CAMPUS/AREA
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday, January 25, 1996
3A
Art display attacks racism
By Susanna Lööf
Kansan staff writer
Steve Puooe / KANSAN
Roger Shimomura's Delayed Reactions retrospective exhibition is showing at the Spencer Museum of Art. The exhibit runs through March 10.
If the United States is to be a melting pot, people from non-Western cultures should not be forced to melt into Western culture.
That is the message artist Roger Shimomura wants the audience to receive from his exhibition Delayed Reactions, on display at the Spencer Museum of Art until March 10.
"It is an absurd idea that everybody who came to this country should become European when
their own cultures are so wealthy," said Shimomura, who was appointed distinguished professor of art in 1994. He has been teaching at the University of Kansas since 1969.
Roger Shimomura
Shimomura
is an experienced exhibitor, but Delayed Reactions is his first retrospective exhibition. It reflects his career from 1973. Several paintings in the exhibition juxtapose Shimomura's Japanese background with icons of American culture. Although he wants the exhibition to raise debate about multiculturalism and racial tolerance, it does not present a solution to the problem, Shimomura said.
"I hope that the show can be sort of a forum for discussing these issues," he said.
Several of the series displayed, including Return of the Yellow Peril, are inspired by racism. Shimomura said.
Return of the Yellow Peril includes 14 portraits of some of Shimomura's friends. The people in the portraits are Caucasian, African American, Native American and Asian, but they are all wearing Japanese clothing on top of their own clothes.
The portraits saturate America's worst nightmare that the Japanese will take over the country, Shimomura said.
Although Shimomura focuses on Japanese images, the message of his work does not apply only to Japanese Americans or Asian Americans but to all people who aren't Caucasians. Shimomura said.
Sally Hayden, public relations director at the museum, said the exhibition had been popular.
More than 600 people came to the opening on Jan. 13. That is one of the largest crowds at any opening at the museum. Hayden said.
Brendan O'Grady, Cape Girardeau, Mo., freshman, said he found the exhibition interesting.
"The paintings are almost like cartoons," he said. "But they're not cartoon figures, because they are more realistic."
In conjunction with the exhibition,
Shimomura will give his inaugural lecture as distinguished professor. A Decade of Performances: Not Made in Japan, will be presented at 5.30 p.m. Feb. 1 in the museum's auditorium. Shimomura will show slides and videos at the free lecture.
The speech will focus on his performance art. Shimomura said.
When the exhibition has closed at the art museum, it will travel to North Carolina, Washington and New Orleans.
focus on working with mixed media such as different materials, videos and sounds combined with performance art.
In the future, Shimomura plans to
"I've temporarily lost my lust of putting paint on canvas," he said.
KU professors say conflict could last
"Whether we'll get out of there in a year or not, I don't know," said Anna Cienciala, professor of history. "It will take a while to sort it out."
The international forces deployed in the former Yugoslavia might not leave as soon as President Clinton has stated. a KU professor said.
"What is wrong is to say that these people have been fighting each other for hundreds of years," she said.
Cienciaial said that for the conflict to be successfully mitigated, the international forces would have to establish the institutional framework of local governments and elections.
said.
Cienciala also said many people had a misconception about the conflict.
Kansan staff writer
Paul D'Anieri, assistant professor of political science, said that even though the combatants hard-line support of the war had evaporated, certain groups that had profited from selling weapons would gain from further fighting.
The Balkan area was relatively peaceful until World War II. At that time Croatia was a German satellite, and Serbia was a member of the Allied forces, Cienciasl
By John Collar
"There are factions who got rich in the whole deal," he said.
in the whole deux. he said-
Lynette Wood's husband,
Christopher, is stationed in the
former Yugoslavia. He is serving as
an Army specialist deployed
near Skopje, Macedonia.
"They're basically counting vehicles that might be bringing over black market items and refugees," said Lynnette Wood, a Lawrence native.
Lynnette Wood said her husband's unit was on a six-month
Andv Rohrback/KANSAN
"I would be afraid of hitting the wrong button," said Iris Rosenthal, Buffalo Grove, Ill., sophomore.
deployment, which started in November. During the first month of the deployment, the soldiers had to contend with six feet of snow.
Filing 1040s may be EZier
Before Christopher Wood's deployment, the couple had been living in Schwienfurt, Germany, where his unit was stationed. When Christopher Wood was sent to the Balkans, Lynnette Wood returned to Lawrence to live with her parents. Tom and Gail Sloan.
