CAMPUS/AREA
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Monday, February 5, 1996
3A
Gina Thornburg / KANSAN
Mike Kautsch, dean of the School of Journalism, presents the William Allen White Foundation National Citation award to Hedrick L. Smith, who won the award for his work in journalism, including 26 years as a New York Times correspondent.
White award bestowed
By David Teska
Kansan staff writer
A two-time Pulitzer Prize winner told listeners Friday that journalism is a worthy and noble profession that is in deep trouble.
Hedrick Smith, author, documentary producer and former correspondent for the New York Times was on campus to receive the 1996 national citation from the William Allen White Foundation. The citation honors the former editor of the Emporia Gazette for whom the University of Kansas' School of Journalism is named.
In commenting on the present state of the media in America today, Smith said that journalists were as unpopular today as lawyers and politicians.
Smith said the problems facing journalists include the mainstream
press having gone tabloid, a rush to judge by reporters and an overall negative tone.
"A cynical brand of journalism is undermining its own credibility," Smith said.
The result, he said, was that newspapers continued to lose 1 percent of market share each year.
Smith has worked as a foreign correspondent and has written on the politics of the United States and the former Soviet Union.
Alan Holiman, Lawrence graduate student, said he first gained an appreciation for Russian history and culture after he read Smith's 1976 book, The Russians.
"His view of the Soviet Union was right on target for the 1970's," Holiman said.
Alexander Tstovkh, visiting assistant professor of Russian and East European Studies from the University of Lviv in Ukraine, said that he was impressed with Smith's presentation.
Doug Sudhoff, Prairie Village graduate student, said that he heard the issues Smith raised before.
"The things he said are problems that everyone in journalism is aware of," Sudhoff said.
Smith referred to William Allen White's personal legacy of integrity and offered some solutions for the present downward trend in the media. Smith said the press should try to remove personal opinions from news stories, draw a sharper line between news and entertainment, seek out what the public wants to know, and cover it and rethink what it defines as news.
Redefining what is news is the most fundamental one of all, he said. "We ignore these lessons at our own peril." Smith said.
Latin clubs prosper
Tunes spice up dance scene provide local entertainment
By R. Adam Ward Kansan staff writer
Bars that offer Latin dance music are big business in Lawrence.
Duffy's, 2222 W. Sixth St., has Casa Blanca on Friday nights and the Low Rider Mexican Cafe, 943 Massachusetts St., has Coco Loco on Saturday nights.
"We get about 150 people on Coco Loco Night. It's our biggest night of the week," said Kelfel Aqui, owner of the Low Rider Mexican Cafe.
Latin dance music is getting more popular in the United States, so it's not surprising to see the number of bars offering Latin dance music increasing, said Peter Szekely, who is one of the DJs at the Orpheum Theater.
The newly remodeled Orpheum Theater in the back of Tin Pan Alley at 1105 Massachusetts St. also features Latin dance music on Friday nights. The Orpheum has the same disc jockeys that work at the Low Rider Mexican Cafe on Saturday nights.
"We had another Latin dance night at the ice House, but the Ice House was to small so we
decided to move here." he said.
Latin dance nights are popular with international students.
About 10 percent of the students that go to Coco Loco are international students. Anuil said.
He is one of the DJs at Coco Loco and will work at the Orpheum.
"International students were not satisfied with the entertainment options in Lawrence. They didn't want to go to a club and listen to techno music all night," said Antonio Moreno. Venezuela senior.
Aquil said that another reason for American students to come to Latin dance nights was to meet the attractive women that come to these nights.
Many American students go to Latin dance clubs to practice Salsa and Merengue, but also like the variety of music played, he said.
"It's a sexy, spicy atmosphere," he said.
He said that his club added variety to the alternative music scene in Lawrence.
"The atmosphere in Latin clubs is physically closer. You greet your friends with a kiss, and dancing is more intimate," said Robert Rodriguez, Orange County, Calif., senior.
Ryan Rama, Tulsa, Olda, senior, said, "I think that going to Latin dance clubs opens you up to the fact that people from different countries aren't as different as you think they are."
