THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2012
PAGE 2A
HEALTH
Adoption-rights group reopening Wichita clinic
TOPEKA, Kan. — The shuttered Wichita abortion clinic formerly operated by the late Dr. George Tiller has been bought by an abortion-rights group that intends to reopen it as a family and women's health center that will offer abortions, among other services, the group's executive director said Wednesday.
Burkhart, a former Tiller employee who also founded a separate Trust Women political action committee, has said for months that she was trying to raise money for a new clinic in Wichita. All of Kansas except for the Kansas City area — has been without an abortion clinic since an anti-abortion zealot murdered Tiller at the doctor's church in May 2009.
Jurie Burkhart said the Wichita-based non-profit group Trust Women Foundation Inc., purchased Tiller's former clinic in late August. Erin Thompson, an attorney for Tiller's widow, Jeanne, confirmed the sale.
Burkhart declined to discuss the details of the sale, but property tax records available online list the appraised value of the property at $734,100.
Kansas obesity rates on the rise
LIFESTYLE
Associated Press
OBESITY FROM PAGE 1A
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY TRAVIS YOUNG
"I felt awful about myself and I couldn't believe I let it get that far," Brown said. "I decided to change. I felt like I had this huge, long life ahead of me."
America's obesity rates, along with health issues, are expected to dramatically increase over the next 20 years, according to a recent study, "F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America's Future 2012," a report by Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
"I am surprised," said Matthew Jones, a sophomore from Portland, Ore. "I figured with all the information on how to properly diet and take care of yourself these days, it be a lot easier to maintain your weight."
Kansas' obesity rate is expected to more than double. Currently, 29.6 percent of adults are obese, according to the study, and the rate is projected to reach 62.1 percent by 2030.
"You see a lot of people running and a lot of people bicycling, but they aren't the majority of the population," said Demetria Obilor, a senior from Las Vegas. "We need better programs for children, and more so, we need to educate parents so that they can reinforce the values that are being taught in schools."
Obilor also said Kansas has a somewhat sedentary life style, and she wasn't shocked about the climbing rates.
everyday contributes to the problem and the kinds of foods they eat."
"Obesity is cause by a number of factors, including genetic and environmental factors," said Rie Steele, a professor of applied behavioral science. "The fact that kids are not getting enough physical activity
Obesity is genetic in Brown's family. Bullying in high school also contributed to her obesity and low self esteem.
"Girls were absolutely awful to me." Brown said.
Girls picked on Brown throughout her childhood. She said she was a chubby girl but popular, which made some girls jealous. When she joined choir, Brown was chosen to sing a solo. Bullies said she looked fat in the dress she performed in, which she had trouble zipping up.
Brown was also cyber bullied in high school because of her weight. Someone created a fake Facebook account and added Brown. After she accepted the unknown request, the person sent her links to websites that said things such as "how to tell if you are fat or pregnant."
On a couple of occasions, the "hot guys" in school asked her out
on dates or to dances. She rarely received attention from guys, and when she realized they were joking, she was hurt.
"I remember coming home from high school and sitting in front of my TV," Brown said. "I would eat a whole thing of cookie dough and just feel bad for myself."
While visiting home for fall break during her freshman year in college, Brown's little sister asked her to go the mail.
"I made up an excuse to not go to the mall with her, because I was too embarrassed that I couldn't fit into the same clothes from stores that she wanted to shop in," Brown said. "I couldn't fit into anything from American Eagle."
Reflecting on her embarrassing experiences helped Brown change her life. She said "it all started with small changes." After receiving the bad news from the doctor, she started cutting out the bad relationships
in her life. She also started going to the gym for 20 minutes a day and eating healthier foods.
Brown's weight loss progressed and she continued going to the gym and doing small workouts throughout her day. Family and friends encouraged and supported her new life style. She kept herself motivated by Googling weight loss quotes. She printed them off, cut them up and stuck them in a jar. Anytime she felt down about herself, she would pull a random quote to keep her going.
As soon as Brown lost weight, guys started to notice her and started seriously ask her out. She was flattered by all the new attention, but she didn't realize it was negative attention. She said she made a couple of bad decisions. Her new challenge became weeding out the
Today, Brown is 125 pounds and happier and healthier than ever. Over the course of two years, she lost 90 pounds.
bad guys.
