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University Daily Kansan/Monday, January 27,1992
OPINION
LIFE IN HELL
©1992 BYMAH GROENING
During ordeal of add/drop, don't forget KU is for you
Well, unfortunately it's time again for the trials and (intermittent) tribulations of add/drop. Most of you have already experienced this abomination; a very few of you haven't. To those select few, I say this: You are either truly lucky, or truly freshmen. Beware.
Kent
Brookover
staff
columnist
I was running across campus yesterday, pleading and hagging with instructors, explaining lost credit transfers, feeling my blood pressure rise, etc. I truly felt, not for the first time in my college career, that I was lost and without purpose here, and that I would rather be any place in the world other than college. School. College. The words just didn't seem to connect with anything meaningful. I was in the process of planning my escape when I stumbled over a brick that had somehow managed to escape from the confines of the fence around Hoch. Glancing at it, I thought of how it had once supported an old building, proud and tall. It reminded me of a
conversation I just recently had with a friend of mine.
"Y know," he said, "we're really lucky people, Kent. Just think of it. We have this huge campus here, with every brick of every building, this whole huge place, completely for the purpose of education. I mean, it's staggering. When you walk across campus, everything around you is put there solely for the purpose of learning. Now that's my kinda place!"
At the time, I just groused out an answer. Guess, in a way, I hadn't really thought about college like that. Yesterday, though, looking up and all around me, his words came to life for
me. Suddenly, it became a tangible reality. It remind me of my purpose here — everybody else's too. And somehow it seemed to drive home the fact that every time I walk into any building on camp, as, I am completely surrounded by a small part of an entire institution dedicated solely to education.
Education is a liberation of the mind. It enables us to attain almost anything we seek. Education is the freedom to achieve our goals and all that other stuff we hear about in corny song lyrics. Actually, it's an opportunity to get what it takes to be your own person. And every brick of every building here is dedicated to that, and, in a very real sense, to each of us personally. Amid the politics, the drudgery, the money, and everything else, I guess I had forgotten about that
Yknow, after all, this is my kinda place, too.
Kent Brookover is a Manhattan freshman.
KUignores its policy
Lettersto the editor
In the Jan. 17 Kansan, Chad Foster reminded us that KU was still in violation of its own anti-discrimination policy. To me, at least, it is embarrassing to be teaching students values and critical thinking while our administration appears to feel that such qualities are not important, not practical, or neither. I see ROTC as an important resource that keeps our officer corps basically civilian. I want it disentangled from KU, however, because, seemingly, that is the only action that will bring our administration into compliance with not only common sense but an acceptable standard of responsibility as well. Foster's word is "hypocrisy," a good word for our present situation. Its antonym is "critical thinking," a key concept in our mission as a University.
Edwin Martin, professor of psychology.
It's still a man's world
I am an intelligent, accomplished and independent woman. However, a day never goes by that I am not reminded of how my gender affects my life. At night, people don't want me to drive on the highways alone. I have to worry about how I look, but I can never be overly sexual. I have to look at most men as potential threats. To trust men may be natural, but it can result in a very personal violation of my being.
If I am attacked or raped, most likely by someone I know, do I blame him? Does everyone else blame me? When a man I work with touches or threaten me in a sexual inappropriate way, do I report him? In this society I would be proclaimed mentally disturbed if I did so.
I cannot live every second with these thoughts. If I did, I would spend my life like a deer looking into headlights. I would be totally incapacitated. These thoughts flash through my mind as my heart races. Tears of anger, frustration and fear trickle from my eyes. Then I hold back the tears, slow my pulse and continue living.
This is what life is like for every woman. Men, you can never understake a woman.
Brebeca Pickens, St. Louis senior majoring in psychology.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Breast implants stay popular
Society's standards of beauty compel some to undergo surgery despite FDA recommendation
Despite recent reports revealing the dangers of silicone breast implants, some women still are determined to receive them for cosmetic reasons. The question society needs to ask is why.
Many sources are to blame for the feelings of inadequacy that cause some women to think they need implants to be beautiful. The glossy pages of magazines form society's standards of beauty, and the women in those publications are shown in a way men consider beautiful.
Plastic surgeons also should take some of the blame. Some of these doctors encourage breast enlargements. They support many women in their decision to get breast implants. This is how they make their money
It is sad that some women cannot accept themselves the way they are. It is even sadder that women are demanding implants despite health hazards. The Food and Drug Administration has stopped the use of silicone gel implants pending further research. So why would anyone risk her health to increase her breast size?
Many women who have breast deformations or have had a mastectomy think that implants are a necessity rather than an option. But these women too should consider the possible physical consequences of these implants.
Not all women who have had implants experience side effects. The number of women who have been harmed by implants has not been determined.
