Blogs / Josh Pemberton

The end of 2009

2009-11-20T00:07:00.000+13:00

The university year has finally come to an end; with exams concluding on Saturday. As per usual my blogging activity has been inversely proportional to the number of exams I have had to study for, hence my online silence in the couple of months. I write this, my last Selwyn blog, from Wellington. I left Selwyn almost a week ago and imagine that by now it will be completely deserted - save for a few staff members, a large quantity of luggage in storage for next year, and perhaps the odd left over gnome.

To be completely honest I have no idea how many people read this blog – for all I know I could be writing to myself – nor who my average reader is. If anyone on this page is in their last year of school and perusing the Selwyn website to try to get an idea of what next year has in store – good luck for 2010. I could wax lyrical about what next year has in store and throw in some Hollywood-worthy clichés about friendship, new experiences and so on, but to do so would be to suggest that the Selwyn experience is reducible to words. And quite frankly, it isn’t.

Invariably, some of those who leave Selwyn find it hard to move on and come to terms with the fact that they are no longer residents of the College. However that doesn’t mean that one’s involvement in the Selwyn community ends as soon as one leaves the warm corridors of Whitehead and Sargood and moves into a cold, slightly damp and inevitably overpriced flat elsewhere in North Dunedin. The idea of being a “Selwynite for Life” continues to find relevance amongst those who no longer live at 560 Castle St. Those of us leaving Selwyn this year will spend time in 2010 coaching Selwyn’s sports and cultural teams, teaching the haka and waiata, visiting friends who returned for a second year, or in my case, earning the minimum wage by serving food in the dining hall. I recently visited my brother’s Wellington flat where Selwynites from 2001 and 2002 were still interested in how events against Knox had gone, whether the secret societies they had started in Selwyn still exist, whether Maureen was still cleaning rooms in Whitehead, and so on.

Quite frankly I’m looking forward to a holiday and soaking up some sun and Nelson, but by late February I know it’ll be time to head back down south to Dunedin. I look forward to seeing how the College evolves over the coming years from a distance rather than from inside it. I look forward to visiting these pages in the years to come - hopefully the blog scholars of 2010 will provide us with some online insight into the mood and goings-on within Selwyn, as James, Teriana and myself have sought to do this year.

Plenty still happening as 2009 winds down.

2009-10-23T05:12:00.000+13:00

As Tom Kuperus has mentioned in his most recent blog, it is indeed exams (again!). Accordingly the focus of most Selwynites has shifted away from finishing assignments and spending late nights at the Captain Cook Tavern, towards getting up early and hitting the books at the library.

That isn't to say there hasn't been the odd extra-curricular activity going on. Last Wednesday was the annual High Tea, where the entire College plus a number of distinguished guests were treated to a delicious three course meal and some entertaining speeches in the dining room. Dunedin Mayor Peter Chin was in attendance, speaking (and singing) to us about his experiences at university. In addition there were speeches by the incoming and outgoing student presidents, and a tribute by Dr Clark to the Selwyn Welfare Team. The formal part of the evening was followed by live music in our common room, and a fairly late night for most.

A number of members of the Selwyn community have also been involved in helping organise and promote the Dunedin 350 Spring Food Festival. The Festival is an extravaganza being held alongside the traditional Dunedin Farmer's Market this Saturday, and serves as a show of support by the 350.org movement to call world leaders into action regarding climate change, as well as an opportunity for locals to enjoy live music, participate in free workshops and sample local food. Any Dunedinites are more than welcome to come along - and those reading from other parts of the country can find their local event here.

Another Good Sport

2009-10-06T02:43:00.000+13:00

In a recent blog Dr Clark paid credit to two Selwyn residents, Jessica Jonggowisastro and Rick Parry, for their recent success in their respective sporting fields. I believe a third name should be added to that list - Callum Bailey. Callum recently competed in the men's National Hockey League for Southern, helping his team to a creditable sixth placing and scoring several important goals along the way. Earlier in the year Callum was selected for the Junior Black Sticks and took part in the recent world cup, helping the kiwi team to a fourth placed finish. At the lower end of the hockey spectrum, Callum also captained Selwyn against Knox last Thursday - however even with his experience and skill we went down 4-2, one of the very few sports fixtures we've lost this year. Callum also captained the Selwyn cricket team to a convincing win in first semester. Certainly a name to watch in the future!

