Campus is purple, so you know we’re approaching the end of the semester. It’s scary and overwhelming and everyone seems to be one tiny inconvenience away from cracking and violently flipping their library cubicles in rejection of exams.
But don’t worry, you have 16 pages ahead of you to take a study break, a breather, and do some recreational reading. (There’s a colouring piece too, so you really feel like you’re taking a break). Last week was Pride Week on campus and half of this edition is pride themed – if you couldn’t already tell by the rainbows everywhere. Pride is an important time about acceptance and love and a lot of the time we forget that this includes self-acceptance and self-love. Most students battle with self-acceptance and that’s a normal part of finding yourself and your place in the world. In my exceptionally vast university experience (a whole three years) one thing I’ve learnt above all is that education isn’t about the facts we learn or the books we read. Education is about knowledge as a way of life – and that includes knowledge about ourselves and others. So taking some time to find yourself and your place in this scary world is okay, it’s part of your education. And thankfully, for the most part, we have this little bubble on campus which allows us to explore who we are and who we want to be.
So don’t worry if you feel that you don’t know you. Don’t worry if you can’t come out yet or if you don’t even know if you have anything to come out about. Don’t worry if you question yourself every day. Give yourself the fullest opportunity while you’re at university, to discover who you are and start the journey to self-acceptance and self-love.
Now that my sappy monologue is over, you might have noticed that this edition is a little different to our usual style. It’s a flip, dual themed issue which means double the content and a versatile paper that you can read from either side first. The first half is Pride themed because we had to acknowledge the incredibly successful Pride Week that #Up&Out hosted on Hatfield Campus. The other half of this edition, the back page flip, is Halloween themed. Spooky season is my favourite time of year – I love the fun of dressing up and the endless snacks that are inevitably around when it’s Halloween. Read about UP’s urban legends on page 13 – such as the infamous 5th floor of the Humanities Building – and let me know at editor@pdby.co.za if you have any spooky campus stories.
Unfortunately, this edition of PDBY is the last of 2019, but we will be back with our First Year’s Edition in the new year. Until then, good luck with exams, enjoy the December break and PDBY will see you in the roaring 20s.
Kayla is the Editor of PDBY for 2020 and 2021. She joined the copy team in 2017, and became head layout editor in 2018 before starting her term as Editor. Kayla is obsessed with PDBY and is considering moving into the office to live with Pssst... forever. You can reach her by email.
Editor of PDBY
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