WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2012
PAGE 5
opinion
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I never know after finishing a test if
I got everything right or absolutely
everything wrong.
Bread goes in, toast comes out. You can't explain that.
Really? We're still sticking gum under the desks? We're not in high school anymore.
Is it possible to stone someone with Fruity Pebbles?
You know the semester is almost over when you have a sudden will to spend the night at Anschutz.
The first company that can promise cell service in Wescoe wins my business.
Did my professor really just play the "Call Me Maybe" music video in class? I can dig it.
Whenever a sad song comes on my iPod, I like to walk down Jayhawk Boulevard as though I'm in the dramatic part of a movie.
For people who are afraid of birds, this season on campus is the worst. I feel like a paranoid schizophrenic.
You know you're pulling an all-nighter when you see the people putting out the newspapers on your way home.
To the cute girl sitting alone at a table in Watson Library: It's hard for me to study when I just want to look at you.
So Teahan is a waffle-cone-kind-of guy. Best ice cream experience ever.
Got called out by my professor today for reading the UDK in Budig. I will read his PowerPoint slides after I read the FFA.
Honestly, since when did we get a giant crane on campus?
Ladies, please stop giving weird looks if I open a door for you or give you my seat if there isn't another one. Momma just raised me right!
If only girls who wore running shorts actually ran.
Debating which is worse: letting my mother continue to post embarrassing comments to everything I do on Facebook, or offending her by blocking her.
I need to start putting softer textbooks in my bag to make it more pillow-y.
I move that we play elevator music in bathrooms to alleviate awkward stall silences.
To the girl with the Razor scooter on campus: wanted to make fun of you, but realized that I'm just jealous.
My computer caught on fire at Watson!
Please get a touchscreen phone. Everyone can hear your typewriter phone when you text in class.
You realize those graffiti on the bathroom walls are actually useful when you have to sit there for 15 minutes.
Let's eat Grandpa. Let's eat, Grandpa. Punctuation saves lives.
The flowers made campus so pretty for three days.
LITERATURE
Top five books for every college student
At this point, some of my adoring readers out there are already saying, "Josh, that's two top five lists within a month. Come on now, that's just lazy journalism!" To that I say, touche. But I have my reasons, thank you very much!
Come on now, that's just lazy journalism! To that I say, touche. But I have my reasons, thank you very much! Also, my attempt to condense all of the great novels in human history into a paltry 800-word column is quite simply...asinine. There are thousands upon thousands of list-worthy works to choose from, all with significant purposes and themes to contribute to the human imagination. Nevertheless, here are my five books every student should have in their personal library.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig
"Zen and the Art" is less a traditional narrative and more a treatise examining the branches of philosophy known as aesthetics and epistemology. Pirsig proposes the question "What is quality?" to a society enamored with quantity. The question seems simple enough, but it's one that tortures the protagonist as he journeys on a cross-country motorcycle trip with his son. Loosely based
on Pirsig himself, the protagonist slowly regains memories from his pre-electroshock therapy days and rediscovers exciting but unnerving ideas about science and philosophy. ZAMM is an intellectually challenging read, as it should be. Pirsig scored a genius level 170 on an IQ test—at the age of 9.
Favorite Quote: "It is a puzzling thing. The truth knocks on the door and you say, 'Go away, I'm looking for the truth', and so it goes away. Puzzling."
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
If "Catcher in the Rye" is the gold standard for pessimistic, angst-ridden boys, then "The Bell jar" has been the near equivalent for anti-establishment
women everywhere since its release in 1963. Yet another semi-autobiographical novel on this list, "The Bell Jar" was Plath's only novel amidst her short story and poetic works. Esther, the novel's protagonist, is smart, beautiful and talented but incurably sardonic and distant from most others. She is continually disappointed by her romantic relationships and begins to lose interest in her writing and schoolwork. Her descent into severe depression and psychosis is quite sudden and peculiar. "The Bell Jar" addresses self-identity and the often-mysterious distance between men and women. Plath committed suicide just months after the book's publication.