A timely reminder from the pear tree

2009-10-01T01:27:00.000+13:00

The Whitehead building in Selwyn may be old, but the oldest part of the college is actually a pear tree. The tree is located in the quadrangle, adjacent to the tennis court, although of course it was there before either the quad or the court existed. One of the long-standing legends in Selwnyn is that by the time the pear tree blossoms, you must have already started studying for end of year exams... or else you'll fail. As I write this the tree has well and truly blossomed, and indeed most of the blossom replaced by new spring leaves. However myself, and I'd guess most people in Selwyn, most definitely have not started exam prep. Every time I look out my window I'm confronted with the sight of the tree, a continual reminder that I probably need to start doing some work. In addition, my exam timetable arrived a few days ago - and my first one is in 22 days. So I think now might be the time to pay heed to the legend of the pear tree, and get into the books.

Victory in Football

2009-09-27T08:32:00.000+13:00

I've represented Selwyn in a few sporting and cultural events over the last two years. However as the end of my second year has approached I was conscious that the boys football was going to be the last competition where I pulled on the well worn Selwyn shirt and competed against the heathen Knoxie. We had a pretty strong side this year with nearly all the players in the squad having represented their school's 1st XI, and a competent coaching unit in Mitch Parr (Selwyn 2007) and former SCSA President Tom Kuperus (Selwyn 2007-8). We also felt that our training had been pretty sufficient. It was particularly heartening to see Knox having their initial trials for their team at Logan Park, when we already had over a month of training under our belt.

Our side was led by George Milne, who has had an outstanding season playing for South Island club champions Dunedin Technical. We knew that we had to come out firing as a slow start had cost us the match against College House earlier in the semester, and we did just that, with a chance on goal within the first thirty seconds.

It is no exaggeration to say that we dominated the entire match, eventually destroying the opposition 7-0. Vice-captain Evan Jones bagged four goals, and both Andy Barrowclough and George Dooley were also on target. This was despite our goalkeeper Cam Burns being concussed fifteen minutes in, and some parochial support from the Knoxy fans. It's never a bad thing to get a bit of stick from the crowd, and in a way it helps lift your game. I found it pretty funny that some of the insults thrown my way were to do with this blog - one Knoxie informed me from the sideline that they didn't think much of my writing. Personally I'm just flattered to learn that this person has been on the Selwyn website, reading what I have to say!

The girls team also had a good win, 4-0. So needless to say it was a great day and the post match 'Court Session' was pretty enjoyable - I couldn't think of a better last event to represent the college in.

On another note, elections for the Selwyn College Students Association Committee 2010 have just concluded after a lengthy eight hours of speeches and voting. Head over to James Wright's blog to check out the results.

21ster's and Quad Day

2009-09-24T07:01:00.000+12:00

In the weekend just gone, one of the highlights of the Selwyn calendar took place - the annual 21ster's Ball. In years gone by, residents would stay at Selwyn for several years (my great-uncle, George Rolleston, stayed for six!) and 21ster's was a formal ball held to honour those turning twenty-one. In more recent years the norm has been to stay at Selwyn for only one or two years, so obviously not as many people reach this age while still at the College. However the title remains, and the ball (one of two we have each year at Selwyn) is by far the most formal and in my opinion, the best night of the year.

This year the ball was held at Larnach Castle, a stunning venue which was kept a secret until we had all boarded the buses to take us there. Full credit must go to Georgie Kevany and the rest of the SCSA Committee for organising the event which was an unqualified success. We enjoyed a classy meal, speeches from the Warden and SCSA President, presentations to the two 21sters (of which I was one) and live music from a Christchurch-based band. Once the ball ended the night had only just begun, with a $600 bar tab awaiting Selwynites at 10Bar in the Octagon.

