KU Today & Tomorrow 2021

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When we combined KU Today and KU Basketball last year into KU Today & Tomorrow—in response to the global pandemic—I had hoped that the 2021 issues would be back to “normal” (whatever that word may mean these days). Unfortunately, that is not the case.

This year, we’re focusing on news from the University of Kansas, provided by the KU News Service and its cadre of talented writers.

We have articles with local and regional ties, such as the KU class producing an oral history of Kansas journalism, the recent study comparing crime rates in neighborhoods with abandoned houses vs. neighborhoods with demolished houses, a survey and data analysis hoping to help local firefighters and paramedics improve their sleep, and how many environmentalists view green burials.

In today’s increasingly electronic world, we bring you two books you will definitely want to have in your hands: “Words of a Feather,” commissioned by Humanities Kansas and edited by a KU professor, is a collection of poems inspired by the feathered friends of Kansas; the other is the accordion-style “Music Is …,” a children’s music book written by an award-winning KU lecturer and author. To go along with those books, learn about the talking dictionary produced to preserve the heritage and language of an indigenous Mexican community, and have fun with a book looking at the stereotypes of the “American Gold Digger.”

Since Covid-19 is never far from everyone’s mind, KU researchers are looking at safety concerns of in-house, long-term care providers during a pandemic, and at moving addiction recovery groups online during a time when more people need help.

Of course, research would not be complete without a few fun games meant to teach, inform, and improve our lives. Help improve your free-throw percentage when you read about a study linking a good breakfast with basketball shooting skills. And sharpen your flirting skills with a KU study that examines whether facial cues indicate interest.

And for you sports fans, check out the 2021–2022 schedules for KU’s men’s and women’s basketball programs, the Jayhawk football team, and the women’s volleyball team.

As you can see, we have something for everyone in this year’s issue. Let’s say goodbye to another year of uncertainty and look ahead at how we can make today’s world a better place for everyone. Stay safe and well.

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Jean Teller / EDITOR

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a letter

what’s inside

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THE HISTORY OF KANSAS JOURNALISM

Seven state news figures relate their journeys as community and rural journalists.

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PROJECT DEVELOPS TRILINGUAL DICTIONARY

Humanities Kansas grant aids research and implementation of a Me’phaa-Spanish-English translation tool.

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SAYING GOODBYE WITH ECO-FRIENDLY BURIALS

Study shows many older environmentalists have not thought about end-of-life plans and don’t know about green burials.

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BRINGING NATURE INDOORS

PHOTOGRAPH Philip T. Duncan

Nonprofit commissions chapbook, “Words of a Feather,” to spotlight Kansas poets talking about Kansas birds.

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THE STRAIN ON LONG-TERM CARE

KU research project will examine the safety and challenges of in-home services in the current pandemic and for the future.

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MUSIC IS … A GIFT Author designs both text and art for a book exhorting children to play music.

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NUTRITION PLUS STRENGTH EQUALS TOP PLAYERS

Two research studies show a good breakfast helps with shooting free throws, and lower-body strength points to professional potential.

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KU TODAY AND TOMORROW SPORTS SCHEDULES

Remaining games for the 2021–22 season for Women’s Volleyball Football, Women’s and Men’s Basketball.

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RESEARCH PROVES FLIRTING WORKS

Facial expressions and body language help men to know when a woman is interested, study shows.

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Recovery groups quickly move to online meetings during the pandemic.

on the cover

Sunrise over Jayhawk Boulevard.

Photograph courtesy The University of Kansas | Marketing Communications

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REACHING OUT FOR HELP

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DEMOLITIONS VS. CRIME

Study by KU professor shows razing abandoned houses doesn’t affect a neighborhood’s rate of illegal activity.

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WHAT’S A GOLD DIGGER?

New book examines the history and legal implications of the term made popular in the 1930s.

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Researchers analyze and interpret data surrounding sleep patterns and problems of local first responders.

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BOOST SLEEP, LESSEN STRESS

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PHOTOGRAPH Brendan Lynch, KU News Service

Boost Sleep, Lessen Stress

Researchers analyze and interpret data surrounding sleep patterns and problems of local first responders.

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team of investigators at the University of Kansas is collecting data and designing interventions to improve the quality of sleep for firefighters and paramedics in the Lawrence Douglas County FireMedical Department.

For these first responders, better sleep could improve their quality of life and boost their performance as they encounter life-and-death situations. The stressful

ARTICLE BY Brendan M. Lynch, KU News Service

work of responding to emergencies demands both physical stamina and quick decision making.

“Among the many responsibilities of their job, our EMTs and paramedics have to make drug calculations regardless of the time of day or night or situation, so sleep deprivation is a concern,” says Kevin Joles, division chief with LDCFM. “If somebody is sleep deprived and distracted when throwing a ladder against

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OPPOSITE Lawrence Fire Station No. 1.

staying awake at least once per week. Many reported environmental disturbances on the job, like sleeping areas that are too warm, as well as light and sound disturbances.

“Luckily, we no longer have communal bunk rooms,” Joles says. “But that doesn’t change the fact that firefighters may have interruptions to their sleep for numerous reasons. When a ladder truck goes out in the middle of the night — but the medic unit and rescue will stay in the firehouse — firefighters can hear responding firefighters preparing to leave, the sirens, garage doors closing, etc. Everyone hears the alarm — it’s startling to be woken up by emergency tones, but that happens throughout the night. LDCFM respond to about 13,000 calls in Lawrence and Douglas County on average every year.”

Moreover, first responders deal with the same sleep disorders that can plague anyone: Up to 81% are at risk for insomnia, while 23% are at risk for nightmare disorder.

“In January, I provided feedback to Chief Joles and Chief (Shaun) Coffey and other administration at the department,” Hamilton says. “We talked about where and how they could intervene with some of the firefighters or address some of the environmental sleep disturbances.”

Joles says the department would use the findings to make some changes to existing firehouses and could use them to inform the design of future facilities.

“Once Nancy has delivered the data to all of our members, we plan to create a plan in order to make positive changes in our firehouses to aid in better rest for our members,” Joles says. “Our members live here a third of their lives. They eat, train, and sleep in the stations.

LDCFM is going to continue to look to improving sleep quality in the firehouses. Some changes might include room-darkening shades or something as simple as adding ambient sound machines to sleeping quarters. It takes time to get things fixed. If money was no object, we would be able to fix this quickly, but unfortunately, the city budgeting process takes time.”

Hamilton’s team has applied for a grant from the Douglas County Community Foundation to push the project forward. She plans a small-sample, sleepdiary study using wrist-worn accelerometers to gather more precise data on sleep within the department.

Eventually, Hamilton plans to publish scholarship about the research.

She and Joles say they hope interventions for helping first responders get quality sleep in Lawrence and Douglas County could be exported to other departments across the country.

“We want to be well-rested and healthy so that we can serve the community,” Joles says.

KU

a house and they hit a power line, it could kill them or another firefighter.”

Recognizing the importance of sleep for job performance, the department conducted its own internal surveys led by firefighter paramedic Kathryn Beseth, who then contacted Nancy Hamilton, associate professor of social and behavioral sciences and psychology at KU. Seeing an opportunity to “answer the call” with community engaged scholarship, Hamilton agreed to perform data analysis, push forward the sleep research, and design interventions to improve sleep for LDCFM personnel.

“Kathryn took it upon herself to investigate her coworkers’ sleep problems and distributed a highly regarded questionnaire to many of the frontline personnel to ask them about their sleep problems,” Hamilton says. “She made a contact with me in summer of last year and asked if I would be interested in helping interpret the data and think about where to go forward from there. I was very interested and that began a conversation.”