Girls also started treating her differently. Before she lost weight, skinny girls didn't want to be her friend. Now, some girls think she's vain. Skinny girls, who didn't know her before, want to be her friend.
"It's weird," Brown said. "I never get used to seeing myself. It feels good. I don't have any health problems anymore."
Brown's goal is to become a nutritionist so she can help others accomplish weight loss and healthy life styles. In April, at 140 lbs, Brown started a blog to motivate other people struggling with obesity.
"The first blog I wrote was so hard," Brown said. "It's emotional and physical. It's hard being that open, but I've had some many people tell me they go through the same things but no one ever speaks up and talks about it. Nobody wants to talk about their weight because everyone has weird body-image phobias."
To view her blog, go to www. healthyhappylives.blogspot.com.
"The hardest part was starting," Brown said.
— Edited by Sarah McCabe
FITNESS
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Aley Brown holds up shorts that she used to fit into. Over the course of two years, she has lost 90 pounds.
Health program to give cash prize to weight-loss winner
LYDIA YOUNG
lyoung@kansan.com
RENEE DUMLER/KANSAN
KU Recreation Services began its Scale Down Challenge, a 10-week challenge with weekly weigh-ins, training and community support, on Sept. 12.
Students and staff weight in at the Recreation Center Wednesday afternoon for the 10-week KU Weight Loss Challenge. Winners can receive up to $500.
Scale Down Challenge, a program dedicated to health and wellness, is now used by the University to increase the use of the campus fitness center in addition to promoting healthy lifestyles.
Faculty members and students entered the weight-loss challenge for $25, and winners receive cash prizes.
"We wouldn't be able to run a weight-loss challenge without Scale Down Challenge," said Amber Long, assistant director of fitness at Ambler Student Education Fitness Center.
The main goal of the Scale Down Challenge is to promote weight loss in a healthy and safe manner.
Participants using unhealthy weight loss practices or who lose a total of 9 percent or more body weight during a three-week period will be disqualified. Also, if a participants' body mass index, or BMI, drops below 18.5, which is considered underweight, the participant will be automatically disqualified from the challenge.
"We do want [the weight loss] to be healthy," said Jill Urkoski, associate director of fitness and staff development. "The prize is just an incentive to us; it's not about the money."
Participants are selected based on their need to lose weight and become healthy. For instance, if a person's initial BMI is below 20.5, they will not be allowed to participate.
Participants may only miss a total of three weigh-ins, and their progress is also monitored online as well as their comparison to other participants.
This helps provide participants motivation and incentive to continue with the program.
"I think that fact that participants can see where everybody else is can be helpful for comparison's sake, but for those folks who are really competitive, I think that's key,"
Long said.
Urkoski said another goal of the
Currently 93 students and 60 faculty members are participating in the challenge, showing an increase in participation from previous challenges hosted by the Ambler Student Recreation Fitness Center.
Scale Down Challenge is to attract individuals who may not have felt comfortable exercising at the Rec Center before, emphasizing that the student recreation center is not just a place for people who are fit or athletic. Urkoaski said it's about seeing people like yourself working out and being active.
"it's another way for us to identify with people who were wanting to come in to our facility but just didn't feel comfortable; and maybe we can make them feel comfortable by participating in programs and the possibilities of being active," Urkoski said.
According to Urkoski, health affects students academics and performance, as well as faculty and staff's ability to engage with students.
The Scale Down Challenge is a way to promote healthy living for everyone at the University and for students to continue to be healthy while attending college.
"As a member of the faculty and staff, we're here to assist KU students in getting through college." Urkoski said. "If we're not healthy, then maybe we're not as good of instructors or not as good at trying to mentor."
The challenge is currently in its second week, with faculty and staff members having lost 225 pounds total and students losing 260 pounds total.
Weigh-ins for the Scale Down Challenge are Wednesdays at the Ambler Student Recreation Fitness Center from 7:30-9 a.m. for faculty and staff, and 4:30-6 p.m. for students.
Edited by Lauren Shelly
LITERATURE
University alumnus and author to speak about new book
NIKKI WENTLING nwentling@kansan.com
Thirteen people are bunched up in the corner of Frank's North Star Tavern, 508 Locust St., leaning in to hear each other over the background noises of music and clinking glasses. They gather around a table littered with empty beer cans, and almost everyone is thumbing through their copy of "Winter's Bone."
