The University of Kansas needs a new name.?.?

This was funny: http://m.columbiatribune.com/news/2011/sep/15/osceola-urges-kansas-to-drop-jayhawk-name/

Yup, you have the basics of their argument right there. The University of Kansas should change its mascot to something else so as to assuage the feelings of the fine citizens of Osceola who still sting from the scars of the looting of their town in...1861. Additionally, Kansas and KU should not be capitalized because "neither is a proper name [n]or a proper place". 

Yes, it is true that in September of 1861 Kansas senator Jim Lane, a citizen of Lawrence, KS, brought with him a large group of men and sacked the town over two days.  Such was life on the border between the states of Kansas and Missouri after the Kansas / Nebraska Act of 1854 allowed popular sovereignty to decide whether the two territories would enter the Union as free states or slave states. This was one single incident in a string of bloody events that would see popular writer Horace Greeley to label the hotbed "Bleeding Kansas". Beginning in the mid 1850's and continuing through the end of the Civil War in 1865, the border between the two states was rife with turmoil and bloodshed. Events such as the Marais des Cygne Massacre, the Battle of Osawatomie, the Battle of Black Jack, the sacking of Osceola, and Quantrill's raid on Lawrence colored the fields and towns of Kansas and Missouri red with the blood of "Free Staters" and "Border Ruffians". At stake was whether Kansas and Nebraska would be free from slavery or would allow slavery in their states. Abolitionists from the East settled in Kansas to ensure that Kansas would be free. Border ruffians from Missouri felt that the Southern "way of life" (i.e., ability to keep slaves) was threatened and vowed to do what they could to assure that Kansas was a slave state including sending bands of thousands of border ruffians across the state line into Kansas to vote in Kansas elections often times at gunpoint. The resolution fails to tell the whole story either. Quantrill's raid on Lawrence was not the first such raid on Kansas' "Free State Fortress". In May of 1856 approximately 800 pro-slavery ruffians led by Sheriff Samuel Jones rode into Lawrence with guns and artillery and sacked the town. His men burned buildings, tossed printing presses into the Kaw River, and looted the town. My assertion here being that one cannot take two instances out of a decade long struggle and treat them as a microcosm for the whole era. One now has the benefit of 150 years passing and can look at the picture as a whole. Event after event in which people were killed, land was burned, towns looted, and property stolen occurred in this area and was a horror for citizens on both sides of the state line. 

The author of this resolution, Rick Reed, as stated in the article, "is a one-time Civil War re-enactor and member of the John T. Coffee Camp of the sons of Confederate Veterans, [and] said his real goal is to educate the people about the full story of the Civil War. 'Things are not always the way you have been taught'." Clearly there is a slant toward the "Confederate cause". I'm not writing to condemn Mr. Reed for this. His viewpoint is just that...his viewpoint. I would only challenge the people of Osceola to make certain that this is indeed a warranted resolution. Given that both sides of the state line fought for their own particular cause and both sides emerged from the war with blood stained hands. Wouldn't it be a sensible option to celebrate the history of the region and remember the fallen instead of taking a viewpoint which appears to want to revise history and gain some measure of moral high ground against a state which, let's face it, was fighting for the rights and freedoms of an enslaved group of people? Is the "Southern way of life" still held so dear to certain citizens of Missouri that they must continue to fight for it a century and a half after it ended? This is akin to the citizens of Boston still verbally sniping at the British for perceived injustice during the American Revolution.

The Civil War, one of the worst chapters in American history, is over. Kansas and Nebraska became free states, slavery was completely abolished, and the US Civil War ended in victory for the Union at a horrific price - in terms of bloodshed, the bloodiest period in US history. The "border war" now manifests itself on the court at Allen Field House and on the gridiron at Faurot Field. Old Mizzou has taken a historic beating on the basketball court at the hands of the University of Kansas who hold five National Championships in the sport. KU is one of the historic and storied programs in the nation. Mizzou has built an incredibly impressive program in the last several years on the football field and is one of the Big XII's finest. They recently kept KU from a potential national title shot in football and beat the Jayhawks senseless in the last couple of seasons. Both schools boast impressive academic credentials, nationally ranked programs, and are AAU member institutions. 

The hatred one group of fans may have for another is seen nationwide. I am a graduate of The University of Kansas (and really fail to see how I am in any way arrogant or uppity.?.? Ha!) and have rooted with all my soul against the "hated" Tigers but have difficulty seeing this resolution passed by Osceola for more than a petty stunt aimed at firing a shot, 150 years too late, at Lawrence. Osceola, you are relevant. Yours is a fine town with a rich history and a memory of horrible events which occurred a century and a half ago. Look at the event within the framework of the Civil War era not in the vein of disgruntled modern sports fans. As a region we should celebrate together the Civil War and marvel in what a rich history we share. In very few places in this nation are two states so inextricably linked as Kansas and Missouri. Let us now allow the brave men and women who fought and died in this area live on in our memories as reminders of what was truly the cradle of the Civil War and celebrate the great states that are Kansas and Missouri. 

