4A - THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
MONDAY, MARCH 4, 2002
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Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about
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
Hey KU Greens, I had your so-called fair trade coffee, and let me just tell you, it tasted like the bottom of my shoe. Let's hear it for irresponsible capitalism. Go Starbucks.
As I read the UDK today I was just wondering why the Smile Coalition wasn't mentioned. Where were they?
To the girls at the KU-K-State game in their sports bras that painted KU on their stomachs, if you're going to wear your sports bras to a game, you at least need to be cute.
I just wanted to say that I have to go to class tonight when there's a KU-K-State home game.
I just moved my car from the Burge lot 30 minutes late, and it wasn't towed or ticketed. I'd like to thank the people working the lot for showing the kind of common decency so often lacking in the Parking Department.
the issues we still face.
It is absurd to say the Black community, specifically, doesn't need this month because everything in society today is on an even playing ground. The minority population at KU is still misrepresented and sourley misused. For example, we usually find ourselves in the paper when something negative has occurred.
The Langston Hughes Symposium is another example of the lack of representation we face every day.
I'd just like to say that all my friends, including me, thought that GWAR cover was awesome, and that editor dude doesn't have to apologize to any Overland Park girl. I mean come on, it was awesome. Keep up the good work.
If God fell in a forest would an atheist hear it?
I'm tired of people saying I'm a bitch like it's a bad thing.
What's up with KU fans chanting "air ball" when the shot bounces off the back board? That is not an air ball.
I just wanted to tell my guy friend if he looks in front of him he'll see me—the best girl for him, but if he continues to be blind I'm going to walk away, so he better realize this soon.
Anybody else notice how the Grammys are totally crap now?
U2 gets No. 2, they lost for song of the year. You go, Alicia Keys.
Alicia Keys did not deserve three Grammys.
I've taken it upon myself to return Free for All to its once glorious existence.
I had a dream that a bologna sandwich threw me in the air.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
BLACK HISTORY MONTH COVERAGE
Dear editor,
Dear editor, The Kansan's failure to acknowledge Black History Month and more specifically the Langston Hughes Symposium neglected to provide sufficient attention to one of the most important events KU will have this year.
Recently, an editorial appeared in the paper in regards to Black History Month. The writer basically suggested that celebrating the month was a backset for the human race. Some students at the University of Kansas, including myself, were greatly disappointed to read this. It is obvious that the student body is not as diverse as it should be. It's painful to think that we still have a long way to go for others to understand our plights and the issues we still face today.
During the second week in February, poetry readings, films, art shows, speeches and concerts focused on Langston Hughes' hopes for his people and the world at large. In all, the symposium gave recognition to one of the major figures of the 20th century. While the event inspired me and opened my eyes to a world I never knew before, the Kansan's neglect dimmed some of the hopes that the symposium was trying to create. While newspapers, including The New York Times, jumped on the chance to celerate a wonderful experience which many were involved with, our very own school newspaper did not even mention it. This was a slap in the face for some of those on campus, race aside, who attended the events and embraced the life and work that, to this day, has us wondering what happens to a dream deferred.
Comments in the Free for All exploded with just some of the many emotions that celebrators of Black History Month feel towards the neglect they've witnessed. No matter what race you are, the events featured in Black History Month are important. Events like the symposium are there to inspire, educate and push awareness of people's lives — past and present — into the forefront. The day when we all acknowledge that celebrating our differences doesn't separate, but rather educates, will be a great day.
We must remember that when one believes that education applies only to a certain few, we all lose. those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. Keep this in mind when deciding whether Black History Month applies to you.
Tish Merrit
Liberty, Mo., junior
TALK TO US
Leita Walker
editor
844-4854 or waikane.kansan.com
Jay Krail
Kyle Ramsey
managing editors
864-4858 or jkrai@kanan.com and
krampse@kanan.com
Clay McCuisinion readers'representative 864-4810 or concussion@anaxan.com
Amber Agee
Kursten Phelps
Brooke Hesler
editorists 864-4810 or
khelpelp@kanan.com and bhheeler@kanan.com
Kate Mariani
retail sales manager
864-4628 or
retailalex@kansan.com
Amber Agee
business manager
864-4014 or adrctector@kansan.com
Malcum Gibson
general manager and news
adviser
864-7667 or mallcu@mageen.com
Matt Fisher sales and marketing adviser 764-7668 or mfisher@asan.com
KNIGHT RIDDER TRIBUNE
By the Numbers
Minimum percentage of votes in each New York City election since 1988 not counted due to mechanical or human error.
2. 3
$200
Percentage of votes by which Michael Bloomberg won the city's mayoral race last
Sources: Voting Technology Project (Cambridge, Mass.) and New York City Board of Elections.
fall.
Amount a non-profit U.S. conservative group pays drug-addicted women to undergo sterilization
567
Number of women who have accepted such payments since 1997.
Source: CRACK (Garden Grove, Calif.)
