Diary of a Winchester Lady: To degree or not to degree?

Boy 1: Man I freaking love Tuna

Boy2: Yeah mate; it’s a bit weird having Dolphin though.

Boy1: What do you mean?

Boy2: Mate, Tuna is Dolphin meat.

Where do you think I overheard the about conversation? A bar? A primary school? Between hooded youths on a street corner?

 In fact this conversation was between two university students; students who are working towards a degree that will act as proof of their academic achievement and intelligence.

Recently I have noticed how almost everything in this world revolves around how intelligent you are, and whether you can prove it – for example by having a degree.

During the time that I was away from university because of my ill health, there were times that I was unsure whether I would be able to return at all. I began trying to accept the fact that I may not be able to get a degree – and the thing that scared me most about this was the thought that I would be seen as a ‘loser’ amongst my peers, or unintelligent in job interviews, and even the thought that I would think of myself as being a failure.

Logically I knew that not having a degree would not make people think less of me, and if it did then they are people that shouldn’t be in my life anyway. I knew that you don’t necessarily need a degree to get the job you want.  But this did not change the fact that throughout my education I have been made to believe that education is the be all and end all in this life.

It is only since I was forced to accept that I might not be able to further my education that I started to realise that it is not the only way to have a happy, successful life; and in many cases the stress of education leads to unhappiness and failure. I can certainly say that that has been the case for the majority of my life so far.

I have intended to leave education at every chance I got – when I turned 16, when I finished my GCSEs, when I finished my A-Levels, and even after the first year of university. The only thing that has stopped me every time has been my fear that if I didn’t follow the academic path then I might not be able to make a success of my life.

The majority of you reading this will be university students – and only you can honestly know why you chose to go to university. For those of you who aren’t students, maybe you decided that university wasn’t for you or perhaps you didn’t get the grades you needed to go. In most cases you will have made a conscious choice about the kind of life you wanted to have.

At the start of this semester, for the first time in my life, it seemed as though my choice to continue with my degree was going to be taken away from me. During the six weeks I missed of university, I spent every single day contemplating what kind of life I was going to have now that I no longer had a choice. Luckily, my health improved and I made the choice to return to university as soon as possible; but that did not change the fact that I had spend weeks contemplating the life I thought I was going to lead.

Obviously I cannot speak for everyone, but personally I want to share the five epiphanies I had during my weeks of contemplation.

1.       Never make a decision based on fear.

2.       If you want something enough, there is always a way you can make it happen.

3.       The greatest achievements in life will often involve great risks.

4.       Things will work out the way they are supposed to – but this does not necessarily mean that they will work out the way you want them to.

5.       Anything which compromises your happiness is not worth it.

So whether you have a degree or not, I urge you not to judge yourselves entirely on your academic achievements or failures.

Critical Reflection: Missing Mother

I decided to write a column about mothers this week because Sunday is Mothers Day, and so it would be relevant and in the minds of my readers. I also decided to include the fact that Mothers Day falls on my 20th birthday as a way of linking my separation from her to the fact that I am maturing and yet still have difficulties being completely independent.

I thought about what in particular I wanted to write about mothers, and decided that it would not be interesting to simply read about how I feel about my own, and instead wanted to write about something that the reader would be able to relate to. The majority of people who look at the features on http://www.winol.co.uk/ are students at the University of Winchester, so I needed to make sure that I wrote about something that they in particular would be able to relate to. That is why I made the decision to write about how I have found becoming independent at university and moving away from my mother for the first time, as many other students at the university have had to do the same thing.

I decided to focus on the task of laundry because during my time here this seems to be the recurring chore that students find difficult. I also hoped that I would be able to make the column humorous by including examples of other students' attempts at laundry that I have experienced and that I found to be funny at the time.

Although I had a target audience in mind, I also tried to include things which people who are not students would be able to relate to, and hoped that I wrote the column in such a way that the examples would be funny even if the reader has never been in that situation themselves.

I have to admit that with this piece, with the exception of the title, I did not focus as much on literary devices. This was because I wanted to share my own experiences honestly, without being sidetracked by trying to make it more interesting or relatable than it was in reality. I felt that the only way for the piece to sound as honest as I wanted it to was to write completely honestly! And so, in terms of critical reflection there is actually not much to analyse!

I am extremely pleased with the finished column and hope that I succeeded in making it both humorous and relatable. 

Diary of a Winchester Lady: Missing Mother

In the run up to my 20^th birthday which falls on Mother’s Day at the end of this week, I have been thinking about the help my mother has given me throughout my childhood and teenage years.