Favorite Quote: "I felt very still and empty, the way the eye of a tornado must feel, moving dully along in the middle of the surrounding hullabaloo."
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
Most people still champion Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" as the quintessential American classic of the beat generation. Kerouac wrote the novel in a stream-of-consciousness
KEROUAC
style, hammering out the story in a mere three weeks on a 120-foot paper roll. The story follows Sal Paradise, an alter ego of Kerouac, as he and his intellectual buddies (modeled after Kerouac's own beatnik friends) race around America in search of, well, something. Sal and his friends care little about their destinations, only that they keep moving and living life to the fullest extent. "On the Road" celebrates the freedom of the American frontier in a post-war world and has influenced countless artists since its release. There is also a film adaptation currently in the works.
Favorite Quote: "N isn't true that you start your life a sweet child, believing in everything under your father's roof? Then comes the day of the Laodicea, when you know you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, and with the visage of a grusome, grieving ghost you go shuddering through nightmare life."
Anthem (or anything else) by Ayn Rand
Rand is by far the most polarizing author on this list, and "Anthem" is perhaps her least known work. "Anthem" is very short novella
(about 90 pages) set in a dystopian future in which individualism has been completely nullified and the government assumes total control of the people. Each person is given an identifying number and condemned to a monotonous life dictated entirely by "the Council." Slowly, the protagonist, Equality 7-2521, discovers what it means to be human, finds love and escapes the reigns of collectivism. I suggest reading "Anthem" before moving on to Ayn Rand's more expansive works. There is not much middle ground with Rand; you'll likely love her or hate her ideology.
Favorite Quote: "The secrets of the earth are not for all men to see, but only for those who will seek them."
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The most controversial American classic is also my No.1 recommendation for every student's personal library. The story's protagonist, 17-year old Holden Caulfield, is perhaps the most lovable anti-hero in modern literature. While many novels glorify the coming-of-age transition between childhood and adulthood, Holden has a strong disdain for it. He thinks most adults are "phony" and mourns the loss of innocence when a person matures. Holden himself is alienated, angst-ridden and dreadfully cynical. He smokes, curses and is just generally offensive. Most of us have at one time or another felt exactly as Holden does, making him one of the more relatable outcasts in recent
RELIGION
now where the hell you are. Girls, Jesus Christ
you can drive you crazy. They really can."
Favorite Quote: "That's the thing about girls.
Every time they do something pretty...you fall half in love with them, and then you never know where the hell you are. Girls, Jesus Christ."
Freedom still limited in US
We have a long way to go when it comes to eliminating religious discrimination in the United States. On one hand, the Kansas House just passed a law (seemingly in direct response to anti-discrimination laws passed recently in Lawrence) allowing for flat-out discrimination against people based on gender identity, sexuality, race, etc. if such discrimination is part of an individual's religious beliefs. Though I am hard pressed to figure out exactly why parts of our country's majority religions condone discrimination in these ways, this means citizens may now use religion as an excuse for institutional discrimination.
On the other hand, minority religions and even minority perspectives on religion are often attacked or considered "un-American." It's a commonly discussed problem that, at least in the foreseeable future, a Muslim president or an atheist president seems impossible.
Though I support civil discourse and disagreement because it encourages personal growth and the sharing of knowledge, I am disheartened when I see students dismiss Christians in a generalizing manner as totally and completely irrational or when I see hyper-religious writers reject groups simply because of different beliefs of which they disprove. But every now and then, I am reminded of how far we have come on the road to religious freedom. Unfortunately, that reminder usually comes in the form of a blatant violation of this freedom in another part of the world.
I had the privilege a couple weeks ago of meeting some students at our university who are part of the Baha'i Student
Organization. I'll admit that I didn't know much about the Baha'i religion before listening to them, but I learned that it is a peaceful religion focused on the gradual movement toward unity and justice in the world.