Hamilton assembled a team at KU and analyzed responses about first responders’ sleep duration, quality, efficiency, onset latency, and disturbance, along with data on wake time, sleep medications, and daytime dysfunction.

Because firefighters and paramedics have sleeping quarters at the workplace, they experience a sleep environment different from most people, with less control over light, noise, and bedding — and with sleep often interrupted to rush to an emergency situation.

With KU graduate students Julia Russell, Westley Youngren, and Philip Huang, along with 10 undergraduates, Hamilton determined to combine the questionnaire data with anecdotal perspectives about sleep issues experienced within the department.

“We conducted a focus group between me and students in my lab, and Chief Joles and several frontline firefighters, about sleep problems they observed on the job among their co-workers,” Hamilton says. “We agreed on a two-phase project and started in November with an anonymous questionnaire that went out to the frontline personnel, where they reported on sleep problems related to sleep apnea, insomnia, nightmares, and environmental disturbances at the firehouses. We collected and analyzed those data to provide some interventions for people with sleep apnea, telling them if they were at risk, and where they could get treatment. We identified station-specific sleep problems and also identified people at risk for nightmare problems and insomnia problems.”

Data showed that around half of the respondents showed symptoms of sleep apnea and 30% had trouble

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Demolitions vs. Crime Study by KU professor shows razing abandoned houses doesn’t affect a neighborhood’s rate of illegal activity.

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ities across the country have sought ways to improve neighborhood safety and in recent years have pointed to demolishing abandoned housing as a way to achieve the goal. While millions of dollars have been spent on the efforts, a recent University of Kansas study found a program demolishing more than 500 abandoned residential properties in Kansas City, Missouri, did not significantly reduce nearby violent or property crime.

Since the housing foreclosure crisis of 2007–08, the number of abandoned homes across the country has rapidly increased, drawing attention to dilapidated and abandoned residential properties and their effect on neighborhoods, including elevated crime rates.

Hye-Sung Han, assistant professor of public affairs & administration at KU, conducted a study in which she examined 559 abandoned properties in KCMO along with crime rates in the surrounding area. She found the demolition did not lead to a reduction in nearby crime and that localized socioeconomic and housing characteristics were much stronger predictors of any change in crime rates.

ARTICLE BY Mike Krings, KU News Service

While scholars have long associated abandoned property and crime, there has been little research on whether demolishing abandoned properties reduces crime, even though police and city officials argue that demolition increases neighborhood safety and eases the burden on police by removing places for illegal activities.

“There is not much data out there on housing abandonment. Because of that, there aren’t many studies done, and those that are, are mostly about how abandonment affects the neighborhood housing market,” Han says. “But one other negative factor is crime and how it affects the quality of life … for those still living in neighborhoods with abandoned housing. It has been pretty much proven that there is more crime where there is more abandoned housing.”

Han says she decided to study the matter after hearing Kansas City’s former police chief in 2016 touting a $10 million plan to demolish 800 dilapidated, abandoned homes to help reduce crime. The city has more than 10,000 abandoned properties, though not all have been deemed dangerous. Han identified 559 properties that were demolished between 2012 and

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9 | TOM ORROW & TO DAY KU PHOTOGRAPH Wendelin Jacober/Pexels.com

2016. Crime near the properties was compared to crime near another abandoned home that was not demolished. Her study, co-written with Scott Helm of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, was published in the journal Housing Policy Debate in the special issue Neighborhood Crime Worldwide, published in September 2020.

“I found out the crime around a property that was demolished did not change,” Han says. “So, I looked at other explanations for crime going up or down. I think one of the reasons demolition doesn’t make a difference is once you demolish the abandoned property, you are left (with) a vacant lot. That is not necessarily better for neighborhood safety. In fact, I found that every single lot where the 559 properties were demolished was still vacant in 2020. Unkempt vacant lots can encourage crime.”

Han emphasizes the study is not intended to criticize city officials or police but rather to shed light on whether programs using taxpayer funding to address crime are effective. Demolition is expensive, often costing $8,000 to $10,000 per home. The study focused on Kansas City, but

similar demolition programs have taken place across the country, including cities such as Detroit, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore, some tearing down thousands of abandoned homes per year. One cannot assume the findings would be the same in other cities as they were in Kansas City, but Han says she feels similar results would be likely. There are differences among cities to consider, however, including types of properties being demolished, mostly single-family dwellings in Kansas City, while multiple-family rowhouses are more frequent (and more expensive) targets for the wrecking ball in other cities.

The findings show that demolition of abandoned homes did not reduce nearby crime, which Han says indicates policymakers should consider holistic approaches to improve neighborhood safety. The focus should be on improving neighborhood social and physical characteristics, particularly in urban neighborhoods with high housing abandonment.

“In most cases, the very first thing that should happen is to get these houses and properties occupied,” Han says. “So someone is at least living there and paying taxes, and so the city can provide more services.”

ABOVE Demolishing abandoned houses would seem to be a smart idea; research, however, shows razing structures doesn’t reduce crime in the area.

PHOTOGRAPHS (FROM TOP) COURTESY Buzz Merritt, Tom Throne

TOP Buzz Merritt pictured at his desk with two generations of newspaper technologies. BOTTOM In 1967, Tom Throne was among the photographers who took photos for the local schools’ publications.

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historical photographs, and produced podcasts to be niversity of Kansas students are putting the donated to the Kansas Historical Society and made finishing touches on an oral history of Kansas available to the public. journalism that will tell the story of seven notable “It is important to me to capture the history of Kansas news figures. The project will provide a community and regional journalism history, especially new perspective of how the profession has evolved over as so much of the field’s the last half-century history focuses on in middle America New York and urban while documenting areas,” Finneman says. the importance of “I like to document and community and rural maintain the history journalism. of journalism in the Teri Finneman, middle of the country, associate professor of and it is vital that we journalism at KU, is do it while longtime leading the class and journalists are still with has dedicated much of us. This class alone will her career to preserving have contributed over journalism history in 500 pages of Kansas the Heartland. She –student Carlos Peterson journalism history that has produced oral we will share with the histories of journalism Kansas Historical Society in both North and and Kansas Press Association.”

South Dakota, and she produced the documentary Class members have worked in groups to interview “Newspaper Pioneers: The Story of the North Dakota seven Kansas journalists about their career experiences.

Press.” Supported by a General Research Fund In consultation with the Kansas Press Association, grant from KU, she and her class have interviewed they selected Doug Anstaett, consultant, legislative journalists, documented their experiences, gathered

“One of the things I found out right away was that, given how rural Kansas is, you have to be multifaceted as a journalist.

It’s not as specialized as it is in larger places, so you have to be able to do a lot of things well.”

ARTICLE BY Mike Krings, KU News Service

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Seven state news figures relate their journeys as community and rural journalists.

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The History of Kansas Journalism

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lobbyist for KPA and longtime reporter, editor, and publisher; Linda Denning, editor and publisher of the Ellsworth County Independent-Reporter; John Hanna, Topeka correspondent for the Associated Press; Sharon Kessinger, former publisher and editor of the Marysville Advocate; Craig McNeal, former owner and publisher of the Council Grove Republican; Buzz Merritt, former editor of the Wichita Eagle; and Tom Throne, editor and general manager of the Junction City Daily Union, and editor and publisher of the McPherson Sentinel and Leavenworth Times.

In addition to preserving stories that might otherwise be lost, the students have learned about the evolution of the profession in Kansas and how it has changed as society has evolved over the years. Publishers shared stories about how technology changed the way they do their jobs as well as how treatment of women had improved over the years, both as employees and how they were represented in the pages of their newspapers.

