CAMPUS/AREA
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday, March 7, 1996
3A
LesBiGays will bring TV actor for speech
Funds also approved for women's celebration
By Nicole Kennedy Kansan staff writer
A star of the television show My So-Called Life is coming to campus.
Wilson Cruz, who portrayed a gay high school student on the show, is the headline speaker for LesBiGay Awareness Week, April 15 to April 20.
The Student Senate finance committee unanimously approved last night a bill to grant $5,959 to LesBigY Services of Kansas to help finance the week.
Kevin King, Topeka senior and coordinator of the week's events, said Cruz would share experiences from his personal and professional life.
"He's mainly going to talk about his personal life and how when he came out to his father, he was kicked out of the house." King said.
King said he was glad the finance committee agreed to help finance the week.
"This is like the signature event for us, and it definitely raises a lot of visibility for LesBiGay individuals both on campus and in the community," he said.
Sean Haley, non-traditional senator, sponsored the bill.
"This isn't a normal week," Haley said. "It's a whole culture, and it's a vital part of this campus."
Other events planned for the awareness week include the Pride March and Rally downtown and a speech by Leslie Feinberg, author of Stone Butch Blues.
In other action, the finance committee unanimously approved a bill granting $310 to the Commission on the Status of Women and the Feminist Collective Force to finance the Women's History Month celebration.
The celebration will honor the achievements of female students through poetry readings, dramatic presentations and art displays.
A tragic tale of lost love
Opera to be shown at the Lied Center
By Heather Kirkwood
Kansan staff writer
It's not Days of Our Lives or Melrose Place, but La Traviata, an opera that will be performed at 8 tonight and tomorrow night at the Lied Center, is packed with lust, love, loyalty and sacrifice.
The story follows Violetta Valery, a courtesan who falls in love with Alfredo Germont, a young man known for being honorable. Just when it looks like Valery has found happiness, Germont's father tells Valery that her relationship with his son is damaging the good name of the family and ruining Germont's sister's life.
Valery decides to dump Germont for his own good and leaves him to go back to her old benefactor.
Weeks later she sees Germont, and he
La Traviata
■ When and Where: 8 tonight and tomorrow-night, Lied Center
Tickets: Available at the Lied Center Box Office, Murphy Hall Box Office, Student Union Activities Box Office and Ticketmaster
**Prices:** $30 and $25 for the general public; $15 and $1.50 for KU, Haskell and K-12 students; and $29 and $24 for senior citizens and other students.
publicly embarrasses her out of anger.
Valery eventually becomes impoverished, alone and near death before Germont finds out why she left him. But it is too late, and the lovers can only embrace during the last few minutes of Valery's life.
"The story is charming," said Jacqueline Davis, director of the Lied Center. "It has some of the most beautiful music I have ever heard."
The opera is not designed for the stereotypical evening gown and tuxedo crowd. Instead, the 70-member New York City Opera National Company tries to make opera accessible to the general public.
Although the performance will be in Italian, English translations will appear on a large screen above the stage so the audience can follow along.
"Students who have gone to one in the past look forward to the next one, because there is a high comfort level." Davis said.
As a voice major, Vik said she hoped to one day play a role in an opera such as La Traviata.
Norman Paige, professor of voice and opera, has had that chance. In the 1960s he played the role of Alfredo Germont for the Metropolitan Opera National Company.
"It is certainly one of my favorites," Paige said.
The performance is part of the Lied Center's concert series and part of the New York Opera National Company's nationwide tour.
Hope for peace
Ilene Cantor, Memphis, Tenn., sophomore, writes hopes for peace in Israel on a cloth at the Kansas Union. The cloth was
Brian Flink / KANSAN
provided by Hillel and will be on display in the Union before being sent to Israel.
Spanish speaking groups are 'muy bueno'
GTAs assemble students for talking and listening
By R. Adam Ward Kansan staff writer
Learning Spanish doesn't require four walls and a chalkboard.
Some KU students are using informal settings set up by Spanish graduate teaching assistants to improve their Spanish speaking skills.
There are two different settings on campus for students to practice conversing in Spanish.
Mesa Hispánica is in the Kansas Union,
Alcove C or G, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
on Tuesdays. Café Castellano meets on
Wednesdays and Fridays from 10:30 to
11:30 a.m. in the west side of Wescoe Terrace.
"Students get a chance to listen to speakers with different accents," said Oscar Cabrera, Spanish GTA. "Even if they feel they can't speak they can come and listen."
Cabrera, Esteli, Nicaragua, graduate student, said the Spanish department
He said the groups were especially helpful in helping students prepare for oral exams. Between 10 and 12 students usually come to Mesa Hispánica, he said.
allowed GTAs to participate in the hourand-a-half conversation groups instead of one of their office hours.
Bob Hershberger, Spanish GTA, said one of the reasons he had helped create Café Castellano was because he believed speaking should be emphasized more when learning Spanish.
Hershberger, Lawrence graduate student, said GTAs had considered giving extra credit for attending the conversation sessions, but decided to leave it up to students interest in speaking to motivate them.
Café Castellano also allows students to converse in Spanish and provides free coffee and hot chocolate to students.
The number of students who attend Café Castellano varies from eight to 18, he said.
The Spanish department pays the $12 a week for coffee and creates filers and photocopies to advertise the session, he said.
Many students who attend the informal conversational sessions are grateful for the chance to speak Spanish.
Brian Flink / KANSAN
Scott Fillmore, Prairie Village junior, registers Lisa Stewart, Academic Resource Center assistant director, to vote. Fillmore assisted with voter registration yesterday at Wescoe Hall during a mock primary election.
KU students participate in mock vote
By Heather Kirkwood
It wasn't Super Tuesday, but KU students such as Ken Martin voted in a national student mock primary yesterday at sites in the Kansas Union and Wescoe Terrace. Results will not be released until tomorrow at the earliest, when other universities holding similar elections complete their voting.
Kansan staff writer
Martin, Eden Prairie, Minn., senior, described himself as a staunch Democrat, and said he cast his vote for President Bill Clinton.
Bill Clinton
"He has tackled some tough issues no one else has tried to tackle, like gays in the military and health care," Martin said. "Given four more years, he can put this country where it needs to be."
Martin has been impressed with Clinton's handling of foreign policy issues such as the Dayton peace accords and the Middle East situation. However, he also is concerned about domestic issues such as affirmative action and funding for higher education.
But not everyone agrees that Clinton has the best answers for the nation's problems.
Bob Dole
Jeremy Ruth, Topeka senior,
Jeremy Ruth, Topeka senior took the opportunity to register to vote and show his support for Sen. Bob Dole.
"I like some of the stuff he represents, like crime and getting family values out there," Ruth said.
Dustin Wright, Topeka senior, disagreed. Wright is concerned about the rising cost of education and doesn't think Dole will help the situation.
"He's a power hungry old fool, and he's too old to be in office," Wright said.
Sen. Dole's age doesn't bother Kelly Miller, Olathe junior. Instead, she is impressed with Dole's years of experience.
"He's not some rich guy who decided to give it a try," she said. "He knows how the games work."
The mock primary was the brainstorm of David Stevens, Wichita senior, who is the issues coordinator for the Student Legislative Awareness Board. Originally Stevens hoped to involve eight major universities, but after a trip to Washington, D.C., the Public Interest Research Group showed interest in his idea. Soon afterward, the group Youth Vote 96 got involved, and 50 universities joined the project.
Stevens said he hoped the mock primary would show politicians that students are not apathetic and that they are a significant voting block.
"It's not that students are apathetic, it's that the issues that interest them aren't addressed," Stevens said.
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