THURSDAY, MAY 9, 2013
PAGE 4A
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY & ANSAN
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opinion
Text your FFA submissions to 785-289-8351
Editor's note: I've been the FFA editor for a year now. This is my last one.
Thanks for the fun times, KU.
The FFA editor is a woman. #mywhole-lifesalie Editor's note: Uh. No I'm not.
Brave! to the cast of the Police Acad-
emy movies for making it through seven
amazing films!
To the random girl that honked me and told me she loved me... You're moving too fast for me. Seriously that was a 25 mph zone.
All right kids, it's time to play "Homeless Person or College Student?"
When people say "It is never too early to start drinking," I always thought it was dumb. Until today.
My big toe is such a slut,it's always banging everything it can!
Yes I would love to help get animals out of those awful cages... AND IN MY BELLAY.
After my first year of college, all I can say is that I'm now scared sh*tless of having a daughter.
Mega FFA on Thursday? Talk about that Christmas Eve feeling...but better. It's Mega FFA Eve.
I know you can see my panties through my shorts, OK! Back off!
Who is this?
To the fool who thinks he/she can be an engineer; at least you'll contribute to the curve
Pretty sure I just saw Buster Bluth skateboarding down Tennessee.
It would be so clutch to marry a wife with a well paying job. I feel like I would be a great house-husband.
Um... The same crossword two days in a row? Not cool Robert Frost!
Instead of worrying about what the other will make in a career, perhaps we should be thankful for the education and money we have. There are people in the world living on less than a dollar a day.
Fun fact: to help lower allergy severity in spring eat a spoon full of local honey a day. Thank you bees.
So out of curiosity, where does The Doctor stand in the whole "superhero/not superhero" debate? I mean he saves an average of a planet a day, and the whole universe on a bad day.
Blue Steel.
Yeah, but reddit is all reposts anyway,
so...
SHOUT out to the editor and everyone who summited posts for making this years FFA section.
Steal.
I bet engineer majors tell back on the,
"My dad can beat up your dad" a lot
during childhood.
Ah springtime, when the birds sing and girls resort to skrillex haircuts. #notaodidea
ACTIVITIES
Spend your summer productively
W whether you had a good year or a bad year, once final exa
notagoodidea
wrap up next week, it's time for everyone to pack it in and split off on their separate ways for the summer.
Leaving school for the summer can be quite bittersweet. Nothing beats returning to the quiet comforts of home where you can sleep in your own bed and laze around without having anything to do or study for. Plus, you have unlimited access to a fully stocked refrigerator — usually full of food that you didn't have to buy, for once.
I always love the first few days of being home, but then, like anything, it starts to suck as time goes by. Eventually, you'll fully catch up on all the sleep you lost from finals week; you'll have already devoured all the good food from the refrigerator and you'll have hung out with your old friends to the point where
you're tired of them again. At some point — probably during that sixth straight hour of watching "Mad Men" on Netflix — you're going to wish you were back at school
A lot of people stay in Lawrence to take classes during the summer, and others may land internships in a big city. I'm lucky enough to be inning New York, so I'll only spend a few weeks at home before heading off for the summer. But, in my first summer home from college, I figured out ways to make a summer at my parents' house feel a lot more bearable. If you're stuck at home, here's what you can do:
This should go without saying — if you're not taking summer classes or don't have an internship, there's no reason you shouldn't be working full-time to save up some cash. I have plenty of friends who work at restaurants or bars during the summer,
GET A JOB, MAN.
and since you don't have to pay rent or tuition in the summer, the money you make piles up fast and can sustain you for the better part of next year (if you're smart). If you don't have a job lined up already, you're probably going to be stuck at some podunk fast food joint. That will likely suck, but at least you'll be making money.
GET OUT OF TOWN.
Minneapolis, Dallas and Denver (plus everywhere in between). Take a few days off of work, gather up some friends and head somewhere better than where you already are. If you're a music fan and you've never been to a big-time festival — which means you haven't lived — scope out some tickets to Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza or any other big summer festival and hit the road. Festival passes usually run upwards of $200 or so for the whole shebang, but ask one one of the billions of Chicago kids at the University about going to Lolla. It's a blast.
Road trips are already sweet, but when the weather's this nice, they're a thousand times better. If you're from Kansas City, you're in luck because we're virtually equidistant from cities like Chicago.
GET BETTER AT SOMETHING (YEAH, I KNOW THAT'S CHEESY,
BUT WHAT ELSE ARE YOU GOING TO DO?)
