This one time, at band camp...

By Stephanie Pretorius

Cigarettes and coffee seem to make up the staple diet of many a journalism student and added to that, in my opinion, should be this blog. Named exactly that, Cigarettes and Coffee is at first glance a seemingly quiet and feminine blog with pink edging and lots of pictures. At first I thought: “Oh golly here we go again another bunch of poppies who are going to faff about all things Cosmopolitan. However, just like a book, a blog should not be judged by its cover or web design for that matter. While visual aids in digital media are all the rage what I was particularly concerned with was the quality of writing. Therefore I was pleasantly surprised when looking through the easily accessible blog archive I found pieces of writing that not only grabbed my attention with informing headlines but also kept me reading the whole way through. In one of the very first posts one of the bloggers from Cigarettes and Coffee says that the aim of the blog is to create an atmosphere of “students on a coffee break, discussing their lives as aspiring journalists” and a platform where all things journalistic – “ideas, grievances, fears and passions” – can be discussed. I believe that the bloggers of Cigarettes and Coffee have achieved this with an elegance of both style and creativity.

Take a look at Cigarettes and Coffee at http://journalismcigarrettesandcoffee.blogspot.com/