THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24. 2002
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 3A
Students opt to live in mobile homes to save money
By Matt Stumpff
mstumpff@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Overlooking the stigma attached to mobile home communities proved to be a good move for one KU student.
Michael McAlhaney. Lawrence junior, has lived in a mobile home since he started attending the University of Kansas five years ago. McAlhaney is a resident of Gaslight Village, 1900 W. 31st St., one of Lawrence's four mobile home parks. He said the most frustrating thing about living in a mobile home community was the stigma attached to it.
"I understand there are stereotypes and there are some white-trash people," McAlhaney said. "Like, there's a lot of people here with yard art."
Iowa, this fall. Among the decorations is a pink flamingo.
Take Anthony Sump, for example. Sump, Wayne, Neb., sophomore, said the yard art in front of his mobile home was more of a joke than serious decoration. Sump moved into his home at Easy Living mobile homes, 3323
"My sister gave that to us," Sump said. "She kinda gave it to us as a house warming gift."
Sump and his two roommates also have a plastic sunflower on display in their yard.
"It's one of those sunflowers that spins," Sump said. "We're actually getting a little collection."
"We just got a thing in the mail," Sump said. "It basically said 'If you don't mow your lawn, we will mow it for you for $50.'"
But Sump said being a mobile home resident didn't mean he could get away with being irresponsible with his yard.
Sump said his friends made jokes based on the stereotypes of mobile home communities. But, he said the stereotypes went out the window when they saw how nice his home was.
"It's brand new and it's bigger than most people's places," Sump said. "It's like having our own house."
Don Caillouet is a sales associate for Kaw Valley Homes, 1330 N.3rd St., a mobile home dealership. He said students usually didn't inquire about the homes.
Michael McAlhaney, Lawrence junior, lives at Gaslight Village on 31st Street. McAlhaney has lived in a mobile home for five years while attending the University of Kansas and said that, despite the stigma attached to mobile home communities, it had been a good living option for him.
Sump said he planned on staying for the remainder of his college career.
Brandon Baker/Kansan
Callhouet said students wanting to buy a mobile home could typically expect to spend about $750 a month for the payment and for park rent for a three-bedroom mobile home. He said homes were also available on a rental basis with prices between $500 and $700 a month.
McAlhaney said living in an apartment would make it easier
For McAlhaney, the cost of buying a mobile home was a good deal. After paying the $1,500 down payment on his mobile home with money saved during high school, McAlhaney did not have to make any additional payments. He had roommates renting the home until this fall, which allowed him to pay off the remaining $7,000 for the home. Now that he lives alone, he said he paid about $350 a month for the plot and utilities for the 980-square-foot, three-bedroom home.
to meet people, but the cost of the mobile home ended up being as much as he would have paid for some apartments, and his home was bigger.
But, McAlhaney said his future plans didn't include living in a mobile home.
"I don't plan on staying here my whole life, probably just for a
couple of more years" McAlhaney said. "Then I'm going to sell it and get out of Lawrence."
Edited by Katie Teske
Lecturer discusses plight of Native Americans
Zach Straus/Kansan
By Katie Nelson
Native American poet Carter Revard speaks in the Pine Room of the Kansas Union. Revard's presentation yesterday was a mixture of his writing and his opinions.
knelson@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Hummingbirds, Carter Reward said, are an example to be followed.
"What kind of dinosaurs survived?" he asked, musing to himself. "The small ones. Not the carnivores who tore each other apart."
Reward, a 71-year-old Native-American poet, essayist and theologian, made a stop at the Kansas Union yesterday to give a lecture on nation survival. It was a political science, history, philosophy and poetry class all in
one. About 75 people attended.
According to Revard, hummingbirds evolved from small dinosaurs. They developed wings and mastered the art of survival by taking only what is meant to be taken, he said in a poem he wrote called Dancing with Dinosaurs.
People, especially Native Americans, should learn from the hummingbirds' example Revard said. Native-American communities should harness natural sources-the sun, wind and water, and use it for power.
The lecture showed Nick Sterner, Shawnee freshman, new perspectives. Sterner attended the lecture for his Understanding
America course. He was surprised, he said, at how much he learned.
"It was humbling, really," Sterner said. "It just goes to show that the powerful aren't always the ones that survive. It's the little ones like the smart hummingbirds who do."
Rather hard of hearing, Reward cupped his hand over his ear as he answered audience questions about the survival of Native Americans today.
The metaphors he weaved were the most impressive part, Ann Schofield, professor of American Studies, said.
"His references to the hummingbird were evocative of thenat
ural, lyrical way things really are," she said. "It was just beautiful."
Reward was born on a Osage reservation in Pawhuska, Okla. He got into the University of Tulsa through a radio quiz show and won a Rhodes scholarship. Reward went on to earn a master's degree from Yale in 1959 and taught at Washington University in St. Louis. He's now retired from teaching and lectures and writes in his spare time.
It's been five years since Revard last came to KU. Coming back was a pleasure because of the friends he had here, he said.
One such friend is Tony Clark an assistant professor of American Studies who coordinated the lecture for The Hall Center for the Humanities.
The two met through a Native American Internet discussion board. Through their talks there, Clark came to regard Revard as an academic hero, he said.
"Most student have probably never even heard or thought of these notions," Clark said. "The idea that Native people don't look like something in a Hollywood Western, or Native people as intellectuals, that's what I wanted to introduce to students here tonight."
- Edited by Lauren Beatty
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