personalities
A student's best friend
Pets may offer companionship, but they also need care and consideration.
Amv.Solt / KANSAN
By Cathleen Siechta Kansan staff writer
But they weren't for him. They were for his pet python, Nakita.
It's the cold and flu season, and Doug Day, Paula senior, has already had to get two pneumonia shots.
"Now I know how to tell when a snake is sick," Day said, "I sneezes. The first time I heard Nakita sneeze, it really surprised me. It sounded like a real loud, hard hiss."
Day said he had to watch Nakita carefully for signs of illness. When she is sick, he said, she loses her appetite and will often submerge herself in her water dish.
These are just a few of the responsibilities that come with having a pet. Whether students choose a traditional pet or an exotic pet, they must make time to care for their companions.
Tom Liebl, a veterinarian at Clinton Parkway Animal Hospital, said some pets were easier to take care of than others.
"Probably the ideal pet for a college student is a cat," he said. "They aren't dependent on people, which makes them much easier to care for. A student can leave out food and water, and the cat can go for 18 to 20 hours taking care of itself."
Lieb also said cats would be more welcome in apartment buildings because they were quiet and relatively clean.
Christine Heggestad, Wichita junior, lives in an apartment building that doesn't allow pets. But she said that her cat, Sam, was so well-behaved that no one knew she was there.
"She's very neat and tidy," Heggestad said. "And she's independent. She catches the mice in my apartment, which is also a plus."
Mike Collins, Overland Park junior, plays with his Green giraffe named Bull. Bull is a female giraffe that is 1 and 1/2 years old. She lives in a 50-gallon tank and eats chopped vegetables.
Heggestad, who lives alone, said her cat was always good company.
Good company or not, Richard Koleber, manager of Animal House pet store, said that cats were not the ideal pets for students.
"I think that fish are the best pets that a college student can have," Koleber said. "They don't make any noise, they can't do any damage, and feeding and caring for them is low maintenance."
Koleber said almost all of his customers were college students.
"It's funny to watch students come in with their girlfriends," Kolebear said. "Girls see the rabbits and hamsters, and they go crazy, and next the thing the boyfriend know, they're buying a rabbit."
Sherry Emerson, owner of Pet World, said the hottest items in the store were reptiles.
"Repetites are very big in Lawrence for some reason," Emerson said. "They're cool. They're different. They can be kept in a cage indoors and are basically easy to care for."
Reptiles can have their drawbacks, though. Chad Ingram, Lawrence senior, had to sell his monitor lizard because it had an uncontrollable appetite.
"It would eat. two to three mice a day, and it was still growing," Ingram said. "Reptiles never stop growing. It got to where it was costing me $10 a week to feed it, and it was about 14 inches long. If I would have kept it, it would have grown to 4 feet long and 150 pounds. By
ngram now has a smaller reptile, a water dragon named Willie.
then it could have easily eaten a whole pig. That's just too expensive."
Willie needs to eat a mouse about every two weeks. Ingram said that Willie, who is kept uncaged, hid in his bedroom.
she only comes out when she's hungry," Ingram said. "I worried at first about her not getting enough to eat because she was so independent and hid all the time. But then she laid eggs even though she hadn't been around other lizards for a long time. The pet store said that meant she was very healthy."
The health of pets is a concern, especially in the winter season. A common sight on campus is a dog tied up while the owner is in class. Liebli said in the colder weather, this could be hard on animals.
"If the temperatures are comfortable, some dogs are very acclimated to being tied to a tree," Laebi said. "But with the weather we've had lately, that's kind of cruel."
Situations like these raise questions about whether students have the time or resources to properly care for pets.
"It's unfair to people who live here because the dog barks a lot," Liston said. "And it's unfair to the dog because she doesn't get out enough. My roommate and I have busy college schedules, and we don't have time to play with her. I love dogs, but if you can't bring them up in a better environment than an apartment, you shouldn't have one."
Amy Listen, Kansas City, Mo, sophomore, thought it was cruel to keep dogs cooped up in apartments. Listen's roommate received a dog as a gift from his girlfriend.
Anyone who wants a dog should get one from their local pound or humane society, Liston added. She said those dogs needed a home the most.
Heggestad bought her cat from Pet World, which is sometimes a last stop for animals before they go to the pound.
"We give the dogs and cats their shots and worm them and try to locate them as best we can." Emerson said. "We don't want them to have to go to an animal shelter."
Hegestad is taking Sam to the Lawrence Humane Society next week to get her spayed.
"Everyone should get their dogs and cats spayed or neutered," Heggestad said. "There are so many dogs and cats that nobody wants. The cruelest thing you can do is not prevent more animals from being put to sleep."
music
Latino bands offer a large variety of music
Kansan staff writer
By Angelina Lopez
Strumming the cuatro, a four-string instrument indigenous to Venezuela, Kelfel Aqui smiled as he and the band, Folkore Venezuela, performed a song celebrating their homeland.
Outside, freezing temperatures, foreign to Venezuela, pushed in on the small restaurant where the band played. Inside was like a heat wave as Latinos, Caucasians, Asians, African Americans and people from other races danced and sweated together.
They moved to the beat of Latino music. Some songs played by Folklore Venezuela that night had an infectious rhythm, making everyone move their feet and swing their hips. But Latino music is more than just one rhythm.
Latin music is as varied as the people who gathered that night to hear Follore Venezuela. Like those people, the 1,001 various sounds of Latin music have different origins, different backgrounds and different focuses.
