MANUAL
Hand
TRASHED TREASURES
SALVAGING AND REPURPOSING GARBAGE GOODIES TO CULTVATE ECONOMY AND CREATIVITY
ROBERT PRITCHARD only spent $100 on food for himself and his wife the entire winter of 2009. Most of what they ate, including steaks, cheese and bagels, they scavenged outside of a local grocery store.
EMILY JOHNSON
Pritchard, Nashville, Tenn., began dumpster diving about 10 years ago as a student at Johnson County Community College. What started out as scouting for wood with friends to build skateboard ramps progressed to dumpster diving behind thrift stores, picking up old bar stools and George
Foreman grills. As a college student, Pritchard raided leftovers from bagel and doughnut shops and walked away with boxes of baked goods.
Pritchard'sfavorite finds are discarded wood and windows that he made into
your loot. Second, Pritchard says you must never get caught. Not only is going through someone's dumpster technically considered trespassing, but it might freak people out. "You want to avoid people because either they look down on it or they may not know what you're doing."
However, it is smart to bring a friend or two. When you have some help, you have more fun and can walk away with more stuff. But don't bring a crowd, because then you'll attract one.
YOU WANT TO AVOID PEOPLE BECAUSE EITHER THEY LOOK DOWN ON IT OR THEY MAY NOT KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING. — ROBERT PRITCHARD DUMPSTER EXTRAORDINAIRE
ROBERT PRITCHARD
DUMPSTER EXTRAORDINAIRE
tables, a garden bed and a greenhouse, and of course, excess food from grocers and restaurants.
Finally, dumpster diving is not about hoarding or taking things to sell on Craigslist. It's about being creative and smart with your resources, so only take what you need.
Dumpster diving may be free, but it isn't a free for all. Successful scavengers follow a code of conduct. The first rule of dumpster diving is don't talk about dumpster diving. If you disclose the good spots, you'll attract competition and lose
Jon Swindell, KU professor of visual
art, has used dumpster diving in the final project for his Three-Dimensional Design students since he began teaching the class 24 years ago. The project entails creating a two-wheeled buggy out of 95 percent recycled or salvaged materials. Swindell says this requirement not only saves his students money on art supplies, but it brings more diversity and creativity to their projects by
opening up a whole new world of resources.
"There's this kind of enthusiasm and an awareness that all of this stuff has been thrown away, and it's still useful," Swindell says. "They are so excited about it, they sort of covet it, like it has more value than it would have had had they purchased it."
Casey Dye, Gardner freshman, and Aubre Lehm, Garden Plain freshman, were on a team together for the project. Dye was nervous at first about being caught, but she was thrilled to discover all of the useful "junk" that people kick to the curb in neighborhoods. Lehm was excited about the possibility of finding some rare, unexpected treasure hidden in someone else's trash. A salvaged hanger initially inspired their project, and they planned to use it for a "deck of cards" theme by attaching playing cards to it.
Whatever your reasons for taking a dive into the dumpster, Pritchard says patience is a virtue. It takes time to find the good spots, so don't give up on the first try if everything you find really is trash. Keep looking — the buried treasure is not a myth.
DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKEST TO BE A DUMPSTER PIRATE?
> SCENARIO 1. YOU ARE DRIVING AND SEE A PERFECTLY GOOD OBJECT ON THE CURBSIDE. ARE YOU WILLING TO STOP?
> SCENARIO 2. YOUR NEIGHBORS' NEWSPAPER IS IN THE RECYCLE BIN. WOULD YOU TAKE THE COUPON INSERTS OUT OF THE BOX?
FRUGALVILLAGE COM ASKS SOME
HYPOTHETICAL QUESTIONS TO HELP
YOU DECIDE WHETHER YOU'RE DARING
ENOUGH TO TAKE THE DIVE IF YOU
ANSWER YES TO THESE, YOU ARE READY
FOR THE TREASURE HUNT.
> SCENARIO 3. YOU'RE LOOKING FOR SOMETHING TO DO ONE NIGHT. WOULD YOU DUMPSTER DIVE FOR SOME ENTERTAIMENT?
>>If you've got the guts, you'll need the right gear. Emoware.org has a short, simple list that will adequately prepare you for the dive.
1. Flashlight or headlight
2. Waterproof gloves
3. Two bags per person for loot
4. Clothes you're willing to get dirty
Directed by Dennis Christilles
Today and Aug. 28 at 7:30 p.m.
August 29 at 2:30 p.m.
Inge Theatre, Murphy Hall
the Theatre in Greece program, for which they put on a production of Euripides' classic tragedy "The Trojan Women."
