May 2009 Archives

Same sex couples in the Midwest now have the option of marriage following an April 3 Iowa Supreme Court ruling. Gay rights activists are rejoicing over Iowa's unanimous vote to lift the gay marriage ban.

Some same sex couples are now faced with the problem of choosing whether to get married or not.

"I think that couples are dealing, for the first time, with the option of marriage," says Dr. Wes Crenshaw, Psychologist and director of Family Therapy Institute Midwest. "I think it has become a much more immediate issue now that Iowa has lifted the gay marriage ban. Couples are now having to face the issue head on."

            Lawrence same sex couples are now facing the marriage issue, which could lead to problems among some couples.

            "The good thing about Iowa is that people outside of the state can go and get married, which has sort of changed the dynamic of a bunch of relationships," says Ryan Campbell, Overland Park, senior, and outgoing executive director of Queers and Allies, an on campus gay rights organization. "They have never had that option before. People are playfully suggesting it as a way of coping with it in the beginning."

            Dr. Crenshaw says the problems that could arise with gay marriage are gay divorces, custody battles, if they have adopted or are a surrogate, dividing possessions, and other things that straight couples have dealt with for a long time.

            "This is a pressing issue among couples who are now having to face the facts about marriage," says Dr. Crenshaw. "Because it is such a new phenomenon, I am seeing two couples presently who are dealing with this and I can think of at least two more off the top of my head."

            Partners who have been together for a while may have differing views on marriage. One partner may want to get married while the other doesn't. Dr. Crenshaw says it opens up a compatibility issue. The differing viewpoints that were always there are now coming to the front because of the lift on the gay marriage ban in Iowa.

            "I wouldn't want to get married in Iowa even if my partner did," says Matt Hirschfeld, Augusta, Kan., senior, who has been with his boyfriend for 11 months. "I want more of a traditional experience. I want to have a wedding and make plans. If it's not valid in Kansas than it's not worth it."

            In the United States, each state has to recognize another states ruling. If a same sex couple were to marry in Iowa, Kansas would have to recognize that marriage. Kansas, however, is far from becoming the next state to accept gay marriage into its foundation.

            "I don't think Kansas will open up any time soon," says Campbell. "But then again, Iowa was a surprise. I never expected the Midwest to have one of the first gay marriage states."

            Justin Buyous, Overland Park, junior, who is openly gay, says Lawrence is not the worst place to live and be gay.

            "As a freshman, I was very open and I wanted a place that would be accepting of what I am," says Buyous. "Lawrence has provided that for me."

            For many openly gay people, that is not enough. Campbell says Queers and Allies is trying to show people that being gay is no different than being straight. They recently held a Kiss-In in front of Strong Hall where both gay and straight couples showed public displays of affection.

            "I received a lot of negative feedback for the Kiss-In," says Campbell. "That just shows me that there is still a lot of work to do."

            Campbell is hopeful though. He says, "once more states lift the gay marriage ban, I think we will start to see more couples open to the idea of marriage."

            Since Iowa lifted its gay marriage ban, other states, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, have passed bills to lift their gay marriage bans. These states will join Iowa, Connecticut, and Massachusetts by allowing gay marriage. It is unclear whether or not the citizens of these states will accept the decisions made by their State. They will be able to vote for or against the bills in their next election. Until then, Lawrence same sex couples have the option to drive three and a half hours to Des Moines, Iowa to apply for a marriage license.

            "Iowa gave me hope," says Hirschfeld. "We're taking baby steps through all of this."

 

For a self-proclaimed pioneer of college radio, not a whole lot has been explored in the ways of technological advancements in the last 30 years at KJHK.  KU's college radio station has been broadcasting from the same location for over 33 years, but a major face-lift is in the works.  This fall, the station will be unveiling a slick new studio located in the Kansas Union that will, once again, place KJHK at the forefront of college radio excellence.

"The studio's going to be state-of-the-art, and one of the best studios available to a college radio station in the country," KJHK Program Director Nick Spacek says.

The old station in the Sudler Annex, which has been affectionately nicknamed "The Shack" by the staff, has been the home to KJHK since October 1975.  Now, three generations later, the entire studio will see a renovation unlike anything KJHK has ever been through before.  The new location, on the third floor of the Kansas Union, will span 1400 square feet including three production rooms, the entire music collection, and offices for KJHK staff members, the majority of which are student volunteers.  The cost is currently approaching half a million dollars.

The buzz around the staff at KJHK is unmistakable.  Everyone is looking forward to the upgrade.

"I'm super excited about the move. I'll be a little sad to lose the nostalgia that goes along with the shack, but the facilities will be new and in great condition. All the frustrating things that went along with the shack being as old as it is won't be an issue any more, and it'll be in a much more convenient location," KJHK News Director Abby Olcese says. 

            These frustrating things, as detailed by several DJs and staff members, include things like malfunctioning headphones, broken or missing chairs, phone-lines with little to no reception, and an unreliable internet connection. 

"Most people would be surprised at how low-tech and resourceful the station is day-to-day... if you saw the humble little studio where it all happens, you might say it's a miracle," KJHK Archive Director Peter Adany says.  All reasons the new studio will be a very welcomed change from the every day operations at "The Shack." 

            "Students that might not have had a chance to DJ before will now have all the advantages that might not have been available to them in our current location," Spacek says.

            A secondary service provided by the new location is an increased awareness of the experiences and learning opportunities KJHK provides students.  The Kansas Union is a place where all KU students will be able to see exactly what KJHK has to offer.

            "Students will have the opportunity to learn broadcasting on state-of-the-art equipment, all while working together in a highly visible campus hub within the Union," KJHK General Manager Tom Johnson explains.

            The station is much deserving of the upgrade, having brought in a station-record 15 awards at the annual Kansas Association of Broadcasting competition this year.  

They are also undertaking an ambitious digital archive project. Their vast array of over ten thousand compact discs and five thousand vinyl LPs will be digitally cataloged into an enormous digital audio archive.  The station plans to move all archived albums to a climate-controlled off-site storage facility to protect their historic and valuable audio collection.  For more information about the digital archive project, visit http://www.kjhk.org/fundraising/digitalarchive.shtml

"The biggest concerns with the digital archive are making sure that our archive interfaces well with the new equipment, that all data is stable and protected, and that DJs use a balance of digital content combined with use of CDs, vinyl, etc., so that the broadcast experience is still fairly organic, and not just like loading up an I-Tunes playlist," Johnson says.

