OPINION
5A
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2008
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY RYAN MCGEENY
Measure the food saved instead of thrown awav
I enjoyed the article about trayless cafeterias, but I disagree with it. I found out today that the no-tray thing is not a trial like it was claimed. I asked when we could expect to have trays back, and I was told that I would be waiting for a very long time. That doesn't sound like a trial to me. But hey, you have to love how the University put up all those signs about the no-tray system and how long it will go on, thus ensuring that everyone is well informed and can give reasonable feedback.
Oh, you didn't see them either? I thought it was just me
And the University also claims that it has reduced food waste. How was this determined? It measured the food that was thrown away for a few days. But I have to ask, if every student "wasted" less food, but the University still buys the same amount, how does that
change anything outside of campus?
Sure, we're putting stuff in landfills, but that's pretty much it. If the University wants to save money (and it does) and save energy (which it claims), why don't we measure how much food the University buys instead of how much it throws away? If we buy less, that saves us money, and the rest of the food can go somewhere else, and we still get to put less food in landfills. Let's do the measurement again, but this time look at the loading dock and not the trash cans.
Oh, and don't forget the burning hot plates that are handed out during the busiest times because nothing says saving energy like losing feeling in the tips of your fingers.
I urge everyone to let the cafeterias know what a horrible idea this is.
- Andrew Simons is a junior from Arma.
@KANSAN.COM COMMENTS ALREADY ONLINE
— excerpted from a comment by al13
If the dining halls are saving so much money by not using trays, then we should all be reimbursed for those savings. We paid for all of that food that they are now saving and not getting any of it, or a tray to put any of it on for that matter.
Data taken from one day's activities does not warrant a legit experiment. If they want usable data, they need a longer sample time to account for who eats in the dining hall on a specific day and what is being served.
Students who are forced to go without trays should get reimburse for the money that went towards buying, cleaning, storing and maintaining those trays. I have a feeling it might be a sizable chunk of money, and KU Dining Services will find some reason to take the same amount of money they have in the past, even more, and not tell the students that they cut costs big time and haven't used the extra funds for anything constructive.
comment by csommerville
Sex on the Hill proves Constitution is alive
After watching the news and uproar for the last few days, I felt it was my duty as a college graduate and Army officer to throw my opinion into the ring. I fully approve and support your publication of Sex on the Hill and look forward to next year's edition.
Why did I go to college?I went to expand my knowledge base, create new experiences, absorb new ideas and appreciate the differences that others bring to the academic environment. College is all about self-enlightenment. College is about challenging the structured norms that have been ingrained into my mind for the previous two decades by family, church and state. Once college has attempted to mold, shape and influence my existence, I graduate a complete person ready to tackle the challenges of life and
adult responsibility.
As a soldier (and all soldiers before me), I swear an allegiance NOT to a president or Congress, but to defend the U.S. Constitution from all enemies foreign or domestic. Soldiers, Airmen, Sailors and Marines have been doing this for hundreds of years, so Americans may have the freedoms our founding fathers established for us. Amendment I states, "Congress shall make no law
... prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press." I support that fully. Yes, it pains me to see the flag burned and war memorials downgraded to photography background scenery, but it overwhelmingly warms my heart to know that the Constitution is alive and well here in the United States.
—Gus Bernardo is a Major in the U.S. Army at Fort Leavenworth.
HOW TO SUBMIT A LETTER TO THE EDITOR
LETTER GUIDELINES
Length: 300 words
The submission should include the author's name, grade and hometown.
Send letters to opionion@kansan.com.
Write LETTER TO the EDITOR in the e-mail subject line.
