University Daily Kansan/Wednesday, Aug. 19, 1987
13
Kansan carrier enjoys harmony with martial arts and meditation
Bv MARK IOST
Special to the Kansan
He carefully caught the wasp with an overturned cup, and instead of offhandedly killing it, he carried it outside and let it go.
He meditates, practices the martial art of akido and strives to attain harmony.
Mel Smith delivers Kansans to the distribution box in front of Marvin Hall. Smith delivers 14,000 copies of the KU newspaper to campus boxes.
Darcy Chang/KANSAN
He earns $37 a day and likes his job.
And Mel Smith, who delivers 14,000 copies of the University Daily Kansas around campus five days a week, gets nothing but praise from Tom Eblen, general manager of the Kansen.
Mel Smith
"I think he's terrific," Eblen said. "Circulation is a nightmare. But he gets all of it done — relatively quickly, at a fair cost — and is responsive to reader demands. If we didn't have Mel, we'd have to invent him.
Rick Musser, associate professor of journalism and director of graduate studies, hired Smith eight years ago when he was Kansan's general manager.
"You should watch him in action," Eblen said. "There's an athleticism to him, almost like a dancer."
"You'll never replace Mel with somebody who does it better," Musser said.
Musser said that he and Smith often chatted while waiting for the Kansan to be printed.
"You could get through the day after talking to Mel," Musser said. "If you looked at life the way Mel did, life wasn't so bad. And some days on the Kansan could be bad."
Smith, who was raised in Los Angeles, lives on a farm northeast of Lawrence with his friend Anne Sanders, his stepdaughter Mishea Obiji and his daughter Carv Sanders.
"Your consciousness is raised by living out here," Smith said. "If you scar a tree, you have a tendency to apologize to it. The vibrations change you. It's so subtle. You don't say, 'Oh, I'm changing.' It just happens."
The house Smith lives in, now a duplex, was built during the early 1970s as part of a communal settle-ment. The furnishings are simple and music.
costs $60. Smith and Sanders split a monthly payment of $120 which covers the payments on a 15-acre plot of land, electricity, taxes and land expenses.
A homemade wooden ladder leads to a loft above the den. A woodburning stove heats the house during the winter. A television and videocassette recorder share the den with a stereo system and recordings of Ravi Shankar, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan and Dave Brubeck.
A year's worth of wood for heat
Smith is paid $37 a day to deliver the Kansan. He receives an extra $17 if there is one insert and $12 for each additional insert.
Smith said his brother planned to retire at 65.
"To me that's like dying. That's like going to sleep. I think I've purposely just taken odd jobs not to let that happen — not to go to an 8-to-5 job every day and figure I'm going to retire someday."
Smith usually finishes delivering the Kansan by 11:30 a.m., which leaves him with free time to pursue other interests.
One of these interests is a Japanese
form of self-defense called akido. The student of akido seeks to disarm an attacker with little violence.
"Most people think there are two ways of fighting." Smith said. "You can either turn the other cheek like Christ did, or you can get the other guy before he gets you. That's probably like karate.
"Akido is a third alternative which says, 'If you try to hit me, it's a
mistake, and I'm not going to break your arm simply because you made a mistake. If I count you off as an enemy, I've lost a potential friend."
The art of akido includes the use of swords. Japan is the sword capital of the world, but it's illegal to carry one there, Smith said.
"So there's no use for working on these techniques unless you're working on something else."
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"Nobody else speaks your language."
119-Stauffer Flint Hall
8 a.m.-5 p.m.
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