Multimedia Reporting (Adler-Noland)

While many students at the University of Kansas are preparing to spend their
spring break in popular destinations such as Cancun, London and Paris, the
number of students participating in “alternative spring breaks” are on the rise.

Alternative spring breaks differ in ambiance from the more traditional college - lay on the beach booze fest - atmosphere. Instead of pounding shots of tequila, alternative spring break participants often pound nails and perform other laborious duties such as roofing, drywalling and painting in communities that have been stricken with disaster, such as New Orleans.

According to Alternative Breaks an estimated 35,000 students from across the country participated in alternative spring breaks last year - an estimated 15% increase from 2005. And one reason for the increase may surprise you: low cost.

The Ecumenical Christian Ministries is sponsoring alternative spring breaks this year to El Salvador, Nicaragua, Juarez, New Mexico, New York, Arizona and New Orleans. Estimated costs of the seven trips range from about $200 per person for New Orleans to about $700 for El Salvador.

To keep the costs of the trips to a minimum, most of the 90-plus participants will stay in homes and not hotels during their trips. The participants have also been working for months raising money by hosting potato bars, dinners and silent auctions. Donors and alumni have also contributed money to the groups, and the ECM subsidized about $3,000 of its budget to help pay for the trips.

“We don’t want to cut people out because of their finances,” said Thad Holcombe, ECM Pastor and alternative spring break administrator.

In addition to $3,000 from the ECM, the Community Mercantile is sponsoring a dinner with all the proceeds going alternative spring breaks. The groups are also hoping to receive a $2,500 grant from the Presbytery Church of Northern Kansas.

Spike Evans, Topeka senior, is participating in her first alternative spring break this year. Instead of partying it up in Cancun, she is going to Nicaragua.

“Cancun does not sound fun to me,” Evans said. “I think that Cancun is a little too touristy for me, and I really like experiences that push my boundaries. I wanted to go on a spring break where I would learn something and be able to take something from it to use in the future.”

Evans and the other 16 members of her group will explore the fair trade movement in Nicaragua. The group will meet with different vendors and cooperatives on how fair trade has developed, and the effects of free trade.

“I haven't gone yet, but I already know that it is rewarding,” Evans said. “I have learned a lot of insight into foreign economics with free versus fair trade.”

Ross Farris, Tulsa, Okla., junior, is spending his spring break with a group of eight people skiing in Winter Park, Colo. He purchased his travel package, which includes airfare and hotel accommodations, with STA Travel inside the Kansas Union.

Farris is budgeting $800 for his spring break, and though he said his skiing trip will still be worthwhile, he understands skiing down a mountain doesn’t have the same impact as rebuilding a community.

“I think we’re still going on a trip that’s budgeted all right,” Farris said. “But it’s not nearly the same experience that they will have.”

Farris said next year he will give alternative spring breaks a little more attention.

“I would find a lot of interest in that,” he said. “I’d like to be able to help out and get to experience another part of the world.”

Stephanie Coleman, branch manager for STA Travel in the Kansas Union, said the average student will spend $1,000 to $1,500 for traditional spring breaks. And travelers can spend much more if they stay in extravagant hotels and frequent shopping malls.

STA is offering spring break packages to Cancun for $819 and Acapulco for $839. Meals, drinks, traveler’s insurance and car rental are not included. Coleman said spring break packages have increased in price each year since 9/11, but so, too, has the cost of flying in general.

“It’s mostly supply and demand,” she said. “People are just traveling more and more. “The airlines realize they’re going to fill their planes, so they’re raising their prices.”

To avoid the high cost of flying, the 10-member group going to New Orleans is driving.

Rachael Huffman, Kansas City, Mo., junior and coordinator of the trip to New Orleans, went to Houma, La., last year and participated in the Waves of Relief organization, which donated goods and supplies to the Gulf Coast region.

Huffman is returning to the area again this year because of genuine concern.