But not everyone is convinced that the system will work.
Wood said she wrote her husband several times a week and talked to him by phone every two or three weeks. However, soldiers deployed in Bosnia do not
By Scott MacWilliams Kansan staff writer
have the luxury of such frequent phone calls, she said.
"I think a lot of people would probably like it," Lisa Whitehead, Overland Park senior said. "My parents have done my taxes before, but I'm working more this year, so I might need to do it myself."
The new system, known as Tele-File, enables taxpayers to use their telephone keypads to enter their tax information. The system is completely automated and calculates the return instantly. Returns can be filed 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Even though the threat of future conflicts exists, Wood said the spirits of her husband and the U.S. troops were good.
Death and taxes are inevitable. But beginning this year, the tax process may be a little easier.
"I don't think the morale of the troops is ever that great when they've been sent away and are in a conflict," she said.
The Internal Revenue Service has developed a way to file tax returns by telephone using a toll-free phone call.
To qualify for TeleFile, filers must:
- **be single with no dependents**
- **have a taxable income of less than $50,000**
the lawrence woman grabbed a paring knife and thrusted it at her stomach.
have filed a 1040-EZ form previously
Electronic filing is another option for filing quick returns, but unlike TeleFile, it is not free. Electronic filing involves entering your return information into a computer and having the return transmitted electronically.
The pregnant student said the Lawrence woman then tried to strangle her.
However, the student's friend jumped between her and the Lawrence woman, and the Lawrence woman dropped the knife.
The IRS estimates that as many as 23 million taxpayers will be eligible to use TeleFile this year.
The Lawrence woman lunged toward the student, threatening to rip out her nose ring, Lawrence police said.
"We're doing a public service announcement campaign for the Internal Revenue Service," Desi蒙 said. "The IRS has conducted regional test marketing, and now it wants to expand it nationwide."
became angry when one of the KU students tried to tell a joke.
No one was hurt in the incidents, and no arrests were made, Lawrence police said.
have lived at the same address as last year
"We file them by modem to the IRS," said Chris Taylor, manager of The Mail Room, 3115 W. Sixth St.. "It costs $35 and takes 10 days to two weeks to get the return. We did about 100 returns last year."
Bad joke leads to assault of KU students
The student then went back to the bedroom and woke her friend, who was eight-weeks pregnant, and told her that they had to leave.
But when the two students announced that they were leaving, the pregnant student said
Chris DeSimone, account executive with August, Lang & Husak, Inc. in Bethesda, Md., said the IRS is actively promoting the new TeleFile program.
have received the TeleFile
TeleFilers will be issued a PIN number that will be combined with their Social Security number to identify them for filing purposes.
Two KU students were victims of an alleged aggravated assault late Monday night, when a 38-year-old Lawrence woman didn't find humor in a joke, Lawrence police said.
Kansan staff report
The two students and the Lawrence women were at a house on the 1000 block of Juna Drive. Reportedly, the Lawrence woman
information in their federal tax booklet, mailed to their home.
Many KU students fit this profile, although some may not because they haven't lived at the same address for more than 12 months.
The nature of the joke is unknown.
By Scott MacWilliams Kansan staff writer
Patrick Cox, Stephenson Hall proctor and Mapleton, aa, senior.
Stephenson Scholarship Hall has been a construction zone since last summer, but residents have been able to deal with the upheaval.
said residents were given the option of moving to a residence hall or staying in Stephenson during the construction. Many wanted to stay, he said.
bricks under some windows.
"We had 20 men here last semester, and now we are up to 25," Cox said. "Our capacity is 50, but the top floor is still not finished."
Cox said the work had been done on a seemingly irregular basis, but said that the workers were considerate about the amount of noise they made.
"The work is going slow, and that is because it is being done by the housing department instead of a
The renovations do not include any major structural changes. Cox said the work included painting, installing new doors and trim wood and putting new carpeting, a new television and a new pingpong table in the recreation room.
Outside, workers have installed new gutters, painted the shutters, repointed the bricks and replaced
contractor,
Cox said. "They will show up and work really hard for a while, then they just disappear for a couple of weeks."
Kami Thomas, assistant director of student housing, said that the work might not be completed by next fall.
"I'm not sure that renovation
is the right word," Thomas said. "We should have it done where it will be up to 48-person capacity by the fall of 1996. There might be a little work still to be done over Christmas break next year."
Thomas said that long-range plans for Stephenson included possibly converting it into a central meeting hall and recreation center for the scholarship halls.
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