MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2013
PAGE 4
TEXT FREE FOR ALL
Bob Ross may have been the calmest person to ever exist, but his show is stressful to watch.. Those mountains look finished to me. Why the hell are you adding the alizarin crimson?! Oh. Wow. That is nice.
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Literally have been right next to the steam whistle during 10:50, 11:50, and 12:50 whistles. I'm awake today.
Is it bad if my main motivation for giving blood is for the free snacks?
Walking across campus alone at night, I am a little afraid that the black cape guy is still prowling around.
After finding out you can get butt pimples from toilet seats I seriously considered never sitting on one again.
Snapchatting for 30 minutes? Amateur. I once did it for 5 hours straight.
I'm sorry, but if you're wearing Nortis and athletic shoes as part of your "style," walk to class and save room on the bus for people that need it.
Found a free condom! Finders keep ers, losers have kids.
McCollium residents, those early morning fires aren't accidents, it's arson. You'll understand why soon enough
Feel Like A KU Badass: Listen to the "The Dark Knight Rises" soundtrack while walking across campus.
Dr. Atchely just referenced "Breaking Bad." Yeah, you should be jealous that your teacher isn't that cool.
Ok freshmen. C grades are average.
Always have been. That means, odds
are the average grade in your classes
will be a C. Welcome to college.
The squirrels near Malott have formally declared war on the squirrels near summerfield. I'd like to remain a neutral party.
I second the hand washing column!
And believe me, girls are equally
nasty. I witness it more than I care to
mention!
There are two groups of people on campus that wear clothes from their high school; the freshmen that don't know any better and the seniors that just stopped caring sometime around May last year.
Just bought a new bra and underwear because I didn't want to do laundry...
Making flash cards is fun, mainly because I like the smell of Sharpies
Right when things get crazy busy,
Netflix has to add "Love Actually?"
That's just cruel.
DRUG ABUSF
Education needed to combat drug use at concerts
Mary Jane. look out there's a new girl in town by the name of Molly
Molly.
"Molly," properly known as the powdered form of MDMA, has been causing quite a scene lately, raising much concern and controversy over drug abuse and its ties to the music industry. Electronic Dance Music (EDM) has been the genre most associated with the drug, and everyone in the industry is quick to spread blame for its seemingly sudden rise in consumption.
Everyone from festival promoters to paramedics has witnessed the drug's destruction firsthand – most recently at the 2013 Electric Zoo festival in New York, where two attendees died as a result of an apparent overdose of the drug. In response to the deaths, the official decision was made to cancel the third and final day of the festival. The EDM industry is estimated to be worth $4.5 billion, but are the profits worth the risks?
One organization in particular doesn't think so. DanceSafe is a
nonprofit that has taken a stance towards "promoting health and safety within the rave and nightclub community," according to their mission statement.
Earlier this month, DanceSafe issued a press release in response to the tragedies at Electric Zoo. The press release concluded that, "We are all socially responsible. This includes the patron, friend, promoter, DJ/artist, event staff, medical personnel, and even security and law enforcement. If you are a part of the community and/or a particular event and ignoring the realities of drug use, you are socially and medically negligent."
DanceSafe believes that the best way to minimize the issue of drug use is through education. Julie Howard, a psychiatrist and editor of "Ecstasy: The Complete Guide," recently told Rolling Stone that, "The biggest issue with Molly is it's a white powder, and a white powder can be absolutely anything."
So for all you know, you may have simply taken a hit of a pixie stick.
Upon learning about these efforts, I couldn't help but wonder, when did our generation become so trusting? We put passcodes on our iPhones and block pictures on Facebook, yet we'll willingly accept questionable drugs for the thrill of dancing like Thom Yorke in the "Lotus Flower" music video. Over the years, I've witnessed the growing dangers of the dynamic dance-music-and-drug duo. I've seen teenagers carried away from the Lollapalooza electronic dance stage on stretchers, and I've seen young adults openly offering an array of substances at Summercamp Music Festival. What strikes me most is the normalcy of it all.
This past weekend, I attended
Buzz Beach Ball. Though this event was far tamer in comparison to my past experiences, one situation still did arise. While standing amongst the packed crowd for Alt-J, I noticed that someone had passed out just to right next to me. A few audience members circled around the person, with looks of confusion and fear on their faces. Within two minutes, the person stood up and wandered off to make their way towards personal space and fresh air.
