Volume 124 Issue 144
kansan.com
Friday, April 27, 2012
SPEAK
--chanted her name. She sat in the bleachers waving at all her "fans," drinking her free beer and having the time of her life. Nana dying so soon seemed impossible.
Under the Tuscan Sun
Making a tough decision and coping with an irreplaceable loss
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Kelsea (far right) and her friends Katie and Dani stop to take a look at the Tuscan countryside.
I stared at the stacks of clothes on my bedroom floor trying to figure out how they were all going to fit in my suitcase. The next day, the last day of May in 2011, I was leaving for a month-long study abroad trip in Florence, Italy. As I was deciding if I should bring all of my dresses, or just three of them, I heard the phone ring downstairs.
My dad called from my grandparent's house in North Carolina. My Nana had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer a few weeks before and my dad flew from our home in Kansas to visit her and my grandpa, whom we all call Pop Pop. My dad called to tell the rest of my family Nana's prognosis. The cancer had spread throughout her body. The doctors said she would die sometime within the next two days.
My Nana was 68 years old and a huge Chicago Cubs fan. Four years ago, my family went to a Cubs game while we were all in Chicago. My cousin and I made a sign saying, "We got Nana in the bleachers. Buy her a beer!" People bought Nana beer throughout the game and
When I heard the news about Nana, my body went numb and my eyes filled with tears. I crawled into my bed and buried my face in my pillow. I stayed like that for about two hours wondering how I would be able to go to Italy knowing my Nana was dying. I didn't know how I was going to manage being away from my family during such a hard time. I didn't know who was going to be in Italy to help me cope with Nana's death. I needed someone to help me make a logical decision about what to do.
Pop Pop called me a little while later. I almost didn't answer, but I'm glad I did because I don't think anyone else could have made me get my ass out of bed and find the strength to finish packing my bags. "Kels, your Nana would be pissed if she knew you didn't go to Italy because of her," he said in a tone I had never heard him use before. He sounded angry, but I could also hear sadness in his voice. Pop
Pop never gets angry, so I knew he was serious. I also knew he was right. I had to go. Nana wouldn't have wanted me to miss this opportunity and if she had been able to speak, she would have told me this herself.
I hadn't seen my Nana since summer 2010 when I was last in North Carolina. That year my grandparents hired a photographer to come to their house for a family photo shoot. We put on our best fake smiles and went along with it. At the end of the photo shoot, my family gathered in the backyard by the pool. I looked over and saw Nana whisper something to the photographer.
Nana started to run full speed towards the pool. When Nana got to the edge, the photographer snapped a picture as Nana jumped in the pool wearing a white shirt and jeans. When she surfaced, she had a giant grin on her face and looked at the rest of us as we laughed uncontrollably. That's the exact reaction she wanted from us. I have an action shot of her jumping into a pool fully clothed to remind me of how spontaneous and goofy she was. No
// KELSEA ECKENROTH
one would have believed Nana would be taken from us a year later.
The flight to Italy was long and miserable. I couldn't sleep and felt sick. I knew bad news was in my near future. After the plane landed and I got Internet access, I found out Nana died while I was in the air. I like to think that she waited to die until I couldn't change my mind about going to Italy.
The next few days were a roller coaster of emotions. I kept thinking I wanted to come home. My friends Dani and Katie were traveling with me and tried their best to cheer me up. A week went by and being submerged in a new culture with so many distractions eventually made the sadness temporarily disappear and gave me motivation to stay.
Nana's memorial service happened to be on the same day my friends and I planned to ride Vespas through the Tuscan countryside. I felt guilty. My family was gathering in North Carolina to mourn the loss of Nana, and I was in Italy about to live a day people read about in novels. I remembered the last time I spoke to Nana. I called her two weeks before she died. The last thing she said to me before we hung up was. "I love you sweetie. Have fun in Italy." I strapped on my helmet, hopped on the Vespa and took off.
I felt calm and at peace despite the wind whipping me in the face as we sped through the green Tuscan hills. I looked around at all the tiny stone houses sitting on the peak of each hill and wondered what it would be like to live there. Grape vines were planted in perfect rows, and as we went up and down the hills, the vines looked like they were moving in zigzags.
We pulled over to take a walk through a vineyard. Once we shut off the Vespas, it was completely silent. The grape vines looked so much bigger up close and the zigzags turned into lines of vines that went on forever. I gazed off at the panoramic view of the Tuscan countryside in front of me and couldn't imagine a more perfect moment. I was thankful that I was here instead of in North Carolina. I was closer to Nana here in my own personal heaven. She would have loved to live this moment and I was living it for her.
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FILMI
Documentary prompts race discussion in schools
XIN LI/KANSAN
Patrick Monroe, a senior from New Berlin, Wis., looks through a lens to focus a shot for his documentary. The documentary features the "Can We Talk" program at Free State High School, which focuses on racial issues in public schools.
XIN LI
**Index**
CLASSIFIEDS 7
CROSSWORD 4
CRYPTOQUIPS 4
SPORTS 8
OPINION 5
SUDDOKI 4
editor@kansan.com
Sylvia Yimer, a graduate student in the School of Social Welfare, went to visit the program "Can We Talk" at Free State High School. "Can We Talk" is a localized part of a national program. Yimer said her visit was driven by her interest in race equality in public schools.
A group of University students is producing a documentary called, "Courageous Conversations about Race," a program encouraging high school students to face racial issues.
Yimer said the program was meant to facilitate understanding of different races and reduce the academic performance gap between white students and students of minority groups. She said she was surprised by how unrecognized the program
Last September, Yimer brought the documentary idea to a University student club, the Documentary Film Society. The student club was just established by then. The president of the club, Patrick Monroe, a senior studying film, was excited to hear about the idea.
"Film can be used to make change and be the outlet for voices that are marginalized to be heard," Yimer said. "These kids wouldn't get an opportunity to get their stories heard without someone giving that to them necessarily."
Monroe said it was great to know that Sylvia was as dedicated as he was to filming and directing.
All contents, unless stated otherwise. © 2012 The University Daily Kansan
was. Yiner decided to make a documentary to raise awareness of the program.
"Since we started, we were focusing on funding and didn't have
Yimer said Singleton was personable. The author set aside more than four hours of his day to meet exclusively with Monroe and Yimer.
The program is inspired by the book "Courageous Conversations about Race — a Field Guide for Achieving Equity in Schools," by Glenn Singleton and Curtis Linton. In February, Yimer and Monroe flew to San Francisco to interview and film Singleton.
"It was easy to tell how passionate he was about his work and how eager he was to help us," Yimer said. "The interview with Glenn is by far the most important interview for the film."
anything solid to work on," Monroe said. "Then Sylvia called me with this golden idea."
Monroe said a lot of work needs to be done to make the documentary successful and he hoped they could eventually send the documentary to film festivals. He hasn't yet announced a release date.
"As a filmmaker, I hope this will be a calling card not just for me, for the club, but for KU," Monroe said. "We want to show people what KU students are capable of."
During spring break the team conducted an interview with a Free
Monroe said the project would expand through the school year and develop into a 70-minute feature.
Don't forget
State High School student who said to have benefitted from the program. Yimer said their next goal was to set up an interview with Tim Wise, one of the leading authors on race and racism in America.
Today is the Brown Bag Drag Show sponsored by SUA, Queers & Allies and Kicker. This is the last Tunes @ Noon of the year.
Edited by Anna Allen
Today's Weather
Showers and thunderstorms are likely, otherwise mostly cloudy.
HI: 67
LO: 54
Don't get struck by lightning