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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2011
COMMENTARY
Film school dean doubles as 'Smurfs' director
PATRICK GOLDSTEIN
MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
LOS ANGELES — Veteran movie producer Jordan Kerner spent nearly 10 years finding a way to make "The Smurfs," which earned $35.6 million in its opening weekend in the U.S. But it's not his long track record in Hollywood, which includes producing everything.
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UNCSA are getting an education not just in theory and production but in the often less-than-glamorous aspects of life in the trenches of Hollywood.
Kerner has recruited a host of faculty members who still have their day jobs, which helps give students a grounding in the kind of problem-solving necessary to survive on a film set. Through a backdoor job, students
up to talk to an actor, our kids would be right there with him. They also got to spend time with our editors, visual effects supervisor, sound designers and other crew members. Sometimes the discussions were difficult, but that was the whole point — it's a way to learn the whys and why nots of filmmaking." (With it being 2011, students had to sign release forms premiumed not to talk about what
"Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip Wrecked," which will hit theaters this Christmas. He also has his students listen in on his conversations with his agent so they can develop an understanding of the demands of the marketplace.
Kerner never imagined himself being a film school dean — in fact, he never went to film school himself. But after surviving a freak crash infliction and enduring the
their experiences. But Kerner felt the school needed more outside professionals on the faculty, so he recruited a host of industry pros, including producer Bob Gosse and Peter Bogdanovich, who teaches a freshman film class.
My biggest concern with today's film schools is that they tend to offer students far more instruction in technique than in actual ideas.
Do not the student Gloria I watched.
Immersion project, where students gain a deeper understanding of character and story by spending several weeks at places like the Veterans Artificial Limb Hospital in Philadelphia and Habitat for Humanity in New Orleans.
"They can't take cameras or recording devices — just a pad and pen," he says. "The whole idea is to go out and get to know people, hear their stories and write."
PAGE 52
THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2011
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
LOCAL
Turning trash to treasure is not so simple
A city code prohibits dumpster diving but that doesn't stop the dedicated
CHRISTY NUTT editor@kansan.com
Like most of the things in Heidi Yoder's apartment, the antique lamp hanging from her ceiling came from the trash. Yoder originally saved the glass lamp from the dumpster. She later sold the lamp to a neighbor at a garage sale. When Yoder saw the lamp at the neighbor's trash bin a couple of years later, she couldn't help but take in as her own one last time.
For Lawrence resident Yoder, her lamp represents dumpster diving at its best — community members trading items instead of buying new things. This is not a new concept for Yoder, who said she has been dumpster diving her entire life.
Most times Yoder only picks items of interest but it's a different story during move-out season.
"I've found lots of treasures along the way," Yoder said.
"I'll go out hunting if I know that the KU students are leaving because they will leave a whole bunch of stuff that they don't want to take back home," Yoder said. "It's usually still pretty useful."
Yoder's best finds include roller skates, records, clothing and furniture. However, according to the City of Lawrence, Yoder obtained these "treasures" illegally.
"Some people feel very strongly against others going through their trash because they consider it an invasion of privacy," Lawrence communications manager Megan Gilliland said. "It is their understanding that the city will dispose of their trash without others going through it."
The threat of identify theft also makes people uneasy about others rummaging through their trash, Gilliland said.
The city says to let it collect what's on the curb, but dumpster divers think otherwise.
A city code prohibits unauthorized individuals from going through or removing other people's trash. Since January 2010, city officials prosecuted six people for unlawfully removing trash.
CHRISTY NUTT/KANSAN
The judge decides the penalty, which can be a fine ranging from $1 to $1,000 and up to 180 days in jail. According to the office of Lawrence supervising prosecutor Jerry Little, most people receive a fine of $100. For first time offenders the jail time is typically suspended, Little said.
Yoder said she knows about the ordinance, but it doesn't stop her from dumpster diving. She has never received a ticket.
"If there is useful stuff that people can use then by all means they should take it, but they should be respectful of not making a mess or throwing trash around," Yoder said.
"There are a lot of people who dumpster dive that are stable people, very active in the community that you would never guess as the type to dumpster dive," Davis said. "They find things and donate them instead of giving a monetary donation."
AmeriCorps member of the Lawrence Social Service League Kendra Davis said the only people she has known the city to ticket for dumpster diving were homeless or poor.
Davis said the Social Service League Thrift Store, 905 Rhode Island St., depends on dumpster diving as a way to receive donations of items that would otherwise be thrown out.
Two years ago, the Social Service League began sending its unwanted items to different organizations instead of discarding them. Previ-
"The city only picked up the trash once a week, which was not enough for the agency," she said.
The city will make changes to the trash
changes to the trash pick-up schedule during move-out season to ensure that this isn't the case for Lawrence residents.
ously, it depended on dumpster divers to clear out its dumpster between scheduled trash pickups, Davis said.
"We are aware of the amount of waste during the move in time," Gilliland said. "So we do our best to pick it up as quickly as possible so that aesthetically it is not a problem and because we don't want people digging through the trash."
The sanitation department restricts vacation time during the season to ensure there is enough staff available, Gilliland said.
Trash pickup, which typically runs Monday through Friday, will run an extra day on Saturday, July 30, to areas with several apartment buildings and student residents, such as Oread Drive.
"I'll go out hunting if I know that the KU students are leaving because they will leave a whole bunch of stuff that they don't want to take back home."
HEIDI YODER Lawrence resident
If city officials feel there is still an overabundance of trash on Aug. 1, some crew members who typically pick up yard waste will be reassigned to help pick up trash, Gilliland said.
Gilliland said that the city wants people to recycle and reuse in order to reduce waste, but that going through other people's trash is not the way to do it.
"There are a lot of ways to recycle and reuse if people are willing to take the time to find out who will take their things," Gilliland said.
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