Illegally Blonde

All that was missing to complete her look and to complement that deep, husky voice was a signature cigarette resting tentatively between her forefinger and middle finger. She seated herself comfortably in the chair with one leg tucked under her bottom and hands resting on her thighs, as she anticipated my questioning with a tinge of nervousness.

Jessica Blase looks and sounds like a Jozi girl from the Northern suburbs and she has all the superficialities which suit that description. She has the accent, drives a VW Golf, lives in Fourways, wears a gold bangle, has blonde hair and blue eyes, and she attended one of the most prestigious schools in Johannesburg – Saint Stithians.

She came to Rhodes seeking change “I was supposed to go to UCT and a friend of mine was here, so I came to Grahamstown and noticed that it’s very different from other places. So I decided to come here just for a change - to be somewhere different.” Now she lives in a digs on African Street with her best friend from grade two and three other girls from Port Elizabeth.

Jess has had a positive experience of Rhodes life which has included copious amounts of partying, though she admits that all has slowed down “with age”. Living off campus has proven to have its emotional perks too, “I love my digs, our home is my sanctuary – we just sit around drink tea and chat all day.” The truth in that statement radiates off her face – her eyes light up and she flashes a perfect, pearly-white smile. Her chattiness is evidence of who she says she is “I love arguing and hearing other people’s opinions – I love laughing and entertaining, cooking is my de-stress “she chimes.

Her friends think she’s “out there” – a free spirit and she admits that she is the crazier one between her sister and herself but beneath that unapparent madness is a woman who is focussed and very insistent on letting people know as much, “I’m someone that’s with it, I mean I’m always the one who is sorting things out and helping my friends out with everything. Blonde is a problem, people see you dressed up, with blonde hair and a big bag and they think…”

When she is not busy with school and sundry student life, she gets in touch with her spiritual self by making enquiry of astrology books. A lot of her life and the decisions that she makes are based on these enquiries. Though she calls herself a sceptic and questioner of many things, she believes in a higher being that has created all life but she is reluctant to give it a name like so many other religions have done, so she calls it “Him”.

As I finish typing up my work on the computer, I realise that Jess embodies all of the things that she said she was. She is perched at a nearby station gladly offering her help and opinion to a friend that was clearly in need.