The PBR Book Club met Tuesday night to discuss the book in preparation for Daniel Woodrell's visit to Lawrence. Woodrell, a University alum and the author of "Winter's Bone," will be at The Commons in Spooner Hall from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. today. Film & media studies professor John Tibbets will interview Woodrell about his writing process, and afterward there will be a question-and-answer session. This event is free and open to the public.
"We decided to make that event specifically about writing, so that will be an opportunity for students who are taking writing classes to come in and learn about his process and adapting books to film," said Rachel Smalter Hall, adult programs librarian for the Lawrence Public Library.
Woodrell will also be interviewed by Brad Allen, director of the Lawrence Public Library, at
SOURCE: LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY
Liberty Hall from 7:30 to 9 p.m. today. Raven bookstore will be on site selling copies of "Winter's Bone," which attends can get signed before or after the event.
Daniel Woodrell has written
nine books, most of which are set in the Missouri Ozarks, where he was born. Woodrell dropped out of high school at 17 to join the Marines. Later, he received a BA from the University and an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop.
Two of Woodrell's books were adapted to films; the movie adaptation of "Winter's Bone" was released June 2010, and was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
"Winter's Bone" centers on a teenage girl living in the Ozarks who is trying to take care of her family. When she is faced with the possibility of losing the family's home, Ree Dolly goes on a search for her absent father, who manufactures methamphetamine and put their home up as collateral for bail.
Tanya Spacek, a junior from Rockford, Ill., is a member of the PBR Book Club. On Tuesday night, she joined in conversations about the book's genre, attitude and key themes.
"Most people who think of white trash think of Jerry Springer. People of Walmart, that kind of thing," Spacek said. "But he was able to capture the mentality of these characters and portray them with strength. Their ability to care for themselves is all they have at this point, and they are getting things done and surviving."
Rachel Smalter Hall said the themes in "Winter's Bone" are different from other books selected for Read Across Lawrence. Smalter Hall, director of Read Across Lawrence, said books are chosen based on their Kansas tie-ins and their ability to inspire conversation about important issues of our time. She said Woodrell's novel has more provocative themes, and the selection has
gotten more people involved with the program.
Smalter Hall also said that students are more inclined to read "Winter's Bone" than other books selected in the past, like "The Wizard of Oz," "In Cold Blood" and "To Kill a Mockingbird."
"A lot of times those classic books are books people read as high school students," she said. "For someone who is decades beyond that in their lives, it's an opportunity to go back and reflect, but for younger readers, they just read that for an English class a handful of years ago. Having an author that isn't as widely read in the classroom does open that up for students at KU who might be interested but don't want to feel like they're doing homework."
Read Across Lawrence is a collaboration of the Lawrence Public Library, the University libraries and Friends of the Lawrence Public Library. The libraries give away 1,000 free copies of the selected book each year and hold events to launch discussion.
There will be two more events after Woodrell's visit: an all-ages trivia of a "Winter's Bone" Saturday, Sept. 29, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Lawrence Public Library and a showing of the movie at Liberty Hall from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- Edited by Sarah McCabe
Suggested books
If you liked the tough young female protagonist...
"Bartard Out of Carolina" by Dorothy Allison
"Salvage the Bones" by Jesmyn Ward
"True Grit" by Charles Portis
"Bloodroot" by Amy Greene
"Once Upon a River" by Bonnie Jo Campbell.
"Year of Wonders" by Geraldine Brooks
If you liked the gritty realism and noir-ish crime story...
"A Single Shot" by Matthew Jones
"Devil All the Trine" by Donald Ray Pollock
"The Ice Harvest" by Scott Phillips
"The Bottoms" by Joe Laudsale
"One Foot in Eden" by Ron Rash
"Hell at the Breech" by Tom Franklin
"I Hate to Sea That Evening Sun Go Down" by William Gay
"Outlaw Album" by Daniel Woodrell
"Volt" by Alan Heathcock
You may also like
Classic Southern Fiction:
"The Heart is a Loudy Hunter" by Carson McCullers
"Intruder in the 130at" by William Faulkner
"Wise Blood" by Flannery O'Connor
Backwoods and Southern with a little less grit
"Fair & Tender Ladies" by Lee Smith
"Clay's Quilt" by Silas House
"Moon Women" by Pumela Duncan
Post apocalyptic:
"The Reapers are the Angels" by Alden Bell
"Blood Red Road" by Moira Young
Source: Susan Brown and Nelly Wetta, Lawrence Public Library