MONDAY, APRIL 9, 2012
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAS
PAGE 5
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To my gay best friend: I wasn't angry because you borrowed my favorite pair of skinny jeans, it was because you looked better in them.
Sports Illustrated ranked Kansas as 17th for next preseason. Bill Sillip, "Challenge accepted!"
I've noticed my roommates' ramen intake has increased this week. There must be a chem exam coming up.
Yes, I know what sport is played at Hogland, and yes, I have been to a game there. It's amazing.
At the end of the month I bring home all of the UDK newspapers to my family and read the FEA aloud.
Today, I finally got the guts to text this cute girl in my psych class. I started sending flirtatious texts, so only to find out the hard way that she'd given me her boyfriend's number.
A student ambassador just described Watson as "Hogwarts-y-" That will win all the high schoolers over
Dear doctored peanut butter smoothie guy in The Underground:
You are my hero.
You were so cute, and then you started smoking.
Just watched a lady leave her little kids in the Union alone while she went to class "real quick." This is not a daycare.
Allow me to verbalize my facial expression: "I'm tired and very uninterested in what you're saying. Stop talking."
I hate waking up, getting ready,
and walking to class only to find
out that it is cancelled.
I have been calling someone the wrong name all semester and now that I know, it is awkward.
Just read an article about the air guitar championship in Lawrence. Why does this exist?
Tell me why, when I hear the steam whistle, I instinctively check the time on my phone.
Has anyone actually received a lemon from life?
To the guy watching golf during the calc lecture: You're supposed to distract yourself with things more interesting than the lecture.
Do feminists hate Dan the bus driver? He greets every girl with "hot stuff, girlfriend, or girl." How much, I think it's hilarious.
Last December, the editorial board wrote about the Hertz on Demand rental car service that was to become available for use in January. The rental car service was seen as a way to combat drunk driving; friends without cars would be able to rent a car to pick up a friend who was out drinking. The online rental service was expected to make renting a car convenient and equally available for all students.
EDITORIAL
That awkward moment when you think you see the Easter bunny, but it is just a squirrel.
Campus car service is a success
Since January 12th, the
arrival of the cars, the monthly numbers of members, vehicle hours driven and overall utilization have all steadily risen. There are four cars in the program and students are able to go online through www. parking.ku.edu/hertzondemand to rent the cars. Students can even see on the page, where the cars are located on campus. There are two on Daisy Hill and two at the Kansas Union, so students and faculty alike can easily access the service. The service regularly holds
Witnessed a crucifixion. Just another day on Wescoe Beach.
I just sat down on a toilet seat and it was warm.
The Hertz on Demand service asks users to become members, which is a free service that allows 24/7 access to rental services. The number of members has grown from a mere 68 in January to 218, which is greater than the March goal of 200 members. Likewise, utilization has risen
discounts, it is a service that is clearly marketed toward being available and accessible to students who aren't able to afford or don't want to have their cars with them in college.
from 2.25 percent in January to 19.79 percent in March. Officials in the KU Parking and Transit office said that they won't consider adding more cars until utilization reaches 30 percent, which appears to be a benchmark at other universities.
out more, visit www.parking-
ku.edu/hertzdemand, like
KU on Wheels on Facebook
for updates about Hertz on
Demand, follow the parking
office on twitter
@parkingKU or call the parking
office at 785-864-PARK (7275).
The rental service is good for the university. It is easily accessible and inexpensive compared to bringing a your own car to college. Most importantly, it is a great way to the fight against student drunk driving. To find
Billy McCroy for the Kansan Editorial Board
Sensational view of the U.S. is more fanatic than realistic
INTERNATIONAL
Once a week, I teach a one hour English lesson to a group of
Italian speaking 11-year-olds at a public school in Bologna, Italy. My job is to get them excited about speaking English. Their job is to listen to me ever-so-attentively and take vigorous notes.
After the first couple of days, I realized I had complete control of the classroom. Like most things are run in Italy, I was given no instructions or specifications. Literally, the teacher would walk out and leave me in there alone with them.
This is where it gets fun.
This is where it gets tun. One of my first lessons, I brought in a giant map of the U.S. to talk about all the different states.
I ask them "what places do you know about in the U.S.?" say "New York!"
They say "New York:
"California!" "Las Vegas!"
Texas was also popular. Italian kids love talking about cowboys and the "West." There is an Italian film called "Un Americano a Roma" where the famous Italian comedian Alberto Sordi runs around Rome pretending to be a cowboy from "Kansas City." Almost everyone here has seen this film, so when I say I'm from Kansas, the first thing they think of isn't "Il Mago di Oz" ("The Wizard of Oz") but this Western-style Italian comedy. For them, I am a cowgirl from a farm living in the "West." I've been slowly trying to convince them that they're thinking of Texas.
By Bernadette Myers bmyers@kansan.com
For some crazy reason during our cowboy discussion I decided to bring up the Alamo. Of course Italians don't know what the Alamo is, and I don't really either so who knows why
I mentioned it, but I couldn't just leave it unexplained.
"Well the Alamo is a fort... in Texas. And during this one battle... 100 Texans were in the fort. And they had to hold out against... 1000 Mexicans! And they all died!"