What shocked me the most wasn't the fact that someone had passed out, but the fact that within mere moments, the crowd had turned their attention back to stage and joined in on the chorus of whatever song was playing. I tapped the person in front of me to ask what had happened, to which he replied, "Who knows? I freakin love Alt.-J, man!"
Have we become so tolerant of these instances, so immune, that we no longer react? References to Molly have even made their way into mainstream music, the
most recent example being Miley Cyrus' claim to fame, "We Can't Stop." While we may never know if Cyrus' lyrics say "dancing with Miley" or "dancing with Molly," I think it's safe to say that the risk factor is equal.
Jillionarie, a member of the DJ project Major Lazer, told Rolling Stone that, "It's going to sound weird, but we need to teach kids how to do drugs, the same way we teach them about drinking responsibly and having safe sex."
Personally, I agree. When our generation is told no, we somehow hear yes. Being told not to do something simply becomes a challenge of how we will proceed to do it. In order to keep the current drug culture under control, we first have to control what we know. Before long, the talk about "the birds and the bees," may become a conversation about "the powders and the pills."
Lyndsey Havens is a sophomore majoring in journalism from Chicago.
BOOK CLUB
'The Falls' weighs importance of sacrifice with costliness
I have a tendency to get stuck on a single author. When the first book makes a great impression on me, I won't stop until I have read several more of their works. David Foster Wallace, Roberto Bolaño, Vladimir Nabokov... last spring it was George Saunders. In January, a friend of mine handed me a copy of "CivilWarLand in Bad Decline," and from there I was hooked. Each short story in the collection was equal parts funny, poignant and incisively satirical. Saunders' stories often take place in wacky alternate universes in which some aspect of American culture has been amplified to the nth degree, with frightening or absurd consequences. For instance, in the first paragraph of "The 400-pound CEO" we are introduced to a hilariously unscrupulous corporation that "humanely" executes raccoons with tire irons.
Besides being devilishly entertaining, Saunders' stories show their true worth when they examine moral issues and push their characters to the limit. Time and again, Saunders' characters break free from the cages that society has constructed around them to perform selfless acts that reaffirm one's faith in human capacity to do good. One of my favorite stories is "The Falls," from the collection "Pastoralia." The plot is simple: two men, each absorbed in his own thoughts, are walking along a river that ends in a waterfall. Each sees a canoe speeding down the river with two young, oarless girls in it. The canoe hits "the Snag," which is nearly upon the waterfall and begins to take on water — the
By Jason Bates.
jbates@kansan.com
girls will surely die in minutes when the canoe sinks and they are swept over the falls. Too far away to call for help, the first man is trapped in a panic while the second man, against his best reasoning, jumps into the river to attempt to save the girls.
the story ends there. It's almost parable-ish in the retelling, but in its original form it is both gut-wrenching and beautiful. I want to focus on the second man that jumps, Morse. We spend the largest portion of the short story inside of Morse's head on his way home from work, while the main conflict only emerges in the final four paragraphs. In middle age, Morse is debt-ridden, works an unrewarding job and loves his wife and children, although he is also sometimes disappointed in them. This disappointment is the icing on Morse's cake of self-loathing. Morse was that kid that was always bullied. The only thing that saved him from being a perennial laughing-stock for being gullible enough to paint his butt blue on prom night was the death of the prankster, a swimmer that died failing to swim to the Snag while drunk.
Would you dive into the river to help the girls? I probably wouldn't have, to be honest. When Morse sees them, his thoughts run rapid-fire across the page: "There was no time... Could one swim to the Snag? Certainly one could not. No one ever had... He fiercely wished himself elsewhere." Morse remembers a time that a barge's
crew was saved, but only because rescuers used a rope bridge. The statistical probability of his success is almost nil. Yet in the end, amidst his thoughts of the hopelessness of the situation, he jumps. The reader is left with the enormity of his sacrifice looming in the air, above the water. We won't know if he succeeds.
I think Saunders leaves out the outcome because it's unimportant. The most important thing is the act itself. Saunders is asking us to ask ourselves about sacrifice. What sacrifices do you make in your life? Is there a point where a sacrifice isn't worth it? What do you sacrifice for? These questions don't have easy answers. In "The Falls," one could feasibly argue that Morse makes his decision selfishly, to die as a tragic hero; however, I think that Morse ultimately does it based out of a love for his children, and by extension the children of others. The story is a very extreme case, but at its core it is calling us to sacrifice for things that we love. It doesn't have to be your whole life. When is the last time you sacrificed a few minutes to call your mom? Or gave your time to help a classmate understand a difficult homework problem? It's intentional everyday sacrifices like these that can accumulate to make a big difference.
