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9.17.99
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albums
1. "Fly," Dixie Chicks
2. "Millennium," Backstreet Boys
3. "Christina Aguilera," Christina Aguilera
4. "Supernatural," Santana
5. "Devil without a cause," Kid Rock
6. ... baby on more time," Britney Spears
7. "Significant other," Limp Bizkit
8. "Ricky Martin," Ricky Martin
9. "400 degreez," Juvenile
10. "NOW 2," Various artists
top ten
singles
1. "Unpretty," TLC
2. "She's all I ever had," Ricky Martin
3. "Bailamos," Enrique Iglesias
4. "Genie in a bottle," Christina Aguilera
5. "Summer girls," LFO
6. "Mambo No. 5," Lou Bega
7. "Smooth," Santana, f. Rob Thomas
8. "All star," Smash Mouth
9. "Someday," Sugar Ray
10. "Where my girls at?," 702
Sex took Lawrence, University by storm during turbulent 1960s
By Clare McLellan
Kansan Book Critic
Sex. drugs and rock'n' roll.
Is that all the sexual revolution was about?
In Beth Bailey's new, non-fiction book Sex in the Heartland she explores the events that set the stage and surrounded the revolution of the '60s by focusing on a small university town in Kansas — Lawrence.
Bailey is an associate professor of American Studies at the University of New Mexico and the author of several books. For Sex in the Heartland she chose to look beneath the surface of the sexual revolution and found much more than radical protesters on the coasts.
While Lawrence may not be the capital of the revolution such as Haight-Ashbury or Greenwich Village, its people were as involved as memorable radicals such as Abbie Hoffman or Hugh Hefner.
The book is sluggish at times but provides the reader with a new look at the forces behind the revolution. It follows the steady progression of the revolution from the end of WWII through its legacy in today's society.
Much of the revolution stemmed from unrest in young people, women, gays and lesbians who wanted greater freedom and more respect. And these people fought to be heard across the country, even in the heartland.
The chapter titled "Sex and the Therapeutic Culture" chronicles the beginnings of these feelings of unrest. Female students fighting curfews, young men going on panty raids and homosexual students being viewed as "sick," all shared these feelings. Bailey shows certain events that sparked revolutionary ideas and were not directly related to sex or free expressions of sex. Students involved in the Lawrence Gay Liberation Front fought to be recognized by the University, enlisting the help of Chicago Sever lawyer, William Kunstler. Kunstler was dismissed for not having license to prac
tice in Kansas, but the case made it all the way to the Supreme Court. Women of all ages fought for free access to the birth-control pill as a symbol of women's liberation, not merely to engage in promiscuous sex. KU students fought against many in loco parentis rules imposed on them by the University to prove their independence, not merely so they could hop into bed whenever and wherever.
Book facts
Grade: B
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Price: $27.00
Pages: 218
This view was somewhat new to me. Stepping back from the overwhelming images of the revolution such as bra burning, Woodstock and dope-smoking hippies, provided a greater insight into what the revolution was all about. Perhaps the most important theme was respect for all lifestyles, regardless of age, gender or sexual orientation.
Using Lawrence as an example of a typical revolutionary town in the '60s also was revealing. Having just moved to Lawrence, I found its history to be much richer than I thought.
This book also is full of KU history during the most tumultuous decade of the century. It was interesting to see how our predecessors handled those turbulent times.
However, the book reads too much like a textbook, especially for someone looking for extracurricular reading. It's full of great information but it is a challenge to get through.
Part of the problem is repetition. Repetition of ideas, events and even words. How many times can someone use the word "conflate" or some variant of it in one book?
Its textbook-like quality aside, *Sex in the Heartland* engages, bringing up many new theories behind the sexual revolution. The book does have a few graphic and explicit
parts and pictures of some intriguing flyers that circulated around the University in the 60s
And of course, it has tie ins with the inevitable sex, drugs and rock'n'roll.
Above: A couple shares a soda in the KU student union in 1946. Left: Counterculture thrives in 1970s Lawrence. Photos courtesy of University Archives.
Kevin Costner hits home run with sports romance fans with For Love of the Game
By Brendan Walsh
Kansan movie critic
Well played, well directed and just well done. For Love of the Game bridges the gap between movies designed for men action and sports and for women relationships and romance by providing both.
Kevin Costner plays Billy Chapel, a one-time star pitcher for the Detroit Tigers who, after 19 years in the majors, is struggling to stay competitive. His down-and-out Tigers are facing the contending New York Yankees in the last series of the season — games that are incredibly important to the Yankees, but won't have much effect on the Tigers either way.
The next morning, game day, Jane shows up to tell him that she's moving to London later that evening. She knows that Billy isn't the guy for her, and seemingly has no qualms about saying goodbye.
The night before Billy is to pitch, the owner of the team tells him that he's sold the team to a group of investors, and that Billy will be traded as soon as the new owners take charge. As if that wasn't bad enough, Billy gets stood up for a date with Jane Aubrey (Kelly Preston), his ex-girlfriend with whom he is trying to reunite.
It's with these heavy burdens that Billy walks onto the mound in Yankee Stadium. He gets three outs quickly, and then the real story begins. Between batters and innings, Billy's life history, and particularly his five-year history with Jane and her daughter, is told though a series of flashbacks. The vignettes paint a complicated picture of Billy, touching on the pressure to play baseball he experienced as a youth and his values regarding the importance of pride and integrity in baseball. The flashbacks with Jane are equally sweeping, following the couple from their first meeting and through their up-and-down relationship.
Kevin Costner (with Kelly Preston) bounces back from a career slump in For the Love of the Game. Contributed art.
All the while, Billy is pitching the best game of his life and director Sam Raimi is doing a great job showing it. One of his most creative tricks is showing the baseball game from multiple perspectives. Some shots make the audience feel like it's watching the game on TV by putting the baseball statistics right on the big screen, while others are designed to give the perspective of someone on the field. Raimi has made quite a name for himself recently. After writing and directing the creative, if unentaining, *Evil Dead trilogy*, he later directed the great *A Simple Plan*. Costner has perhaps never been better on the big screen. After the terrific *Bull Durham* and *Field of Dreams*, this is his third baseball movie. Perhaps it's a subject that really inspires Coster, or maybe the roles just suit him, but his performances in these movies overshadow his bad choices, such as the ill-conceived *Waterworld* or *The Postman*. Presston also is good, though she wears too much makeup for a 35-year-old mom.
Aside from a few sappy scenes, the annoying and way too prevalent play-by-play of Vin Scully and the rather distracting homoerotic element to Billy's relationship with his catcher, this is an excellent film. For Love of the Game is a genuinely emotional, not just melodramatic, crowd pleaser.
Film facts
Rating: PG-13
Grade: A-
Where: Southwind 12, 3433 Iowa St.
Running time: 2 hours 18 minutes.
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