For those of you reading this who are over the age of twenty, you will probably be cursing me for being quite depressed at the thought of my upcoming birthday. Twenty, to me, signifies becoming ‘old’ in the sense that I will no longer be classed as a teenager, and will have to officially start my transition into adulthood.

Something which has prepared me for adulthood since going to university has been having to run my own life without my mother around! While I was living at home it seemed to me that I was living some kind of Mary Poppins’ style life, where my meals appeared on the table in front of me each evening, my clothes appeared to wash and fold themselves neatly into my drawers and, if left in a mess long enough, my room would tidy itself whilst I was out.

Of course these were not signs of an amazing, mystical world; there were the results of my mother’s silent actions of love and care. I realise now that I should not have taken this for granted as I am now living in a world where I have to clean my room with a communal vacuum, which is always full, where I have had to expand my cooking knowledge beyond the usual limitations of a packet of super noodles, and where I have to wait two hours for my clothes to go through the tumble drier. I can vaguely recall my mother warning me of what a shock it would be when I would have to start being responsible for myself, although those warnings were often drowned out amongst thoughts of student bars and cheap shopping.

When my friends and I go to the laundry room it is clear that I am not the only person who failed to listen to their mother’s instructions before heading to university. Every week, without fail, at least one of us becomes overwhelmed by the fear of accidently mixing lights and darks, or washing our clothes at the wrong temperature and ending up with a wardrobe of clothes that are only fit for a Barbie doll. There are always awkward moments when you ask someone if they think it will be safe to put certain items together,  and instantly you can tell by the look of their face that they have absolutely no idea; the best they can do is guess and cross their fingers that the clothes don’t get ruined .

I am not sure if it is more surprising that people actually try to guess the answers to the puzzles of laundry, or that the person asking will take the advice even in the knowledge that their friend was only guessing!

I will always remember during the very first visit to the laundry, one of my friends became so confused that she rang her mother and described each item of clothing she was washing, while her mother told her which ones to put together. That may sound quite ridiculous, but was nothing compared to the boy who tried to wash all of his clothes by putting ‘Finish’ dishwasher tablets in the washing machine.

University life would be a lot more simple if you were allowed to bring your mother along to help with the chores – or even just one mother per 5 students would suffice. For those of you living at home with your mums, make sure you appreciate all the help that they give you, and that you actually listen to their advice, you do not want to be the person washing their clothes in ‘Finish’.

WINOL Critical Reflection - 07/03/12

Headlines: The headlines in this bulletin would not as strong as the previous week. There was a good quote of "there will be riots", but other than that there was little that was interesting enough to engage the viewer straight away. I thought that the script 'goals galore' was not particularly appropriate for news headlines, although this kind of script has been used frequently in the headlines this semester so perhaps it is a hit with viewers.

George Beckett: I thought that the story of George Beckett resigning was one that was relevant to the viewers, and particularly relevant as he has been interviewed so many times by WINOL. However, I did not think that any of the archive footage made sense in the context of what Flick was saying. For example when she was talking about Beckett, we could see a man's hand doing some paperwork, and whilst most people would use their common sense to assume that the man in the footage is Beckett, I feel that it would have been better if he had been clearly identified in the shot. Then when Flick was naming the other members who might take over the role, we again saw unidentified images of Beckett. This was confusing as the viewer would probably have expected to see footage of the people Flick was talking about. I think that the piece would have been better if the second archive footage of Beckett had been used in place of the first, with a strap line identifying him.

Strikes: This was an interesting story, and again was particularly relevant as the strikes were covered in great detail last year on WINOL. I thought that the use of archive footage worked well in this package. Louis was seen walking and talking with Steve Brine before the interview, which has become a frequent sight on WINOL and I feel looks really professional. The interviews with Brine and Ian Woodland were both relevant, well framed and ensured that Louis' piece was balanced. I thought that Louis' piece to camera this week was very strong.

Gay Marriage: I thought that this was a fairly strong piece, although the interview with the homosexual couple could have been framed tighter. I also though that George's piece to camera could have been tighter as well, although I appreciate that he was probably trying to make sure that the cross was in the shot. I think that George did quite well to give both sides of the argument, and thought it was good that he had asked someone else to do the voice over for the statement instead of doing it himself, which would have been less professional.

Air Traffic Control Course: This was a relevant story because it was about the University of Winchester, and the largest audience that WINOL has are students at the university here. This was quite a difficult story as there are not many shots that would have been relevant. I thought it was a good ideal to film at the airport, although there may be some problems with the fact that only Flybe planes were shown. There were some technical problems with the sound in the interview with Prof. Neil Marriott which should have been corrected or the interview left out entirely as it was impossible to hear most of what he had said.