The next morning we awoke to beautiful weather and a gourmet champagne breakfast, care of the Selwyn catering staff. We were allowed to drink in the College's quadrangle and most residents spent the day lying in the grass or on couches, recounting the night's events and generally chilling out, still dressed in the previous night's finery. A portable swimming pool appeared from somewhere and was immediately put to good use.

It was a very quiet College by about nine o'clock - there was a collective sense of exhaustion and everyone was pretty much ready to get into bed by that point, if they hadn't already. 'Quad Day' as it is known was a great end to a succesful weekend, and my only regret is that I won't still be in the College to experience it in 2010. Fingers crossed for a fine day for Selwynites again next year!

On a side note; elections for the 2010 SCSA Committee are taking place on Saturday. Campaigning has begun, and James Wright will have his take of things on his blog later on tonight at http://selwyn.ac.nz/blog/james

Undie 500 visits Dunedin

2009-09-14T21:43:00.000+12:00

No doubt any reader of this post will be familiar with a whole lot of negative publicity regarding the disorderly student behaviour in the weekend associated with the Undie 500. The Undie is an annual car rally organised by Canterbury University's ENSOC, where cars are traditionally purchased for less than $500, decorated, and driven down to Dunedin by students (via a lengthy pub crawl) for a weekend of partying and catching up with mates.

The first time I heard of the trouble associated with the Undie was in 2007. I was travelling in Europe and came across news of arrests, bottle throwing and student riots on an international news website. I remember being slightly confused at the time as I thought that the students were protesting something (in the mould of Springbok tour or Vietnam protests) and couldn't work out what that something was. However it turns out there is nothing actually being protested, which leads to the question - why is there rioting which requires the police to forcibly intervene?

On Friday night I wandered down Castle St at about midnight to check out what was going on. There were several hundred students gathered there drinking, and although no trouble was being caused, there were also a large number of police present. There also seemed to be a tangible expectation that things would eventually end up the way they have in the past couple of years, with arrests and student versus police conflict. In my view this expectation of trouble on both sides is self-fulfilling, and as such is a large part of the problem. Students were there because police were there, and police were there because students were there. Press coverage of the events is invariable negative, portrays the situation as militant and therefore contributes to the same events occuring over and over. In an article on stuff.co.nz, student crowds are referred to as 'mobs', the area of flats in North Dunedin as a 'student stronghold', and there is a suggestion from the mayor Peter Chin that Canterbury students 'trash their own city instead'. With these expectations in place, as soon as crowd numbers become to large it is hard for the police to continue to stand aside, especially when students bait them by lighting couches on fire in the street and throwing the odd bottle. It's worth pointing out I have only ever seen a burning couch in Dunedin on Undie weekend, which I think shows that it is also a case of fulfillment of a pre-conceived expectation of what the night should entail, rather than normal student behaviour.

When the crowd began to chant "scarfies on the piss" on Friday night I went home in disgust, and would like to reassure readers that people involved in such antics aren't an accurate representation of the wider student population. The riot police later stepped in (I could hear their megaphones as I lay in bed) and from that point, with liberal use of batons and pepper spray on anyone who doesn't get off the street and inside a flat fast enough - the police are suddenly perceived as opponents and are resented even more.

So as soon as force is used the game is up and the whole event descends into chaos. The challenge for ENSOC, our own OUSA, police officers and local authorities has been to prevent things from getting to that stage. Suggestions of a concert to give students something to do were nearly made a reality but, if Canterbury students and OUSA President Ed Darlow are to be believed, fell through due to Chin's insistence on putting his head in the sand and refusing to find a solution.

At the end of the day, the mayor can say he wants Undie 500 banned all he likes, but nothing in the law can prevent motorists travelling from Christchurch to Dunedin. It is up to all parties involved to address the underlying issues and, in my view, to remove the self-fulfilling expectation that there will be trouble. Otago University has an excellent academic reputation, particularly as a research institution, and it is time that events such as those over the weekend stopped bringing this into jeopardy.

Selwyn According to Wikipedia

2009-09-08T08:54:00.000+12:00

I've just been looking at the Wikipedia entry on our College, and according to it the most famous Selwyn ex-residents are:

Lord Porrit, David Kirk, Bill English, Josh Blackie, Simon Moore and Sir Geoffrey Cox.