CONTACT US
Matt Erickson, editor
864-4814 or merickson@kansan.com
Dani Hurst, managing editor
864-810 or dhustikyan.com
Matt Erickson, editor
Length: 300 words
Mark Dent, managing editor
864-4810 or mdent@kansan.com
Kelsey Hayes, managing editor
864-4810 or khaye@kansan.com
MARIAM SAIFAN
Lauren Keith, opinion editor 864-4924 or keith@kansan.com
Jordan Herrmann, business manager
864-4358 or jherrmann@kansan.com
Patrick De Oliveira, associate opinion editor 864-4924 or pdeoliveira@kansan.com
Toni Bergquist, sales manager
864-4477 or tbergquist@kansan.com
Malcolm Gibson, general manager and news inducer
Jon Schittt, sales and marketing adviser 864-7666 or schitttakansan.com
THE EDITORIAL BOARD
THE EDITORIAL BOARD Members of the Kansai Editorial Board are Alan Doherty, Jenny Hartz, Lauren Keith, Patrick de Rainey,露雅 Ray. Seeburg and Ian Stanford.
Are you afraid of all the McCollum buses?
Ryan: Freshmen, stop complaining. We hear you at every bus stop, whining about how your bus is two seconds late while everyone else has watched seven for McCollum roll by during the 20-minute wait for their own. This happens daily, and it makes us angry.
Ryan: Growing up, one of my favorite TV shows was "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" a show on Nickelodeon about spooky stories told by a group of kids around a campfire. I have always wanted to tell tales like they did, and I figure this is as good a time as any to give it a shot. Therefore, I'd like to submit to the Midnight Society (as I throw sugar onto an imaginary fire), The Tale of the Man with No Bus:
**Pope:** And as everyone knows, when we get really mad about something, we vent in a masculine fashion — angrily petting kittens and violently frolicking through meadows. After we've done that, we tell stories. Manly stories.
Jay Hawke was your average college senator at the University. As he exited Smith Hall on a dismal Tuesday afternoon, he tried to peer through the curtains of rain for his usual bus home. At that moment, bus 310 roared into view, and Jay hurried to jump on. Knowing the bus numbers by heart, it made little difference to him that the marquee had stopped working.
"Hey Jerry, did you know the lights aren't work..." He stopped short. "Oh, you're not jerry." The driver, a coarse and unkempt individual, looked up. His mouth turned into an ugly grin, displaying crooked black teeth. Jay recoiled quickly as the bus began to move, and he searched for a seat. Unfortunately, with the weather, the bus was nearly packed full. lay sighed, clinging to a handrail — something about this ride was unsettling.
Lightning flashed outside, and Jay looked down at the passenger seated nearest him. The boy stared blankly ahead, as if nothing were going on behind his eyes. His blue Class of 2012 T-shirt was almost
As the bus approached Snow Hall, Jay suddenly noticed the rest of the passengers sported the same shirt and eerie blank stare. Something very strange was going on. Freshmen did not typically ride to his apartment complex.
too dry.
Jay turned to the driver. "Why aren't all these freshmen riding a McCollum bus? God knows there are enough of them."
The driver sneered as the bus lurched to a stop. "Whattya mean? All buses go to McColum."
Before lay could react, the driver tossed his head back, cackling maniacally as he threw the door switch, admitting a wave of freshmen to file in. Jay was crushed against the onslaught of blue-shirted drones as they mindlessly pushed forward, crowding the bus like a pack of sardines. Pinned to the floor and nearly unconscious, Jay couldn't even hear his own terrified screams over the deafening monotone of his young oppressors: "MEEP, MEEP, MEEP"
MEEP MEEP MEEP
Pope: Well, at least Matt Kleinmann is OK.
"Hold on!" he exclaimed, sprinting after it. The bus continued on, rounding a corner and leaving Jay alone in the middle of the street. "Screw this. I'm not waiting half an hour for the next one." He turned to walk home.
Somewhere on Jayhawk Boulevard a car alarm went off, startling Jay from his nightmare. He found himself on a bench outside Snow Hall, waiting for his bus in a cold sweat. Jay sighed in relief — it was just a bad dream. Looking up, he realized that his bus was pulling away from the stop.
Ryan: No. He was immediately struck and killed by a freshman on a bicycle.
Pope: So what happened next?
Did he ever take the bus again?
Pope is a Kansas City, Kan. senior in English. Snyder is a Leawood senior in English.
What happens when we share a bed with humor
The word "farce" spoken aloud closely resembles a term for the common bodily function also known as breaking wind. To some, that similarity serves as definition. I must confess that I was once one of those who regarded farce as a ridiculous waste of time, stuffed with low humor calculated to appeal to the undiscerning (which for me at that time included all males).