“New Orleans represents all of the people that have been forgotten by our government,” Huffman said. “People shouldn't have to be worrying about safe drinking water a year later in a first-world country.”

The group will be working in the 9th Ward, performing remodeling and light construction work. The group will stay in a moderately priced hotel because of the dicey situation in the city.

But Huffman said that despite the volatile situation there, the opportunity to help others in need is still a cheaper and better cause than lying on the beach for a week.

“Well, you could go to Cancun and drink so much that you don't remember the trip that you spend a grand on,” Huffman said. “Or you can go on a trip like an alternative spring break and remember it for a lifetime. Honestly, with service work, nine times out of ten, you get way more than you could ever
possibly give.”

Susan Peterson doesn’t look out at her window and wonder when it will happen again. She doesn’t have to.

“I just tense every time I hear brakes,” she said. “I’ve had kids in my house crying because their mother didn’t know what to do.”

Peterson has lived in her house near the intersection of 21st and Tennessee St. for more than 20 years. In that time she has seen numerous near misses, fender benders and accidents take place - some just a few feet from her house.

Visibility at the intersection has been a problem for some drivers traveling east and west. Parked vehicles on the west side of Tennessee Street have impaired drivers' vision enough to where drivers think it is safe to cross the street. Peterson recalled that in November one driver attempted to cross the intersection but didn’t make it. Instead a mother and two children were broadsided.

There were no deaths in the accident, and Peterson, like she had done many times before, became a helping hand to the accident victims. The mother suffered a broken foot and her two children were noticeably frightened. Peterson later wrote a letter to the Lawrence Traffic Safety Commission requesting a no parking zone along the west side of Tennessee Street adjacent to 21st Street.

“I’ve seen enough,” Peterson said. “I felt someone needed to do something.”

Last week on a 4-3 vote, the Traffic Safety Commission recommended the City Commission to establish a no parking zone 115 feet north and 115 feet south of the intersection.

Traffic safety commissioner Carol Bowen voted in favor of Peterson’s request. Her reasoning was because of an increase in city traffic.

“Traffic is a lot worse now than it was last year and certainly five years ago or 10 years ago,” Bowen said. “So I think the measures of anything we can do to limit people’s chances for rear-ending each other and getting injured, we need to do as a Traffic Safety Commission.”

But traffic safety commissioner Ken Miller voted against Peterson’s request, citing police reports that indicate only three crashes at the intersection in the last three years, and the need to preserve parking.

“I wanted to maintain parking spaces for people to use,” Miller said. “It wasn’t an easy decision. But I feel that three crashes in three years - and it’s not even determined if the parking situation played any role in those three crashes - I just don’t think the traffic safety data – the crash data – indicates that there is an abnormal problem there.”

But Peterson disagreed with Miller’s analysis.

“To think that this is a low accident (area) is a misnomer,” she said.

Alex Newman has lived on Tennessee Street for 47 years. If the City Commission approves the no parking request, the parking area in front of her house will no longer be available.

“I wouldn’t like it,” Newman said.

While Newman usually doesn’t park on Tennessee Street, opting to park in her garage or driveway instead, she agrees with Peterson that the intersection has been problematic over the years. But Newman thought the accidents haven’t been caused by parked cars, but rather driver error.

“I’ve been out here a lot of times and see people going either direction on 21st Street that go right through the stop sign,” she said. “So they just aren’t paying attention.”

Newman agreed that taking steps to save people from injury was a just cause but felt the inconvenience of having friends and family not being able to park in front of her house would be troublesome because they would have to park further down Tennessee Street or on another block.

Peterson wouldn’t speculate on what the chances are that her request will be approved by the City Commission when they meet in a few weeks, but she realizes both points of view have valid reasoning.

“I can understand both ways,” she said.

Peterson did not attend last week’s meeting at City Hall and doesn’t plan on attending the City Commission meeting when her request goes for final approval. But no matter the outcome, Peterson is content knowing she made an effort - pass or fail.

“I would be appreciative of the fact that they took it to heart knowing that someone in the community did something to help.”

