WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 2012
PAGE 5
opinion
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Text your FFA submissions to 785-289-8351 Sometimes I like to sit in Budig Hall and pretend that I'm a popcorn kernel preparing to pop.
That awkward moment when you hate your best friend.
I shaved my legs in case we won and someone put me on their shoulders. What a waste.
That was one hell of a rebuilding year. Rock Chalk for life.
Couldn't quite bring myself to leave Allen Fieldhouse immediately after the game. Thank you for everything this season boys.Love you.
Why didn't any of the KU fans in New Orleans think to make voodoo dolls of the Kentucky starters?
I blame the chancellor. One week too early.
You guys played with a lot of heart this season. Nothing to be ashamed about.
It's a sad day for the Jayhawk nation, but I couldn't be happier to be able to say that we were able to make it all the way to the National Championship!
To the guy that told me to sit down in Allen Fieldhouse. You obviously don't know what it is like to be a true KU fan.
Dude, you smell like a Hollister store. Maybe cut back on the cologne?
My physics professor looks like a Muppet.
Editor's Note: Is he a man or is he a Muppet?
If you leave your phone on vibrate during a test,you deserve to be punched in the face.
Is it really that hard to get Wi-Fi in the bathroom? I like to play "DrawSome-thing."
Is it just me, or does Daisy Hill look a lot more like Dandelion Hill these days?
To the half-naked drunk guy who tried to pound down my front door last night and then passed out on my porch: I hope you woke up with a monster hangover.
Did anyone else see that guy drop cash on the court while getting chased by security through the Fieldhouse?
My classes got canceled because of the game. Shhhh, don't tell the chancellor.
Where did all the Kentucky street signs go?!
Nothing to be sad about. I am so proud.
Will 'Hunger Games' plot become reality?
I just saw two bugs mating. It's that time of year again.
Why is there a shoe on the bus stop sign outside Bailey?
MOVIES
The odds are in your favor that you have heard something about the phenomenon known as "The Hunger Games," a dystopic novel-turned-movie adaption filling movie theaters and prompting reading marathons across the world.
The plight of Katniss Everdeen is pretty well-known: the United States has been replaced by a country known as Panem, with a totalitarian government that has broken the country into 12 districts and randomly chooses a boy and a girl from each to represent their district in the yearly Hunger Games. Only one of the 24 children makes it out alive.
Katniss's younger sister, Primrose, is chosen for the Games, but Katniss volunteers to take her place. The story is rich
with Katniss's inner monologue, one that is constantly examining this society structured around entertaining its citizens with an extremely morbid version of a reality TV show. The motif of being monitored and controlled isn't new ("1984") and neither is the around-the-clock reality show approach ("The Truman Show"), but "The Hunger Games" is an interesting case.
The function of dystopic novels is often interpreted as one that alerts readers to the pieces that make their own society tick and not so much as a warning to what may occur in the future. And, naturally, the popularity of this series has given us a lens through which we can examine the pieces that define entertainment in today's society.
we continue down some arbitrary trajectory that was societally constructed.
Our obsession with the idea of celebrity and manufactured storylines making up exhibitionist "reality TV" is put under a microscope. We can look at game shows we watch constantly — such as "Survivor," "The Bachelor," and "Big Brother" — that pretend to be honest with their viewers about what happens in the footage they choose not to show in a new way.
Suzanne Collins, the author of these books, claims to be neither a prognosticator nor clairvoyant. But the manner in which she has written the books and the attention they have received on such a large scale means we have an opportunity to understand a little bit more about how our lives are structured today.
We can understand a little more
Salsbury is a senior in English, history of art and global and international studies from Chapman.
about how 24-hour news channels operate by sensationalizing stories while reporting them to death. Our class system, cleanly defined and often ignorantly discounted, is made a little clearer.
At the same time, this futuristic society, which has citizens who see these Games as pure entertainment, shows us a lot about the extent of desensitization. No censorship is good, but sitting on the edge of your seat while watching 12-year-old children kill each other on national television does seem a bit extreme. With a spectrum created by the series' popularity, we can place ourselves on that spectrum to gauge just how desensitized we really are.
But, as I said, there is absolutely no one saying that something like this will eventually happen as
HEALTH
'Zumba' workout routine enjoyable awkward at first
I consider myself a fairly healthy and physically active person. I'm no Ironman, and the last coordinated team sport I did was pee-wee soccer, where I spent my time making daisy chains on the sidelines, but I like to be active. I work out five to six times a week, running, practicing yoga or doing Pilates. I enjoy physical exertion , and I'm always looking for ways to get a better workout.
So on a recent Sunday evening, when a dear friend of mine asked me on a whim if I'd go with her to a Zumba class, I said yes. I'd heard Zumba was an intensive cardio workout, but also highly enjoyable. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, my friend and I went to the Zumba class with light hearts, ready to share in a new experience.
The instructor clapped her hands together and exclaimed, "Good job! Now let's move on to the next." My eyes swung to meet my friend's and then swerved to the clock. We were five minutes into the class.
The next hour I exuded all the grace of a drugged hippopotamus. Not only was I unable to get most of the moves right, but, since I was also confined in a room lined with mirrors on two sides, I saw my image reflected back at me - a bespectacled, blob of tie-dye T-shirt, with a sad, limp ponytail, hobbling like an amputated platypus. (The
Let me be specific—I loathed Zumba. It was an hour-long descent into my own personal version of hell, except with more spandex than expected.
I hated Zumba.
It started out well- nough—class filled up fairly quickly, and the instructor came in, as peppy as I had come in feeling. She began the class by asking if anyone had never been to Zumba before. Timidly, my friend and I raised our hands, the sole admitters to naiveté in the room. The instructor smiled, and reassured us that it would be fine, explaining how wed be doing multiple "dance routines" and before each one she'd break down the moves wed be doing. Seemed simple enough.