Even the sports programming will see a huge benefit from the move.  Sports Director Sean Levine is most excited about the opportunity to simultaneously broadcast and record interviews and other segments.

"We do a lot of pre-produced stuff, as you can imagine, so the whole three studio setup really helps us because we can be doing a live sports talk show in one studio, bring in a guest to interview in another studio, and probably even be editing stuff like game day audio from our play by play calls in the third one.  It really opens up our options, and should make for a ridiculously more advanced presentation," Levine says.

Adany clarifies how else KJHK is on the cutting edge of the college radio scene.

            "I am excited to finally get the sound technological footing this station can use for the digital archive project, website development and also the general communication between DJs, staff and listeners. Very few other radio stations are as ambitiously digitizing and cataloguing their music, reviews, schedules and podcasts and so forth, and integrating with social network applications, and developing an online frontier as well as contributing to a local musical culture," Adany says.

            The studio should be up and running by September 2009 according to Johnson, and KJHK has already taken care of security issues surrounding their 24 hour broadcast schedule, considering that the Kansas Union is not currently open 24 hours a day, with electromagnetic ID cards for KJHK late-night DJs.  Other plans, such as a new reception area where guests can come take a tour of the studio, sign up to volunteer, and learn more about KJHK are all geared toward making the new studio a more interactive and visible experience.  For more information about the history of the radio station, visit http://www.kjhk.org/?q=node/about/history

          Clayton Perkins, Overland Park junior, realized early on in life that God wasn't for him.

          He recalls being in middle school when his sister's classmates would gather everyone up for Easter Sunday. Wanting to fit in with his peers, Perkins would tag along.

          "Up until that point I had just kind of had this causal acceptance like 'I guess I'm Christian. That's what everyone else is. That's how I am,'" he said.

He had always been into finding the answers to science, dinosaurs and evolution. But, there was one lingering question that he could never wrap his 14-year-old brain around - he didn't believe in the concept of a God.

          Perkins went up to his mother one day.

"I don't think I believe in a God," he said.

 She stared at him, but didn't hesitate in her response.

"Oh OK," she said.

          His family had never been avid church-goers either, which made his transition into atheism easy.

          The 21-year-old, who is president of the Society of Open-Minded Atheists and Agnostics (SOMA), isn't alone in his beliefs. Americans are slowly becoming less Christian.

Last March, The American Religious Identification Survey released a study. It stated an increase in Americans claiming themselves as non-believers or having "no-religion." This was only demographic group to increase in all fifty states.

The "nones," those who either claim no stated religious preference, atheist, or agnostic in the survey, increased from 14 million in 1990 to over 34 million in 2008. That's an increase from 8 percent to 15 percent of non-believers in the American population.

          The national statistics also reflect what's happening locally. In Kansas, the "nones" nearly doubled from 6 percent in 1990 to 11 percent in 2008.

 

Source: American Religious Identification Survey, Trinity College / New York Times

    

From the nationally recognized Secular Coalition for America to the University of Kansas' SOMA, non-believer organizations have been popping up all over the America.

Timothy Miller, KU professor of religious studies, has been studying American religious history and new religious movements for forty years.

Those who claim no religion are not all atheists or agnostics, but they are potential followers.

          "I think most people who are non-believers don't join organizations like that," Miller said. "They just don't do anything; don't participate."

          But, forming an organization allows non-believers the chance to meet like-minded individuals.  

          There are many reasons why people switch faiths or decide to leave religion altogether. For some, religion doesn't have all of the answers.

          Atheists are those who do not believe in the existence of a higher being. While agnostics are unsure and don't feel there is enough evidence to prove or disprove the existence of a higher being.

  

        "I think we live in a society that asks a lot of questions," Miller said. "For someone to say 'well it's true because I say it's true' that's not enough anymore." 

The "Faith in Flux: Changes in Religious Affiliation in the U.S." reports that half of American adults switch faiths at least once in their lifetime. The 2007 Pew Survey states that most people leave their childhood faith before age 24.

One key finding was that the unaffiliated population has increased the most in recent years. Two-thirds of former Catholics and half of former Protestants, who are now unaffiliated, say they left their childhood faith because they stopped believing in its teachings.

According to the survey, those who become unaffiliated had many other reasons for the change.

About half of those who responded to yes-or-no questions say they see religious people as "hypocritical, judgmental, or insincere."  Or they think religious organizations focus more on rules, money, and power and less on spirituality and truth. Some also believe that no single religion is completely true. Also, a small minority say modern science proves that religion is a superstition.

Another key finding was that not all of those who are unaffiliated "lack spirituality or religious behaviors."

          Having these assumptions can often lead to stereotypes.

          When Perkins became president of SOMA he was shocked when another student organization asked him to take a pro-abortion stance for a debate.

          "Why do you assume that all atheists are pro-choice?" he said.

          Perkins scratched his head and doubted whether any religious group had all the same opinions. This is just one of the many atheist stereotypes that Perkins is trying to overcome.

          "Atheism and agnosticism have often been associated with immoral behavior," Miller said. "There's been a long standing presumption among many people that religion is the source of morality."

          Miller said that, in general, Kansas is somewhat more conservative and religious compared to the nation as a whole.

          Joey Ralph, Hutchinson sophomore, is the vice president of SOMA. The self proclaimed atheist is friends with Perkins. They both understand what it's like to be part of a minority group and live in Kansas. It can be frightening for some to come out publicly as non-believers.

          "Hating a religion is the ultimate taboo," Ralph said.

          Perkins said this is the most common myth.

          "I think a lot of people think atheists really hate religion," Perkins said. "People think we can't hold moral lives because we don't have a religious book."

          But, both he and Perkins have found sanctuary in Lawrence.

          From their annual "Ask an Atheist" event to their "Soul Auction," becoming part of SOMA has helped them dispel myths about atheism and agnosticism. In fact, SOMA devotes their time to charity work, such as raising money for the Douglas County AIDS Project every year.

          "Atheists are people too," Ralph said.

          In recent years, best-selling authors, such as The God Delusion's Richard Dawkins and God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything's Christopher Hitchens, have helped represent non-believers in a more mainstream fashion.

          "America's becoming more tolerable," Ralph said. "I don't see it as a battle for atheism or agnosticism; I see this as a battle for everyone who has ever been oppressed."

          Despite the changing attitudes in America, non-believers still remain the minority group as they make up only 15 percent of the population.

