UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Friday, October 25, 1996
3A
Drug, alcohol vigil held in park
Survivors share stories of loss
Editor's note: To protect the anonymity of those involved in Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon, some last names have been excluded.
By Ashlee Roll
Kansan Staff writer
Terry Stewart remembers the night her husband died. They were driving home, and as they rounded a corner, she saw a car in their lane. The next thing she recalled was waking up in the car with her husband dying beside her.
This was just one of the many stories
told last night in South Park as a part of Project Freedom's alcohol and drug awareness vigil. About 65 people gathered to share stories of struggle and triumph.
"Alcohol stole things from me; it stole my dreams" said Pete, a recovering alcohol addict. "When you are sitting stoned in bars or smoke houses, it's hard to achieve many dreams."
Pete said that although he was in recovery, the addiction was alive within him all the time, regardless of whether he was drinking.
Information tables set up by student and community organizations, aimed at recovery and awareness surrounded the park's gazebo.
"We have been planning this for a month," said Jennifer Dunaway, Topeka junior, and member of BACCHUS, which
In addition to Project Freedom, BACCHUS also provides programming for a safe spring break week and world AIDS day.
stands for Boost Alcohol Consciousness Concerning the Health of University Students. "If it stops one person from drinking and driving, it was worth it."
Also present at the vigil was a paper chain link which was intertwined around the gazebo. The links contained wishes and prayers for loved ones struggling with alcoholism and drug addiction. And "Tell it to the Wall," a canvas tarp that had messages written on it, expressed feelings of pain and sorrow for those lost to alcohol.
many members of the family had been alcoholics.
"As I read books on alcoholism and codependency, I realized that I was reading my life story," Lasso said. "It was through treatment that I learned I was a worthy, lovable human being."
For addicts and their families, treatment is often the key.
Megan, a young woman, told the crowd how she had her first drink at 5, was drinking regularly at 12 and passed out at a party when she was 14. After this, she began to smoke marijuana and take amphetamines.
But through treatment, she learned she wasn't alone. Pete, a man in his late 30s, said not being alone was important.
"I can't do it alone," he said. "I need you people to help me stay clean and help me break the chain."
James Bernard, keynote speaker for the 11th Annual Black Leadership Symposium, lectures to high school students in Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union about African-American images in the media.
Chris Hamilton / KANSAN
Black symposium reaches to students
African-American image focus of talks
By Nicholas C. Charalambous
Kansas staff writer
The Black civil rights movement ran halfway down the field but dropped the ball by not focusing on economic empowerment, said James Bernard, founder of hip-hop magazine The Source.
Bernard spoke about leadership skills necessary for success in business to more than 300 African-American Kansas high school honors students at the 11th Black Leadership Symposium at the Kansas Union yesterday.
Humility, courage, curiosity and a willingness to invest in others are the four keys to successful leadership, Bernard said.
"If we are creative about our leadership and own creative development, we will control our industries," Bernard said.
Using the music business as a theme, Bernard said too many rap musicians were no longer making records, or were locked into stifling contracts because they did not control their own economic destiny. Instead, the artists rely on corporate executives and concentrate on glamour.
"Chuck D. said to me, he couldn't find any Black people who wanted to do the lights because all the Black people in hip-hop wanted to be on stage," Bernard said. "As real leaders, you have to understand it's not just about all the glamorous stuff. You have to make people feel valued when they do the unglamorous stuff. You will never have control unless you do that."
But Bernard, who now is a public policy consult for the Rockefeller Foundation, warned that musicians should not be looked at as political leaders.
"Chuck D. is not our world savior," he said. "He is a cultural leader, and he changed the way I think about the world, but I'm not going to expect him to organize my community. That's your job."
Oscar Keyes, a Lawrence High School junior, said he liked Bernard's definition of leadership.
"It's not just about getting to the top," Keyes said. "It's about being good to the people who got you there because you might need to depend on them later on."
Julie Ann Johnson, ABC news correspondent and 1978 KU graduate, was another speaker at the symposium, which was called African-American Images in the Media: Myth or Reality. She said she was concerned by the invisibility of African Americans in the media doing everyday things such as dropping
the kids off to school, working or running businesses.
"The media's problem is not in highlighting super athletes," Johnson said. "Instead, the problem was that media failed to portray African Americans as regular people."
The purpose of the symposium was to encourage leadership in the media, said Jacob Gordon, director of the Center for Multicultural Leadership in the Institute for Life Span Studies. Gordon organized the event in conjunction with the Office of the Provost and the Division of Continuing Education.
Environmental board holds first meeting
Group members appointed to represent, unite University
By Dave Breitenstein Kansan staff writer
The inaugural meeting of the Student Environmental Advisory Board was held last night at the Oread Room in the Kansas Union to discuss the year's environmental goals for the KU campus.
"The overarching reason we formed this group was because a lot of campus groups don't know what the others are doing," said Kevin Yoder, leader of the group and Hutchinson,junior. "It will serve as an umbrella that other organizations work with."
Members of the group include appointed students from campus organizations, such as Student Senate, KU Environs, Biology Club and all organized living groups. The director of the department of environmental health and safety and the University's environmental specialist are also members of the board.
The group plans to investigate University investments, campus pollution, environmental planning, waste reduction and recycling. Members want to institute a common recycling program among residence halls, scholarship halls, greek housing and off-campus housing.
As of now, some living groups have full-scale programs while others have none.
"If we can come up with a way to recycle in each individual living group, then we'll be able to get a good start on recycling," Yoder said. "Education has been a big problem in living groups. We need to know what living groups can do as a whole."
The board was created after Student Senate passed a resolution on Sept. 11. The board can make recommendations to Student Senate on behalf of the groups it represents.
Victoria Silva, KU environmental specialist, said the group would be effective, but that it needed help from students, faculty and staff.
"We're going to need a high level of commitment from students and faculty to get funding for recycling," Silva said at the meeting. "It's going to take a lot of volunteerism for recycling to be successful on this campus."
Silva said each living group needed someone in charge of recycling to separate recyclables and put them in the proper bins.
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