THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 2012
PAGE 5A
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opinion
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I'm half black and half of the female population of KU are darker than me!
Everyday my horoscope talks about love. I think the UDK is trying to tell me something.
If you have to wait until finals for nopants studying, I feel bad for you.
Great. This mug shot looks like just about every guy in my apartment complex.
You know it was a successful semester when you have a full album of pictures that you can't put on Facebook.
To the person who quoted Mulan in the FFA; marry me?
I have been popped on 2 times by a bird sense I have lived in Lawrence. Is that good luck?
Put your shirts back on pasty schol hall boys! Love, unimpressed schol hall girls.
There should be cup holders in Budig.
Oliver Hall: where calling to complain there has been no AC for almost a month yields, "You don't exactly pay for AC, so..."
I am going to go against logic for getting women. Chivalry is back ladies. Here I come.
Sleep deprivation, raised levels of stress, and long periods of time without nutrition. Academics are literally making me sick.
To the cute desky at Robinson; we'll be back, and not for the pool.
Most of the time, I wish life was a lot more like Disney World.
It must be close to final's week when people start bringing their own coffee maker to the library.
To the motorcylist with a boombox attached to the back and blaring Taylor Swift: you're amazing.
To the girl who came up to me while I was reading and told me how much you loved "Looking for Alaska," can I be your nerdfighter?
Attention hipsters: it's 90 degrees outside. You can take off your sock hats now. They make you smiley.
Honey, you need to stop tanning. You look like an oompa-loompa.
Just saved a girl with toilet paper hanging out her jeans.
No, why switch your underwear the right way at that point? Might as well keep rocking inside out underwear.
The fact is that it's Wildlife Wednesday. The question is whether to wear the wolf shirt or the koala tank.
What is with the KU security just chilling on Wescoe beach? Are they scared the football and basketball teams are going to fight?
70 degrees outside, 32 degrees on the bus. Enough with the over compensation.
Kansas should be a better red state
POLITICS
Last week, the Wall Street Journal ran an interview with Joel Kotkin, a leading U.S. demographer, Professor of Urban Studies, and self-described Truman Democrat about the mass exodus of people from California in the last two decades. Kotkin argued that "Californians are now voting more based on social issues and less on fiscal ones than they did when Ronald Reagan was governor 40 years ago." and that progressive economic policies have caused the state's decline. It reminded me of a theory I had heard about Kansas.
After high school I left my conservative bastion in Wichita to attend college in big city on the east coast. As a Republican from Kansas, I expected a culture shock and knew I would be in the political minority. What I did not expect was how much I was going to learn about my home state. In my political science classes, I frequently had to
discuss Thomas Frank's infamous 2004 book "What's the Matter with Kansas?" where the author argues that conservatives in Kansas and other red states have used divisive social issues to gain power and then impose economic policies detrimental to the interests of their socially conservative constituents.
Many of my northeastern liberal friends (and those here with that "Kansas: as bigoted as you think" bumper sticker) really believe we are a state filled with gun-happy religious zealots who still believe the earth is flat. I pity them because they have either not experienced or have failed to appreciate what a great state this is. It is a place that values faith, family, and freedom. But it's not right for everyone. Kansas is not California or New York and I am perfectly content with that.
The genius of federalism is that it allows states to be "laboratories of democracy," forcing them to compete with one another to
attract businesses and residents. The California experiment, like Greece, has failed miserably and is a prime example of the follies of runaway entitlements, powerful public sector unions, and high taxes. Meanwhile, the conservative states chastised by Mr. Frank and others seem to be flourishing.
Just examine the results from the 2010 census. Which states had the greatest percentage of population growth from 2000-2010? Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Texas, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina. Which states lost the greatest
percentage of their populations during that time? Pennsylvania, Illinois, Massachusetts, Vermont, New York, and Michigan. And for the first time ever, California will not gain a Congressional seat after this census. We can all agree Kansas has much more in common with the former group than the latter.
