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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2014
PAGE 4
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TEXT
FREE FOR ALL
My roommate just carries around a 40 of green tea everywhere.
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These frigid temps have got to end soon. How am I supposed to find my future hubby if I look like a marshmallow everyday?
Bacon! Bacon, bacon, bacon!
Just had a breakfast burrito at the Early Bird Cafe at the Union.
Yummmm!
Walking through the snow sucks less when I pretend I'm Lord Commander of the Night's Watch.
Do Big Jay and Baby Jay smile under their costumes when the pose for pictures?
I'm still under the impression that K-State is not an accredited college.
Where the phog is Andrew White III?
Come on sun... Just give the snow the D.
After six wins in a row they were bound to get lucky. And we'd get tired of storming the court if we did it every time we beat you.
Beware the Phog.
Heart break in Manhattan
That moment when class ends and you still have a boner.
Orr *said* he called Smart a piece of crap, but that is not fact.
INSTALL MORE ACCESSIBLE LEFT
HANDED DESKS!
I am in need of a cuddle buddy!
Come at mee e
The amount of people playing World Of Warcraft in the library amazes me. Why don't they just play at home?
Eating clean would be easier if they didn't always give free food at the Union...
is it bad that getting "FFA of the day" feels more accomplishing then getting a good on a test...
Miami and Florida State get off the tv no one cares.
Late nights and coffee. What a perfect combination.
My roommate asked me to dump tea in Boston harbor...
Were there any good Superbowl commercials? Yeah, I thought not
We practically have our own Olympics here at KU because of all this snow.
I had a great K-State joke, but now I'm too cat-y to use it.
ENTERTAINMENT
Be smart enough to appreciate dumb movies
It's obvious that being smart helps a lot in college. College is the stage in your life where you start to dive into literature, philosophy and psychology and all sorts of theories and you finally start to sort out what your intellectual pursuits are. But, I like to think that you should be smart enough to appreciate the dumb stuff as well. To appreciate things like Febreze Sleep Serenity (It's an air freshener designed specifically to be at your bedside. Seriously.) To appreciate anything with DJ Khaled's name on it. To appreciate a good dumb
action movie once in a while. Especially the dumb action movies.
Some people might say,
"Wait, how am I supposed to enjoy a dumb movie? All they consist of is a bunch of car chases, one-liners and explosions. I'm above that Michael Bay stuff." That's missing the point. I like a cerebral drama that makes me think about it for a while afterwards just as much as anyone else. Films like "Citizen Kane" (yes, I have seen it, and yes, it's as good as they say it is) and "Children of Men" are awesome to that end. But that can't be all I watch. I'm a student first,
and my brain is running in a million different directions all the time. Putting yourself through the wringer with stuff like "Drive" regularly can't be good for your state of mind, especially when you're juggling research papers, midterms, assignments group projects, opinion columns, photo assignments and the like.
I think that taking a moment every now and then to kick back, microwave some popcorn, shut your brain off and take in something dumb like "The Expendables 2" or "Live Free or Die Hard" is valuable in this always-on academic and social culture we find ourselves in. The second semester of my freshman year became a trying time for me, especially toward the end. In my darkest hour, I decided to watch "Commando" on Netflix. Thanks to Arnold Schwarzenegger's hilarious one-liners and propensity for blowing up empty prop houses, I feel like my mental
state loosened up just enough to carry on with the semester and come out on top of what proved to be a pretty big test of my willpower.
All I'm saying is, it's a good idea to let your hair down once in a while and watch something that doesn't take a whole lot of thinking. Press "play," let your worries go and let the dumbness wash over you even if it's just for a couple of hours.
James Hoyt is a sophomore from Haviland studying Journalism
HEALTH
Self confidence is key to good body image
When I get naked, the shower gets turned on. Unfortunately, it's the only one getting turned on by my nakedness.
Initially, when I was writing this article, my plan was to start with that clever line and then move into why we all need to get to the gym and work our big butts off. I planned to go on about my belief that while pop culture "beauty" shouldn't matter, we should still strive to work toward that ideal. Then I started talking to people and decided that I might be a flip-flopping idiot.
