The Great (Star) Trek

---

By Jennifer Moyes
Four out of five popcorn kernels

Despite displaying jumpsuit clad men, Star Trek is also a show that once focused on many controversial issues, such as feminism, racism and the Vietnam War. It even screened the first inter-racial kiss on television and was banned in some countries for this. But when I first heard about the movie, I wondered how it would bring these ideas to a whole new generation, without offending the hardcore Trekkies.

Expecting a lot of “pew pews” and split infinitives, I went to see the new Star Trek movie with a bit of scepticism – but I couldn’t have been more wrong. After the original series and ten movies, Lost creator, J.J Abrams, takes us back to the beginning, when Captain Kirk was rebellious and reckless and Dr Spock was still a young and serious pointy-eared lad.

The movie follows the characters from childhood to their training at the Starfleet academy and their subsequent exciting and nail-biting adventures through the universe. However geeky this may sound, the CGI effects and battle scenes are good enough to keep you tantalised. It is evident that there are a whole new range of CGI effects to play with, especially with Kirk’s green girl, with whom he has a roll in the proverbial hay. Then there are good old-fashioned hand-to-hand fighting scenes, not to mention a captivating storyline.

Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto provide more than enough eye candy. Throw in a Scot for humour and you might not go boldly where no film has gone before, but you sure have a hell of a good time. The jumping of backwards and forwards between the future and the past gets a bit confusing, but you eventually catch on when the original Dr Spock, Leonard Nimoy, makes an appearance and does a supercool mind-flashback on Kirk to help you understand. You might also need to prepare a snack because the film is a bum-numbing two hours long.

The movie stays true to all the ideas of the original series, without giving too much away. It does, however spring in a rather surprising romance. Talking about what the previous movies lacked, Abrams says, “I feel we were able to bring to life, in a way we’ve never seen before; what it is to be a member of Starfleet. And that’s kind of cool.” I really couldn’t agree more.

Home of Joy – a safe haven

By Zama Khumalo

Pic by: Karen Crouch

Margaret Ngcangca is community mother of 13 neglected children at her home in Joza. She is unemployed and volunteered to take care of children who were abandoned due to parental neglect.

Swot week cancelled for 2010

By Caelyn Woolward & Kelley Wake

Pic by: Matthew Theijssen

At the most recent student body meeting, the Student Representative Council (SRC) announced that it was decided that swot week will be divided up into swot days and there will no longer be exams on Saturdays in 2010.

Akon to record official 2010 anthem

By Zama Khumalo

Rapper and R&B artist Akon has been appointed by FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) to record the official anthem for next year’s Soccer World Cup in South Africa. Akon is also due to appear at the opening ceremony.

66 year old British woman falls pregnant

By Kelley Wake & Caelyn Woolward

Elizabeth Adeney is set to become UK’s oldest mother at the age of 66. The British business woman, who is currently eight months pregnant, underwent in vitro fertilisation (IVF).

Pirates’ new liquor license

By Kelley Wake & Philippa Bradbury
Pic by: Bella Parkinson

Pirates Pizza has definitely moved up in the world. Their new venue opposite Peppergrove Mall on African Street incorporates all the aspects students need for a place to hang out. The friendly vibe that Pirates is known for is now enhanced by a larger area and comfortable seating that allows for students to sit and enjoy their meal. Now, with a liquor license, Pirates cannot seem to get any better. Acquiring the license, however, was not an easy task.

According to Jonathan Inggs, the general manager of Pirates, they applied for their liquor license last October in the hope of receiving it in time for O-Week this year.

The process of applying for a liquor license and actually obtaining it are two very difficult procedures. As Inggs said, Pirates “had all their ducks in a row” after being assessed by the fire, police and health department. The request was gazetted to the community and because there was no negative feedback within the allotted time of 21 days, the application went ahead.

Rhodes reacts to M&G discrimination

By Kyle Robinson

The Crane Soudien report on discrimination in South African higher level education, which was set up after the racist incident at the University of Free State in 2007, has highlighted fundamental concerns regarding the implementation of transformation policy at university level.

It was reported in a Mail & Guardian article that one of the findings of the Crane Soudien report was that, at Rhodes, male student “thugs” allegedly get away with the rape of lesbians, to “cure them”. There was also a mention of assaults on black gay men. The Rhodes University submission to the committee consisted of the individual voices of staff and students, even if there were disagreements. Dean of Students, Dr Vivian de Klerk, commented that [Mail & Guardian] journalists have taken those to reflect the general situation of the University. “What journalists have done is they’ve picked little, sharp, harsh things that relate to what a particular Rhodes student or staff member said. Sadly, that does distort perceptions in the media,” said De Klerk.

Fasting for Zimbabwe

By Wazi Kunene

For the past six weeks, English lecturer, Professor Dan Wylie, and a group of his colleagues have committed to a day of fasting in solidarity with the two million starving in Zimbabwe.

