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Opinion
Thursday, February 15, 2001
For comments, contact Chris Borniger or Nathan Willis at 864-4924 or opinion@kansan.com
Student's death gives reminder of life's purpose
sometimes it finds it easy to get discouraged while finding an average college
aged while living an average college life. The workload gets hard. I get behind. I don't know exactly what I want to do when I graduate. I'm a bit low in the fundage area. My car is a pain. I don't get out as I used to.
On really bad days, I start to wonder if any of this is important. Does my life matter? Am I making a difference? Am I really touching anybody's life?
come into focus a little bit more clearly
But then sometimes life happens, God smacks you in the face and suddenly things come into focus a little
A good friend of mine, Shyra McGee, passed away last week. She was a good friend to a lot of people and was an all-around remarkable person. If she was your friend, she was devoted and would do almost anything for you. She had an unforgettable smile and a laugh you could hear before you even got in the door. She could make me crack up.
David Grummon columnist opinion@kansan.com
when both of us were having bad days. Shyra was a leader among her sisters in Sigma Gamma Rho. She once told me that a lot of people (Kansan writers included) misunderstood the purpose of sororities and fraternities such as hers. The point wasn't how many members they had or whether they had a house. It was what they were doing in the community that mattered to her.
even when both of us were having bad days.
Shyra was active in Student Senate and fought hard for what she believed. She wasn't there to build a resume; she was there to be an activist, to make a difference. She was passionate about minority issues and race relations, but she didn't just talk about it; she lived it. Although she was active in organizations like the National Council of Negro Women, she reached out to people of all colors and backgrounds.
I knew Shyra when she was a fellow resident assistant in student housing. Sometimes I'd work at the office with her or eat at Mrs. E's with her and John, her husband. One of the things that impressed me most was that Shyra wasn't afraid of anybody or anything. We could talk and ask things about race without being afraid of each other. She cared deeply by her residents in Stouffer Place.
It bothered her that as an RA, she got all you-can-eat meals at the cafeteria, but so many of the children she hung out with went hungry every day.
Don't get me wrong — Shyra was not a saint, and she wasn't perfect. She was stubborn and opinionated and had absolutely no problem telling you what she thought. She had to overcome many obstacles in life to get where she did. But that just further underscores what she accomplished.
Shyra's death was so sudden, so stunning, so senseless that it has been hard for so many of those who loved her to find meaning in it. But as I looked around at the packed sanctuary during her memorial service Saturday, I saw faces of all colors and backgrounds — people whom she had touched. Instead of playing some somber dirge, the choir clapped its hands in celebration of her life.
And then I think I started to understand. As tragic as thesyra's death was, her life was that much more of a victory — a triumph for her individually and for the human spirit.
When I wonder whether my life matters — Shyra's life mattered. When I wonder whether one person can really make a difference — Shyra made a difference. When I wonder whether I'm really touching anybody's life — Shyra definitely did. And maybe, then, my life matters; I can make a difference and I touch other lives.
I have to step up and accept the challenge Shyra's life presents to us. Maybe it's time do more for my community and others. Maybe it's time I become more of an activist for the things I believe in. Maybe it's time I speak up and speak out about things. Maybe I should care more about making a difference than building my resume. Maybe I should do more for those around me. Maybe I should reach out more to all kinds of people.
and teach out more to all kinds of people Maybe we all should.
Grummon is a Beloit second-year law student.
KU Technology Budget
BRUNO
volce 2001
Bruno Pieroni/KANSAN
Kansan report card
Pass:
State Board of Education. Evolution returns to state science testing standards. Good idea: Take the monkeys out of office and put them back in the textbooks.
Marlon Marshall. Student body vice president spearheads effort to increase the University's minority retention. Director of admissions Alan Cerveny replies that there "may be some merit in looking into resource issues." That's the type of strong commitment that has made online enrollment what it is today.
The whistle. Toot-toot returns to life after being absent for more than two months. In a miraculous coincidence, professors suddenly let classes out on time.
Fail:
Kansas men's basketball. In another big mishap on Big Monday, the team proves it can lose to Baylor, can't it, Kenny? Good thing we don't have to play Texas A&M again.
Jefferson Commons. Student who lived there wins court case and gets his deposit back. Given the number of others who say they've been shortchanged, can a class action suit be for behind?
- Kansas weather. Ever wonder why more people don't live here? Try looking outside. At least the tomadoes won't come until April.
Perspective
Fear of fashion faux pas forces us into absurd attire
The awards season has come around, and we will once again honor the best movies and music. During the next three months, we will get to see beautiful people wear overpriced designer clothes.
Better yet, we get to mock them. This is because awards season has devolved into fashion season, in which what a person wears is more important than the
more important than the event itself.
And yet that attitude has expanded beyond awards season — our lives have been invaded by the fashion police, and what we wear is becoming more important every day.
Scholars have long argued that the media have altered our views of beauty by saturating us with unrealistic standards of beauty and unfair standards of fashion. This emphasis on fashion has spawned an
Eric Borja columnist opinionkansan.com
increased emphasis on material things.
emphasis on material things.
Clothes once consisted of a loincloth made from a lion killed for dinner. There's a difference now — the meat is wasted and all the fur is on top of Puff Daddy's jackets.
