Opinion
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United States First Amendment
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.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10,2009
Bornstein: Why we put labels on our sexuality COMING FRIDAY
WWW.KANSAN.COM
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FREE FOR ALL
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Does anyone want to follow me around campus playing the theme to "Walker, Texas Ranger" while I deliver roundhouse kicks to frat kids?
There is this smokin' hot ROTC guy, and I want to get in his pants but don't know if he's into me or even if he's my type. What should I do?
Any guys awake to give me advice on how to approach one of your fellow men? For instance, what the hell do I say to him?
--parking fines used to be a mere $2 and are now still a relatively inconsequential $3.
"Hi" usually works pretty well.
--parking fines used to be a mere $2 and are now still a relatively inconsequential $3.
There is totally an Owl City song that I wanna get it on to.
--parking fines used to be a mere $2 and are now still a relatively inconsequential $3.
Could someone please put a crosswalk on West Campus Road near JR!P! Us future teachers don't like getting hit
--parking fines used to be a mere $2 and are now still a relatively inconsequential $3.
When are they going to start making Facebook classes? I'm sure I could get a lot more work done if those were available
--parking fines used to be a mere $2 and are now still a relatively inconsequential $3.
Sleeping alone = giant bed and all the covers to myself.
My fish died, so I upgraded to a snake.
I love sleep so much I want to take it behind the middle school and get it pregnant!
--parking fines used to be a mere $2 and are now still a relatively inconsequential $3.
Aaaah. balls
That was the most awkward thing I have ever experienced in my whole life, and I am still very confused as to what happened
--parking fines used to be a mere $2 and are now still a relatively inconsequential $3.
--parking fines used to be a mere $2 and are now still a relatively inconsequential $3.
I just took a great poop.
Not my chair not my problem. That's what I say.
--parking fines used to be a mere $2 and are now still a relatively inconsequential $3.
Unemployment at 9.7 percent now. Go recovery!
--parking fines used to be a mere $2 and are now still a relatively inconsequential $3.
For all the freshmen: When we say FFA we don't mean the club, we mean FREE FOR ALL. This isn't K-State.
--parking fines used to be a mere $2 and are now still a relatively inconsequential $3.
Dear Kansas Dining Services, I'm very sorry. I make a mess every time I come and
I love realizing a difficult and confusing homework assignment is only worth 1.6 percent of my grade.
Screw it.
EDITORIAL BOARD
Increased parking fines and fees good for downtown Lawrence
Last week, the parking fees and fines for the downtown area were made stricter in just about every way possible, but because they focus on punishing parking violators, they are a common-sense way to fund downtown improvements and maintenance.
Chance Dibben/KANSAN
The fine increases were originally proposed by downtown merchants who wanted quicker turnover in short-term parking.
"If I was planning on being on Mass. for an afternoon, I'd probably look for long-term parking now," Lindsay Marshall, Salma sophomore, said. Marshall received a parking ticket right before the fine increases took place.
Parking in downtown Lawrence has always been an exceptionally good value compared to neighboring towns. Overtime
Violators will also be charged a late fee of $12 if they don't pay the fine within 10 days, a fair trade considering how easy Lawrence makes it to pay these fines. All along Massachusetts Street are small yellow boxes to drop tickets in, making late fees a punishment for being only lazy or irresponsible
According to information collected by the Lawrence City Commission, neighboring cities such as Topeka fine violators $8 and larger cities such as Kansas City write fines of $20.
Another change to the downtown parking laws will make a quarter worth 30 minutes instead of an hour, in all two hour meters. This change seems more likely
KANSAN'S
OPINION
to drive long-term parkers to the garages and parking lots; but should still generate more revenue for the downtown area while increasing the fees by
only a quarter.
Increasing the times that parking laws will be enforced could also have the secondary effect of lowering rush-hour congestion. Residents looking to get cheap parking might wait until after 6 p.m. before heading to Massachusetts Street, giving commuters a chance to beat heavy traffic.
