Tomorrow: Showers with a high near 51 and a low near 32.
Weekend weather
Sunday: Partly cloudy with a high near 59 and a low near 37.
Kansan
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Weekend Edition
FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 2000
Happy St. Patrick's Day and spring break
(USPS 650-640) • VOL. 110 NO. 118
WWW.KANSAN.COM
Medical students to leave rotations for residencies
By Warisa Chulindra
writer@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — More than 200 people eagerly waited for Cynthia Crowder to open the envelope. She tore it open, read the paper, raised her arms and velled, "Internal medicine — Tulane."
the audience burst into cheers and applause as Crowder, a Merriam fourth-year medical student, danced back to her seat.
seat.
At 11 a.m. yesterday, medical schools across the country released the results of the National Resident Matching Program.
The KU Medical Center had a ceremony for its 125 fourth-year medical students at a packed Wahl East Auditorium on the Med Center campus.
It was a life-changing moment for the students, who will graduate in two months. They learned which type of medicine they would practice and where they would do their residencies.
Some students came to the ceremony after their rotations, and several missed rotations to attend the ceremony and the celebration afterward.
Amy Durall, Overland Park fourth-year medical student, and Michael Farris, Oswego fourth-year medical student, said they stopped worrying after they found out they had been matched to programs Monday.
"We're both excited because neither of us know where we're going," Farris said. "This marks the end of medical school. That's pretty significant."
Durall said it would be difficult for her and Farris so their separate ways.
and it is going to be "We've been friends since the first day," she said. "It'll be kind of hard moving away."
The results were in sealed envelopes with the students' names on them. Each student opened an envelope and announced the results, which were met with cheers and applause of fellow classmates, friends and families.
See MEDICAL on page 3A
Tonight:
EVENTS CALENDAR
The Schwag, 10 p.m. at the Bottleneck,
737 New Hampshire St. $ 5, 21 and older. $6,
18-20.
DJ Kilby, 10 p.m. at the Brown Bear Breaking Co., 729 Massachusetts St. Laddies free. Men 21 and older, $2.
free. Merle 21 laurel blvd.
Majestic Rhythm Revue, 10 p.m. at The
Jazzhaus, 926-1/2 Massachusetts St. $4, 21
and older.
Pale Moon Kings and Bennett Brothers, 9:30 p.m. at the Replay Lounge, 946 Massachusetts St. $1, 21 and older.
Tomorrow:
■ Ernesto; 7:30 at Bambino the Italian Cafe,
11 Massachusetts St. Free.
Frantic Flattops, 10 p.m. at the Bottleneck, 737 New Hampshire St. $5, 21 and older. $6, 18-20.
Woody Davis Blues Band, 10 p.m. at the Brown Bear Brewing Co., 729 Massachusetts St. $3, 21 and older.
- Space Pocket, 10 p.m. at The Jazzhaus,
926/1/2 Massachusetts St. $4, 21 and older.
- Simplicity, 10 p.m. at J.B. Stout's
Sports Bar and Grill, 721 Wakarusa Dr.
Free.
Smackdown, 8 p.m. at the bottleneck.
737 New Hampshire St. $5, 18 and older.
Sunday:
For a list of events during spring break, check out kansan.com.
Index
...
News .3A
Opinion .4A
Movie listings .5A
Feature .6A
Game times .1B
Horoscopes .2B
Kansas sports briefs .4B
Classifieds .5B
NCAA scores .6B
The University Daily Kansan is the student newspaper of the University of Kansas. The first copy is paid through the student activity fee. Additional copies of the Kansan are 25 cents.
For many Americans, St. Patrick's Day is an excuse to celebrate regardless of whether they are of Irish heritage. The Irish, however, observe the holiday more sedately — similar to United States' celebration of Thanksgiving. Photo illustration by Craig Bennett/KANSAN
Green beer blurs tradition
U.S. version of Irish holiday is more 'cheesy'
By Ryan Blethen
writer@kanson.com
Kansas staff writer
Across America today, scores of people will plant their backsides on bar stools and hoist pints of green beer and Guinness in celebrating St. Patrick's Day. Green hair, green beer and even green rivers will commemorate the luck of the Irish.