Cassidy Kirch, a senior from Olathe, plays Hecabe in Euripides's classic Greek tragedy, "The Trojan Women." The actors learned some modern Greek when members of the cast traveled to Greece this summer to prepare for their roles.
Ben Pirotte/KANSAN
bus.
Director Dennis Christilles has been taking students to Greece since 1997. He said this experience is unique for his students because they don't just see Greece through the windows of a tour
This weekend, the same group of students will transfer the Greek tragedy from the ancient theater of Greece to the Inge Theatre in Murphy Hall. The performances this weekend are in celebration of the one-year anniversary of Lawrence's sister city agreement with Iniades.
The group lives in an elementary school in the village of Katohi, which is part of the larger city of Iniades, for six weeks. During this time, they take classes in ancient Greek drama and architecture.
They also travel to historic cities like Delphi, Corinth and Mycenae. Christles said the cornerstone of their work, the production itself, was done in fourth century B.C. theater in Iniades.
Brian Bondari produced the score for "The Trojan Women" in
"The students get an opportunity to learn about another culture first hand by living in it," Christilles said.
collaboration with Christilles. He now teaches at the University of Texas at Tyler, but went to Iniades twice with Christilles.
"It's overwhelming to rehearse and practice in a place that witnessed the birth of Western music, theater and civilization as a
whole" Bondari said in an e-mail. One challenge the students faced was learning and performing one-third of the dialogue in Greek. Maggie Parker, a junior from Bentonville, Ark., said that
08
26
10
SEE PLAY ON PAGE 3A
N
g
SA
oe part of the ort KU's foot-ghurst, general via Collection, Oread and The
will allow taildrinks outside's first football Lawrence City ed The Oread's tious tailing self and on the
LEDOWSKI
@kansan.com
of the proposal,
sing off parts of
Indiana Street,
use of concerns
the University.
ty has been
from the very
Jeff Weinberg,
ncelor.
the University alcohol on pubo the closing of the revised and leave all streets
concern for the
eping the streets
irst.
s always a lot of
s and the hotel's
may even make
walking to and
safer.
Firefighters wait outside of Haworth Hall Thursday morning. The building was evacuated following a hazardous materials report shortly after 7 a.m.
Dalton Gomez/KANSAN
Lance Johnson, Lawrence City Commissioner, said one of the commission's concerns was making sure that no alcohol was sold to minors.
Details of the final proposal include placing additional security and trash cans around the hotel's property. The hotel also received a permit to sell alcohol outside the bar areas on its property, Longhurst said.
The Oread will check IDs and give customers wristbands that indicate that they are allowed to drink, Longhurst said.
Customers are allowed to carry
SEE OREAD ON PAGE 3A
Haworth reopened for classes at 8:30 a.m.
KU Police Chief Ralph Oliver said that a beaker had been accidentally knocked over, and the chemicals had an odor. The police had to figure out what had been knocked over and if the chemicals were in the air system.
The University's emergency notification text message and e-mail alert system notified students and staff this morning that Haworth Hall had been evacuated as a precaution after a hazardous materials report.
— Allyson Shaw
Police cars blocked Sunnyside Avenue from Illinois Street to Naismith Drive.
CAMPUS
Haworth evacuated after chemical spill
Study shows students to be less empathetic
BY GARTH SEARS
gsears@kansan.com
An understanding friend may be harder to come by as technology grows and changes the way society interacts. According to a recent University of Michigan study, college students today, also called 'Generation Me', are about 40 percent less empathetic than those from the '80s or '90s.
The study measured nearly 14,000 students over 30 years, from 1979 to 2009. A Michigan graduate student Edward O'Brien, who worked on
index
the study, said in the news release that the largest drop in numbers happened after 2000.
"I feel like Facebook changes how we talk to each other," said Erin Tomkins, a senior from Lawrence.
That class of college students seems to correspond with the beginning of a new generation, one still at large, that is totally immersed in the Internet.
With Facebook chat, e-mail, text messaging and instant messaging, college-aged people communicate
SEE EMPATHY ON PAGE 3A
Classifieds. ... 8A Opinion...5A
Crossword. ... 4A Sports...10A
Horoscopes. ... 4A Sudoku...4A
SCIENCE
All contents, unless stated otherwise. © 2010 The University Daily Kansan
Hard landing leads to tire fire for JetBlue flight
weather
Fifteen passengers had minor injuries and five went to the hospital after four tires blew out on a Thursday flight NATIONAL | 3A
TODAY
SATURDAY
Sunny
8857
19
91 63
Sunny
SUNDAY
1.
95 70
weather.com