4A • THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN OPINION --- TUESDAY, NOV. 20, 2001 TALK TO US Kursten Phelps editor 864-4854 or editor@tansan.com Leita Schultes Christina Neff managing editors 864-4854 or editor@kansan.com Erin Adamson Brendan Woodbury opinion editors 864-4810 or opinion@kansan.com Jenny Moore business manager 864-4014 or addreder@kansan.com retail sales manager 864-4462 or retailsalers@kansan.com Tom Eblen general manager and news adviser 864-7667 or teblen@kansan.com Matt Fisher sales and marketing adviser 864-7666 or mfisher@kansan.com PERSPECTIVE MATT GERTKEN/KANSAN Remember manners at Thanksgiving Well, the weather has not been indicative of the time of year, but that should hardly throw a wrench into the biological clock of any institution, including this college campus. As we all walk around sporting sandals in the midst of fall, we are also gearing up for the first official trip back home since leaving in August. I am sure a handful of students, namely freshmen, would rather attend a full season of Jayhawk football than go home and face the family following that glorious day the parents left them on the dorm steps and drove away. Those reluctant freshmen need a step-by-step crutch to help make it through the holiday meal this Thanksgiving break. 1. It is important to notice the difference between the cafeteria and your kitchen. Note the way in which you are able to obtain a drink without the use of a lever-operated spigot. Also note the absence of trapezoidal trays. Plan servings around this accordingly, as you now only have two hands and no tray. Commentary Justin Henning Columnist opinionkansan.com 2. As you sit at the table, family members may begin to bow their heads and clasp their hands together. This is called grace. It may have been purged from your memory as a hurdle to the eating process. Nevertheless, humor your mother and your grandparents and follow suit. It ends with "Amen." 3. To the left of your plate is a "fork" and to the right of your plate is a "knife" and "spoon." These are called utensils and should be used as vehicles to get the food from plate to mouth. Remember: "If it's in a pile, use your fork for a while. If it's on top of bread, pretend your utensils are dead." Congratulations! You are eating a Thanksgiving dinner. 4. As the meal progresses, various family members will make remarks to you that sound interrogative, but fail to end in "dude" or "man." Do not panic! These are called questions and should be answered with care. Take caution in using expletives out of place, and use the word "like" sparingly in your responses. Always try to envision the sentence before you say it, so as to avoid any embarrassing slips, such as retelling any event involving large quantities of alcohol. Note: If any person happens to ask about the football team, disavow any knowledge of ever having seen a game and quickly mention a fun fact about Roy Williams or Allen Fieldhouse. 5. If anything should be said that causes the entire table to stop eating and stare at you with open mouths, quickly blame your roommate, as he/she is bound to never meet your parents. Besides, this will usually lead to increased curiosity in your roommate, who for all your intents and purposes, can drink vodka for breakfast and get stoned before Spanish class, only to come home from campus and force you to drink beer. What mother wouldn't believe her own child? 6. By this point, you should be at dessert. Remember to keep your fork. If it has not been said already, thank the cook(s) of the meal by somehow implying that it was better than "the slop at the cafeteria." This will ensure more dessert. After completing dessert, say "thank you" and declare how full you are, thereby excuse yourself from the table. You have now completed your first family Thanksgiving since going to college! The family will be so proud, they just might invite you back for the Winter Break. Maybe that roomie of yours will have shaped up by then, too. Henning is a junior in journalism from Lea- wood. PERSPECTIVE New manager will examine what students want Convergence is a growing trend in media these days, and readers may soon notice its effects on the Kansan. News convergence combines information from various media, such as television and newspapers. Next semester, the Kansan plans to working more closely with KUJH and KJHK,the student-run television and radio stations. The Kansan will add the position of convergence manager, who will serve as a liaison between the staffs of the three campus media outlets, pulling their resources together to cover campus news. Theresa Freed will serve as the inaugural convergence manager. Commentary "We need to expose readers to other campus media that they might not know about," Freed said. "Someone may pick up the Kansan every day, but they might not tune into the newscast or listen to the radio." Freed said the other campus media were important for readers because they Jonathan Ng Columnist opinionkansan.com Reporters may start carrying a tape recorder next semester so they can transfer sound bites from their interviews onto KJHK. Reporters will also appear once a week on KUJH and perhaps on KJHK. One of the biggest effects of convergence of campus media will occur on the Kansan's Web site, kansan.com. Readers will notice considerable changes by next semester, said Andrew Vaupel, Kansan online editor. provided a different perspective on the news seen in the Kansan. The main idea is to not make it look like a paper," Vaupel said. "Right now, we just take the content in the paper and put it online." Vaupel said the site was currently difficult to navigate and could be more user-friendly. Starting next semester, an article in the Kansan may be previewed on the KUJH news broadcast the day before and then reported the next day on KJHK. The goal will then be to direct readers to the Kansan web site to listen to the KJHK and KUJH broadcasts for more coverage. Readers would then be able to actually hear and see the people interviewed in stories. "The goal is to offer students extra coverage without being repetitive," said Kurstin Phelps, Kansan editor. "Readers respond to more visual descriptions and pictures. Good journalism provides visual imagery in a story. Convergence will be able to add to this." Readers who want campus news in advance must now wait until about 3 a. m., when the site is