Thankfully, I have matured. Perhaps that is the wrong expression, but unfortunately "dematured" is not in the dictionary.
At any rate, fare isn't all potty humor and slapstick (though there's plenty of that). Great farce, composed of ludicrously improbable plots based on marriage, misunderstanding and mistaken identity, still manages to relate to our everyday lives. Few examples of the genre surpass Georges Feydeau's "A Flea in Her Ear," the University Theatre's production of which opens Oct. 3, at the Crafton-
"French farce is about the timing and the breakneck speed the actors must engage in," said Jack Wright, the play's director and a professor of theatre and film. "A Flea in Her Ear," set in turn-of-the-century Paris, certainly sets a frenetic pace.
Preyer Theatre.
In the show, Raymonde Chandebeise is convinced of her husband Victor's infidelity after he turns into what her friend Lucienne likens to "a Spanish river" that dries up in the summer. Suspecting the river of seeking another bed, Raymonde cooks up a plot to catch Victor by sending him a letter from an imaginary secret admirer making an assignation at the Frisky Puss Hotel Sound complicated? Just wait.
Lucienne's husband, a Spaniard with a somewhat shaky command of the language, in turn suspects his wife of being the secret admirer. Victor's nephew further complicates the situation by renting a room at the Frisky Puss himself, using only his last name — Chandebise. His speech impediment, an inability to pronounce consonants, doesn't help either. Add an amorous cook, Raymonde's would-be lover, an aggressive Englishman and Victor's double
(to name a few) and you have the ingredients for mayhem.
"Feydeau's face has been called the theater of the 100 doors," Wright said, and the characters live up to the nickname. They pop in and out of the Frisky Puss' rooms like jack-in-the-boxes. By Wright's count, the actors move in and out of doors 274 times.
In spite of the hilarious frenzy,
"A Flea in Her Ear," like all good farce, has its foundation in the irony of life.
"Comedy for me comes, just like in our own lives, when the characters have to fight to remain cool and collected while the world around them becomes increasingly ridiculous and absurd," said Chandra Hopkins, who plays Raymonde, in an e-mail.
In the end, farce celebrates the bed that humanity and humor must share.
blankenko is a Lincoln, Neb,
sophomore in journalism.
KANSAN.COM
Want more? Check out kansan.com/opinion to comment and see updates before they are printed.
To contribute to Free for All, visit Kansan.com or call 785-864-0500.
What's with the crazy guy walking around on campus with the baby and the silver
I just saw an astronaut carrying a baby doll. America, fuck
Shut up and let me monk.
--full.
Chuck Norris still can't even do the easiest of Sudokus, and I know he won't even try the Cryptouquin
--full.
Next week is my birthday, and I don't have anybody to have birthday sex with, once again.
Don't worry. I've never had it.
To the guy in front of my in my philosophy class: Next time you try and eye fuck me, make sure you're not wearing paiama pants.
--full.
Man, I wish I was Michael Phelps so I could eat anything.
I wish you were Michael Phelps so I could do you.
Saturday?
Wait, so the Stauffer Family Music Festival gets an article in The Kansan, but not the carnival which had more than 3,000 people come to it on Saturday?
--full.
--drives right past me.
Hey, if KU is a dry campus, why are those who go to the Dole Institute allowed to party like a bunch of rhinos? I've seen people coming out of there with wine by the case
I don't care how festive your desk is, or if you have been with your boyfriend for four months, I want to read something offensive.
--drives right past me.
To the girl who said that she is supposed to fall in love with a guy whose name starts with an "i": The name i starts with an "i". I'm your baby, baby.
Chalk graffiti war between DJ Seth Wind and DJ Parlay.
--drives right past me.
I skipped religion class to have sex. Is that wrong?
--drives right past me.
Has anyone heard about the economy?
There is a sign outside of Naismith telling me to take the Rec Center bus because it's not constantly full. But when I stand at the stop, the bus
I had the 1-up on my girl last December when I got the iPhone. But she got the 3G.
Want more? Check out Free for All online.