A blog dedicated to scandal and ‘skinner’, RU Scandalous asks the question, “Have you heard?”

By Cat Pennels

When you arrive at RU Scandalous’s doorstep, you are confronted by a large white photograph of the Rhodes University clock tower swathed in pink and black swirls. To the left of the screen a woman’s lips pose as if to whisper something sultry into your ear. This is clearly a blog that serves up sizzling stories - but with a Rhodes flavour.

Expecting a blog that dealt with petty Rhodes gossip, I was pleasantly surprised by the thoughtful and challenging writing I discovered. While RU Scandalous certainly provides analysis on trends and issues at Rhodes University, it does not focus on the frivolous and mundane as I had braced myself for. In fact, a witty post written by Aimee Caulfield and entitled "Scandal only exists in the thoughts of the beholder", critically examines "the media deluge of petty celebrity fights and irksome political figures pretending to be something a lot better than they are."

Other interesting posts deal with the 'death of music', the Caster Semenya debacle and Mia Farrow's work with Gaza victims. Perhaps one of the most interesting and relevant posts is one that delves into homosexuality and the Rhodes drama department.

RU Scandalous is a blog that very successfully combines thought-provoking journalism with the latest news from around campus and the world. It stands tall among other South African blogs of its kind, such as GOSSIPS, which lack intellectual analysis. RU Scandalous is a blog that is well worth a visit.

Meat's Not Green

“If anyone wants to save the planet, all they have to do is stop eating meat.” - Paul McCartney.

For over three years I have been a dedicated vegetarian. Seeing the reality of animals suffering intensive confinement, painful mutilations and violent deaths was the driving force behind my lifestyle decision. However, I have recently become aware of a new and shocking fact; the meat industry is not only responsible for the horrificly inhumane treatment of animals but also for ravaging our environment.

According to the United Nations, raising animals for food causes more greenhouse gas emissions than all the vehicles, aeroplanes, ships and trains combined and is “one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems”. Every minute an area of rainforest equivalent to seven football fields is destroyed to accommodate grazing cattle, and in the USA, raising animals for food uses more than half of all the water consumed. Livestock production uses 30 percent of the earth's surface and is the leading cause of damage to scarce water sources.

Refusing to eat meat is the single most effective way of cutting down your carbon footprint. The earth is in her eleventh hour; we have to put greed and selfishness in the backseat and for once think about the good of our planet and her creations. Such a basic, inexpensive decision could not only save our earth, but precious lives too.

For more information have a look at http://www.meat.org/

Grace Ushang and The Indecent Dressing Bill

"Grace Ushang was a young Nigerian woman who had every right to expect a bright future. Now she is dead merely because she was female." (Asma'u Joda and Iheoma Obibi, allAfrica.com)

Grace Ushang, a women raped to death for wearing trousers, serves as yet another bitter reminder of the struggle for equality that women on this continent face daily.

Violence against women is so commonplace that it hardly ever reaches the news stand. While searching for online news coverage of Ushang's murder this fact was re-emphasised when only three news articles came up, none of which were South African. This profoundly highlights the incredible apathy that faces women's rights activists in our country and on our continent.

It is not surprising then that the most informative article was written by Joda and Iheoma of the Nigerian Feminist Forum. This article discusses the role that an "Indecent Dressing" bill had in Ushang's murder and critically discusses the horrific implications such a bill would have for the safety of Nigerian women.

Next.com's follow-up article on Ushang's murder was also interesting. While it did not explore the issues that the murder transgressed, it did show the anger and despair Ushang's family and community are experiencing.

Grace Ushang presents us with a warning that cannot be ignored. While women are being murdered for the clothes that they wear, it is unacceptable to turn a blind eye and forget our duty to other women on this continent. The battle for equality rages ever stronger.

Getting to know Curious Cat

As you wander around this blog you may find yourself questioning who it is that actually spews out the rants, raves and reviews that you read. It is clear enough that they are the musings of a journalism student, but you want to know what makes this person tick; what makes them laugh, cry, scream, shout and wave fists (and there is rather a lot of that).

I am Cat Pennels; one of the three minds behind the F[read]om Writers. I like many things and dislike few. When I want to laugh I read Hunter S Thompson or phone my dad. When I want to cry I listen to Edith Piaf. I am incurably curious and full of life. I have no aspirations to a middle-class suburban life but want to see the world from every corner.

I am passionate about many things and they are the driving force behind my writing. As an animal and environmental nut, I believe it fairly obvious that when polar bears start drowning and ice-caps melting, every person should sit up and make a concerted effort to reduce their own carbon footprint. I am also a people-lover. Living in South Africa makes me very aware about how precious and invaluable human rights are, whether they be of gender, race or class. My inner-activist rises her head when I think about how many people worldwide, but most specifically in my country, live without the dignity and opportunity they deserve. To think that the people who have the power to effect change remain useless, and worse still, that the citizens who know and see the inequality prefer apathy, makes my skin crawl. It begins to feel as though this world really is a smouldering heap of injustice, greed and exploitation.

However, my true hope loving self knows that this is not the case. There are young people like you and I who are desperate to make a difference, to uncover the darkness and create light. That is why we study journalism and that is why this blog exists; to serve as a platform for other journalists and people to discuss issues such as these and others close to their hearts.

You can expect to find many different posts on many different ideas, almost all of which will be based in reading. I do not pretend to be an expert on life and the world and so turn to older and sager minds to help form and bolster my ideas. As Nadine Gordimer says, “The only school for the writer is the library – reading, reading.”