The great thing about blogging is that it's interactive, so if there are any suggestions as to notable alumni to add to this list (and indeed to Wikipedia) then feel free to comment!

Rugby Victory

2009-08-29T22:56:00.000+12:00

As Dr Clark said in his last blog, the Cameron Shield (sporting competition against Knox) is ours for the year. Despite this, the remaining sporting fixtures against the old foe have not been rendered dead rubbers. In particular, the rugby match between the two colleges has massive significance of it's own. Last year we won Cam but with Knox prevailing in the rugby, which is undeniably the single biggest contest of the year, they still retained some bragging rights over us.

So it was a massive relief on Thursday when our team, after several months of training, claimed a hard-fought victory. We went up 5-0 early in the match after Willy Sams broke the line and put Cam Burns through, and despite shading Knox for most of the match we struggled to put any more points on the board. When Knox scored and converted to go up 7-5 most of us thought the match was over - especially when Willy kicked a dropped goal which the referee disallowed on the basis he hadn't seen it. This was despite the protests of Dr Clark, who had a front on view and was adamant it had gone over.

Eventually we put enought pressure on Knox to work our way up to their line, and eventually Cam snuck over to score the winner. The crowd of Selwyn residents, and a massive number of exies, was almost delirious. It was an awesome victory and much of the credit must go to the coaches, Willie Allan (captain) and Tom English (vice captain). Whichever way the cultural competition ends up going, this match ensured that no Knoxie can taunt me about anything to do with sport for the rest of my time at the College.

College House Sports Exchange

2009-08-17T08:47:00.000+12:00

This weekend we were visited by a large number of students from College House, a hall of residence at Canterbury University in Christchurch. Like Selwyn, CH is a traditional hall with a long history, and the rivalry and friendship between the two colleges goes back many years. On Saturday we competed for the "Warden's Cup", a prize for the overall winner of contests in soccer, rugby, netball, squash, tennis and basketball. I won't go into detail with the results as CH came out on top overall. Yet it was a fun day and I enjoyed the chance to play in the boy's soccer. Most students including myself fall out of playing organised sport when they go to uni, and having the chance to be coached for a few weeks by ex-Selwnyites and play for the College was pretty awesome.

In addition to the sports events there was also performances of the haka and waiata of both colleges, and a 'hop' or party at the Captain Cook Tavern on Saturday night. As far as I recall a great time was had by all. There is a real link between the halls - most Selwynites have school friends in CH, and in my case there is a strong family connection - three of my cousins have lived at CH in the last ten years, and my dad went there in the 1960s. Our billets left us this morning for a long bus trip home to Christchurch, after a great weekend. In my opinion the sports games were a great excuse for a full-on but fun weekend, which served to further strengthen the bond and friendship between New Zealand's two finest halls of residence.

Beer Pong

2009-08-09T23:39:00.000+12:00

I'm currently sitting in the main library at university, battling with a philosophy essay which is due in tomorrow. And unfortunately I won't be able to finish it today, because in half an hour the Third Annual OUBPS (Otago University Beer Pong Society) Championships begin. It's an open tournament but about two thirds of contestants will be Selwynites or ex-Selwynites. For the ignorant, the tournament will see 22 teams of two throw thousands of table tennis balls, consume plenty of beer, and offer a whole lot of good banter whilst fighting to get through pool play and hopefully into the complex top-eight play off system, over the next 10 or 11 hours. The bad news for me is that I'm already feeling pretty under the weather after a big night last night and about four hours sleep. A beer pong tournament on the back of a big night in town is like playing a game of football right after an intense three hour training session. However Dunedin has turned on some stunning weather, and with the entire tourny hosted at a Castle St flat it promises to be a great day.

