke to Vuyiswa Mame, a cleaner in my residence at Rhodes University. Vuyiswa is 32, and has worked at Rhodes for 3 years. Over a cup of tea in my room in residence, Viyiswa told me that she feels she belongs to the isiXhosa culture of Grahamstown. Although this is a different culture to mine, like me, Vuyiswa said she feels this because she has grown up with isiXhosa as a home language. She explained how she feels language represents one’s home and history. She doesn’t feel like she is part of a minority because more than half of her community speak her language. This really interested me. I don’t feel apart of a minority because all the students in my community, an English based university, all have access to western aspects of life; we all have access to the internet, communication and adequate transport. Vuyiswa and I not only differed in our own cultures, but we also had different ideas of what constituted culture. I told her how much I appreciate being a student at Rhodes, and in turn she told me how she appreciates the opportunities working here gives her, such as learning how to use a computer.

I thought more about our differences after that. Other than our cultures, there were several more aspects that Vuyiswa and I didn’t have in common. As some mellow Jack Johnson and Johnny Clegg came quietly from my laptop, Vuyiswa told me about her love for gospel music, and for the Lord. She even gave me a humble sample of one of her favourite Rebecca Malope songs, Uthando Lwami. I was really touched by this, and downloaded a couple Malope singles after that.

When we spoke about what made us happy, Vuyiswa said her five year old daughter makes her the happiest. Just watching her sleep, feeding her, or just spending time with her brings sunshine into her heart. Even though I mentioned things like thinking back on my travels in my gap year, or spending time with the ones that matter, or just simply laughing, Vuyiswa felt the same kind of happiness just by looking at one person in her life. I thought this was incredibly special.

Speaking to Vuyiswa got me thinking about identity more than I expected. She and I come from completely different backgrounds; we speak different languages and do very different things in our day to day activities. But we cannot undermine our worth by comparing ourselves to others, and we don’t set our goals or how we think by what others deem important. Vuyiswa and I are different in many ways, but the same in so many other aspects. We are both content, and comfortable in our own skins.

After all, we are all writing our own identity books. We are our own authors and essentially, it is because we are different that we are exceptional.

First Term Madness

I thought I would put down a few of the pieces I have written for some of my subjects, mostly journalism pieces. I'm sure I hae mentioned this a million times before, but one of the best ways to express yourself is through words and documenting things. So one day when I look back on this blog and read what I wrote for my journ course at university I will either cringe at how I used to write, or smile at the fact that I still write the same.

First though, an essay I loathed writing. Okay so I have admitted to Shakespeare being a genius. But Sonnet 129 kills my soul. Not only is is difficult to identify with his criticism of humans today, but it was the fact that I had to write a whole essay explaining why old William felt how bad humans are for having sex, that was what drove me insane. But I do get his point. Sort of. A paragraph from my essay, if you will...

The poem speaks about the ‘expense of spirit’ (1), or the using up of the vital energy humans need. That energy is seen as going to waste if one uses it up on sex just for lustful purposes. The poem elaborates on lust in action and lust before put into action.(2) Both of these can be equally denoted to a crude, immoral, untrustworthy and somewhat guilty crime.

Yes. Ok sure.

But here is a personal narrative article we had to write for journalism, I did quite well in it too, unlike in the English (hmmm, a sign perhaps?)

Filling the gap

I didn’t plan on taking a gap year after school. In fact, I had never even thought about the idea. You see, the plan was this; finish school, head on to Rhodes, become a journalist. But it was the day my mom suggested a year in England to me that altered my pragmatic plan partially. I went back to her later that evening and with just one quick skim over the Tutor’s Worldwide pamphlet, my plan had changed. The adventure had begun.

It didn’t take very long to realise I was on my own. The touching goodbyes’s at the airport, sitting in the boarding lounge and reading a letter from my mom, even the plane ride, they all seemed completely natural to me. It all went by really quickly. But it was when I stepped off the plane, got hold of my ridiculously large amount of luggage and came to quite a halt, mid-step in Terminal 4. Now what?

