Opinion
MONDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2009
United States First Amendment Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
WWW.KANSAN.COM
Brown: Board of Regents should back smoking ban
COMING TUESDAY
PAGE 7A
FREE FOR ALL
To contribute to Free for All, visit Kansan.com or call (785) 864-0500.
Dear roommate: If you have to blabber about your period, could you at least wait until my boyfriend goes home?
I'm pretty convinced Saturday was backwards day. How the hell else would Kansas State put up 62 points?
--clouded by more immediate matters of life.
At least Missouri and Nebraska lost, too.
The refs have it rough — like your mother likes it.
What's sad is the hottest female in the whole stadium was Ralphiel (That's the name of the buffalo.)
"Two buffaloes, one cup."
Disgusting, but I couldn't shut it off.
If it looks like crap, smells like crap, and tastes like crap, it's probably Colorado officiating.
Anybody can ride a zebra to victory, including a buffalo.
OK aggressive hipsters, we get it. You can stop wearing your ironic cut-offs now.
--clouded by more immediate matters of life.
I haven't had sex in nine months and I'm freakin' out! Guys I would never look at are starting to look pretty darn hot.
Forget winter, spring,
summer and fall ... basketball
is my favorite season of all.
--clouded by more immediate matters of life.
I'm sitting in my apartment naked listening to "Ghostbusters." I'm officially the coolest person in Lawrence.
To the two guys in matching shirts at the Miley concert:
You're cute.
I met my soulmate this weekend. His name is Captain Morgan.
I love driving home to Lawrence on K-10 and seeing the dorms and Fraser Hall from out of town.
--clouded by more immediate matters of life.
Did the Chiefs just win a game?
Thank you, Chiefs, for proving this weekend was just a giant football fluke.
Alright, we lost at football. We can focus on basketball now!
--clouded by more immediate matters of life.
RELIGION
A just (and green) God
Above the white refrigerator in my kitchen is a cabinet brimming with plastic shopping bags, the result of a post-grocery, pre-recycling ritual among me and my roommates. The idea is to wad up all the bags into a white or tannish-brown ball and stuff them into the cabinet, before a soft avalanche tumbles out onto our kitchen floor.
Two things, however, have become apparent. First is that our cabinet is quickly reaching maximum capacity. Second is that despite my roommates and my humble intentions to be Earth conscious, we don't follow through as often as we'd like.
I imagine our predicament isn't too different from most. For the past three years, we've all heard about the importance of being "green." We've seen pictures of ice caps melting. Celebrities have told us to take shorter showers. We can finally even wash our clothes with chemical-free detergent.
But for all the increased attention environmentalism has garnered in media and the marketplace, few of us have significantly altered our habits. Nor has the weight of our impact on the Earth lessened. For many of us, the idea of environmental consciousness remains something we probably should strive for, but that somehow lingers as peripheral concern,
A lot of green campaigns and media hype have been ineffective in provoking real change because they revolve around two things: celebrity and consumerism. Whether it's Oprah giving "green workout tips" or Huggies organic disposable diapers, when sustainable living is marketed as sexy or purchasable, the result is another temporary trend.
In a lecture given last spring in one of my journalism classes, environmental journalist and associate professor in the School of Journalism Simran Sethi argued that lasting motivation for environmental change could come not from external influences, but from within. She concluded that perhaps the greatest hope for lasting environmental change lay not in Hollywood or on Wall Street, but in the church.
What if our reasons for responsible living came from somewhere deeper within, or even above?
For many, faith would seem an
unlikely springboard for environmental activism. Yet more and more faith communities are taking declarative measures to care for creation. In a context of faith, the motivation has less to do with climate change and more to do with wisely stewarding the beauty around us.
In Romans 1:20 Saint Paul wrote, "Since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities
... have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made."
For Paul, the beauty of the natural world was so great that one couldn't help but see God in it. In the Hebrew Scriptures, rivers, trees and mountains all interweave into divine metaphors. Even in Genesis, mankind is born from fresh soil and sacred breath.
What then would Paul say to a world where forests are shaved bare and mountaintops removed for coal? Does our dwindling of creation hamper how we see God in it?
For people of faith, sustainable living should be imperative not only to preserve the planet, but to preserve an integral way of experiencing the divine. It's a lasting imperative with ancient underpinnings: the color of God is green.
Hafner is a Great Bend junior in journalism and English.
EDITORIAL CARTOON
WHAT DO YOU CALL A BAG OF HOT AIR THAT PEOPLE FOLLOW FRANTICALLY FOR HOURS ONLY TO SEE IT TURN UP EMPTY?
Ngambahuh
a. a false alarm
b. a Colorado weather balloon
c. the 24-hour news cycle
d. all of the above
NICHOLAS SAMBALUK
Recent news you might have missed.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
The amount the Lied Center Donation Trust gave to the Lied Center for expansions. The donation will fund the expansion of the main floor lobby, the construction of an education pavilion and the creation of exhibition areas.
THE CONTEXT
THE CONTEXT The number of people estimated to have attended Saturday's Beer Fest in Kansas City. The festival paid homage to Germany's Oktoberfest and featured more than 300 national and international brews.