So why are people moving out of blue states and into red states? Because they desperately need a safe place to hate gays and hide from abortion while getting robbed economically as Mr. Frank suggests? I doubt it. They relocate because low taxes, less government spending, and less regulation mean more jobs and a better quality of life.
What is really the matter with Kansas is that we have not been enough like our fellow red states over the past decade. In 2009, the Tax Foundation scored Kansas as having the 19th highest tax burden in the country. Blue states in worse shape than Kansas, such as
New Jersey (1st) and Wisconsin (4th), began the arduous process of fixing their fiscal situations after the 2010 elections. Even California, the gold standard of progressive government, was forced to implement radical austerity measures to close its $24.5 billion shortfall in 2011.
Governor Brownback recognized this and has proposed an overhaul of our tax system headlined by the eventual elimination of the personal income tax. The plan has stalled during this session and is opposed by Democrats and many of the moderate Republicans in the Senate. Kansas has an important choice to make at this critical juncture. We can continue to idle along as jobs and people flock to Oklahoma, Texas, and Florida or we can throw our hat in the ring and begin to compete.
Christian Corrigan is a third year law student from Wichita.
RELATIONSHIPS
How to let go of 'the one who got away' and move on
Another year is nearly over, and that means another year of hookups, breakups and makeups. A lot can happen over a year in a dating life, and many of us may have a little more baggage this year than we did last.
Often, the worst kind of baggage is what we get from the one who got away. It's baggage like no other, and as we may find, it can be extremely difficult to shake. Letting go of it can take years.
This past February marked the four-year anniversary of the most devastating breakup I've ever experienced. I'd never been hurt like that before, and I haven't felt that kind of pain since.
When I dated my first love I was a senior in high school, and he was a sophomore at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. The distance between us spanned over 900 miles, but when we exchanged our first "I love you," there was nothing distant about it.
We soon became serious, and he applied to transfer to the University and was accepted. He had ties in the Midwest from previously living in Kansas, so he had a support system here. We talked about it for months, and I revealed in the idea of finally being physically together that next school year.
But I noticed around Valentine's Day that year he seemed to be acting strange. Six days later, he said he couldn't afford to transfer and pay out-of-state tuition, and then it was over.
When he dumped me, my heart shattered. My self-esteem went with it, and I was vulnerable.
It took a long time to pick up the pieces, and sometimes the
memory of that pain and how happy I was during the relationship still burns in my heart. It was the most innocent love I've ever experienced because it was baggage-free, and my whole heart was devoted to our future.
I stopped talking to him about a month after our split so my wounds could heal. It was difficult, but I figured if I wanted to get over him I needed to cut the ties between us.
With that, I unfriended him online, took a deep breath, and solemnly deleted his number from my phone. We stopped talking for about four months then began again right before I moved to Lawrence to start college.
Since then I have remained in contact with him. We aren't buddy-buddy, but we text sometimes and Skype occasionally. Sometimes the issue can still be touchy with me, but it doesn't sting like it used to.
But in cases when those breakups are more recent, dealing with them takes more than a trip to Orange Leaf and venting to our friends. Once our commitment to the one who got away is gone, we need to make a commitment to ourselves.
When we are dumped and rejected in these situations, there is no more important time to be
selfish. It is imperative that we do what we want, we do things that make us happy, and we start personal long-term projects we know we can finish.
In the process we become preoccupied and remain focused on what will make us happy and stop considering the one who got away to be a part of that. In mind of that, though, we have to remember that what we replace our lost love with needs to be something productive, like an art project or seeing a therapist who can help in the coping process.
In dealing with the one who got away, we must be proactive. We must always allow ourselves time to grieve, but we also need to take the initiative to start picking up the pieces ourselves. Turning to others for help can generally yield good results, but we need to take the first step ourselves to begin that process.
Getting over the one who got away is a feat like no other, and because not everyone can relate, dealing with it can be a really drawn-out process that can make us feel isolated. It can take weeks, months, or years.