updated. Readers would be better served if the Kansan Web site was updated several times a day as news happens. Convergence will hopefully make this a reality for readers. "I'd like to see it updated more often," Freed said. "I'm going to run back and forth between KJHK and the Kansan and try to translate scripts onto the Web site." Convergence of the campus media will provide readers with a different way of viewing campus news. It will also provide the Kansan with more creative opportunities to address reader concerns, whatever they may be. "I would like to encourage readers and viewers to contact the stations (KJHK and KUJH) to let them know what they would like to see." Freed said. "That's where we're lacking. We don't know exactly what students want." ng is a junior in journalism and Spanish from Leawood. ENROLLMENTWOES I'm an international student from Japan. I enrolled in classes for Spring 2002 on November 15th. Three out of four classes were already full. It was not because my grades were low, just because my ID number was big. Is this fair? I've respected the United States of America because this country is fair. This enrollment system is not fair at all. It is far from American style. It's even against American justice. LETTERST TO THE EDITOR Dear editor, Since I'm a transfer and pre-business student, the classes I can take now are limited. Now I am enrolled in only 10 credit hours. I have to enroll in more than 12 to be full-time student, otherwise I will lose my status as an international student and will have to leave this country. I don't want to change schools because the University's school of business is really good. However, if KU did not give me even a chance to study because of my ID number, I would have no option. I just want to know how many students agree with me, or is this just my selfishness. Sorry about my complaining. Masafumi Nagata OBJECTIVISM AS PIG LATIN... dear editor, Good Lord, another "Objectivist" inspired Rachelle Cathoun editorial ("Only haters know how to love," Nov. 16). It's funny how a philosophy so Dear editor. engrossed in verbal argument can say so little. Allow me to summarize her tedious article. 1. I am smarter than you. 2. Good hate is good. 3. Hate is bad only when you haven't read Attas Shrugged. Notice if you have a problem with that you are either demonstratively stupid or a Communist. For being such an individualist, Rachelle certainly has staked her identity on a couple of washed up writers! Her "Objectivist Philosophy" is empty, circular and was dead before Ms. Cathoun was born. Objectivism is to Philosophy as Pig Latin is to Language; fun for a while, then pubescent and boring. GUEST COLUMN GUIDELINES Jonathan Huskey Class of 1999 **Maximum Length:** 650 word limit **Include:** Author's name Class, hometown (student) Position (faculty member) **Also:** Columnists must come to 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall to get their picture taken LETTER GUIDELINES Maximum Length: Maximum Length: 200 word limit Include: Author's name Author's telephone number Class, hometown (student) Position (faculty member) SUBMITTO E-mail: opinion@kansan.com Hard copy: Kansan newsroom 111 Staffer-Flint Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. Not all of them will be published. Slanderous and obscene statements will not be printed. FREE for ALL 864-0500 For more comments, go to www.kansan.com. To the girl who woke me up at 3:45 Thursday morning by breaking my window. You suck For the guys across the lobby. The capital of New Hampshire is Concord. Has anyone else noticed the divy in the stock price of Cheez Whiz? Babies are ugly when they come out. it's less than a week to Thanksgiving, and it's 75 degrees out. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is Kansas, right? What the Hell? Km² Just for the record, the band Anthrax did not disappear. Don't disrespect the King 4 to the flashers: I live in McColum, and I think I speak for everyone when I say we are in some desperate need of some flashing. Please provide us with your service anytime. This is to the nice guy. Where the heck are you at, and when can I meet you? If Donald isn't married and Hewey, Dewey, and Lewey are his kids, does that mean he and Daisy had premarital sex? tothe Free for All is run by a bunch of Republicans, and I bet this comment won't be in the paper because of censorship. I think people should use the F-word more often, because it makes you feel tough. I have a friend who uses the F-word a lot because he says it makes him feel tough, but I think it diminishes his masculinity Man, I can't wait until we get teleports. Gene Hackman? More like Gene Has-been. we're watching Jerry Springer, and there's a fat guy on it who was making love to Spam. I just wanted to say that it's not a good idea to microwave a candle, because I almost burned down Lewis. I want to tell the guy who looks like Jakob Dylan on the East Lawrence bus that he's hot and needs to ask me out. The ladies call me Frat Man, or Mr. Frat Man if you're nasty. I can't believe that you consider Free for All journalism. - Hurray for pot. I sleep with panty on my head. Just thought you should know. This is the sadest party in the world. It's been going on for 15 minutes and only my roommate and I are here. Pagans make the best lovers. I just wanted everyone to know that organic chemistry sucks I'm pretty sure the Taliban are about ready to throw in the towel. 图 Three words: The dude abides. --- A message from all burned-out musicians: Remember kids, don't do drugs, you just might get a record deal. nsp Yo tengo el gato en mis pantalones. If girls didn't have friends, it's be a lot easier for guys to get some action. My roommate is crazy, bordering on the edge of insanity. KU 2030 The opinion page is soliciting student and faculty projections of life at KU in 2030. Submissions should be sent to opinion@kansan.com or brought to 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall. Call Brendan Woodbury at 864-4924 with questions. 3 Ideas: The future of corporate sponsors Your organization in thirty years The view looking down Jayhawk Boulevard Javhawk logo - Drawings for new campus build- _ings Creative: An entry in a freshman's diary A class syllabus Alternative uses for the ruins of Wescoe Hall. . An ad for a bar on Massachusetts Street A Kansan story on a press conference announcing online enrollment in 2034