THE CONTEXT
The number of police reports filed in the "student ghetto" for the weekend Oct. 1 to Oct.4. More crimes happen in this area than in any other residential area in Lawrence, according to police statistics.
File photo by Weston White/KANSAN
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
THE CONTEXT
The total number of rushing yards the Jayhawks had in Saturday's game against Colorado. Colorado had 147 rushing yards and beat the Jayhawks 34-30, Kansas' first loss of the season.
STUDENT LIFE
School pride stays strong
am a traitor.
The Saturday of homecoming, I skipped out of the football game early and drove to Manhattan to visit some family and friends who were in town. It was a cool day so I was wearing a KU hoodie.
Whenever I'm in Manhattan I usually try to wear some piece of KU apparel. I'm not a jerk about it; it's just fun. This time was different. I had to think about whether to do it.
The University has received a lot of attention this academic year. Fights between basketball and football players, the outbreak of the H1N1 virus on campus, the push to reform alcohol policy, the announcements of the Gridiron Club and a Lied Center expansion and a reported rape in a residence hall begin to add up.
And what they add up to is the perception that this school is different, a bit more raucous
a place where things happen, both good and bad. The University of Kansas seems to be a place that soars higher than others but also falls harder.
It's the kind of environment not everyone enjoys. While in Manhattan, I was talking to a Kansas State student who said she would not want to live in Lawrence. Over the course of the conversation, as the topic of our campus fights and the fact that there had been a drive-by shooting near my residence last year came up, even I thought inside that this couldn't look very good.
This dual reality of a progressive, idealistic university and a university scarred by violence and unrest is not something new, though.
In the homecoming special section published in The University Daily Kansan, an
JONATHAN SHORMAN
article on the tumultuous history of Lawrence during the 1960s and '70s reminded me that these two realities used to loom much larger than they do now. The story recounted the 1970 bombing of the Kansas Union as well as dozens of other bombings and arsons that led the administration to consider sending students home, which they did after students (unsurprisingly) by voice vote chose overwhelmingly to leave.
But students also spoke out in marches and sit-ins against racist and sexist policies and the Vietnam War. In 1972, 30 women took over the East Asian Studies Building to fight for equal rights for female students at the University.
Their demands, which included a women's studies program and women's health care among others, were met 13 hours later.
Forty years later, this University is still a place where our highest ideals and basest instincts fight in a very public way.
Today, when embarrassing and sad incidents seem more prevalent than positive developments, I remind myself that someday, just as in the past, it will be the other way around. Which is why the next time I'm in Manhattan, I'll still be wearing in my KU hoodie.
Shorman is a McPherson sophomore in journalism
LETTER TO THE EDITOR Who conservatives truly stand up for
In response to Chet Compton's Oct. 9 column "Liberalism versus conservatism," I would like to bring attention to his key point: That the conservative right side fights for the individual. This argument is completely contradictory to the actions we really see from the right side.
In fact, the right side operates under the belief that only specific individuals deserve rights. For example, conservatives believe that certain individuals should not be given the right to legally marry the person they love, nor should individuals be allowed to choose what they believe is best for themselves and their unborn children.
Not only does the conservative side believe people do not deserve these rights, they fight to keep people from obtaining them.
It is true that bringing religion into the argument makes the left side fidgety. That is because the left side is willing to recognize that there are people in this country who do not share the same Christian ideals as the conservatives. Therefore, laws should not be made on that religious basis. Once again, these actions do not protect individuals who do not share the same views — it undermines them.
The right side fights for only one individual: The powerful, wealthy, Christian and white individual. The idea of protecting only the individuals who fit specific criteria is the main difference between the liberal left and the conservative right. The left side is able to see that limiting protection comes at a huge cost for everyone else and the people who truly need protection.
Anne Robertson is a junior from Wichita.
HOW TO SUBMIT A LETTER TO THE EDITOR
LETTER GUIDELINES
Send letters to opinionkanan.com
Write LETTER TO THE EDITOR in the e-mail subject line.
Length: 300 words
The submission should include the author's name, grade and hometown.
Find our full letter to the editor policy online at kansan.com/letters.
Brenna Hawley, editor
864-4810 or bhawley@kansan.com
Jessica Sain-Baird, managing editor 864-4810 or jain-baird@kanan.com
Haley Jones, kansan.com managing editor
Jennifer Torline, managing editor 84-4810 or jtorline@kansan.com
CONTACT US
Michael Holtz, opinion editor
864-4924 or mholtz@kansan.com
Caitlin Thornbrugh, editorial editor
864-4924 ur thornbrugh@kansan.com
Lauren Bloodgood, business manager
864-4358 or lbloodgood@kansan.com
Maria Korte, sales manager
864-4477 or mkorte@kansan.com
Malcolm Gibson, general manager and news adviser
or mgibson@kansan.com
Ion Schlitt sales and marketing
864-7666 or jschlittkansan.com
THE EDITORIAL BOARD
THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Members of the Kansai Editorial Board are:
Jacques Jain, Justice Saini-Baier, Jennifer Tortline, Haley Jones, Gattinhorn Holtz and Martin Holtz.