ROCKSTAR SUPERNOVA

What do a nose, ear, eyebrow, tongue, lip, belly and the web of your hand have in common? In this case, the fact that the person sitting in front of me has had them all pierced. Yes ladies and gents, today I have the honour of interviewing world renown rocker 'Pinz and Needlez', more commonly known as Kirsten Lee.

Okay, maybe she doesn't go by 'Pinz and Needlez' and maybe she's not world renown, but if she was a world famous superstar, Lee says that it would definitely be her stage name. When I asked what member of the band she would be if she had to pick, she surprised me by saying, “Maybe not the lead singer or guitar, cos it gets you too much attention, but photographer would be cool. I wanna be the girl with the camera.”

This girl's appearance screams hard-core super rocker with piercings everywhere, baggy jeans and a cigarette in her hand, but spend more than a fleeting second with her and you will immediately see otherwise. Slightly obscured by her glasses, Lee's ocean blue eyes twinkle knowingly as I jokingly ask her how she feels about metal detectors. “Honestly,” she tells me “Every time I have to board a plane I want to cry, because I know that on the other side is someone ready to search me and it makes me bleak because it attracts attention.” Already apparently living the rock-star like, not even being able to go through an airport without drama, one would be tempted to assume that she is an emo subculture fanatic with her black dress code, boys clothing and tattoos on both her wrists. However, down-to-earth Lee handles it the way a true star would, saying, “It doesn't bug me that I'm stereotyped, it just bugs me that people have stereotypes in general”. This coming from the proud OutRhodes Society member and Pink fan is certainly something I can respect.

She talks about her experience at Rhodes, describing how it differed from what she expected and I am so distracted by the fact that she is looking me straight in the eyes as she speaks that I forget to note what she is saying. Her genuineness shines through and I finally remember to to write, “I thought it would be more open minded, even though it is probably by far the most open minded university in the country, I just had these big, out of proportion ideas about Rhodes” she tells me. Certainly Rhodes is either “for you” or it's not, and Lee tells me, “Where I am in life, right now Rhodes isn't for me.”. This is an understandable sentiment considering that Lee's mother fell ill earlier in the year, so she has been having a tough time balancing everything that is expected of the average Rhodent. Even while planning on transferring to Wits University to study Psychology Lee says, “The people have made it [Rhodes] what it is, and if someone I could rewind time and were to ask me, I would do it all over again in a heart beat”.

Since she will not be continuing at Rhodes next year I asked her for her rock star sign off, the last words she says to the Rhodes audience after an amazing show of friends and fun. So fans and friends out there, here it is, straight from the supernova's mouth: “Keep it real. It's the most important thing in any area of your life, as long as you are true to yourself, honest and you know who you are inside, you can't go wrong.”

So I leave you with nothing more to say than what a true rockstar once told me,
“ Just keep things real and remember who you are.”
Peace out,
Jas