FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30,2007
PHILANTHROPY
ROC-THE-MIC
Café gets charity from campus concert
BY COURTNEY CONDRON ccondron@kansan.com
A concert benefiting Jubilee Café tonight will feature three local bands, and 100 percent of the profit will go toward the cafe.
The concert is in Woodruff Auditorium
Andrew Wacker/KANSAN
ABOVE, Cameron Casady, Lawrence freshman, looks on as bandmate Nick Garret, Burlington freshman, raps some of his lyrics during the Battle of the Halls last night. Both are members of a four-piece band called Seven South, named after the floor and wing they live on in McCollum Hall. The band took second place and won the biggest fan support and a Nintendo Wii for their residence hall.
LEFT, Megan Pasley, Olathe freshman, performs an original song at the Battle of the Halls music competition. The audience voted Pasley the winner of the six-act battle, which got her the $100 first prize.
11. 29.07 = JAYPLAY
speak
Chopping away at reality
A December graduate plans on following her dream instead of her degree
My fingers have been itching to cut hair for as long as I can remember. Barbie's long locks are always very tempting, but I never gave in because, despite my young age, I knew Barbie's hair would never grow back.
I didn't muster the courage to take scissors to hair and chop away until I was in high school. I started with my bangs. Cutting at a downward angle. I shaped my long bangs into a flirty slant. That slant had me hooked.
Once I masted creaking bangs, I moved on to my friend Becky.
After hearing her complain for days about her hair needing a cut I convinced her that a trim was as easy as baking a cake, and that I—a high school freshman—knew how to do it.
She came over to my house that Friday night and I dug up my nicest pair of scissors: pink with a rounded tip. We sat in my bedroom with the door closed. I didn't tell my mom what we were doing for fear that she would "hair block" me.
Forty-five minutes later I felt liberated and energized. I was proud of my new-found skill. Becky examined her shoulder-length tim with a mirror for a few minutes before giving me an expressionless nod. Her aunt—a licensed cosmetologist—fixed her hair two days later.
Until the sixth grade, I sported long, thin, straight, white-blonde hair. Then my mother agreed to let me become a big girl and took me to the salon to get a layered cut.
I walked out of the salon, climbed into my mom's car and proudly announced with a cheesy grin that I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up.
"That's great honey! What do you want to be?"
As I sat in the stylist's chair, I couldn't imagine a better job—fun atmosphere, constantly talking with people and playing with hair all day. What more could a girl ask for?
"I want to be a hairdresser!" I said excitedly.
A short pause and my mom's faded expression led me to question her reaction.
"Oh, honey. You can be anything you want to be... exceet a hairdresser."
Confused and concerned for my future, I questioned my mother. Her high aspirations for me included college and choosing a career more
My freshman year of college opened the door to opportunities I hadn't imagined. I decided I wanted to be a journalist and dropped the idea of being a hairdresser.
Even though I enjoy
learning about reporting
and editing the questions
to ask, how to write news
and feature stories), I found
myself crumbling under
the pressure when it came down to actually working for a publication. The tasks I had once enjoyed soon became a chore. My dislike for the job showed in my work. I didn't have the passion to be a journalist. I never would have
In the beginning of my senior year I started searching for another career path. Stumped on where to go, I sought
made it.
drienne Bommarito
the advice of an instructor who told me to think of things that I loved. Doing hair was the only idea I could conjure.
Informing my parents of my new goal was the next step.
I told my parents wasn't happy with journalism, I didn't want to be a reporter or an editor and I was thinking about going
to cosmetology school. I could read the confusion in my dad's face before he even opened his mouth.
"What's cosmetology school? Like, to do hair? You want to do hair?" he asked.
I started researching cosmetology schools. I visited the Aveda Institute in Houston and the Toni and Guy Hairdressing Academy in Dallas. I had a terrible experience at the Toni and Guy Hairdressing Academy which made my decision very easy. I chose the Aveda Institute with hopes of beginning classes in September 2008.
ILLUSTRATION/ LEAH HOELSCHER
My stepmom's reaction was more soothing.She explained to my dad that I had been thinking about going to cosmetology school for years now, so maybe it was something to consider.
To further back my decision,I applied for a receptionist job at an Avenida-concept salon and spa here in Lawrence. LADA Salon and Spa hired me six months ago. In those six months I have familiarized myself with the products and the organization of the Avenida Corporation.
A year has passed since I brought
up the idea of attending cosmetology school. Since then, my parents and I have had numerous phone arguments about the situation and I have repeatedly received notices from them about available reporting jobs.
My parents couldn't digest why I didn't enjoy journalism. In their view, I was a great writer with high ambition. They didn't understand that my hard work was a burden, not a pleasure.
Since I took the job at LADA Salon and Spa, my parents have realized my dedication to this career path, along with the enjoyment I get out of working in that atmosphere.
I graduate this December and hope to attend the Aveda Institute in Houston.
Slowly my parents have grasped that I'm serious about cosmetology. Both of them volunteered to accompany me to Texas when I apply to the school.
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