Currency Knowledge for divas in College

By: Charlotte Makala

This article is dedicated to college girls who’ll need that extra buck or two at the end of the month. It’s important that girl out there makes the most of their higher education, but not at the expense of their finances. Here are some tips for the college freshmen on saving. (16 tips in total)

• If your college or university is close to home, it would help save money if you lived at home, however living in a dorm or with roommates off campus is a very remarkable experience that offers further independence.

• Sometimes university course materials such as books may be too expensive to buy from your lectures, try purchasing books online or borrow the required book(s) and photocopy the material needed. If you go through your course advisory form, you will find a list of chapters that you will go through during the semester. It would be an economical decision to only photocopy the chapters required. Also the price of buying the book and photocopying it would save you a few bucks. (Photocopied materials should be for personal use only. Photocopying materials for the intended use other than for personal use is illegal)

• Some of the course materials may be found in local bookstores where student discounts are available.

• Not only are student discounts available in bookstores, but also in clothes outlets, boutiques, restaurants and salons. Be prepared to ask.

• Most girls love to look their best before leaving the house. Instead of buying mounds of clothes, buy a few accessories instead. Accessories such as: belts, earrings, scarves and bangles, offer the same sort of zesty diversity that new outfits can offer and the plus side is that these items are easier and lighter to pack!

• Having old clothes, may not be entirely bad, if you have got time to pass. Customizing old clothes by beading, bleaching, cutting or sewing them may not be such a bad idea.

• A woman’s appearance is part of her charm and of course we’d all like to keep up our appearances, but of course not at the price of our piggy banks. Why not save yourselves the trip to your beautician and have one of your girlfriends give you a facial/ do your eyebrows/ do your nails, this could be a real bonding experience that could grow on you and your bank account. Another alternative would be to learn how to accomplish these tasks yourself.
• Toiletries are another essential in the world of womanhood, try buying: pads/ tampons, lotions and creams in bulk. This might save you the mild embarrassment of taking a trip to your local seven- eleven at an awkward hour of the day.

• Organize meetings with your girlfriends who are around the same size as you to swap and switch old clothes, one woman’s trash is another woman’s outfit for the night. (You will be amazed at what some people would throw away!) The remaining clothes may be donated to a local charity.

• Having fun can be a priority for most university girls. For many of you who enjoy a good night out at a pub, there are many pubs that offer ‘ladies nights’, where drinks are free until a certain hour.

• Creating a budget and sticking to it may not be as simple as it sounds. If possible try to open two bank accounts, one for spending and the other for necessities, such as bills and rent.

• Chose bargaining at a local flea market or china town as an alternative to shopping at your regular mall. This will add variety to your routine.

• Coupons are available in magazines and newspapers, if you are familiar with any of the brands, cut out the coupon and save it.

• Chose taking public transport other than taxi’s once in a while.

• Share cab fare or carpool.

• Eating out can be one of those silent murderous expenses that go unnoticed, why not eat in once in a while or take turns cooking in between you and your other gal pals and get in touch with your feminine side!

P G :Parental Guidance

By: Charlotte Makala

Play make-up, sexy Barbie dolls, and sexy women on video games and on TV. Whether we appreciate the fact or not products are being made that are sexualizing our children perhaps much earlier than what is good for them. It’s called corporate pedophilia, where a child, particularly girls are targeted by businesses to purchase ‘sexy’ products.

In 2006 a peekaboo pole-dancing kit for young girls was removed from toy stands sold in Tesco in Britain. The fact that the ‘toy’ was even authorized or put on stands to be sold to young girls is shocking to me, worrying really.

I am not a parent but I hope to be someday, but I fear that I will have to fight those ‘big bad corporations’ to stay away and keep their products at bay. We are society that is highly sexualized and in many ways desensitized, products are sold to us through sex and its apparent. Children are exposed to billboards with ‘sexy’ women on them practically naked selling a brand that has nothing to do with sex or being naked.