Sport: It is no surprise that once again I have no criticisms of the sport!

And finally: The 'and finally' piece this week was not as strong as previous weeks, although this is understandable as it can't be easy to find a story as interesting as a giraffe being born every week! I thought that the piece was interesting and relevant to a younger audience. The interview with Mike Carroll was well framed, and although he was clearly excited and speaking informally, this is not too much of a problem with an 'and finally' piece. I thought the sign off of Hetty helping Carroll with the mixing was humorous and fit well with the piece.

Overall I think that the bulletin this week was not as strong as in previous weeks, but still very good work for university students.

WINOL Critical Reflection - 29/02/12

Headlines: There were some brilliant quotes in the headlines of this bulletin, including "catastrophic", "bubble will burst" and "so many I don't know where to start". The only criticism I have of the headlines was the line "Dancing on thin ice", which I thought was a bit cheesy for the headlines!

Sheep: I thought that it was very professional that Tom warned that some viewers might find the package upsetting. This package was good, with relevant shots. Hetty's piece to camera was very good and the interview with Graham Boyt was well framed and relevant. It was also good that Boyt only gave comment, not facts. The only criticism I have of this piece is that the voice over needed to be louder.

Budget Cuts: Louis' voice over and initial piece to camera were too quiet and I thought it would have been better if he had talked slower. However, it was good how he walked towards the camera during his piece to camera. The archive footage used in this piece was poor quality and perhaps should not have been used, although I can appreciate this might have been all there was to use. The interview with Brian Dash was well framed but had a couple of jumps in it.

Tap Water: I thought that Dan did well to find so many shots for this piece, and I particularly liked the closing shot of water going down the sink. Dan also made sure than his GV shots were all section 8 safe. I liked how Dan was seen walking and talking with Arshad Sharif before the interview. The interview was well framed and Dan got a good quote from Sharif.

University Courses: I thought that this was another good piece from Flick, and was pleased to see that she had a notebook in her hand and made use of it throughout her piece to camera. I thought that the graphic of the pie chart was confusing and somewhat unnecessary. The interview with Nick Rowe was well framed, although the cut away to him doing work during the interview was confusing.

Assault: I thought that this was a huge improvement from George's court piece in the previous bulletin. His piece to camera was brilliant and he made good use of his notebook when giving quotes. The reconstruction was very well done and meant that the piece was a good one for the bulletin, unlike his story in the previous bulletin which would have been better as a written piece only. I think that reconstructions are something that should be used on WINOL in the future because it was much more interesting to watch in comparison to only seeing a presenter doing a piece to camera.

Sport: Needless to say, sport was once again very strong and professional.

And finally: I thought that the 'and finally' piece in this bulletin was very strong, particularly as there was an interview with a celebrity. I thought that the interview with Robin Cousins could have been cut down a bit as there were points that were a bit boring to listen to. The footage courtesy of ITV were extremely professional to include.

Overall I think that this bulletin was a huge improvement on the previous bulletins.

WINOL Critical Reflection - 22/02/12

Headlines: The headlines on this bulletin were not particularly strong, and unlike previous weeks, there were no good quotes. The first headline shot of the word 'School' painted on a road was not a particularly good choice because the first shot of the headlines should be the strongest of the whole bulletin, and so it gives the viewer the impression that the bulletin was not going to be very interesting.

The script for the first story was extremely confusing. When giving feedback on this bulletin, Brian stated that in the future we need to ensure that there is only one thought per sentence in order to keep scripts simple for viewers to follow.

Schools: Throughout this package Louis used good GVs that were safe under section 8, which was very well done. There were a couple of criticisms of this package, one of which was that Louis gave too much exposition which was confusing to follow as a viewer. The other criticism was a grammatical error, that Louis said " the council are" instead of " the council is". I thought it was good that Louis remembered to have his interviewee's facing opposite directions from one another.

Tazer: Much like Flick's piece in the last bulletin, George did not have an easy task when reporting on this story. I thought that the link to George's piece was extremely well scripted. George did well to find relevant shots, and in particular to have the image of the tazer itself. He also looked professional by pretending to look at his notes during the piece. I felt that George did the piece perfectly, but that perhaps it would have been better if it had just been a written piece.

Hosepipe Ban: There were some very big technical problems in the first shot of this piece, in particular the colour balance and the clarity of the shot. It would also have looked better if she had been walking whilst giving her piece to camera. The second shot was much better. The interview was framed well with the perfect eye line. The only criticism of the interview would be that the interviewee should have been looking right to left. There was a good graphic piece in this package.

