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Wednesday, January 22,1992 / University Daily Kansan
OPINION
KIDS! FIND THE POSITIVE ROLE MODEL
NEWYEI Chicago Tribune
Ritual hair tossing is still a mysterious phenomenon
Sometimes I get my deepest thoughts during large lecture classes. They are not from any inspirational messages imparted by the professor, but usually from my own mind wandering and grabbing hold of anything of remote interest.
Take hair, for example. I have noticed the big style for women this season is to have real long hair, either straight or sheep-permed, but without any noticeable part on one side or the other. It is combed straight back from the forehead. But hair, being subject to the laws of gravity and low fore-heads, always will fall to one side. It is helped by the person putting her arm behind her neck and swishing all the hair forward over one shoulder. The hand then comes over the head, in front of the ear, and whisks all the hair over the top of the head. The person then has to sit with her head slightly leaning to the hair side, giving her an appearance of either rapt interest or chronic confusion. Before long, this
ritual is followed by the opposite arm swishing the hair all over to the other side. Back and forth it goes, all through the lecture, until the time comes to leave, when the hair is all gathered together with both hands and flipped back over the head for its brief interim at the center. This has a hypnotizing effect on me, probably because I have short hair and cannot flip much of it anywhere.
Kate
Kelley
Staff
columnist
But this phenomenon is not really new. Back in the '70s, we wore our hair very long and always straight. Those "curSED" with curly hair were known to iron their tresses to give it the proper flat, bodiless look that my hair
achieved so naturally. We parted it right down the middle. Our rituals included alternately tucking the hair behind our ears and then flicking it back out in front with adept finger motion. We had a very elegant hand wave used to flip the hair behind the shoulder, first on one side, then the other. We finished off with a shake of the head to return equilibrium to our brains. Then there was the ever popular handless head toss of the hair that was made so popular by Cher in her days with Sonny. Cher's hair was the ultimate cool that we all strived to imitate.
As far as some of those lectures go, I do not remember what the cranial capacities of any particular human were, but I think I have a pretty good idea of how they might have tossed their hair ... even if it did grow down their backs.
Kate Kelley is a Fort Leavenworth junior majoring in English.
National perspectives
The Los Angeles Times on Soviet nuclear-weapon technology:
Russia and neighboring states of the former Soviet Union are desperately short of hard currency, but they are aware of the risk. The lot of which is finding its way abroad.
The Russian Foreign Ministry confirms that substantial arms sales to Iran are under way, bolstering the Islamic republic's determined effort to supply Iraq as the paramount military power in the Persian Gulf.
Of greatest concern is the possible leakage of nuclear technology and now-know to radical countries such as Iran and Libya, whose oil wealth gives them the means to pay well for what they want. The former Soviet Union held as many as 30,000 nuclear warheads in its arsenal.
The collapse of the Soviet Union has set in motion internal nationalistic rivalries and a breakdown in controls that leave open to question the ability of authorities to prevent nuclear weapons or weapons-related technology from being smuggled abroad.
Top priority must be given to tightening controls of weapons-related nuclear technologies.
The Providence (R.I.) Sunday Journal el Salvador:
The Reagan and Bush administrations maintained a two-pronged stance toward the Marxist insurgency in El Salvador. They would support reforms that might eventually end the civil war in that country, but meanwhile they would provide the pro-U.S.
government with the aid needed to keep the rebels from shooting their way into power.
That was the right policy for Washington to follow, and it now appears to be bearing fruit. As the New Year was ushered in, President Alfredo Cristiani of the conservative Republican National Alliance (ARENA) and the rebels of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) agreed to an accord that finally might bring national reconciliation after a decade of brutal strife.
The Daily Gazette, Schenectady, N.Y., on Yugoslavia media:
During the Persian Gulf War, journalists were dying to get to the front. In the Yugoslavian civil war, they are dying because they are there, Sofar, 18, died (two owls are presumed dead) in the seven-month-old conflict.
One reason appears to be the Serbs's belief that the press has sided with the Croatians in the conflict. This belief stems largely from the fact that the United States and the European Economic Community have accused the Serbian-dominated Yugoslavian army of the aggressor.
But there is also the nature of the war that makes it so dangerous for reporters. It is a war without clearly marked fronts.
All wars are dangerous for the men and women who cover them, but this war seems particularly so.
War correspondents are not necessarily concerned with high-minded journalistic principles; some of the
best ones are drawn to the work because they find the danger exciting. But at the same time, they are serving the cause of truth. And in many cases, they are giving their lives for it. They deserve our recognition and appreciation.
The Philadelphia Daily News on silicone breast implants:
Take the recent hoo-hah over breast implants. Twenty years ago, the Carol Doda style of implant was very hot. Alas, they had a way of turning into concrete and changing location in the body, a distraction from the need to be being softer, are merely suspected of leaking vile chemicals into the system.
Our economy certainly is not driven by production any more. Perhaps it is our talent for self-absorption that makes it fire fittily.
Anyway, the Food and Drug Administration recently decided that there is not enough data yet to ban the things outright but that there is enough to warn people about them.
But plastic surgeons kept doing them. Some of the loonier shrinks called implants a "self-esteem" issue, asserting those women without large breasts were somehow impaired.
This leads to concern about the fate of the businesses of all those plastic surgeons and of the manufacturers who have been churning out expensive little sacks of silicone. No one seems yet to have wondered why so much of our culture seems devoted to telling women that something is wrong with them.
THE UNIVERSITYDAILY KANSAN
Credit checks on the horizon
Proposed law seeks to lower defaults on student loans,but lenders should pay for checks
There is a controversial new law proposal that will affect many students who
al that will affect many students who rely on guaranteed student loans to finance their education. If you are 21 years or older on July 1 of the award year, you will be subject to a credit check. If you have a shady history in this area, you will find yourself hard-pressed for school funds. You also will be required to pay up to $25 for the privilege of having your credit background checked.
