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NEWS MONDAY, MARCH 29. 2010 THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN KANSAN.COM
CAMPUS
Students explore connections in faith and art in local competition
BY ROSHNI OOMMEN roommen@kansan.com
Lauren Bowles, a freshman from Leawood, will this year's Intersection of Faith and Art contest, which was sponsored by the St. Lawrence Institute for Faith and Culture.
"I feel like love is something that highly involves faith." Bowles
Bowles' piece, titled "Eros and Agape" consists of two oil paintings. The first painting portrays a couple kissing, and the second painting is of an angel looking down on Earth.
said. "There's the faith in the love of God, but in the love of another person you also need to have faith."
For Bowles, entering the contest was a demonstration of her artistic desire to
step outside of the boundaries of interretation.
"When you're given a theme. I really like to try and think about a non-cliche way to interpret it as something else," Bowles said. "I try to work that into all of my pieces, no matter what they are. It gives you a different take on it that you may not have thought to do it initially."
"There are beliefs that I didn't know people had. Culture intersects faith uniquely for each person."
As a result, several pieces expressing different forms of faith were submitted, including a piece related to the Wiccan faith, as well as a piece by a student who is seeking religion.
Leanne Tracy, a sophomore from St. Louis, coordinated the contest, which is in its first year. She said the group advertised the contest as separate from the St. Lawrence Center. The St. Lawrence Institute is a part of the St. Lawrence Center and desired the separation to broaden the scope of artists and pieces submitted.
"I was really awe-inspired by the different entries." Tracy said. "There are beliefs that I didn't know people had. Culture intersects faith uniquely for each person. It was really neat to watch."
Bowles said she is not religious, but interpreted the theme with a more abstract meaning of faith. Her goal was to display the two different types of love and how they compare. Bowles won a $500 scholarship for her piece. The judges were three Lawrence community members who have experience with
"We wanted to see the results of stepping out the boundaries, into the art world and through the eyes of faith" Tracy said. "I wanted people to submit pieces without worrying about the Catholic barrier."
LEANNE TRACY Contest coordinator
art. Twenty-one pieces were submitted, and 11 pieces will be displayed in the Student Union Activities gallery on the fourth floor of the Kansas University until Friday.
Beseau said there was a long tradition of the intersection of art and faith, but that this concept has been recently neglected. He said this contest was important for students in order to foster a relationship between faith and art.
Father Steve Beseau, director of the St. Lawrence Institute for Faith and Culture, said the purpose of the contest was to promote the encounter between the church and the world of culture and academic discipline.
Edited by Drew Anderson
"Students are, and will continue to be, the artists of our culture. We wanted to allow them to the opportunity to create art that would better interact with the issues of faith," said Beseau.
Lauren Bowles, a freshman from Leawood, won the Intersection of Faith and Art contest with the two paintings that hang behind her. Bowls oil paintings, entitled "Eros and Agape," represent the parallel between classical and contemporary faith. The paintings are currently hanging in the Kansas Union Gallery, which is at the south end of the Union's fourth floor.
POLITICS
Vague pot law creates confusion
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN FRANCISCO — Police in a northern California town thought they had an open-and-shut case when they seized more than two pounds of marijuana from a couple's home, even though doctors authorized the pair to use pot for medical purposes.
San Francisco police thought the same with a father and son team they suspected of abusing
the state's medical marijuana law by allegedly operating an illegal trafficking operation.
But both cases were tossed out along with many other
drug to treat their ailments.
Law enforcement officials say the ruling has made the murky legal landscape of marijuana policy in California even more challenging to enforce.
That tension is expected to
"The way the law is now it puts law enforcement between a rock and a hard place."
Since California voters legalized medical marijuana in 1996, there has been tension between local law enforcement officials and federal authorities, who view marijuana as absolutely illegal.
MARTIN J. MAYER lawyer for California police associations
of cannabis a medical marijuana patient can possess?
marijuana possession cases in recent weeks because of a California Supreme Court ruling that has police, prosecutors and defense attorneys scrambling to make sense of a gray legal area: What is the maximum amount
No one can say for sure how many dismissals and acquittals
become even more pronounced if the state's voters approve a November ballot measure legalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana.
it puts law enforcement between a rock and a hard place," said Martin J. Mayer, a lawyer who represents California State Sheriff's Association, California Police Chief's Association and California Peace Officers'
"Gray is not a good color for the law."
"The way the law is now
GERALD BENITO District attorney
have been prompted by the ruling, but the numbers are stacking up since the Supreme Court on Jan. 21 tossed out Patrick Kelly's marijuana possession conviction.
The high court struck down a seven-year-old state law that imposed an eight-ounce limit on the amount of pot medical users of marijuana could possess. The court said patients are entitled to a "reasonable" amount of the
Association.
"The measure,
if it passes, will
make it even
more difficult.
They just don't
like being in
the middle."
Prosecutors are backing
away from some cases filed before the court ruling.
"Gray is not a good color for the law," said Shasta County District Attorney Gerald Benito, who dismissed a case earlier this month and is considering dropping several more because of the ruling. "It makes it very difficult for us to enforce the law — I think everyone is crying out for a clear line."
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NATIONAL
Extremist group releases prisoner
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN DIEGO — Issa Salomi's first call home was to his 27-year-old son Roger. He said memories of the birth of the oldest of his four boys and his son's childhood sustained him after he was kidnapped in Baghdad in January.
A few hours later, the Iraqi American contractor called his wife of 30 years, Muna, and asked for her homemade tabbouleh when he arrived home.
The Pentagon said Saturday that Salomi was back under U.S. military control but gave no details on his disappearance or return. The family says he is expected to arrive at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio within a week.
A Shiite extremist group claimed responsibility for the Jan. 23 kidnapping and posted a video online that showed a man wearing military fatigues, reading a list demands for the release of militants, the prosecution of Blackwater guards and an immediate U.S. troop withdrawal.
The group issued a statement Sunday indicating Salomi's release came in exchange for the release by the Iraq government of four of its members.
Asaib Ahl al-Haq, known in English as the League of the Righteous, said the four were freed "in response to our demands following the capture of the American officer" — a reference to Salomi, who was not identified by name.
The statement's authenticity could not be verified but it was posted on a web site commonly used by the group.
Iraiqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Sunday he had "no information that anyone was released in return" for Salomi.
Muna Salomi, 50, was convinced she would never see her husband again when she saw the video. She and his extended family spoke with him Friday for about 30 minutes.
"We love you, we miss you, we can't wait to see you," she remembers telling him.
The family learned he was safe Thursday afternoon, but U.S. authorities asked them not to say anything publicly until Saturday.
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