WEDNESDAY MARCH 26.2014
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TEXT FREE FOR ALL
Text your FFA submissions to (785)289-8351 or at kansan.com
We need advertisements for other colleges because obviously KU hasn't been able to teach you how to spell life.
Habeas porpoise: the right to have a dolphin present at your trial.
Brace yourselves, politically motivated chalk drawings are coming.
This is Thor, single and ready to mingle!
to the person who stole a parking pot from the red car outside hash. I WILL find you!
Funny to see the students in exercise clothes take the elevator for two flights of the stairs...
If you wear a coat when its 30 degrees out, welcome to a small percentage of KU's student body.
No mini van should be called a swagger wagon.
That moment when you skip the bathroom so you don't miss the bus...and then wait ten minutes because it's late.
Our team looked like Tyler was coaching instead of Bill for most of the season. Bill has to get that fire back.
My respect for classmates plummetms when they use "gay" or related terms in a derogatory way to describe things. It's 2014, please stop already.
The only thing better than a nap is getting a real night's sleep.
Two days into school and I already skipped a class.
If you're going to walk slow, keep to the right. Just because you want to freeze doesn't mean that I have to!
When I pick up a book I sometimes wonder if I'll find a horoscope that is in the negative numbers. If I do, I know it'll be mine.
I'd make a sports joke here but I think it's still too soon...
Graduation gets closer and I still don't have a job...
This week I wanted to wear a dress. That's all I wanted. Why is that so much to ask, weather?
Tumbir: the secret to failing tests and forgetting about essays.
Someday I'm going to grow up and become a professional FFA submitter.
I've sent out so many cover letters that I can now pitch all the pretend good qualities I have in a voice that almost sounds like I believe it.
Service jobs build motivation and skills
JOBS
The only thing that I can think of is sleep. Time hasn't been
moving, probably because I keep stealing glances at the clock. I've been bussing tables for 13 hours so far — my entire day. I opened this morning. Now I'm closing.
I got stuck with the double shift because a co-worker didn't show up again. I have every right in the world to be angry, but I'm not. I'm just tired.
At least it's better than the time half of my coworkers didn't show up for New Year's Eve, or when we were grossly understaffed for Christmas Eve. I take out the trash and some of the trash juice seeps out of the bag and splashes on my face. I clock out.
Stories like these are a dime a dozen in the service industry. I spent my high school years working in various service jobs. Cooking, bussing, delivering, dishwashing, I did it all. It was probably one of the worst times of my life. Even though I hated it, I think it's something everyone should experience.
Those who never worked in the service industry probably don't understand how difficult working in food (or retail) really is. It's hard work for low pay. It's not just demeaning, it's soul crushing.
customers, managers even co-workers. Servers crying in the back or cooks screaming inside the walk-in freezer weren't uncommon occurrences.
Service workers are generally treated like trash This attitude comes from
That sucks, but it builds a thick skin. At a certain point you become immune to it. I learned to just accept certain things and move on. I probably lost a few years of life from all of the unnecessary stress, but made it back with the wisdom that I gained.
I also picked up some useful skills. I gained knowledge on how to thoroughly (and I mean thoroughly) clean anything and everything. I learned how to cook a myriad of different foods. Time management became important. I learned the value of a dollar.
I also cultivated a work ethic that will stick with me for the rest of my life. As horrible as my jobs were, that didn't mean that I was complacent about my work. There's a stereotype that food workers are lazy because they don't care about their jobs (or don't make enough money to care).
That's true to a degree. Some workers didn't care; most of them got fired pretty quickly.
I had to work hard because I was expendable. Workers were in and out every week.
I was pushed by those jobs. I discovered that I'm capable of a lot, and that I was capable of a lot more than a minimum wage job. As a teen, working in food was almost like a "scared straight" program.
There's nothing more hopelessly depressing than the thought of working in food for the rest of your life. Because of the fear for my job, I created the drive to never have to go back to it.
