THE UNIVERSITY BABY & ANSAM
PAGE 4A
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2013
opinion
Dear roommates: can't I be the first to get the mail just one day??!?
Text your FFA submissions to 785-289-8351 or at kansan.com
I wish I was stuck in the twilight zone rather than the friend zone. At least there you can experience the mysterious cruelty of the universe AND multi-dimensional ghosts.
TEXT FREE FOR ALL
The SUA gave me a condom with hoies in it. If I get pregnant, I'm suing.
Shout out to the girl who just found a $10 bill on the 30 bus and gave it to the driver - good to see acts of kindness on campus!
Wiggins was the fourth scorer on the team. Can we please not make him the topic of every article? Talk about Perry.
Selphobia: the fear of others seeing and judging me for taking selfies.
Trip you? That moment a squirrel tries to tie you up and carry you back to it's den.
I think I'm the only student in the J-School without a Mac...
From the bottom floor of Haworth to the top floor of strong in 6 minutes. Where is my medal?
Remember kids, Bill Self thinks it's disrespectful when you yell "Chiefs" at the end of the national anthem. This is AFH, not Arrowhead.
Make the pansys camp in the cold like real men and EARN those lottery positions! Kids these days ..
You know you aren't going to do well on a test when your study guide reeks of spit beer the morning of.
Can the UDK still put pictures of
Withey in? I miss seeing his face
cover the news paper.
EDITOR'S NOTE:
I don't smoke weed, it dulls my hatred.
I'm farting so loud in this empty house I'm embarrassing myself.
Frankamp is gonna be the next Teahan. Get in your corner!
Anyone been seen Xavier Henry tear it up with the Lakers lately? Jayhawks are all over the NBA!
I hate that no one wants to watch scary movies with me once Halloween is over. I'm also too scared to watch them alone.
POLITICS
State funding cuts make education a low priority
Last Wednesday, the state legislature was once again touring the state's higher education institutions and made their last stop in Lawrence. The House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Ways and Means Committee met with the chancellor, provost, vice-provost of public affairs and other administrators to discuss issues that affect the University.
KU Administrators told the legislature all the ways the State's investment in higher-ed can return to the economy and how that return would shape the future of the state. The legislature heard how successful the Bold Aspirations campaign has been, and how it could be a catalyst to help the state adapt and flourish if given appropriate help, for example, reversing the funding cuts or maybe even going so far as to provide reasonable funding.
Without investments to education, it won't just be students that are hurt. It will be anyone in Kansas who wants a job. They won't get one, because no one will be expanding business in a state that lacks a competitive, skilled and educated labor force, undermined by a government that has fallen behind others in the region in funding our universities.
If the University is not a catalyst for change, the state won't adapt to economic trends and new fields of employment. As new types of jobs emerge due to new technology — the rate of which only increases with time — education must be the piece that helps Kansas keep up with the times.
But I'm tired of hoping that this legislature will start doing their jobs and serving the interests of Kansans. There is little need for speculation; their previous actions speak for themselves. While they are happy to come and "listen" to appeals and explain how education is a priority, we can predict what they will actually do about it. Nothing. They could continue to cut funding, though probably
not in an election year. They could pretend, as they do now, that the income tax cuts are going to come back and help students, when in reality all they're doing is shifting the expenses to sales and property taxes where the burden will fall less on the Koch brothers, and more on the average student and food stamp-user. It doesn't take an expert to predict what a group with a track record as consistent as a meth addict's will do.
The legislative body has seen these appeals before, and as effective as the KU administration has been with Bold Aspirations, they can only hit them over the head with common sense so many times. In the past, legislators have even cited Bold Aspirations success as a reason to decrease funding. A program designed to
raise funds to launch the University's growth and ascension to new heights has been called a reason to decrease the share of the State's investment. That is a direct and hypocritical contradiction to the very principle that the ultra-nut tea party wing vehemently cackles while cutting food stamps for the poor – in a free market economy, the winners should not be punished for success.
But in this case, one issue they've nailed in Topeka is equality. I know that sounds counterintuitive in Kansas, but no matter your political allegiance or party affiliation, all Kansans are being let down.
Clay Cosby is a junior majoring in political science from Overland Park.
Seniors may be campus big shots but the real world isn't impressed
I'm going to go out on a limb and say I'm a pretty big deal. I have two jobs, two kick-ass internships, a great big house with my friends, a decent GPA, a fridge full of beer and a closet full of cute shoes.
I have causes that are important to me, teachers who think I will go far, a family that worships me and an aging shih tzu to hang out with. All of this combined adds up to one pretty important person, right?
Wrong. So wrong. More than any other time in my life, senior year of college just makes me chuckle. It creates the *illusion* that we are a force to be reckoned with. We seemingly know everyone on campus, have scoped out every bar, have (maybe) figured out what we want to do with our lives and generally feel like we've made a name for ourselves.
The funny thing? We are just big, fat nobodies to anyone who doesn't live within a five-mile radius of the Kansas Union.
This is true even more so than when we were seniors in high school. Back then, we were at least the stars of one team, or of a few hundred kids or of a small town. Our parents really did think we were somebodies... for whatever reason.
