Media Lecturer Discovers Secret to Eternal Youth

Copyright (c) Noelle Adams. All Rights Reserved.

Her passion for clothes has been noticed. ‘I don’t known anyone else who has a lime-green pair of Soviet jeans,’ comments a first-year student.  

Her natural rapport with students is appreciated. Says a second-year, ‘Tracy’s best quality would probably be her understanding of youth, and appreciation of life. She’s funky.’ 

Meet dynamic Media lecturer, Tracy Hilterman, one of few people who won’t use the word ‘apathetic’ to describe today’s students. She explains, ‘If anything, students have a more fragmented outlook. They have so many things to do at once.’   

Of course, the vibrant Tracy is the opposite of apathetic. She admits, ‘I’m curious about the world in general. Few things don’t interest me. Anyone involved in media has to have that quality.’ 

There’s more to it than that. When Tracy’s not lugging a DVD-player or portable CD-player around Old Main Building, she can be seen sitting on a bar stool. With a microphone.   

Tracy explains, ‘In my other life I’m a musician. Music is something that I absolutely love, and playing music, I love it.’ An accomplished guitarist and singer, Tracy can be seen performing covers on Friday nights at the Hilton Hotel. She also plays gigs in Durban, solo or with the band, Me and the Guys.  

Performing in public since 16, Tracy admits to changes she’s made to her act over the years. ‘I’ve had to reinvent myself from being a folk singer in the ‘70s, to performing adult contemporary music. I’m kind of at the age now where I’m transforming myself into a jazz singer.’ Her diverse musical influences include Bob Dylan, Carlos Santana and Frank Sinatra. 

Music is a passion that filters through to all areas of Tracy’s life. Even her cats, Rodriguez, Santana and SuzieQ are named after rock stars.  

Before joining the University of Natal in 2000, and before a 7-year stint in the hospitality industry, Tracy ran her own music school. ‘For 10 to 15 years, when my children were little, I taught music, travelling around to schools like St Anne’s, Carter, Howick High.’  

Ultimately, lecturing proved more appealing. ‘I suppose it’s the lust for chalk dust,’ Tracy says. Then she corrects herself, ‘No, it’s the need for performance.’ For Tracy, performance is an important aspect of lecturing. She laughs, ‘Students are a captive audience. Well, not so captive at times.’ 

Growing more serious, Tracy explains, ‘I don’t think university is an environment that I’ve ever really left. And it’s the kind of place where you don’t age because your students all stay the same and you kind of imagine that you do as well.’ 

Despite being ‘one of those students who only woke up in third-year’, Tracy fondly remembers her own student days at the University of the Witwatersrand. There, she studied Dramatic Art, majoring in Film and Television. She says, ‘I had imaginings of being an actress, which drama school soon cured me of.’ Tracy completed her Masters in Film Studies, and her PhD in Media and Education. 

At Wits, Tracy was proactive, ‘but it was more by default than anything else.’ Her classmates included Zinzi Mandela and Desmond Tutu’s daughters. Tracy explains, ‘I don’t think I would have done the radical thing but it was such a radical environment. It was easy to get swept up. But I wasn’t part of the struggle.’   

Born in Wales, Tracy emigrated to Swaziland when she was 10. She says, ‘Across the border, things were different to what my classmates experienced. So at Wits, I was surprised to find it such a racialised environment.’   

Today, music occupies most of Tracy’s spare time. But she admits to other interests, including weights-training. Her health-conscious image is knocked when she adds with a smile, ‘I lead a balanced lifestyle. I go to gym and I smoke.’ 

Tracy hasn’t had a stand-out moment on the PMB campus just yet, but says, ‘Media is a noisy class.  The nature of the subject is noisy. We play music, movies, the TV is blaring. We’re a noisy lot.’ 

Returning to the apathy question, Tracy notices only one difference between students today and those in the past. ‘Today’s students love drinking more than we did. Today they’re really passionate about drinking. Maybe we were too, but I can’t remember.’ 

There’s one other surprising thing about Tracy. Or perhaps it’s not so surprising after all. Tracy was a NUX covergirl in August 2002. Reminded of this, Tracy says, ‘Yes, I’m famous for posing in my nightie.’   

The photo was taken to coincide with last year’s launch of Zizania, the School of Language, Culture and Communication’s new journal. Tracy is on the editorial board of Zizania, which is now in pre-merger limbo.   

Tracy thinks back to the photo-shoot. ‘The first issue’s theme was Bed, so we thought we’d do an in-bed shot. I’d done modelling in the past. I didn’t think it was provocative. I’d do it again. It’s an experience.’ 

This constant quest for experience may just be the secret of eternal youth.