This campaign is not designed to bring a cure for Zimbabwe, but with the idea in mind to sacrifice a day’s meals every week. By doing this, Wylie hopes to create awareness about the current situation in Zimbabwe.

Spurting water and energy

By Gwen Matthews

You may have spotted some students doing some pretty drastic things on Saturday, 16 May, around campus. Pinching strangers’ bums, jamming with street musicians and flying an umbrella were all part of the second ‘Galela Get Spotted’ event, giving its participants two hours to capture a number of tasks on camera.

Running for its second year, the Rhodes campus community project Galela Amanzi was out to raise funds in order to put up water tanks at Andrew Moyake Secondary School. Andrew Moyake Secondary was one of the first schools that the Galela Amanzi committee went to before starting the project.

3rd World Spectacular

Drunk and disorderly in Grahamstown

Writing to raise awareness

By Pierre Potgieter

Pic By : Pierre Potgieter

Grant Goodwin and Ntendini Luvhengo are the winners of the English short story competition, which was held last term. The competition was organised by the Rhodes English Department with the topic being ‘starvation’. The competition was held to raise awareness of human rights abuse in Zimbabwe. The winners are both first year students and each won R250 in prize money.

Goodwin and Luvhengo agree that the topic is what influenced them to enter the competition. “Starvation has so many meanings, physically and emotionally and that you can write anything around it,” said Luvhengo. Goodwin’s story focuses on physical starvation, while Luvhengo’s focus was more on spiritual starvation. Goodwin, who is Zimbabwean, explains that he wanted to “empathise with the people in that type of hunger situation”.

---

Luvhengo’s story aims to touch the reader and “make them question themselves and ask themselves if they are happy within themselves.” Luvhengo saw the competition as a good way to communicate her ideas. Her argument is that although this story is aimed at many readers, it focuses specifically on leadership. Luvhengo says that her work expresses how “Mugabe is somehow suppressing his feelings,” and that he cannot possibly be neutral with all the international criticism. She added that no human being can run away from themselves.

Goodwin’s story concerns choices. “Zimbabwe doesn’t have any easy choices either,” said Goodwin. He also asks an important question: “How much attention does Zim need to get better? They [Zimbabweans] should not be forgotten,” he concluded.

Starvation

By Grant Goodwin

Sheltering beneath the torn remains of what had been the wing, the two men tried to shield their bodies from the blustering winds. Unheard over the gusts that threatened to knock them off the mountainside at last, their stomachs rumbled. The poor sandwiches they had been given halfway through their flight were a distant, mouth-watering memory now, and they wondered when they would be able to eat again. “I’m really hungry!” the darker one yelled over the gale. “Me too!” the other shouted back, his blonde hair whipped against his face as he turned to look at his only companion. “You don’t think…?”“No, we’ve gone over this. We can’t!”As he said it, the fair-haired man’s eyes crept across to the motionless form, half buried in dirty snow beyond the meager shelter offered by the charred wing. “It’s been days and days now! We have to eat something!” the other pleaded, his voice hoarse and cracked.

The blond man did not reply, but his eyes never left the corpse in front of him. Hunger pains shot through him as he stared at the dead body, no clear thoughts forming in his numb mind. “We wouldn’t eat everything. Just a little bit,” the darker man reasoned, his voice becoming smoother, an echo of the business presentations he used to make when he wore a suit every day. “We can’t,” the fair man stubbornly whispered, his words snatched up and thrown away by the wind.

Starvation
By Ntendeni Luvhengo

I have food on my table. Anything from hard, fried, oily pork to chicken, fish, beef, vegetables and boerewors. I live in a house with fifty rooms, an indoor pool and a large basketball

court. I own an estate on an exotic private Caribbean island, a crop farm in the naturally rich land of Venda in South Africa and shares with South Africa’s mining giant Anglo-Platinum. I am starving. My life is full of hunger. I am poor inside.

Like other dictators in Africa, I live a fabulous life and feed on money I never worked for. My children go to private schools and universities in London and each one of them owns a farm in Venda. An average man in my country will fight hunger, diseases and lack of freedom of speech until he dies but I am the hungriest one. I suffer more than that average man and I am dying. I live in extreme starvation. My soul is empty.

The number of men I have killed for expressing their thoughts against my government haunts me and follows me everyday. The echoes of television documentaries privately shot in my country, to show how many people are suffering because of me, are the reason why I don’t sleep. My soul is empty. My heart burns when I think of how God feels about what I do to poor people.

I am in a mental state of starvation and I think that I am going to starve until I die. Giving up to my starvation will mean losing all my riches and land which I don’t want to lose. No I don’t.

Words of a stripped activist

By Ithuteng Mashabela & Yolande Botha

“I Am Beautiful. Your Ignorance Can’t Take That Away.”. These were the words that were carved into a large, brown placard – my only item of clothing on – 27 April 2009. Together with nearly a hundred fellow activists from various societies, such as SHARC, GAP and OutRhodes, I decided to take part in the ‘My Body, My Choice’ photo shoot aimed at relaying a simple message – even if I was naked, you wouldn’t have the right to rape me.