There will be several weeks/ weekends when your friends are all out of town on vacation with their families and it feels like there's nothing to do. You'll have nothing but time. Remember how you only made it two weeks on
Remember how you've always said that you wanted to learn to play piano? Or paint? Or some other quarter-life crisis skill? Do it; it's going to be a lot easier in the summer when you're bored out of your skull than it would be during the school year, especially if you're trying to get back in shape. The gyms back home are usually a lot less packed than the Rec, and you're probably not going to be distracted by all the fun things that pop up in college, because when you're at home, fun things just don't pop up that often. Might as well do something productive.
Or, you could always just watch Netflix. Who cares? It's summer — it's not like your friends from school are going to know.
your New Year's resolution to get back in shape? Well, you might as well give it another shot.
Barbosa is a junior from Leawood majoring in journalism
F. O.E
Strength in the family starts with strong parents
This is the last column I will ever write for the University Daily Kansan
University Daily Kansan.
And it starts like this: My mother is the strongest person on the face of the earth.
On April 29 at 7 p.m. my mother's name lit up my cell phone. I knew what she was going to tell me before I answered. There was no pain in her voice when she spoke to me. She gave me the news the same way she did the last two times she had to deliver bad news.
***
My freshman year at the University was the worst year of my life. After almost being expelled for poor academic standing and fighting depression from a broken heart and home-sickness, I came home to Wichita that December to find my grandmother fighting borderline dementia caused by medicine.
I went to see her at the hospital and witnessed how bad it was. It broke my heart seeing her not understand what was happening around her and using anger to lash out at the confusion. The next day when I visited her again, she was different — happy to see me because she hadn't seen me in so long.
She didn't remember that I saw her the day before.
I prayed to God she would make it through Christmas. She made it through. I came back to the University and stayed. I was going to graduate no matter what
...
My grandmother was a student at the University in the 1940s. That's where she met my grandfather. I've been a Jayahawk my entire life because of them. In the fall of 2009, I began my career at the University, the first in the family since my grandparents.
When I was facing expulsion, I thought of my grandparents. I thought about how family tradition says I should graduate a Ja(hawk). If it weren't for my grandparents, I might have given up a lot easier. If I gave up, I wouldn't be graduating from the University later this month with a degree in journalism.
I knew my grandmother was going to die before she did. I prayed to God she would make it through my graduation. On April 29 at 7 p.m., my mother called to tell me Vonda Hilliard, my mother's mother, had passed away. She won't be making it to my graduation.
***
My mother used to trick me. Whenever I would come home
to Wichita from Lawrence, she would take me to get groceries or new clothes. But before we would make it to the store, my mother would take a detour to my grandmother's apartment.
If my mother had asked, I probably wouldn't have gone. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't have the memories I have today. She understood family meant more than food or clothes. And I'll never forget those days when I sat on my grandmother's couch and she reminisced about her time at the University and reminded me that I'm only a Jayhawk because of her.
My mother's voice had the same comforting sound, just turned down a bit. She wanted to make sure her own children were OK first. That's how she handled it when I was 6-years-old and my cat was hit by a car. That's how she handled it on July 18, 2001, when her father - my grandfather, the World War II veteran who will forever be known to me as the biggest badass to ever live died in his sleep.
***
My mother had to be strong for the rest of us and always has been. She's been the most constant support in my life, and created the strong family bond we share that has always been there for me. My father often brags about my mother's ability to be cheerful no matter what. She's strong for all of us.
Sunday, my family sat down with the minister giving the service for my grandmother's funeral. She asked us questions I didn't want to think about. I couldn't answer. I just sat there staring at her trying not to cry. My mother spoke up for me. Out of all the people who were affected by my grandmother's death, my mother had the most right to breakdown. But she didn't. She was strong for me when I couldn't be.
***
I sat there looking like a spoiled brat who had nothing nice to say about his lovely grandmother, all because I didn't want to cry. My mother stood up for me and dealt with the hardest situation I can imagine. And I thank her for that.
This column isn't supposed to make you feel bad for me because my grandmother recently passed away. It's not supposed to make you realize that I have an amazing mother and family. It's supposed to remind you that sometimes, we take things for granted. You're told this all the time, but you don't really notice it until it's forced upon you and you fail to understand why the great things in life are taken away.
I couldn't be happier to call Vonda Hilliard my grandmother, or Jena Lysen my mother. The strength it took my mother to inform the whole family that one of us has left this earth on April 29 - a day before her own birthday, and sitting at her mother's bedside for 12 hours - is something I'm afraid I won't be able to do in the future. I'm having a hard time just writing this down right now.
