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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Check out more Free-for-All at kansan.com
OPINION
D C,
Z U -
O H
J B B.
, GUY
., YOU
--respectively kick our ass in the Homecoming department, Hawk Week is a great mandatory list of events for incoming freshmen and do we even have a Greek Week? The University of Kansas needs an event like this for every student to take pride in and enjoy. The bands appearing this year, like Spoon, Ghosty and Sharon Jones, are an eclectic enough mix that should appeal to music snobs and Top 40 lovers alike.
1 1 Kinesis 1 4 Simulation
TUESDAY, APRIL 4, 2006
WWW.KANSAN.COM
OUR OPINION
PAGE 9A
SUA resurrects event that should appeal to all
Like the bright-yellow goalposts swallowed in the depths of Potter Lake, our school has a number of traditions that have gotten lost over time. But one tradition that had gone by the way-side, only to reemerge once again after four years of obscurity, is Day on the Hill.
The SUA-sponsored event began in 1988 as a venue to attract nationally renowned bands that included Pearl Jam, They Might Be Giants, Son Venezuela and the Gin Blossoms. (Remember...they were cool at the time). In its halcyon days the event drew thousands of hacky sack enthusiasts and music lovers.
Unfortunately, the only current students who previously have been privy to this event are victory-lap seniors. The last Day on the Hill was held during the spring of 2002. Talent fees for the event had grown to the point where SUA could no longer afford it.
This year is a different story, however, thanks to the increase in student fees which SUA benefited from. It's a good thing, too, because when else is there an event on campus that appeals to every KU student? Let's be honest: A number of schools
Issue: Day on the Hill brings back music concert
Stance: Finally, a University event with campuswide appeal
For too long KU students have missed out on a popular school tradition. Now that it is has returned, though, everyone should check it out when it starts at 2 p.m. this Saturday on the Lied Center Lawn. It's free, it's fun and it used to be popular. That's more than you can say for a lot of things at the University.
Malinda Osborne for the editorial board
Free All for Call 864-0500
god, please
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. Kansan editors reserve the right to omit comments, Slanderous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incoming calls are recorded.
Henceforth, no girls shall be allowed to buy a drink that can stain your shirt. If you can't be responsible with it, you leave it.
you lose
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Today in our COMS class, our teacher was talking about the implications of having sex with a cactus.
I love Spencer. I love him. He's my favorite.
--god, please
Free-for-All, do you think it's weird that I like to get really, really, really high and watch the 700 Club with Pat Robertson?
god, please
Not that I like Delta Force or anything, but is it just me or is it everything that ignite is promising absolutely impossible? I think they must all be freshmen.
god, please
Alright, Queers and Allies have this week, but next week we're going to have Straight Awareness Week. We're going to flaunt our straightness so everyone is aware of it.
People that play the guitar and are really good at the guitar are only that way because they couldn't make the high school basketball
I'm going to need an editor's note for this one. I was just looking at the timetable for next year for classes, and are they really going to offer a Dance Dance Revolution class next year at K12 That's ridiculous
(Editor's note: It's true. I'm in the class this semester.)
Whoever picked up the digital audio recorder outside of Murphy Hall on Friday, please, please, oh god, please turn it in to the Burge bookstore or a music office in Murphy Hall. Oh
--god, please
I feel the need; the need for weed.
I don't know what Delta Force is, but I know they're really good with sidewalk chalk.
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Why were there playing music from Adult Swim out on Wesco Beach today? It confused me.
Yea, I have a question Free-for-All. What team does George Mason play for? Thank you.
I was wondering what the number to GSP/ Corbin was. I'm looking to get laid tonight.
they won't go on to be scientists, but they've had a first-hand look at what scientists do, and they've gained an indelible appreciation for how amazing life on earth can be. In either case, spending time learning outside of the classroom has changed these kids' lives.
--they won't go on to be scientists, but they've had a first-hand look at what scientists do, and they've gained an indelible appreciation for how amazing life on earth can be. In either case, spending time learning outside of the classroom has changed these kids' lives.