Cosmo says you're fat? Well I ain't down with that. What is beauty, anyway? Who is the media to tell us what beauty is? As I sit here alone, pondering that question myself, I'm struck with the realization that, over time, my definition of beauty has changed tremendously. I used to be vain enough to think that while beauty might be only skin deep, I didn't need to be much deeper than that. First appearances are everything, right?
Whatever I might have appeared to be on the outside did not reflect who I was on the inside. On the outside I might have fit a certain mold, but on the inside, I was scared. That fear was derived from the possibility that someone might call my bluff. I didn't want anyone to see who I was on the inside because that person was frail at best.
I've spent much of my life thinking I was a bottom tier human being because I couldn't live up to bodies like Adrian Peterson or Marky Mark, but Aaron Hannon, a trainer from
Underground Lab in Lawrence, had strong words related to my flawed beliefs.
"People get too focused on what's on the damn scale. What is that? Just a worthless number," Hannon said. "It's better to think 'healthy and strong' as opposed to 'How do I look to others?'"
It is only recently that I've decided to work toward improving myself to build some foundation for that skin deep shell. To me, the beauty of confidence, intelligence and the oft underappreciated ability to partake in meaningful social interaction is far more breathtaking.
I just hope that people will love themselves how they are. Even if you think you are the wrong shape, size, latitude, longitude, color, hue, whatever, you are beautiful and sexy. Love yourself and that will naturally lead to a desire to take care of your body. Don't get wrapped up in striving for unrealistic goals because you might reach them and find that you hate yourself. Find something more substantial. Hannon went on to reiterate the old cliché "The journey is the destination."
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I just want you to find the right road map.
MUSIC
Nick Jackson is a senior from Lawrence studying chemical engineering
Deporting Bieber will not solve his probem
There seems to be somewhat of a blueprint for the life of a child celebrity, a secret map guiding their existence: Young, talented, idolized, insanity, burnout.
While this is certainly not the case for all child stars, the formula sounds all too familiar—most likely because we have seen it play out countless times with stars such as Brittney Spears, Amanda Bynes, Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber, to name a few.
In the past, reprimands and rehab have been the standard remedy for a meltdown. Cyrus, however, has managed to receive praise among the outrage for succeeding at staying relevant and daring by taking a risk—or several.
Bieber, on the other hand, has yet to experience this same acclaim. What sets his outbursts apart from others? Have we reached our limit on hearing about Hollywood hoodlums?
Not in my opinion. I don't think Bieber's series of stunts reach new levels of obscenity, and I don't think the ever-eager ears of society will stop listening, or more importantly, caring, anytime soon. I think the reason we continue to hear and see his name in the media is because we continue to listen and look. It really is quite simple.
Sure, Bieber has received
plenty of attention over the years. At first, interest stemmed from his prepubescent voice and great hair, while today attention is captivated with his peculiar smiling mug shot and string of questionable actions.
While I personally consider Bieber's blips as light humor, there are others that feel very strongly about his bizarre behavior. More than 200,000 others, in fact.
An article from Rolling Stone stated that on Jan. 23, a "We the People" petition to deport the Canadian native was created, and since then it has reached more than 250,000 signatures.
"We the People" is a petitioning system created with the intention of "giving all Americans a way to engage their government on the issues that matter to them," according to its official website. Once a petition reaches over 100,000 signatures, the Obama administration is then required to respond.
Rolling Stone included the petition in the article.
"We the people of the United States feel that we are being wrongly represented in the world of pop culture,' the petition reads. 'We would like to see the dangerous, reckless, destructive, and drug abusing, Justin Bieber deported and his green card revoked. He is not only threatening the safety of our people but he is also a terrible influence on our nation's youth. We the people would like to remove Justin Bieber from our society.'"
I cannot discern whether this is an afflicted attempt at a child star vying for relevancy, or yet another illustration of the implications of fame and fortune at a young age. Regardless, Bieber, like so many before him, has landed in a less than fortunate situation—riches aside.
Personally, I don't see deportation as a solution. I don't think these incessant incidents can necessarily be resolved at all without starting at the root of the problem.
Child stars are inevitable. The compelling combination of youthful talent creates a reliable recipe for success. But if a few wrong ingredients are tossed in along the way, it becomes all too easy to end up burnt.
Lyndsey Havens is a sophomore from Chicago studying journalism
FFA OF THE DAY
It's okay guys, K-State can storm the court in February, we will be storming Mass. in March.
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