CAMPUS/AREA UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, March 15, 1995
3A
Jay Fried-
man, a sexo-
logist who
travels
around the
world giving
speeches,
dispels the
myth that
alcohol is a
stimulant in
his presentation
in the
Kansas
Union. He
spoke to
about 250
students last
night.
Valerie Crow /
Valerie Crow /
KANSAN
Romantic spark: keep love's light burning
By Robert Allen
Kansan staff writer
"Seinfeld" and "Wayne's World" may not be sources that students would turn to learn about sex and relationships.
But Jay Friedman, an internationally-known sex educator and former disc jockey, used them last night in his multimedia speech, "Sex Matters." Friedman spoke to about 250 students in the Big Eight Room of the Kansas Union using slides, television and movie clips.
Friedman, who has lectured across the country and overseas, combined humor with his serious message that we as people are not adequately educated about sex, love and relationships.
"I say that we live in the AIDS," he said, referring to the affliction AIDS. "So we have to be smart and have to
overcome taboos we have regarding talking about sex."
Friedman gave advice on many topics, including how to be a romantic lover.
"If all you do is give your honey flowers on Valentine's Day and never again that year, I say nice gesture, but that's pretty lame."
Instead, Friedman said, give them a flower a day.
"At week's end, she has a perfectly nice bouquet that's ever-changing."
Friedman said that if you couldn't afford a flower a day, pick wild flowers or cut flowers out of construction paper, which is even more romantic.
This applies to boyfriends also, he said.
"Guys like to get flowers," he said. "We just don't like to let our friends know it."
Another way to keep the romance in a relationship is with chocolate.
"Give them a bag of Hershey's Kisses," he said. "Tell them that each kiss is special and important. Tell your honey that the flag is a coupon for a real-life kiss."
For those trying to watch their weight, that's all the more reason to cash in the coupon.
"I'd go for double coupons on this," he said.
A third way to keep the romance alive is to get out of the ordinary dating rut, he said. Students should write down their dream dates and share them with their partners. Then compare notes and spice up future dates.
If any of these relationship boosters sound corny, they should.
"It's OK for romance to be cute and corny." Friedman said.
Friedman's message about sex is positive.
"I do this to help students realize that sexuality and relationships are a
healthy and positive and pleasurable part of life," he said.
Falling in total love should not be something that happens only once in a lifetime, he said. Instead, it should happen as many times as a person is open to letting it happen.
"When total love happens again and again, breaking up is a positive thing," he said. "Use them as building blocks for better and better relationships."
Audience members were given free condoms from Watkins Memorial Health Center and candles from Waxman Candles.
Karen Gutierrez, Lima, Peru, junior,
said that Friedman offered a view of
sex that wasn't available in her home
country.
"We have different concepts about love in Peru," she said. "He talks about a lot of things we think about but don't say."
Woman to talk about living with HIV virus
By Ian Ritter
Kansan staff writer
She never shot up drugs or slept around, but Carrie Peter became infected with HIV nonetheless.
Carrie Peter, a resident of Lee's Summit, Mo., will speak at 7 tonight in the Kansas Union Ballroom about living with HIV.
"I've never felt that anyone should have this disease, and I wouldn't wish it on any person." Peter said.
The speech, sponsored by the Sigma Kappa sorority and Greeks Advocating Mature Management of Alcohol, is part of the Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic Association's Safe Break Week.
Peter was infected by the virus in 1988 after having sex with her boyfriend.
"We were going to get married and have a family," she said about her relationship with her boyfriend.
At the time, she was going to college in a rural town of 3,000 people and never thought that she would be infected with HIV. She graduated from Southwest Baptist University in Boliver, Mo.
During the past two and a half years, Peter has spoken almost 400 times about her experiences with living with HIV
"Somehow, that little Kleenex was going to keep her from getting AIDS," Peter said about the incident.
Another form of discrimination she has dealt with were adults moving away from her when she walked by them.
Peter said that she was more distressed by not being able to have children than by any type of discrimination.
any of my own," she said. "I have my whole life ahead of me, and that's been taken away from me."
Peter said that she did not speak to give people advice. "I share my story," she said. "I talk to them about how I've been infected and how my life has changed."
Peter said that she never would tell people how to live their lives but that if she had it her way, people wouldn't have sex until they were married.
Peter has appeared on Geraldo Rivera's television show and will be on the Phil Donahue show later this week, but she said she especially enjoyed speaking to students.
"Their questions really sometimes make me think," she said.
Sarah Loring, Overland Park sophomore and organizer of the speech, said that she met Peter while working as a volunteer for the Douglas County AIDS Project.
"When I did my volunteering, I heard Carrie speak, and I asked her if she wanted to speak on campus," Loring said. "She's really just an amazing person to hear."
Loring said that the speech would be a valuable source of education about HIV.
Tonight's speech is open to everyone, and the event is free.
Sign language gains level of acceptance as foreign language
By Matthew Friedrichs Kansan staff writer
Kim Kasick speaks with her hands.
Kasick, a Lawrence graduate student who graduated in May 1994, hopes to see American Sign Language recognized as a foreign language at the University of Kansas.
Kasick, who learned the language in an interpreter program at Johnson County Community College, originally petitioned the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences for foreign language credit based on her proficiency in ASL. She is not hearing-impaired but helps to teach signing at KU.
Although she did not get the credit, she spent the past year and a half researching the language and calling other universities to see how they handled the language.
She presented a proposal to the Committee on Undergraduate Studies and Advising, which yesterday approved the idea.
"Everybody seemed real positive about it when I left," Kasick said. "I'm thrilled to hear it passed."
"The committee decided that ASL met the same criteria that other languages meet." Houston said.
Pam Houston, director of the CLAS undergraduate center, said Kasick answered the committee's concerns about accepting the language, including questions about the literature and the culture of the speakers.
Houston said the proposal would be forwarded to the College Assembly in
May. If approved, students would obtain credit for ASL as a foreign language by passing a proficiency test.
Nancy Eades, president of the Kansas American Sign Language Teachers Association and an instructor at the Kansas School for the Deaf, teaches two levels of sign language and Deaf Culture in the special education department at KU. The first-level class and Deaf Culture will be open to all undergraduate students in the fall.
The ASL classes are financed through a government grant as part of the education interpretive training program. Students in the interpreter program also have the opportunity to take a third-level ssm language class.
But the classes available at KU are not comprehensive enough to fulfill the
requirements for a foreign language proficiency, said Sally Roberts, an administrator of the grant.
Roberts said lack of financing was the main obstacle to expanding ASL classes to the level of full proficiency but that there was interest in expanding the program.
"Ultimately, I'm very interested in having interpreter training that's part of KU," Roberts said.
If the proposal is approved by the College Assembly, the students who would benefit most would be those who already have some sign language proficiency, said Susan Marron, director of the education interative training program.
"The impact of this proposal will not be people taking a lot more sign language courses," Marron said.
Could American Sign Language qualify as a foreign language at KU?
1. American Sign Language has characteristics of spoken languages. For example, in a spoken language, the smallest distinct units can be broken down into sounds. In American Sign Language, the smallest distinct units are visual gestures or expressions.
2. Deaf culture is a distinct and definable culture.
3. American Sign Language has a large literature base, including texts, histories of deaf people and an oral history.
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