Lessons about the changing business model were documented as well.

“We learned a lot about the way things are progressing now and how profit motives have changed,” says Sam Blaufuss, KU student. “The idea of journalism playing an important role in society, and not just as a

way to make a living, is something I’d like people my age to understand better.”

Understanding how the field has changed can also be an important lesson as journalism is in the midst of rapid change in everything from how it is gathered and presented to how it is consumed and paid for.

“In times like today when we are experiencing a lot of turmoil, it’s important to provide context that this is not the first time journalism has seen change and that we can take lessons from the past on how we can endure,” Finneman says.

Emma Bascom, a student involved in the history projects, agrees.

“It goes with the idea that those who forget history are doomed to repeat its mistakes,” she says. “I think it’s vital to preserve these first drafts of history.”

The journalists also provided insight into the different ways community journalists practice their craft every day and the important role they play in helping inform their readers about their local governments.

“One of the things I found out right away was that, given how rural Kansas is, you have to be multifaceted as a journalist. It’s not as specialized as it is in larger places, so you have to be able to do a lot of things well,” says student Carlos Peterson.

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PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY Teri Finneman

preserve history of several notable Kansas journalists for The class also will make a virtual presentation for future generations, she hopes the project has also helped the journalists who shared their stories and time for the instill an appreciation of community journalism for both project. While the pandemic made in-person interviews students and those who will experience their work. an impossibility, it did inspire the class to start a separate “What I hope they oral history project on take away is the how COVID-19 has importance and value changed journalism of community education. Students are journalism,” she says. “It conducting interviews is the heart of with fellow students, journalism in this faculty, graduate nation, and I don’t students, and building think that gets staff — from custodians emphasized enough. By to program supporters talking with these — on how the business community journalism of teaching journalism figures, it opens their changed with the onset minds to the of the coronavirus opportunity of working in 2020. in this part of the Finneman, who is ABOVE Teri Finneman’s journalism history class meets online. country and the impact executive producer of you can have here. And the podcast Journalism I think these people are important historical figures. This History (Journalism-History.org/podcast) and serves is about providing a more complete historical record of on the board of directors for the American Journalism our state, of journalism, and those who created it.”

Historians Association, says that as the class has helped

Lift the chorus ever onward, Crimson and the blue (and yellow, too) Hail to thee, our Alma Mater Hail to old KU.

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Project Develops Trilingual Dictionary Humanities Kansas grant aids research and implementation of a Méphaa-Spanish-English translation tool.

ARTICLE BY Rick Hellman, KU News Service

OPPOSITE (top) Gina Policarpo and Tamara Falicov discuss elements for the website. OPPOSITE (inset) Philip Duncan ABOVE Eutropia Rodriguez (left) gives a guest lecture in Philip Duncan’s capstone typology class, teaching some words in Méphaa.

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domains of words, like words for plants, for example, or family, and maybe those are the ones that they want to start with.

“In addition to that, we also want to do some audio or video recordings where people tell personal stories or histories, of whatever nature that they feel comfortable with, told in Méphaa. The entire resource, at the end of the day, would be trilingual; it would be in Méphaa, English and Spanish, and they can toggle between the languages, basically.”

“Este diccionario muestra el potencial que existe dentro de las humanidades digitales de llevar a cabo un trabajo interdiciplinario, colectivo y comunitario con el fin de preservar un lenguaje de herencia entre las generaciones de latinos en Lawrence con sus familaires en Guerrero, México,” Fernández says. [Translation to English: “This dictionary shows the potential that exists within the digital humanities to carry out interdisciplinary, collective and community work in order to preserve a language spoken among generations of Latinos in Lawrence with their families in Guerrero, Mexico.”]

The grant is for one year, and the hope is to complete the project in that time frame.

While he has studied the endangered language for over a decade, Duncan says it’s not yet fully known how Lawrence wound up with an immigrant community of Méphaa speakers from the mountainous, eastern part of Guerrero — the state extending inland from the Pacific Ocean beaches of Acapulco.

He says he’s excited about the project.

“It’s definitely a new thing that needs doing,” he says. “I think that, oftentimes in linguistics especially, there is this notion of focusing on where the community starts, and we don’t necessarily think about the value and authenticity of the communities in diaspora.

“A lot of people here are really interested but not connected to the same resources that they would have access to back home. And here now they’re taking the opportunity for us to build what we hope to be a truly collaborative, community-led project to support people.

It’s cool.”

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2022 PHOTOGRAPHS (FROM LEFT) Philip T. Duncan, Andy White/KU Marketing Communications, John Lowry

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y creating an online trilingual dictionary with a grant from Humanities Kansas (www.HumanitiesKansas. org) to the local Centro Hispano (Facebook: CentroHispano), applicants hope to help descendants of immigrants from the Mexican state of Guerrero preserve their heritage and maybe even speak to their grandparents back home in the indigenous language Méphaa.

That is Philip Duncan’s hope, anyway. The University of Kansas assistant teaching professor of linguistics serves as project director for the newly announced $3,500 grant titled “Preserving the Méphaa Language in Kansas: A Collaborative Online Dictionary.” Duncan is one of several collaborators on the project, which also includes Eutropia Rodriguez, community member and Méphaa speaker; Sylvia Fernández Quintanilla, a public and digital humanities postdoctoral fellow who serves as project consultant; Lydia Diebolt, executive director of Centro Hispano; and Tamara Falicov, associate dean of the KU’s College of Liberal Arts & Sciences and professor of film & media studies.

“This project will not only preserve important details about the Méphaa language but also make accessible personal narratives, histories, songs, and traditional texts from this community,” says Julie Mulvihill, Humanities Kansas executive director. “People in Lawrence and across Kansas will be able to learn more about the language and culture shared by fellow Kansans.”

Rodriguez has spoken Méphaa since she was young, and her parents never taught her Spanish at home. She says that it’s beautiful for Méphaa people to continue teaching and learning Méphaa “so that we don’t lose our culture.” She wants her “children to understand the importance of speaking many different languages, not just English and Spanish.”

Although a written glossary of Méphaa exists, Duncan says, there is nothing like the online “talking dictionary” they have proposed for this language – including not only written definitions of words in which the reader can “toggle back and forth” between English, Spanish, and Méphaa, but also audio files of native speakers pronouncing the Méphaa words, like áma, which translates as “bee” in English and “abeja” in Spanish.

There will also be an opportunity to record and include longer stories told by local Méphaa speakers, Duncan says.

It all springs from the immigrant community’s desire to preserve its heritage, Duncan says, and they aim to build on that energy.

“We’re first coordinating a meeting where people can give us input on the base of words they feel would be meaningful to start with,” Duncan says. “We’re going to be building a website together, with the community driving the content in the sense that maybe there’s certain

Saying Goodbye with Eco-Friendly Burials Study shows many older environmentalists have not thought about end-of-life plans and don’t know about green burials.

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raditional burial in a graveyard has environmental costs. Graves can take up valuable land, leak embalming chemicals, and involve nonbiodegradable materials like concrete, as well as the plastic and steel that make up many caskets. But the other mainstream option — cremation — releases dangerous chemicals and greenhouse gases into the environment.

ARTICLE BY Brendan Lynch, KU News Service

So, what’s an environmentalist to do when making plans for the end of life?

A new study from the University of Kansas in the journal Mortality (published online, January 2021; doi. org/10.1080/13576275.2021.1878121) details how older environmentalists consider death care and how likely they are to choose “green” burials and other eco-friendly options.

