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THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2011
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
apps.facebook.com/dailykansan
I'm tired of hearing people complain about school. At least you have your personal life going for you. Mine's falling to pieces around me.
When your friends are there for you more than the woman of your dreams... Maybe you should find a new dream...
The only wine I will ever drink is MD 20-20.
My roommate gets on the Free For All three times a week. I think the editor has a crush on her.
Someone's car window got busted out by a baseball at the Missouri St. vs. KU game... It's OK though they were from Mizzou
If you are gonna put something lame on FFA then just don't put anything on FFA at all!
I follow Jesus... on Twitter. Jesus M.
Christ. Get ya some.
I'm a little offended that my children-and-creepers-party comment wasn't put in the FFA. Instead, I have to read about blowjobs. Get some wit.
You are confused. It wouldn't be "it's" because the "it" is not possessing anything.
Wooooooowwwww college fail.
Scratch that. Life fail.
Its [sic.] called EVERWHERE and EVERYONE.
It's is a contraction (it is.), "Its" is a possessive.
Frank Martin should take his talents to South Beach.
Just ate all the sour stuff at the bottom of the sour patch bag. Om nom nom.
I hate that my gf stops having sex with me AND gets fat... FML
Today I celebrated my period be ing over by wearing a thong.
I think it's rude when people post their latest accomplishment on FB.
The Tooth Fairy encourages us to sell our bodies.
Who the heck keeps putting the country station on at the REC??!
Successful year for Student Senate, but communication could improve
With Student Senate elections approaching, students should reflect on this year's leadership as well as goals future student senators should consider.
Student Body President Michael Wade Smith, Vice President Megan Ritter and the other student senators this year did a lot of good for the student body and made some progress on important initiatives. However, it is important to also remember what can always be improved upon and to demand more from each year's student leaders.
officials tentatively approved the plan last fall with hopes of starting construction in May.
KUnited was successful this year in many ways. One of the coalition's central campaign platforms during elections last spring was the Wescoe Underground expansion. The expansion would add 139 seats to the crowded Underground facilities, in hopes of easing major congestion. University
Although not one of its platforms, the Jayhawk Buddy System also began this year under KUnited leadership. The program began in November and encourages students to pair up with a "buddy" and to look out for each other. This means intervening if your friend isn't making healthy choices, and vice versa. According to a Nov. 23 Kansas article, research studies show that students respond better to positive messages about responsible drinking than preaching or scare tactics. The Jayhawk Buddy System will hopefully be as successful as similar initiatives at other universities.
achieved, but is an effort that should be continued by future student senators. The center would provide many services, such as academic achievement and success, disability services and a writing center.
In addition to these, KUnited also attempted to establish a Student Services Center on campus. Unfortunately, this goal could not be
As students start to think about upcoming elections, it is important to also keep in mind what student senate can improve upon as a whole. Next year's leaders should concentrate on student outreach, communication and transparency.
This year, Student Senate worked to revamp its website and make it more interactive. While the new Student Senate website is user friendly, it can still be improved. Currently, the meeting minutes and voting records accessible on the site are from 2009-2010, with nothing more recent than March 2010. Providing minutes and records creates transparency, and students
should be able to access these easily. The redesign of the website cost $3,500. At that price tag the new site should include recent documents.
Furthermore, outreach and communication as a whole should always be a goal of Student Senate. Often students are confused by proposals made by Senate, and some neglect to get involved because the process is confusing. By making an effort to communicate clearly with students, Senate can develop trust.
A job well done can always be made better and by reflecting on this year's leadership, students can also look to goals for the future.
Erin Brown for the Kansan Editorial Board.
Today's topweet
madadork@kansanopinion I wish my teacher would push the projector back so the notes were bigger and I could read them. Oh well that's what sodokus are for right?
If your tweet is particularly interesting, unique clever, insightful and/or funny, it could be selected as the tweet of the week. You have 140 characters, good luck!
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LOCAL ACTIVISM
Follow individual passion, contribute to Lawrence community
Last week Greg Mortenson, author of the New York Times Bestseller, "Three Cups of Tea," spoke at the Lied Center. Mortenson's book details his accidental discovery of a lifelong mission.
While attempting to summit Pakistan's K-2 Mortenson found himself in a remote village watching children use sticks and dirt to practice school lessons. With a naive promise to build the village a school Mortenson unknowingly embarked on his life's work. His organization, The Central Asia Institute, has now built over 165 schools and made it possible for tens of thousands of children to learn in a more secure environment. Mortenson has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and consulted by the US military for his ability to connect and make progress with Islamic leaders across the tumultuous border oetween Pakistan and Afghanistan.