Is our obsession with sex really worth it? Should it be imposed on our children? Or perhaps am I taking my concern too far? It is good for children to be exposed to sexuality, isn’t it?

Well I feel that it’s parents who make the call on this one. Will it really affect your child to buy her that padded bra or that nail polish set she wanted for her upcoming seventh birthday?

The fact that many children now have the word ‘sexy’ in their vocabulary says a lot about where we are at in terms of sexualizing our children. Does corporate pedophilia have the upper hand?

Many corporations aim is to seek profit and for many if it affects the child of the future in a harmful but hard-to-prove way, that’s too bad. Hyper sexualized children face the possibility of finding themselves facing the social pressures to demonstrate sexualized conduct and may result in children become sexually active at a younger age without truly having the tools of maturity to understand and cope with the mechanisms of sex and the responsibility that comes with it.

The corporate world plays on our desires and sometimes chooses to extend its targets towards those with the most disposable income, which does happen to be children, since they have the freest time and have pocket money to spend on luxuries without worrying about necessities to pay for, which their parents do. So your twelve year old daughter does have the freedom to buy that lace thong targeted toward her.

However, she also deserves the freedom to have a childhood, and some things, such as childhood it seems needs such preservation. It’s up to the parent’s and the adults in charge of the children to be responsible today for our children of tomorrow.

Perhaps children’s toys should be labeled and approved by a board of parents. Of course parent’s can’t control every aspect of their children’s lives but saying no and being responsible over what is exposed in the home can make a difference for the generation of tomorrow.

THE REALITY BEHIND REALITY TELEVISION

By: Charlotte Makala

Working in the field of entertainment I happen to know that most of reality television is not reality at all. Some ‘reality’ television shows are rumored to be scripted such as, The Hills, however all reality TV shows are edited. Through the process of editing, bits and pieces of filmed reality are selected to form an altered reality. Scientists also believe in a quantum theory, whereby observation alone influences reality. So there is scientific evidence that supports the fact that peoples’ actions are altered due to the presence of a camera, thus further extracting from the sense of ‘reality’.

Many reality programs do document real life events, but is all reality cheap entertainment that verifies viewers as not having a life of their own? What do viewers gain? Many reality programs revolve around the lives of the rich and famous, which many of us are not and other times on dating shows, such as The Bachelor or The Bachelorette.

It is pleasing to see audiences take interest in others’ lives but I question whether we, the viewers, have taken it too far. In this article I aim to investigate what viewers can gain from reality TV experiences.

Many reality shows can be educational and motivational, such as; MTV’s Made and Discovery Channel’s Survivor man, yet other shows can be boring and predictable. Shows like The Human Race can bring much excitement and entertainment to the screen. And for those viewers interested in the field of fashion; America’s Next Top Model can be both entertaining and educational. Real Housewives of Atlanta, My Sweet Sixteen and Newly Weds might offer insights to the lives of the rich and famous moreover provide an opportunity to realize the similarities that exist between viewers and Reality Television stars. Simultaneously, such shows offer a false sense of reality because most of the viewers watching have very different lifestyles.

Another evident disadvantage reality television possesses is that of questionable moral values that can be observed on MTV’s Teila Tequila and MTV’s Jackass.

There are many types of reality shows that offer different types of entertainment. As an artist working in the realm of media and entertainment, I can say that reality TV has brought about a new niche of film and art, but as a viewer I find myself questioning, at the end of each reality show, ‘What have I learned in the last half an hour that will improve the standard of my life?’ Most times, the answer is ‘nothing’ other times the feelings experienced during the show are well worth the usual reply.

I just hope I learn how to evaluate the cost and worth of my time efficiently because the reality in reality TV is different than the one that is my own, that I know for sure, because my reality is now. Thus I question, ‘Is my reality worth watching others’ ‘realities’ or worth creating my own?’