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OPPOSITE The Steelman Cemetery Co., and the Steelmantown Natural Cemetery, Steelmantown, New Jersey, have specialized in eco-friendly burials since 2007. ABOVE Paul Stock

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The researchers found more than half of their environmentally minded participants planned on eventual cremation.

Among those planning burials, there was “unequal knowledge about green burial as an option” even though Lawrence is at the vanguard of green burial in its municipal regulations and even boasts a green-burial section in the local cemetery, Oak Hill, where “metal, concrete, plastic, other synthetic materials, and/or stone may not be used for interment.”

“We heard different stories and different requests or thoughts of what they’re going to ask their loved ones to do with their bodies,” Stock says. “The introduction of green burials is very much — like a lot of their thoughts on where or how they wanted to be disposed of — about a sense of place. What struck us and what was so interesting was that Lawrence had, at least at the time, the only municipal-owned cemetery in the country that allowed green burials.”

Perhaps the varying answers given by participants is a result of a lack of conclusive evidence that no one form of handling human remains is decidedly more ecofriendly than another, as the issue has been little-studied.

“There’s not a clear line,” Stock says. “What really struck us was there’s not actually too much science done on comparing what’s more environmental.

There are really just one or two papers out there using common environmental measurements — whether it’s a carbon footprint or some other kind of way — to even give us technical measurements to compare. We essentially don’t have too much information to guide us as scientists, much less for older adults as to what is the greenest way of taking care of one’s remains.”

The investigators predict that as green burials gain in popularity, more options for green disposal of bodies will become commonly available, even ones that today seem eccentric.

“The mushroom suit — when we talk about that with our undergrads they’re usually sort of puzzled and intrigued,” Dennis says. “People wonder, ‘How does that work?’ But it’s an interesting one. Basically, you’re wrapped in material and then mushrooms grow out of you, and it cleans the toxins. There’s going to be more new and awesome ways to be buried that we haven’t even heard of yet.”

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/ PHOTOGRAPHS (FROM LEFT) COURTESY GreenBurialCouncil.org (2); Kelsey Kimberlin/KU Marketing Communications

“This article is specifically asking if older adult environmentalists consider how their bodies are going to be disposed as part of their environmental activism,” says lead author Paul Stock, associate professor of sociology and environmental studies at the University of Kansas.

In addition to a literature review on the ecological costs of various disposal methods, Stock and co-author Mary Kate Dennis of the University of Manitoba interviewed 20 people in Kansas. Participants were 60 years and older, engaged in environmental activities, and possessed spiritual values that guided their environmentalism.

“We were really surprised to see both answers — that yes, they’re planning on green burial, and no, it’s not even on their radar,” Stock says. “We were often the ones introducing these people that are so knowledgeable in so many areas of the environment and activism to green burial. We would ask them, ‘Do you want your body to be buried in a green burial?’ And many would say, ‘I don’t know what that is, can you tell me about it?’”

The researchers say awareness of green burials — where a body is placed into the soil to facilitate decomposition without durable caskets or concrete chambers — is growing for some older people. But the practice of green burial remains clouded by a funeral industry looking to make profits, and it can be influenced by considerations of family, and religious and cultural traditions, as well as the practices of institutions like the military that carry out funerals.

“The business of burial has shaped all of our ideas about how we can be buried,” Dennis says. “A lot of participants said they weren’t aware of green burial.

We’re sort of presented with two choices — you’re going to be put in the cemetery or cremated. Then, we start expanding to other options, but that’s only been in recent times. You see some of their desires, like, ‘I want to be put out on the land.’ Or you see in some of our green-burial narratives where people took it into their own hands. But you have to have be empowered to go against the grain, so I think for a lot of us we didn’t even know a green burial was possible, and pushback from society, capitalism, and the funeral industry has created a situation where we don’t even know the possibilities — some of the environmentalists in our study didn’t know there were laws that say they can be buried on their own land.”

Nonprofit commission’s chapbook, “Words of a Feather,” spotlights Kansas poets talking about Kansas birds.

ARTICLE BY Rick Hellman, KU News Service

ILLUSTRATION Courtesy Brad Sneed

Bringing Nature Indoors

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OPPOSITE This robin illustrates Megan Kaminski’s poem, “Under tree canopy,” in the new book “Words of a Feather.”

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“If I begin to recognize the birds that live in my surroundings, I begin to learn their names and their habits and understand how they live in relation to others. And we see their songs and presence as gifts, as an integral part of our own lives.”

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f you visited a state park this spring and summer, you way to reawaken our sense of wonder with the natural were offered a literary entrée into nature, as well — a world, and a sense of reverence, kindness, and love that free, illustrated book of poetry inspired by our fine results from seeing ourselves in relation with the birds feathered friends, the birds. we interact with daily.”

Last year, Humanities Kansas (www.

The author says while most people like both birds HumanitiesKansas.org) commissioned Megan Kaminski, and poetry, “they also are subjects that people often feel University of Kansas associate professor of English, to like they need specialized knowledge to appreciate ... and edit and co-write the chapbook “Words of a Feather,” I wanted to create access for people, to create an invitation illustrated by artist Brad Sneed (www.BradSneed.com). to enjoy poetry, and to interact with the birds in our lives The nonprofit organization has now printed 3,000 copies, and through the poems – to maybe eliminate some of half of which will be distributed to state parks, where a those perceived barriers.” copy will be placed in every cabin and welcome center.

One of the Kansas poets Kaminski engaged is Ignacio The Elizabeth Schultz Environmental Fund supported Carvajal, assistant professor in KU’s Department of the distribution of copies across Douglas County.

Spanish & Portuguese, whose untitled poem celebrates “Interest in the book has exceeded expectations, so the mockingbird in a combination of English, Spanish, we opened a competitive application for Kansas cultural and K‘iche’, the latter an Indigenous Central American organizations to receive copies,” says Leslie VonHolten, language that he teaches. director of grants and outreach at Humanities Kansas.

“I was really excited to have a poem from Ignacio “This is the first time Humanities Kansas has published especially given his long relationship with Kansas birds,” a poetry book like this. It’s Kaminski says, “and it was exciting to see the interest a delight when Ignacio out there for it.” (Visit the wrote a poem that engages website to find a copy or to across multiple languages download a PDF.) and perhaps is also an Kaminski has long invitation to the significant considered birds and other Spanish-speaking nonhuman animals and population of Kansas.” plants her companions, In keeping with the and she expresses that in theme of connection her poetry and research. and the book’s focus on That’s why VonHolten Kansas, Kaminski says, reached out to her with Sneed’s illustrations “are the idea for the project, all birds you can see in –poet Megan Kaminski Kaminski says. your backyard or down “Like many of us the street or in your during the pandemic lockdown, I think Leslie was neighborhood. They might provide an inspiration spending more time at home and outside,” Kaminski for learning more about the birds around us, but the says. “She came up with the idea of this book and chapbook is meant to be a start, not a complete survey.” thought of me and the work that I was doing to help The poems and illustrations give readers a chance people facilitate connections with and within our own to contemplate the birds and our relationship to them ecosystems ... and to help build practices that allow us at a slow pace. If people will take a moment to engage to see other-than-human animals as sentient beings, as in that contemplation, Kaminski says, they are likely to persons, worthy of our respect, reverence, and attention.” find it rewarding. It might even ultimately benefit the Kaminski says VonHolten asked her to include Emily environment, she says.