It escalated from there when we got to the middle of the U.S. What in the world can you say about those states that 11-year-old Italian kids will care about? I just completely skipped Nebraska and told them that you can only find buffalo in North Dakota.
Yes, I actually told this completely inaccurate story. I threw in the numbers just for effect, and I really could not remember who was fighting who or what the whole story was.
After this U.S. geography lecture, I spent a day talking about Thanksgiving. It's virtually impossible to explain the politically correct story to a group of non-English speaking children. So, instead the Indians (who they described as red-skinned and as always wearing headdresses) are best friends with the white man and we always eat dinner together every November.
I eventually gave up on actual academic topics because they weren't really into it. Instead, I switched to pop culture. We spent an entire class period on the lyrics to Lady Gaga's "Born This Way."
They seemed to like this lecture a little more than my usual lies so the next week I decided to do something a little more interactive.
What is the one song that they play at every middle school mixer?
And everyone knows the dance to?
The Cha Cha Slide!
I explained to them the gravity of the situation. If they even wanted to understand kids their age in the states, if they ever wanted to be "cool," they would have to learn this dance. Face it, it was a big deal in middle school.
First, we went over the key words.
Stomp.
Reverse
Charlie brown.
Very integral English words.
Very integral English words. Then I played the song for them once through. They were silent.
"Ok, this time everyone has to stand up and dance!"
They got up grumbling. I knew what this meant, I wouldn't be able to just sit down and watch them stomp out the steps, I was going to have to "Cha Cha" as well.
Despite the now 10 years since I've been to a middle-school mixer, I still had the moves. They loved me!
Maybe they were just secretly laughing at me rather than at how much fun they were having. All I can say is that when the song finished they asked for it again. So we "Cha-Cha-ed" one more time!
At the end of the lesson, I received my very first standing ovation. My plan is working. I'll be coming home to America with a small army of brainwashed Italian children.
Myers is a junior in European studies and Italian.
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RELATIONSHIP
BUDK_Opinion Favorite Outdoor Activity: reenacting cenes from Platoon with Charlie Sheen.
Friendships with partner's parents may cross the line
As we transition in college from high school to real life, we often
become more serious about the relationships we share with our partners. If our significant others are close to their parents, it may be necessary that we are too.
A solid relationship with your significant other's family is important, but there is a point of being too close for comfort.
This Friday I turn 22. When my boyfriend asked me what I wanted from him for my birthday, I said that I'd like his mom to come to town to celebrate. We always have a good time together, and I'd like that again on my birthday weekend.
A few months ago I was sitting in a bar back home catching up with Michelle, a friend who moved back to Wichita. The topic of my boyfriend's mom came up. I told her that I like spending time with my boyfriend's mom, and she seemed surprised.
Michelle said shed feel weird spending that much time with her then-boyfriend's mom, and it made me wonder if my relationship with his mom is weird.
Is it weird that I've once spent a Saturday with my boyfriend's mom making a Joan Rivers sex joke over too-strong martinis then stumbling around the Plaza.
the Plaza together?
Is it weird that I could spend three hours watching TLC with her and I wouldn't feel like I wasted my time?
But there is a line. I love spending time with her, but there is such thing as being too close to your significant other's parents.
My relationship with my own mother is good, but I revel in having a good one with my boyfriend's mom too.
A relationship with our partners' parents is too close when we discuss our dating woes with them before we discuss them with their own kids. This isn't to say that I discourage seeking advice in them. However, we shouldn't consider them a refuge from issues in our relationships with their children.
"I love spending time with her, but there is such thing as being too close to your significant other's parents."
This is problematic because it suggests that there's a break in communication between our partners and us, which can break the whole relationship. If we aren't willing to tell our
By Rachel Keith rkeith@kansan.com
partners something, we probably shouldn't tell their parents. It can create tension between us and their folks, so we should save it for the person we're actually dating.
Besides that, the bonding that happens between us and our partners' parents can contribute to a healthy relationship with their children.
Finally, my friends may find my relationship with my boyfriend's mom a little unusual, but I'm happy to have it, and so is my boyfriend. It makes my relationship with her son stronger, and because I want to make
RACHEL KEITH
relationship writer
The downside to having such a relationship is that upon a breakup, tension may burn the bridge between us and our exes' parents. However, this isn't necessarily going to be the fate of every relationship. While a romantic connection lasting forever is a long shot, a solid bond with a partner's parents as long as he/she is on good terms with them too does every relationship good.
this one last,
I hope and
expect that my
relationship
with both of
his parents
will become
even more
solid.
The success
of a relationship doesn't necessarily depend on a buddy-buddy friendship with our significant other's parents. However, it's good to make some kind of effort, even if it seems a little forced at first. With time it should evolve into something genuine as we discover mutual interests, like vodka martinis and Say Yes to the Dress, ultimately forming an actual connection.
If we're in serious relationships that hope to sustain, having this kind of relationship with our significant others' parents might be crucial, and this birthday weekend. I'd like to raise a martini glass to mine.
Rachel Keith is a graduate student from Wichita in education.
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THE EDITORIAL BOARD
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Members of the Kansan Editorial Board are fan Cummings Lisa Curran, Jon Samp, Angela Hawkins and Ryan Schlesinger.