However, if we allow ourselves grieving time and are proactive in being able to stand back up and mend our own hearts, we'll be able to check our baggage at the door when we enter our next relationships.
The first cut is always the deepest, but it if we take the time to be a little selfish after the fact, we can make a full recovery.
Keith is a graduate student in education fom Wichita
CAMPUS CHIRPS BACK
What is your most effective finals ritual?
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@DBK. Opinion No joke: a gallon of water and a huge baguette every time I study. I don't know why, but it keeps me going all week.
@whosmurf62
@Willdabeastku
TELEVISION
@UKK Opinion Walking out of the classroom after finishing my test first. Arms in the air, screaming "THIS IS SAIR!!!!" #runthin
New show 'Girls' is highly relatable
On April 15, 2012 HBO premiered a new series titled "Girls." The plot of the show revolves around Hannah: a recent college graduate who is living in New York City as a struggling writer whose parents have just pulled the rug out from under her by stopping to support her financially.
The first I heard of this show was a few days after its premier when I noticed the title on my HBO on demand. The characters are young adults, in their midtwenties, who recently graduated college, and who are struggling to find ways to support themselves even with that college diploma. I felt we had some similar qualities, as I soon will be joining the recent graduated from club college.
I watched the pilot episode and while reading the credits it said that the show was created, written, and directed by Lena Dunham (also, it is produced by Judd Apatow, i.e., "The 40 Year Old Virgin" and "Pineapple Express"). Then I discovered she also is one of the lead characters in the show. After some more Googling, I also found out she wrote, directed, and stared in a film called "Tiny Furniture," where, in a loosely similar plot, she moves back in with her mother and younger sister after graduating college and as she tries to figure out what she is going to do with her life.
I know that this show might not be fully intended for a twenty-four year old male, with a cast of four main female characters, but I could not stop watching the episode. I watched it a total of three times. Lena Dunham is becoming quite successful and we are the same age, not to mention her character, Hannah, in the show is the female version of me (something that is kind of creeping me out). I couldn't seem to figure out what intrigued me so much about
Dunham, so I decided to watch the Girls pilot episode two more times and I think I figured it out.
The shows dialogue has this cerebral intellectual New York speak, which is hilarious. As Hannah and her friend Ray talk about her trying to find a job, she protests about getting a job at a demeaning place like McDonalds
"What's wrong with McDonalds? You should work for McDonalds... They make an incredible product. It's affordable, it's delicious, plus I can walk into one in Nigeria... and you know what it is going to taste like. It is going to taste like home."
As Hannah replied, "That doesn't mean I have to work there. I went to college."
I feel that is the same attitude I have, as I am soon to graduate. That with this piece of paper I am too good to work at McDonalds, not to mention I have no desire to ever work in the restaurant industry again, but what I have come to learn is that I am not the only English major with a desire to write the next great American novel, or even a mediocre television show.
There have been many negative reviews on how the show is merely about four spoiled white girls who live in New York City. However, even if that is the case, the dialogue and humor is much more sophisticated then the majority of comedy television series, e.g., "Two Broke Girls."
The main argument against the show is that they are just spoiled rich white girls, but I disagree that, that makes it a bad show. I think that it is especially related to college students and/or recently graduated students and maybe that is why some people don't like or understand the show. For example, as a twenty-four year old college student I have not met anyone who watches "Two and A Half Men." There will always be critics, and Twitter users, who dislike a certain show, but don't let that turn you away from "Girls." There is far more beneath the surface than rich white girl problems.
Moffitt is a senior majoring in Creative Writing from Wichita.
@LSmithhisler
@UDK_Opinion creeping on all the hot guys at the library. Shawty!
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THE EDITORIAL BOARD
THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Members of the Kansas Editorial Board are Ian Cummings,
Lisa Curran, Jon Samp, Angela Hawkins and Ryan
Schlesner.