UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday, April 15, 1993
13
Rapper focuses on message
Songwriter aims to bridge cultural gaps with music
For Barry Barnes, music is more than something to dance to.
Music to him is a way of conveying messages of success, peace and a healthier society.
By Will Lewis Kansan staff write!
"I call myself a poet, songwriter and rapper," said Barnes, a cook at Hashinger Hall.
He will perform blues and rap songs
at 6:30 p.m. today at the Ninth Street Baptist Church, 847 Ohio St. as, part of the Lawrence's annual Cultural Diversity Forums. This year's forum is aimed at educating people about African-American culture.
"Almost every one of my songs has a message in it," he said. "I have very few songs that are just for fun."
Many times, people will react to a song or television program if it depicts a bad aspect of life, Barnes said. But they usually will forget about it as soon as the next song or show comes on.
But one of his songs was remembered by his listeners for a long time.
bered by his listeners for a long time. It was about a man whose heart exploded after he entered a crack house and took a hit of the drug. His
friends did not know what to do with the body, so they took his wallet and threw him out of the window.
"People still walk up and remember that song," he said. "I painted a pretty vivid picture."
Barnes said rap music was effective in conveying this type of message.
"That's what rappers do," he said. "They place a magnifying glass on what it's like in the inner city."
Terry "Bones" Morris, a food service worker at Gertude Sellars Pearson Hall and member of Barnes' band, Atomic Side Show, will accompany Barnes tonight on the slide guitar. Barnes will play the keyboard, percussion, conga and harmonica.
"We just want to show the evolution of music a little from the African-
American influences to what it is today," said Morris.
"We put a big emphasis on having fun," he said. "We put our personal lives ahead of music."
Although Barnes' music focuses on major societal issues, Barnes said it was important that he and his band take an occasional break.
Sean Williams, community activist for the Celebration of Cultures Corporation, the corporation sponsoring the event, said Barnes' music would help those unfamiliar with African-American culture understand it better.
"The more we know about each other's differences, the easier it is to enjoy one another," Williams said.
Kansas ranked third most livable state
Unemployment education rates among criteria
By James J. Reece Kansas staff writer
Kansas is number three in the nation, according to a Lawrence corporation that issued its third annual "Most Livable State" award Tuesday.
But Scott Morgan, president of Morgan Quitino Corporation, 1618 Inverness Drive, said his company was not founded as a critic of states.
"We're a book publisher," Morgan said. "And each year, we put out a book called 'State Rankings.' But we started this award after people started asking us which state was best. It's
kind of fun. It's better than a lot of things we do."
The company ranked the 50 states. The first five, in order, were New Hampshire, Utah, Kansas, Minnesota and Wisconsin. The last five were West Virginia, Alabama, Mississippi, New York and Louisiana.
Morgan said the corporation published two yearly books comparing states statically. The newest is "Health Care State Rankings" "State Rankings," a 580-page book, makes comparisons in 511 categories, 43 of which are used to determine the livability rankings.
Compared categories include high school graduation rate; household income; per capita personal income; percent of population with bachelor's degrees; and marriage, divorce, crime, suicide and unemployment
Tom Price, Leavenworth junior, said he liked the high ranking of his home state.
rates.
"I love Kansas," Price said. "It's pretty relaxed. There's a very limited opportunity for young people, but it's a good place to grow up."
But he said he did think other states had more to offer and should have been ranked higher than Kansas.
"Just because there's a lack of awesome landscape here," Price said. "No mountains, no good lakes or forests."
Terra Bacon, Boulder City, Nev. senior, had a different reason for disliking Kansas' high ranking
"The weather sucks here," Bacon said. "This winter has really made me realize that I'm a West Coast person." She said her own vote for the most livable state would go to her home
state of Nevada. No. 23 on the list. But she said she could see a difference in the states that may have made the difference in the rankings.
"We cracked up when we saw they made such a big deal about finding guns in the high schools in Kansas City." Bacon said of a discussion with some West Coast friends. "Back home, the high schools have metal detectors."
Jennifer Yarrow, Englewood, Colo.
senior, supported the livability ranking and tried to consider the state as a whole.
"It just depends on if you are a rural person," Yarrow said. "I know that a lot of people, all they see in Kansas is off I-70, and there's more to Kansas than that."
"I think 'pleasant' would be the oper
ative word to describe Kansas."