His hands grip the guitar. One nail is broken from wailing on the strings. His hands move across the neck of the guitar as he plays some jazz licks.

Santiago Ferreira is a sophomore from Asuncion, Paraguay, majoring in music composition. Ferreira has traveled thousands of miles from his homeland in hopes of achieving his musical dreams.

“My dream is writing music that expresses what I feel and being able to perform as well,” he said.

To help him reach those dreams Ferreira chose to come to the University of Kansas because he is on a scholarship that allows him to go to school and pay in-state tuition, and also because of the music program at the University.

“The music composition at KU is really wide,” Ferreira said. “You can learn to write symphonies or electronic music or songs, but they teach you everything so you can write any kind of music.”

Ferreira credits much of his own success as a musician to his advisor and composition instructor Kip Haaheim.

“He gives me great advice,” Ferreira said. “I have a lot of freedom with him.”

Ferreira enjoys playing Brazilian music, such as Bass nova, and he also plays some rock and pop music. But what Ferreira enjoys playing most is jazz – on both his acoustic and electric guitars.

Not long after Ferreira came to campus, he auditioned for the KU jazz band. But his audition was unsuccessful.

“When he first got here he had trouble in the music department because he didn't have so much experience as a musician,” said Ferreira’s roommate and fellow music composition major Paul Szpyrka.

But a year later, after countless hours of practice, Ferreira auditioned again. This time he got the part.

“When Santiago has a goal in mind, he works towards it - oblivious to the things around him,” Szpyrka said. “Santiago is talented, but what makes the difference is that he is determined.”

Ferreira said that while he enjoys playing with the band, he wants to someday start his own band – one that is more a little more like his style, using a combination of jazz, rock and classical music.

Having the ability to play and compose has given Ferreira a new outlook – one that is bigger than just expressing himself through song.

“My biggest dream is to be able to write music that people like and sell records and perform,” he said.

But at one time, those dreams were nowhere near his mind.

As a youngster growing up in Paraguay, Ferreira went to primary and secondary schools, which are similar to elementary and high school in the U.S. Unlike most boys his age, Ferreira didn’t play sports – and didn’t play music. He had another career path in mind.

“I always wanted to be an inventor - like a scientist,” Ferreira said. “I wanted to create things.”

Ferreira and his grandfather often teamed up and worked on experiments together. On one occasion, they conducted experiments with chemicals and made green and yellow flames. Another time the pair made an electric engine with a cork, needle, a cable - used as a filament - and two magnets.

“It was very cool,” Ferreira said.

But the fun of tinkering around in the garage was soon replaced by the sounds of Ferreira’s first guitar, or rather, his sister’s guitar. At age 14 his sister, Monica, got a guitar and started taking lessons. Ferreira soon began playing as well.

“I just played all the time,” Ferreira said. “I was like a child. I was in my world when I had the guitar.”

Ferreira said he wrote lyrics to a song before he ever played the guitar, something he now does quite often.

During his second to last year at secondary school, Ferreira enrolled in the AFS Intercultural Program a non-profit organization that helps more than 11,000 students and teachers experience school from other areas of the world.

Ferreira then came to the U.S. as a foreign exchange student. He lived in Port Clinton, Ohio, with a host family from 2000-2001.

Ferreira took his guitar with him.

“I was more excited than anything,” he said. “I get exited about going somewhere – about change. Change is something that really excited me. I felt like if I was going on a trip, that was my first feeling.”

But one change Ferreira did not expect was the culture shock living in a small town. Port Clinton had a population was about 5,000 and Ferreira struggled learning the English language.

“When I first came to Untied States I was pretty lost,” he said.

But Ferreira eventually learned to speak English rather well, much in part to asking others for help, and his own willingness to learn.

“I just always wanted people to correct me,” he said.

Ferreira said that his host dad often corrected him when he misspoke in English, and Ferreira repaid him by teaching him how to play the guitar.

