Page 4
V
WAW
V
V
THE GAZETTE, EMPORIA, KANSAS
“A Kansan who displays his wealth has hard sledding as an office seeker.”
WL W
V
V
V
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
“This town has a one-track mind, and right now it
is on Urban Renewal and nothing else.”
WILLIAM LINDSAY WHITE
WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE
TEG
VISUAL VOICES
William Allen White, 1895-1944
William Lindsay White, 1944-1973
Kathrine Klinkenberg White, 1973-1988
Christopher White Walker
Editor and Publisher
—
Ashley Knecht Walker
Editor
NEWSROOM
Brandy Lee Nance
Online and News Editor
—
Regina Denise Murphy
Features Editor
—
Barbara White Walker
Senior Editor
MANAGEMENT
Margie Sue McHaley
Production Manager
—
Heather Dale Wedel
Advertising Manager
—
Leann Marie Sanchez
Regional Publications
—
Paul David Walker
Publisher Emeritus
EDITORIAL
Common
reading lists
suggest diverse
book selections
In my life I have found the most interesting books
were presented to me in school.
My freshman year at K-State during orientation I
received a free copy of the book “Zeitoun” by Dave
Eggers. K-State has an organization called K-State
Book Network. Since 2010, each school year the committee selects one book to recommend that incoming
students read, although it is not required.
“It is designed to provide a common experience to
help first year students transition from high school
to college, grow academically and socially, and share
something with all other first year students,” said
KSNB Chair Tara Coleman.
Out of curiosity I picked up the book, started reading and it was great.
“Zeitoun” tells the true-life story of Abdulrahman
Zeitoun as he lived through Hurricane Katrina. A
business owner, he stayed in New Orleans to protect
his property and business, while his family evacuated
the city. In the aftermath of the storm he is mistaken
for a looter and is thrown into the American prison
system. Of course, you’ll have to read the book for
yourself to find out how things end but I was so
intrigued by the story I found myself frequently discussing it with other students and looking into other
books written by Eggers.
Eggers, who I would now call one of my favorite
authors, never would have come across my radar if
it had not been for the K-State Book Network. On
my own, I probably would not have picked up a nonfiction book.
In 2012 K-State’s book of the year was “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot.
The non-fiction story accounts the life of an African
American woman, Henrietta Lacks whose body
provided the first immortal cancer cells. The cells
called HeLa came from her cervical cancer tumor in
1951. The doctor took the cells without the consent
of the family — however at the time consent was not
required nor was it sought, according to an article by
Harriet Washington in Emerge Magazine. Although
her cells became the foundation of human permanent
cell lines, throughout the years little has been taught
about the woman who produced the cells.
I am currently reading “Ready Player One” by
Ernest Cline, K-State’s common read from 2013. In
this fiction book, Cline writes about life in the future
where the United States faces poverty at its worst
and the majority of people live life in an illusion of
the virtual world OASIS. Main character Wade Watts
devotes his life to solving the puzzles left behind by
the OASIS creator. Billionaire OSASIS creator, James
Halliday, left no will after his death but challenged
OASIS players to solve a series of riddles that lead to
the fortune … and the winner takes it all.
You can find K-State’s common reads here:
✦✦K-State: www.k-state.edu/ksbn/past.html
Cathryne Scharton
Reporter
GOT AN OPINION? Share your point of view with
our readers. Letters to The People Speak can be sent to
The Emporia Gazette, Drawer C, Emporia, KS 66801;
e-mailed to [email protected]; or faxed to
342-8108. Letters must be no longer than 300 words,
be signed and contain an address and daytime phone
number. The Gazette reserves the right to edit letters for
length, grammar, advertising, spelling and sense. The
Gazette does not publish poetry or letters solely about
personal religious beliefs.
THEN I LAUGHED
She’s my real mom
SYLAS K AND I talk about
adoption all the time. His
adoption, my adoption, how
he wants me to adopt him a
brown baby. We cover it all.
and she really loved me but
couldn’t take care of me so she
found my mom and knew she
would love me so I got my real
mom.
Girl: Oh, so you are like his
foster mom and then adopted
him?
Sylas: No, she is my real
mom. She came to the hospital
and I was a tiny, tiny baby and
she was so happy to be my mom
she did a happy dance. And she
cried a lot. She cried so much
that she couldn’t drive home
fast. She had stop driving because she was crying she was so
happy to have me.
At this point I was laughing
so hard I could hardly breathe.
It was hilarious to hear my
words coming out of his mouth.
I did have to stop driving that
day and call my sister because
I was bawling that I finally had
this precious little guy of my
own. He was totally retelling
the story I’ve told him count-
He has only heard his adoption story about 4,732 times in
his life. But as much as we talk
about adoption I’ve never heard
him answer adoption questions
or talk about adoption on his
own. Until this week …
I went to visit him at the
hospital yesterday and we were
playing outside. He desperately
wanted to introduce me to his
friends. So I met a couple boys
and, of course, they had no questions. Then he introduces me to
a girl that is probably about 9.
Girl: So are you his real mom?
Me: Yes I’m Sylas’ mom.
Girl: Yeah, but are you his
real mom?
Sylas: Yeah, she is my real
mom. Well I have my birth mom
less times.
As I laughed the little girl
looked right at me dead serious
and said, “that’s where he gets
that laugh from.”
I wanted to hug her, too! If
Sylas K gets his laugh from me
I could never be happier. I’ve
always wanted three things for
him:
^To be funny and find the
laughter in life.
^To be kind.
^To be bonded to his people.
I figure if you have those
three things in life you can’t go
wrong. No matter how tough
life gets, if you can laugh and be
kind and find support in those
that love you it will all work out
in the V