Dances dominate in Latin cultures
By Amy McVey
Kansan staff writer
Miguel Abellas doesn't get to go to his homeland, Galacia, Spain, very often, but that doesn't stop him from dancing.
Abellas, teaching assistant in Spanish and Portuguese, enjoys going to Lawrence's Latin dance clubs to celebrate the rhythms of his culture.
"Every culture has its own dance and dancing practices," Abellas said. "We party a lot, and dances go with the scene."
Abellas said one reason why he liked Latin dancing was because it was a good way to meet people.
"Latin music requires a couple, and it's always nice to dance with someone," he said. "When you dance to the kind of music you like, it allows you to have more fun."
"Latin music
requires a couple, and it's always nice to dance with someone."
Migueol Abellas teaching assistant, Spanish and Portuguese
Abellas said there had been a surge of Latin dance clubs throughout the world, and he said he thought Latin rhythms were popular because the dances were easy.
Antonio Moreno, a Venezuela senior and disc jockey at Coco Loco, 943 Massachusetts St., said that there was a big difference between American bars and Latin
clubs.
"In Latin America and in Europe, dancing is a bigger part of going out," he said. "Here people go out to drink and get drunk, but Latins go out to dance, and drinking is just a part of that."
Miritza Machado-Williams, adviser of the Panamanian Student Organization, said dance was an important part of most Latin countries. Through dance, Latinos bring an important part of their culture to America.
In Latin-American cultures, children learn traditional dances at a very early age, she said. It is not unusual to find traditional dance as an extra-curricular activity organized by teachers.
"They use music and dance as a tool for learning," she said.
Machado-Williams said that in Latin America, dance was central to social life.
"For Americans, a party is talking and eating," she said. "For us, a party means dance."
Groovy man, Scooby Doo van is totally out there
By R. Adam Ward Kansan staff writer
"Scooby Dooby Doo! Where are you? We've got some work for you, now," begins the song from the cartoon Scooby Doo, Where Are You? For many people this triggers powerful associations with childhood.
"I used to watch Scooby Doo with my younger brother," said Mark L'Heureux, Lenexa sophomore. "He used to sit in front of the T.V. with a blanket on his head, so no one would interrupt him while he was watching it."
L'Heureux said that his mother would tape the show so that they could watch it more than once.
He turned a beat-up old Volkswagen bus into what is, for some, a symbol of childhood.
Another KU student has found a way to capture those associations.
With a couple of cans of Krylon
spray paint and a sketch, Rob Grondahl, Lawrence senior, turned his bus into the Mystery Machine, the van driven by the cartoon sleuths.
He said the inspiration came when he was trying to think of a creative way to paint his bus.
"I had to make a few modifications on the design," he said. "The original Mystery Machine was a '70s child-molester-type van without any windows."
But Grondahl said he managed to capture the basic impression of the vehicle and it came out better than he expected.
He calls the people who like the Mystery Machine, machine heads. Grondahl said the machine heads always smile and wave, or honk when he drives by.
"It just came to me while I was watching the show. It was the only idea I could think of, so I just did it," he said.
The bus may look like new from the outside, but it is having some mechanical problems, Grondahl said. The battery is dead and constantly needs to be recharged because of an alternator problem.
December was the last time the bus was running, he said.
Right now the van is parked three doors down from Grondahl's house, but one of the renters of that house, Rodney Stuhlsatz, Garden Plain sophomore, said he doesn't mind having the bus parked outside.
"I think the van is really neat and adds character to our street," he said.
Grundahl said that he was worried at first about leaving the bus parked on the street for so long.
But he said he hasn't received any complaints about it, and for now it remains parked on Tennessee Street.
Pam Dishman / KANSAN
"After all it is pretty high profile," he said.
Rob Grondahl, Lawrence senior, turned his beat-up Volkswagen bus into a replica of the Mystery Machine from the Scooby Doo cartoons. Grondahl painted his bus to remind him of his childhood.
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