          "I think we have a long way to go," Miller said. "I would like to see us tolerate all kinds of differences easily."

Organizations like SOMA have helped strengthen the non-believer movement. 

          But, you won't see SOMA protesting with banners and shouting against religion on the streets of Lawrence. Their goal isn't to convert people. They only want to see a change in the public's stereotype of atheists and agnostics.

         

When Jimmy Allen opened the letter with his freshman year housing assignment and saw McCollum Hall, it wasn't long before he had requested to be switched to Templin Hall.

             "I wanted an environment I could study in," said Allen, Prairie Village sophomore.

            Only three residence halls for traditional students had a grade point average over a 3.0 for the fall 2008 semester: Corbin Hall with 3.03, Templin with 3.36 and the scholarship halls with 3.37.  The fall 2008 GPA for the entire freshmen class was 2.635.

Templin and the scholarship halls have certain criteria for the students admitted to live there.  Templin requires residents to maintain a 3.25 grade point average.  Students interested in the scholarship halls prepare an additional application with essays and recommendation letters.

The Department of Student Housing said that putting these students together does put them at an advantage for grades.

"If you've got a group  of folks that have been brought together as scholars, chances are that's probably going to be a more scholarly environment just by the nature of their individual interests and backgrounds," Diana Robertson said.

Robertson is the director of student housing.  She said that the smaller populations of Templin and the scholarship halls also help raise the average.  Templin has 277 students and the 11 scholarship halls each have about 50 students living in each.

Lewis Hall, located on Daisy Hill with Templin, has fewer residents than Templin with a population of 272.  Lewis also has a lower GPA of 2.85.

"Another thing that's interesting about Templin is that people keep to themselves and are very quiet," Stephanie Jian said.  "It's a pretty insular community."

Jian, Lawrence freshman, chose to live in Templin because of its academic reputation.  She has found that meeting people is not as easy in Templin as the other residence halls and that Templin residents are not as social.

"My experience just going to dorms like McCollum is that you meet people a lot more openly just because everyone is really close together," Jian said.  "Your doors are open you see your neighbors all the time."

Located on Daisy Hill, McCollum Hall has the lowest GPA, 2.38, and the highest population, 887, of the residence halls.

Allen said he heard it had a reputation for being cramped, loud and a place for students without academic motivation.

"I didn't really want that," he said.  "[Templin] is a good study environment and just seems to attract the best students."

Jian said the choice between the academic and social environment is difficult for any student.  Being social could be fun, but it could also be a distraction.

Templin definitely veers away from distraction.  Jian didn't see her neighbors from across the hall until this April

"I think there's a trade-off," she said.  "If you want to be more social it would be good for you to be at McCollum."

Robertson said students with academic scholarships or in the honors program are given priority consideration for Templin.

The honors program does tip off its participants to what is offered at Templin and the scholarship halls.  Mark Daly, associate director for the honors program, also said it's important for freshmen to find something other than a roof over their heads plus the meal plan.

"But we do definitely bring up the scholarship halls are there and what they have to offer," Daly said.  "Or Templin with the GPA component."

Daly said that at one time the scholarship hall population was nearly 60% honors students, but is unsure what the numbers are now.

Kelsie Lange has lived in Hashinger Hall, McCollum and Watkins Scholarship Hall.  She sees a palpable difference between the type of students in the scholarship halls and residence halls.

"[The scholarship halls] are more geared toward motivated students, seeing as you have to write essays and get recommendations to get accepted," the Lawrence sophomore said. "Scholarship halls are for people who are more interested in academics, community, cooking and cleaning."

Robertson said that it's difficult to control the environment in residence halls.  The size and the variance of students create an unpredictable dynamic that changes floor to floor and hall to hall.

"Some students begin to find where they live to be the place that they can study; others don't study in that environment," Robertson said.

The Department of Student Housing  placed Academic Resource Centers  and Writers' Roosts in several of the dorms to give students a place to work and to encourage academic success.

"We want to balance [academics] with the residence halls being the place students where students can come to relax, unwind," Robertson said.  "It is their home."

The scholarship halls tout community living as one of their unique features.  This community feeling is because of their smaller population and one of the distinctions scholarship halls have from the residence halls.

"I think it's harder to just drop off the face of the earth in the scholarship halls than it is in the dorms, especially somewhere like McCollum where you could just be one of a hundred," Paul Spacek said.

Spacek, Topeka junior, has lived in the scholarship halls since his freshman year.  He said that putting dedicated students in a community setting is helpful for success, but that scholarship halls and Templin carry a reputation.

"I think some people have that stigma about honors dorms, that people think they're better," he said.

Daly said he saw this reputation also but that for students with higher academic standards opportunities like the scholarship halls and Templin are good to have available.

With such diverse students, diverse in the sense of level of preparedness and level of motivation, he said, different niches are necessary.

 "I think it's good that there is a place or a few buildings where students who really want to be able to take their studies a little more seriously than the average student at KU can go," Daly said.

Robertson said that the scholarship halls and Templin generally have more requests than space allows but don't keep records of the exact numbers of students turned away.

Daly said this "theme-based housing" may create groups among residents, but that is just part of human nature.

Allen appreciated that aspect of Templin.  Living there his freshman year was good for his grades.

"Those who are more scholarly or academically-geared end up living there," he said.

           To help those in need, the University is urging students and staff to donate unused and old items to a good cause. This year the University continues to promote the reuse of many items, including donated items, old office equipment, and unclaimed bikes and items left in the dormitories and on campus.

            As students begin moving out, they may be tempted to throw any unwanted items in the trash, but through the efforts of the Department of Student Housing and the Environmental Stewardship Program (ESP), there are more possibilities for students to donate these unwanted items. Throughout the residential dormitories and scholarship halls, the Department of Student Housing provides drop-off locations for these donations, including larger items such as bookshelves, appliances, carpets, and furniture. In addition, the ESP in conjunction with the Planet Aid organization provide yellow donation boxes around campus for people to donate clothing and shoes to a good cause. The donations received from these boxes are resold to support programs in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The items that are donated willingly through the residential dormitories are then donated to local nonprofit organizations, such as the Boys and Girls Club, the Habitat for Humanity Restore and school districts, along with many others.

            If any items are left unclaimed in the residential dormitories, the Department of Student House staff decides if those items can be donated or trashed, said Kip Grosshans, associate director for administration of the Department of Student Housing.