Dickinson’s famous “‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers,” “When we pay attention to and feel grateful for but left the rest to her. Kaminski decided she would write other beings in our life, that’s an opening for one poem and include one by the late, renowned nature reciprocity and care,” the poet says. “If I begin to poet Mary Oliver and one by the late, Kansas-based poet recognize the birds that live in my surroundings, I Ronald Johnson. Then she reached out to seven other begin to learn their names and their habits and living poets from Kansas or with Kansas connections and understand how they live in relation to others. And we asked them to contribute. see their songs and presence as gifts, as an integral “In setting parameters for poets, I focused on the part of our own lives. Then we start to think about idea of connection,” Kaminski says, “of seeing birds as a ‘What can I give back to support them?’”

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Research Proves Flirting Works Facial expressions and body language help men to know when a woman is interested, study shows.

“S

he was totally flirting with you,” my friend told me after the hosts left our table.

“No, she wasn’t. She was just being polite,” said another friend.

Misunderstandings about flirting can potentially result in awkwardness or even accusations of sexual harassment. How can we figure out what other people mean when they smile at us? Is there a unique, identifiable facial expression representing flirting — and if there is, what does it convey, and how effective is it?

Although flirting is mentioned a lot in the general media, and examples are everywhere, there is relatively little scientific work on the topic of flirting, and its underlying mechanisms and function.

Now, a new paper by researchers based at the University of Kansas has been published in the Journal of Sex Research (Vol. 58, No. 2, 2021; doi.org/10.1080/0022 4499.2020.1805583) examining if flirting has a particular facial cue effectively used by women to indicate interest in a man.

“There are very few scientific articles out there that have systematically studied this well-known phenomenon,” says Omri Gillath, professor of psychology at KU, who co-wrote the paper. “None of these studies have identified the flirting facial expression and tested its effects.”

Gillath’s collaborators were lead author Parnia HajMohamadi, a doctoral student in psychology at KU, and Erika Rosenberg of the University of California-Davis.

The researchers found internal states — such as being romantically or sexually interested in someone — can be conveyed to others nonverbally through facial expression.

In other words — flirting works.

“Across our six studies, we found most men were able to recognize a certain female facial expression as representing flirting,” Gillath says. “It has a unique

ARTICLE BY Brendan M. Lynch, KU News Service

morphology, and it’s different from expressions that have similar features — for example, smiling — but aren’t identified by men as flirting expression.”

In the studies, women — some professional actresses and some volunteers from the community — were asked either to spontaneously pose a flirting expression (similar to what they’d use at a bar to get attention from a potential mate) or to follow instructions based on existing anthropological literature for what researchers define as flirting.

The team found some women are more effective than others in effectively conveying a flirtatious facial cue, while some men are better at recognizing this cue. Beyond these individual differences, a few expressions were identified by most (if not all) men as flirting.

The researchers used the Facial Action Coding System (FACS) to classify the morphology of highly recognized flirtatious facial expressions. The coding showed the most effective flirting cues include a head turned to one side and tilted down slightly, a slight smile, and eyes turned forward toward the implied target.

After identifying these most recognized expressions of flirting, the researchers used them in experimental studies.

“Our findings support the role of flirtatious expression in communication and mating initiation,” Gillath says. “For the first time, not only were we able to isolate and identify the expressions that represent flirting, but we were also able to reveal their function — to activate associations related with relationships and sex.”

The new paper puts flirting in the same category as other well-studied emotions and provides researchers with tools to further study the functions of flirting. It can also give sometimes clueless men, like the one in the example above, a more concrete way to figure out if a woman is truly flirting.

PHOTOGRAPH Pexels.com/cottonbro

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY University of North Carolina Press

What’s a Gold Digger?

New book examines the history and legal implications of the term made popular in the 1930s.

K

anye West and Jamie Foxx sang, “She take my money when I’m in need / Yeah, she’s a triflin’ friend indeed / Oh, she’s a gold digger” in their chart-topping song “Gold Digger.”

Now a new book by Brian Donovan, University of Kansas professor of sociology, examines the history of that loaded term.

“American Gold Digger: Marriage, Money, and the Law from the Ziegfeld Follies to Anna Nicole Smith” (University of North Carolina Press, 2020; uncpress. org/book/9781469660288/american-gold-digger) showcases stories of greedy flapper-era chorus girls to reality TV-era money-grabbers. Yet it also reveals how these so-called gold diggers helped influence key aspects of society.

“People assume it’s a superfluous stereotype that has no real impact,” Donovan says.

“What I show in the book is it’s a construct with consequences. The image of the gold digger and the language of gold-digging became part of the way people talk about marriage law. And, in the case of Anna Nicole Smith, inheritance law. It’s not a frivolous stereotype; it influences how judges, juries, and politicians make sense of things like breach of promise law and alimony that have a real impact on people’s finances.”

While researching gold diggers – which he defines as “women who are in, or seek, romantic relationships

ARTICLE BY Jon Niccum, KU News Service

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acceptable way to preserve a woman’s reputation. And these gold diggers were cheapening it by launching frivolous breach of promise lawsuits.”

Donovan chose to include model Anna Nicole Smith in his book’s subtitle because he considers her the most well-known gold digger of the modern era.

“If I say the name Peggy Hopkins Joyce, no one knows who I’m talking about. But people of a certain age are familiar with Anna Nicole Smith because she was a world-renowned supermodel. And she was part of a groundbreaking movement within modeling in that she was a fullfigured model who hearkened back to Marilyn Monroe. Smith had this retro image that was very different from Kate Moss and the waiflike or ‘heroin chic’ models popular in the ’90s,” he says.

She also had her own reality TV series.

Smith, who died of a drug overdose in 2007, eventually became a constant fixture of tabloids and gossip shows after her marriage to 89-year-old billionaire J. Howard Marshall when she was just 27.

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primarily for financial gain” — Donovan was amazed no other books focused on this overall topic. He ran across biographies of Peggy Hopkins Joyce (an actress/model of the 1920s regarded as a pioneering target of the term), but there was no comprehensive history that made the connection between these individuals and actual laws.

Historically, the term became a household phrase during the 1930s when a push began to outlaw so-called “heart balm” statutes. These encompass four types of laws: seduction, criminal conversation, alienation of affection, and breach of promise, which is when a man promises to marry a woman and then reneges on that agreement.

“That last one was a suable offense and a very popular tort for most of the 19th century and into the 20th century,” Donovan says.

“I thought this was probably led by men who’d faced a breach of promise lawsuit. But the crusade against it was actually led by upper-class women who felt that these gold diggers were taking away what used to be an

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book’s coverage of seduction laws and the legal themes “People sense that Smith was a true gold digger in ‘American Gold Digger.’ However, I feel my new book because she married a man of ill health who was is more similar to my first one in how it looks at the extremely wealthy and quite a bit older than she was,” cultural sphere where a stereotype or trope has power in Donovan says. very real economic, legal, and material ways.”

“But what most don’t know is that — although her Donovan believes husband spent a lot of this latest project will money on her when he appeal to historians was alive — despite all because it offers a the headlines, she never unique understanding saw any of the millions of the history of of dollars at stake in the marriage. He also inheritance battle that thinks sociologists involved her stepson, E. will appreciate how Pierce Marshall.” it demonstrates the A faculty member potency of culture to at KU since 2001, shape law.

Donovan focuses “But I also hope it on gender, historical sociology, U.S. cultural Twentieth Century Fox publicity still of 1953’s “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.” acquires a wider audience,” he says, history, and sociology “because it’s a fascinating look at this image that begins of law. He is the author of the 2006 book “White Slave with chorus girl slang in the 1910s and then grows to Crusades: Race, Gender and Anti-vice Activism, 1887have this power to shape not just movies and magazine 1917” and 2016’s “Respectability on Trial: Sex Crimes in articles but our conversations about marriage and the New York City, 1900-1919.” financial stakes of relationships.”

