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    Rocking the Tron
    Debrin Foxcroft

    There’s a legend in the Hamilton music scene.
    It starts with a musician playing a song about smelling underwear. It ends with him playing a song about smelling underwear. But in the middle there is a brawl, a gushing wound and the expulsion of some members of the audience.
    It was just another night at the Wailing Bongo. But it’s the stuff of legend in the Hamilton music scene.

    An Education
    Art Robinson and Debrin Foxcroft. But mostly by Debrin.

    Student: a person formally engaged in learning, esp. one enrolled in a school or college; any person who studies, investigates, or examines thoughtfully.
    If you are reading this, the likelihood is that you are a student.
    Or you were a student.
    Because the one thing that unites is all on this campus is the activity of learning. And many of us can remember that first class, the first time we sat in a lecture theatre, a little nervous but excited. Not really sure what to expect. Not really sure about the person sitting next to us.

    I ♥ New Zealand
    Debrin Foxcroft

    Special note: The author of this article is not from New Zealand. But after living here for….well….a long time, and almost entirely losing her South African accent she calls this land home, kind of.

    Here are a couple of loaded questions for you: what makes New Zealand unique? Why do we love this country? And, for goodness sake, who invented the pavlova?

    New Zealand History
    Art

    New Zealand history is often thought of as the most boring subject at high school. We have never been invaded by Nazis, had communist guerrillas in the streets or sent men to space. In comparison to other nation’s history books, ours can seem a little bit bare.
    As usual, however, and as Grant Burns has shown through his “Secret History” articles, the best history is always the bit we don’t hear about in the classroom or from the text book. The best history is those facts and figures which don’t always make it from the past to the page.

    A digital connection
    Life online
    Debrin Foxcroft

    You can try to avoid it. You can say no to every Facebook request, every Farmville invite and to your nieces MySpace page. You can resist the temptation of Amazon and turn your back on TradeMe. You can piously stand there on your soapbox as a doom merchant, predicting the end of the world, as we know it, because the Internet has taken over.
    And you can scream that you will have no part in it.

    The best study advice I can give you
    Debrin Foxcroft

    Seven years. That’s how long I have been a student. By the time I am finally crowned Dr. Debrin, I will have spent a decade in one academic institution or another. Ten long years.
    So I can tell you a little bit about how to keep sane at the end of each semester. I couldn’t show you because I have never managed to keep sane myself. But I could certainly tell you all the best study techniques. I have heard about them from others.

    The End is Nigh
    Re-Cap
    Debrin Foxcroft

    It’s been 92 days.
    A very long 92 days for some.
    But it’s almost at an end. The first semester of 2010 is almost over.
    It’s been 92 days and this equals 12 editions of the Nexus magazine.
    Over the last three months the Nexus magazine been an essential part of your Monday morning; informing you on what’s happening with the world, hopefully entertaining you a little and if nothing else, giving you something to read in the first few lectures of every week.
    So, in this edition we are looking back.

    Hamilton's Top 5
    Debrin Foxcroft

    Hamilton.
    For many of you this is the new frontier. Gone are the days of hanging out on the high school playgrounds, the satisfaction of mum’s cooking and the security of your local main street. Gone are the bars you used to sneak in to, the trees you used to hide under, the lakes you used to swim in.

    Here is a list of top five’s from Nexus staff to help you survive the Tron.

    Top Five Student Bars
    1) Bar101 – Fairly new on the scene this bar touts itself as the real deal for students. Good if you want to look at pictures of the Tui Brewery and cows.

    Be Fair
    Debrin Foxcroft

    Martin Luther King once said that before you have finished your breakfast each morning you will have relied on half the world.

    Have you treated them fairly?

    Have you thought about the farmers who earn next to nothing to harvest the coffee beans for your tall, trim mocha soy latte? Have you considered the tiny nimble fingers of the children who work the looms in Bangladesh to weave the cloth for your pajamas? Have you spared a moment for the people who made it possible for you to have fresh bananas with your cereal?

    No?

    You are what you eat
    Debrin Foxcroft

    Look in your fridge. Go on, take a look.
    Is everything neatly organized into food groups? Is there a variety of color in the food that graces your fair shelves (and not just in the packaging)? Can you spot an actual vegetable amongst the ruins of previous meals?
    Or, when you take a peek behind the white sealed door, is it a mix of pizza leftovers, bread, cheese and the occasional hunk of meat?
    Go on, be honest.
    Student eating habits are infamous.