THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday June 16, 1999
Yeah, baby, yeah
North American box office totals
for the weekend of June 11-13.
1.) Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
    $54.9 million
2.) Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace
    $25.6 million
3.) Notting Hill
    $11.2 million
4.) Instinct
    $6.8 million
5.) The Mummy
    $5.4 million
6.) Entrapment
    $2.7 million
7.) The Matrix
    $1.9
8.) The Thirteenth Floor
    $1.2 million
9.) Tea with Mussolini
    $789, 786
10.) Never Been Kissed
    $700,642
Section:
Entertainment
B
White Plague
White Plague, a dark comedy penned by two Lawrence residents opens here June 17.
SEE PAGE 7B
Page 1
Imagination
For six seasons, Imagination Workshop, a national radio program, has brought laughter to liberty hall with weekly performances.
SEE PAGE 6B
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Dads value gift of love
KU fathers desire time with families above gifts
Richard Hardin
Man C. Kong
Rick Johnson
Lloyd Sponholtz
By Lisa John
Kansan managing editor
Warren Corman
Of the many possible ways to celebrate Father's Day, it seems simple ideas are the best.
Fathers queried on campus last week seemed to be in agreement that no matter what, time with the family mattered more than anything. There was little talk of gag gifts or impressively expensive presents.
When it gets down to the nuts and bolts of it, all that mattered to these fathers — some of whom expressed candid thoughts about their families and backgrounds — was that they had children they loved, children of whom they were proud and children who loved them back.
If Father's Day is indeed an invention to sell gifts and cards as several fathers voiced, then perhaps it's all too obvious that the gimmick works. After all, who would want to overlook so easy a chance to honor their father?
Richard Hardin, chairman of the department of English, and his wife Virginia have six children. Hardin leans back in the chair in his office and smiles when he talks about their children, five of whom are grown and out of the house.
"I find all the Father's Day presents I've received to be very touching and nice," Hardin said. "I've always told my children not to send me anything for Father's Day because to me Father's Day is an invention of commerce to sorb of force people to buy stuff."
However, Hardin said that any gift from his children would be significant to him.
Man C. Kong, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science, and his wife Sue are the parents of three children, ages from six to 11.
"Every gift is meaningful," he said. "But I really feel embarrassed when I get a present from them because our family was so large; we didn't have a lot of money to support them through exotic summer camps or fancy universities or sports cars or any of that kind of thing. And so I always feel that they kind of made it on their own and I'm very proud of them for that."
Kong, who was reared in Hong Kong, said that Hong Kong has a Father's Day, too, and a unique way to celebrate it.
Rick Johnson is a University police officer who said he looked forward to spending time with his children on Father's Day. He and his wife Pam have two children, ages 10 and 12. One of his favorite Father's Day gifts is a pottery dish made by his daughter that he keeps on his nightstand, Johnson said.
"It's not celebrated on a single day like it is in this country." Kong said. "Of course, from time to time, you do give your parents something, and it is kind of expected in that culture. So it is different here, in that it is expected not just for one single day, but basically for every day."
Kong said that his own children had given him thoughtful gifts each Father's Day, and to him, the ideal gift was something money couldn't buy.
"I like to see a good report card from the teacher," he said.
An early Father's Day celebration for Johnson this year was that his recent days-off coincided with
his children's first days of summer vacation. They bicycled on errands around town, swam together at the city pool and even attended a Kansas City Royals baseball game in which Mark McGwire hit his 19th home run of the season and the 467th home run of his career.
Regarding Father's Day wishes for this year, Johnson said he would like to spend time with his children and go out to dinner.
Lloyd Sponholtz, associate professor of history, and his wife Charlotte have four grown children. Sponholtz said his children had always given him something thoughtful on Father's Day.
"Even when they were young—I can't think of any gift I didn't treasure," he said. "So maybe I'm a lucky dad."
The ideal father's Day for Sponholtz would be to have all of his children together at one time, he said.
Sponholtz said that three of his children lived in Lawrence but one lived in Phoenix.
"It would be nice to have her and her husband here, too," he said.
An ongoing Father's Day gift is that he is his children' s father, Sponholtz said.
"I've been blessed," he said. "Our kids have been relatively trouble free in terms of childrearing. They've just been greatkids."
Sponho also delineated another benefit of childrearing.
"I have earned something from every one of my children," he said. "I'm the professor, but sometimes they've been my teacher."
See FATHERS on page 7B
Warren Corman, university architect and special assistant to the chancellor, and his wife Mary have six grown children.
"When you get to be my age, you have everything you need, so they don't know what to buy for you," he said.
Corman said he was difficult to buy gifts for, no matter what the holiday.
Corman chuckled and said that he joked with his daughter in Topeka that he wanted a peach pie.
But a few years ago, Corman's children found a unique gift to give to their father.
"The best thing the kids do for me is to come and visit or go out to lunch," he said. "They're scattered from Alaska to Arizona to Georgia, all over the country. They always call and say what do you want for Father's Day and I always say I don't want anything."
"We were having a family reunion out at Estes Park (Colo.) around Father's Day," he said while laughing. "The kids all got together and they had a T-shirt made that had their names all on it and it had which school they had their allegiance to. It was all either KU, Washburn or K-State, where they'd all gone to school to get their undergraduate degrees. And so they had four for KU with Jayhawks after all of those, there was one from K-State with a wildcat and there was one from Washburn with an Ichabod. It was all over the front of that thing and they expected me to wear that stupid thing. I noticed it the other day when I was looking for a T-shirt to wear for running. I'll probably wear it while I'm running because I run at 5:30 in the morning and nobody will ever see it."
