OPINION
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Editorial: Educating yourself on lending may help stave off a mortgage disaster.
address shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN WWW.KANSAN.COM THURSDAY AUGUST 30,2007 PAGE 7A
Hartz: As you rush through the food court registers, pause and say a kind word to the cashiers.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2007 PAGE 7A
ALL FOR ONE, AND ONE FOR ALL
Television is no barren wasteland
Many channels offer quality alternatives to reruns and reality TV
Some people hold on to the belief that television is a virtual reality
ision is a virtual wasteland. They surf the channels on their TV sets and find reruns of favored sitcoms from their past and reality crap that airs so heavily now on music channels like VH1 and MTV (although a few are actually entertaining). But this perspective of "nothing but crap on the television" is narrow. If only they would expand their vision, they would find that television is in one of its richest eras, with many great shows to offer.
Of course, by expansion, to view some of television's hidden gems that air on such channels, more money would have to be spent to plow its treasures. Shows like "The Sopranos," "Sex and the City," "Six Feet Under" and "Entourage" have opened up the possibilities of making shows that feel new, exciting, and engaging on channels like HBO, Showtime and FX, where they could get away with certain indiscretions. It has recently been revealed to me, by friends, that television has a lot to offer to someone who is looking for entertainment. You just need to look closely.
Showtime's series "Weeds," currently in its third season, is one of the best comedies television has to offer and is rich with complex and human characters. A widowed mother decides to sell marijuana so she can sustain her family's way of life in suburban California. The show is a view of hypocrisy that winks at us all, but this show adores its hypocrites, making it a laugh riot. When you have Kevin Nealon as City Council member Doug, pothead and in charge of running the town's budget, you can't help busting out with
laughter. "Weeds" also has its master actors who bring more dramatic flair to the table like Mary-Louise Parker, who turns in an award-winning performance every episode as widowed pot dealer mother Nancy Botwin, and Romany Malco, who plays against the stereotype of a pot dealer, making his character smarter
with a knowledge in botany and business tactics. He is so charismatic and untapped by movies; his role as Jay in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" alone gives him the right to tap into whatever he wants.
Channels like HBO, Showtime, and FX do produce their share of engaging television, but basic channels like NBC and ABC have certainly stepped up. While there are all you "Grey's Anatomy" fanatics out there, these channels produce shows that are just as engaging, like "Desperate Housewives." NBC's lineup for Thursday night includes "My Name is Earl," "30 Rock," "The Office" and "Scrubs." My personal favorite, "Heroes," airs on Monday nights.
The FX series "Rescue Me" is not only one of the funniest shows on television but is also the most psychologically complex. Denis Leary's dramedy about the heroism of firefighters in a post Sept. 11 world looks closely at the firemen of the show who dealt with the terrorist attacks and their lives after. It's got a slew of funny characters, but it's also high on its drama with its love affairs, betrayals, and the characters' sexual orientation. Leary is so gifted at writing and acting that he could bring in the really intense moments and chuck out the laughs like he's not even trying.
So enough with the gripping of "nothing ever good comes on television," because I assure you it does. You just need to venture out and find the show or shows that hook you.
FREE FOR ALL: 864-0500 OR KANSAN.COM/FACEBOOK
Brown is a Lee's Summit, MO, junior in journalism.
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. Kansan editors reserve the right to omit comments. Slanderous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incoming calls are recorded.
It seems getting in the Free for All is harder than winning the lottery. And by winning the lottery, I mean hooking up with my smokin' Bio lab TA.
Campus epidemic; girls that can't spell "pheromones."
Anonymous had something absurd to say in the Kansas Free for All.
Free for All, please stop calling me a sorostitute.There's nothing remotely whorish about me.I promise.
I think Free for All should give awards to people who actually found the application. I heard like 20 people bitch about not finding it. Suck it up and learn Facebook, Josers
EDITORIAL BOARD
To the guy in my English class: laughing at the hot girl's dumb jokes won't make her want in your pants. Get over it.
I transferred to KU because I thought it would make me happier.
Free for All, will you be my fire eyed boy?
(Editor's Note: We're a boy?)
You can ignore this.
Professors' first priority should be their students When departments become too focused on research and red tape, learning suffers
Though research brings more acclaim and more funding in the way of
I more acclaim and more funding in the way of grants, and thus more interested students sniffing around for a chance to join in on the progress, there could be a higher cost. Already, many departments on campus are understaffed, under-funded, and overworked. To add more research to the mix seems disagreeable to the academic health of the Jayhawk undergraduate.
"Graduate programs drive research and research drives graduate programs," were the words of University Provost Richard Lariviere when he announced in April that the graduate school would be merged with the Office of the Vice Provost for Research, creating the Office of Vice Provost for Research and Graduate Studies.
