4A = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
WEDNESDAY,APRIL17,2002
864-0500 free for
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about
any topic they wish. Kansan editors reserve the right to omit comments. Slanderous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incoming calls are recorded.
For more comments, go to www.kansan.com.
I'm watching you. I know what you're doing. You're typing.
Yes, she is hot, but in your sense of the word, because you don't know her. No she was not drunk, because she wasn't dressed for you. No she's not random, and Raggedy Ann is a doctor and a friend. What are you?
Your days are numbered, Millhouse
I would just like to say that I was friends with Jonathan Ng in high school, and nobody deserves this as much as him. Way to go, John, and Emily says congratulations, too.
I just wanted to say that even though she lost the election Karen Keith is still the hottest girl on KU's campus.
Bosch. Big man on campus. Not so big. Got a speeding ticket.
Cops didn't let him slide.
On behalf of the Jayhawker Towers, I would like to thank that girl for dancing in the frat house across the street on Thursday night. That was nice.
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Dude, I rule. I just went to the bank and stuck in a $100 check,
and I got my balance. It was $101.17. That means before my
check went in I had $1.17. Wow, I'm good.
Hey Eric Borja, sorry for throwing up on your floor.
great, our campus is now going to be run by a bunch of resume builders. That's just what we need.
Today I went to enrollment, and I was just wondering — how much advising do I need? I wanted to the School of Business advising. I went to freshman-sophomore advising. Today during my enrollment I had to get even more advising. How much advising does it take to take ECON 1427? Just asking.
For all you Triangle boys that are angry that your posters are stolen, we have them, and they're better in McCollum Hall.
I'd just like to say that any rapper that does a song with 'N Sync, you know he's a sellout.
I think I love you, Jenny.
I was just wondering if Rob from Oliver with the sex hair would marry me, because that would be like the best thing ever.
My roommate just called about Rob with the sex hair. I just wanted to say that he's not that hot, and he's marrying my other roommate's brother.
I just took a friend by Alvamar to show him where my wedding reception was going to be, and a drunk frat boy tried to pick a fight with me, and, bless his heart, he had on a bright blue shirt, and a maroon tie, and I just want to say two words: frat rock.
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There needs to be more control on the male sex hair, because suddenly it has excelled to its limits, and now some people are looking a little disgusting.
Some stupid, drunk girl ran into my roommate, and now she has a snaggle tooth, and she kind of looks like a hick, so thanks to the drunk girl that made my roommate look like white trash.
Hi, yeah, just an update. The roommate that got her tooth knocked out by that drunk girl, she has to get her other tooth pulled out. Now she's going to look even more like white trash.
Hey, to the couple sitting outside of Alvamar tonight, Beta rules.
Sororities would be more fun if they were coed
It is Friday night. I just went to Dillons in my pajamas, and I saw Drew Gooden in the frozen foods section. He bought the name-brand juice pops. Guys, he's going to the NBA. Drew, please stay. Buy Kroger.
If it see that stupid "firewal1 Fire salal" commercial one more time, I really am going to set that damn place on fire.
Will somebody loan me me $3.59? I just want to buy a beer.
I have a solution for the tuition increase. Instead of doing that, put a bar in Wescoe, and then everybody could go and get drunk at Wescoe. They donate 10 percent of the proceeds to education, and then we won't have to have tuition increases. Everybody gets drunk and saves on tuition. It's all good, and it's all fun, and it will be working.
I have a strong hate toward paraplegic boxers. Shoot, rolling over my foot and what not. I don't care if he sneezed.
Breastache people. We're breastache people. We're fighting crime. Go Blue Man. Woo.
I'm surprised P.Kitty isn't dead. I bet a ninja will kill that dumb cat before too long.
I was walking by that bar Replay the other day, and Chenowith was in there. I didn't think he'd step foot in this town ever again.
TALKTO US
Leita Walker
editor
864-4854 or walker@kansan.com
Jay Krall
Kyle Ramsey
managing editors
864-4854 or walker@kansan.com and
kramsey@kansan.com
Clay McCuistion
readers' representative
864-4810 or cmcuistion@kansan.com
Kursten Phels
Brooke Healer
opinion editors
864-4810 or kphlels@kanan.com and
bhesler@kanan.com
Kate Mariani
retail sales manager
864-4482 or
retailsales.karenan.com
Amber Agee business manager
864-4014 or addreder@kanan.com
Makimc Gibson
general manager and news
adviser
864.7867 or makimcgibson.com
Matt Fisher
Matt Fisher
sales and marketing adviser
884-7666 or mfisher@kansan.com
BOOK ADVOCATING ADULT-CHILD SEX DRAWS STORM OF PROTEST
KNIGHT RIDDER TRIBUNE
PERSPECTIVE
Good role models are relative; leave Britney Spears alone
I am about delve into a topic so controversial that I actually contemplated not writing about it for fear of the controversy I might incite.
COMMENTARY
A topic so juicy and so full of life that it is debated about every day from the water cooler to the classroom.
I am talking about Britney Spears. I am talking about the reigning queen of pop and the dream of all mankind, from prepubescent boys to Bob Dole.
Eric Borja
opinion@kansan.com
It seems that controversy has followed the pop nymphet ever since she burst into the spotlight only a few years ago.
Everything about her seems to induce heated conversations. Her breasts, her virginity, her over-the-top sexuality, her fashion and her relationships are all a part of daily culture now. Women hate her and guys love her. Rock snobs and feminists hate her and teenie boppers and Filipino columnists love her.
People take cheap shots at her for the fun of it when they see her face.
