THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2011
opinion
FREE FOR ALL
Text your FFA submissions to 785-289-8351
It has been so cold that I've started sleeping with pants on again.
What's up with that Kansas?
How do I know I have a chance to get in the Free For All? Do they just write random stuff and say we said it?
Editor's note. I don't know. I guess you'll just have to trust me on this one
Hey FFA, quit being so funny because these girls laughing annoyingly in front of me are pissing me off.
After living with my fair share of engineering majors, I've decided that their stuff isn't that much harder. They just complain more than anyone.
Dear girls, the sooner one of you bites the bullet and becomes my girlfriend, the sooner I leave the rest of you alone.
TakeOneForTheTeam
When I die I want my last words to be, "I left a million dollars under the ..."
Good luck making that $70,000 right out of college engineering maiors. The economy is still shit
If anyone rushes the field when we beat K-State on Saturday I will punch them in the face.
We are not rushing the field against little bro.
This just in, basketball is a REAL sport played by people all around the world. Get on our level Quidditch!
Can we have a day of the worst FFAs the editor gets? Editor's note: There are plenty of bad ones, but I'm still waiting for some more epic fails.
I'm going to invent a silent backpack zipper so professors don't flip a wig when I pack up with 15 seconds left.
Would it be considered taking one for the team if I let a basketball player cheat off my test?
Actually, Missouri has two national championships: one in baseball, one in indoor track and field. #uninformed
If I see another FFA about leggings, there will be blood spilled.
Half of the girls on campus are wearing tights today. Every guy on campus has a boner today.
I keep reading about our boss of a Quidditch team, but can't see a way to find or follow them anywhere. Fix this!
The size of the frat pack is disproportional to the speed of the frat pack.
Rec center, just because I work out doesn't mean I'm completely an adult. Turn off the news, I need cartoons!
Sorry guys, I forgot to put fall in this year's weather. I skipped straight from summer to winter . woops! - God
I just heard some guy puking in the Underground bathroom. I never realized the food was THAT bad.
TEXT IN FREE FOR ALLS
Bill Self for Federal Reserve Chairman!
EDITORIAL
Student protests should focus on college
The group of 200 people who started camping out in a New York City plaza last month sparked a movement that now claims massive amounts of arrests, one-month revenues of $300,000, and a presence in Europe, Asia and Australia.
The ideals of Occupy Wall Street, as the movement is known, now expand globally to express dissatisfaction in a way that cannot be ignored. But the grievances of protesters are moving far beyond the group's original demand to form a presidential committee on income inequality in the United States.
On Oct. 8, Lawrence's own leg of Occupy came to life when a group of 100 people gathered to protest in front of the U.S. Bank building on Massachusetts
Street. However, instead of primarily focusing on financial discontent, some members of the campaign focused their efforts on awareness more than action. Some are demanding specific changes to city ordinances.
Occupy Lawrence, which includes University of Kansas students, has homeed in on some specific demands for the city, but the demonstrations have transformed into a broad forum where people can come together for discussion and exchange of ideas.
As the protests spread, the ultimate goal has become unclear. Income inequality is a central issue, but students have other concerns. Within Occupy Lawrence, students have protested the tax code, executive bonuses and the
inequity of capitalism, among other issues.
While a college town like Lawrence is a perfect venue to spark new ideas and promote change, students must gear their efforts to policies that pertain to their own lives and futures.
Advocate for policy changes to extend the grace period on student loans. The normal six-month grace period for federal financial aid is not sufficient enough time for students to find a stable job and steady income in this economy, even with a college degree. Student loan debt forgiveness should also be a goal.
loans is detrimental to this contribution. Aiding these debt-laden students benefits the economy as a whole, which is the essence of the Occupy movement. The large-scale national issues are still important, but it's more effective for students to find policies that affect them, voice their opinions in an international movement, and become catalysts for change. After all, changing the world is what the University experience is all about.
College graduates can be refreshing and powerful additions to the work force and consumer spending, but repaying massive amounts of student
Adam Miklos for the Kansan Editorial Board
CAMPUS
Fraternities display teamwork at 5K run
This past Sunday, the Kansas Chapter of Habitat for Humanity held its annual Crunchy Chicken Challenge 5K Cun. Contestants ran up and around Jayhawk Boulevard, stopping once on Wescoe Beach to eat a delectable crunchy chicken cheddar wrap before running the remaining one and a half miles to the finish. Runners ranged from freshman students to middle-aged men and women, and from individual runners to greek houses. Prizes were given out to not only the top three winners of each division, but also to the individual dressed in the most outrageous costume.
None of these details struck a chord with me at the end of the day.