The Watson Library call number for "Pastoralia" is:
PS3569.A7897 E53 2000
Jason Bates is a senior majoring in chemical engineering from Overland Park
RELATIONSHIPS
Use single time to learn about yourself
Let me start this article by first saying that when it comes to giving dating and relationship advice, I am about as qualified as Sheldon Cooper. Truth be told, dating is awkward, and talking about it is even worse. However, living in a hall with 47 other women, in addition to my own experiences, I've seen my fair share of triumphs and tragedies, and something must be said about relationships in college.
HOW TO SUBMIT A LETTER TO THE EDITOR
About a year ago, I had an epiphany about my co-ed friendships. I had been wondering why, even though I knew I wanted nothing more than friendship, that I was feeling more emotionally attached to my male friends' lives than I was to my female friends' lives. I realized the problem was in my expectations of my friendships. Being single at the time, I had been unaware that I treated guy friends somewhat like boyfriends (minus the romance) in order to fill the absence of companionship I felt. Expecting my friends to act like this made it difficult for both sides to feel completely comfortable around each other, and left me feeling ignored when my friends would hang out without me, or start seeing someone.
Trevo Graft, editor-in-chief
@kansasan@kansasan
Allison Kohn, managing editor
@kansasan@kansasan
Dylan Lysen, managing editor
dlysen@kansasan@kansasan
It's kind of embarrassing to admit, but the truth is I see this problem in other women every day. It doesn't necessarily manifest itself in the same way - some girls are on the perpetual hunt for a man in all the wrong places, others eat their #foreveralone feelings down to the last pint of ice cream and still others allow themselves to be treated poorly in the hopes of finding that special someone.
I realize this makes it sound like every woman on campus is here to get her MRS degree, but that's far from the truth. The real issue is that there is a lot of societal, and subsequently psychological
Length: 300 words
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LETTER GUIDELINES
Will Webber, opinion editor
wwebber@kansan.com
Send letters to kansanopdesk@gmail.com. Write LETTER TO THE EDITOR in the e-mail subject line.
Tasha Cerny is a senior majoring in English from Salina
Needless to say, there are a lot of voices telling women that they need to find love. However, while dating can be fun, being single isn't a bad thing either. As cliché as it sounds, being independent and learning to really love yourself is absolutely the foundational step to being happy—whether you're with someone or not. Stop worrying about being alone and take some time to learn about yourself. Appreciate your independence and don't mistreat yourself or allow others to do so. Take a hint from Ginny Weasley and give up pining away for Mr. Right-Now; love and respect yourself, and whatever happens after that will be Expecto Patraweesome.
@Kansan_Opinion SMRC hallway with floor to ceiling windows. Campanile background. Best view on campus
@Luciernaga117
@Kansan_Opinion the tulips in the spring!
By Tasha Cerny
tcerny@kansan.com
pressure put on us to find a man and settle down.
@BrandonWoodard
Think about it: How many films, TV shows or even books have a strong female character whose life doesn't somewhat center on a love interest? "Chick-Flicks," as they've so nicely been dubbed, are almost always sappy romantic comedies about two people who, despite making terrible relationship choices, fall in love. Every single Nicholas Sparks novel has taught me that I have the perfect soul mate waiting for me somewhere out there. Don't even get me started on Twilight—according to Stephanie Meyer's philosophy, materialism and male-dominance are what my life should be about. Even Katniss of "The Hunger Games"—as much as I hate to admit it—spends most of her time (particularly in "Catching Fire" and "Mocking-jay") worrying about and being torn between Peeta and Gale.
Mollie Pointer, business manager
moniter@kansan.com
Sean Powers, sales manager spowers@kansan.com
@busychild424
@Kansan_Opinion Huge lines leading into Allen Fieldhouse, because it means it's almost time for the greatest experience of my life, again.
CONTACT US
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Brett Akagi media director & content strategist bakagi@kansan.com
Jon Schlitt, sales and marketing adviser
jschlitt@kansan.com
THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Members of the Kansan Editorial Board are Trevor Graff, Allison Kohn, Dylan Lysen, Wiley Webber, Pointer Point and Power Powers.
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