Edd McCracken, Ballywater, Northern Ireland, Junior, said the American version of St. Patrick's Day was different from the celebration in Ireland.
"The whole Americanization of St. Patrick's Day is really cheesy," he said.
school and families come together.
Aine Francis-Stack, Lawrence graduate student, said in her home country of Ireland the holiday was a celebration of Irish national identity — most people get the day off of work or
"It's like Thanksgiving in Ireland," she said.
Ireland. St. Patrick's Day has its roots in a fifth-century Catholic monk who, as a young child, was enslaved in Ireland. He returned to Ireland as St. Patrick to do missionary work and tried to convert the island to Christianity.
Lisa Bitel, associate professor of history who teaches an Irish culture class this semester, said the holiday grew in the 19th and 20th centuries when Ireland was struggling for independence from England. The Irish, looking for anything distinctively Irish, found St. Patrick as the embodiment of the culture.
St. Patrick's Day crossed the ocean to America when Irish immigrants fled their country because of the potato famine and for political reasons in the
"The whole
Americanization of St. Patrick's Day is really cheesy."
Edd McCracken
Ballywater, Northern Ireland, junior
19th and 20th centuries.
The holiday gained further momentum because powerful Irish Americans used the holiday to advance Irish causes, Bitel said.
When Bitel did her graduate work in Ireland, she and her Irish friends would go to the parades and laugh at the Americans who flock to Ireland for the holiday. She said having green beer and leprechauns plastered everywhere did not happen in Ireland.
"It's a symbol of American
excess." Bitel said.
Francis-Stack agreed. She said she thought Americans had commercialized the holiday.
"It's a lot more kitchy here," she said.
Jerry Neverve, owner of the Red Lyon 'tavern — an Irish tavern at 944 Massachusetts St. — said St. Patrick's Day was a day for everybody to celebrate, not just people of Irish descent.
"Everybody else jumps on the bandwagon," he said. "Everybody is Irish on St. Patrick's Day."
For today's celebration,
McCraken said he was consider-
ing charging people to hang
out with a real Irishman; rates
were not available yesterday.
But mostly, he planned to nurse
some beer.
"I'm going to find the best pint of Guinness and enjoy it for a couple of hours," he said.
FUN FACTS
St. Patrick was not Irish. He was a British Celt who first was enslaved in Ireland when he was a young boy and then later was a missionary to the country.
St. Patrick was not necessarily the first missionary to Ireland.
No one knows his birth or death date. March 17 traditionally is considered to be one of the two, but there is no documentation.
The only documents about St. Patrick are his Confession and a letter he wrote to Coroticus.
- Contrary to popular belief, there never were snakes, or other reptiles, in Ireland for St. Patrick to chase out.
Patrick predates the Roman Catholic Church, and he was considered a saint before the Roman church created its own canon of stains.
Own canon of saints
Source: The Christian Classics
Etheral Library at Calvin
College
The heat is on
Upgrades to old boiler equipment continue despite a lack of funds and manpower,the director of the Central Power Plant says.
See page 3A
Tournament time
The No.8 seed Kansas men's tough journey toward the Final Four begins tonight against No.9 seed DePaul in the East Regional.
See page 1B
Down in the Bayou
Coach Marian Washington says the Kansas women need to stay loose when they play ninth-seeded Vanderbilt tomorrow in Ruston, La.
See page 1B
Erin Brockovich's mother, who lives in Lawrence, discusses her daughter's crusades and the movie based on her life.
Local ties
See page 5A
A Kansan reviewer gives high marks to Erin Brockovich the new movie starring Julia Roberts.
See page 6A