            Any unclaimed bicycles left near residential dormitories or scholarship halls are dealt with in a more detailed way. Because students are urged to register their bicycles at the beginning of the year, it is easier to find the owner by locating the serial number. If the owner cannot be located or the bicycle is not registered, the Department of Student Housing will contact KU Public Safety, who will record the serial number and store the bicycle for up to 90 days. If the bicycle is not claimed by then, KU Public Safety will call the Lawrence Public Works Department, who will contact the Lansing Correctional Facility. There they will recondition and refurbish the bicycles, and send them back to the University. The University will then distribute these bicycles free-of- charge to children in the Stouffer Place neighborhood.

            "This has been a positive program -- particularly since there's 'no purchase required' for the unclaimed bicycles, and since local public safety staff have been able to provide free helmets along with the bicycles," Grosshans said.

            Captain Schuyler Bailey said unclaimed bicycles removed from campus buildings by KU Facilities Operations are held by a local tow service and then sold. He also said the unclaimed property that is turned into them at KU Public Safety is not only from the residential dormitories, but also unclaimed items turned into lost and found locations on campus. These items are kept for 90 days as well, and then donated to local nonprofit organizations.

            The lost and found locations are helpful to students. "I found an iPod mini and turned it into the Underground's lost and found," said Lucas Lux, Topeka senior.

            One last effort to reuse and donate items is that of the Surplus Property Recycling Program. If University departments wish to obtain new furniture or office equipment, they can request their old items to be picked up by ESP to be added to the current surplus inventory. A photograph of the item is placed on the surplus's website at http://www.recycle.ku.edu/surplus.shtml. Then, other departments within the University can buy these items at the Surplus Property Warehouse on West Campus.

            The Surplus will accept furniture and office equipment, including bookcases, filling cabinets, chairs, desks, tables, sofas, binders and ink cartridges, along with many other items. The Surplus then sells the items back to the departments and nonprofits at a discounted price.

For example, according the website, an AV cart can be sold for $24, ink cartridges can be sold for $1, and white boards can be sold for $1 per square foot (http://www.recycle.ku.edu/surplus.shtml).

            "Those prices are based on condition, how many of these [items] we would have in stock . . . the original price of the item," said Celeste Hoins, administrative manager of the Environmental Stewardship Program.

            If an item is not brought within two weeks by other campus departments, the item will then be available to local nonprofit organizations for redistribution. Hoins said the Surplus is not open to the public because of University policies. The University is not allowed to sell items to the public. One way the public can obtain surplus items is by buying them from the nonprofit organizations.

            As the school year comes to a close, University officials hope for more reuse and donate more old and unclaimed items.

            "One of our core missions is to reduce waste on campus through source reduction," Hoins said.

After death, Facebook lives on.  For some, the site becomes an annoyance; for others, a free therapy session.  And for some people, the page is an eerie reminder.  As the members of this internet-savvy generation feel the immeasurable grief of losing friends too soon, they naturally turn to the Web. 

Alex Bernath is a junior at Kansas State University.  On Aug. 25, 2007, Bernath's good friend Justin Bullock shot himself in the head after a day of intense drug abuse.  Today, Bullock's Facebook and MySpace pages remain open to the public, but locked, as no one knows his passwords. 

"Every once in a while I still check it to see who's written on it," Bernath said.  "I think the best part about it is the ability to privately message him.  Since no one can ever get into his account, that stuff will always be between the person and Justin.  It's really therapeutic."

A few days ago, Bernath wrote, "Miss you, Justin, can't wait to kick it like old times," on Bullock's wall.  Bullock's MySpace page is littered with poems and goodbyes. 

"If people were misusing it, we would get in touch with Facebook and MySpace and shut down his pages immediately, but it's obviously helping people," said Andrew Gindlesberger, Bullock's lifelong friend.  "I sometimes will go back and click through his pictures and see the parties we've been to.  Those are good memories.  If we shut it down, all of that stuff would be lost forever."

Facebook and MySpace remain open indefinitely, despite years of inactivity.

"MySpace never deletes a profile for inactivity," the site says. "However, if a family requests that a profile be removed we will honor their request and remove the profile in question."

Junior Patrick Stacy lost his high school best friend Jonathan Unseld during his senior year.  Directly after his death, Unseld's high school girlfriend Sarah used her knowledge of Unseld's password to take control of his account.

"He battled cancer his whole life and it finally took him," Stacy said.  "He died a few weeks before his birthday and she would post, "Jonathan thanks you all for the birthday wishes." It's just really weird. He's not around to say that.  Seeing somebody who I was close to, who's gone, still communicating - I don't know.  I would rather see the site completely shut down."

Sarah updates Unseld's status at least a few times each year, with things like, "Jonathan wishes you a merry Christmas."  Despite his unease, Stacy understands the usefulness of keeping the site up as a memorial.

"Posting on his wall is like putting flowers on a grave," Stacy said.  "I've never written on it or sent him any messages, but I understand why people would.  Just for me personally, I don't need a Facebook page to remember him."

The death of Jason Wren shook the University this semester.  Now his sister, Katie Wren, has control of his Facebook account.

Only a few hours after his death, a separate memorial group called "In Loving Memory of Jason Wren" emerged on Facebook.  Within a few hours, over 600 students had joined the group.  The discussion board is filled with topics like favorite Jason memory and alcohol abuse.

In April, legacylocker.com hit the Web.  The site serves as an online will for a person's virtual accounts.  Before this site, methods to transfer the digital archive were archaic; usually, loved ones had to go through a lawyer.   Legacy Locker allows a person to choose which accounts go to which beneficiaries. 

Anyone can create a Legacy Locker account with three logins for free. Beyond that, the site offers a $30 annual account which allows a person to name unlimited beneficiaries and unlimited assets. In the event of a death, the site asks the user's attorney or friends to alert the site to their passing, with a number of checks and balances in place to ensure there are no false notifications.

"I guess it's a good thing, but at the same time, why not just make a note to these people?" Gindlesberger said.  "It seems to me that someone is just trying to make money."

When a college student dies, it is an unexpected tragedy.  Few 20-somethings consider making a will.  Even so, a locked Facebook or MySpace page can help those left behind to cope. 

"It's a good way to get in touch with family members or friends of the deceased and share memories about them," said psychology intern Lisa Casullo.  "And the good thing about the Facebook option is that you are able to disconnect from it at any time.  It's important to remember that everyone deals with grief differently."

Casullo said a person needs to be careful when taking over someone else's Facebook, though.  This can make it difficult to move on.

