Q: It may be a bit of a nostalgic prompt and probably seems a far-off memory but do you remember writing the story above?

 

A: That story has way too many adjectives in it, and I laugh at the fact that it marvels over a “fully computerised design” and that we were then amazed to be “shipping" copy “via email”…. how times have changed!

 

I remember writing that story vividly. I remember the room, the computer and even where I sat. It was in the journalism computer room which was on the bottom floor of what is now the drama department. You walk up those orange brick stairs outside, into the building, turn left, walk down the passage, before the stairs that go up to what is now the Business School, you turn right down a second passage, and then turn left into the computer room. I remember where I sat, in the second row facing the entrance. Maria McCloy, a fellow student and friend of mine, was sitting opposite me, also writing a story. I remember Darryl Accone dashing around with his long ponytail in a constant panic on the second floor. He was a great editor that year.

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Q: Recall it in any way?

 

A: I recall Guy Berger putting pressure on me to file the story and really fretting about it, trying to think of an angle and writing the intro over and over again. I think Guy was trying to mimic the fast-paced, deadline driven atmosphere of a news room. I remember being irritated by this a bit.

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Q: That was in 1995! Published in Journalism Quarterly. 

Do you remember who that Matthew was? How do you feel reading it now? 

 

A: I know who that Matthew was. I didn’t end up where I thought I would. In the end I didn’t become a journalist, but gravitated towards the internet, in the fields of digital marketing, entrepreneurship and media management.

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Rhodes was one of the great defining periods of my life, as it is for most students. I found the freedom to express myself there, which was a welcome change from a conformist school environment. I could now decide what I wanted to do in life, and that was both exciting and scary at the same time. I made some of my best friends, and met my wife at Rhodes.

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Q: Why have you kept your old student cards?

 

A: I keep them to remind me of Rhodes, and the good times I had there.