Controversial artist shares his unique vision
His art has been filled with crucifixes, cow and goat carcasses, blood, his own urine, and recently with the homeless, the Klu Klu Klan and the dead.
The auditorium's 200 seats were filled, as were 30 folding chairs in the back row. Security stopped the flow of people at 7:30 p.m.
with the homeless, the Ru Khlo Khalil and the Great-
Last night, about 350 people crowded the Spencer
Museum of Art Auditorium to ask New York photo-
grapher Andres Rosrano why.
The lights dimmed, late arrivers slid in past secu
rity to crouch in the aisles, the slides came on and people asked questions.
"Every major art event in the past eight years has had his work," said Andrea Norris, museum director, as she introduced Serrano. But she said that not many artists made it to the lecture circuit as quickly as Serrano.
"We're looking at a photograph of a real cow's head," Serrano said to an audience member's question of the authenticity of a cow's severed head sitting on a marble nakedest. "Cabeza la Vaca."
One audience member asked why Serrano had not used the word "urine" in his works titled "Piss Christ" and "Piss Pope."
"Urine is a little too clinical for me," serrano answered. "So I call it pigs to keep it more informal."
answered. So it can still keep it more informal.
A work called "Ejaculatic Trajectory 6" prompted another audience member to ask Serrano if he
would be able to create contests with his art.
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By James J. Reece
Kansas staff writer
Serrano shared bits of detail behind many of his photographs; the time he missed拍摄 him.
Kansan staff writer
former Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan because he loaned out his hooded robe, the frozen goat carcass he rented from a butcher for another work, and seeing a young victim of chicken pox slit from crott to throat for an autopsy on Serrano's first day of working on his "Morgue" series.
About half way through 20 photographs from "Morgue," crowd members began to shuffle in their seats. The series showed crispy bones and burned, curled toes, coroner's incisions and the results of pulling skin from bones, victims of pneumonia, and drowning victims, swelled, blackened and discolored from long stays in water or the freezer.
But an explanation Serrano gave of "Piss Christ" probably best exemplified why he did things the way he did them.
"What you see is what I see through the lens," Sereno said.
Environmentalists say education is key to recycling efforts
Experts stress package waste
By Vicki Bode
Kansan staff writer
Although environmentalists emphasize recycling, buying items with the smallest amount of packaging is more important, said Shelley Wells, assistant environmental ambassador at the University of Kansas.
Wells said consumers needed to examine the amount of packaging on a product before buying it.
"People need to look for things with the least amount of impact on the environment," Wells said. "Packaging is the largest user of plastic in the United States."
Consumers need to educate themselves on how to be environmentally safe, she said. Products packaged in plastic and Styrofoam are especially dangerous to the environment.
Scott Schulte, waste reduction specialist for Lawrence, agreed that the best way to reduce waste was through education.
He said consumers should avoid purchasing items that are packaged for appearances only, like deodorants.
"What 'really needs to be stressed is reduction." Schulte said. "It's the real key. People should especially not buy things that come in double packaging."
Help the environment with smart shopping
People also should check products for recycling labels.
"Most products will have a recycling symbol printed on them and state what percent of the product was recycled," Schulte said.
Looking for these ratings on the bottom of plastic containers will help reduce waste. The ratings can be recycled.
Wells said consumers could distinguish recycled cardboard products by the color of the cardboard.
The recycling symbol is printed in two forms. A solid recycling symbol denotes that part of the product was produced from recyclable materials, whereas a hollow symbol denotes the product may be recycled.
1 Pop bottles
Source: Kansan staff research
Katharne Mawlewier / KANSAN
"Recycled cardboard is usually gray," she said. "If a product is white, you can tear it to see if it is recycled material. If it is, it should be gray underneath the white."
Recycling statements printed on packages sometimes are misleading. Wells said.
"Biodegradable doesn't mean anything," she said. "Everything will eventually degrade, but some things may take 100 years."
Schutte said materials needed oxygen and sunshine to degrade. If something remains buried in a landfill, it will not have access to sun and oxygen and will not degrade.
Although many products state that they are environmentally safe or environmentally friendly, that does not necessarily mean they are good for the environment. Schultz said. There is no legal definition of environmentally safe.
Schutte said that controversy existed over what was the best material for packaging.
"Even environmentalists argue over the subject," he said. "People need to educate themselves before they can make a decision."
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