“My family was great. That’s what makes a good experience,” Ferreira said. “If your family is good you’ll have a great time.”

Since he left Ohio and returned to Paraguay, Ferreira has visited his host family five times, and they traveled to Lawrence to visit him once.

For his senior year in college, Ferreira wants to compose a number of songs for his composition recital. He plans on recording the performance in hopes of releasing it as a CD. After graduation Ferreira said he would like to continue studying at the University and be a teaching assistant in the music department, something he sees as a good fallback plan if he doesn’t break into the music industry.

Ferreira said that if he does fall short of reaching his dreams, he could see himself going back to Paraguay and opening a music school and performing there. But the thought of being on stage in front of thousands of people is what drives him.

“I’d feel great. Sometimes I wonder about that,” Ferreira said. “I’m sure it will be great. Just getting into the KU jazz band was exciting, and realizing my dreams will be really, really exciting.”

“Pick A Day To Save Your Life! Be…Smoke Free!”

These words are written on the rubber twisty - a complimentary gift included in the Great American Smokeout” survival kit that Watkins Health Center gives out to its patients who come to the facility searching for a way to stop smoking.

The twisty is blue in color with white puffy cloud-like shapes. It is 15 inches long and its purpose is to give smokers an alternative – something they can do physically, like curl it into a ball or wrap it around a forearm or wrist - as opposed to the repetitive hand-to-mouth habit.

According to a Sept. 2006 report by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, one of every five deaths in the U.S. is due to smoking. The report also showed that nonsmokers live about 14 years longer and an estimated 25 million Americans will die prematurely due to complications from smoking.

Erin Lomasney, Hutchinson sophomore, has been a smoker for two years. Her ex-boyfriend was a smoker and she soon followed. She smokes about five times a day and about a pack-and-a-half a week. She tried to quit last May – on her own.

She failed.

“It’s just a habit,” she said. “It’s hard to change habit.”

The Wellness Resource Center at Watkins Memorial Health Center offers free smoking cessation programs to KU students, but Lomasney has never sought professional help with her addiction and has no plans to enter a treatment program. Yet, she wants to quit smoking – on her own. And now she may have a better way to do so.

In August a new wonder-drug came out on the market called Chantix. The drug does not contain nicotine, but targets nicotine receptors in the brain, causing them to relieve symptoms of withdrawal. But Chantix also stimulates the receptors and blocks the recurring nicotine effects if someone resumes the old habit of smoking.

The recommended dosage for the 12-week prescription drug is: for the first three days take one white .50 mg tablet per day. For days four through seven: the same dosage, but two pills per day. And from day eight until the end of treatment: two blue 1 mg tablets per day. Patients should take the pill after eating and should drink at least 8 ounces of water with each dose. But taking Chantix also comes with a hefty price. It costs about $100 a month to take the medication.

But a recent study showed that Chantix might be worth the price, as it has proved to be quite effective. When taking 1 mg of Chantix two times a day, 44 percent of smokers who used the drug quit, as compared to the thirty percent quit rate of smokers who took 150 mg of Zyban twice daily. The study also showed that patients taking a sugar pill, just 17 percent were able to quit.

Mai Do, Marketing Coordinator at Watkins Health Center, said that even though Chantix has been a success, it is not a cure-all on its own.

“A combination of counseling, medication and commitment to a program has shown to be effective,” Do said. “Ultimately, it’s up to the individual to really commit to stop smoking.”

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Sensei Shohhei Maede's hands grip the Shinai as he walks barefoot on the padded floor of the KU Rec. Center. Two competitors stand about three feet apart wearing robes and armor and one of them wears a helmet and mask. One competitor raises the Shinai above his head and moves in on an offensive attack, crashing his sword down onto the defender's helmet.

"Good! Good!" Maede shouts to him as he turns to watch two more students compete against each other in a new KU club sport called Kendo.

