6A NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FRIDAY, JANUARY 23, 2009
CHINA (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
Shandong Province junior.
Wang said the celebration would help ease the homesickness of exchange students and help those not familiar with Chinese customs learn about the culture.
Traditionally, Chinese families come together on New Year's Eve to reflect on the past year and wait for the new one to arrive. Because the Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar, the new year begins on the first day of the first lunar month.
Wangsaidthat on New Year's Day, older generations would give money wrapped in bright red paper to younger relatives, symbolizing the
"Getting the money was the best part as a kid." Li said, "because we were told that the money would keep evil spirits away."
cents growth and bringing good fortune for the next year,
The amount of money given varies from one to 100 yen in different areas of China, but Wang said money wasn't as important as other traditions, such as buying new clothes. She said her favorite part of the holiday was putting on her new skirt and shoes to symbolize the start of a new year.
- Edited by Sam Speer
Chinese New Year's Eye festival
Sunday
2 p.m.: Workshops in the Big 12 Room in the Kansas Union
4 p.m.: Gala and performances in The Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union
6 p.m.: Dinner at in the Ballroom in the Kansas Union and will cost $10
In Chinese astrology, people born in the year of the ox are dependable, strong and determined. They are tolerant individuals and hard workers, and they like to make decisions based on their own research. Oxen like having a few close friends as opposed to many casual acquaintances. They prefer routines to spontaneity, aren't very sociable and will search long and hard for the perfect partner. Good career choices include interior designer, painter, carpenter, quarry worker, archeologist, horticulturist, mechanic, engineer, draftsman, banker, broker, real estate agent and army officer.
Source:www.chinesezodiac.com/ox.php
Police and officials gather outside the lobby of the Donaldson Brown Graduate Life Center at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., Wednesday. A female student was decapitated on Virginia Tech's campus, the first killing at the school since a deadly mass shooter there in 2007.
MARRIAGE (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
didn't realize how easy they had it when they were responsible only for themselves.
"My priority is to take care of home first," Fulton said. "To make sure the bills are paid and there is food on the table."
Fulton said he knew performing poorly in school would have negative consequences for his family's future.
Fulton described his life as more mellow than the average college student's.
"My life is a lot more stable," he said. "I can see the bigger picture of where I want to be because I have a family and I have to focus. I don't have to worry about wildness, crazy friends or distractions."
Latonya said she and her husband were trying to adjust to the changes in their lives, including a newborn child.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Student murdered at Virginia Tech
CRIME
"The only sacrifice that we've really had to make is sleep," she said. "We are just going around with blinders on trying to figure things out. We are trying to get down a routine."
— Edited by Liz Schubauer
Associated Press
BY SUE LINDSEY
BLACKSBURG, Va. — Alone and in a new country, graduate student Xin Yang reached out to other Chinese students at Virginia Tech when she arrived two weeks ago, trying to establish her life on campus.
She went to social events with international students, got in touch with the campus center that works to help them adjust and appeared to be making friends as she settled into her accounting program, those who had met her said.
But one of the friendships may have led to her death: Police say she was decapitated with a kitchen knife while having coffee with a Chinese doctoral student in a campus cafe Wednesday night.
The killing stunned a campus that still has vivid memories of the mass slayings in April 2007, when a student gunman shot 32 people and then took his own life. The stabbing was the first slaying on campus since then.
"An act of violence like this brings back memories of April 16," university President Charles Steger said. "I have no doubt that many of us feel especially distraught."
It appeared Yang had met her accused attacker, 25-year-old Haiyang Zhu of Ningbo, China, only recently, said Kim Beisecker, the director of Cranwell International Center, which works
with international students. Zhu, a doctoral student in agricultural and applied economics, had been assisting her in adjusting to life at Tech, something the 500 Chinese students often do for new members in their community, she said. They both attended functions for international students, she said.
"She was a very sweet young woman," she said. "He was known as a polite young man."
LAWRENCE
Volunteer help with shoveling
BY MIKE BONTRAGER mbontrager@kansan.com
Students wanting to get volunteer experience can check out the Safe Winter Walkways program. The volunteer program, created by the City of Lawrence, pairs volunteers with residents who are unable to shovel their driveways and sidewalks.
Lawrence recently adopted a stricter snow removal policy, which requires property owners to remove snow from their sidewalks and driveways within 48 hours. If the雪 is not removed, owners can receive a fine of $20 for each day the snow remains.
Volunteers are only required to participate for one snow season — which ends the last day of March — and are asked to shovel the sidewalk and a path from the doorway to the street.
Greg Herrod, a volunteer for the program, helps in his neighborhood with his two sons. Herrod said that because there hadn't been any ice storms or heavy snowfall this year, the task hadn't been difficult.
Dacia McCabe Mahbr, a member of the community services division of Douglas County Senior Services Inc., said the program was a good opportunity for students wanting to volunteer. Mahbr said the service didn't require a large time commitment because there were no long-term obligations.
Annie Mueller, a senior citizen benefitted by the program, described the service as a "god-send." Mueller and her husband are both in their 80s and said they would have a hard time shoveling snow if it weren't for the program. She said that without the program, all she could do was hope someone would be kind enough to shovel for her.
Rush Griffith, Dallas senior, said he thought it was great that people were willing to participate in the program.
"It really a blessing in disguise to know that when the snow is falling, someone will be there to clean it promptly," Mueller said.
"You're helping out a group of people who really need the help," Griffith said.
— Edited by Chris Hickerson
POLITICS
Caroline Kennedy
abandons Senate bid
ALBANY, N.Y. — Caroline Kennedy's mysteriously abrupt decision to abandon her Senate bid gave rise to an ugly swirl of accusations Thursday and feverish speculation over whether she jumped or was pushed.
The 51-year-old daughter of President John F. Kennedy was widely considered a front-runner for the Senate seat until she sent a midnight e-mail to reporters and Gov. David Paterson saying she was withdrawing for what she described only as personal reasons.
Associated Press