▼ COMMENTARY
Field experience relieves monotony of classroom
Dear KU,
Greetings from Nicaragua! I'm spending several weeks here and in Costa Rica teaching a high school biology course and doing dissertation research. The opportunity for my young students to learn about the natural world by experiencing it first-hand is absolutely irreplaceable. Every day, they're coming across creatures they never could've imagined, and they're asking questions and making connections that no textbook could've prompted. For some students, this experience is transformative — they now plan to study science in college when they hadn't thought of doing so before. For others, the experience is perhaps even more valuable
How are your classes going? This late in the semester, I imagine you're bogged down in the daily grind of keeping up with homework and cramming for exams that never seem to end. It's amazing how, for all the studying we do, we really don't remember all that much after the semester is done. Sure,
Patrick Ross, associate opinion editor
864-4924 or cross@kansan.com
Ari Ben, business manager
864-4462 or addirector@kansen.com
Melcolm Gibson, general manager, news adviser
884-7667 or mgibson@kansan.com
HEATHER YORK
minion@hansan.com
Sarah Connolly, sales manager
864-4462 or adsales@kansan.com
These experiences were a lot of work and certainly time-consuming, but I wouldn't trade them for the world. Not only was I able to see biological concepts in action, reinforcing things I had only read about before, but I also came to realize that field ecology was the career for me. I entered grad school ready for the ups and downs of ongoing research. So now, several years later, I sit here in Nicaragua, continuing to teach myself while introducing others to the wonders of nature by getting then out of the monotony of the classroom. These hands-on experiences really round out an education, so I hope you also find yourself outside of the classroom soon.
the basic concepts bounce around in our heads, but all the details seem to slip away. It makes you wonder how complete an education can be if it consists exclusively of taking notes in a lecture hall, following cookbook instructions in a lab, and pouring over hundreds of pages in books.
Have you considered stepping outside of the classroom before you graduate? I highly recommend it. The academic experiences I remember most from my undergraduate days are those that allowed me to teach myself, rather than those when someone else condensed and recounted what others had done in times past.
In one simple instance, I was assigned to watch some daisies in a campus garden with the task of recording a half hour's worth of insect visitors. Comparing my observations to those of my rose and coneflowerwatching classmates drove home the point of pollinator specialization much better than hearing about it in a lecture hall. Soon thereafter, I spent two summers taking field courses
Wishing you were here, Heather
in northern Minnesota, where each day was filled with making observations or conducting experiments outside — rain or shine, mosquitoes guaranteed. I later sought out a professor back on campus to advise me while I designed and carried out three semesters of independent studies on butterflies, which I had to work into my evenings and weekends around my alreadyfull course load.
Jennifer Weaver, sales and marketing adviser
884-7666 or jweaver@kansan.com
- York is a graduate student in ecology and evolutionary biology.
I tell you about this because to three days, I couldn't read most of my blogs without seeing this man's name, and yet, whenever I read CNN.com or The New York Times or even Yahoo! News, there would be no word of it. How could be there no word? This was a significant event. Otherwise why would all of these people, these bloggers, be talking about it?
Blogs present powerful influence
What we are seeing is more than the creation of a new medium, but perhaps a revolution of media itself. Instead of letting newspapers or TV decide what we see, we actively choose what blogs we read and what filters we put on our knowledge. The unsetting question then becomes: If blogs altered my definition of news, what else have they done to me?
Scarrow is a Humboldt senior in history.
TALK TO US
RYAN SCARROW opinion@kansan.com
Joshua Bickel, managing editor
884-4854 or ibickel@kansan.com
Jonathan Kealing, editor
864-4854 or jkealing@kansan.com
▼ COMMENTARY
I always considered the most flattering term to describe myself to be "news junkie." I took pride that I was the only one in my high school who watched "The Daily Show," an experience that was considerably heightened by my compulsion to read every newspaper within reach. For a while, I subscribed to more than a dozen magazines, ranging from Vanity Fair to The Nation to ESPN to The Atlantic. All news was fair game, and I absorbed it as fast as I could.
Nate Kartin, managing editor
864-4854 or nkartin@kensan.com
That makes me a prime candidate for an addiction to the Webbased media format commonly known as a blog. I have calculated that during a typical weekday I may spend up to two hours in front of my computer reading blogs and the articles they link to. They represent a variety of sources, such as Deadspin for sports headlines, Treehugger for eco-news, and Newsdesigner for developments in, well, newspaper design. But the vast majority of my time is spent reading — mostly liberal — political blogs, such as Eschaton, Political Animal, Think Progress, and Daily Kos.
I still read the more mainstream sources of news, but my bearings as to what is "news" has been shifted considerably by these blogs. For instance, the week before last, the blogosphere was embroiled in a matter of admittedly little significance when The Washington Post Web site hired a 24-year-old conservative writer, Ben Domenech, to start a new blog called "Red America." The initial opponents regarded the seeming imbalance shown by the Post in not creating a similar blog for "Blue America." But things took a turn after just a few days when the Daily Kos found the writer in question had engaged in a pattern of plagiarism extending from his college days through his time at other publications such as the National Review Online. The above-mentioned blogs, plus several others, kept writing about the matter for 24 hours until the writer resigned, less than a week into his job.
Jason Shead, opinion editor
864-4924 or jshaad@kansan.com
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EDITORIAL BOARD
Jonathan Kealing, Joshua Bickel, Nate Karlin,
Jason Shead, Patrick Ross,Ty Beaver, John
Jordan, Malinda Osborne
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