Even here in Lawrence, the three bands that perform
"Every time we play, we try to show everybody a different region of Venezuela," said Max Perez, percussionist for the eight-man Folklore Venezuela. "Each region has its own music and its own roots."
Latino music, Folklore Venezuela, Las Cuitro and Caribe, sound entirely different from each other. The bands' music is based on who their members are, what they believe in and what they want to present to the world about a culture they love.
Folklore Venezuela came together in 1988. Made up almost entirely of Venezuelans, the band has focused on bringing the diversity and beauty of Venezuela's music to the Lawrence area.
The joroppo is fast Spanish-influenced folk music. The many percussion sounds of calypso were brought by people from the West Indies, when they came to work
"Our roots are there," said Ernesto Perez, mandolin player. "Our musical influence is all Venezuela."
The diversity of Venezuela's music comes from three cultures — Indian, African and Spaniard. These cultures came together to influence Venezuela's music, Aqui said.
"The music is about peoples' strengths and overcoming oppressive systems," she said. "Really radical stuff!" she added with grin.
Brian Vandervliet / KANBAI
Though the attitude of newues troca might seem somber, the actual message of the music is hopeful. Las Cuatro performs their songs in full, four-part harmonies, which give uplifting sounds to the music.
Nueva troca is the music of down-trodden people looking for hope, Tait said. It was a wave of protest music that came out of the late '60s and '70s, a very repressive period in Latin America.
Nueva troca is very poetic and political at the same time," said Issy Tait, a member of Las Cratos.
Not every Latino band focuses on so many types of music. Las Cuatro, a four-female band, concentrates on the one type of Latino music that moves them the most: nueva troca.
The band Folklore Venezuela brings the unique sounds of Latino music to the Low Rider Cafe, 943 Massachusetts St. The eight-member band has been playing in the area for five years.
venezuela's gold rush. Andean music uses wind instruments and pan flutes and is more subtle, like its people, Aqui said.
"Many of the songs we perform are very inspiring," said Rachel Miller of Las Cuatro.
"We like to be a party band," said Bunny Rodina, vocalist and percussionist. "We like to see people have fun and dance."
The music of Caribe is inspiring in another manner. Their music often inspires people to get out on the dance floor.
The seven-piece Caribe, formed 13 years ago, focuses on salsa, merengue and calypso, rhythms that make it hard for people to stay in their seats.
in people to come up with their own rhythm," said Bob Augeli, vocalist and percussionist. "We have an infectious rhythm that's easy and fun to dance to."
"For lots of people, our shows are a cultural event. It's an opportunity for Latinos to take part in their culture far away from home, and for others to take part in the Latino culture."
"Then, people who weren't Latin-American would come in and listen and like the music," he said. "They would come the next time we played."
The diversity of those who enjoy Latino music is equivalent to the diversity of those who play Latino music. Only one member of Las Cuateto is Latino, and in Caribe, only two members are Latino.
Iani Moreno, who is from El Salvador and is the only Latina member of Las Cratto, said she had learned a lot from the non-Latino members of the group.
"I thought I knew about Latino music," she said. "But they have taught me so much. Even though they weren't born there, they have it in their blood."
Rodina, one of the members of Caribe who is not Latino,
also felt a special identification with Latino music.
"When I play this music, it feels like something I'm supposed to be doing," she said. "It feels right. The music is enlightening and lifting."
JANUARY 25,1994
PAGE 9
Your guide to Entertainment in the Lawrence Area.
LEAD STORY
- In November, officials of the Commonwealth Games (featuring athletes from 66 nations competing in Olympic-style events) announced that Ortho McNeil Co. condoms will be the official condoms of the 1994 Games in Victoria, British Columbia.
- -In March, in response to a citizen complaint, a San Diego police vice squad officer persuaded the owner of DeRay's, a sexy-costume shop, to remove some of the stuffing in the crotch of the male swim-suited mannequins in its window.
- in July, the Cook Islands, which gained independence from New Zealand in 1965 and is home to 18,000 people, reported its very first armed robbery. A local man took about $24,000 from a hotel but was quickly captured.
-In separate incidents in March, police in Washington, D.C., and South San Francisco arrested men they encountered running down the street who aroused suspicion because they happened to be carrying cash registers. One was charged with robbing a convenience store and the other with burglaring a bakery.
In July, New York City police arrested a 16-year-old boy named Eddie and charged him with the sexual assault and attempted murder of his stepmother, but then released him two days later when an investigation revealed that it was his twin brother, Jesus, who should have been charged. The stepmother said she could not tell the boys apart and therefore was not sure which one assaulted her, and DNA testing of accused rapists was useless since both Eddie and Jesus have the same DNA.
-November, Andre Guay, 34, was arrested in Dickson, Tenn., and charged with various traffic violations. Guay has black wavy hair and was dressed in black, with black chrome-tipped boots, and a black jacket with the words "Elvis Lives" on it. Guay, who is from Quebec, told police he was distraught over marital problems and decided to visit Graceland, but that made him even more depressed.
POLICE BLOTTER
- in November, a white woman in Shawnee told police she was robbed at gunpoint in her home by a Black man in his 20's. After rifling through her purse and finding only about $20, he gave back the money, apologized, offered to shake the women's hand, and said, "I don't want you to think all Black people are bad."
See WEIRD, Page 10.
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