THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, MARCH 15, 2011
PAGE 5A
opinion
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On the 4th floor of Wescoe, looking out of class and texting people saying "I see you" and "You look tired."
This is the most fickle weather I have ever seen. It's like Mother Nature is on one long acid trip.
Watching this girl get covered in snow when the branch above her shook just slightly made my day.
By pitting us against another school that starts with a 'B', I firmly believe the NCAA is out to get us.
For the last time, the "curse" of the B schools only applies to double B's: Bucknell Bison, Bradley Braves. Boston's mascot is the Terriers. We're fine. (Especially since a 16 seed has NEVER beaten a one seed.)
Why yes, I do keep a list of every guy I've hooked up with and rank them. What does that make me? A bad person? Or just really organized?
Charles Barkley picked us to win it all... Count it!
Cold weather = nuts to butts on the bus!
I wish KU would post encouraging notes on the home page like, "If we get X more inches of snow, we'll cancel school tomorrow!"
I wish I could actually say something in my foreign language. Sometimes Latin sucks.
KU Basketball: Bi-winning; we win and we win there.
Mardi Gras in St. Louis > Fake Patty's in Mancrappin.
Thanks to the Morrii, KU is #twinning!
So I always choose KU as the champ in my bracket, but they just make it easy when their ranked so high year to year. So thanks. Rock Chalk.
Heads up: Everyone can hear you when you're on the phone in the library talking about your personal problems.
Life's three guarantees: taxes, death and KU playing in the NCAA tournament.
Dukebags!!! Nuff said
I feel like I can't graduate college until I can properly spin a pen around my thumb. Might take me awhile, good thing I'll be here for five or six years.
Six more wins, that's all we need.
winning.
I want a pet monkey!!!
Manhattan is terrible they had to make a "fake" St. Patrick's Day.
That's it. I'm moving to Miami to eat ham and eggs with Dexter.
Phones, computers, iPad, all of the clocks I actually use are changing the time for me. Thank you future.
Cliché excuses for rejection worsen situation more than truth
RELATIONSHIPS
"I'm not looking for a relationship right now"
"I'd really like to be friends."
"I need some me time right now."
"I'd really like to focus on my career/
school/blah blah blah."
I am sure there are some people out there that cried at least once just now. We have all heard these lines and maybe even used them. Who needs a break-up line when we have time-tested letdown lines like these?
Don't get me wrong. There are times when these types of lines are the truth. The person really isn't looking or wanting a relationship, or they'd prefer to just be friends. However, there are plenty of instances when the person says it just as an excuse to get out of a relationship or to not hurt a person's
BY AARON HARRIS
aharris@kansan.com
feelings.
While I agree that not hurting someone's feelings can be admirable, I do not believe that it's always the best choice. By using these types of lines, unless they are the truth, people are doing no one really any good in the long run. Yes, the lines may make someone feel better for a little while, but there are at
least two ways that making excuses is not the best way to go.
First, excuses do not always take care of the actual problem. The person that is being let down is still around, and maybe, just maybe, thinks they still have a shot. I know I have heard this line plenty of times: "He/she just won't get the hint. I don't know how else to let them down." They're not getting the hint because it's just that, a hint, a clue. They have to figure it out for themselves. There are times when hurt feelings are what needs to be happen. If the person isn't getting the fact that they aren't wanted in the relationship sense, then let the truth fly.
Second, and this is more important to me, part of being confident is knowing how to deal with rejection, both
There is one line that can help out. It rejects the other person, but doesn't put the blame on them, if that's a worry: "I'm just not feeling this." It's true, it's not harsh. If that doesn't work, there's always the truth: "It's not me, it's totally you."
giving it and receiving it. When we use one of these excuses to deal with an unwanted situation, we rob both ourselves and the other person the experience of being rejected. Rejection is not the coziest thing to deal with, but it's part of life. When we actually face it, we are doing both parties a service in the long run, although probably not in the short run.
Harris is a senior in journalism and history from Kansas City, Kan.
HEALTH
'GTL'lifestyle of 'Jersey Shore'cast exemplifies unhealthy behavior
I think we can all agree to some degree that MTV's "Jersey Shore" is entertaining. The show provides a comical escape from the typical day of classes, reading and work.
I started thinking what my life would be like if I was a member of the cast. My name would be changed to Mooki, and I would be Snooki's "bestie." I would trade in my clinical textbooks for a margarita at 10 a.m. and leave my job at Watkins Health Center to be a professional T-shirt printer.
I would have sore arms from all the fist pumping I did, but at least I would have toned biceps. It could work. I'm already tan (naturally thank you) and have the dark hair.
But here's THE SITUATION: I would most likely die by the age of 40. The lifestyle of the GTL cast may be appealing on the screen, but unhealthy, irresponsible and disrespectful in real life.
Last year Jay Leno asked Snooki how she would change the world. She stated she would tannin tanning beds in every home. Tanning leads to premature aging of the skin and cancer such as melanoma. How appealing is orange skin anyway?