Link to Ballet Performance

2009-08-04T05:27:00.000+12:00

A few weeks back I mentioned that I'd try to put up a link to a clip of this year's ballet at the rugby at Carisbrook. Tracking down a good quality clip is taking some time, but in the meantime here's a link to one of our performances at the Capping Show this year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGZyuvOOUMo

Semester Two gets underway

2009-07-28T03:02:00.000+12:00

My first blog in quite some time - and rather than blaming laziness, I feel I can attribute my online silence to the full on nature of the last couple of weeks. Re-OWeek, the first week of second semester, was full of events within the hall - as documented in James' writing in his blog. In addition to this, I spent the weekend just gone in Wanaka, snowboarding with ex-Selwyn residents. In my opinion the proximity of Dunedin to the South Island's major skiing area is one of it's best features - with Wanaka only three hours away it's pretty easy to find a few mates who are keen, jump in the car and head over for the weekend. I recommend sorting out accomodation first though, tenting in a paddock and waking up to a heavy frost isn't that good a way to get a proper night's sleep.
However all these goings-on come with a tradeoff - that being that two weeks into semester I'm already behind in all my subjects. And with that in mind, it's probably time to stop writing this, head off to the library and get some work done.

A toast to exams and ballet.

2009-06-18T09:50:00.000+12:00

In the middle of exam period there hasn’t been much of excitement to report from within the corridors of Selwyn - other than the snowfall yesterday, which Jimmy Wright has already mentioned in his blog. Other than this my personal highlight has been the introduction of exam suppers, with toast available nightly in the common room kitchen. This may not sound like much but is often just what one needs after a long day spent hunched over a desk at the library. In addition I have a suspicion that toast is healthier than the 60c Mi Goreng instant noodles which I, along with a large proportion of Selwynites, have developed an unhealthy addiction for recently.

The ballet at the rugby, which I mentioned in my last blog, went really well. The French players looked pretty bemused when all us made-up, tutu-clad boys ran out and began to perform during their warm up. Unfortunately it didn’t distract them from the task at hand: Carisbrook witnessed a second successive test loss as the visitors prevailed 27-22. However in my opinion this result was insignificant compared to the success of the ballet. By next week I’ll have uploaded a video of the performance onto YouTube and will put the link up here for any interested readers to follow.

Tutus? Yes. Girls? No.

2009-06-11T01:07:00.000+12:00

The only thing I’m looking forward to in exam period (other than finishing) is my final performance as part of the Selwyn Ballet. On Saturday June 13th the 40-odd ballerinas - all fresher boys, plus two second years in the form of myself and Willy Sams as the leads - will perform at Carisbrook as pre-match entertainment for the All Blacks v France test. The 2009 ballet has performed 11 times so far - ten times in front of 400 people at the university capping show, and most recently in front of 4000 at a netball match in Invercargill. However the rugby performance represents a step up; our pirouettes and leaps will now be on show for 28,000 rugby fans, and potentially a global television audience. Last year we performed on the field as the All Blacks and Springboks warmed up all around us. There’s one classic photo in particular of us going through our routine, with Dan Carter practising his punts in the bottom corner. And from our dressing room in the stadium last time around we could watch the captains perform the coin toss metres away, just before kick off. So it promises to be an exciting night, especially if the ABs can get a win - something they didn’t manage last year.

However the ballet is primarily choreographed and put together for the capping show, and in this sense it has special meaning for me this year. Exactly 70 years ago, my great-uncle George Rolleston (Selwyn 1935-1939) was in charge of organising Selwyn’s contribution to the capping show, a task which I’ve been able to assist Willy with this year. While the 81-year old ballet may be similar in some sense to how it was back then, I think a lot of other things in Selwyn have clearly changed a fair bit. In his memoirs George praised the Warden at the time, Archdeacon L.G. Whitehead, for being liberal enough to allow wines and ales in the college, and even letting the male residents of the college entertain girlfriends for afternoon tea on Sundays. With the college now co-ed it’s fair to say that Dr Clark evidently doesn’t have the same sort of control over interactions between members of the opposite sex (or wine and ale consumption for that matter) and quite frankly I think that’s for the best. The girls might still not be allowed in the ballet - after all, they’d show us boys up - but I can’t quite imagine what Selwyn would be like without any females at all.

