4A
Opinion
Friday, April 7, 2000
Ladies and Gents, the great Lorenzo
Former student entertained thousands with campus stunts
For as long as there have been students at the University of Kansas,there have been attention-getting stunts.In the last few years,several candidates
Wessell, an art student who preferred to be called Lorenzo Wesselini The Human Cannonball, knew how to create a spectacle unlike any other KU student before or since.
On April 27, 1973, the great Wesselini built a 32-foot ramp down the hill north of the Campanile. His plan was to coast down
There was a time when this wasn't so, and one man stood above all others in the crazy stunt category. His name was Dan Wessell, and in the early 1970s he created two amazing campus spectacles — not for money, not for votes; just for the good, old-fashioned attention and admiration of his classmates.
for Student Senate have orchestrated some small-scale events, notably John Colbert's 1998 appearance at a Senate meeting dressed as Gene Simmons of the band KISS. A couple of this season's candidates have tried to stir things up as well. Unfortunately, these performances make people cynical because the stunts ultimately are vote-motivated.
took flight, but Wesselini was unfazed. The Kansan reported that as he looked at the crumpled machine that he had spent a year building, he said, "You don't get destruction like this from not flying."
the hill in his homemade flying machine, complete with crushed velour cockpit, and to sail over Memorial Stadium toward greatness.
Seth Hoffman opinion editor opinion@kansas.com
Several thousand students came out to watch the daring, orange-jumpsuited Wesselini become a KU legend. As the crowd held its breath, the homemade jugernaught rolled down the hill, but before he left the ground, the glider fell off the ramp and crashed to the ground. Some in the ground were disappointed that the much-beralded glider never
Those in the crowd didn't know it, but real spectacle was still to come. Wessellin went underground for a year to plot his return. And return he did.
The next April, the Human Cannonball was back.
This time, instead of in a glider, Wesselinli planned to encase himself in a three-foot Plexiglas bubble, roll down the hill on a 150-foot wooden ramp and splash triumphantly in Potter Lake.
Back at the top of the hill, a "doctor" wearing a rubber nose and using a toy stethoscope pronounced Wesselini medically — at least physically — suited to perform the stunt he was about to attempt. As he encased himself in the bubble, he blew kisses to the spectators and warned them to stand back.
Whereas the previous year's event had been a one-man show, in 1974 Wesselini received plenty of help from his friends. A tuxedo, mutton-chopped circus barker heralded him as the greatest daredevil on Earth. The daredevil emerged from a green and orange tent looking stunning in a pink cape, white tights and sequined, starred and striped swim trunks. The hero of the day pranced and skipped up and down the hill along the ramp to check it for safety all the way down to the lake, where two teams of scuba divers sat in boats, prepared to rescue him.
He positioned himself on a small skateboard inside the bubble and gave his attendants the go-ahead signal. The bubble rolled about two feet, and fell off the track. The crowd booed, but undeterred, Wesselini signaled that he would try again.
This time, the Human Cannonball wobbled all the way down the ramp, rocketing
through the barriers of chicken feathers and flaming hoops, but stopped just short a water.
chicken feathers and flaming hoops, but stopped just short of the water. His handlers rushed to remove the bolts from the moisture-fogged sphere and help the dizzy daredevil to his feet. Though somewhat shaken, the hero raised his arms above his head to acknowledge the cheering crowd. Someone presented him a bouquet of roses, there were some jeers and some asked why he did these things. Some answered that he was crazy, and others answered that he was doing it for art. One suggested that he get an engineer to help him design his contraptions.
"If I had an engineer, I'd know it would work," Wesselini said. "What fun
wessenmi said. What fun would that be?
Even though he didn't reach the lake, he didn't consider the event a failure. As the circus barker proclaimed after the event, "Lorenzo never loses."
Hoffman is a Lenexa senior in journalism.
Migrant workers boost economy, quality of life
For a long time, workers in developing countries passively have accepted low wages and standards of living. This reality seems to have changed drastically. A growing number of foreign citizens have found a way to change their futures: migration.
This trend is evidenced by a report released earlier this month by the International Labor Organization, a United Nations agency based in Geneva. The report. entitled "Workers Without
Frontiers: The Impact of Globalization on international Migration," reviews census data from 152 countries. According to the report, the world has 120 million migrants, compared to 75 million migrants in 1965. This is almost equivalent to half of the U.S. population — imagine almost half of the United States working abroad.
This number of people obviously influences societies in different ways.
Furtado columnist
goininfo@ansan.com
Lassume that the idealistic
I assume that view of the world would be that each country should be able to feed and provide good living standards for its citizens. However, this seems to be impossible. Our world never has been ideal. Considering this chaotic scenario, I see many good consequences of migration.
In a sense, this is good because it increases the quality of life for the millions of migrant workers and their families. Families will have a better education and perhaps will have fewer children. It creates a cycle — a good one. The next generations of these families probably will have increasingly better living conditions.
Second, developing countries no longer will face social and economic problems related to the millions of people those countries were not prepared to handle. At the same time, the workers who stay in those countries tend to have better wages.
Multinational companies no longer will be able to cross borders trying to find misery markets where they will be able to pay shameful salaries. Workers are the ones crossing borders in this case.
case:
Third. developed countries need these workers. In Europe and Japan, where the population is aging and the birth rates are declining, migrants are a very important share of society. In Germany, workers are paid an average of $31.88 per hour for jobs in manufacturing. However, in India or China workers with equivalent jobs in the same sector are paid only 25 cents per hour, according to Morgan Stanley and the International Labor Organization.