Lariviere said at the time that
the two programs had so much in common that it made good sense to bring them together with a single, high-priority mandate.The mandate: "Growth of research and growth in the size, scope and quality of doctoral programs at the Lawrence campus."
This is odd considering the January 2007 address given by Chancellor Robert Hemenway before the Kansas House Education Budget Committee where he said that, "Research at KU is not static" and that, "KU is highly regarded as a top public research and teaching university."
With $300 million invested in its research labs over the past five years, a ranking of 39th among the nation's top 162 national public universities according to a U.S. News & World Report survey of undergraduate
programs, 24 KU graduate programs ranked 25th or higher among public universities, and two of those programs—special education and public administration—rated number one among all national public universities, one wonders why the administration wishes to up the output when funding from the state isn't going up and the number of faculty is shrinking in relation to the influx of incoming students.
Admittedly, the University isn't at the very top of the academic layer cake, but a push for more research seems dangerous from the point of view of one group of people at the University—namely the undergraduate student body. Not only will more money be funneled away from students, but professors who could have spent time advising students will be more concerned with filling a
research quota
One thing the University needs to always put first is the welfare of its scholars. An exemplary university cares about students getting help when they need it. We hate the idea of pupils becoming an inconvenience to an already thin-spread faculty.
It is not our intention to criticize the provost, the chancellor, or the faculty of the University of Kansas. We merely wish to voice our concern. This initiative seems to care more about drawing others to the University, whilst doing little for the ones who are already here.
As students who attend KU, we are inclined to stay. Please ensure that our experience here is beneficial.
DRAWING BOARD
TEA AND CAKE, OR DEATH
MAX RINKEL
When evaluating people, don't stop at the surface When snap judgment stereotypes are formed,they can be difficult to undo
In the immortal words of the hilarious Briton, Eddie Izzard, which would you prefer: tea and cake, or death? As a human with free will and an affinity for all things sweet and quenching, I would choose tea and cake over death. Clearly my preference shows that I am a being that favors life. Sadly, other choices we make as people in American society are not so humorous or facile. Our choices in life make up the stereotypes that pervade society and condition a mass thinking that is detrimental to American culture.
So, let's play a game, shall we? There is a college guy who plays tennis, reads Shakespeare, shops at Banana Republic, belongs to a fraternity, stays abreast on contemporary politics, and enjoys a good episode
of "Seinfeld" every now and then. Got a mental picture of what that person looks like? Good, because it's me.
It would seem that these days anyone can fall victim to a so-called stereotype. However, in all fairness, some of these stereotypes are bad and some are, well not so bad.
For instance, some years ago I nearly flew into a rage when someone complimented my proficiency of the English language by prefacing, under their breath, that it is so rare to find a young black man with those capabilities. It gets worse. Over the summer, I was ridiculed for my preference of orange soda over Mountain Dew. This high school student went on to say that he silently predicted that I would drink the orange soda because all black people love it. Sorry for mimicking Dave Chappelle, but here I thought I liked the orange goodness because my taste buds enjoyed it, when actually I have a genetic predisposition to orange soda, and chicken apparently. What this friend of mine didn't know was that I rather fancy iced tea and Starbucks' many different coffees; two drinks that typically aren't associated with, say,
the proletariat in east Compton,
L.A.
Furthermore, my predilection for tennis has garnered me some unwanted pensive looks ("Huh, you look like a football player to me"). The laundry list could continue for days, but the main point still remains that these assumptions aren't fair. Why should people who choose to ignore conventional wisdom be nominated as an exception to the rule, as an anomaly? People seem obsessed with attaching a human association to a word. Why is it strange to imagine a Mexican-American man or woman born into poverty with limited spoken English in the home applying and getting accepted into Harvard? Why is it strange to envision a successful and extremely bright engineering major as a black woman? Or, why is it strange to picture an Asian-American as athletic, socially adept, and better at writing novels than differentiating equations?
I hate to play the blame game, but society dropped the ball on this one. Everything from advertising to the public school
system conditions us to believe or think a certain way about groups of people. As far as advertising goes, why do you think Abercrombie & Fifch was accused of being classist, racist, and body obsessed? Look at an old advertising catalogue on the Internet and I can guarantee you'll notice a sea of blonde hair, six-pack abs, small waists, and the background of some random country club with polo paraphernalia in view. I now realize that it may be too late to announce this caveat, but my intent behind writing this isn't to castigate upper-class white America, because I truly believe that all people fall prey to unfair stereotypes insofar as to include religion, political leanings, and sexual orientation. While I've sometimes tacitly prized myself on being the dreaded exception to most stereotypical rules, I must admit I do inadvertently adhere to a certain rainbow-colored stereotype. I can't seem to stay away from that shoe department at Nordstrom's.
Williams is a Coffeyville junior in English and pre-law.
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Erick R. Schmidt, Eric Jorgensen,
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Dykman, Brandon T. Minister, Angelique
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