Talk:Barry Streek

Latest comment: 15 years ago by Stiubhard in topic Untitled

Untitled

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I am still in the middle of working on this article so please be gentle on the criticism. Please let me know if there is any thing that I should add or rewrite. I am still planning to add a couple of pictures and greatly increase the content on this article. I also plan to use more references, I have so many at the moment I hardly know where to start. Thanks, --Discott 20:52, 6 April 2007 (UTC)Reply

I knew Barry at Rhodes where we were contemporaries, although I only saw him once or twice after graduation in 1971. I left SA in 1971, and only learned of Barry's death today. I have made one correction to your article. There was no School of Journalism at Rhodes while Barry and I were there. Journalism came to Rhodes later in the 1970s. Barry majored in Politics and Roman-Dutch Law and did Politics Hons. in 1970.

Barry was active in NUSAS and the Progressive Party, but not a political firebrand. I have no recollection of his being banned while still a student at Rhodes, so perhaps this warrants further investigation. It was well known that the SB had informants on campus, both students and staff. Several members of the NUSAS national executive were banned at this time, but I do not remember Barry being one of them.

Barry was a stringer for the EL Daily Dispatch, where his father worked in a managerial capacity, while at Rhodes and he also freelanced. In 1968 he recruited me to canvass for the Progressive Party in College House, one of the university residences.

I remember Barry as a strong character, warm, open-hearted, level-headed and even tempered. He was devoted to his work as a journalist from the first, and - while enjoying an active social and sporting life - managed to distance himself from the mischief and other pranks to which male students of that and earlier generations were prone.

I appreciate that some of my comments are out of place in a factual biography. Your work on Barry's life is much appreciated. He was a wonderful friend and colleague during the years we knew one another at Rhodes. Thank you for this article and the opportunity to comment on it.Stiubhard (talk) 03:49, 28 September 2009 (UTC)Reply