The life lessons, skills and independence I gained from working in food can't be produced from any other activity alone. I also made money while I did it. Even if you're no longer a teen, many individuals learn these lessons in college. There are plenty of food jobs in Lawrence. Or maybe you can't, but you can consider it for your children.
You can at least respect the most important lesson that I learned — always leave a tip.
Dalton Boehm is a freshman from Merriam studying journalism.
JAKE KAUFMANN/KANSAN
MOVIES
Give new 'Annie' actress a chance
one of the most popular musicals of the 20th century
starred a curly, red-headed orphan who went by the name of Annie. Many remakes of "Annie" have been done, most frequently adapted as musicals, with every Annie being played by a white female with curly red hair. A new movie trailer for "Annie" came out earlier this month, and many viewers were taken aback when they saw the girl who is going to be America's new Annie.
Oscar-nominee,
Quvenzhané Wallis, has been chosen to play the iconic role of Annie, and she is anything but your "traditional" Annie. Wallis is a 10-year-old African-American actress whose performance in "Beasts of the Southern Wild" earned her a best actress Academy Awards nomination back in 2012 - making her the youngest actress ever to receive this nomination. Not surprisingly, the internet exploded with comments about Wallis being chosen as Annie, and of course the comments had to do with the color of her skin.
People disregard the fact that Wallis is an amazing actress, instead they are focusing on the issue that she is not white and not a red-head. Personally, I feel that "Annie" is beneath Wallis' acting abilities, but that alone should give viewers a reason to think that this rendition of "Annie" will be phenomenal. Twitter comments flooded with remarks like, "I'm not racist but..." and followed with comments about how Annie should be played by someone who is white. If you have to defend yourself and say you are not being racist, you are, in fact, being racist. Annie is a fictional story. Who cares if it started off with a white, red-headed girl? Keeping things traditional is boring. It's fun to change things up every now and then, and this gives more
opportunities for talented actresses like Wallis to shine
For those who don't remember, there have been plenty of non-white roles portrayed by white actors. Elizabeth Taylor played Cleopatra, Ben Afleck played Tony Mendez, a CIA agent of Hispanic decent, in "Argo," Jake Gyllenhaal plays a Persian prince in "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" and Jennifer Lawrence plays Katniss Everdeen in the "Hunger Games." while in the books Katniss is described as non-white with dark, olive skin. The list goes on and on
- people are being extremely hypocritical over the fact that there is a "black Annie," but when roles are reversed and ethnic roles are played by white actors, people turn a blind eye.
People need to get over the fact that Annie is not going to be white, and that Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks will not be a white - he is renamed in the 2014 film as Benjamin Stacks, played by Jamie Foxx. "Annie" is taking a new direction and breaking traditional standards, hopefully giving future filmmakers a reason to take risks and use actors for their talent and not just their looks. Honestly, I've never had an interest in watching "Annie," but after seeing the trailer I'm excited to watch the new film this Christmas, not because of the color of her skin, but because Wallis' acting ability is simply perfection, and I know she is going to kill it as the "new Annie."
Cecilia Cho is a junior from Overland Park studying journalism.
FFA OF THE DAY Sorry everybody. The cold weather is my fault.I put my winter clothes away.
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CAMPUS CHIRPS BACK
@KansanOpinion yeah. I used to work at Mrs. E's. I will not forget all the behind-the-scenes work.
Is it important to work in a service job (ie: food, retail) to get the experience?
@OttoVeatch
@KansanOpinion Yes! To know how to properly tip servers and not treat them like your slave!
@emilyyeloise
HOW TO SUBMIT A LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Length: 300 words
The submission should include the author's name, grade and homeowner. Find our full letter to the editor policy online at kansas.com/letters.
Katie Kutsko, editor-in-chief
kkutsko@kansan.com
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@KansanOpinion Yes! So all of you people realize how much of a pain in the ass you are.
@LaBeauchampa
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THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Members of the Kansai Editorial Board are Katie Kutska, Ilison John, Kaura Armendarz, Anna Winner, Sean Powers and Kobot Bobts.
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