Recently by Ciara Bujanos

Francesca Vance is sitting poised in her chair, she grabs her chin stroking it as if in deep thought. As she wrinkles her forehead it seems as if remembering that time was almost a lifetime ago. Her long, curled, jet-black hair that she normally wears free and wild is pulled back into a more sophisticated look. Her skin is a beautiful bronze, which is overlaid with tattoos and piercings.

Vance reminisces the times of growing up in Florence, Italy and her transition into moving to the United States. She was looking for a way out. She was broken, lost and in love.

The Italian culture can be quite suffocating at times, she said. "I never really felt at ease with a lot of people around me, and there was so much co-dependence on your family, it just wasn't for me," Francesca said.

In America teachers try to make the process of learning fun and pleasing. Francesca thinks this helps make the children interested in learning, rather than forcing them, much like the system in Italy. She remembers going to museums when she was young and not being able to appreciate the art. "Because you're so small you don't really appreciate the art in the museums. The art can be overwhelming for a child to wander around museums," Francesca said.  Some people even get Stendoll syndrome, which is were one gets physically get sick from being exposed to too much art. Now that Francesca is an adult, she can appreciate the art around her and understand it. 

Because co-dependence is so apparent in Italy, couples usually date for around five to 10 years before getting married. Children usually live with their parents until they are around 30-years-old trying to save up money to buy a house, said Vance. But the story is different for Francesca. After knowing her husband-to-be for six days, they decided to get married.

Vance describes how she met her ex-husband at a Medieval horse-race. "It was a Saturday and we didn't have much time to talk because of the race, but I decided to call him on Sunday to tell him if he was ever in Florence again that I would give him a tour," said Vance. Sure enough, David, who was studying architecture an hour away in Siena, called her the next day and they planned to meet. Francesca thought she had perhaps given David the wrong idea, so she dressed in her fathers suit and was nearly an hour late picking him up from the train station. After 45 minutes of waiting for Francesca and a romantic chinese dinner, the two hit it off.

"On Friday he called me at one in the morning asking me to meet him in Siena and when I got there he proposed." I left for the United States on August 15th and we got married October 30, Vance said. "But of course we followed the great American tradition and got a divorce. It wasn't like BAM we were head over heals in love, but more of a leap of faith," she said.

This was indeed a big shock for her family. Francesca said she didn't cry when she left. "I think it was my mind trying to preserve its sanity," she said. Francesca was so focused on getting out she didn't allow herself or family members to grieve. 

Francesca thinks that since she has left Italy her relationship with her family has grown stronger. Her family has become accustomed to the internet and they keep in touch daily through emails and chatrooms. 

After arriving in the United States Francesca experienced no culture shock. "It was as if my mind shut off and went on auto pilot. I didn't even get upset over the snow," she said. Right after stepping foot in Lawrence she began teaching an independent class at KU in the school of architecture for students planning to go to Italy. Finally, in 2002 she joined the French and Italian department and now teaches Italian.

"I always wanted to teach. I remember being in third grade correcting grammar mistakes for my relatives," Francesca said. Teaching is the legacy she wishes to leave behind. She wants to teach her students more than just grammar but to stop and smell the flowers and enjoy the moment.

Vance likes to refer to her students as "rosebushes" because it's her idea of a little bud that blooms over the semester into a beautiful rosebush. "I guess it's just my romantic idea of students being more than just an ID number," Vance said.

One of Francesca's co-workers, Anna Talleur, thinks Francesca is a great addition to the French and Italian program. She recounts when Francesca first came to the department and they were both pregnant. "She had this big Grecian belly and I admired it so much, it was beautiful," Talleur said. Francesca is so much fun to be around and her kids are wonderful, Anna said. 

When Francesca isn't grading papers and tests she enjoys reading, writing and drawing. She  has an art show coming up in January at La Prima Tazza, an Italian coffee shop located on 7th and Massachusetts streets. 

After calling the Lawrence Police Department repeatedly Kathy Barland, employee at Sarah's Fabrics, is fed up. The store which is located on 9^th and Massachusetts streets is one of many being hit hard this year.

"Boy, do I have a lot to talk to you about," said Barland.

Graffiti is negatively impacting the Lawrence business districts and neighborhoods. But according to downtown business owners and employees, the police department isn't doing much about it.

According to the Lawrence Police Department web site, this illegal expression of art is defined as any writing, prints, marks, sprays, scratches, paintings, drawings and etches on any public or privately owned properties.

Another word for graffiti is tagging, which is where a gang scrawls words on a wall to mark its territory.  

Barland believes that the people who graffiti aren't even being punished.

"Even if they are caught red-handed they are charged maybe $200 at most and don't have any remorse for what they have done," said Barland.

Tony Jones, Douglas County Community Service Coordinator seems to disagree with Barland.

"The punishment if caught performing graffiti on property is very serious," said Jones.

If caught, the offender must pay no less than $250 and up to $1000. If the crime is serious enough, the offender can to go prison for up to six months.

According to Jones, whenever private property is graffitied the owner has to cover it up as soon as possible. After an owner gets a notice about the removal of graffiti they have 14 days to get rid of it. The state will provide certain accomodations including paint supplies, community service assistance and volunteer assistance.

"The government doesn't do anything for us, we have to pay everything out of our pockets," said Barland.

