For the last time

Author

Stellen-Buzz with SMF
October 18, 2024

Beating around the Bosch

with

Dear Reader,

“Our first news cycle has felt like somewhat of a tsunami: welling up out of nowhere, towering above us as we watched, quivering at its feet.” This was the first sentence of Beating around the Bosch’s debut newsletter, sent out on 8 March. Fast forward to our last cycle, which draws to a close this week, and the tsunami-like waves of chaos and uncertainty that once sent us into a frenzy, seem more to us like ripples in a splash pool.  

Nearing the summit of our postgraduate degree means we now have a scenic view of the way we’ve come. Visible below us is a path, sometimes obscured by overgrowth, sometimes visible as skid-marks where we slipped, sometimes as rectangular steps that provided methodical relief from the parts of the path we had to carve out ourselves. As we stop to catch our breath, we turn to look ahead of us, seeing still mountains to climb (but this time equipped with notably larger thigh muscles).

But enough with the ocean and mountain metaphors, because things are about to get very real. Next year, the (mostly) happy family we have created in the journalism department, will be unleashed into the real world. Some of us will be competing with one another and might just happen to forget the days we wiped tears from each other’s cheeks, and instead give them tears right back, in the feverish battle for employment (that was harsh, but like I said, things are about to get real).

On to a more sentimental not: It has been a pleasure being the newsletter editor this year. Beating around the Bosch has become somewhat of a journal for the class of 2024 and I will miss the routine of reflecting on our experiences each week. 

So, for the last time dear readers,


Nicola Amon, newsletter editor

Some invaluable lessons we have learnt this year:

Visual of the Week

“Once I made one key, the rest were easier,” said Timothy Peter Jenkin, who was active in fighting the apartheid regime, and had been able to escape from prison by - over months - making a series of keys. He,Stephen Lee, and Alex Moumbaris were able to acquire dimensions for each key from pieces of paper pressed inside the locks, as well as by studying scrape marks. PHOTO: Nicola Amon

📸Some BTS from SMF News’ Nicola Amon:

The overall experience of interviewing Timothy Peter Jenkin was fascinating. Jenkin’s decades-long work for the anti-apartheid struggle wound him up in Pretoria Central Prison. Being the ferocious problem-solver he is, he formulated an escape plan that to some might seem too simple to be true. They quite literally unlocked the doors, and walked out. Jenkin spent a few months carving a series of keys, using the wood they were provided with in the prison’s workshop, as well as pieces of wire. As I was listening to this story, what amazed me even more than the grand escape, was the modesty and sometimes self-deprecation with which Jenkin told his story. To me, he was a hero. To him, he is just a regular guy.

📚Good reads from SMF News this week📚

To kick off charity week, an initiative by Islamic Relief South Africa, the Stellenbosch University Muslim Students Association hosted a Mehndi event. Watch the video Amy Lindström made of the event.

Lees Maliza Adendorff se onderhoud met die internis en bekroonde digter en kunstenaar, Gilbert Gibson.

Erinma Nedum reviews a heartwarming play brought to life by Cara Roberts. The King of Broken Things reminded the audience that nothing is ever fully broken.

🎶What we’re listening to:

Word of the Week

Sententious (sen-TEN-shuss) 

Tending to use many clichés or maxims in order to enlighten others.

“I know that in writing the newsletter I was, at times, sententious, but hey, it didn’t stop you from coming here every Friday morning. We know you’ll miss us.”