Students, listen to Howard Beale!

Howard Beale, irate news anchor from the 1976 film, Network, has a lesson or two for my fellow students.
Most of which can be summarised into his famous war cry:

"I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more!!!"

I was very lucky to join university when I did. Ours was the last year before the major fees hike. Now, all the students who follow are looking at £9,000 per year for minimum three years and a debt that will follow and likely outlast their eventual death.

But to add insult to injury, I have since discovered (if my information is correct) that at my particular university, not only is the fee increase applicable but students will also have a decrease in their annual bursary from £500 a year to £100. Bursaries are different from university to university. The government gives incentives to hand them out but it is not compulsory. Some universities have them, some don't. With ours, we are given this award but we can only spend it through the university's own shop. (The profit going back into the coffers). Not only that but any unspent money at the end of the degree, if students fail to fill out the complicated forms, go back into the university's system and what can be bought at the shop is very restrictive. Paper module readers are provided by the university at a cost but are not covered under the bursary so students have to dig into their living allowance to pay for them. Students doing film degrees have access to some amazing electronic equipment - computers, software, digital cameras etc so fair play for that but try asking for dvds that relate to coursework or dissertation and watch the barriers come up.

Yet, as I've said, even with the restrictiveness, I have been lucky......lucky?? Wait, am I wrong in thinking there was a time when education was free? When education, as I believe it should be, was not restricted by who could afford it, but who had the drive to achieve it?

Like Mr Beale, I am mad! I am mad for myself, someone who is being told by a government whose generation received a next to free education that I must spend years in debt for a privelege....a privelege that in their generation was a right...
but most of all I am mad for those coming after. For those that will be longer and deeper in debt than I but MOSTLY for those that will not be able to afford the "privilege" at all. If £9,000 a year is not enough to turn prospective students away, then the lack of support during the studies may well be. Not all students can rely on Mummy and Daddy handouts to get by.

It all leaves me with a very bitter taste in my mouth and the persistent and pervasive thought that this is some kind of governmental survival technique....for the well educated would surely not vote them back in...

So why then, students, young people in general, aren't you getting mad? Yes, there have been a couple of protests but on a daily basis, I see no evidence of such passion. There seems to me a severe excess of apathy with the whole thing.  I am sure it can't be because you have no feeling about your future. Perhaps you feel pessimistic about the future as a whole...or is it because you feel powerless? Well, if so, listen to this....where did the Hungarian revolution begin?? ...In the universities. Where did the very concept of Green politics begin? In the universities. Student protest played a major part in the African-American civil rights movement, opposition to the Vietnam War and the struggle against Apartheid in South Africa. The overthrowing of the Greek dictatorship in the 70s has a rather bloody and sad history but again, its beginnings lie in the educational institutions.

I am by no means suggesting a coup against the Tory government... or am I? (probably not. Lol) but merely trying to show you that students are far from powerless within the political arena.

An increase in fees may seem a small thing when put up against issues such as human rights, needless war or the environment but small things often become big things (said the actress tothe bishop)and you do not have to accept that this is how things are. You do not have to accept that you haven't the ability to change it. You are the only ones who CAN change it. You are the only ones who can tell the government that it is unacceptable that they choose whether or not you get an education.

The government is there to work for you, not the other way around....so get a little bit mad, let them know that your voice deserves to be heard.

Tell them, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more!"

Becoming a SuperVegan

I had been vegetarian for a while but I was the kind of vegetarian who would, on occassion, slip and eat Burger King. After an episode of a quirky comedy show I even found a name to excuse it. I was simply "stress eating meat". Oh, ok then, then that's ok.
After this birthday I started to get a bit more serious and lay off of the meats but dairy, I told myself, I can't live without cheese or worse yet, ICE CREAM! That's just ridiculous. Besides, I'm just a vegetarian for health reasons not ethical ones.
Then, thanks to a twitter post by Kerry whose story I'd read through the website Vegan Testimonial I discovered an internet radio show called Citizen Radio. I think I was at the point where I was ready and open to what they had to say. Probably because I knew, in my heart of hearts, that all the reasons for not giving up on ice cream or having a sneaky burger every now and then before were not reasons at all but excuses.
So, now I am a fully-fledged vegan. I don't eat cheese and I don't eat ice cream (because I know what's in them and can't guarantee how the animals are treated) and I CERTAINLY don't have a sneaky meat burger every now and then.
It's only been about a week so I haven't really had enough time to say I miss dairy but I'm discovering alternatives. I tried soy ice cream the other day and bought some vegan cheese for grilled cheese too. I have to confess that neither product hit the spot. Neither tasted like the REAL thing but it's a decision about what's important to me. For me, the fact that I can't guarantee those cows have had/ are having a good life gives me the motivation not to eat it and whilst I might not find a substitute that tastes EXACTLY like Ben and Jerrys, I have faith that I will find new tastes that will be different but just as good. (Have I mentioned my addiction to Kale?)
I think another person I have to mention in this post as motivation for my transition to veganism is an ex-housemate of mine. I'm not sure if she'd want to be named so I will leave it vague like this but she will know who I'm talking about if she were to ever read this.
We lived in a share house together about five years ago and although it's taken me until now to actually go vegan I think her example was definitely part of the process. Mainly, I think, because up until then, I thought all vegans were shouty and preachy and would try and tell me I was evil....to be honest, I've never met a vegan like that but I think, much like a tee-totaller who goes out to the pub with his mates..because they are abstaining from something for ethical reasons, we take it as a judgement on ourselves and the hackles go up.
Anyway, but because my housemate was never judgemental (she couldn't be with an omnivorous bordering on carnivorous boyfriend) and was very unassuming in her vegan-ness I was less defensive about it and I became a lot more curious about her eating habits. I think, her example, and that of my vegetarian aunt, gave me the impetus to even just go vegetarian.
All kinds of horror stories and stereotypes get put about about vegetarians and vegans. The one about them being pasty and without energy immediately springs to mind, let alone all the supposed nutrient deficiencies, which for the most part, all you have to do is a little bit of reading to realise are untrue.
 I don't want to be a preachy vegan but at the same time, I think it's very important to negate the fallacies that get put about. All I know, is that, as I've said before, the less animal product I eat, the healthier I feel. I am two dress sizes lighter since going veg, even if it wasn't the strictest....and when I'm eating mainly fruit and veg, contrary to popular belief about vegans and vegetarians, I have SOOOOOOOOOO much energy that often times, I'm not sure what to do with it. I have to be careful not to have smoothies too close to bed time or I'm bouncing off the walls!
I will be interested to see what the health difference between vegan and veg are as time goes on and I will keep you posted.
In the meantime, comment below and leave me all your favourite myths about veganism/vegetarianism and in a later post I can address them and allay any fears about my supposed imminent bad health! lol