The student organization showed a documentary at Liberty Hall at the end of March called "Education Under Fire." The film highlighted the devastating struggles practitioners of the Baha'i faith face in Iran. They are persecuted in their own country, many executed for their beliefs, and they are not allowed to receive an education.
Many Iranian Baha'is study at the Baha'i Institute for Higher Learning (BHILO), a school created to provide a safe and open learning environment for young Baha'is. Though the school provided the benefit of a centralized education for marginalized students, the organization was constantly in danger of being shut down by the Iranian government. At one point, the school was closed and
Peace activists around the world have been calling for an end to the persecution. But to the political authorities in Iran, the Baha'i are undeserving of an education. They know that knowledge is power, and they refuse to grant the possibility of power to this oppressed group.
many professors and administrators were arrested. But Baha'i and allied Iranians still continue to use their network to educate students, rebuilding the school once again.
In an effort to continue their education, many Iranian Baha's moved to the United States for further schooling. However, the documentary highlighted the difficulties these students face in getting their credits accepted at American universities. Though they may have excelled at the BIHL, the curriculum standards may not be easy to match universities here. These students have a hunger for learning and a desire to work hard to achieve; they should not be prevented from learning here in the United States after already overcoming the obstacles to learning in Iran.
Some universities have begun accepting credits from BIHL, but the University of Kansas currently does not. The Baha'a Student Organization is collecting signatures on a letter to the University asking that administrators consider accepting these credits so that students from Iran who pursued their education through the BIHL can have the educational opportunities here that they should have had in Iran. We should support this student organization and echo its request that the University looks into accepting BIHL credits. Though religious freedom is not perfectly protected here, we must do what we can to protect the freedoms of those who have elsewhere experienced significant discrimination.
Cosby is a senior in English and political science from Overland Park
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
In response to Friday's results from Student Senate elections
Friday's Kansan said that SPQR had gotten two out of the 54 senator seats and that they were satisfied with that. Monday, with further votes tallied up. The Kansan pointed out that it actually didn't get any votes. With all due respect to SPQR, it failed on its mission.
Unlike last year, this time I voted for KUnited because they had the best platform. Let me rephrase that: They had a platform. The lack of political competition was printed on voters' lack of interest on the run. Only 8 percent of students cast their vote this year, falling from last year's high of 21 percent. This proves the lack of interest from students in their government, and there are plenty of reasons why that happens.
First of all, students generally undermine Student Senate's influence on the University. A lot of people don't realize that years ago, it was the Senate that fought for free KU on Wheels, which saves you ton of money each year, and installed the SafeBus and SafeRide system. Not to mention that the 600 student organizations on campus, which propel so many rich events that can and should be taken advantage of by all students, get their funding from Student Senate. This apathy toward the student government should stop, as it has the power to voice our concerns
But it's not the student body's fault; neither of these year's coalitions had a strong platform that could captivate the student's body attention. Last year's KUnited coalition proposed the bold goal of reducing general requirements in order to increase the speed and rate of successful bachelor's degrees. On the other hand, RenewKU proposed to serve beer in the Union to promote safe celebration and increase the University's revenue string. Both of these examples were the most controversial ideas, but those were the ones that drew the most people into the voting booths.
This year's coalitions had, in my opinion, weaker goals than the last term's, with SPQR's platform being as vague as reducing students' debt and KUnite'd's boldest propositions being stabilizing the grading system and creating a Spanish minor. Not to say that their objectives were weak, but they could have definitively been better.
SPQR's mission was to "start a conversation," but the conversation didn't start. In fact, fewer people had their voices heard. Hopefully, this will change next year.
Sebastian Sanchez is a junior in economics from Santa Cruz, Bolivia.
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A
THE EDITORIAL BOARD
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Lisa Curran, Jon Samp, Angela Hawkins and Ryan Schlesen.