Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
Kansan
Published daily since 1912
Lindsey Henry, Editor Marc Harrell, Business manager Dave Morantz, Managing editor Colleen Eager, Retail sales manager Kristie Blasi, Managing editor Dan Simon, Sales and marketing adviser Tom Eblen, General manager, news adviser Justin Knupp, Technology coordinator
4A
Thursday, Feb. 26, 1998
DAILY KENT STATER
Feedback
Oprah column needlessly insulted talk show host
I am writing in response to the column, "Oh, the shame of it—children prefer Oprah," in Friday's edition of The University Daily Kansan. This column should have been named, "Oh, the shame of it. I haven't a brain." Jeremy Chrysler's article did not make any type of point, but rather filled up space in the newspaper with a bunch of racist, sexist and idiotic statements about Oprah Winfrey.
The fact that children prefer Oprah Winfrey or, God forbid, Jerry Springer, gives me at least a shred of hope for the future that children will not always be influenced by the superficial, materialistic world that the NBA promotes. These children want to learn how to use their minds and make a difference in the world, not see if they can shoot a ball through a hoop.
The Texas cattlemen lawsuit is not a way for Oprah to prove how much power she has. It is her way of standing up for her rights and showing others that she will no be knocked down, which is something society and the media loves to do to successful, black men and women. Oprah Winfrey is a businesswoman and deserves respect. Speaking of business, Chrysler, if you are majoring in business, you will have to learn to deal with both genders and every race and culture on the earth. Otherwise, I'm afraid you won't get very far in life.
If Oprah did run for president she would have my vote, and the Spice Girls for cabinet would do just fine because your article makes them look like brainiacs.
Schalisa Moore Kansas City, Kan., freshman
Oprah has done good things for the world
I just read Jeremy Chrysler's column about Oprah. I use the word "about" in the loosest sense of the word. The fact is this column was really about nothing. What's more, I didn't find it very well-written. If this was an attempt at satire, it didn't work. I am annoyed that Chrysler singled out Oprah for criticism.
Because he asked, I will tell him what's so good about Oprah. Although she was abused as a child and has had her problems, Oprah is loved by millions of people because of the generous things she does for people on her talk show. She also has encouraged the nation to read.
I hope that in the future The University Daily Kansan will exact higher journalistic standards on columns it runs.
Courtney A. Becks Lawrence senior
Booing of officials at basketball game wrong
Upon my latest journey into the media and PR circus that is Kansas basketball, I observed something that really surprised me as a basketball fan. I'm referring to the belligerent booing at the referees by Kansas fans at the halftime of last Saturday's game.
I found it both in poor judgment and poor taste, and I was shocked that this student body, which shares the same basketball tradition with James Naismith, Dean Smith and others, could disrespect the game like that. The obvious rebuttal is: "Well, the officiating
was just that bad," but all too often we forget that referees have bad games just like players do.
No one, especially those who don't know what officiating is like, should boo certified officials so maliciously. I can say from experience that it's quite aggravating. It was out of line, and besides, the game was close because of the smart and well-executed game plan of Iowa State University coach Tim Flovd.
Let's face it, we're spoiled by our basketball program, and now that March is almost here, it's time for everyone to realize that we will have to play teams that won't make mistakes in the big games. So tone down the whining, and enjoy the fun of March Madness.
Dave Raddatz
Holdredge, Neb., sophomore
Nuclear waste transport column not researched
I would suggest that the writer of column on Nuclear Waste Transport (Feb. 19) do some research before writing. The writer stated that the Yucca Mountain Waste Repository was on Shoshone Indian Reservation land.
This would be a difficult thing to do because the Shoshone Indians do not have a reservation. The Shoshone Tribe has only a few parcels of land scattered about the myriad ranges around Death Valley.
They have, however, made claims to vast areas of land around Death Valley, and currently are attempting to get a reservation.
Kansan staff
Ridgecrest, Calif., graduate student
Joe Andrew
News editors
Paul Eakins . *Editorial*
Andy Obermuller . *Editorial*
Andrea Albright . *News*
Jodie Chester . *News*
Julie King . *News*
Charity Jeffries . *Online*
Eric Weslander . *Sports*
Harley Rattifl . *Associate sports*
Ryan Koerner . *Campus*
Mike Perryman . *Campus*
Bryan Volk . *Features*
Tim Harrington . *Associate features*
Steve Puppe . *Photo*
Angie Kuhn . *Design, graphics*
Mitch Lucas . *Illustrations*
Corrle Moore . *Wire*
Gwen Olson . *Special sections*
Lcachelle Rhoades . *News clerk*
Advertising managers
Kristi Bisel . . . Assistant retail, PR
Leigh Bottiger . . . Campus
Brett Clifton . . . Regional
Nicole Lauderdale . National
Matt Fisher . Marketing
Chris Haghirian . Internet
Brian Allers . Production
Ashley Bonner . Production
Andee Tomlin . Promotions
Dan Kim . Creative
Rachel O'Neill . Classified
Tyler Cook . Zone
Steve Grant. Zone
Jamie Holman . Zone
Brian LeFevre . Zone
Matt York . Zone
“‘personally think we developed language because of our deep need to complain.’” — Ilya Tomlin
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All letters and guest columns should be submitted to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stuufer-Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut to length or reject all submissions. For any questions, call Paul Eakins (eakins@kansan.com) or Andy Obermüller (andyo@kansan.com) at 864-4810. If you have general questions or comments, e-mail the page staff (apinion@kansan.com) or call 864-4810.
Perspective
Collect your colorless Kansans while you can
Andrew Rohrback
opinion @ kansan.com
Perhaps you noticed something odd about your University Daily Kansan as you walked to class yesterday. Rest assured that I noticed the same thing:
assured that I noticed There was a lot more ink on my fingers after picking up the paper than there usually is.