Why on earth did I think I could do this on my own? There I was, on the threshold of adulthood, albeit only just eighteen years old standing in a very non-South African environment, with no map. I needed a map. I strolled over to the chubby bearded man behind the help desk. Now I remember this moment so clearly you could swear it happened yesterday; “Or’righ’ darlin’ wha’ you wanna do is this, ‘op on the Piccadilly line from this terminal yea, stay on it for abou’ 10 stops then change, eeva at the circle or district line yea, but rava on the district, until the Victoria stop yea, you got that?”

No, I didn’t have it. But it was then that I developed my theory. This was the first big step to my independence. The first big step to my adventure. If I could make my way to Victoria station without losing my way (or my head for that matter), there would be nothing else I couldn’t do on this gap year.

Now I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a map of the London underground. It is epic. It looks like a two-year old has taken about fifteen different coloured crayons and spontaneously joined them up across the page. A ‘maze’ would be putting it lightly. But I slowly started to memorise it.

The underground eventually became my favourite form of travel. Whenever I missed mom and her special Sunday roast, the Piccadilly line took me to Covent Garden where I would have a Sunday lunch at Angelica’s (and the gravy was almost just like mom’s). If I ever felt like a great amble around a market that reminded me of Irene flee markets, the northern line kindly took me to Camden Markets on a Saturday afternoon. I would sit on those trains from Wimbledon to Upminster, getting off at every stop just for the sake of exploration and adventure.

I was once travelling on the central line to the Notting Hill carnival. The elderly lady next to me had been checking me out since we left Putney. Just before her stop, she asked me how old I was. When I replied, she seemed somewhat taken aback. For the rest of the ride I thought about maturity and how it surely cannot be measured by how old you are. It is what you have experienced that determines what you know.

My gap year took me on rides of knowledge I would never imagine myself getting tickets for. I travelled, and I met the most extraordinary people. I challenged myself, and I learnt how to budget my earnings. I learnt how to apply for jobs, and how to accept rejections. My lessons in independence prepared me well for life ahead. I had discussions with people that no lesson in school could ever have taught me. I now have a certainty of what I want out of life, and a new passion for wanting to learn even more.

And I learnt how the London Underground works.

The Mind the gap sign I became so familiar with by using the underground has a new meaning in my life now; don’t mind the gap, but fill it up.

I enjoyed writing that one.
We also learn the boring bits of journalism too, like hard news stories. Normally I don't really enjoy writing them, but I liked this one - because the person it was based on was so so interesting.

Freelancing: from Moscow to Berlin!

On the 16 March 2010, former freelance journalist and foreign correspondent Anna Christensen shared her stories with the first year Journalism students at Rhodes University.

The students avidly listened as she spoke about her “lucky breaks” with United Press International, her continuous obituary writing and her after attaining her “love affair with anything Russian” and how it eventually led her in Moscow, at the height of the Cold War.

Christensen shared with the students the hardships of her career; how the conflict between America and Russia left her “disillusioned’, and how it became hard to identify with her homeland because of it. She mentioned how she lost friends, and how the KGB limited her movement and freedom of speech as a foreign journalist.

Following her stay in Moscow, Christensen was sent to East Berlin to report where she “found herself homeless for a while” and what essentially marked the beginning of the end of her career.

According to a student in the lecture, he found Christensen very “seasoned in the journalistic sphere”, although he would have liked to hear more about her writing experiences.

Christensen is now combining her two passions, with a teaching degree and still doing some freelance work in South Africa. She wrapped up by telling the students that her worldly knowledge and belief was what got her to the top. “I believe you can be taught to be good at something”, says Christensen, “there is always something more to be learnt.”

I have one more, but I will create a new post for that. I think I got a bit over excited with this one. We also just handed in a beeeeeg Drama assignment which I will hopefully do well in. It was all about Shamanism, and how it influenced the way we act today. So interesting. It all is really. I love it at Rhodes. And I love learning new things. Honestly though. :) Yes, it sounds nerdy and cheesy. But, quite frankly. I don't care :) Over and out for now!

