OPINION ± FREE-FOR-ALL » WE HEAR FROM YOU Text your #FFA submissions to 785-289-UDK1 (8351) Silly freshmen! No free tuition from getting hit by the bus. Fraser hall like the TV show, Self is named after the largest private donor But bill is awesome too You all drive and park like assholes. Parking prices have risen, but yet there is much less student parking now #thanksbrownback What's updog? Is it too late for Bill Self to run for president? I have enough Jayhawk buddy system shirts to wear a different one each day for the next two weeks and never do laundry 1st day of the semester and I've already spent $3 in printing. Gonna be an expensive semester. "Second day of school and I'm already looking up the dates for our days off." "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO PIZZA PUB??! I was looking forward to eating there all summer and now it's GONE!! NOOOO!!" Seriously, if one more person says let's go 'yals one more time it's gonna be the end of me "What is it with the Oread and running good restaurants out of their own basement!?" Consequences of fake IDs far outweigh the benefits "On KU being a coke campus; But that means no Dr. Pepper!! #ihatemrpibb" "Jayhawk wifi is as unstable as a drunk freshman trying to get home." "I'm playing a game called "count how many people are wearing the free t-shirt from Unionfest". So far I'm at 5 and it's only 10 am." Read more at kansan.com VANESSA ASMUSSEN @VanessaAsmussen "Nobody told me KU buses went to Pimp My Ride over the summer." KANSAN.COM It isn't uncommon in college to come across a fake ID. Whether you have your own or have never even touched one, you at least know what they are or have friends who have them. At first, an ID that can give an 18-year-old the ability to go to bars and order drinks, or even purchase their own alcohol, may seem like innocent fun, but the consequences of using false identification Fake IDs come in all different styles and qualities. These illegal documents can qualify as anything that falsely identifies who you are and what your age is. Depending on the state, the consequences of being caught with and using a fake ID can differ. are more serious than many choose to believe. and drink illegally. Being able to purchase alcohol and go to bars is fun, but it will be even more fun if you do it for the first time on your 21st birthday. For now, if you are still a minor and aren't quite to the legal age, there are other ways for you and your friends to have fun on the weekends without risking the consequences of possessing a fake ID. According to the City of Lawrence Legal Services Department, in Kansas, if a person is under 18, they can be fined a large amount of money or have their real driver's license suspended. If you are 18 or older and are convicted of using a fake ID, you can be fined, required to perform community service hours, and even spend up to a year in jail. for a college student, with some running past $100. That money can always be used for something else, like food. Even if you get lucky and don't get in trouble with the law, it can be even more embarrassing to be turned away at the door of a bar and to have your seemingly invincible fake ID confiscated in front of all your friends. Not to mention that fake IDs can be expensive, especially While using a fake ID seems to be popular among college students, having one can create a constant fear that each night you go out and use it will be the night that you'll caught. Pretending that underage people don't have fakes is absurd, but not everyone has them. There are plenty of people who would rather watch Netflix in sweats than go out Vanessa Asmussen is a junior from Neodesha studying journalism and sociology. ASK ANISSA » Text your questions to Anissa at 913-701-7UDK (7835) with the hashtag #AskAnissa Q: I am a freshman and I am struggling to feel like I'm a part of the campus community. How can I change that? A: The first few weeks of freshman year tend to be the most exciting, stressful and emotional weeks of your young adulthood. Sometimes I wish this advice column was about my freshman year because I struggled with this going into college as well. I am an out-of-state student, I only knew two people when I first came to Kansas and I felt like everything wasn't actually bigger in Texas because of how small I felt on campus. Luckily for me, I wasn't the only one who felt that way, and that was my ticket into making my mark at Kansas. Whether you live in a scholarship hall, Jayhawker Towers, residence halls or Greek life housing, there are people near you who are experiencing the same emotions. I remember feeling awkward and alone my first few days at college, but when I took a moment to actually observe everyone else around me, it was clear that I wasn't alone in my fears. As weird as it sounds, having feelings of loneliness or not belonging are actually common. Start with the people you see on a daily basis, like those who live with or near you. From my experience, everyone is nervous and eager to make friends. So the odds of someone rejecting your friendship are relatively low. Joining a club or an organization allows you to do something you love while surrounding yourself with people that share common interests or activities. It's surprising how friendships can grow from just one common characteristic between two people. Just ask my best friend, who shares my love for "Bob's Burgers." The biggest difference between high school and college is that there are few cliques or social ranks. Everyone is trying to graduate and walk down the hill with their sanity still in tact. The fear of not belonging is what tends to keep people from branching out therefore causing them to end up feeling lonely. As Hilary Duff once said, "Don't let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game." Next; I would recommend identifying something that you enjoy doing. Find an outlet that allows you to do something you love during your time here besides just going to class. Once you have made a community with the people you're around and see on a daily basis, you will start to feel like you belong. My roommates have this superpower to turn any bad day I've had into a good one, and it makes coming back to my small apartment feel like home. Marriage: a show of sanctity, or just overblown and unnecessary? Symbols and rituals have the power to unite a lot of people under one idea. One of