THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012
PAGE 5A
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY RANSAN
opinion
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Dear Mrs. E's, there was a dead spider in my salad. That is gross.
Making eye contact with T-Rob at the Underground gave me the ability to dunk.
Got a free juicebox for having my blood drawn at Watkins. Hell yeah!
Saw a cat crawl under a bush with a dead squirrel in its mouth. Finally someone is fighting back.
Thank you Angry Birds Space for giving me something to do during biology.
My roommate asked for a ride home for spring break. I drove her to the bus stop.
If @FakeJeffWithey is a girl, I only have one question: Will you marry me?
That awkward moment when you realize that Tom and Jerry never actually talk.
At Kansas, every year is a re-Bill-ding year.
On Daisy Hill we don't have frat packs, we have granny packs.
Judging by all the other girls on campus, I'm beginning to think being pale is illegal.
Is it just me, or does Bill Self have a crazy resemblance to John Wayne?
Because of spring break, KU's AFR (average female rating) has increased by 2 points. Stay beautiful ladies.
Bernadette Gray-Little is just upset because we pile drived her state on the way to the Final Four - No class on Tuesday
Fire ants make waiting for a bus at the union terrifying.
It should be common practice to hitch rides around campus. (Editor's Note: Have you heard of the bus system?)
The mic on Dan's bus is broken.
Sabotage!
Yes, the Final Four tickets are $25. You know what isn't? Plane tickets and hotel rooms!
Running on the brick sidewalks of Lawrence is a real-life version of Temple Run, demon monkeys included.
Finally found the PDF version of the UDK. Now I can read the FFA online. Sweet!
Has no one said anything about KUboobs? Sigh, God bless the KUboobs.
Didn't know level of sudoku today. Challenge accepted!
To all of the whoo-ers during the rock chalk chant, you stop that right now!
I accidentally made eye contact with someone when I was eating a corn dog.
Nooo!
Just forced to walk past the class I was skipping today because it was being held outside. Awkward.
It's amazing what a little sun does to a person's looks.
There is one cloud in the sky, of course it will start raining when I go outside.
'Do unto others' should apply to all
One reporter believes students should treat each other fairly
As a moralistic person (at least in my humble opinion), it makes me sad to see fellow students attacking one another on various levels. I'll admit I'm just as guilty as the next guy, but it's something I've been working on. Whether we're Greek or independent, male or female, engineer or liberal arts, or any of the other dichotomies that have presented themselves through the Free For All, we should all treat one another with respect.
There are Christians, Atheists, Mormons, Agnostics, Muslims, and every other religious group here on campus. There are the fraternity brothers, and the ever popular independents. There are residents of Oliver Hall, and Daisy Hill. We are all Jayhawks. We are all students at this great university, but above all that, we are all people.
We all have emotions, feelings, and issues that upset us. I've realized through a relationship that I have with one of my close friends that even if we're making fun of someone in a joking manner, it can still be offensive or upsetting. Even something as small as making fun of what sports team a person supports can build up walls that can create an overwhelming distance in a relationship.
I'll refrain from too much Christian commentary here, even though I've been overcome with strong Christian beliefs lately. One point I will mention, however, is the most important lesson one can take from the Bible, whether you believe or not, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another."
These pointless attacks on our fellow citizens of planet Earth, whether in a joking sense or not, need to stop. I'm not saying you can't poke fun and mess around with one another, but messing around should be left to those who you know on a personal level, and even then should be limited to a point where the person is not uncomfortable. We're all different. We all have different levels of how much joking around we can take.
Whether in the FFA, chalking on Wescoe, or any other form of personal attack, even if you don't love each other, you owe it to your fellow humans at least have a common courtesy of respect.
The most apparent example of this I can provide is the constant battle between Greek life and Independent life
represented through the FFA. You've got the Greeks telling the Independent's that they're jealous of the friends and fun the Greek's have, and then you've got the Independents making fun of the pastel colored shorts, the polos, and the so called "frat packs" on campus.
While I personally am independent, and oppose a lot of the fundamental flaws in Greek life, I have been working on my personal prejudices lately. Did we not all learn the golden rule in elementary school? "Do unto others as you'd have done to you." How
many of us as children had these prejudices built up in our lives that weren't formed through society?
Society corrupts the mind, and tells us we must hate people who are different than us, whether it is in a religious sense, or a personal sense. In reality, we must all get back to the childhood innocence and blind love we shared for one another, before we conformed to the ways of society.
I'm a Jayhawk. I'm a student at the University of Kansas. I'm a person. And from here on out, I pledge to do my best to overcome personal biases
that have existed in my life. I pledge to do all in my power to respect, love, and care for my fellow beings. I pledge to become an overall better person. Will you join me, or be left out in the cold and bitter world full of hate. The door is open, will you take that first step?
— Ryan Schlesener is a sophomore majoring in journalism and Italian from Herington.
EDUCATION
Student bridges language gap with Italian teacher
Reporter gains acceptance while studying abroad
The professor of my Comparative
1 my Comparative Literature course at the University of Bologna in Italy walks in with a fur coat and two giant grocery bags every day. On the first day I watched her fling the bags across the table as the room echoed with the emptiness of only eight students. We were all wondering what in the world made us decide to take this course.
