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Each year students make the legendary walk through the Campanile, down The Hill and into the real world. We're here to check in on them.
GRAD CHECK
Max Minor Year: 2003 Hometown: Medina, Minn. Degree: Communication Studies
Back in the day: While at KU, Minor worked at Joe's Bakery, 619 W. Ninth St., served as a lifeguard, wrote for the The University Daily Kansan's "Tongue in Beak" and did stand-up comedy at the Jazzhaus, 926 Massachusetts St. After graduation, Minor sold advertisements for The Onion, a satirical newspaper.
Why he's a big deal: Minor recently wrote, edited, marketed and independently published iSIDE LAWRENCE: A Guide To
The Places That Matter. The book provides humorous critiques
— both positive and negative
— on places Minor finds valuable to Lawrence, Places such as The Hawk Mrs E's Liberty Hall and Yello Sub are organized alphabetically and by the categories of food, booze, shops and miscellaneous.
Minor lives in and loves Chicago, but some places in Lawrence are the best he's ever encountered,
he says. "All these places in here demonstrate merit. These places, regardless of what I think of them, matter to this town."
Today: Minor hopes the glorified phone book will encourage exploration in Lawrence because it's not only entertaining, it's informational — watch out for the iron-clad I.D. check at Louise's Downtown, 1009 Massachusetts St. He also included The Pink Flamingo nudey club, or The Dirty Bird, because of its fabulous Friday lunch buffet." There is something oddly likeable about gorging oneself on all-you-can-eat fried chicken breasts whilst surrounded by actual female breasts. Plus, there's nothing classier than going to a strip joint at 1:30 p.m.
on a weekday. If you like food and booos, you'll love The Bird," Minor writes in INSIDE LAWRENCE. He goes to school for comedy but says that his friends from KU are still some of the funniest people he's ever met. He loves Lawrence because everyone is having the best time of their lives together, and that's unprecedented outside of this community, he says.
Words of advice: Even if you love your job, it's still a job, he says, "Being creative, expressing yourself and enjoying who you are and the environment you're in is the most important thing."
Pick up INSIDE LAWRENCE for $10 at Kiefs Downtown Music, 823 Massachusetts St., or Love Garden, 926 Massachusetts St., in November. "It's not for everyone, and that's sort of the charm of it," Minor says. Or, visit www.insidelawrence.com to buy the book online and access links to the places included.
Katherine Loeck
10> JAYPLAY 10.26.2006