the symbols that tends to get overlooked and misused is marriage. @KANSANNEWS /THEKANSAN @UNIVERSITY DAILYKANSAN The symbol of love in the form of a promise is to remain faithful to another individual. It's a beautifully idealistic sentiment in theory, but the reality of arguments and stress can to overwhelm the idea over time. TYLER SCHUCKMAN @Tschuckman_8K Marriage is technically a legally binding contract to represent love — one of the most peculiar in the spectrum of emotions. It is a tradition of showing one's unyielding affection. In today's society, it seems as if marriage has turned into a contest of "look at me and our love" to everyone you invite to the wedding and in the Facebook albums that bombard news feeds. The social expectations that have been placed on marriage have created an atmosphere where you are a terrible person if you don't marry her, and you obviously must not love her. marriage represents love. This is what Hallmark and jewelers advertise to keep sales up and buy that new addition to their house. It can symbolize a trust in another person, but why leverage half of your money and belongings for a symbol? Can you not make this promise without bringing the government into your love life? Many people believe that Spending an insane amount of your money or worse, parents' money for a ceremony that is only used to garner attention from family and friends — while bringing the government into your personal business of love and a relationship — does not prove your love to another person. What makes love real are the emotions, not the material items that are attained through it. People make the argument that marriage is merely for the tax breaks, but, as Doug Stanhope, a stand-up comedian, said, "If you want tax breaks, incorporate." Love shouldn't require a diamond and reciting prewritten words in front of family and friends in a huge church. Love is about building trust and a future together, no validation needed. A symbol such as marriage A symbol such as marriage is not a substitute for an actual emotion. Love should never be owed or expected. It is each person's sovereign emotion and must be given freely. This also allows for the possibility of it being taken away in the event of a change in dynamics or trust between the two individuals. Much like when you were forced to eat everything on your plate before you could leave the table, people naturally resist when an expectation is placed upon them. It no longer becomes a willful act. No agency is given to the individual, but only an expectation. Love for another individual should not be dictated by social expectations and the reality of the government dipping its hands into your personal life, should you both part ways. Marriage has nothing to do with love, it is merely the desire to receive validation of your emotions from your friends/family, or worse each other. The best summation I have ever read for the perfect relationship was a quote by Walt Whitman: "We were together, I forget the rest". — Edited by Jackson Vickery and Dani Malakoff JESSICA GOMEZ @jessicataylurr Millennials should be praised for advancing technology,not chided Generalizations have been commonly thrown at our generation, ranging from the most serious of things to the most ridiculous. "All you care about is your iPhone," is one of the most popular ones. "You couldn't live without those little gadgets you have now," is another. But the older generations also say that we are lazy, and they don't realize that our upbringing was completely different than theirs. Although I believe a child in middle school should not be getting an iPhone 6 as their first phone and should play outside more often. I do not agree that this generation's "laziness" is such a bad thing. Becoming "lazy" has allowed us to think in an entirely different way to advance society by making items, software and information more accessible to people all over the world. Another thing that often gets overlooked is that this generation grew up with the constant advancement of technology. The iPhone, which debuted in 2007, was designed in such a way where we can do almost everything in one little square phone. In my experience as a journalist, it has helped me be able to catch videos or snap a quick picture, write a brief and send it in immediately before anyone else gets to it. Better yet, once it's done, it's up for anyone with Internet access to see. And with social media added to that process more people can share that information. There are even smaller technologies within the phone like maps, which can help us get anywhere around the world, and financial apps for people who are into business matters. The problem is that our generation is judged for utilizing what advancements we have made instead of being lauded for what we can create. Because of our "laziness," there are apps being created so that we can learn, read or utilize with the touch of a finger. Instead of thinking about what will help us right now, we think about what will help us in 10 years so we can advance quicker. There are things like solar power, which could possibly be the source for the world's energy in 20 years, according to Big Think. And if we can make them small enough, robots may be able to be installed into bodies and repair damaged or aged tissue — all thanks to nanotechnology. In every generation, there will be truly lazy people who don't want to do anything but sit. However, calling a generation lazy because of their knowledge of technology from growing up with it, or even because of them trying to advance it, it doesn't make sense. Humans can do a lot, but, if we can make a type of technology that can help us do things more efficiently and quickly, that should be praised instead of looked down upon. Jessica Gomez is a senior from Baldwin City, studying journalism and global studies. HOW TO SUBMIT A LETTER TO THE EDITOR LETTER GUIDELINES. Send letters to editor@kansan.com. Write LETTER TO THE EDITOR in the email subject line. Length: 300 words The submission should include the author's name, year, major and hometown. Find our full letter to the editor policy online at kansan.com/letters. Katie Kutsko Editor-in-chief kkutsko@kansan.com Emily Stewart Advertising director estewart@kansan.com CONTACT US THE KANSAN EDITORIAL BOARD Members of the Kansan Editorial Board are Katie Kutsko, Emma LeGault, Emily Stewart and Anissa Fritz. ( ) +