No one sat in the first three rows.
Her hands whirled around as she explained the course objectives; they looked a little more like war missiles than hands. So much for debunking the myth of the infamous
fly-off the-handle Italian temper. This lady was ready to explode at the first person that sneezed.
With only a handful of more experienced Italian students in the class, I couldn't bring myself to admit the first day that I was the only foreigner. I nodded and smiled along with her questions and when she made direct eye contact I quickly shot my gaze downward to the intricate tic-tac-toe pattern I was drawing in my notebook.
By Bernadette Myers bmyers@kansan.com
"I've heard horror stories of professors who fail foreign students because they forget to use the formal 'you' form."
I'll manage the course load. Sometimes they give me an adapted syllabus or request that I visit their office to go over the lessons. As a freshman at KU, office hours were drilled into my brain as a key tool to success. But, in a different language, in a different country, where your teacher has that hot Italian temper that might lead to chucking books at your head, I was nervous.
With only two weeks left in the course, I still hadn't told her that I was American. I've heard horror stories of
I was told at the beginning of my study abroad experience that I should go talk to professors about being a foreign student and how
professors who fail foreign students because they forget to use the formal "you" form. Someone once said they got kicked out
of class for yawning. I wasn't about to go admit to my spastic Comparative Literature teacher that my eager nods were just masking the fact that I couldn't understand half of what she was saving
When I finally made it to her office hours, she was thirty minutes late. She ushered me in and tossed the grocery bags under her desk, leaving the fur coat on for effect.
Of course, I was drawing a blank on the Italian word for foreigner.
"I'm American!" I blurted out, expecting to be picked to death by her harpy-like finger nails.
But she lit up, and not with the angry red I was expecting.
I almost threw up for sheer happiness. Never had I felt more excited to hear those simple words. Apparently, this Italian Cruella de Vil has a passion, not for killing puppies, but for the English language. She teaches an entire course on 19th century British literature. I was politely informed that, if I wanted to, I could read the texts for the course in English and she would give me twenty minutes to compose and write down my thoughts before my oral exam.
"I speak English", she responded with a thick accent and surprising enthusiasm.
This was best deal I'd gotten from any professor yet.
After those office hours,
I have still been rather confused in class and she continues to dart her missile-like hands into some kind of explanation, but I am no longer afraid that she will pull a staple gun from her grocery bags. Now I just feel bad for the Italian students that don't know any English who still sit terrorized in the corner.
Myers is a junior in European studies and Italian.
BOOKS
'The Hunger Games similar to 'The Lottery'
As I read this book, I realized how similar the reaping in The Hunger Games was to Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery" (1948). This nine page story focuses on a rural town of about 300 people that participate in a "lottery" once a year on June 27. The villagers gather rocks in the morning of this day as a ritual. What you don't realize is the rocks are used to stone a villager to death. The villager is a sacrifice to ensure a good harvest for the town. This unfortunate villager is chosen at the lottery if he or she chooses the slip with a black dot.
Like some of you, the "The Hunger Games" won over a part of my Spring Break. I immediately felt attached to the characters with no intention of putting the book down until I finished it. This dystopian trilogy has been wildly popular among young adults. The first two books made it to New York Times best seller and the last one made it to US Today best seller.
The audience's response to this story was the exact opposite than that of The Hunger Games. People even cancelled their subscriptions to the New Yorker where the story was originally published. Shirley Jackson received hate mail. The story was even banned in the Union of South Africa. However, sixty years later, the audience swoons over The Hunger Games.
The Hunger Games include starvation, cannibalism, decapitation, thousands of deaths, barbaric causes of death with spears and tridents, vengeance by government, etc. If anything, these elements make The Hunger Games exciting, appealing, shocking, and addicting.
Why were there vastly different reactions to similar themed stories? For one, "The Lottery" was published directly after World War II. "The Lottery" explores themes like cruelty by civilized people and the importance of tradition. World War II brought upon the worst cruelty
This commentary shows how desensitized we are to violence in both fiction and real life portrayed by media. We are the generation of social media. Seeing a grusome death on CSI or reading the details of an actual homicide on the internet is the norm. Most of us are desensitized by the time we are in high school.
Despite their similar themes, The Hunger Games strays from "The Lottery". This book is about connecting with characters that love their families, who are looking for justice and individuality, who make friendships during a blood-lust game, and who long for security. These books show that it takes one person to cause a revolution. The message being: you matter.
The intricate novel shows how violence is not the central theme, but the extra element to build suspense and entertainment that we enjoy. Different generations produce different types of appeals that fit with that audience's needs.
Saha is a senior in neurobiology from Overland Park.
For our generation, the audience and time is much different. The shocking premise is the compelling angle in The Hunger Games. When Katniss volunteers as tribute (a sacrifice), one is mystified. As more tributes die, the more one wants to find out what happens next.
by people that seemed civilized, like the Germans against the Jews and the Japanese against the Chinese. America wanted stability after the war and this short story disrupted that.
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