Trust me, you've done it too. "She is a slut." "She has no talent and has a bad voice." "There is no wav she is a virgin." Sound familiar?
But why do people single her out as this corrupting person who make girls feel like they have to be beautiful? Because it's easy, that's why. This has been going on for years. Instead of looking into the mirror or looking within a person's background, we like to blame things on whatever is most controversial or prominent at the time.
Marilyn Manson was blamed for causing suicides. Eminem is blamed for inciting homophobia. Now Britney is being blamed for causing girls to dress in skimpy outfits and affecting young girls' body images. Give me a break. No one was up in arms blaming Zach Morris for causing millions of adolescent boys to tight roll their jeans and wear white high tops.
I bring this up after perusing an article in the Lawrence Journal-World on April 9 that showed how local girls were affected by Britney. The article specifically dealt with whether she should be viewed as a role model.
I just don't see how one woman, wait a minute, she's not yet a woman. I mean one girl, hold on a second, that's not right either. I just don't see how one pop queen can be seen as a poster child for causing young girls to dress in skimpy outfits.
The way girls dress and the way girls act is just
another byproduct of our culture. The way I see it, fashion and sexuality are being exposed to young girls at an earlier age than ever before. So it just seems natural for them to act and dress "older." Instead of placing the blame on parents or the media, we like to start little debates and put it on the easiest and most obvious target — Britney.
Most girls below the age of 14 don't make enough money to go to the local mall to buy halter tops and mini-skirts. Their parents are buying it for them and watching them walk out the door in those outfits.
Whose right is it to label someone a good role model or not? It's all about perspective. Back to Eminem. Some people think he is the most detestable human being ever. But to millions of suburban white kids who want to get some "street cred." he is God.
That is same with Britney. For every thousand feminists who hate her, there are millions of people who think that she is great for flaunting her sexuality and wearing revealing clothing.
But where is the perspective of the men? No one has ever asked me or any other guy about how she positively affects men. I think she is great. She makes me want to be a better man. She is my role model.
Boria is a Springfield, Mo., junior in journalism.
Projects increase quality of newspaper, reporting
The Kansan shifts gears in the last couple of months of each semester. Longer stories begin to appear on the front page. These
READERS' REPRESENTATIVE
begin to appear on the front page. These stories examine a wide range of issues, from credit card vendors to beauty pageants — and everything in between.
These lengthy stories, with their elaborate graphics and in-depth examinations of student-related issues, are the advanced reporting projects. Students in the advanced reporting class, who serve as the basic reporting staff of the Kansan, have to complete final projects each semester. The results can make the paper look different—and raise its quality.
Clay McCuistion cmccuistion@kansan.com
"The stories we write as final projects are a lot more interesting than just the daily grind," said Maggie Koerth, a reporter this semester. "A lot of research and rewriting goes into them."
Koerth is now working on a final draft of her project about a legal hallucinogen with advanced reporting professor Rick Musser.
I've had a lot of experience with the projects. I wrote one, back in 1999, about college diabetics. I copy edited one, about money the University received from Coca-Cola, in 2000. I oversaw the reporting, editing, and presentation of one last semester. I'll be doing the same for Koerth's story.
What have these experiences taught me? Advanced reporting projects are the best stories we run in the paper.
Reporting projects give Kansan staff a chance to work at a high level. Writers, editors, photographers, designers and managers collaborate to produce a package that informs and entertains. All the class work, all the on-the-job experience comes together. This collection of elements elevates the entire newspaper.
Or at least that's the goal.
Or at least that's the guts of
Projects don't always quite work out that way.
Sometimes they stray over the border into the land of tedium. Other times they flirt avidly with inconsequence. But this doesn't diminish their value as an example of collegiate journalism trying its hardest.
Jay Krall, the Kansan's managing editor for news, wrote a project of his own. It was the story about Coca-Cola money that I edited. He said the cooperation of people from various areas of the newsroom helped him assemble a complex story.
"That gives you the confidence that it's going to turn out well," Krall said.
The Kansan should take the project model and use it more frequently. When reporters write their projects, they're thinking with their entire heads not just churning out stuff for a tight deadline.
Krall agreed, to a point. If the paper had "infinite resources and infinite time," he said, the project model would be ideal for many stories. As it is, it still could be used more often.
There's always a place for quick, just-the-facts-Jack stories. Indeed, such stories are the foundation of a responsible newspaper. But there should be a regular place for project-type stories too.
They make the Kansan rise above itself.
McCusition is an El Dorado senior in journalism and English.
Dear editor.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR FIGHT FOR EQUAL WAGES
According to the 2000 U.S. Census, the median earnings of women in Kansas are only 70 cents to the dollar earned by men.
Across the country this week, workers' rights advocates will take part in a week of action to end unfair pay practices — a top concern for women and people of color nationally and in Kansas.
Nationally, the U.S. Census Bureau reports that the average woman earns 73 cents for every dollar earned by the average man.
Here in Lawrence, the Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center will be having an information table from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. today on the fourth floor of the Kansas Union.
Women of color are worse off. AfricanAmerican women make 65 cents on the dollar compared to the highest earners (white men), while Hispanic women make only 52 cents.
Men of color also experience wage disparities. African-American men earn only 81 cents on the dollar, while Hispanic men earn just 62 cents.
The Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center is joining the National Committee on Pay Equity and hundreds of organizations nationwide to observe this week of action. Please stop by the Union to get more information on pay equity and to see what you personally can do to end wage discrimination.
Economic equity is an issue that affects all of us. Working together, we can ensure that all Americans get the respect that comes with a fair paycheck.
Lisa Koch Program Coordinator Emily Women's Resource Center and Des "Moine, Iowa, senior
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