Friday, September 3, 1999 The University Daily Kansan Section A · Page 3 Live the best life possible, poet says By Lesley Simmons writer@kansan.com Kansan stoff writer "The world can be a better place." Nikki Giovanni returned to this theme again and again in her speech and readings last night at the Lied Center. In an upbeat, positive and encouraging speech, the best-selling poet, author and essayist said that everyone had a responsibility to live the best life possible. "Have you tried to do something besides trying to be safe?" she said. "All that being safe makes you is old and tired." More than 600 students, professors and community members listened to Giovanni's poems, stories and advice. After a half-hour speech, Giovanni read four of her poems, interweaving stories in between. Jermee Jones, Topeka junior, said Giovanni was an excellent speaker. "She said many positive things that have potential to influence students in a positive way," he said. Yasmeen Coleman, Kansas City, Kan., senior and vice president of programs and events for the University of Kansas chapter of the National Council of Negro Women, which sponsored the speech, said she was glad that Giovanni ended the program with Coleman's favorite poem, "Ego Tripping". Although Giovanni said she was not giving an ecology lecture, she talked about her love of nature and her frustration with people who build over patches of green. She said a man who hit animals on the road with his car could just as easily beat his girlfriend or spouse. "If he hits a possum, he'll hit you," Giovani said. "You have to pay attention to things like these because they tell you something." She said that because humans did things such as destroy nature and run over animals, they are not good caretakers of the Earth. She also said she wanted to go to the moon when it was a poet's turn to fly in space. "I don't want Mary (Angelou) to go." Glovanni said. "I want to go. I want to look back at the blue planet the way we look at the red planet." She said that at Virginia Tech, where she is a professor of English, there were not enough African-American students. She said she was proud to be helping raise money for a scholarship for African-American women in Kansas. The proceeds of the speech benefit the council's "KI'S Women of Distinction" scholarship. She said she disagreed with people who thought affirmative action gave minorities an unfair advantage. "White students think Black students have it easy," Giovanni said. "But where are they?" Giovani made it a point to be equally demanding of people of all races, but she said she was a fan of African-American women. In the 20-minute question-and-answer period following her speech and poetry reading, a member of the audience asked Giovanni how she balanced her art and personal life. "If the person you're with doesn't understand, you've go to move on," she said. "Ninety percent of our dreams won't come true, but that's not the point. The point is to have dreams and to pursue them," she said. Edited by Julia Nicholson Nikki Giovanni recites her poetry at the Lied Center. Giovanni is an African-American poet who was active in the civil rights movement in the '60s. Photo by Melissa Thornton/KANSAN Officials ready for Labor Day traffic, crime By Katie Hollar writer@kansan.com Kansan staff writer Area law enforcement officials won't be taking Labor Day weekend off. Instead, the Kansas Highway Patrol, Lawrence Police Department and Douglas County Sheriff's Office will be out in full force, officials said. Cackler said patrolmen would cruise the highway throughout the weekend. All available officers have been scheduled to work for the Highway Patrol, said Lt. Don Cackler. "We want to make sure we're seen and help motorists that are broken down," he said. Sgt. George Wheeler of the Lawrence police said the department would be supplementing its staff with six extra officers to deal with the three-day weekend's revelry. "We always put more people on for long holiday weekends and home football games," Wheeler said. The Sheriff's Office will be operating with its normal weekend staff and a few additional officers to patrol the boating crowds at Clinton and Lone Star lakes, said Lt. Don Crowe. Wheeler said that there was a regular crime pattern for Labor Day weekend: an increase in alcohol-related crime and domestic violence and a proliferation of traffic accidents. "There are just more people out on the road, more visitors that don't know the area." he said. Crowe said the Sheriff's Office had similar expectations. "Our main concern is traffic violations and driving under the influence," he said. "People just drink too much. That's our main problem on long weekends." However, one area of Lawrence is predicted to remain calm — the KU campus. Lt. Schuyler Bailey of the KU Public Safety Office said that the department did not foresee any problems. He said records did not show any substantial amount of crime on Labor Day weekend. Bailey attributed this to an absence of students in the area. Salvador Sandate, Newton senior, isn't too concerned about this weekend's enhanced law enforcement. "With a three-day weekend, a lot of people do leave," he said. "It shouldn't affect me," he said. "I'm leaving town." — Edited by Jennifer Roush More scholarship hall parking, but price higher By Erinn R. Barcomb Special to the Kansan Special to the Kansan The University of Kansas Parking Department has given the campus' nine scholarship halls additional parking — with a price. Parallel spaces were added to Alumni Place just east of the Sprague Apartments for seven or eight cars, and Miller and Watkins scholarship halls received 12 spaces in lot 15 next to Blake Hall. Laurie Evanhoe, Derby senior, and Bethany Ostrye, Derby junior, said they were concerned about the lack of parking near the two halls. The two put up an inventory sheet for Miller residents to record the number of empty spaces in the blue lot near Blake every day. After turning in the results, the parking department did the math and found the case added up. "Until something else changed, we could offer that," said Donna Hultine, assistant director of parking. The halls reserved some spaces for residents with particular jobs in the hall and had a lottery to distribute the rest. Olga Ramm, Manhattan junior, won a space in the lot, although she is not yet sure if she wants to pay $75 beyond the student permit price. The permits cost $150 — the same amount charged for all blue lots — and allow residents to park in the Blake or Alumni Place lots. The parallel spaces added on Alumni Place were not intended to be spaces at all. Although the parking department said the sign for lot 100 along Alumni Place was not new, it caused confusion. "I think that's a ridiculous price," she said. "I'm still deciding. I might give it to someone else." "I think that's a ridiculous price.I'm still deciding.I might give it to someone else." Manhattan junior who was one of a few students to win a raffle to buy a permit for the PhD program. the Blake and Alumni Place parking lots Erick Anderson, Hutchinson freshman, was given a warning for parking there because the parking department hadn't painted lines yet. "It itdn't cost me anything," he said. "They said I had parked in the road even though there's a sign that says 'Alumni Place parking.'" Tickets given in those spaces are being repealed. "Once it starts, it is so hard to get it stopped," she said. "I think people just get desperate." Hultine cited a similar case when many students began parking in undesignated areas. The parking department decided to add the spaces because Alumni Place was not any narrower than Louisiana Street, where scholarship hall parking was added this summer. Facilities operations painted in the lines early last week. However, Hultine said that she wished the Department of Student Housing would notify residents of the parking situation before they move on campus. 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