"Essentially, the fines and fees are to encourage long-term parkers to seek out long-term parking lots." Jonathan Douglass, city clerk, said.
Another common sense fine adopted by the city of Lawrence is a "Habitual Violator" fine, which
costs anyone who gets five tickets within 30 days an additional $50. This is a fair way of punishing those who refuse to pay for parking or seek out long-term parking lots.
By raising downtown parking fees, the city also avoids having to make taxpayers who don't park downtown pay for the service. The fees and fines pay for the entire system: the courts, enforcement of the laws, downtown beautification and trash removal. Only those using the service end up having to pay for it.
Usually, an increase in fees or fines is a justifiable outrage to the citizens of any city. However, the increased fines for downtown Lawrence parking are still extremely cheap.
This is a fair approach to reducing the amount of long-term parkers on Massachusetts Street and keeping the downtown budget balanced.
— Clayton Ashley for The Kansan Editorial Board
ART
'Fresh Ink' poetry refreshingly original
A black microphone towers on stage, silver head glowing in the golden spotlight. A mahogany stool calmly offers soft contrast and comfort to the black music stand. J Phoenix, the live DJ, manipulates each bass hit and electronic wave. The bar is dim, people are anxious, the poets are ready.
Fresh Ink, a monthly poetry reading held at the Jazzhaus, truly makes poets comfortable in their own art. The scene buzzes with energy of a much different variety than is typical seen on drunken Saturday nights.
There are writers huddled in corners with their heads down, focusing on a last-minute poem that they might read in the next 10 minutes. The audience, people who came out to get a drink in a relaxing, yet inspirational, setting, quietly sit nearby.
I first arrived as a poet wanting to get the feel of how Fresh Ink would hit me. It hit me on my forehead and told me to mark my calendar for the first Wednesday of every month.
I have read at many poetry readings and poetry slams in Denver.
I have felt nervous, obviously, but also intimidated by my surroundings.
Some were too competitive, which took away from the simple pleasure of listening to sentences as they flow together and sweep your brain out of your head and into another place. Others were too unknown, nobody would show up and only three over-confident foets — "fake poets" — would read anything.
The number of people there was perfect. The emcee, Sara Glass, was an inspiring woman who really made it clear that Fresh Ink was solely an outlet for people to be themselves. There were no judging eyes in the room on that night, only open eyes to see the art in everybody's life.
The Jazzhaus struck me differently.
"There is a wavelength you can tap into, everything becomes synchronicist," Glass said. "The atmosphere is amazing."
Now, I can write descriptive hippy words all day if I needed to describe this poetry reading.
"The aura of the room was a light purple haze, man," I would write. "We totally dug the heady energy and vibes of love, dude."
But this place is truly something special. I believe it offers the perfect outlet for local poets who want to share their work.
I saw funny poets, angry poets and some who would simply rant about their interesting week they just experienced.
I am convinced that the poets of Lawrence must witness the life that this event pumps into the local poetry scene. Lawrence is renowned for poets. (William S. Burroughs and Langston Hughes both lived here for a part of their lives.) Fresh Ink is a great step to bring history making poetry back to our city.
Roesler is a Denver junior in journalism.
FROM NEBRASKA
Obama's speech a success despite smears
HEIDE GARVIN
U. Nebraska
Daily Nebraskan
What's wrong with telling kids to get an education? In my experience, this is good advice, and most of us college students came here because we believe it.
Apparently, though, when President Obama says it, this sound advice is transformed into "brainwashing."
Sorry to break it to you, Greer, but if the children are in public school, they've already been exposed to a socialist aspect of the United States. Obama telling them to make the best of it doesn't
In the past few weeks, the right's anger boiled viciously. It got to the point where Jim Greer, Florida's Republican Party chairman, actually accused the president of trying to "indoctrinate America's children to his socialist agenda"
For instance, Ronald Reagan and George Bush both addressed school children as well. Would Greer have objected to them? I doubt it.
make him a dirty, un-American Commie any more than it would past presidents who encouraged the same thing.