What's so great about this story is that Mortenson was just doing what he loved to do. He wasn't concerned with finding the perfect career or finding his destiny. His life was about working a few months a year to afford his next mountaineering adventure. When he promised to build that first school, he came home, raised $12,000 and returned to the Pakistani mountains to construct it. As students, we often worry about choosing the right career path, but when Mortenson found his path he was already walking on it.
BY RAEANN HANDSHY
rhandshy@kansan.com
Mortenson's story proves that long-term success sprouts from the
seeds of our current day motivations and interests. By participating in activities that energize and inspire us, we realize that our talents actually lead us to meaningful and productive accomplishments. If we all follow our individual passions, we can contribute to a society that values diversity and supports community.
Fortunately there are an infinite number of opportunities for us to explore what fascinates us. On the KU campus alone there are hundreds of student organizations and academic programs that make it possible to go rock climbing in Utah, explore architecture in Spain or develop an electric car in a barn on West Campus!
Through the Center for Service Learning, the Center for Community Outreach, KU Advocacy Corps or The International Student Association, your interests and talents may even impact the lives of other people — here in Lawrence or on the other side of the globe.
Handshy is a first year MBA student from Lawrence.
POP CULTURE
Generation Y identity strongly rooted in'90s Nickelodeon
A month ago TeenNick announced its fall programming would include reruns of Nickelodeon classics like "Rugrats," "Clarissa Explains it All" and "The Adventures of Pete and Pete." I imagine every writer whod just finished a think piece on regionalism and romance in "Jersey Shore" or what it means to be "indie" now that "Arcade Fire" won best album was relieved to have more work.
The announcement screamed "culture essay" like a wagon full of disheveled gypsy bachelors screams "reality show jackpot."
I thought about what this meant.
What does it say about a few million of us between the ages of 18 and 24 if we're preternaturally nostalgic, already revisiting an earlier stage of our current youth through "I Love the '90s," GenX Radio and Chuck Klosterman books at an age when we can't even rent a two-door from Hertz?
I found myself answering this question with more questions. Are we disillusioned with the future? Discontent with current entertainment? Is this shared pre-Google experience the only thing that connects us anymore? When my inner dialogue started running replete with Carrie Bradshawesque hypothetical questions (I've watched my sister watch it), I had to stop myself.
Of course, days later, NPR ran a piece on "All Things Considered."
In Brent Baughman's segment, he used three interns, ages 21, 22, and 23, to flesh out why, as the piece's title put it, "Children of the '90s [are] Nostalgic Over TV?" In a convincing manner, Baughman used these interns to illuminate that perhaps twenty-somethings need Nickelodeon because it's a rare social network among our generation. "Next time you meet someone born after 1985, just mention Nickelodeon and the '90s. Instant conversation starter." Baughman said
Baughman also suggested that these television shows are reminiscent of a time before ubiquitous communication, and that watching television helps us eschew a demanding media torrent. Television is more passive, and passive is nice.
Though these are reasonable suggestions, it's not tuning out the
BY MATTHEW MARSAGLIA
mmsarqilia@kansan.com
Internet, or an economic downturn, or a sense of disconnectedness that draws us to feel all sepia-colored by watching "Hey Dude Ranch." Rather, it's a sense of generational identity that's rooted in Nickelodeon. This is a sense of identity that's stronger, and more developed at a young age than with preceding generations. This is a result we can thank, or blame, Fred Savage for.
Whether it be "The Wonder Years" or "The Sandlot" or "Forrest Gump," I grew up six inches from a TV screen, cast under the spell of baby-boomer directed nostalgia aiming to define the spirit or mood of a decade that passed them like a warm summer day. Our experience with this type of nostalgia translates into us being pseudodocumentarians.
We grew up watching period-driven entertainment ("Dazed and Confused," "The Wedding Singer," etc.) And so of course we'll try to do the same, albeit at a much younger age and with less distance than whatever mind created Kevin Arnold.
A product of this experience, I turned out, more or less, all right. My vision is decent when I wear glasses and now I write six-hundred-word articles that try to turn some random observation into insightful commentary on a generation of people more diverse than I'll ever comprehend. This lack of distance ultimately causes these articles to sound like a stretch. Fortunately, I take care in knowing that I'm probably not the only one that considers our generation's collective experience in some pseudo-zeitgeist way — TeenNick clearly knows this and will be cashing in on it soon.
can be casting in on it soon. Stick Sticky sells, dude.
Marsaglia is a senior in English from Naperville, Ill.
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