Kendo means "way of the sword," and is similar in style to Japanese fencing. Kendo began to rise in popularity during the Kamakura Shogunate period in the 1100s. And over time it has grown into a nationwide sport. The Midwest Kendo Federation formed in 1974 and started with only three clubs. Today, the MWKF has grown to more than 20 clubs and 300 members.

Kendo’s popularity is on the rise not only in the United States, but in Europe and Australia as well. And Kendo is becoming increasingly popular on campuses like K-State, Colorado, HarvardandYale. Kansas City has a Kendo club and practices two times a week.

Two years ago Kendo hit the KU campus and had only a few members. Since then the club has grown to average about 30 students at the start of each semester, but after only a few weeks, that number dwindles to about 15 because of the physical and mental demands of the sports.

Maede became interested in Kendo fighting in first grade. Today, the sensei and Level 3 Don Kendo artist instructs KU students on two main aspects of the sport: patience and discipline.

"It’s more like training your mental skills, not the physical stuff," Maede said. "How I train is whenever I get tired, most people just quit. But Kendo starts from there. Once you get tired, that determines how well you can perform."

Kendo has two different fighting styles: Dojo and Jodan. Dojo is a more balanced and defensive style, having the sword in front to protect the body, and Jodan is an offensive attack where the combatant is in an on-guard position with the Shinai raised above the head.

The scoring of points and the language of the sport is unique. "Men" means a blow to the head, "kote" means a strike to the arm and "do" means a blow to the stomach. During each match, fighters must swing and yell at the same time to indicate where they intend to strike their opponent, and also to instill fear.

During a recent match, Marina Sulastri, a junior from Indonesia, used quick feet to position herself into her opponent’s defense area. She then struck a blow to the defender’s side and received high praise from Maede.

Sulastri said she first became interested in Kendo by reading some Japanese comic books about it. And when she saw that Kendo was available at KU, she joined the club last fall. She said one of the things she likes most about the sport is that having the Shinai in front of her body has helped her improve her posture. But she added that the sport also has some difficulties.

"When you spar, you have sword in front of you and you’re facing your opponent," Sulastri said. "And when you’re wearing the mask you’re pretty much looking in, focusing on your opponent. It’s very intense."

KU students pay $33 a semester in fees if they join the Kendo club. And if they purchase equipment like the robe, armor and mask, they can spend hundreds of dollars. Club members order their equipment mostly through Internet sites and can receive a discount if they buy from e-mudo.com.

"It’s a lot of fun. When you put on the armor and you’re fighting it’s really a good exercise," Sulastri said. "You put all the aggressiveness outside and you have to be on."

Mat Wehner has been in martial arts since he was seven years old. The KU senior said what he liked most about Kendo was the tactical approach.

"I think it’s the strategy," Wehner said. "It’s almost like rock, paper scissors. There’s three main places that you hit, and once you hit one of those areas you’re leaving yourself open in one spot. So it’s kind of like a game of give and take. You have to be able to hit where they’re open and getting back to protect where you’re not."

Wehner is about 6-foot-2 and 200lbs. He said wearing all that gear can present problems.

"The armor is cumbersome, especially being one of the bigger guys," Wehner said. "And most of the other people being very small and very fast, trying to keep up with them is a challenge."

Bigger than the other members of the club, Wehner’s power can be heard throughout the room when he swings.

"You’re not there to hurt anyone," he said. "Safety’s very important, especially when you practice. It’s not that fun hitting other people."

Wehner, who works full-time, said he spent about $700 for the robe, mask and Shinai. The club practices three times a week during the school year.

"Blisters are a very common thing, sometimes you want time to heal," Wehner said. "You can definitely get bruises. A lot of times when they hit for the body, they’ll hit right above where the armor is."

The Kendo club will practice two or three times this summer, and will travel to Kansas City in July to compete in a tournament. Maede said that he will not judge his students on their performances at the tournament, but he hopes the skills they learn from Kendo will be useful later on in their daily lives.

"I don’t care if they lose in the tournament. I don’t care," he said. "I just want to know after they practice certain years, they have more discipline skill in their social life or everyday life."