"I think it's a really hard balance for people, when you lose somebody, to figure out how to honor that person and keep their memory while not getting so engrossed with focusing on that loss that you can't move on in any way," Casullo said.

Two years after his friend's death, Gindlesberger understands the importance of moving on.

"I think that keeping the page open can be a good thing, but then again, I sometimes see people who write on there all the time, even years later," Gindlesberger said.  "I think you have to close some doors.  You have to move on - it's a good thing.  But he will never be forgotten.  I'm not worried about that, with or without a Facebook page."

 

            Alex Jorawsky didn't have to pay for his Daisy Hill parking pass second semester of his freshman year. But the free parking that spring ended up costing Jorawsky a lot more walking than he thought it would.

            Jorawsky's roommate at McCollum Hall dropped out over winter break, and gave his friend the rest of the year's worth of his parking. One day, while returning from class, Jorawsky saw a University parking attendant near his car. The attendant was waiting for the vehicle's owner because the parking pass Jorawsky's roommate had given him was stolen off another car.

"My car had a boot on it and the parking guy was there. Lights were flashing; it was kind of horrifying," Jorawsky said.

            The attendant took Jorawsky's parking pass and his information. He later received a phone call from his mother, who had gotten a letter from the University regarding the parking pass.

"They sent her a misconduct notice, and for the next year, I couldn't park on campus," Jorawsky said.

            Situations like this are not uncommon on campus. Students usually think only of misbehavior in college as cheating on quizzes and plagiarizing papers, but the University also has issues with a range of actions that formulate non-academic misconduct.

            "Oh, there's any number of things," Assistant Vice Provost Jane Tuttle said. "We get everything from hazing, one student in a fight with another student, students taking a parking permit from another student, students using services of the University without paying for them, giving false information to the University, using University documents falsely... the list goes on."

            Students that fail to follow the rules that are set in place by the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities are sometimes given other opportunities to fix their mistakes. Stipulations within the Code allow the University to place sanctions on guilty students that require visits with professors, community service, or fines.

            "She [Tuttle] can go as far as to bring them before a Student Conduct Review Board," University Police Captain Schuyler Bailey said. "Sometimes, when the instance requires it, there are expulsions."

            Students can offend the misconduct rules in three different ways. The University considers "offenses against persons" as the first type of non-academic misconduct. This can range from threatening a person, to sexual assaulting another person, to pulling a fire alarm.

            "The most significant issue we have with offenses against persons violations are typically harassing e-mails," Tuttle said. "These are pretty common."

            "Offenses against property" are another issue that University Police regularly see. This broad category includes identity theft on campus, misuse of fire prevention equipment, and most prominently, personal theft.

            "Theft accounts for over 1/3 of the reported crime on the KU campus," Bailey said. But the University isn't alone in this statistic. "I would probably say that most college campuses line up or fall out the same way we do as far as theft of unattended property being the primary crime."

            The final non-academic misconduct category relates to "offenses against the orderly process of the University." Under this stipulation, students are not allowed to provide false information to the University about themselves and may not forge use University documents for anything other than their intended use.

            But the biggest issue that offends the orderly process of the University relates to classroom etiquette.

            "If you're constantly disrupting your classes, we're going to have an issue because you're violating policy," Tuttle said. "We're here to learn, and that's what most of us want to do in the classroom."

            Luckily for Jorawsky, his roommate's stolen parking pass didn't cause him much grief other than having to walk to class. "I freaked out when it happened, but later, it was no big deal," Jorawsky said.

            Although expulsions are rare, Tuttle said they are a big deal, and often occur when students have had problems on campus before and don't stick to their assigned sanctions.

            "When students come see me, the most important thing I have to tell them is that the rules here at KU are exactly the same as they are in kindergarten," Tuttle said. "You have to be nice to people, you can't take other people's stuff, and you have to let people do their jobs."

     Planting flowers, trimming bushes, pruning shrubs, laying sod and picking up trash are all in a springtime day's work for Allen Mitchell.

     Mitchell is a supervisor of landscaping for Facilities Operations, the University of Kansas's landscaping department. His daily work begins at 6:30 a.m., just as the sun is beginning to shed light on the campus he and 33 others work so hard to clean and beautify.

     "We work hard all the time," Mitchell said. "Everything's gotta get done, but we take the top priority. Commencement's coming up, so that's what we're fixing up for now."

     On Sunday, May 17, several thousand students will take the traditional walk through the campanile, down the hill and into the stadium. On that day, Facilities Operations Landscaping Director Mike Lang wants to make sure that the campus leaves a lasting impression on the graduates as they say their goodbyes. This requires cleaning, decorating and maintaining 800 acres, which can be a lot of money (usually around $53 thousand) during tough economic times.

     "That's the crew's real issue, for us to make it look its best," Lang said. "The students who spend all their time here are graduating and all the families are in town, so it's very important."

     Steve Green, associate director of Facilities Operations, said that the landscaping department spent about $1.37 million on landscaping last year and will spend about the same this year. Green said lawn maintenance, which includes mowing and trimming, costs approximately $376 thousand per year, which is enough money to pay for the tuition of 109 in-state students or 41 out-of-state students. Green also said that all of the money spent on landscaping comes from state general funds.

     Lang said the money spent on landscaping is harder to come by than it used to be. To combat the weak economy, Facilities Operations made a few changes; the department ordered fewer annuals this year and the landscaping crew will instead plant longer-lasting flowers like roses or tulips. Lang said he normally spends about $14 thousand on annuals, and this year he only spent about $11 thousand. He also said that several flowerbeds were taken out, with the exception of those that have high visibility, such as the Chi Omega fountain, Strong Hall, Budig Hall and the KU Visitor Center.

     Green said a hiring freeze was also administered as a result of the budget cuts. There are two vacancies because of the freeze, and the Facilities Operations budget was cut by 4.1 percent during the current fiscal year.

     "We went through a period where budgets were stable, we had new revenue coming from the tuition increases, we were able to spend a little more on turf, we were able to put in some flower beds, put a little more color in campus, do some repairs and buy some equipment," Green said. "Now all that's kind of been thrown into reverse, and it's gotten harder again."

     Despite the cost of landscaping elements in an unstable economy, Mitchell said that landscaping has a profound affect on both residents and visitors who drive down Jayhawk Boulevard and past the trimmed hedges, blooming flowers and lawns of fresh green grass. He said alumni will return years after graduating and comment on how the campus is still as beautiful as the day they left.

