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Revue show groups chosen
Five teams have been picked to perform in Rock Chalk Revue: FUNDRAISER | 7A
Freshman mistakes limit minutes
Freshmen Elijah Johnson and Thomas Robinson played only five minutes against UCLA Sunday. BASKETBALL | 12A
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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2009
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VOLUME 121 ISSUE 74
SPIRITUAL JOURNEYS
Life's big questions
Students re-evaluate their religious beliefs during college years
BY JESSE BROWN
jbrown@kansan.com
Janel Wietham considered herself a "cradle Catholic" while growing up in St. Marys.
The sophomore was raised in a strict Catholic family. She was baptized as an infant and regularly attended religious education classes. It was a solid birthright her family placed on her and there were to be no discussions about it.
However, beginning her senior year of high school and continuing into her freshman year at the University, she had a crisis of faith.
"I have been so forced into it and seeing that other people just had so many different options." Wiethorn said. "Why was there all these options and I've just been told there's this one?"
Thad Holcombe, campus minister for the Ecumenical Christian Ministries, said he often saw this trend with KU students. He said he defined faith as making sense out of the world.
When students have a crisis of faith, they are just trying to make sense out of their world. A crisis of faith is when the sense of their world has been challenged, and students are seeking a way to again find balance.
"In traditional-aged freshman students that come in, there is an unsettling, a crisis, or whatever," Holcombe said. "As a matter of fact, I am a little concerned if there isn't some."
Most students come from a conventional upbringing where their peers influence nearly every decision, Holcombe said. But when they come to a university, things change.
When they get into the university culture, the university culture says you know you need to really critique the world around you and your culture because we're going to ask you questions in sociology and psychology and history and even in engineering." Holcombe said. "You're going to look at the world a different way."
From the controlled environment of their family home to the bigger stage at a university, students find their faith to be tested or reinforced by the challenges of an education. Their faith may wane at times, but some find that these challenges eventually make their faith stronger through understanding and acceptance.
SEE RELIGION ON PAGE 4A
THEATER
'Distracted' play addresses issues of modern technology
BY JUSTIN LEVERETT jleverett@kansan.com
"Distracted" is the final KU Theatre production of the semester. The show's final performances run tonight and Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Inge Theater in Murphy Hall.
Elizabeth Elliot, Houston, Tex. senior, plays an unnamed mother. She does not exit the stage once through the length of the two-hour play, which leaves the actress no time to rest except for the ten-minute intermission. Surrounded on stage by arguing actors, Elliot is herself genuinely overwhelmed by the end of the play.
In the play, Elliot's character's son Jesse, played by Lawrence eighth-grader Hunter Alexander, is diagnosed with attention deficit disorder. Because of his trouble with school and making friends, his parents struggle with the idea
"I literally am exhausted," she said. "I am ready for this to be over, the play and the struggle."
of prescribing him a medication such as Ritalin or Adderall.
Jeff List, Bowling Green, Ohio, doctoral student, directed the play. He said the goal of the play was to depict a modern world that is supersaturated with technology and media. He said Elliot's exhaustion after the play was appropriate for the state of mind of her character.
List said he also used unconventional techniques to communicate the narrative of the play. In some cases, the actors break character to discuss what is happening in the play with the audience.
Photo Illustration by Adam Buhler/KANSAN
"One thing that's striking is that shed tell me, 'I'm getting really overwhelmed out there.' And I'd say, 'Okay, go ahead and use that,' he said.
Not only that, but the producers use a projector to flood the back wall of the stage with words and media in an attempt to set the scene. In one scene, actors speak out a heated argument conducted via instant message as the text of
Seasonal Affective Disorder, a depressive episode that occurs in the winter, can affect students' mood and sleeping habits. Stephen llardi, associate professor of clinical psychology said almost 30 percent of adults suffer from these winter blues.
**WHAT:** "Distracted"
**WHEN:** Tonight and Wednesday night at 7:30
**WHERE:** William Inge Theater, Murphy Hall
**TICKETS:** $15 for public,
$10 for students,
$14 for senior citizens, KU faculty and staff
HEALTH
"I think you just have to find what solution works for you. You have to agree what works morally and what you agree on as a
Jake Smith, Council Grove junior, plays Jesse's father. He said his biggest challenge in the play was to teach himself to think like a parent. He said his character was unable to solve the problem of his son's disorder, and had to learn simply accept it.
'Tis the season to beware depression
Stressful winter months can bring on Seasonal Affective Disorder
their argument is projected onto the wall behind them.
SEE THEATER ON PAGE 3A
BY ANNA ARCHIBALD aarchibald@kansan.com
Stephen Iardi, associate professor of clinical psychology, said there was a relationship between stress and the form of depression known as Seasonal Affective Disorder because, neurologically, depression is triggered by a stress response.
The end of the fall semester is finally within sight. Not only can finals put an extra dose of stress on students, but for some, the winter blues can also take a serious toll on mood and energy levels.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders classifies SAD as a major depressive episode with a seasonal onset pattern. Ihardi, who has had years of experience working with various types of depression and published a book, "The Depression Cure: The 6-Step Program to Beat Depression without Drugs," said
SAD was not a formal diagnosis but a form of clinical depression that typically came about in the winter.
"It only strikes a person during the short, gloomy phase of winter between October and March," lilardi said.
Ihardi said about 30 percent of American adults reported having winter blues, which means lower energy and mood levels, sleeping
more and craving sweets and starchy foods.
For some people, such as Brena Bessa, Manaus, Brazil senior, these symptoms escalate with the stress of finals week. Although she said she did not have a case of SAD, Bessa said the cold, dreary weather still bothered her because she was used to a much warmer
SEE DISORDER ON PAGE 3A
index
Classifieds. 9A
Crossword. 4A
Horoscopes. 4A
Opinion...5A
Sports...12A
Sudoku...4A
All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2009 The University Daily Kansan
Horse advocates protest plan to relocate mustangs
weather
Government fears fast-multiplying population could lead to starvation, plans to move horses to pastures in Midwest and East. ACTIVISM | 3A
Snow/wintry mix
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32 15
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4.
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194
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