Credit histories do need to be investigated before large sums of money are lent, but the cost of this should be borne by the lender. Because students will end up paying 8 percent to 10 percent interest on these loans over several years, the lending agencies could easily swing the extra cost.
The federal government will pay at least
$3.5 billion this year for student loan defaults. Those are tax dollars not available for other people's educations. Those of us struggling to pay for our own education certainly are not comforted to know we helped to give so many others a free ride. Credit checks will not solve the problem, but they can help. If I was going to lend my money, I certainly would want to know if the borrower had a history of borrowing and getting lost. It actually is surprising that credit checks have not been done before this. I wonder whether banks would have been so quick to lend out so much money if they had not been guaranteed that those loans would be covered by the federal government.
Those who are deemed a credit risk would need a co-signer who has a good credit rating. This would allow the borrower to receive the money at a smaller risk to the lender and, in the long run, to all of us.
Kate Kelley for the editorial board
Lady Jayhawks gain support
Basketball team entertains 1,400 fans with a big victory against Big Eight foe Colorado
The Kansas women's basketball team was finally greeted by a decent home crowd Saturday, and the Lady Jayhawks responded by pounding Colorado 66-48.
After drawing an average of just 508 fans in the first six home games, the attendance figure nearly tripled Saturday as 1,400 fans saw the Lady 'Hawks win their Big Eight Conference opener.
However, KU students cannot take sole credit for the jump, because area youth groups who attended the game contributed to the increase. Nevertheless, Coach Marian Washington said the team appreciated and reacted to the fans' support.
"I thought there was a really good crowd. I
was most impressed with how involved they were in the game," Washington said. "It really makes a difference to the players."
Tonight will be KU fans' last chance to see the Lady Jayhawks at home this month. The team will take on Iowa State at 7:30 p.m. at Allen Field House. This weekend the Jayhawks will begin a three-game road swing, including a matchup with first-place Nebraska. KU will not return to the field house until its Feb. 5 game with Oklahoma.
Because this season promises a close Big Eight race, KU students should help the Jayhawks make the most of every home contest. Saturday's attendance is a step in the right direction, but 1,400 fans should be the norm, not the exception.
"We certainly hope it (fan support) keeps growing." Washington said. "It's going to make a big difference for us in terms of our future."
David M. Michelle for the edithiol board
Aversion to feminist label rooted in society's sex roles
I was talking to two servers while we were taking a break from work. They said they hated men, and I mentioned something about feminism. They quickly informed me that they hated men but that they weren't feminists. I was thrown a bit by this, not because I think that feminists are man-haters, but because it revealed their aversion to the feminist label and a rather ant-intellectual approach to sexism.
Conan
Shinn
Guest
columnist
I can understand rejection of the feminist label as much as I can understand rejection of any label. What concerns me is that the feminist label has acquired negative connotations. The feminist label has extensive and ambiguous meanings.
But who rejects the label of a music lover because it possibly imply they like a particular type of music they really don't? It follows that the aversion to the feminist label does not emerge from the label's generality. Aversion to the feminist label has developed from feminism's threat to the patriarchy.
These two servers implied that sexism is inherent in men. They've blindly accepted sexism as the way it is, probably more out of conservatism
than anything else. What is important to point out, though, is that these two waitresses represent a number of women who consider sexism a practice independent of themselves, something practiced by men and pertaining to women only as passive victims.
The fact is that the problem is rooted in our society's patriarchal sex roles. They shape our ideas of femininity and masculinity, of what is acceptable and unacceptable. Like a friend of mine said, "Oh, I don't think men are completely responsible for sexism; they're not smart enough to understand their own." Men do have an obligation to precipitate change, but some women should realize that they reinforce and perpetuate sexism through their own behavior.
I currently support a radical feminist ideology with an eye to deconstructionism (a people-are-people kind of approach that views sexuality as more of a spectrum than strictly polar). By radical I mean a focus on the female side of the dichotomy, womenstriving for women's goals, not men's goals, to prove themselves. It's important not to obscure women's achievements today. It's too early for the all-out deconstructionist abolishment of the sexual dichotomy.
Men and women alike denounce feminism because it threatens their identity. The patriarchal society defines roles, and within these roles people find an identity. The patriarchal society also defines wishes and ways to fulfill them. Changing the structure is obviously going to create a threat, but what people should realize is that by abandoning sex roles people will find a true identity and obtain what they really want.
When society truly believes that men and women are equal, society will be ready for deconstruction.
Conan Shinn is a Kansas City, Mo. senior majoring in English.
KANSANSTAFF
TIFFANY HARNESS
Editor
VANESSA FUHRMANS Managing editor
TOM EBLEN General manager, news adviser
Editors
News ... Mike Andrews
Editorial ... Randy Randolph
Planning ... Lara Gold
Campus ... Eric Gorski/Rochelle Olson
Sports ... Eric Nelson
Photo ... Julie Jacobson
Features ... Debbie Myers
Graphics ... Jeff Meesey/Aime Brainard
JENNIFER CLAXTON Business manager
JEANNE HINES Sales and marketing adviser
JAY STEINER Retail sales manager
Business Staff
Campus sales mgr ... Bill Lebiengood
Regional sales mgr ... Rich Harshbarger
National sales mgr ... Scott Hanna
Co-op sales mgr ... Arne Johnson
Production mgrs ... Kim Wallace
Marketing director ... Kim Claxton
Creative director ... Leanne Bryant
Classified mgr ... Chip Kin
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Stick
by David Rosenfield
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