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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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NEWS
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2005
STATE
Creepy crawler
Dying language nears extinction
WICHITA — A language spoken by a few hundred elderly residents of Marshall and Washington counties in northeast Kansas was on the verge of dying out.
Plattdeutsch, or low German, is more likely to be heard in the home of an older couple than out on the streets of towns with such names as Greenleaf, Winfried and Waterville, near the Nebraska border.
Stephanie Farley/KANSAN
It's a language that brought shame to some after two world wars, and which parents often neglected to teach to their own children.
But times have changed. A University of Kansas researcher whose work is part of the school's German Dialect Research Project said the language was worth saving, and the editor of the local newspaper agreed.
"Everyone who speaks it is elderly, and if nothing happens to try to preserve this language, in one generation it would go extinct," said Dan Thalmann, editor of the Washington County News. "My father spoke low German until kindergarten, and I don't even know a word."
Scott Seeger, a graduate student at the University who is looking for people who still speak the language, said people weren't exactly proud of their language during and after the world wars.
"For many years it wasn't really acceptable to be really proud about being German-American, especially in the 1940s," Seeger said. "It's not something you openly wear on your shirtsleeve."
The people Seeger is studying are primarily descendants of Lutherans who moved into the northeast Kansas area in the late 1800s from the northern German lowlands. He said he had found about 350 people in the two counties who knew the language.
The Associated Press
Meet Fuzzy, who is displayed with the help of Deborah Smith, associate professor of entomology, yesterday afternoon. Fuzzy, a Chilean Rose Hair tarantula, lives in Haworth Hall.
Gonzo journalist, writer dies
PEOPLE
BY JOHN ROGERS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES — Paul Krassner recalls warmly his talking to Hunter S. Thompson about the gonzo journalist's plans to run for sheriff of Pitkin County, Colo., on the Freak Power ticket in 1970.
Thirty-five years later, Krassner is certain Thompson made the right decision. He lost that election, but went on to become one of the most famous writers of his time.
"I think that was the big turning point for him," Krassner told
The Associated Press from his Southern California home on Sunday night. "And he was very honorable, too. He even returned the $200."
Thompson shot himself to death Sunday at his Colorado home. He was 67.
The author of such books as "Hells Angels" and "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" is credited with pioneering New Journalism, also called gonzo journalism, in which the writer makes himself an essential part of the story.
In Thompson's case, the writer often portrayed himself as
Thompson shot himself to death Sunday at his Colorado home.
wildly intoxicated on drugs or alcohol (or both) as he reported on such historic figures as Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton.
"It was hard to say sometimes whether he was being provocative for its own sake or if he was just being drunk and stoned and irresponsible," Krassner quipped.
WORLD
"But every editor that I know, myself included, was willing to accept a certain prima donna journalism in the demands he would make to cover a particular story — demanding that we send him to Hawaii with three beautiful maidens he could dictate his stories to, for example. They were willing to risk all of his irresponsible behavior in order to share his talent with their readers."
"He may have died relatively young, but he made up for it in quality, if not quantity, of years," Krassner said.
North Korea says it may open talks
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Il told a visiting Chinese envoy that his government will return to six-party nuclear disarmament talks if the United States shows "sincerity," the communist state's official news agency said today. The announcement—the latest in more than two years of conflicting statements over North Korea's nuclear program—came less than two weeks after Kim flouted Washington and its allies by claiming that it had nuclear weapons and would boycot the talks.
The Associated Press
Israelis release 500 Palestinians
JERUSALEM — Palestinians gave a jubilant welcome to 500 prisoners freed yesterday by Israel as part of a truce, but many complained that uprising leaders were not among those released. Hamas militants appeared unmasked in a West Bank city, their leader shouting that there can be no peace "as long as there is a single prisoner in Israeli jails."
Suhail Abu Madala, 35, spent four years in prison and had three more years to serve when he was set free yesterday.
"I cannot believe that I'm smelling the air of freedom, that I will see my family," he said, choking back tears after being reunited with brothers and sisters and his 12-year-old son, Mohammed, in the West Bank city of Nablus.
The Associated Press
The decision to release the prisoners led to criticism by some Israelis that the move could re-ignite the bloodshed that has beset the region for more than four years.