     Landscaper Andy Peterson agreed. With his dirty gloves clasped tightly around a well-worn rake, he smiles at what he and the other landscapers have accomplished.

     "I think a pretty campus tells you a lot about the school; it helps a lot to have a pretty campus with stuff well-maintained instead of really ugly bushes," Peterson said.

     To maintain that beauty, landscapers labor in the snow and sun, creating a campus beautiful enough to brag about. And beauty isn't the only positive aspect of landscaping; Green said there are silver linings behind the cloud cast by an unstable economy.

     "The one good thing for us right now is fuel prices; we're paying $1.77 a gallon for the fuel that we buy and we were able to lock that in for a year," Green said. "The bad part is kind of living under this cloud of not knowing what the state's going to have to do to our funding to balance the budget. So we'll just adapt and survive. We'll do our best."

    After their first look at college textbook prices, most students balk at the cost. But common statements, such as "How could it be that much for just a few books?" and "The bookstore must make a killing," show how little consumers know about the textbook world.
    Students make assumptions about textbook buyback, stocking and pricing, which may or may not be true.

The Logic Behind Buyback
    Low buyback prices are one of the first things students complain about. But buyback can have benefits for both students and bookstores, said Mike Lickteig, Jayhawk Bookstore textbook manager.
    "It's an advantage for the student because a textbook is virtually the only product you can return when you're done with it," Lickteig said. "And typically, if you can get the best buyback price, it's a good value. For us, it's an easy way to acquire the book. We don't have to pay for shipping because here it is."
    Students can get the best value if they buy used books and then sell them back. Used books are priced at 75 percent of the new value. And at buyback, the bookstore pays 50 percent of that value. If students get the full buyback price, then they will have used the book for only 25 percent of the price it would cost to buy it new.
    But getting that prime buyback rate depends on whether the book is going to be used in a class the next semester.
    "That requires cooperation from the faculty member to readopt that same book," said Estella McCollum, KU Bookstore business manager. "We'll only buy books that professors tell us they're going to reuse."
    Bookstores pays less for books that won't be used again. When students get nothing for a book, it's usually because the book is "dead." Dead books usually have come out in a new edition or have outlived their average two-year life spans.
    Chris Armstrong, University Book Shop textbook manager, said the bookshop sells dead books to specialty bookstores for 50 cents to $1.
    "Basically, we're just getting rid of them," Armstrong said. "We're just recycling them."
    Steve Rhodes, KU Bookstore director, said buyback prices depend a lot on what books professors choose.
    "Publishers don't like it, but if professors use the same book for many semesters in a row, it's much better for the students," Rhodes said.



    But Annette Becker, Lenora sophomore, said even knowing the buyback logic doesn't help explain some anomalies.
    "This book I was trying to sell back, well these books, I know they were being used in a class again," Becker said. "I know they were being used in the same class this semester, and they didn't take them back. And I have no clue why."



Stocking Textbooks    
    Bookstores prefer to buy used textbooks, which they can get most easily through student buyback.
    "Our profit margins are better with used books than new books," Armstrong said.



    But if buyback generates too few used books, bookstores turn to textbook wholesalers to get a big enough stock.
    Once professors submit textbook choices, called adoptions, bookstores immediately start looking for used copies of the book.
    If textbook managers can't find a book used, they must purchase new books directly from publishers.
    "Once we determine what used books will be available, we will order from publishers, and that's usually the large part of the price," Lickteig said. "So we start the ordering process almost immediately."
    McCollum said the bookstores made educated guesses about class enrollment to figure out how many books to order.     
    Lickteig said he also considered the store's estimated market share, or how many enrolled students would actually shop there.
    "We will guess what we believe our share of the market to be," Lickteig said. "A lot of it is frankly guessing. I would like to say it's very structured and formulaic, but there is some guesswork to it."
    After purchasing a book, the bookstores mark up the price. The bookstores add between 1 cent and 4 cents per $1, depending on whether the book is new or used. That markup pays for employee, receiving and shipping costs. And because KU Bookstore is a non-profit, any other profits go to student activities, scholarships and campus resources.
    
What People Don't See
    Students often complain about price gouging, unavailable books, or bundled books, and they generally believe that the bookstore is at fault.
    If a book isn't available, it's probably because professors submitted their textbook adoptions late. Other reasons could be that a new edition is still going to print, the book is hard to acquire, or the book is out of print, McCollum said. But publishers, not the bookstores, ultimately decide the prices, she said.
    "It's a pricing game to keep the publishers in business, I'm thinking," McCollum said. "But they have a company to run, too, I guess."
    Students also encounter bundled or shrink-wrapped books that include both a textbook and a workbook. That often happens because publishing representatives suggest new editions and custom editions of books to professors.
    Lickteig said publishers and professors dictate what a bookstore sells and at what price. He said students think the bookstores only stock expensive products to turn a profit.
    "I think that they believe we play a larger role in determining what product is placed in their hands than we do," he said. "We have no say in what an instructor selects. I think the students believe we are benefiting by only selling them that as a package. And we have no say in it whatsoever."

   

Erin knew she was in trouble as soon as she saw the police officers walk into the bar. Erin, a Topeka sophomore who asked that her last name be omitted, was one of five underage girls drinking at Fatso's, 1016 Massachusetts Street, when two police officers asked for their identification.

Erin was using the ID of a woman three years older and 50 pounds heavier. Her ID also said she was 5 feet 1 inch tall, though she is actually 5 feet 3 inches. The police collected IDs from all of the girls and returned them to every girl except Erin. One of the officers began to quiz Erin over the information on her ID.

"He told me to stand up, so I stand up and I'm taller than the cop," Erin said. "You know, I'm like 5'8, because I'm really 5'3 and I have these heels on. So I'm just so much taller than he is. But he gave me my ID back and that was that."

Erin was one of many underage drinkers in Lawrence who con their way into bars using fake IDs or the IDs of older people.

Last year Lawrence charged 123 people with using fake IDs or the wrong ID, said Vicki Stanwix, Lawrence Court Administrator. Only eight of these cases were not alcohol related. This year 18 people have been charged, and only one charge was not related to alcohol, Stanwix said.

Minors who use false identification to obtain alcohol face legal consequences. The minor is usually charged with unlawful use of a driver's license or non-driver's identification card, said Karen Price, an Alcohol Beverage Control Enforcement Agent.