Consequently, the most worrying problem when it comes to migration is the industry of "human trafficking" it recently has created. People who want to migrate to developed countries almost always need to pay thousands of dollars for transportation and forged documents. The high costs can lead to illegal means of obtaining transportation, passports, etc. "Workers Without Frontiers" estimates that this industry has grown to $6 billion per year.
Trends in immigration should matter to all of us, simply because the United States admits more migrant workers than any other country. This includes both legal and illegal immigrants. According to the report, 9.4 percent of the labor force in the United States is foreign.
The report also points out that 18.4 percent of all illegal immigrants who get into the United States come from Mexico. The land of Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zappata is probably the country that affects this nation the most. Unskilled Mexican workers come to work in low-paying jobs, and this helps the U.S. economy simply because it allows Americans to have higher-paying jobs.
And all this happens because wages in the United States have risen enormously. According to the report, the average wage per hour in 1980 was $9.87 and was already $17.20 in 1995 for jobs in manufacturing. Because of the incredible economic stability of developed countries, salaries are skyrocketing, and so is immigration.
Because of this entire scenario, workers are migrating like flocks of birds. However, they are not going south. They are going north. They are not afraid of winter. People only want to avoid starvation and have better living conditions. And the rational way to avoid it is by going to richer northern countries such as the United States.
Furtado is a Pelotas, Brazil, junior in journalism and political science.
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Students deserve to voice opinions about changes to, use of unions
In April 1998, Student Senate passed a bill extending the union renovation fee. However, there was an important stipulation. In order for Senate to extend the fee, the Memorial Corporation, which oversees the operation of both the Kansas and Burge unions, agreed to have a student majority on its board. Thus, the board that decides how the space in the Unions is used and distributed would mainly consist of students.
The purpose of the unions is to provide space for activities, educational or recreational, that center on students. Furthermore, an important part of the financing for the buildings' renovations, and therefore the space distribution, comes from Senate. Students should be able to have a say about how the space in those buildings is used.
It is a matter of principle that the Memorial Corp. should have respected a stipulation it agreed to implement. Because student money
The Memorial Corp. seemed to have no objection to that. It agreed to have a student majority on the board and consequently, Senate passed the bill to extend the renovation fee. However, two years later no student seats have been added.
The Jaybowl has been saved. And the presence of Starucks and Mail Boxes Etc. in the the Union is not necessarily a bad thing. For some students, maybe even for many students, it is convenient and accommodating. And, in the future, students may welcome some of the decisions that the Memorial Corp. board makes.
Students also may have been opposed to other decisions about the distribution of space in the Kansas Union - had they been asked. This semester, Starbucks and Mail Boxes Etc. were added to the Union. The decision to add them
was made by the Memorial Corp. board. However, many students oppose corporate presence in the unions. If there had been a majority of student seats on the board, at least the wishes of students would have been taken into consideration.
But, if there is no significant student input, there inevitably will be decisions that a majority of students will oppose. And those decisions, unlike the closing of the Jaybowl, may be implemented against student wishes. The purpose of the unions is to support student activities, ranging from formal events to students just hanging out. In any of these cases, the environment has to be one that will make students want to spend time and have their activities in the unions. The only way completely to achieve that is to let students decide how the space is used and distributed.
Earlier this year, the Jaybowl almost was closed down. As it turned out, that decision was opposed to the wishes of a substantial part of the student body, who managed to stop it. However, it took a lot of debate, and students had to spend a great deal of time and effort to save the Jaybowl. It would have been much easier if students had been asked and had a say during the initial decision-making process. According to the Senate stipulation, students had the right to be part of that process.
Union officials agreed to create board with a student majority but never added student seats
is involved, students should be more involved in the process of deciding how these funds are used. But it is more than a matter of principle. There also are important practical implications to the issue.
Cynthia Malakasis for the editorial board
Feedback FDA tobacco regulation threatens individual rights
"In the interest of public health, Congress must grant the FDA the power..." is how the editorial put it. In the interest of public health? Communist states are the ones that put the state's interest ahead of personal choice — not Republics.
Who will protect the children then? Parents, insurance companies and personal doctors will. Just because some people make bad choices doesn't mean that our government can control
In an April 3 editorial, you point out where it says in the Constitution that Congress has the right to regulate tobacco. In fact, tobacco was the crop most demanded when the Constitution was written. What has happened to this country? What's happened is our government has gotten too big.
Misinterpretation can be problem in English classes
Scott Boyd Lee's Summit, Mo., senior
the choices made by everybody. This is a free society — let's keep it that way by not letting Congress grant power to regulate the choices our Constitution enumerated to the people (Ninth Amendment).
The more power Congress has, the less power each individual has, and the more Congress focuses on the public good or the state over individual liberty, the more and more we move closer to the Empire of the United States of America.
I loved Lori O'Toole's April 5 column concerning the dangers of hypersensitive reading! As another junior Endish
John Bartkoski KU alumni, 1972
major, in classes I've witnessed the troubles that arise when students try to make everything stand for something. Glad to know that other English students see that as a problem, because it's certainly an easy thing to do. Thanks for providing enjoyable reading.
Aaron D. Profitt
Overland Park junior
In reference to Jimmy Barmann's April 3 column, I agree with the fact that the NCAA is profiting from the athletics that it governs. But I also note that you are in error in stating that James Naismith is a Kansas native, when in fact he was Canadian. He was a misborn Kansan.
Naismith was a Canadian
Broaden your mind: Today's quote
“What we call evil is simply ignorance bumping its head in the dark.” — Henry Ford
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