The business end of Semester One

2009-06-02T04:48:00.000+12:00

It’s hard to believe that it’s that time of semester already, with exams starting in just over a week for most Selwynites. It’s even harder to believe that the onset of exams means that we’re almost half way through the year. Personally I’m looking forward to second semester: the latter half of the year will throw up re-O Week and all the awesome Selwyn events that come with it; the Selwyn ski weekend, 21sters Ball, a sporting exchange where we will host Canterbury University’s College House, and the majority of our sporting and cultural events with Knox in the Cameron Shield and Neville Cup respectively.

Dunedin has done it’s best to encourage students to stay indoors and work by offering up an abysmal mix of hail and rain in the last few days. Yet today is clear, the sky is blue and therefore it’s harder than ever to get into the books. Everyone battles for motivation at times and finds things to distract them from their study. In my case it’s actually been browsing the net and writing this blog as I sit in the third floor of the science library, blatantly procrastinating. And with that realisation I guess it’s probably time to get back to the books.

Oh and a reminder that if you enjoy my writing so much that you don't ever want to miss a post, click "Subscribe to Blog" on the top-right of this page, to be emailed a reminder whenever I publish a new blog entry.

The Sweetest Victory yet

2009-05-28T05:20:00.000+12:00

Last weekend saw the introduction of a new event to the calendar of Otago halls of residence, with an inter-hall rowing regatta being staged in the harbour. Given that Selwyn’s major sporting competition is traditionally with Knox College, an event like this with all halls invited is somewhat unique. Nine halls signed up for enter the competition, which was to be staged in ‘eights’ with each hall fielding a minimum of two novice rowers. The Selwyn squad, coached by the wily Matt McGovern and managed by Em Haigh, spent four weeks sacrificing their beauty sleep to spend cold dark Dunedin mornings training on ergs and out on the freezing water, "eating pain" as they put it, with victory in mind. My commitment wasn’t as good as some. Myself and my neighbour Evan Jones were appointed "assistant managers" but made it to only two trainings, which we spent in an almost hypothermic and somewhat hungover state in the coach boat.

At the regatta itself there was a large Selwyn turnout, indicative of our hall spirit and sense of community - especially given that the other teams had literally no-one come along to watch them. We offered plenty of banter to the other halls via megaphone, and it’s fair to say we were pretty confident. Hence our absolute shock when we were knocked out in the heats by a matter of metres, by none other than the hall I’d least wanted to lose to - Knox. The result was all the more inexplicable given Knox’s pre-race talk about how they hadn’t done a single training - this would have meant that their two novices had ever rowed a boat, and they’d still somehow beaten us. Yet about an hour after our heat it emerged that the old foe had actually deliberately misled the referees, flouted the rules and abused all notions of sportsmanship and honesty by fielding an eight who all had rowing experience - not one novice rower. There were no objections to Knox’s disqualification and our subsequent promotion to the final, where we convincingly beat Carrington and Cumberland to be crowned champions. In my opinion this is one of the most epic stories to have some out of the dozens of years of rivalry between the halls. I’d hate to sound vindictive, but the lesson I took from the day was that if there’s anything better in sport than doing the hard yards and getting the best possible result, it’s seeing your biggest rivals using underhand tactics and failing to get away with it.

The Lighter Side of Selwyn Tradition

2009-05-18T23:45:00.000+12:00

The special character of Selwyn largely comes from long standing traditions such as the ballet, haka and waiata and our O-Week rituals. However the hall wouldn’t be what it is without a few crazy rites in among the more serous customs. With the conclusion of April, the boys of the college were finally allowed to shave after a mandatory "Amish April" in which we grew out our facial hair, or lack thereof. Bad genetic inheritance meant that I was relegated to the latter category, resulting in a month of good natured banter which gave me even more incentive to commit to the event which followed straight after: "Mullet May". At midnight on Friday May 1st, about 40 Selwynites met in the common room, armed with shavers, kitchen scissors and bleach and a complete abandonment of dignity and vanity. By the time we left, a good number of the boys had been rendered unrecognisable with freshly shorn, styled and dyed locks. Although Amish April and Mullet May might seem trivial, I believe they are indicative of the nature of students in the hall. With the pressure of tests and assignments an ongoing fact of university life, it’s surely a positive that Selwynites can still enjoy a bit of light relief, even if it does consist of significantly worsening their physical appearance and chances with the opposite sex.