He says, “There’s a connection between my second

Reaching Out for Help Recovery groups quickly move to on-line meetings during the pandemic.

ARTICLE BY Brendan M. Lynch, KU News Service

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OPPOSITE Researchers at the Cofrin Logan Center for Addiction Research and Treatment at the University of Kansas Life Span Institute have made SMART Recovery groups available via computer and telephone to the community in Douglas County. ABOVE Dr. Bruce Liese

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SMART Recovery central office, we returned online with funding for Zoom meetings from their office. And at first, we went through the same thing — meetings with just one person. But over the past months we’ve had upwards of 20 people in online meetings. So, it has grown again. SMART Recovery was very generous in providing us with a Zoom account. Once again, we can have as many meetings as the community needs. We have two active meetings in the community now: on Wednesdays and Fridays from 5 to 6:30 pm.”

As with in-person SMART Recovery meetings, the virtual meetings are led by volunteer facilitators drawn from the community and university, who receive online and live (Zoom) training.

“The SMART Recovery central office offers a facilitator training program online for people who are interested in facilitating these groups,” Liese says. “The online training involves at least 20 hours of watching videos, reading, and taking exams … so it’s a pretty massive endeavor. I took the online training right away and found it interesting and stimulating. It focuses on what works, what doesn’t work, while emphasizing the importance of interpersonal relationship skills.

The training teaches active listening so people know you’re hearing what they’re saying. It made sense to do this kind of training in the community.

SMART’s excellent online training enabled us to quickly develop these free groups as a safety net for those who need one.”

Soon after starting online meetings, Liese was determined to make meetings available to people who didn’t have the high-speed internet access needed for the Zoom platform. So, he extended the remote SMART Recovery meetings to the telephone as well, a service called SMARTline.

“I see up to 30 patients a week on Zoom as a faculty member and clinician in the Family Medicine Clinic at KU Medical Center,” he says. “But I have some patients who have no computers or no computer capabilities. I offer telephone visits to them. I thought we could do this for SMART Recovery. So, we came up with SMARTline: a service for anyone with a phone who is struggling with addiction. SMARTline, also based on SMART Recovery principles, is offered every single day of the week from 4 to 8 p.m. If you dial 785-550-0764 you will get to talk to a SMARTline volunteer.”

Liese’s co-author and collaborator in establishing SMART Recovery groups in Douglas County is project coordinator Corey Monley, at the Cofrin Logan Center for Addiction and Research Treatment.

KU

T

he COVID-19 pandemic has created new perils and challenges for people experiencing substance use disorders and addictive behaviors. Social distancing and isolation can trigger loneliness, anxiety, and depression. These circumstances have put some “recreational users” at risk for developing addictions and caused some in recovery from addictions to relapse.

At the same time, the pandemic has made it nearly impossible for mutual-help (e.g., AA, NA) recovery groups to gather in person, forcing a scramble to provide remote support through platforms like Zoom.

Now, researchers at the Cofrin Logan Center for Addiction Research and Treatment (Addiction.KU.edu) at the University of Kansas Life Span Institute (www.

Lifespan.KU.edu) have published their experience making SMART Recovery (www.SmartRecovery.org) groups available via computer and telephone to the community in Douglas County. Their paper appears this month in the peer-reviewed Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment (Vol. 120, January 2021; doi.org/10.1016/j.jsat.2020.108156) According to lead author Dr. Bruce Liese, professor of family medicine and psychiatry at the University of Kansas Medical Center and clinical director at the Cofrin Logan Center, his team established seven weekly in-person SMART Recovery group meetings at various community institutions prior to the pandemic. These meetings took place at the Lawrence Public Library, KU, the Douglas County jail, Mirror Inc. and the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center.

“It’s a free mutual help group, somewhat like a 12-step program, where people support and help each other,” Liese says. “The difference is that SMART Recovery is based on scientific principles and evidence – particularly evidence about addiction, treatment, what works, and what doesn’t work. It’s based on CognitiveBehavioral Therapy and readiness-to-change research.

I believed SMART Recovery would be perfect because, coming out of the university, our program had to be based on scientific evidence.”

Growth of the in-person meetings was slow at first, but soon KU researchers tallied 229 different participants who attended these groups for help with chemical and behavioral addictions ranging from addictions to alcohol, methamphetamine, cannabis, opioids, nicotine, and gambling.

But that all changed once the pandemic took hold in March last year.

“They had to close the library and other facilities where we were meeting,” Liese says. “Thanks to the

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“He is so vital to the process — we’ve had so many logistical demands that could never have been met without his hard work,” Liese says. “He’s the project coordinator and a volunteer. He runs the group on Fridays. He is the brightest, hardest-working person I’ve ever had in a position like this. He graduated from KU a couple of years ago. He’s applying to Ph.D. programs. This is his first publication, and his work in this area is very likely to be the foundation for the rest of his career.”

Liese says he is grateful to the Douglas County Community Foundation and the Douglas County Commission, which provided funding for SMART Recovery facilitator training and supervision. He also appreciates Lawrence Public Library and describes it as “a wonderful community partner.”

The library has donated meeting space for training and group meetings and treated group participants as valued guests.

Liese says he’s learned a lot from his experience running SMART Recovery groups during the pandemic. For example, he now fully understands that flexibility and ongoing communication with stakeholders, as well as with people in recovery, are keys to

sustaining a program during challenging times.

“We have learned that telehealth is effective for all kinds of psychological services,” he says. “But we found it was difficult, with agencies closed, to let people know where to find us. Back when somebody could pick up an information card at the library and slip it into their pocket, it made it a lot easier. We’ve also learned the importance of establishing advanced plans, and being light on your feet, ready for what’s needed instead of remaining stuck in what you’re used to doing. Getting everyone involved — stakeholders and the public — is gigantic. And continuing to recruit volunteers has been especially important during COVID.” People seeking help with substance use disorders and other behaviors can contact –Dr. Bruce Liese SMART Recovery in Douglas county by dialing 785-550-0764.

They can also reach out to Liese via email at bliese@kumc.edu.

A list of Zoom meetings can be found at www.

DouglasCountyKS.org/depts/administration/countynews/2020/12/17/smart-recovery-group-meetings-availabledouglas-county.

“Thanks to the SMART Recovery central office, we returned online with funding for Zoom meetings from their office. ... (They were) very generous in providing us with a Zoom account. Once again, we can have as many meetings as the community needs.”

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The Strain on Long-Term Care KU research project will examine the safety and challenges of in-home services in the current pandemic and for the future.

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emand for in-home long-term services and supports has been steadily growing in the United States in recent years. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased that need, but in-home services also increase the risk of COVID transmission. University of Kansas researchers will examine how the pandemic has challenged those who receive and provide the support, how they have adapted, and how in-home services can adjust, both to the current situation and for the future.

ARTICLE BY Mike Krings, KU News Service

KU researchers will conduct more than 100 indepth interviews and over 800 surveys with homebased long-term services and supports consumers, personal care attendants, family caregivers, and agency providers about safety measures, training, and delivery of services during the pandemic. The project is part of a series of grants from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, through the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, to explore

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OPPOSITE Caregiver with elderly patient. ABOVE (from top) Faculty members Carrie Wendel-Hummell, Tracey LaPierre, Danielle Olds.

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implement or enforce uniform safety practices. With demand almost certain to increase following the pandemic and as the population continues to age, the opportunity to help improve safety and services across a multi-tiered system is prime.