As I gasped in horror at my stained fingers, I noticed another anomaly: The Kansan was not its usual technicolor dream-coat of a news medium.
Welcome to a unique collector's opportunity. We're bringing you the Limited Edition Com-
It's a problem most of us can identify with — calamity strikes computer hardware daily. Just the day before, we were all complaining about the "puke green" color which seemed to dominate our front page despite all efforts to eradicate it. Now we're longing for any kind of color, be it puke green, bile brown, or good old reliable stomach-acid yellow.
Those of you who read 7-point type know that I also serve as one of the Kansan's graphics artists and designers. Rest assured that no one is quite as distressed by this turn of events as I am. Color is a graphics artist's best friend. We need color to show segments of pie graphs, sizes of bar graphs, and the clever blended shadow behind each and every art element we produce.
parent film images of pages — gave up onus. We've had that machine since 1994, and, as the legends go, has long been known to be a temperamental but hardy piece of equipment. It's also a discontinued model manufactured by a no-longer-extant company. Go figure.
I offered to personally watercolor each front page as it is placed in distribution boxes, but after about nine papers, I ran out of stamina. Those of you who picked up those nine papers should treasure them, stuffing them in acetate envelopes and storing them with your Spider-Man back issues and Upper Deck rookie error cards.
So treasure these colorless *Kansans*. Keep them for posterity. And when color returns, hopefully by Friday, please join me at 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall for a full day of feasting and sacrifices to the Ripsnorter gods.
memorative Di-Chromatic Vintage University Daily Kansan. Hand-numbered and including its own certificate of authenticity, this newspaper will be valuable for generations to come. Like the first color edition of the New York Times, this newspaper represents a unique historical point in the life of the institution. And hopefully for us, but unfortunately for collectors, today will be the last such edition.
If you failed to pick up yesterday's paper, don't worry. The University has just reached an agreement with the Franklin Mint to produce pewter replicas while these rare newspapers are being printed.
Enough with the facetious spin doctoring. The black-and-white Kansan is a fluke, an unfortunate result of an unforeseen accident.
I was in the newsroom Tuesday night when things went awry. The "Ripsnorter" — an affectionate term not for any member of the Opinion page staff, but rather for the machine that magically cranks out trans-
Andrew Rohrback is an Andover senior in journalism.
Dorothy is MIA,but Kansas perks remain
Ah, Kansas! The most beautiful place in all the land! Nestled in the heart of America, there is no place quite like Kansas and no place I'd rather be than in the 34th state of the
I was born in this glorious state, a native of the prairie, living among the cattle and the streams. I swam nude in a creek and killed a crawdad when I was only three years old. Why is Kansas the best? It's simple.
W. David Keith
opinion @ kansan.com
Although we were voted last in a list of vacation states in the U.S., the list-makers obviously overlooked some of Kansas' wonders of the world.
Kansas has the world's largest prairie dog, which happens to be a big concrete rodent in a boarded-up box. We also have the five-legged goat and the six-legged calf. Who in their right mind wouldn't like to get their pictures taken with these genetic freaks of Kansas nature?
Kansas also has the majestic rock formations of the western plains, like the strange Mushroom Rocks and Rock City, the even stranger Chalk Pyramids and the Badlands of Kansas where the magnificent Castle Rock stands. These glacial creations would make you think you were in Arizona or Utah — and you won't even half to cross the state line. After seeing these anomalies, take a trip to the world's largest ball of twine and the world's dearest hand-dug well.
Also, a plethora of famous Americans have sprouted from Kansas. Wichita was home to the first Pizza Hut and also to Kirstie Alley of Cheers and the Look Who's Talking movie trilogy. Kansas also was home to the King of Cool, Don Johnson, also known as Sonny Crockett on the 1980s boat and bikini drama Miami Vice.
Who would have thought a fellow sunflower stater would start a trend of wearing tropical boat shoes and pink Izod shirts? I would'la thought it!
Kansans have always been on the cutting edge. Olathe is where the cowboy boot and the duplex were invented. Smallville is the home of a certain Clark Kent, who went on to become a famous underwear model that could fly. Actually, he's a Kryptonian, but he's all Kansas at heart.
Walt Disney created Mickey Mouse on a train going to Kansas City. President "Ike" Eisenhower, and Senator and almost-president Bob Dole were born in Kansas. So was world's most famous missing female pilot, Amelia Earhart. Wherever you are Amelia, I'm sure you're treating your alien abductors with down-home Kansas hospitality.
Through the years, Kansas has been unfairly characterized as the "Land of Oz." This can be difficult for Kansans to deal with. Countless references to yellow brick roads, Munchkins and flying monkeys have littered our past. We don't ask Chicagoans if they have any bratwurst in their pockets, so non-Kansans should stop asking us if we've seen Dorothy lately.
I have lived here my whole life, and I have only seen two Munchkins and one flying monkey. It is up to us Kansas natives to defend our state wherever we go.
Kansas is not just another chunk of land in the middle of nowhere. Kansas is a breath of fresh air in a world of oppression. There is no greater feeling than waking up at the crack of dawn, jumping in your station wagon and driving across the state through the grandeur of the Flint Hills, past the singing meadowlarks and the cottonwood trees.
Welcome to Kansas. Welcome to heaven on earth.
W. David Keith is a Stanley freshman in illustration.
Thank you for making the first Opinion Page Coffee a success. We heard insightful views and ideas, and had stimulating discussion. Paul Eakins and Andy Otherller co-editor
Paul Eakins and Andy Obermueller, co-editors