THURSDAY,FEBRUARY 27,2003
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 5A
Basketball-loving Jayhawk saves for trip to Thailand
By Megan Hickerson
mhkerson@hotmail.com
Kansan staff writer
Every face in the crowd and every name in the phone book has a story behind it. Every week, Kansan writer Megan Hickerson tells the story of a randomly selected KU student.
Nick Wright is saving his pennies and dimes for a $1,000 plane ticket to his mother's homeland this summer.
Faces in the Crowd
25-hour plane ride to Thailand in May for a month-long trip with his mother. Wright's mother, Rusamee, moved to the United States from Thailand at age 17 when she married an American.
The Olathe sopho more will endure a
"It was always my dream as a young woman to move to the United States," Rusamee Wright
said.
This will be Nick Wright's third trip to Thailand. He said although the city life in Thailand didn't phase him much, the amount of poverty amazed him.
"It's just like New York without expensive cars," Wright said. "It's really hard to live there in a Third World country with the starvation and poverty. By the time I get used to it, I'm already gone."
Although Thailand is regarded to be a poverty-stricken area, Wright said his family couldn't be more generous. They are always trying to give him money, he said.
"People who don't have as much are willing to give more," Wright said. "People are stingy in the U.S. We take it for granted."
Wright and his mother will stay with family for the duration of their stay. Because he speaks no Thai, the conversations between Nick and his family are limited.
Aside from the language barrier, Wright always has plates of authentic Thai food to look forward to. The only place near Lawrence that comes close to his family's cooking is The Blue Koi in Kansas City, Mo., he said.
Wright's favorite restaurant dishes are the Ants on a Tree, a dish consisting of pork and noodles, and the China Moon, an appetizer with shrimp.
On top of 16 hours of business classes, Wright also clocks in 16 hours a week at the Spencer Museum of Art.
His $6.50-an-hour salary doesn't compare to the $11-an-hour that he makes working for his dad's manufacturing business during the summer. The money he makes will help Wright afford his trip.
Although his school and work schedules seem hectic, Wright sets aside extra time to cheer on the men's basketball team at Allen Fieldhouse. He hardly ever misses a game; his trip will take place in May, after March Madness, which Wright wouldn't be able to watch in Thailand.
Scott Reynolds/Kansan
In addition to a 16-hour class schedule Nick Wright, Olathe sophomore, is working to save money for future travels. Wright has made plans to go to Thailand with family this summer.
"I think that there is a basket
because they are all so short."
— Edited by Amber Byarlay
Protesters use Net to stage Washington, D.C., march
By Kelley Weiss
kweiss@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
People around the country were able to march on Washington, D.C.. yesterday without walking a step.
The Win Without War Coalition sponsored a campaign to virtually march on Senate and House offices, the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon to protest a possible war with Iraq.
According to MoveOn.org.
200,000 people signed up to call,
e-mail and fax every Senate office
throughout the day yesterday. Each person signed up for a time to contact the senators, and the campaign's goal was to have every Senate office bombarded with calls, e-mails and faxes throughout the day.
Sarah Ross, press secretary for Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts, said the phone lines at Roberts' office in Washington had been nearly blocked all day by the large number of calls from Kansas voters. Capitol Hill was assaulted by calls all day making the Washington telephone system overloaded, Ross said. Robert's office receives several hundred calls each day,
Ross said, but yesterday was unique because there were so many calls on one day.
"This is a little more extreme than usual because people can't reach our office," Ross said. "It has been a problem because people can't get through."
Eric Hotmire, spokesman for U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback, said Brownback's office had received 250 phone calls from Kansans against a war in Iraq. The number of calls yesterday was double the average amount of calls Brownback's office received in one day over a controversial issue, Hotmire said. He said the contact the office
usually received from Kansas voters about going to war in Iraq was split, with half of Kansans supporting Bush using military force to remove Sadaam Hussein from power and the other half opposing it. The large volume of calls, emails and faxes Capitol Hill received yesterday was impressive. Hotmire said, but too late because Congress voted a month ago to authorize the use of force in Iraq.
"It's interesting this is happening now," Hotmire said, "The timing for this is odd."
Lawrence residents participated in the virtual march, but Amanda Flott, Omaha, Neb., junior, said she was not able to get through to Brownback's or Roberts' offices. Flott tried to call the Kansas senators' offices in Washington at 6:30 a.m. yesterday and several more times during the day, but said she only heard, "We're sorry all circuits are busy, please try your call later."
The virtual march was a good way to get the anti-war message across to Washington, Flott said, but she would like to see more aggressive action taken.
"I think it's another effective way," Flott said, "But it's time for the anti-war revolution to move up to the next level and cause
some real impact."
The virtual march campaign that The Win Without War Coalition organized was an example of the changing methods of the peace movement to protest war, Allan Hanson, Lawrence Coalition for Peace and Justice coordinator and assistant professor of anthropology said. The use of the Internet to disseminate information is a great tool for democracy, Hanson said.
"Using the Internet is enabling grass roots movements to take root that they weren't able to do before," Hanson said.
- Edited by Amber Byarlay
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