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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2011
PAGE 5
Text your FFA submissions to 785-289-8351
I am next door neighbors with Jeff Withey, I feel like that should get me girls, right?
FREE FOR ALL
opinion
I believe Quidditch was an old wooden ship used in the Civil War era.
Dear girls, your "fashion" scarves look like giant tapeworms eating your neck. it is not hot, Love, men.
"Porno" for 82 points on Words With Friends?! Well played Grandma ...
You complain about the beard up north but ignore the one down south?
Mizzou football coach was drinking and driving because he realized he has to play LSU Alabama and Clement next season.
Why does FFA feel like counseling. I feel like a crazy person talking to no one.
Although you have leggings on under your Nike shorts, that does NOT allow you to roll said shorts so many times the silhouette of your vagina is visible.
There's a difference between dressing "preppy" and dressing like a mom.
That awkward moment when you overhear a conversation about Japanese sex clubs on the bus.
Im just sayin, but if you want your man to get on one knee, you better be prepared to get on two.
Holy shit, guy by Anschutz that has literally been listening to the same crap song on repeat for the last hour I have been here. STOP. Please
Dear Hot Guys on Campus: Please stop picking your nose where we can all see. You become significantly less hot, and my day becomes significantly less exciting. Love, Lonely People Watcher
I am currently taking applications for a slutty bff to go out with me that will understand why I ditch her to go home with random guys. 11:22 a.m.
Nothing can scare me, for I live in McCollum.
At least KU beat VCU ... in Quid ditch.
Thinking of a happy memory for psychology class makes me feel like Harry Potter trying to think of a happy memory to defeat the dementors.
My favorite part of the day: Cutting out pictures of T-Rob to hang on my wall. I promise, I am a straight man.
TEXT IN FREE FOR ALLS
FOOD AND DRINK
Coffee is inescapable in our culture
Around 50 percent of the adult population of the United States drinks coffee regularly, according to the National Coffee Association. I count myself among the most religiously-addicted coffee drinkers of the population; somewhere along the line of my college education, being a full-time student and working around 30 hours a week instilled enough curiosity in me to eventually try it out, and my need for a daily caffeine fix was born.
The fact that I even tried coffee in the first place points to something larger in our culture. I saw others drinking it and heard how others see it as a studying savior. In terms of these drinkers, there are ritual drinkers who need those cups to get through their day
(I'm beginning to become one of them), but there are also drinkers who drink just to join the party. Coffee has clearly carved out a large portion of the population and nabs more and more people every day.
The ready availability of coffee shops and the frequency by which we visit them also points to this larger trend. Think about the last time you were asked by a friend if you wanted to go grab a cup of coffee and catch up, or chose a study location on campus or downtown only because there was a barista within reach. If you name off the top ten places to study in Lawrence, you'd be hard-pressed to find one that isn't blessed by the coffee fairy. Why has this crutch
become so popular in our culture?
I have some friends who will only drink it cold, and others who prefer it as steamy as possible. Then, I have certain friends who barely even like coffee, yet still drink it anyway. I would compare it with watching a certain TV
show just because of its extreme popularity with friends (Jersey Shore, anyone?). As social beings, we don't want to be left out, and we'll watch something that we don't enjoy just because we want to be a part of the conversation.
Once something takes root in a certain culture and manages to retain popularity over a sustained period of time, it becomes standard and changes at a very slow pace. We see this not only with TV shows, but with legislation and current fashions. Prolonged change is difficult.
Because of how our culture is structured, coffee's essential spot won't be broken anytime soon: Rough work hours and the amount of schoolwork to be accomplished
breeds the need for a cup of Joe.
But wait, coffee costs money? Well,
thankfully you have a job.
Coffee isn't going anywhere. Coffee will live for ages in shops, grocery stores, your kitchen counter, and as a necessary accessory to the fabric of your day. It isn't a fad like certain drinks of choice and other material objects. Its hold on us has led it to be a cultural staple, no matter if we prefer it black, iced, as watered down as possible, or, dare I say it, not at all.
Salsbury is a senior in English, history of art, and global and international studies from Chapman.
