MONDAY,AUG.27,2001
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 3A
Project to unite communities
Lied Center and Haskell start Civic Dialogue Project to encourage communication in Lawrence
By J. R. Mendoza Kansan staff writer
Mia Ogden remembers hearing people making racist jokes about Native Americans. She is part Native American and said those comments angered her.
"It's just ignorance talking," the Council Grove freshman said. "They don't know what they are talking about. They should have a better understanding of the culture."
So Ogden said she was pleased to find out that the Lied Center and Haskell Indian Nations University had started the Civic Dialogue Project. The project is designed to encourage Native American and non-Native American communities in Lawrence to discuss issues of concern in the community, said Karen Lane Christilles, associate director of the Lied Center.
"At the Lied Center, part of our mission is to look at ways the performing arts and the community can interact with each other," Christilles said. "We looked at a project that dealt with issues that were difficult to talk about."
The project began last Saturday with Native Roots, a reggae band that played at Haskell. Haskell's Thunderbird Theatre and flutists R. Carlos Niaki and Paul Horn will be in residency at Haskell and the University of Kansas. Other events include a series of public forums on land use and Native-American issues.
"We'll be looking at many ways to engage artists with the
Christilles said a focus group came up with the idea of the Civic Dialogue Project.
community," Christilles said.
"There is a genuine interest to strengthen the ties there, to talk about things that might be of interest," she said.
Ogden said she thought the dialogue project was a good idea.
"Everyone needs to know more about different cultures." she said.
Dan Wildcat, professor of American studies at Haskell, said he saw the project as an active process of interaction with the larger Lawrence community.
"The benefit to Haskell is that the people begin to grasp Haskell's significance and history in a much broader context than the media reports on the South Lawrence Trafficway," Wildcat said.
The trafficway is a proposed state highway that would run through the Baker Wetlands, a project some Haskell groups
oppose because it would be built on lands considered sacred. The dialogue project was created because of that controversy, Christilles said.
"Lawrence will gain an awareness of a resource that remains largely untapped by the city and region as a whole," he said. "Everyone can win."
Wildcat said people would gain an appreciation and respect for the Native American culture and Haskell through the project.
The dialogue project was going to last a week, but then the planning committee, made up of Haskell and Lied Center members, decided to extend it for three years, Christilles said. Dialogue between Native Americans and non-Native Americans may continue beyond that, she said.
"It should be a way of life," Christilles said. "It's what we should be doing all the time."
Contact Mendoza at 864-4810.
Salvation Army recruiting student volunteers
By Courtney Craigmile Kansan staff writer
Lawrence's homeless community needs the help of KU students this winter, said Capt. Kirk Schuetz of the Salvation Army.
"There are times when volunteers are scarce," he said.
The Salvation Army will open its homeless shelter at 946 New Hampshire St. on Sept. 4, and Schuetz said he must fill his overnight staff, which has14 openings.
The shelter will be open from Sept. 4, 2001, until April 21, 2002.
It is opening earlier than normal this year because of community concern.
"We've had requests from the homeless advocates, mainly the Coalition for Homeless Concerns and the city neighborhood resource department, to open early," Schuetz said.
The Salvation Army needs volunteers to work from 8:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. to prepare, serve and clean up after the evening meal. People can also volunteer at the noon meal, working from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Schuetz said he needed two or three people to help with each meal.
But more importantly, he is looking to fill the 14 overnight positions. The jobs require individuals to remain awake and watch over the shelter from 8 p.m. until 8 a.m. These individuals are paid $6.80 an hour. He said the job was ideal for students.
How students can help:
Donating nonperishable items.
Coaching or refereeing for the Salvation Army basketball league.
Sorting canned goods at the Salvation Army
Working in the warming center, which is open for half a day during the winter months.
"We have a lot of students that work because they get paid to do their homework," he said.
Boon Chew, Petaling Jaya Malaysia, senior, has volunteered with the homeless and said he would be interested in helping at the Salvation Army shelter.
Chew said he volunteered "because there's a need." He most often serves meals at Jubilee Cafe. a campus group that serves breakfast to the homeless twice a week.
The Salvation Army will eventually open a year-round shelter, but Schuetz said he didn't know when that would happen.
Those interested in volunteering can call the Salvation Army at 843-4188.
Contact Craigmile at 864-4810.
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