“This project will bring together the perspectives of home-care agencies, formal and informal caregivers, and consumers during the pandemic,” LaPierre says. “We’ll look at who makes the decisions for safety practices in home-based settings and how they are implemented. Businesses or agencies can say you need to wear a mask when you enter their establishment and can refuse you entry, but what happens when the services are provided in a home? Do individuals in the home have a say? Do the direct support workers going into the home have a say? How are these practices negotiated and enforced?”

While individuals receiving longterm support are often at risk due to health, advanced age, or disability, the project will examine challenges presented to the workforce as well.

“This is already a workforce in crisis. It’s commonly reported that these workers often leave the field because of low pay and poor benefits, including high rates of being uninsured,” WendelHummell says. “This makes it difficult for people to find reliable workers. We theorize the pandemic has only made these problems worse.”

Wendel-Hummell and LaPierre have both worked as personal-care attendants in various roles and have previously conducted research on Medicaid long-term services and supports prior to receiving the grant.

The researchers will share their findings with stakeholders throughout Kansas as well as Medicaid administrators and policymakers at the federal and state level and fellow researchers. The goal is not only to document what went right and wrong but to improve services and safety for consumers and safety for providers for the long term.

Researchers will not only examine safety and care at all levels of home-based service, but any differences that may occur in urban versus rural areas. They are currently recruiting participants, and anyone interested in taking part can contact the research team at homecarestudy@ku.edu.

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/ PHOTOGRAPHS (CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT) Adobe Stock/Ursula Page, Courtesy KU Marketing Communications (3)

essential questions about the delivery of health care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

KU’s 18-month, $646,620 grant project will examine a growing, yet unique service setting. As America’s population ages, demand for in-home services and supports for older adults and individuals with disabilities has grown. Such services cost less than long-term care facilities, and older adults and individuals with disabilities tend to prefer home-based care. The demand will almost certainly grow even more because of the pandemic due to increased disability and perception that at-home care is safer, says Carrie Wendel-Hummell, director of the Center for Research on Aging and Disability Options in KU’s School of Social Welfare and principal investigator of the grant. Tracey LaPierre, associate professor of sociology, and Danielle Olds, research assistant professor in the KU School of Nursing, are co-principal investigators. Topeka Independent Living Resource Center will partner in the research.

“With nursing homes and congregational settings being hot spots (for COVID-19 transmission), demand for home-based care supports is likely increasing. Many health-care services shifted to telehealth, but a lot of longterm supports, such as cooking or bathing and other personal care cannot be delivered via telehealth,” WendelHummell says. “But there is still concern about potential spread among these networks providing care in people’s homes. Home-based care is less regulated than institutional care and not always guided by a clear chain of command.”

The system of providing long-term care is also complex. A large percentage is funded by Medicaid, $196 billion in 2018, which is funded roughly half by the federal government and half by state governments.

Both have an incentive for services to be offered efficiently.

Individuals can hire their own personal care attendants or receive services through a home-care agency, but these workers do not have licensing requirements. Family and friends also provide a lot of this care, usually unpaid.

The research will examine how policies and safety measures were adapted during the pandemic. In-home care can provide for adaptability and individualization in services, but it can also make it difficult to

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Music Is … a Gift I

n the case of Stephen T. Johnson’s new children’s book, “Music Is ...” (Simon & Schuster, 2020; www.Amazon. com/Dance/dp/1416999507), form preceded function.

The idea for accordion-style pages was the crucial catalyst for Johnson’s thinking, according to the Caldecott Medal-winning lecturer in the University of Kansas School of Architecture & Design.

“There was another book idea that I worked on for years, and it was always in an accordion format,” Johnson says. “And through numerous permutations, my editor eventually said, ‘Your text and ideas sound more like a music book.’ What should a music book look like for young readers? And what does it need to say?

“Music transcends borders, cultures, politics, divisiveness, and age. Music is a bridge to joy and reflects our humanness and nourishes our souls, for we are

ARTICLE BY Rick Hellman, KU News Service

all connected through sounds, rhythm, and heart,“ he says. “I wanted to convey this idea, and the accordion format allowed for the book to exist in two parts. On the front side — illustrations accompanied by simple, onomatopoetic sound phrasing and narrative pastiches.

On the back side — condensed summations of each genre with related instruments and songs, musicians, and composers.”

Unfolded, the book stretches to over 23 feet.

Johnson is a musician as well as a highly accomplished visual artist. He played lead guitar in high school and college-age rock bands, including, he notes, KU’s 1982 Hashinger Hall Battle of the Bands. And yet he says the highly personal and expansive subject of music was a challenging task to put into words and art. That was so, even though he has written and illustrated several

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY Stephen T. Johnson

Author designs both text and art for a book exhorting children to play music.

previous children’s books like “A is for Art” and “My Little Red Fire Truck” (Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books, 2008 and 2009, respectively).

Johnson is a wide-ranging artist and designer, with important, large-scale public art credits using mosaics as well as books and gallery shows on his resume.

His 1996 Caldecott Honor book “Alphabet City” (Viking, 1995) was a wordless A-B-C book, capturing surprising letter forms in a sometimes gritty, photorealistic illustration style. It was named Best Illustrated Book of the Year by The New York Times and featured in its entirety on ABC-TV’s “Good Morning America.”

It’s far different from the impressionistic “Music Is ...”

“My working methodology is perhaps akin to being an actor/director/producer/screenwriter all at once — whatever the demands are to make the narrative come alive is the challenging and exciting aspect of creating children’s books.” Johnson says. “I have to adapt and change until my vision comes into focus. At times, it may require learning a completely new visual language.”

While he is arguably knowledgeable about both art and music, Johnson consulted with nearly two dozen other experts from academia and beyond on everything from narrowing it down to 10 genres of music to illustrate (blues vs. rhythm & blues; world music or not?) to which songs he would cite as representative.

The result of those consultations is mostly found on the back of each of the 10 two-page topical spreads, which Johnson styles as “Supplemental Material and Author’s Notes.” Each spread includes a short essay and a list of the typical instruments used in each form, and it cites a handful of prototypical songs and inspiring quotes by musicians.

The front of each genre spread is taken up by Johnson’s semi-abstract illustration, inspired by Joan Miro and 1950s jazz album covers paired with his onomatopoeic verbiage. A wavy orange line meanders through the entire book beginning as a musical note and ending as a lovely surprise that conceptually ties the whole idea together.

Ultimately, Johnson says, it’s designed as an introduction and appreciation of musical styles for 4- to 10-year-olds.

“Yet, I always write and design my books for all ages and aspire to give them a sense of timelessness,” Johnson says. “I believe there’s enough content here that makes it interesting to anyone at any age.”

For younger children, the author says, “It’s important to read the text out loud. Thus, one hopefully finds a musical cadence to which the reader can embellish and improvise by exaggerating the rhyming words and rhythms of my text. That’s when the individual’s style comes in. Perhaps what’s most rewarding to me is when a child uses my book as an impetus to explore new rhythms and musical styles, eventually creating something of their own, and then they play, play, play!”

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Nutrition Plus Strength Equals Top Players Two research studies show a good breakfast helps with shooting free throws, and lower-body strength points to professional potential.

ARTICLE BY Mike Krings, KU News Service

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“A lot of research has shown the connection between breakfast and diet quality, but as far as we know, none has looked at the relation between breakfast and basketball performance.”

TO DAY

“We chose shooting because you need high cognitive involvement to put the ball in the little orange bucket. You also need energy to physically push through,” Cabarkapa says. “We wanted to study a possible relationship between breakfast consumption and basketball shooting influenced by anticipated improvements in mental and physical performance. A lot of research has shown the connection between breakfast and diet quality, but as far as we know, none has looked at the relation between breakfast and basketball performance.”