MUSIC
Bringing back memories through old CD collection
You can say I'm a music nerd; my iTunes library holds 19,369 songs from 1,624 albums by 622 artists. Music is pretty much my life. I was once called out of school my freshman year of high school to take care of a "downloading problem" that Cox Communications had with my family's internet connection. Cox must have realized that I was downloading some music illegally. But of those 1,624 albums, not all of them were downloaded illegally — I have at least 40 of them in my closet on compact disc. I end up buying the CDs that I listen to most.
When I decided that I was bored with the CDs in my car, I dove into this box in my closet of my apartment to switch up the music I was listening to. I practically had a heart attack of nostalgia for this music and the memories they brought up. I wanted to listen to all these different bands at the exact same time. Once I realized that the human brain can't possibly endure such a concept of enjoyment, I was deeply saddened. The problem with having so much music is that most of it gets forgotten.
My real sadness came from the realization that these CDs are more like a yearbook. Every
CD points back to a different phase of my life. I was once told that smell was the strongest sense attached to memory, but the sound of these songs threw me through a memory tumble.
When I listen to my Led Zeppelin CDs, I think back to my middle school years when I started making my own decisions on the music I listened to, no matter how badly MTV wanted me to listen to 50 Cent. I hear a song by Thrice and I remember my freshman year of high school and a friend changing my perspective of "emo" music.
I started to freak out and search through this box and play songs that seemed to have a serious impact on my life. The Devil Wears Prada's first album changed my belief in music that used screaming vocals instead of singing. When I look at my 3OH13 CD, I remember breaking my nose at Warped Tour
while watching them perform, and how all the hipsters had decided they weren't cool any more because they had "sold-out." Hearing songs by Story of the Year that takes me back to the days of driving around the country roads that surround the Greater Wichita Area.
It just seems crazy to me that songs about so many different subjects can sum up my life. How songs of immigration ("Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin), punk life ("Fat Lip" by Sum 41), dealing with heartbreak ("Nothing In My Way" by Keane), dog collars ("Choke Chain" by 3OH13), or straight-edge anthems ("Still Here" by H2O) mean more about my life than they do as stories in songs.
After finishing the switch up for my car stereo, I packed up the CDs and put them back in the closet. They will have to wait for another day of heart attacks of nostalgia. I may not use them much, but these hard copies of the music I love mean more than just stories.
But for now, the memories of my life live in a box in my closet.
Lysen is a junior in journalism from Andover.
THE NEXT PANEL
Nick Sambaluk
CAMPUS
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Check your facts on the Confederates
I was disappointed and dismayed to read Lou Schumaker's "Confederacy" article today. The article was filled with historical inaccuracies and clear cut prejudice. In the article, Mr. Schumaker slanders the Confederate South as nothing more than "slavery-loving traitors." He completely ignores the (inconvenient) fact that the Confederate Army was made up of poor, slaveless subsistence farmers, and not rich plantation owners. He also seems to forget that the Civil War started over a fear of protective tariffs destroying the Southern economy, not of their slaves being freed. Lincoln himself said throughout his campaign and up to the early days of his presidency that he had no intention of freeing the slaves. In fact, Lincoln didn't even consider the slaves until mid-1862, a full year into the war. Furthermore, the only reason the Emancipation Proclamation was issued was to damage the south's credibility and cripple its economy. Some of the most fervent abolitionists: William Lloyd Garrison, John Brown, and even Lincoln were opposed
to the idea and immorality of slavery, but, as most Americans were at the time, were very racist. Most abolitionists wanted to free the slaves in order to send them back to Africa, not to give them equal rights. Mr. Schumaker complains about the positive portrayal of Confederate Southerners in TV and film, yet seems to forget that we are taught from elementary school up that the sininess North crusaded against the evil slave-owning South, and emerged victorious. The history books teach us this, yet Schumaker seems to think that we are all being brainwashed into believing the opposite. I find this insulting on many levels. First, he completely ignores history in favor of his prejudiced view. Second, he seems to believe that our generation is made up of complete idiots that are being fooled into believing the opposite of his view of the Civil War. I ask that the editor please consider favoring the truth over opinion next time.
Connor Sullivan is a freshman in philosophy and political science from Topeka.
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