More magazines contain dressed lists and pages filled with the latest fashion trends. I admit that it's fascinating to see aesthetically superior human beings prancing around in clothes that are worth more than my four-year, out-of-state college tuition. But beyond that, who cares?
Fashion trends change rapidly. Almost everyone has been to an '80s or '70s theme party. That fad probably has something to do with Studio 54, Saturday Night Fever or Footloose. We see the usual suspects sporting tightly rolled jeans, polyester jumpsuits and bell-bottoms. Everyone has a good laugh and wonders how anyone could have worn such ridiculous clothes.
I've got some not-so-surprising news for you: Everything we wear now will probably end up as our children's Halloween costumes. Y2K parties will be the new fad, and the costumes will include cargo pants, running shoes, tight black pants, tube tops, pea coats and skijackets. But more importantly, our kids will have a good laugh at the uninhibited attire that was once in vogue
I have a theory that the only reason magazines and self-appointed fashion experts change trends is to keep their jobs. If bell-bottoms were eternally fashionable, the experts would have nothing to comment on and the manufacturers would have nothing new to sell. It's a keen strategy, really. They tell us what is in, then change it three months later. They are creating demand for themselves based purely on their own opinion.
The fashion world is so trite and confused that it contradicts itself. Brittney Spears and Jennifer Aniston were in People's Best Dressed List. Then Mr. Blackwell published his famous Worst Dressed List, and Britney and Jennifer both were on it. What are we, the American public, to think when we get contradicting messages such as these?
What makes a fashion expert? Bad taste. Clothes are an extension of a person's personality as well as a form of expression, and to be criticized for that is ludicrous.
I'm a T-shirt-and jeans guy. All the clothes I own that were supposed to be "in" are laying at the bottom of my dresser. Like so many others, I have been a fashion victim many times. I tight-rolled my Guess jeans through fifth grade and wore sandals with socks in high school.
Sure, you're laughing now. But I was assured that these were hot clothes to have for the spring season. If nothing else, they'll make for an interesting costume someday.
But I assure you that I am hip now. I just read GQ and got these awesome light yellow cargo-capri pants with a matching sheepskin tank top.
Borja is a Springfield, Mo., sophomore in journalism.
Editorial
Technology budget cut hurts schools
A proposal to quit matching funds for classroom aids would harm KU students.
Students at Kansas Regents schools — including the University of Kansas — could have trouble preparing for the future if the state legislature approves Gov. Bill Graves' proposed technology budget cut.
During the past three years, students paid a $1 fee that financed classroom technology for every credit hour they enrolled in. The state has paid $2 for every dollar students pay. That amounts to $1.8 million total, two-thirds of which comes from the state.
But Graves' cut would put the student instructional technology fee's matching funds on the chopping block.
His objectionable decision could not KU graduates at a disadvantage
put KU graduates at a disadvantage. Money from the fee has been broken into thirds each time it has been distributed, with one-third going to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and professional schools and another third going to building and infrastructure improvements and the libraries. The final third financed special projects, including improvements such as purchasing new computers for the math department, technology classrooms such as in Summerfield Hall and new video projectors for the Crafton-Preyer Theater in Murphy Hall.
This was a wonderful opportunity for the University to keep up with the ever-changing face of technology, but its demise means we will be at a disadvantage.
Because technology is rapidly evolving, the University needs to keep up to make its graduates competitive in the job market. Many companies cite technological literacy as one of the most important qualities in prospective employees. Furthermore, the state hurts itself because it will have a less well-trained work force.
The University needs this fund to keep up, and removing it would hurt the University's academic departments — therefore hurting students.
Graves sees this technology fee as an "extra" the state just cannot afford. Unfortunately, what the state sees as unimportant could cripple graduates' job prospects.
Brett Norman for the editorial board
free for all 8640500
Free for all callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. The Kansas reserves the right to edit submissions, and not all of them will be published. Slanderous statements will not be printed. For more comments, go to www.kansan.com.
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The Confederate flag on the Georgia flag is a symbol of racism? Can you say ignorant?
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Is it just me or are Lawrence's roads just awful?
I was wondering why we have to read about queers on the front page of the UDK all the time. Isn't there something else to write about?
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We used to make fun of other basketball teams by calling them worse than Baylor. I guess we can't do that anymore.
Try wetting your hand first.
Then the powdered soap
might work next time.
To the couple on the 23rd and Naismith bus: PDA is not cool.
I don't know about all, but I'd have to say that the powdered soap on campus is God's gift to art students. It keeps my hands free of dirt, ink, paint and leaves them smelling fresh as a daisy.
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I think it's a sad day in Lawrence when I see more potholes than potheads.
For anyone interested, the pothole reporting line is 832- 3456.
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I just drove down the street and ran over 27 consecutive potholes. What's up, Lawrence?
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Instead of making us take the useless non-Western Civilization credit here at KU, they should make everybody take a class in understanding the opposite gender because men have no concept of what makes women happy.
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After the loss to Baylor, we can stop making fun of Chenowith and make fun of the team as a whole.
If you can't understand the fact that not all people don't accept Jesus Christ as their savior, then you're as open-minded as Adolf Hitler was.
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