8A the university daily kansan
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monday, february 23, 2004
Party-goers discuss 'Sex and the City' series finale
By Anna Clovis aclovis@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
With tears, laughter and plenty of cosmopolitans, fans said goodbye to Sex and the City during the final episode last night.
At locations across Lawrence, people gathered to watch what would happen to their favorite characters in the HBO network show's final broadcast after six seasons together in Sex and the City style.
Kari Zimmerman, Topeka senior, said she and her friends regularly watched the Sunday show together.
The show featured four women living the single life in New York. From shopping adventures to sexual experimentation, the women faced it all together and in great shoes. Past the stereotypical marrying age in the 20s, Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte balance work and heartbreaks but never miss their gabfests.
The role of Carrie, the sex columnist and main character, renewed Sarah Jessica Parker's acting career and set the standard for New Yorker fashion, complete with Manolo Blahnik high-heeled shoes. Samantha, played by Kim Cattail, showed women how to embrace their sexuality like she did on a regular basis. Miranda, Cynthia Nixon's character, gave birth and voiced her realistic opinion whenever needed. With dreams of perfection, Charlotte, played by Kristin Davis, worked at an art gallery and was the sweet and slightly naive member of the foursome.
With fans speculating about different endings, no one was sure what would happen. Would Carrie leave her beloved New York
for Paris? Was true love in the cards for Samantha? And would Miranda truly learn how to love? What about Charlotte and her search for a child of her own?
Zimmerman said everyone at her party was happy with the ending and thought the show finished in a great way.
Kindra Myers, Lawrence junior, said Sex and the City affected her wallet.
At another Sex and the City party in Lawrence, party-goers wiped away tears in between sips from cosmopolitans and reflected on the impact the show had on them.
Jeff Brandsted/Kansan
"I have money issues now." Myers said. "I have more shoes and more purses thanks to the show. I just want to be a generic version of them."
"These women look for love," Rifenbark said, "but maybe what's more important is that they learn to love themselves in the process."
At the same party, Kelly Rifenbark, Merriam junior, said the show taught her a lesson about love.
Anna Hosek, Lawrence junior and host of the party Myers and Rifenbark attended, said she typically didn't have parties for the normal episodes but thought it was appropriate for the last one.
"You see that your girls are going to be there for you no matter what." Rifenbark said.
As the fabulous foursome made their final sashay down the street, each had seen their dramas come full circle and left their traditional gabfest in the only way appropriate - together.
Rifenbark said the show empowered women.
— Edited by Michelle Rodick
Katie Manning, Granyer, Iowa, senior; Ali Cernich, Leawood senior; Lindsey Mackey, Olathe senior; Jackie Kaulentis, Chicago senior; Katie Crnkovich, Arlington, Texas, senior; Patti Godsey, Leawood senior; and Kari Zimmerman, Topeka senior, laughed as they watched the final episode of Sex In The City last night. The popular HBO series, starring Sarah Jessica Parker, ended yesterday after six seasons. The group regularly watched the show together every week.
The 'Big' ending of HBO hit comedy
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Torn between two lovers, Carrie Bradshaw returned to Mr. Big and New York, ditching Aleksandr in Paris, on yesterday's finale of Sex and the City.
Her big decision settled a question this HBO comedy had been building toward for six seasons:
What man, if any, would Carrie end up with?
The satisfying answer: Carrie (series star Sarah Jessica Parker) chose the on-again/off-again businessman beau (Chris Noth) with whom she first struck sparks on the series' premiere.
But first, she had to confront her mistake in leaving her world behind to move to Paris with
Aleksaandr, the self-involved, neglectful artist played by Mikhail Baryshnikov.
"I am someone who's looking for love, real life... can't live-without eachother love, and I don't think that love is here." Carrie tells him.
Moments later, Big, who has come to his senses and raced across the ocean to bring her home, finds her, alone, in her
hotel lobby.
"It took me a really long time to get here," he says. "But I'm here. Carrie, he're the one."
After nearly 100 romantic and often raunchy installments, Sex closed the book with a top-secret, much-hyped conclusion that made good on its promise to resolve the love life of New York sex columnist Carrie.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
WEIGHTLIFTER: Student hopes to compete in Chile this summer
"I was in a comfortable position and didn't want to change," she said. "But I'm glad I did it. It's a lot more impressive to see me do these kind of life than just bench." The Skills
Stoneback trains four days a week with McVey.
McVey said Stoneback had a good foundation of physical strength when she began training because of her powerlifting experience in high school. The key was learning the technique of the snatch and the clean and jerk. She said it was hard to picture when she started that she would get this far,
but her goals and repetitions helped her improve.
"My body just knows what to do now," she said. "It's not about thinking anymore."
"If you don't really believe you can lift that weight, then you're not going to put yourself under something that is one and a half times what you weigh," McVey said. Bulk Not Needed
Thinking can get Stoneback into trouble when lifting, as the smallest negative thought could make her miss her lift. McVey said Stoneback has dramatically improved her mental toughness.
It's not hard to pick Stoneback out from the group of weightlifters training in her coach's garage. She
is the only girl.
Perhaps even more striking than the gender difference is Stoneback's size.
The first two things she hears after telling someone she does Olympic style weightlifting are "Do you really?" and "But you're so tiny." Stoneback said before she started training with McVey she weighed even less.
Balancing Act
"The average KU lineman would have to lift about 425 pounds in the clean and jerk to match what she did per pound of body weight," McVey said. Belonging Act
Balancing almost twice her body weight over her head does not seem as hard as juggling the rest of her
commitments. Stoneback, a biomechanical engineering major, often has a difficult time coordinating school with her training schedule and out-of-state meets. She often has to miss class to compete. Because she is participating in a sport that is not affiliated with the University of Kansas, it is hard to make professors understand why she was missing class and that it is a sport she is serious about, she said.
Stoneback said she tried her best not to miss too much class. Her mother and father often have to buy plane tickets so she doesn't miss class to drive to long distance meets.
Missing class isn't her only concern. Stoneback works part-time
and is in the early stages of planning her May 29 wedding.
Although the demands on her time are stressful, she handles the stress well. Training is her first priority. She said she has the opportunity now to succeed in weightlifting.
"Sometimes I know she'll get stressed out," her mother said. "It worries me. But she's driven." Weights or Work?
Stoneback is not sure how weightlifting will fit into her future. She does not think she will continue to compete or train as seriously after graduating.
Her parents said they won't be
"If this sport paid good money, I'd do it for a living," she said "I don't want to quit after college, but I will if it comes down to lifting or surviving."
hearbroken if she chooses to stop competing after college, but they would like her continue. Her father wants her to take the chance while she is young and able to compete.
"You can always postpone something," he said. "You can work and have a job the rest of your life."
Stoneback said she doesn't know if she will make one of two spots for the 2008 Olympics. If she knew the Olympics were a definite possibility in the future, she said she would continue training.
"I couldn't miss that opportunity," she said.
— Edited by Joe Hartigan
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