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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14: 2011
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
ARTS
Slam poet shares works
She marks time with inflection. Her syllables sound like cymbals. Her femininity doesn't need a microphone. On the stage, she stands alone. Her instrument is tuned social commentary.
ssneath@kansan.com
She's a slam poet.
Last night at the Kansas Union, Gabriela Garcia-Medina performed for an audience of about 40. Among those in attendance was Max McFarland, a sophomore from Kansas City, Mo.
"In my experience, slam pores physically appear more domineering." McFarland said. "So, when I saw a picture of this dainty lady I became interested. I'm hoping to see her stage presence juxtapose her physicality"
As Medina took the stage, McFarland sat with his backpack on. Two poems into her set, he slid his backpack off and moved to a seat closer to the stage.
Medina spoke about love, domestic violence and immigration. She said her parents emigrated from Cuba to London when she was a child. At age 11, she wrote her first poem, she said.
"I always wanted to be a per
Medina said she had to be very persistent to be where she is today. Even as she gained popularity, she never turned down a free show.
former and I always liked to write," she said. "This kind of found me."
"I started off going to every open mic, every night of the week," Medina said. "When the list was full, I would beg. My ego was never too big to perform in front of two people."
Joshua Forman-Ortz is heeding Medina's advice. Last year, he founded Can You Speak, a spoken word club for Kansas students.
"We like to provide an outlet for those who are interested in slam poetry to show up when they like," said McFarland, vice president of Can You Speak.
The club is meeting at 4:30 p.m. today at Milton's Café in the Kansas Union.
Medina took time to support local writers last night by allowing four to take the stage. Afterward, she answered questions and provided words of encouragement.
"Be persistent," she said. "Where there's a will there is a way. Start a club or join a club."
- Edited by Mike Lavieri
NATION
Boy found well after large search
An 8-year-old boy with severe autism was found Tuesday after being lost and alone for more than 24 hours in the San Bernardino Mountains.
Joshua Robb appeared to be in good condition when search and rescue workers found him about a mile from the school he ran away from Monday, said Jodi Miller, spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.
TALKING IT OUT
"Joshua looked up at the team members and said, 'Thank you. You saved me,' Miller said.
about 2:27 p.m, he came out from behind some brush and walked toward team members.
The boy was found when, at
Joshua was given food and water by search and rescue workers until he could be transported by helicopter to Loma Linda Medical Center for a precautionary exam.
"As you can imagine, he is tired but appears to be OK," Miller said.
About 60 searchers from four counties, aided by dogs and helicopters, scoured the mountain area in the search for the boy, playing recorded music and his father's voice in hopes of luring him to safety.
Associated Press
Ben Allman, a freshman from Topeka, discusses the legality and moral consequence of abortion with Justice For All employee John Michener on Wescoe Beach Tuesday afternoon. Michener says the group aims to promote conversation and understanding for students on campus.
CLAIRE HOWARD/KANSAN
SECURITY
Woman upset after removal from flight
ASSOCIATED PRESS
An Ohio woman said Tuesday that she endured nearly four hours in police custody that included being forced off an airplane in handcuffs, strip-searched and interrogated at Detroit's airport on the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks — all, she believes, because of her Middle Eastern appearance.
she said.
Hebshi said she didn't notice how many times the men went to the bathroom. "I wasn't keeping track,"
Shoshana Hebshi, 35, told The Associated Press she was one of three people removed from a Denver-to-Detroit Frontier Airlines flight after landing Sunday afternoon. Authorities say fighter jets escorted the plane its crew reported that two people were spending a long time in a bathroom — the two men sitting next to Hebshi in the 12th row.
"I really wasn't paying attention," said Hebshi, a freelance writer, editor and stay-at-home mother of twin six-year-old boys who lives in a suburb of Toledo, Ohio. "I was minding my own business — sleeping, reading, playing on my phone."
The FBI has said the three didn't know each other. One man felt ill and got up to use the restroom and another man in the same row also left his seat to go to the bathroom. The FBI said they never were inside together.
Hebshi has written extensively on her blog about the incident, saying she felt "violated, humiliated and sure that I was being taken from the plane simply because of my appearance."
Hebshi, who describes herself as half-Arabic, half-Jewish with a dark complexion, told the AP after they landed, she noticed police first surrounding, then storming the plane. She said she was surprised when they stopped at her row and ordered her and the men to get up.
Her Twitter posts from Sunday bear that out. At one point, she wrote: "A little concerned about this situation. Plane moved away from terminal surrounded by cops. Crew is mum. Passengers can't get up."
Later she wrote, "I see stairs coming our way,...jay!" Her last post said, "Majorly armed cops coming board."
It's then that she says the officers ordered her and the men, whom she described as Indian, to get up.
She said she was patted down and taken by car to a holding cell. A uniformed female officer eventually came in and told Hebshi to take off her clothes.
After the strip search, another officer who identified herself as a Homeland Security agent led Hebshi
to another room, Hebsi said. There, a man who identified himself as an FBI agent asked her a series of questions while a female agent took notes, Hebsi said.
Hebshi said that when she asked what was going on, the male agent told her someone on the plane reported that she and the men on her row were "conducting suspicious activity."
FBI spokeswoman Sandra Berchtold said the three passengers were questioned but not arrested before the FBI determined there was no reason to suspect or hold them. She also said FBI agents who questioned the passengers were not involved in any strip searches.
"We received a report of suspicious activity on that particular plane," Berchtold said. "We did not arrest ... these passengers. ... We didn't direct anybody to arrest them."
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