And after the speech's transcript was released, even Greer had to admit that it was a good speech.
But did he apologize for his previous accusations? Nope. Instead, he made more unfounded claims that the speech had been revised from its previous form to edit out all of Obama's socialist comments.
Even with a new transcript though, the right's fear mongering had already done its damage. The uproar was deafening as conservative parents raised their voices in protest. They assumed the worst, without any evidence.
In case you've forgotten, as many seem to have, we are still at war. A tremendous portion of the world still doesn't have clean drinking water and religious intolerance is running rampant. Sexism, racism and homophobia still exist. Hatred and greed still fuel the workings of the world. Don't these take precedence over one little speech, whether or not you agree with it?
We have bigger issues to worry about than the president talking to students without parents around
If Obama is encouraging students to get the education they need to help solve these problems, why in the world are we complaining? Shouldn't we be making the path down that road easier for them? Shouldn't we be concentrating on these problems ourselves? Shouldn't we be encouraging them, too?
to censor him, especially when he's talking about staying in school and succeeding.
BEN COLDHAM
-UWire
Hip-hip grows up
MUSIC
Hip-hop has been around for more than 30 years. It has evolved tremendously in that time, as it continues to grow in popularity and help shape popular culture and society as a whole.
My golden age of hip-hop spans from 1990-2000, a decade that encompasses the release of what I consider to be the most original albums and collaborations in all of hip-hop history.
As is the case with most every genre of music, hip-hop has passed through many phases throughout its development to become what it is today. That being said, there is always a golden age of hip-hop that every fan considers the period of time when the genre was at its greatest, a time when the best of the best were releasing their most prolific and influential works.
This new wave of artists turned hip-hop into a grand contest to see who was the hardest, who made the most money and who kept it "trill" (true and real, for those unfamiliar with the work of UGK). Rapping about skills on the mike and what everyday hip-hoppers really do took a backseat to rappers' tales of Bentleys and yachts, mansions and "making it rain."
Following the turn of the millennium, however, there was a sharp influx of Scarface-inspired artists whose songs were predominantly about gang-banging, selling drugs and the size of the rims on their car. Hip-hop has always possessed these attributes. Some of the best hip-hop songs of all time depict lives of violence and crime, but after the turn of the century it seemed that hip-hop had lost the feel-good vibes that had initially made it so popular decades ago.
Young hip-hop fans became eager to get a taste of the lavish life they saw in the music videos. As a result, this "new school" hip-hop perpetuated itself with new artists seeking the millionaire lifestyle by creating the same brand of hip-hop while rapping about the same things: Drugs, money and maintaining a hardcore reputation.
Recently, hip-hop has
begun to turn a corner as a conscious, more modest brand of the music has started to gain momentum with fans across the nation.
This alternative brand of hiphop has laid dormant for years as far as the national stage is concerned. It is now beginning to flourish as a refreshing break from the repetitive formula followed by so many rappers in recent years.
Self-proclaimed indie artists such as Little Brother, Kid Cudi and Wale have begun to make names for themselves on the commercial hip-hop scene. They have been receiving extensive support from popular, established artists such as Drake, Jay-Z and Lil Wayne, respectively.
These artists and their music are becoming more accepted by national and corporate entities that dictate what music is played on television and promoted on the radio. Wale, for example, will perform at the MTV Video Music Awards Sept. 13, his first appearance on such a big stage.
As this new brand of hip-hop continues to rise in popularity, the sales and popularity of southern, gangster rap has dwindled in the past couple of years.
Coldham is a Chicago senior in journalism.
I consider this to be a testament to the direction hip-hop will be taking in the near future, as fans become increasingly receptive to the more intelligent and conscious side of hip-hop than ever before in this millennium.
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