Eco-homes: Similarly to Louis' piece, there was a bit too much expo in this package. The interview with Cllr Ian Tait was quite well framed but needed to be tighter and his eye line needed to be a big higher. In this package Dan used the line "the future looks green", which was not appropriate for a news package - Dan should only give facts.

Parking: Graham's interview with Cllr Godfrey was very well framed, but was not particularly strong as most of what Godfrey said was fact. Although Graham did get a good quote from him of "it's a very simple system once it's set up" - but this was really all he needed to say. The interview with Cllr Kelsie Learney was good, and in particular Graham did well to start with himself and Learney walking along talking. The interview was well framed and he got a good quote from her of "thin end of the wedge." Graham's piece to camera was quite good and was well placed in a car park, although there was a beeping in the background; however this may be because the beeping was continuous, or there was not enough time to wait for it to stop.

Sport: Once again there is very little to say about the sport as it is continually produced to a very high standard.

And finally: Flick's piece about the Lego castle was perfect for an 'and finally' piece. The drop intro was professional and a good way to engage the audience. Flick's script was very strong as she answered the questions of who, what, where, why and when in her summary introduction. The interview with Duncan Titchmarsh was not particularly strong as he mainly stated facts about his job. His quote of "people think I'm a bit mad" was the only part of the interview that really needed to be included. Flick's second interviewee was also not very quotable, and looked at the camera during his interview, although this was not Flick's fault. I thought that the microphone made out of Lego was very funny and Flick's sign off of "brick by brick" was perfect for an 'and finally' piece.

WINOL Critical Reflection - 15/02/12

Headlines: Once again I thought that there were a couple of great quotes in the headlines, I particularly liked the comment that the new local beer will be the "best beer ever". I had trouble trying to decide if I liked the somewhat cheesy straplines during the headlines! I think that they were all very clever but am not convinced that they have a place on a bulletin that is trying to emulate a proper news programme. On the other hand, these humorous straplines might be something that will make it bulletin stand out and keep viewers coming back.

NHS Reform: Once again Louis produced an extremely professional package and managed to keep the story balanced by interviewing both Cllr Martin Tod and Cllr John Cooper. I also thought that Louis' piece to camera was very good and shows a huge improvement from the start of the last semester. My only criticism of this piece is that the interview with Cllr Tod could have been framed tighter, and the one with Cllr Cooper was too tight as the top of his head was missing - however this is not something that would be difficult to correct in the future.

Prayers: I thought that George did well to keep this piece balance by interviewing Cllrs James Maynard and George Beckett. George also remembered to have them facing opposite ways when he interviewed them, which was very professional. I thought that the cut away to George Beckett during his interview were confusing and perhaps different shots could have been found. The other shots in the package were clear and relevant.

Pub attack: Court reporting is difficult because there is only really an option to do a piece to camera because you are not allowed to film in a court. Flick did well with the story and while it is impressive that she was able to remember a script, I think that it would have been better if she had been holding a notebook so that it looked like she was getting the information from somewhere.

Housing: I think that it was good that there was a follow up from Graham on his piece from the previous week about the housing problems in Winchester. His interviews were both framed and relevant. My only criticism was that his voice over needed to be louder as it was quite difficult to hear him.

Valentines Day: Although the bulletin was aried after Valentines Day, it was only the day after so I think that the stories about it were still relevant. The interview in the gallery with Tim Craven was good but would have been better if it had been tighter framed so that you could see him clearly and you would also have been able to see the painting better.

The piece about the event held at the university on Valentine's Day was also relevant and the interview with the Mayor of Winchster, Cllr Barry Lipscomb, was good but would have been better if it had been a tighter shot.

Mosque: I thought that this was a good piece to include in the bulletin because there are rarely stories that are about religion. I thought it was good how Ullduz walked towards the camera during her piece to camera because it looked professional and was more interesting to watch than her standing still. I also thought it was good that she was wearing the appropriate attire for a mosque and, again, this was interesting to see.

Sport: Once again the sport was produced to a very high standard. The only things which might have been a problem was that in the interview with Stewart Donald, he was stood infront of an poster with a promotional advert on it and you could clearly see the details of the poster and it was on screen for quite a long time.

And finally: I thought that Eddie's piece about the brewery was very good and a huge improvement on his piece from the previous week. His comment of 'plans brewing' was funny and appropriate for an 'and finally' piece. I also liked how he gave his piece to camera from a barstool and made it look as though he had been reading a paper.

This bulletin was a huge improvement from the previous week.