Barland recounts an incident where one night last spring while working late in the shop around 1 a.m. she heard something outside. After opening the back door she discovered two men spraying the building then running off. She called the police but there was nothing they could do to catch the men who graffitied the building.

It ended up costing the store $300 to sandblast and paint over the graffiti.

"It's almost more of a punishment for the stores than the actual people that are caught painting on buildings. It always ends up costing us more to fix it than the fine they recieve from the state," said Barland.

After several hits with graffiti around the store Barland wanted to get the businesses around downtown to ban together and somehow fight against graffiti. "I think we should all ban together, but I know that will never happen because half the people that own the stores don't even live here so it's the employees that have to deal with it," she said.  

The owner of Goldmakers, a jewelry store on 7th and Massachusetts streets, agrees completely with Barland. Peter Zacharias has spent well over $1000 out of his own pocket to remove graffiti from his property. He decided he would buy a sandblasting machine and an assortment of paints and brushes because it would save him money in the long run.

According to Peter and Kathy, the police say they will send people out to help take it down but they rarely do.  Jones thinks if citizens keep removing the graffiti right away that will send a message to vandals that people do care about their community and hopefully they will give up on that area and move on to another place.   

"I use to get hit all the time with graffiti, almost every other day there would be something new out there. After I purchased the sandblaster I made sure that I got rid of anything within a day. Soon enough the people who graffiti stoped coming around here as often," said Zacharias. We ususally get something around every 90 days now, he said.

Peter doesn't think that it deterrs customers when there is graffiti on his building but that it makes his store look shabby and like it has been taken over by gangs. "It's too bad that people do this, my building has been around for over one hundred years, it's historical," he said.

Both Zacharias and Barland said they they wouldn't buy sercurity camera or put a lighting system outside their buildings because they didn't want to waste even more money on the vandals. "Even if they are caught, they are never punished, so they never learn their lesson," said Barland.  

Although contrary to many beliefs, all graffiti is not gang graffiti. According to Jones, "Gang graffiti is territorial. But graffiti artists go everywhere."

Despite graffiti being a nuisance and looked down upon, it is often times seen as beautiful art by others and is becoming more mainstream in our society. Even Pepsi has gotten in on it. Advertising and graffiti seem to be going hand in hand now. In Chicago, Pepsi has four walls of graffiti in the city as part of its "Design Our Pepsi Can" contest, which is part of the company's global re-branding efforts. It's the first time a consumer is able to design the look of the Pepsi can.

Hence, graffiti isn't always bad. Lawrence just needs to come up with more efficient ways to control it and help get rid of any unwanted tags.

 

 

 

      

 

 

 

 

 

Dennis Hill, who lives with wife, 4-year-old triplet sons and 2-year-old daughter, buys three or four boxes of cereal a week. When him or his wife have spare time they look through newspaper advertisements for coupons and go to stores that advertise sales.

"Sometimes I have to mix cheaper cereal with my kids' favorite cereal to save money," Hill said.

Waking up to convenient ready-to-eat cereal may not be so convenient anymore. In the past year cereal prices have sky-rocketed or boxes have reduced in size due to the conversion of corn to ethanol as well as other economic issues.

To reduce the United States' dependence on imported oil, manufacturers are shifting 30 percent of U.S. corn, the country's largest crop, to the production of ethanol for gassing vehicles. According to the Renewable Fuels Association, the dry mill ethanol produces 2.8 gallons of fuel ethanol for every 56-pound bushel of corn.

Davina Luna, a customer service representative for Kellogg, said distribution, manufacturing and ingredient costs affect cereal prices. Kellogg has to take into consideration if they can make the loads smaller during delivery, so the company decided to reduce the box sizes by an average of 2.4 ounces. Luna claims this has affected consumers because they have to buy more boxes rather than just a large family-size box of cereal.

"We have had several customer complaints about the box size changing, but Kellogg feels this is the best way to keep up with the economy," she said.

Hill said his family usually goes through around a little over a box a week."For breakfast the kids usually each get a cup-sized bowl of their favorite color for that week, then we send them off to school with a small zip-lock bag of cereal for a snack" Hill said.

 

 

General Mills consumer service representative, Amy Metzger, said customers are at a loss when it comes to alternatives because there aren't many other substitutes for cold cereal. Factors that go into the increase of their cereal prices are packaging, transportation, ingredients and store costs.

"General Mills tries to match the economy. Our customers have faith in our products, our stock keeps rising and customers keep coming back," Metzger said. General Mills produces cereals such as Cheerios, Wheaties and Lucky Charms and is the U.S.'s second largest cereal producer, following Kellogg. 

Metzger pointed out that customers tend not to buy cereal that has gone up in price, so in order to compensate the company made its boxes smaller at a reduced price, much like Kellogg.

Although General Mills prices have remained constant over the past year, the company's profits have declined due to an increase in coupons and discounts.

Vanessa Davis, University of Kansas junior, said she has noticed a spike in prices because for two boxes it now costs her around $6.

"It's suppose to be a fast, inexpensive meal, but now that prices have risen I have to cut back or sometimes resort to alternatives," Davis said.

According to Evan Palmer, Dillons cashier, some customers are switching to oatmeal, bagels and yogurt.

 Hill said that his family doesn't eat cereal every day and that they sometimes make fruit smoothies, pancakes or eggs instead.

"They get bored with cereal after awhile so we have to mix it up every now and then," Hill said.