Price said the violation is a misdemeanor offense, and can vary in penalties from 100 hours of public service to a fine of up to $2500 or
confinement in jail for up to one year.

Erin got away with her offense. Sarah, Topeka junior who also asked her last name be omitted, was not so lucky.

Sarah and some work friends were at Wilde's Chateau 24, 2412 Iowa Street, when she was removed from the bar and written up for using false identification.

"I'd maybe been there for like 10 minutes when the police came up to me," Sarah said. "It makes me think maybe the manager pointed me out, but I don't know why he would do that, because he'd get in trouble too."

Charles Mee, one of the owners of the Chateau, said employees would not point underage drinkers out to the police because they don't let minors in on purpose. Bars caught serving underage drinkers face severe consequences, from fines to suspension days to losing their liquor licenses.

Dave Boulter, co-owner of the Chateau, said most patrons use driver's licenses as identification. Before someone enters the bar, the door worker checks the license with a black light to see the holograms embedded in licenses. Boulter said this is the best test to see if an ID is real because the holograms are hard to fake. He said his door workers had the most trouble with IDs that are real but do not belong to the people trying to use them.

"You're not really getting the exact picture of the person, especially when you're 20, you're 21, you're 22. You change," Boulter said. "You can change in a summer. You can lose weight, gain weight, change your hair. It depends on so many things."

Erin said she had never been questioned before the time at Fatso's.

"I've used blonde girls' IDs before," Erin said. "I've used IDs that say I'm 28."

The Chateau also takes a picture of the ID and a picture of the person using it as a defense against possible charges. Boulter said this was especially useful when the wrong person uses a real ID.

"So I look at it, and I look at your height and weight, the color of your eyes and things like that," Boulter said. "If it looks reasonably good, and a normal person would say, 'yeah, that's you,' and we have a picture of it, it's a defense."

Price said one of the best ways for bars owners to protect themselves is to make sure their employees are checking the IDs properly.

"[Businesses can] support employees and encourage them to slow down, take their time, and get it right the first time, regardless of how long they may be 'holding up the line' or 'inconveniencing' a customer," Price said.

Erin said she gets away with her fake IDs at some places because she knows a door worker, but that a lot of her success has to do with the attitude she takes.

"I think it has to do with just being confident when you use it," Erin said. "If you act like you're scared, and you act unsure, they're going to know. They can tell. But if you act confident like, 'Yeah, this is me. Go ahead and question me about it. Are you saying this isn't me?' They're not going to question you."

           Farmers across Kansas are trying to stay busy after recent rains brought planting to a stand still. Jessica Yunker, an employee at the Co-op grain elevator in Caldwell, Kan., said her family started spring-cleaning earlier this year as rainfall amounts added up and they were unable to work in the fields. Yunker's family and other farmers were once worried about drought and freezing temperatures at the start of the season, now they are worried about Mother Nature catching up.

            Freezing temperatures extended far into Southern Kansas causing damage to the winter wheat crop. In a report released by the National Agricultural Statistics Service, 43 percent of Kansas crops had experienced light to moderate freeze damage in mid-April. In the report released May 11, Kansas had reduced the freeze damage to 27 percent. Parts of the state impacted the most by the late freeze received cooler temperatures and moderate rainfall allowing the wheat to heal some of the damage caused.

            "In April, we were hit with a late freeze that even brought snow around to the area," said Yunker. "The heavy rain hasn't impacted Southern Kansas as much. The wheat is still green here and needs more rain to fully recover."

            The average rainfall for Kansas in April is 3.1 inches said the National Climate Prediction Center. This April, Kansas averaged more than 4 inches of rainfall. Parts of Kansas received locally heavier amounts in excess of 7 inches.

            "It's been a pretty rainy spring," said Richard McNulty, an atmospheric science lecturer at the University of Kansas. "It started raining fairly early and it's been tough to get any dry periods. I know if the farmers get too much rain, they can't get their crops planted."

            In the latest Kansas Crop Report issued by the NASS, only 48 percent of the corn crop has been planted. The five-year average reports that 76 percent is usually planted by this time. The report also said Kansas farmers have had only two workable field days in the past two weeks. During the same period last year, farmers had more than five days where fields were dry enough to work. Corn farmers in Kansas have been concerned over heavy rains after being unable to even plant crops this season.

            "Corn planting begins in April," Douglas County Extension Agent Bill Woods said. "Farmers are getting very nervous right now as they still have not been able to plant. Farmers who have not planted their corn crop by May 15 will lose one bushel for each day it is planted after that date."

            Kansas farmers are also concerned for the main crop of Kansas, wheat. Planting season for the winter wheat crop began in October of last year. The damage caused by flooding to the wheat crop is unknown. The Kansas Association of Wheat growers recently toured the state looking for damage caused by the late freeze and flooding. The association estimated an average yield of 40.8 bushels per acre by harvest season. The association also estimated a decrease of 17 million bushes of wheat this year. Kansas Association of Wheat Communications Specialist Bill Spiegel said he attributes the poor estimate to flooding from planting season last year.

            "Farmers who planted the winter wheat crop last fall did so extremely late," Spiegel said. "It was too wet to get out in the field, some even waited until November to plant. By that time, some farmers had given up on planting."

            Farmers have not stopped watching the skies even though the heavy rains have ceased. Harvesting season for the winter wheat crop beings in late June and early July when the skies dry up. Kansas farmers who have not had crops affected by heavy rains said they would be thankful for the rain then. The NASS weekly weather report said 42 percent of the state still has a surplus of topsoil moisture. Last year at this same time, only 25 percent of farms reported a surplus. Graduate student at Wichita State University Callie Bruey said she always helps at her parent's farm in Caldwell. While many farmers might be complaining about heavy rains, she believes they will be thankful by harvest season.

            "Crops down here haven't seen the heavy rains as much," Bruey said. "If we do get heavy rains, it really cuts back on field work. Hopefully when harvest season does roll around, the wheat won't be too wet to cut."

May 12 (LAWRENCE, Kan.) - In Chris Redford's ideal world, math should never get in the way of slaying dragons. 

Redford, Wellington, Kan., graduate student, was tired of pausing exciting games of Dungeons and Dragons just to calculate dice rolls. So he drew on his computer programming experience and wrote an application for his iPhone that crunched the numbers for him. The one thing it could not calculate was how it would affect his home life.

"It drove my girlfriend crazy that I was working on it all the time," Redford said. "It drove her crazy that I wasn't always mentally present, but once it got released, she was happy."