“Power to the presses”

By Tamsin Green

Monday, 4 May, marked the 140th anniversary of South Africa’s oldest independently owned newspaper, Grocott’s Mail. In celebration of this meaningful anniversary, an exhibition was launched chronicling the colourful history of Grocott’s as well as celebrating its promising future.

The exhibition, sponsored by Mondi Shanduka Newsprint, was preceded by a seminar titled ‘Print is Eternal’, hosted by the Rhodes School of Journalism and Media Studies and the Sol Plaatje Institute for Media Leadership. The seminar and Grocott’s ‘Then and Now’ exhibition both coincide with World Press Freedom Day which took place on 3 May.

From underdog to megastar

By Zama Khumalo

When 47-year-old frumpy small- town spinster, Susan Boyle, stepped on to the stage of the TV show Britain’s Got Talent no one would have guessed that in just a week she would be the centre of international media frenzy. Boyle’s against-the-odds story has enthralled people worldwide with her video getting over 40 million hits on YouTube.

When Boyle – who announced that she had “never been kissed” – stood on the stage, both the judges and the audience were unimpressed with her appearance, but when she started to sing she blew the audience and the judges away with her incredible voice. She even received a few rave reviews from notoriously nasty judge Simon Cowell.

Swine flu epidemic

By Martha Palmer & Kelley Wake

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has reported that the Swine flu virus has reached phase five on its six point infection scale. This is one stage away from becoming an epidemic, with the number of confirmed cases across the globe steadily on the increase.

The six point scale is separated into phases, with phase one to three being predominantly animal infections, phase four being sustained human diseases to human transmission, and phases five to six representing a pandemic with widespread human infection.

Free Arabic Lessons for Students

By Pierre Potgieter


Pic by Pierre Potgieter

Two Rhodes students have decided to teach Arabic, free of charge, to all Rhodes students who would like to learn the language. Lessons are given twice a week by Amina Ebrahim, a Commerce student, and her husband Bilal Randeree, who is doing his post-graduate year in Journalism.

Both Ebrahim and Randeree were born in South Africa and have spent time traveling to Palestine and Syria among other countries, where they were able to put their language skills into practice. Emphasis is placed on conversation in the language, more than on the grammar and literature. Randeree explained that, “speaking a language gives you confidence,” and knowing the details of the grammar is not that useful when you need to communicate verbally in a language.

---

Their course has been running for two months and they are still willing to receive interested students. “The classes are continuously growing with new students pitching up at every lesson,” explained Randeree.The aim of the course is to equip the students with basic communication skills that will enable them to communicate and help themselves comfortably in the language. The course is taught from the level one instruction book from the Institute of Arabic Studies for non-speaking Arabic students, which teaches a modern, standard form of Arabic which is widely understood among Arabic speakers.

Ebrahim and Randeree decided to teach the language so that they could practice it themselves. “The students come with their own personal reasons to study it,” says Randeree. Other reasons for the couple teaching are a link to their religion and Randeree’s acknowledgment of Arabic as a useful tool in the job market.

Arabic is spoken by roughly 206 million people as a first language and another 250 million as a second language, with most of its native speakers in North African and Asian countries.

With many economists observing that the markets are currently shifting from the West to the East, this makes it an even better reason to learn a language like Arabic. Those interested in learning the language can contact Amina Ebrahim at amina.ebrahim@gmail.com or Bilal Randeree at bilal.randeree@gmail.com.

New Complexes boost Student Accomodation

By Chris McCallum

Pic by :Matthew Theijssen

Four new complexes, which will accommodate over 100 people, are in the process of construction on and off African Street. These will ease accommodation pressures, as the amount of Rhodes students increase every year. This year, the amount of new students increased by approximately 10% and the University has struggled to find accommodation for these students.

Summer Place, one of the complexes on the corner of African and Summerset Street, has come under scrutiny for its four month (and counting), delay on completion, with students having to stay in bed and breakfasts until the complex is completed.

My Short Skirt is not an Invitation

By Nicola Haw

Dianne Moore, First year, participating in the silent protest.

The “My Short Skirt” protest, which happened on Wednesday, 6 May, is an annual event organized as part of the Anti Sex and Gender based Violence Week at Rhodes. The protest was organised by Student Services Officer, Larissa Klazinga. Participants braved the cold weather to wear short skirts in order to protest against rape and sexual harassment. Protesters stapled the phrase, “This skirt is not an invitation” onto their skirts when arriving at the protest in order to object to people observing a short skirt as a justification and invitation for rape.

Sub-Warden Under Investigation

By Chris McCallum

A fourth year LLB student and a sub-warden in Kimberley Hall was arrested on 22 March and a case of common assault was opened against the student.

According to the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the Grahamstown Magistrate Court Clerk’s Office, charges were later dropped by the complainant as the parties had reconciled. Activate approached the accused and the complainant who both declined to comment.