Being there in the crowd of about 170 people, it was easy to distinguish the fraternities from the rest of the group. They were the large groups of boys with the stereotypical backwards caps, Ray Ban sunglasses and the tacky, brightly colored sunglass straps. One look at the groups and it becomes immediately hard for people not to roll their eyes in disgust. Stereotypes flood the brain with questions of their true intent for being at the race, what might they pull during it, and finally who's getting hazed and who actually wants to be there. Finally, after much deliberation, most come to the conclusion that the race, along with the world, would be better off if they just didn't show up, or existed for that matter.
By Trent Kuhl
editor@kansan.com
Think again
As runners crossed the finish
line, it became apparent that at least a third of the runners were from Greek houses; all of them supporting a cause that was worth the time of the roughly 170 participants. Not only that, but they also swept the competition for most outrageous costume.
But what really caught my attention was at the very end of the race when a fraternity brother rounding the corner to come down Daisy Hill was met by the rest of his brothers, who had already finished, and they completed the race together. They didn't go unheard either. Cheers and shouts of motivation led the member down the hill and across the finish line, where his brothers congratulated him with pats on the back and high fives. Nobody else in the race was congratulated or motivated like this young man was.
Just like any individual or other organization, fraternities and sororites have their faults, but they also have their own positive qualities. Yes, the Greek system is known being predominately a social organization, but who is to say that carries a negative connotation? The Greek system, if used effectively, is a great way for individuals to learn social behaviors that enable them to interact in a group setting, a life lesson that is essential for successful ventures into any sort of professional field.
Life is a team sport, and a fraternity is simply a team of members sharing a common interest. My father, an alumnus and self-employed attorney for the last twenty years, hated the idea of his son joining a fraternity. Yet, when I was just a kid, he presented me with this life lesson: "Life is a team sport. How do you plan on being successful if you can't learn to get along with others?"
Trent Kuhl is a freshman from Olathe
GOVERNMENT
"I don'v know why those people, cut out, want to occupy Wall Street. Everything looks fine to me."
Mohammad Hadi Ataei
TECHNOLOGY
Change not always improvement
I can vaguely remember the first computer my parents invested in: some hunk of junk from Hewlett-Packard, complete with a snail-like dial-up connection and a speaker system always on the fritz. Today, I own an iPad, which serves the same purpose, but in a much quicker and easier way.
The recent death of Steve Jobs has been a sort of enlightenment for me. Reading about his fascinating life story and innovative way of thinking, it's easy to wonder why more people don't strive to think like him. He made it look so easy, day in and day out. He was direct, unforgiving, and thought not of where society was, but where society was headed.
Some have insinuated, though,
CAMPUS CHIRPS BACK
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that society is somehow "better" with his innovations. Better is arguable. Jobs was a man who recycled the age-old rhetoric of wanting to "change the world," and he had the audacity to back those up words with action.
But "better" isn't the right word to use to describe how he affected the world. You could argue that Jobs bettered the world in a similar sense that you can argue that the invention of automobiles bettered the world: What has simplified and streamlined one person's life may have complicated or brought on economic or social hardship to another.
Brockhawk
@UKD. Opinion Water Polo
BestClassEver
The iPad I'm typing this column on is evidence that the way we live our lives isn't what has changed; we've just adjusted our approach to accomplishing the tasks we've always set out to do. Writing this column could have taken place on paper, a computer, this tablet or even a typewriter.
@UDK_Opinion Abnormal & Personality Psyc with Dr. Ilardi. Never had such a good lecturer and someone who cared so much about his students!
Ashwenis
The fact that I downloaded the latest issue of Time Magazine and read it on my iPad before the
magazine itself even got to my mailbox is a strong example as well. The ease and quickness by which we can access information and services today is a bit daunting.
As our world evolves and we increase our access to information and also each other, the way we interact with one another will change and so will the very nature of our relationships with friends, family and potential partners. Letter writing has been replaced by Skipping. Music and book stores are being replaced by online stores. Don't fool yourself into thinking that your life has somehow improved, though. The idea of improvement is a societal construction that differs from person to person and society to society.
It's human nature to desire something "better," and that's understandable. Jobs saw a potential in technology that others could only dream wildly of, which would make our world a better place. But again, our idea of "better" can easily conflict with another's idea of what is "better." Instead of focusing on improvement, we would all be better served in looking at the bigger picture. Only then can, we truly appreciate the portrait of our world that's constantly being painted and revised every moment of every day.
Brett Salisbury is a senior in English, history of art, and global and international studies from Chapman
Hliamjesse
@UUK_Depiction Music theory! It’s a love-hate
relationship, mostly love. #musicamajorlove
SAMgoinHAM
©UDX Opinion earthquakes and natural disasters...
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THE EDITORIAL BOARD
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Mantel and莎菲恩 Penna.