Snowgasm 2011

Okay, okay. Yes it is snowing. REALLY snowing. I'm watching it snow and blow like mad. Going into my local HyVee grocery store yesterday, however, you would have thought the year was 1872 and the horse and buggy can't get out of the stable...not 2011. It always amuses me that people are in their local markets stocking up with enough food to last a month. Ummm...really, you WILL be able to leave your home before the spring thaw. One lady, I swear I am not making this up, was literally FILLING her basket with water bottles and soup. She wasn't an elderly lady who actually may not want to get out for a few days. This was a very fit, tanned, athletic looking girl. She'll certainly need to get out in the next day or two lest her orange-tinted tan begin to fade. I spoke with the store manager, Barry, who was running the express lane. He said that any time the "s-word" is mentioned people come rushing in droves.

It is going to be nasty until tomorrow morning, the sun will come out, it will still be cold, but the snow plows will be out and this will all be forgotten by tomorrow. My guess is the drivethrough at McDonalds will be doing gangbuster business by tomorrow afternoon. In other words, people WILL be able to get out again and Kansas City will resume business as normal.

It is a bit of an inconvenience, however. My wife was to come home today from Portland...flight cancelled. Well, that sucks. Hopefully she gets home tomorrow! In the meantime: light a fire, grab some Goldfish and a beer, and relax.

My cat is trying to kill me. No, seriously...

Let me preface this by saying that I'm not a huge fan of cats to begin with. Now before any of the "cat people" begin raining doo-doo on my head, please realize that I don't HATE them. I'm just a bit edgy around them. You know...uncomfortable: Like Glenn Beck at a civil rights rally. They are sneaky, cold little freaks that really don't seem to quite register the goings-on around them. You look at your cat and it just looks back at you with this "what the hell are YOU looking at" expression.


I'm a dog guy. I have two of them. Stanley, my black Labrador, is a semi-comatose lummox with a supernaturally loud bark (we think before we adopted him he must have accidentally swallowed a megaphone) who sleeps 23.5 hours a day awaking only to beg for food and, reluctantly, go outside and do his bid-ness. Jenson, the other pooch, is my little buddy. Cute little cattle dog mixture of...well...a lot of things, really. Hell, he's part yak as far as I know. He follows me everywhere and always looks at me like: "Hey, man! What do you say we go to the big white box (the fridge) and pull some food out??" See, they INTERACT with me. They don't try and kill me...like the cat.


Anyway, back to Janet the cat. This little beast truly did, many years ago, cross that fine line between "a little bit off" and "just freaking nuts." I call her The Loch Ness Monster: Rarely is she seen and when the occasional sighting occurs it's REALLY a big deal. The only photos of her look like they were taken by Abraham Zapruder. (Who? The guy who took the JFK assassination film. Try and keep up...) OK, maybe I'm taking a little artistic license because she's ALWAYS around when not wanted.


She may love my wife but Janet wants me dead. The evidence is overwhelming. First is through sleep deprivation: Many mornings at around 4:00am the little rodent leaps up on the bed and begins to meow like she's just won backstage passes at an  Elvis Costello concert. Loud meows that seem like she's barely able to breathe between each one. Trying to sleep through this torrent of cat sounds is like trying to sleep on a bicycle. The second, and this is her FAVORITE, is the fact that she is trying to get me to suffer an "accidental death" by plummeting down the stairs in my sleep-deprived state. It's a show down. She becomes James Bond Kitty trying to sneak up the stairs while I'm coming down. Upon reaching me she she hugs the wall desperately trying to make herself as small as possible as if I'm going to peel all of her fur off and make a hat out of it. The real challenge comes when I'm carrying boxes, laundry baskets, guitar amps (if I dropped THAT on her I'd need to take her to the vet in a pizza box)...you know; heavy stuff. Somehow she finds the nerve to confront me (devious little rat) and skitters around beneath my feet while I totter around like a big drunk idiot trying to avoid leaving an adidas imprint on her back. She knows it's extra points if she can make this happen while I'm walking down the steps. It's all I can do to not end up on my ass. The cat is trying to kill me, plain and simple. Why, I'll never know. Perhaps it doesn't like my cologne or maybe it's just a case of her being made of pure evil (Pronounced "E-VILL). Either way; look out, Janet, I'm watching you. I need you to know that I am judge and jury here. In short, nanny-nanny boo-boo.