As an alternative to silicone gel, doctors are starting to use saline implants more often. Although these implants may be less dependable than silicone implants, they still are safer because if they break, they release only salt water into the body, not silicone gel.
The FDA has not researched breast implants thoroughly enough to approve them with any sense of security. Women need to work on accepting themselves as they are instead of conforming to the ideals of society. Minds should change, not bodies.
Julie Litt for the editorial board
Irradiated food is attractive
But potential loss of nutritional value and increased risk of cancer should reduce the allure
Americans always have been influenced by appearances. Most assume the brightest, most polished apple is the juiciest. Marketing experts are aware of consumers' weaknesses and know exactly how to attract buyers' attention.
Irradiation is the latest technique to lure consumers. During irradiation, produce and meat are exposed to gamma rays that kill insects and unsightly mold. As a result, the product stays fresh, tasty and attractive in the market for as long as three weeks.
Even the Food and Drug Administration has given the process thumbs-up. After conducting 441 studies on irradiation, the FDA concluded the process was safe and effective.
However, although irradiation of food may be tempting, there still are questions about safety, even after 40 years of research.
Adversaries of irradiation say consumption of food treated with radiation may increase the risk of cancer and birth defects. Also, many argue nutritional value is lost during the process, a drawback the American diet cannot endure.
So far, Maine, New York and New Jersey have banned irradiation pending further investigation.
The idea of walking through the produce aisle surrounded by plump, red tomatoes, fresh strawberries and crisp, green beans is definitely enticing. But, consumers must not be led so easily by their senses.
Consumers will be forced to choose between feeding their visual tastes and their nutritional needs. They will be forced to decide whether irradiation is purely a marketing technique or a legitimate way to lessen the risk of spoilage and disease.
As of today, the public does not know enough about irradiation to decide and should not support irradiated products until more is known.
Sarah Zerhcovich for the ediTiional board
Welcome back to the grind still seven weeks until break
Christmas break was great. I was really burned out from all the reading and studying for finals. I looked forward to three weeks of mindless television, shallow, meaningless magazine skimming and a schedule-free day.
By about week two, a strange thing happened. I got bored. Television was mostly reruns. I e've resorted to MTV, but after a steady diet of Guns 'n Roses for two days, I had to turn that off or go insane. (What's with the plaid skirt anwav?)*
Kate Kelley staff columnist
I soon found that if I'd read one women's magazine, I'd read them all. How much new information can one learn about Warren and Annette, Liz and Larry, Melanie and Don, and Bette and Geraldo?
So it was with just a little excitement that I anticipated the first day of the new semester. New classes, new instructors, all sorts of new information to broaden my mind. I bought new notebooks, organized my new binder,
purchased what may be $1,000 dollars worth of books (half of that for Western Civ. alone!) and skipped off for the first day of school. 1992.
Reality hit me over the head about halfway through my second class. I realized I would actually have to read all those books I'd acquired. I would have to write papers about the books and remember mass quantities of their content for tests. There would be experiments I would have to participate in.
Each instructor launched right into his or her material, clearly assuming I
remembered everything from last semester. Particularly frightening were foreign language instructors who rattled on the whole hour in what might as well have been Martian for what little I could understand. The last time I looked at any of those books was during final week. My brain is a bucket at test time. Dump information in, dump it back on a test. But it's a teflon bucket. Nothing sticks.
By the last hour, my head throbbed. Panic bubbled through my veins. I had jumped in the sea, but had forgotten how to swim.
I guess I just will have to remember my swimmer's safety rules. Breathe, keep my face above the water, relax and float a while until I remember how to move, then start swimming for dear life, because there are seven weeks until spring break.
Kate Kelley is a Fort Leavenworth junior majoring in English.
KANSANSTAFF
TIFFANYHARNESS Editor
VANESSA FUHRMANS Managing editor
TOM EBLEN
General manager, news adviser
JENNIFER CLAXTON Business manager
Editors
News ... Mike Andrews
Editorial ... Bert Randolph
Planning ... Lara Gold
Campus ... Eric Gorski/Rochele Oleson
Sports ... Eric Nelson
Photo ... Julie Jacobson
Features ... Debbie Myers
Graphics .. Jeff Meesey/Aime Brainard
JAYSTEINER Retail sales manager
JEANNE HINES Sales and marketing adviser
Business Staff
Campus sales mgr...Bill Beilbengood
Regional sales mgr...Rich Hanbarharger
Co-op sales mgr...Arnje Johnson
Co-op sales mgr...Arnje Johnson
Production mgrs...Kim Wallace
Marketing director...Lisa Keeler
Marketing director...Kim Claxton
Creative director...Leanne Bryant
Classified mgrs...
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Stick
by David Rosenfield