1998
Last year in which there was a decrease in racial-profiling claims made against U.S. airport security.
2:1
Ratio of the number of such claims made last year before Sept. 11 to those made in all of 2009
Source: U.S. Department of Transportation From Harper
— From Harper's
PERSPECTIVE
Media's persistent, obscene titillation distracts from concerns of real life
Walking down the sidewalk last week, I was thrown into the world of crude language and obscene mental images. "Cum see the Vagina Monologues," I read. "Do you hunt for cunt?" An invitation to eat a vagina cookie rubbed off on the bottom of my shoes on my way to each and every class.
COMMENTARY
I'm a little embarrassed to admit I was offended. I see parents walking with their children on these campus sidewalks on the weekends, and I instantly pictured an 8-year-old boy asking his mother why college students misspelled "cum." If I blushed at some of the advertisements, imagine how parents would feel.
Two weeks ago the fake blood was printed on the front page of the Kansan. A letter to the editor and Free for All callers complained about this gory display. But I've heard others comment on how cool it was.
As individuals, we have grown up in a world where we were taught that naiveté is a disease. The movie Grease introduced the innocent girl who changes from floral print to leather in order to "fit in." Kindergarten Cop showed us that it's
Laurel Anne Burchfield
opinion@kansan.com
OK, funny and cute even, for 5-year-olds to say "penis" and "vagina." Media show us every day that the bloodier the image, the more interesting the story.
We may not all enjoy the newspapers plattered in blood, but we'll sure read the story out of curiosity. We may not appreciate The Vagina Monologues, but would anyone attend a theatrical presentation simply titled The Women Monologues?
It's sad. Any form of public broadcasting has become drama. Instead of reporting the news in a straightforward fashion, meteorologists give us small details of tomorrow's conditions and then
tease us into waiting 15 more minutes before we learn of the chances of snow. The ratings of popular talk shows depend on who can get the more violent and rowdy guests.And a sitcom is only good if it involves sex.
The reason this occurs is nothing more than a lack of interest in our own private lives. None of us live the star-studded existence, so we dramatize it. Why settle for hearing a little gossip when we can elevate it to a full out scandal?
Life is not this boring. Between school, work, friends and family, I have little want of a busier schedule. I'm just like the next person, in that loud and colorful things catch my eye, but I also have appreciation for the soft, for the black and white.
And I am still shocked by the goriest movies and the most obnoxious talk shows. But being naive is something that I want, because I'm only 19-years-old. And if there's nothing left to shock me by this age, how boring is the rest of my life going to be?
Burchfield is a Basehor freshman in pre-journalism and education.
PERSPECTIVE
Students should learn about sweatshops
College students shopping on Massachusetts Street on a Saturday afternoon is a normal sight in Lawrence. Clothing stores such as the Gap, Eddie Bauer and the Buckle are among the most popular stores visited by students.
Many students flock to these stores to catch popular, high-priced clothing on sale, but rarely do they think about where and how the merchandise is made, nor do many care.
COMMENTARY
But there's a good chance that sweater you bought last season was made in a dingy, unhealthy environment by a severely underpaid worker. This scenario usually conjures up images of exploited women and children in foreign sweatshops, but the truth sits closer to home.
Tabatha Beerbower opinion@kansan.com
According to the Feminist Against Sweatshops organization, the most recent reports from the Department of Labor state that more than 50 percent of U.S. garment factories are sweatshops, or a place of work that violates two or more basic labor laws. Many are run in California, New York, Atlanta, Miami and Dallas.
In sweatshops all over the world, brand names that college students wear to class everyday are produced by people, often children, working long hours for sub-minimum wage, with no benefits. Those workers must contend with forced overtime, sexual and verbal harassment and abuse just to support a family.
Consumers have a right to know where their merchandise comes from. Nike, the brand worn by all University athletic teams, has been cited for unethical labor practices in its factories in Indonesia, China, Vietnam and Haiti. Philips-Van Heusen and the Gap have been cited for labor violations in factories in Latin America. Other companies cited for violations include Disney, Wal-Mart, Reebok, Guess, Liz Claiborne and Ralph Lauren.
Workers of all nationalities should have a right to safe and healthy working environments. As college students who have a considerable amount of buying power in Lawrence, we should take action by checking labels and boycotting merchandise from corporations that use sweatshops to produce their products. Granted, with so many clothing chains linked to sweatshops, it will be difficult to know where all merchandise originates.
The first step is to become an informed consumer. The University should be an example to the community and other universities by not carrying brand names in its student unions and stores that are made through the exploitation of workers, including Nike.
As a consumer, know where the merchandise you buy comes from. Know where it is made and in what kind of conditions. Before you buy that $30 tank top or $100 pair of running shoes, ask yourself if it was made by someone your age, sitting behind steel cages, working with dangerous machinery for long hours.
Beerbower is a Fort Scott junior in journalism.