To Corman, the ideal Father's Day gift is ongoing.
Emily Kolatch, Lawrence junior, and her father Joel Kolatch, a computer specialist at KU, enjoy a close bond formed by common interests and living close together. Photo by Roger Nomer/KANSAN
University dads say that everyday is a Father's Day
By Katie Burford
Kansan Staff Editor
Joel Kolatch works as a computer specialist for the University of Kansas libraries but his no. 1 job is being a dad.
Kolatch and wife Nicky, who works as an accountant in the department of Physics and Astrology, came to Lawrence 10 years ago.
Before that, he worked as a sound technician for some Hollywood studios and the family lived in Los Angeles. But as a father, Kolatch started thinking that the city was not the best place to raise two young girls.
"Wanted to have our kids grow up in a safer area." he said.
The couple began a nation-wide search for a site to relocate. A family friend convinced them to check out Lawrence and, well, the rest was history.
Kolatch said that they made the right decision. This was reinforced when his oldest daughter, Emily, decided to stick around for college.
"I was glad for her to come here. KU has such a good reputation. And then she would be in town," he said.
Emily, a junior English and women's studies major, recently has returned from a year in England and is living at home.
She said that she enjoyed having both of her parents on-campus.
"It's really fun. We can meet for lunch and drive together to campus. We're really close and we get along great. If they weren't so cool, it wouldn't be so fun," she said.
Emily's younger sister, Natalie, is a senior at Free State High School and is also considering attending the University.
Kolatech said that the family would probably celebrate this Father's Day, June 20, in much the same way that they commemorated it during their first year in town—a cook-out at Clinton Lake.
Although Emily won't be able to attend
the outing because she has to work, she said that she was looking forward to a trip to San Francisco that she and her father would be taking later this summer.
She said that she was very grateful for her father's dedication to his family.
"He is completely unselfish. He does everything for his family — every day," she said.
The Kolatch family is proof positive that playing together fosters staying together. One of their favorite things to do together is go to concerts.
"Music is definitely a focal point of our bonding." Emily said.
Peter, Paul and Mary, Tori Amos and Paul Simon are just a few artists they have seen together.
Music is also a unifying force between John Stephens, professor of music and dance, and his daughter. Anne.
Anne, 19, is a sophomore at the University. Although she is considering anthropology as a major, her dream is to play bass guitar in a rock group.
One of the things she and her father enjoy doing is playing guitar together.
"I'm a classical musician by trade, but I can also play folk," he said. "It doesn't really matter what we play, we just like to sit and jam."
Anne said that they also enjoy gardening and logging together.
"And watching old movies, like those with Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant." she said.
A summer trip is also in the works for the Stephens. Stephens, wife Barbara, daughter Laura, 14, and Anne will be heading to Montana by minivan.
Stephens said that while it was nice that there was a day to honor fathers, it wasn't really necessary.
"When you're a father, one little isolated day doesn't mean much," he said. "It's the whole deal that matters."
Edited by Anjum Aziz
Necktie standbys fill dads' closets
By Matthew Friedrichs
Kansan editor
Owen Grieb, Lawrence senior, remembers buying at least two ties for past Father's Days.
"It was really the only thing he would use." Grieb said.
The sometimes colorful, sometimes conservative accessories to mens' business attire have come in many widths, sizes and shapes through the years.
From the fish tie to the power tie, almost every father has two or three tucked away in a drawer, cabinet or closet.
But changing office dress codes have relegated Grieb's father's two racks of ties to the dim realms of obscurity.
"Now that his work has switched over to casual, he doesn't really need them anymore." Grieb said.
Jennifer Lindsay, Midland,
Mich., graduate student, also
remembers purchasing a tie for her
father.
"When we were really little, we bought a tie," she said.
The tie was Lindsay tartan plaid, a nod to the family's Scottish ancestry.
Now Lindsay shops for dress shirts.
Joe Flannery, president of Weaver's Department Store, 901 Massachusetts St., agreed that changing dress codes have affected the popularity of neckties.
His mother would send him to Krueger's, a local clothing store,
"When I was younger, ties were the standard gift," Day said.
"Ties have always been a traditional gift for Father's Day," Flannery said.
But people are still getting Dad a colorful strip of silk to wear with his dress shirts and suits.
That's the assumption Kendall Day, who graduated from the University of Kansas in May, has always followed when shopping for his father in St. Francis.
This year, true to form, he is buying a tie from the Jayhawk Collection at the University of Kansas Alumni Association.
and the salesmen would help him pick his father's newest neckwear
"Dad was here for graduation and saw the one I was wearing and was asking me to let him borrow it. So I thought I would get him one of his own." Day said.
Flannery offers some tips for tie customers who don't have a specific request like Day.
He said consider the clothes accompanying the tie. More traditional striped ties or polka dotted ties appeal to men who wear suits and have conservative jobs.
However, men who dress casually in sport shirts might be looking for something more novel, such as a patterned tie or a designer tie, like one from the Jerry Garcia collection.
1
Regardless, it might just end up in the back of dad's closest anyway.
—Edited by Mike Miller