My mother is a walking, talking representation of FOE: Family over everything.
***
This is the last column I will ever write for the University Daily Kansan. And it ends like this: I love you, mom.
***
Lysen is a senior from Andover majoring in journalism.
Go work on those great ideas that engineers have and then try to tell they're not overpaid.
If "The Suite Life of Zach and Cody" was part of their childhood... They're too young for you.
KU can spend 3 million on one person's salary but can not afford to re-surface the campus pavements that everyone needs to travel on...
Teachers bring their classes to campus for a scavenger hunt? That can't possibly go wrong!
I bet Batman was in a frat.
One Day I Will Become A Beautiful Butterfly, And Then Everything Will Be Better.
^ This guys knows what he's talking about... v This guy has NO clue
If there was an MVP award for the FFA Lebron James would win that too.
The redder the head the better in bed ... hmw well I'm a redhead turned blonde. Beat that!
I wanted to tell that little kid wearing a K-State Jersey to make sure he wore a different one the next time he visited. Ashamed that I didn't.
Well editor, thanks for a great 3 years. You had certainly made my semesters more humorous and I appreciate it!
We should go show our support for our Baseball Jayhawks!!!
If your childhood was "Suite Life of Zack and Cody' then. WHAT THE?! HOWOLD ARE YOU?!
If "Zach and Cody" was your child-hood, you must be a freshman. Real childhood memories are "Rugrats," "Ahhh Real Monsters," and "All That."
The engineers work harder all semester than most of you do for finals...
lay off. Respect, need homies.
Tabling at Wescoe? Just get a puppy. That'll do the trick.
Just thanked a girl because she's the "only girl I can talk to and not be annoyed." Guess finals are coming up.
A super gigantic enormous FFA?! My chance to get in is here!!!
You will be pleased to know that I finally felt barbaric and drank the milk from the bowl in public.
If she watched "Suite Life of Zach and Cody," she's too young for you, bro!
I've lost a black notebook stuffed with all my notes for semester. If anyone finds it please turn it in to Hash!
"I love our campus roads," said no one ever.
"Suite Life of Zack and Cody"
...When was your childhood? Last year?
The FFA editor is a guy? Here's my official proposal. Let's get married.
Editor's note: Supposedly I've already married someone in the FFA.
I'm obsessed with sleep. My last thought of the day is about how happy I am to finally sleep. My first is unhapiness at being awoken. My second is
planning my next nap.
But didn't the tulips just bloom?
Why must maintenance take them down? ! They're just so pretty!
"The Sweet Life" is your childhood? You were obviously deprived of the sweet glory that is Cartoon Network.
Walked by a physically handicapped man and casually asked how he was doing. He responded with "being blessed." There's a lot to learn from that man.
Well I'm stoned as shit for my last day of class.
That awkward moment when you're wearing rain boots when it's 70 and sunny because it was raining when you left your house this morning.
Bass is love, bass is life.
Is it raining outside or are those just tears because this is my last time reading the FFA?
Always amusing how the Film 100 class population is cut in half when all of the frat boys and sorority girls leave during the films
RCJH.
Here's to the class of 2013!
Engineers are great, but they don't know much about nutrition and exercise. Thanks to engineers, I'll be able to pay off my med school loans faster and make bank.
Hey FFA editor, do people send in pictures? Just curious. Editor's note:
The U.S. doesn't have as many innovators as it used to because people major in stupid things like business.
Holy allergy medication, Robin!
HOW TO SUBMIT A LETTER TO THE EDITOR
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Hannah Wise, editor-in-chief
editor@kansas.com
Length: 300 words
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Being an engineer major is like being a vegetarian, you can choose to do it, but you don't need to let the whole world know you do.
Sarah McCabe, managing editor smccabe@kansan.com
Nikki Wentling, managing editor nwentling@kansan.com
Last FFA of my KU career. It's been an honor and a blessing to get to call myself a Jayhawk. I may be graduating but I will forever bleed crimson and blue.
And with my graduating this year,
this school will officially lose its hottest
ginger.. My sincerest apologies.
Dylan Lysen, opinion editor
dlysen@kansan.com
Elise Farrington, business manager
The Batman Superman argument is moot because Marvel
Jacob Snider, sales manager
jsnider@kansan.com
CONTACT US
Malcolm Gibson, general manager and news adviser
mgibson@kansan.com
Jon Schitt, sales and marketing adviser
jschitt@kansan.com
THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Members of the Kansas Editorial Board are Hewlett West,
Sarah McCabe, Neki Wenkling, Dylan Lyon, Eise Farrington.