And now? People generally don't care what we do unless we get arrested or send them a resume.
I know this is a hard pill to swallow. I too believed that because I was young and smart and could curl a mean ponytail - I was important. But, slowly, I
have come to see the truth
have come to see the trust.
The perfect example is how I approached my internship this semester at a very cool TV station in Kansas City. I went in the first week, guns HOT. I bought legal pads, signed my phone to my company email so I could stay in the loop and put together the most professional wardrobe I could find. I felt totally hirable and ready to wow people.
As you might imagine, things didn't exactly go as I planned. Someone had to let me in the back door when my key card didn't work, one of the editors straight up refused to make me a file for my projects (I thought she was kidding…she wasn't), and my name was either "intern," "sorry I forgot your name" or nothing at all.
I even brought in coffee and bagels for my birthday to bribe them, but the only comment they made was about how a college student could afford such fancy bagels. Even breakfast food didn't get them to budge? I was agasthet that my enthusiasm didn't mean anything to them.
But you know what? It really didn't mean anything. I hadn't earned this respect, hadn't put in the hard work and hadn't proven
that I was anything more than a 22-year-old with a MacBook and $30 for bagels. It wasn't until about six weeks later, after I had proven myself and run the gantlet a few times, that anyone really learned my name. Nowadays, I can laugh at myself when I say good morning to someone and get ignored, or when I pitch a story and get shut down. Because that's where I'm at in life, but this stage also comes with some great perks, like the freedom to experiment and screw up without too many consequences.
I used to start a lot of sentences with "Look, I'm not a child, I’m 22 years old.". which, looking back now, is of course ridiculous. Because to a lot of people, a 22-year-old is certainly a child. I am a baby in terms of maturity, experience, skill, finances and a whole host of other life lessons.
MENTAL HEALTH
Once we realize this, we can take one of two roads: either spend our time proving ourselves and earning the right to be taken seriously; or accept this time in our young, inexperienced lives and enjoy it as much as possible.
I'll let you guess which path I'm trying to take, and encourage you to reflect on your own choice when it comes to this subject. Because, in the end, I'm still spending my days eating ramen and updating my LinkedIn profile, and that's exactly where I meant to be.
Lindsey Mayfield is a senior studying journalism, public policy and leadership from Overland Park.
Seasonal affective disorder touches many during winter
As the waning semester begins to take hold, I never cease to feel the stress. With each passing day, I realize that I'm spending all my time playing video games or sleeping in. And with each passing day, I also realize that I'm that much closer to some imminent nightmare of a test and have wasted hours of potential study time. This can be a sad, vicious cycle. Yet as fall turns to winter, and long summer days turn to dark-by-five-o'clock nights, sometimes the sadness that sets in is more than typical of the situation. People are being diagnosed more and more with a condition aptly named SAD, or seasonal affective disorder.
SAD symptoms start in the fall and may continue into the winter months, sapping your energy and making you feel moody. Less often, seasonal affective disorder causes depression in the spring or early summer, according to mavocolic.com.
Some of its symptoms are similar to depression itself: difficulty getting motivated, extended periods of sadness, withdrawal from things you had previously enjoyed and change in appetite or sleep patterns. Realistically, it just makes you feel really crappy all-around.
But what can we do about it? Something I've noticed that helps me in the winter is to go tan. During my research, I found that light therapy is something that is often used for SAD treatment, albeit with a "lightbox." But there is one thing that I feel that it is necessary to push.
Therapy is another suggestion from the Mayo Clinic, and I feel that the value of that therapy can't be understated. There is a definite stigma surrounding it. People seem to feel that you have to be crazy, or broken to talk to someone. That is simply not true. Consider it a kind of maintenance. There is something to be said for
By Nick Jackson
nbi688@ku.edu
CAMPUS CHIRPS BACK
being able to talk to someone and hold nothing back.
FFA OF THE DAY
Therapy eases the stress to be something for everyone else. Maybe I'm the only one, but if I'm being honest, how I'm perceived by other people is important to me, and so I don't always voice my fears and concerns. It's hard sometimes. But in therapy, we can be ourselves. Worst case scenario, your therapist thinks you're a weirdo. The wonderful thing is that you've already paid, so they have to sit and listen anyway. CAPS (Counseling and Psychological Services) on campus has absurdly affordable services. You might as well try it one time.
You also may try the temporary use of antidepressants, at the discretion of a doctor. As a precautionary note, I will mention that these things don't always work the way you want them to. It takes time to figure out the right one. It's awful when you are just stuck feeling like a zombie and become impotent, but keep trying. It's worth it.
if you're still not convinced, I'll leave you with this from Mayo Clinic. "It's normal to have some days when you feel down. But if you feel down for days at a time and you can't seem to get motivated to do activities you normally enjoy, see your doctor. This is particularly important if you notice that your sleep patterns and appetite have changed or if you feel hopeless, think about suicide, or find yourself turning to alcohol for comfort or relaxation."
I was in the bathroom alone washing the sandwich jelly off my forearms when I decided to try and make soap bubbles... Another girl walked in. I'm 20, I swear
I swear.
Nick Jackson is a junior majoring in chemical engineering from Lawrence.
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