The Jersey Shore house must be a cesspool of STDS. Casual sex is so integral to the show that they have designated a room for it: the Smush Room. What is worse than bringing home a random person you do not know or having sex when your roommate is one foot away is doing it with NO protection?
Smushing may be fun at the moment, but the accumulation of herpes, chlamydia and gonorrhea would beg to differ. Because everyone lives in such close quarters, the STDS could easily be spread from sharing toilets or the hot tub. Bacteria thrive in moist environments and chemicals in the hot tub will not kill any STDs or sperm. Just use a condom! I do not think the world could handle baby Guidos running around.
One reason that can account for all the unprotected sex includes the state of mind of the cast. They are highly intoxicated at least twice per show. They drink when they are upset, happy or bored.
BY MONICA SAHA msaha@kansan.com
This is dangerous on many levels. Ronnie has been arrested for aggravated assault when intoxicated. Snookie was punched at a bar and arrested for disorderly conduct at their Seaside Heights hangout.
Not only does violence and aggression amplify, but also it is unhealthy for your body to consume that much alcohol a week. Binge drinking leads to addictive behavior, abdominal fat and heart and liver complications. Luckily they have the G to go along with the TL to take care of those excess calories.
Ronnie and Sammi are the perfect example of an unhealthy relationship. They fight more in season three than talk. Ronnie cheated on her twice in the second season. Sammi was more upset at her girlfriends for not telling her first at Ronnie for actually cheating on her, which resulted in the loss of her girl friendship. Ronnie and Sammi constantly scream at each other, and they did not trust one another. Then it usually leads to an epic-crying episode. What kind of relationship is this? Parasitic.
It begs the question why people, including myself, watch this show? It is funny, embarrassing, dramatic and entertaining all at once. Regardless, "Jersey Shore" glamorizes unsafe lifestyles by promoting unethical behaviors. When I analyze it, I would never give up my college life here to live at that house. Unfortunately, Snooki will gross more money in one episode than I will make as a starting salary after I graduate.
Saha is a junior in neurobiology from Overland Park.
James Naismith's Original Rules of Basketball will be on display at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art until May 29. Where should the rule's final destination be?
Allen Fieldhouse
Enshrined in its very own museum on campus Spencer Museum of Art Don't care Vote now at KANSAN.COM/POLLS
CARTOON
Nicholas Sambaluk
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HUMAN RIGHTS
Some Kansas lawmakers still oppose the legality of homosexuality
But this trend of public officials intent on wasting time, being shamelessly ideological and willfully ignorant doesn't stop at the federal government. Lest you think that state-level politicians are doing anything different, such as working on real problems and addressing the needs of their constituents, but it's not the case.
Earthquakes, nuclear reactors, Libya, Wisconsin, taxes, job crisis, food crisis, women's health — what other big, potentially catastrophic news items are there that I'm missing? There's enough heavy news going on right now to make your head spin. Americans are being attacked from all sides and getting continually disappointed by no one in power doing anything to help anyone.
Recently, Kansas got the opportunity to finally repeal its law criminalizing homosexual conduct in a cleanup
BY ALI FREE
afree@kansan.com
However, Representatives Lance Kinzer (R-Olathe) and Jan Pauls (D-Hutchinson) removed the provision for repeal from the version of the bill that passed out of the House Judiciary Committee.
bill. This law is now unconstitutional, according to the Kansas Equality Coalition, as per the Lawrence v. Texas Supreme Court case, which nullified all state laws criminalizing sexual activity between people of the same sex in 2003.
The reasoning of Kinzer and Pauls
is that this provision could cause controversy among other representatives and senators. They argued the cleaned-up bill would have a better chance of passing. The law is unenforceable, they said, and according to Kinzer quoted in the Topeka Capital-Journal, "It wouldn't make any difference" whether it was removed or not.
It may not make any direct legal difference. People have sex with whomever they want and don't go to prison for it, despite its legality.
But it's an unconstitutional law. It's a law that, even if only symbolically, tells certain Kansans that their government doesn't support them. This action tells the people of Kansas that gay sex is still weird and wrong, and it's a reminder that we have come just a small distance from when these laws were enacted and people were prosecuted.
Maybe this isn't such a big deal.
Maybe, this "tempest in a teapot," as Kinzer said, just isn't worth trying to repeal. But I don't think so. This in itself isn't much, but it stands in context with state ban on same sex marriage, the lack of recognition for civil unions and the lack of a statewide antidiscrimination law protecting sexual orientation and gender identity. All of these things taken together declare that Kansas is legally and politically hostile toward non-heterosexual people.
That's not exactly news, I know. Even with the steps toward social and cultural acceptance of gays and lesbians, there remains an alarmingly vocal contingent of those whose anachronistic intolerance makes even a repeal of an unconstitutional law banning gay sex impossible.
Free is a sophomore in women's studies from Blue Springs, Mo.
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