Lighting up Rhodes

So Rhodes :) It has all started. O week is now over and the real stuff has allll started. Everything seemed to have just fallen into place.

Lectures started and the work didn't hesitate to come. My subjects are all really different but they all seem to compliment each other which is really helpful. Linguistics is surprisingly interesting, especially since I didn't plan on taking it at all. At the moment we are learning about phonetics and the Internation PHONETIC alphabet. So that one you see in dictionaries after the word and it looks like giberish. Yea, I'm learning that! It is quite epic. In tutorials we sit there emphasising SH-i-ingle, and then seeing what articulator we use to say it. Then when I head to my Drama speech tut and learn how to breathe with my diaphragm I think about linguistics and what exactly I am using to breathe somewhat diaphagmatically.

And the Drama is so cool. It is more fun than anything else, but I think that is because I truly love it. Theatre making is great. It is all about improvisation and gives me a chance to fully let go. Which I do in normal day to day activities anyway without warning people. But the ones that know me have gotten used to it. It is just such a relieving hour or so after long days in lectures.

Speaking of which, the friends I have made are dandy :) I have become particularly close with Georgia and Nicky in my res. I went to PE with them over a weekend and felt perfectly comfortable making tea at Nicky's house. Then of course Greg is here and he has made friends with Matty from his res. I always feel good when they are around. Gill is our very own american exchange student and she is really interesting and fun too :) But it was when something horrible happened on the weekend when we all needed to be there for George. Barely having known each other for a month, we all came together, Nicky, Greg, Paige, Matty, Ben and I, and we were there for her. As if we had known her for ages. And sitting there altogether, I noticed how quickly things have fallen into place. And how awesome that is.

I have also picked up contemporary and ballroom/latin american dancing :) And I am writing for the Activate newspaper which is cool.

I still miss home, but it is a different kind of missing compared to the one I felt when I was in England. Different types of experiences this time. And I know I am going home a couple of times during these years. I feel absolutely content about being here though. I don't know if it just because I am used to adapting to new surroundings. But I feel that there was definitely a reason behind the fact that I have been wanting to come here since I was 14. Why I didn't apply to anywhere else. I feel like I am in the right place to learn and study and experience life in this next stage of adulthood :)

Wow getting really deep here. I ramble like a mad woman. But according to my journ lecturer, I have to keep writing - no matter what I am writing about. So to add to the rambling, I wrote this. It is called 'My meaning of life'. It is quite in depth but I thought about it carefully. Okay, this is what I think.

I feel very strongly that the meaning of life is whatever you choose it to be. If you want the meaning of life to take the path of sin and guilt – then that is your choice. If you want your life to be lead on a path of joy and fulfillment then that is your choice too. There is no specific meaning of life, but life is what you make of it. The meaning of life comes with how you approach it – and the reason for birth, or purpose comes with what you want the reason to be, and what you want your own personal purpose to be. Whether you want your mark to be left is up to you.

‘Why are we born?’ is a difficult question – but I feel that we all are brought into the world with specific tasks to fulfill. I was brought into this world to work to survive and come to have experiences. I have communicated, and have been faced with challenges. I have to make decisions, I will grow, and I will mature and will be given guidance. I have gained skills and then have gone on to play. I learn how things work and will then go on to do work. I belong to a society of some sort, and choose to conform to its traditions or not. I have my God and celebrate in His name. I have and will find friends, and find a companion. I will one day go on to acquire wealth and amass power in any sense. I will feel sensuality and experience sex, create a home, express myself artistically. I will display myself and hence accumulate wisdom. I have and will break the rules at least once, but I will parent and teach. I will expel waste, heal, fail, lose, and cry. I have and will love. I will accept others and change states of consciousness. I will open myself up to new depths. I will write my story. I will die, and enter a new world. And I will be remembered. That is my meaning of life.

http://www.facebook.com/photos.php?id=689140772 - - - Many photos!

Over and out! :)