"She was pretty happy about the profit too," Redford said.

Redford's girlfriend and the significant others of iPhone developers around the world might be more willing to overlook those mental lapses after Apple announced the sale of the one billionth iPhone application on April 24.  Apple's App Store allows developers to sell their applications to the millions who own an iPhone or an iPod Touch.  Redford said that he only makes a handful of dollars a day off of his app but some of the most popular applications have earned their creators thousands. That business potential and the potential for creative applications have made the iPhone popular with developers and consumers alike and are reasons why many think the device can leave a lasting mark on mobile society.

Jason Stewart is a KU graduate student who developed an iPhone application for a British comic book distributor. Stewart thinks the iPhone is accelerating society's transition to primarily digitized content.

"Regardless of where they are, so long as they're getting a signal, people can go into that App Store and buy anything," Stewart said. "We're kind of getting away from the physical CDs and disks and going more to a digital format."

Stewart specifically noted gaming as one area where the iPhone has set a new precedent for downloadable content at an affordable price point. He said the way that the iPhone consolidates entertainment, utility and productivity into one mobile format is becoming more and more appealing to consumers who might not normally get excited about technology.

"It's going to make life a little more streamlined," Stewart said. "People may not be out there trying to download every game that's out there for the iPhone, but there may be that one or two apps that they really find useful."

Jonathan Kealing is counting on the iPhone's wide user base. Kealing is the online editor for The Lawrence Journal-World, which has a mobile Web site that is formatted specifically for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

"We recognize mobile as our future," Kealing said. "People will expect to get more and more kinds of content over time."

Kealing said The Journal-World is constantly trying to expand its mobile offerings. The newspaper currently offers a mobile edition and breaking-news text message alerts. It will soon integrate streaming video and advertising into its mobile site. Kealing said it is important for newspapers to have strong mobile presences on devices like the iPhone in order to stay viable.

"If people can make calls, listen to music, and surf the web on their phones, and that's not a space we're in, we'll quickly fall behind." Kealing said. "I think you'll see more people using this as a primary device than as a secondary device."

Logan Collins, Arma, Kan., junior, designed The University Daily Kansan's mobile Web site. Collins compared the shift to mobile journalism to the period when most newspapers were just starting to develop online Web sites. He said that the increased popularity of apps and mobile Web sites for the iPhone is just another step in the evolution of technology.

"It's bridging the gap and making mobile society grow," Collins said. "It's just a lot more people connected constantly and communicating constantly."

For Chris Redford, that communication is rewarding, but he said it can lead to headaches. Redford said reviewers of his dice-rolling application sometimes expect more features than he has the time or resources to develop. He thinks that as the platform continues to expand, he and other developers will find it easier to slay the dragons of discontent and utilize the mobile world in new and exciting ways.

"I see it getting better and better," Redford said. "I don't think they've yet tapped the potential of the current hardware and software system."

"It's a pretty bright future, I think," Redford said.

José had been walking in the desert for five days.

 

Then he fell and tore a ligament in his leg.  While he was sleeping, his guide and the rest of his group left him behind and continued their journey from Mexico to the United States.  With no water and only a small bag of cereal for food, José needed the food, water and medical attention that the No Mas Muertes volunteers provided when they found him.

 

Jessica Burger, Overland Park senior, was one of the volunteers in the group that found José.

 

"He just wanted to go home," Burger said.

 

Burger said when José told the group he did not want to continue his journey, they called an ambulance for him so he could receive treatment for his leg before being sent back to Mexico.  But instead of an ambulance, the border patrol came.

 

Burger and other students from the University have volunteered with No Mas Muertes (No More Deaths), a humanitarian aid organization based in Tucson, Ariz., during spring and winter breaks through the alternative break program.

 

Ben Berning, Shawnee senior and co-director of Alternative Breaks, said every year students involved in the alternative breaks program explore options for volunteer sites that might be interesting to students at the University.

 

"We always try to add at least two new sites per semester in order to keep interest in our program high," Berning said.  "This year No Mas Muertes was one of our new sites and was instantly one of our more popular ones."

 

Burger and another student who volunteered over spring break decided to return to Arizona this summer as volunteers.  Brenna Daldorph, Lawrence senior, is co-site leader with Burger for the summer alternative break program.  Ten students from the University will be volunteering with No Mas Muertes from Aug. 6 to Aug. 16.

 

Hundreds of people die each year while trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border through the Sonora Desert.  According to an April 1 press release from the Coalición de Derechos Humanos (Human Rights Coalition), 50 people have died in the desert since October 2008.

 

Erika Sandoval, Solomon graduate student, researches Latin American immigration.  She said during former President George W. Bush's administration, the Department of Homeland Security increased surveillance on parts of the border where people found it easiest to cross.

 

"Homeland Security doesn't think people will cross the desert, so they don't have surveillance there," Sandoval said.  "But people want to cross, so they'll look for other places to go.  The stricter the enforcements are, the more deaths there are along the border."

 

Daldorph said while she was volunteering with No Mas Muertes over spring break, it was the busiest week for desert crossings that No Mas Muertes had ever seen.

 

"It's life-changing to meet someone who's in a situation where they're trying to cross the desert," Daldorph said.  "You realize that government policy has forced them into a life-threatening situation."

 

Sandoval said crossing the desert is risky, but it is difficult for people in Mexico and countries such as Guatemala and Nicaragua to obtain visas. Some, especially indigenous people from central Mexican states, cannot afford them.  Sandoval said most migrants use family networks to obtain money for false documents or a coyote (human smuggler) to guide them through the desert.  If they have family or friends who are already in the U.S., they ask them for money to pay for the trip.

 

"If you want to get across, you're going to keep trying--three, four, however many times it takes--especially if it [the border] is splitting you between your children or husband or wife," Sandoval said.

 

Chelsea Brown, Olathe sophomore, participated in the program with No Mas Muertes in December 2008.

 

"Being in a No Mas Muertes camp means being able to look out of your tent in the morning and see the beautiful Sonoran desert, but knowing that somewhere in that same desert someone might be dying," Brown said.  "It's haunting."

 

Brown and Burger said it was rewarding to see water jugs that they had placed in the desert had been emptied.  For the volunteers, it meant that migrants struggling through the desert had a better chance of survival.  Daldorph said the volunteers kept records of how much of the water was gone from each part of the migrant trail that the jugs were placed on so they could keep track of which areas were more frequented.

Data source: Coalicion de Derechos Humanos