University Daily Kansan / Wednesday, February 6, 1991
9
Society presents own skits
Authors honored in group's series
By Jonathan Plummer
Kansas staff writer
Last night in front of about 50 people in the main lobby of Ellsworth Hall, the Black Poets' Society per- formed as part of the KU residence halls' series honoring Black History Month.
Anthony Kravail, a member of Ellsworth's February academic programming committee, said the group was chosen to perform because of its
"One of the people on the committee was familiar with them and thought it would be a good cultural event." Kravilb said.
The Black Posts' Society, which is composed of African-American KU students, was the idea of its president, Robert Corey Carter, Overland Park junior.
Carter said she began the group last semester because of her love for poetry.
"I like to write poetry, and I liked to read poets like Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, McKay McKay, Langston Hughes." she said.
The group meets once a week to
rehearse and develop the skits, which the members write themselves, she said. Last night was the group's seventh performance.
Though the group has repertory pieces, last night's skit was written in honor of Black History Month, Carter said.
In last night's skit, the actors portrayed children told to read poems by famous African-American authors.
One actor pretending to be a child ambled before chairs that imitated a child's height.
Suddenly he turned to the audience and, abandoning his character, emotionally read Yusef Iman's poem "Love Your Enemy," which describes how hard it is to return hatred and biography with love.
When he reached the last line,
"Love, Love. Love. But when will we
ourselfs?" all the spectators in
Eastern Californiaiously calamitous
lobby were silent.
Carter said one of the aims of the group was to get people to read African-American poetry.
“It’s an indirect way to tell them to read more themselves,” she said.
After the performance at Ellsworth, Mike Kintner, Derby freshman, said he probably would try to
find some books of poetry by the authors the group presented.
"It was attention-getting," Knutner said. "It was a good way to tell people about something that might go unrecognized."
"People see what we are doing and often stop afterward and ask us about the poems," she said.
Tamara Huff, a member of the group since last semester, said she sometimes was approached by intermediaries since members after performances
Although Derek Bridges, Interfraternity Council president, has said a performance by the group at an IFC/Black Men of Today social organization formation, Huff said the purpose of the group was not to create conflict.
She said that when she performed her own works in front audiences, her nervousness soon was replaced with excitement.
"The audience was really receptive and appreciative," she said.
Putting together the group's skits did not take too much work, Huff said.
“It a lot of fun,” she said.
“Poetry is feeling. You have a feeling, you write the feeling and then you just present it.”
Professor preserves languages
Bv Sarah Davis
Kansan staff writer
A small black-and-white photograph of an elderly American Indian woman decorated one side of the office wall. Her name was Maud Rowe, but many called her by her Indian name. Wet Moccasins
A soft-speak, determined woman from a tiny town in Oklahoma, she was one of the few full-blooded Kansas Indian tribe members left.
But Maud Rowe died in 1977, and the Kansa language died in the early 1980s.
Robert Rankin, professor of linguistics, is trying to preserve Kana as well as 15 other languages spoken by tribes related to the Dakota Sioux.
"A language is like a window into a culture," he said. "A language reflects the culture in which it spoken, and if you know a language of the people, then you already know a great deal about how they lived."
For 17 years, Rankin has extensively researched the Sioux language family, concentrating on a comparative vocabulary and its vocabulary of the related languages.
"Words can tell you about utensils and what people hunted and fished for," he said. "It can tell you about their culture and about their social structure."
Rankin has accumulated words by looking in history books, vocabulary lists and expedition accounts that may help him determine where the tribes lived three to four thousand years ago.
His next step is to take the comparative vocabulary and work with archaeologists so he can learn as much about the prairies of this region.
Robert Rankin, professor of linguistics, helps his students obtain a grasp of the American-Indian language of Kiowa.
"It's sometimes very difficult to look at an archaeological site and determine who lived there, because people moved around a lot." Rankin
But he said he hoped to combine the language information he has
learned with the archaeologists' findings.
"I want to see if I can correlate any of the sites they located in the priaries and plains with specifics in the vocabularies of the Siouan language so we can build a more comprehensive picture of the Siouan people in the Eastern plains during prehistoric times." Rankin said
Johnson said, "What we want to do is work together to better understand the origins of Siouan languages and their distributions. I want to mesh my research with Bob's research in linguistics."
This fall, Rankin will not teach at the University of Kansas, but will work with Al Johnson, director of the Museum of Anthropology.
Rankin's research has been hurt by the number of smaller Siouan languages that are dying out. The Tutele and Quapaw languages are gone, and only about 25 people — all older than 60 — can speak Osage and Ponca.
Rankin said generations of young American-Indian children tended not to learn their tribal language, which is why linguists are working to document the languages before they are completely gone and forgotten.
"From a cultural point of view, it's too bad," he said. "Because the language then end up being spoken in the places people, and when they die, it is gone."
Rankin said the best part of his research had been getting to know the American-Indian people, and he gave to give something back to them.
"You can do something to document something that to them was an integral part of their very being for hundreds of years," he said.
4 OFFICERS:
President
Vice President
Administrative
Affairs
Vice President- University Affairs
Vice President-
Membership
Development
Application Deadline:
Wednesday, Feb. 13
Informational Meeting
Tuesday, February 12
8:00 p.m. SAU office
MAKES YOUR FUTURE CRYSTAL CLEAR!
8 COORDINATORS:
Live Music • Forums
Pick up an application and position descriptions at the SUA office, Level 4 Kansas Union.
Marketing & Promotions
Feature Films
Fine Arts Travel
Spectrum Films
Leisure Activities
Application Deadline:
Wednesday, Feb. 20
Informational Meeting:
Tuesday, Feb. 19 8 p.m.
International Room
COKE CLASSIC
DIET COKE-SPRITE
24 PACK
$4.98
RED BARON PIZZA 22 OZ. 21$6.00
MICHELOB
BOTTLES
REG-LIGHT-DRY
12-12 OZ. CANS
$2.99
MILLER LITE
REG & DRAFT
12-12 OZ. CANS
$5.99
GUY'S RIDGIE CHIPS
6.5 OZ.
89¢