Today was a memorable day as the release of the Coll Hub sparked debate in the general populace of the school especially in the 7th form.
Since everyone loves being a critic, I will start with praise for the magazine. As the 1st page says this is not a magazine which is replacing the Collegian or the Wellingtonain but rather a more light hearted, entertaining type of magazine. (Having said that anyone seen the photo of Hunter, Ben, Nick etc etc in the Wellingtonian taking on a classic windy Wellington day??? that’s class). Therefore I was pleased to see articles ranging from politics, music, and literature to sport and of course an interview with a student. Next the presentation of the magazine, with a colour front and back page, it was eye catching and therefore you just had to open it and see what it was all about. Inside articles are spread all over the pages, with many not even following straight lines making it a much more interesting read. The articles themselves are relatively short, so even your year 9 with a concentration of a goldfish will be able to finish. And accompanying them are pictures and graphics all glossy printed giving it the image of a magazine in a bigger budget then reality reveals.
However with praise comes criticism, (before I start remember these are my personal opinions and therefore you do not have to agree with them), I could be wrong here since I didn’t actually read the articles and skipped over them as soon as I saw the titles as 'from the left side/from the right side' and that they were written by politically obsessed personal being our very own jdiggle and Paul hunt. All very good and worthwhile having your first actual article about politics when like me your audience will be or is 18 when the election rolls around this year but unfortunately 80+% of the school will not be making it a bit irrelevant.
Next the interview with Jesse Johnson aka jj, quite unsurprisingly this article was the most popular and funniest, simply because he plays rugby therefore all I think I need to say is "ruuuugbyyy??" Obviously I know he’s taking the piss, being in his accounting class and knowing that the teacher doesn’t love him at all but rather it is more likely that the complete opposite is true but doesn’t this just show reinforce the stereotype of rugby players are not the brightest people in the world. I've always wondered why that actually was surely the knocks they take to the head don’t kill that many brain cells. Anyway the article was short, to the point, easily relatable and therefore was the most liked.
Like I have said earlier, I thought the layout of the magazine was unique and made reading far more interesting but going so far as cutting words off the page??? I know we are a scholarship English class and can work things out very easily what the missing words probably are, but I guarantee you that there is a large amount of kids still scratching heads. While this could be accidental I find it hard to believe as no where on any other pages does there seem to an edge cut prematurely short.
Finally, the McEvedy article... boy can I relate to that article. Just in case anyone still doesn’t know I was captain and probably took it a bit more seriously and harder than most people. I’m still a bit bitter about it to be honest. I’m quite sorry, but saying we expected to walk in and just be given the shield through right?! You have got be f**king kidding me, I don’t know about the writer of the article but some of us trained four+ times a week for 12 weeks before hand to try and be ready for this competition. Remember its the athletes how actually do the competing and I tell you now we were not arrogant, we knew it was going to be tight from the start and gave blood and tears to try and make sure we were the ones who came out on top. So try and get the whole story next time before you print something like this again. Having said that, I would like to thank everyone how supported us and apart from the loss itself the day went very well as many of you will agree with me. Which brings me to my next point about us not being gracious in defeat? Okay so we are up ourselves but this doesn’t come without a certain amount of reason why. Obviously for someone who has been at this school for just over a term and has come from a much larger country winning probably doesn’t come on a consistent basis as it does at this college. But I’ve been at this college for over 4 years and to list the achievements and accomplishments of the students who have been through this college is frankly as impossible as counting to infinity (thanks matt for this comparison by the way). We have won so many national and regional titles, had had national athletes selected in so many sports to represent N.Z and proven ourselves as the best school in such a variety of things it becomes hard to imagine how the school doesn’t have a lot of self belief in itself and its students.
That’s my ranting done for the day, feel free to rebuttal me or voice your opinion either way comment!!!
(and again ignore the many grammatical and spelling errors)
4 comments:
agreeable. altho i dont like arrogance. anyway, the rest is jing-plumb on the spot :)
interesting that comments on the Coll Hub Official Party Blog have to be cleared before being shown...
I feel obliged to respond in an official capacity as co-editor and writer of the article towards which you direct most of the criticism. I appreciate that the delay between the writing of the post and the writing of this article is considerable but I haven't been browsing the blogs for a while.
Right...
Thank you for the complements regarding design and layout on behalf of the designer (i.e. me) and for your general support of the paper. I have to correct you on one small point of fact, I wrote the from the left not manderson (but I take your point).
As for the McEvedy article, I think you'll find that my criticism was not directed in anyway at the athletes. Quite the opposite in fact, I praise the team for their good sportsmanship and the outstanding effort they put in. I do, however, attack the student body as a whole for their frankly disappointing behaviour whilst watching. Some of the chants were so racist, misogynist, supremacist etc that it really let the school down. I know school pride is a big thing but surely school pride means you can criticise it when it does not live up to the justifiably high standards expected. I have consulted with Mr Moses all the way on this one and he totally agrees. We can do so much better...
I hope this clears things up a bit and that you are not too upset about my article, it was written in the best of faith.
Oh... and as for the moderation of comments on the Coll Hub blog, it is only responsible as it represents the view of an official part of the school rather than an individual and thus we need to ensure that everything is above board, fair and not outrageously offensive.
All the best
Jacob
manderson error amended, thanks for your comment i will reply shortly unfortunately my study period is coming to an end and i dont have time to make a post.
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