The movement started off in a flurry, and I found myself scrambling from the get-go to try to follow along. I floundered through the steps, trying to execute the movements with the same precision as the instructor and found myself quickly learning something I should have considered before coming to a dance class: I really can't dance.
Uncoordinated but persistent. I gave my full energy to each step, and, finally at the end of the sequence, found myself out of breath and sweating. It was unpleasant, but I'd survived, right?
The music began, and so did my descent to the inferno.
awkward animal analogy goes a long way.)
In the past, I had often gone for hour-long runs, intense yoga sessions. Pilates sequences—workouts where I was in control and grounded, and, I liked to imagine, powerful, strong and graceful.
My sweat, tears, and perhaps blood mingled together around me in a pool of despair.
The universe took pity on me, and eventually the class ended. I exited the room with far less dignity and body-water-content than I had entered it. My friend and I joined in a commiserating bash session, discussing how frustrating the class had been, how dumb we had felt, how we never wanted to do squats in rhythm to a song where the chorus commanded us to "booty-pop," ever again. No zumba for us, we agreed.
But, I'm going back to the Zumba class.
ELECTION 2012
Despite how much I disliked the class during and immediately after, the next day when I woke up sore and feeling those "shimmy shimmy jumps," I was forced to admit it was a very effective workout. It was then that I started to reflect on exactly what had made me dislike Zumba.
I typically go for structured, intensive workouts, and Zumba threw me for a loop because of its inherently light-hearted nature. I don't like fun workouts, I guess. I probably need to work on loosening up, on not taking myself so seriously when it comes to physical fitness.
I think our society tends to feel as if we need to punish ourselves to be healthy—as if a healthy lifestyle is a one of constant sacrifice. But working out and health can, and should, be enjoyable. We shouldn't beat ourselves up if we're not quite as good as the instructor, or if we're not running as fast as the girl on the treadmill next to us. It's okay not to be in complete control.
I'll be back in that Zumba class, swiveling my hips and seeing my uncoordinated form reflected back at me, but maybe this time I'll be able to laugh instead of grimace.
Gwynn is a freshman in English from Olathe.
Clint Vanwuffen, a campaign aide for Republican presidential candidate former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, steams an American flag as campaign workers get ready for the election-night party in Cranberry, Pa., on Tuesday.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
U.S. 2012 presidential election affects countries on global scale
The Pew Research Center conducted a survey last fall asking Americans to name the current GOP candidates for the president of the United States. The result? 47 percent couldn't name a single candidate. So it's probably safe to assume that most people here don't know that Russia just finished its presidential election or that France will conduct its election later this month. You can't blame us for not being informed; our media is heavily America-centric.
But you can bet that the rest of the world is closely monitoring the buildup to our 2012 presidential election. While it's doubtful that most Americans could name French president Nicolas Sarkozy's primary rival (François Hollande), European newspapers often report on "funny" names such as Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney.
The reason that the world follows our election so closely, despite our indifference, is the U.S. still occupies a unique position of international prominence in the world. As such, decisions made—or not made—here can have a profound effect upon people from Rio de Janeiro to Jerusalem. So, an election here that reorients U.S. foreign policy could cause significant consequences for our allies and foes alike.
This election cycle is not unique in its international appeal. In fact, at one point during the 2008 campaign, Barack Obama's largest audience to date gathered in Berlin, Germany — a crowd of more than 200,000 people. During that election, Europe and much of the international community disliked George W. Bush and quickly became enamored with Obama's rock star-like persona and idealistic visions for a new America.
Today,just as in America,Obama has lost some of his luster with the international community,as he has not been able to bring about the "transformational" change that he promised.Accordingly,the world is watching with renewed interest as a new slate of challengers offer their views for the future of American power.
Take the examples I mentioned earlier—Rio de Janeiro and Jerusalem—each citizenry has a unique interest in our upcoming election.
Brazil's economy is highly interlinked with ours because of trade relationships. Furthermore, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, Brazil is the fourth-largest creditor of the United States. So, Brazilians have a shared interest in the recovery of the U.S. economy. The GOP has made the economy one of its primary campaign focuses. In particular, Mitt Romney's support of free trade aligns well with the interests of the Brazilian economy. The fact that we are having this discussion in the United States has the potential to affect the people of Brazil.
A perennially touchy issue in
U. S. presidential elections is our support for Israel. The United States has historically vowed to support Israel, particularly with regard to military issues. Currently, there is growing concern of a potential altercation between Israel and Iran over the issue of Tehran's pursuit of nuclear weapons. This is a serious issue for Israeli citizens because Iran has publically vowed to "wipe Israel off the map".
If armed conflict were to occur, the U.S. would likely be dragged in to support our Israeli allies. On this particular issue, the GOP position tends to be more "hawkish" (i.e. in favor of military action against Iran). On the other side, some have criticized Obama's diplomatic relations with Israel, which have deteriorated since he took office. Furthermore, some have viewed Obama's stance toward Iran as too soft.
In either example, it is easy to see how policy changes in the U.S. could have a significant affect on other countries. And these examples are but a few of the great number of reasons why the world is watching election 2012 in America. Whether it be animosity towards Romney in China or Obama's support in Western Europe (in particular, Scandinavians love Obama), people throughout the world have different reasons to pay attention to the process. However, one view is uniform among those looking in: The decision we make at the ballot box in November will have far-reaching consequences.
Loving is a senior in chemical engineering and economics from McPherson.
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THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Members of the Ranier Editorial Board are Ian Cummings
Lisa Curran, Jon Samp, Angela Hawkins and Ryan
Schlesner.
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