Results showed that while nearly all shooting categories improved when participants had breakfast, Breakfast and Better Basketball Shooting free-throw percentage saw the highest difference. Others, Dimitrije Cabarkapa left his native Novi Sad, such as three-point attempts, overall shots made, and twoSerbia, to play basketball at James Madison University. point shot percentage had practically significant, though Never a fan of 6 a.m. workouts, he was discussing not statistically significant, improvements. However, those whether the provided breakfast helped performance close to the game know an additional made shot here and with his teammates. While he felt it was important, there can make a difference. others argued it either didn’t make a difference or “If you come to somebody and tell them you can made their games worse. When he came to KU to seek improve their shooting by 6%, any coach or player is going his doctorate in exercise to ask how,” Cabarkapa physiology, he decided says. “This shows having to take a more scientific breakfast is a simple way approach to the question. to do that. Even slightly Cabarkapa and improved shooting colleagues recruited a performance can influence cohort of 18 young players the outcome of a game.” with high-level basketball In addition to ability, some having played data on shooting professionally, some in performance, researchers the collegiate ranks, and collected information all with experience. Two on participants’ diets, groups were formed, one –researcher Dimitrije Cabarkapa including calories, of which had breakfast carbohydrates, protein, before taking part in and fat intake during shooting drills, while breakfast and non-breakfast another did not have an early meal before the same weeks. During the first session, subjects were provided drills. After one week, the groups switched, and the tests information on nutritional values of various foods and were repeated. Results showed a statistically significant encouraged to eat nutritionally balanced breakfasts. improvement in free-throw-shooting percentage and They logged information on their diets throughout the practically significant improvement in others. testing period, including food and liquids they consumed, The study, co-written with Andrew Fry, professor amounts, and how foods were prepared. of health, sport & exercise science and director of the Researchers say they hope to continue analyzing Jayhawk Athletic Performance Laboratory at KU, and the connections between breakfast and basketball Michael Deane and Jeremy Akers of James Madison performance. Cabarkapa, who regularly consumed University, was published in the journal Physical breakfast in his playing days, including when his James Education and Sport, Vol. 18, No. 2, 2020, page 311; doi.

Madison team competed in the NCAA tournament, org/10.22190/FUPES200515029C. says providing subjects food and testing over longer The participants took part in a week of drills in periods of time could reveal more about breakfast’s which they took a series of two-point and three-point influence on performance. Meanwhile, even small shots from designated spots on a basketball floor as improvements shown from this study suggest the value well as free throws. After each week of shooting after of nutrition in making another free throw or two per breakfast and without, their shooting performances game, or making several more shots over the course of were tabulated. a season.

KU

P

arents around the world have long told us that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

Soon, basketball coaches may join them.

Researchers at the University of Kansas have published a study showing that eating breakfast can improve a basketball player’s shooting performance, sometimes by significant margins. The study, along with one showing that lower body strength and power can predict professional basketball potential, is part of a larger body of work to better understand the science of what makes an elite athlete.

2022 / 2021 |

36 | TOM ORROW & TO DAY KU

“Athletes are always looking to improve performance.

Always looking for a competitive edge,” he says. “I always say there are three pillars of athletic performance: Strength and conditioning, nutrition, and sport psychology. People often talk about taking supplements or other ergogenic aids to improve performance but often forget about basic stuff like well-balanced diet.”

“Essentially we were having them do what’s called a speed squat,” Fry says. “When they hit the parallel position, they stood up as quickly as possible. A device measured the speed of the bar and their power. They did that at various weight loads, and we measured their average power.”

The results show that players who went on to play in the NBA had significantly higher performance in Strength, Power and Professional Potential all variables, including one-repetition squat strength Professional scouts examine the aforementioned and maximum squat bar power, than those who pillar of strength and conditioning when evaluating played in other professional leagues. Those players had which players might succeed in the ranks of higher scores, in turn, than those who did not play professional basketball. Yet, there is still disagreement professionally. When adjusted for body weight, there was among players, trainers, and coaches as to exactly no difference between groups observed, meaning body which types of strength are most beneficial to players. size was also an important factor.

Lower-body strength that enables players to jump The findings show that high levels of lower-body higher, run faster, and make quick lateral movements is strength and power are instrumental to success in often analyzed by scouts, professional basketball. so KU researchers decided While scouts and general to measure performance managers do consider in the area among high strength when deciding level players to see if which players to draft or those who went on to play sign, the NBA combine professionally indeed had does not measure barbell greater performance in squat strength or similar that area. measures when evaluating After analyzing players, the authors say. The seven years of data from findings add to a large body Division 1 men’s college of literature showing strong basketball players, those relationships between who played professionally weight room performance in the NBA, European, or and sport performance. other professional leagues “In essence, the more consistently scored higher power you can generate, the –Professor Andrew Fry in lower body strength and greater chance you had of power measures. going pro. The conclusion Cabarkapa and of our study is lower-body Fry co-wrote the study with Michael Lane of Eastern strength and power are highly related to a greater level of Kentucky University; Andrea Hudy of the University play,” Cabarkapa says. of Texas and former KU strength and conditioning The researchers emphasize that the findings should coach; Patricia Dietz of Wartburg College; Glenn Cain not be taken to mean basketball players should lift as of Rutgers University; and Matthew Andre of George much weight as they possibly can in order to go pro, but Mason University. The study was published in the that coaches and trainers should develop programs to journal Sports Science and Health, June 2020; doi. optimize players’ lower-body strength and power in order org/10.7251/JIT2001010C. to both improve their performance and help their future Researchers graphed the power and speed of prospects. In turn, professional talent evaluators would do players using digital devices and 3D cameras while well to consider this specific area of strength and power as weight training. Over the course of seven years, a variable in making decisions on players’ potential. nearly three dozen of the participants finished playing “The question is not ‘what’s the maximum amount of college basketball as “one and done” top-level NBA strength and power I can get’ but ‘what’s the optimum draft choices, while some were draftees after two or amount of strength and power for a basketball player,’” Fry more years, some graduated and played professionally, says. “It’s not the only factor, but there is certainly a and others completed their eligibility and did not play relationship between lower body strength and power and professionally. on-the-court performance.”

“The question is not ‘what’s the maximum amount of strength and power I can get’ but ‘what’s the optimum amount of strength and power for a basketball player.’

It’s not the only factor, but there is certainly a relationship between ... power and ... performance.”

2022 / 2021 |

Friday, October 29, 6:30 p.m.

At home vs. Oklahoma, Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena, Lawrence

Saturday, October 23, TBD At home vs. Oklahoma, David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium, Lawrence (TBD)

Saturday, October 30, 4 p.m.

At home vs. Oklahoma, Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena, Lawrence

Saturday, October 30, TBD At Oklahoma State, Boone Pickens Stadium, Stillwater, Oklahoma (TBD)

Thursday, November 4, 4 p.m.

At West Virginia, WVU Coliseum, Morgantown, West Virginia

Saturday, November 6, TBD At home vs Kansas State, David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium, Lawrence (TBD)

Friday, November 5, 4 p.m.

At West Virginia, WVU Coliseum, Morgantown, West Virginia Friday, November 19, 6:30 p.m.

At home vs. Texas Christian, Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena, Lawrence Saturday, November 20, 6:30 p.m.

At home vs. Texas Christian, Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena, Lawrence Friday, November 26, 6:30 p.m.

At Kansas State (Dillons Sunflower Showdown), Bramlage Coliseum, Manhattan, Kansas Saturday, November 27, 6:30 p.m.

At Kansas State (Dillons Sunflower Showdown), Bramlage Coliseum, Manhattan, Kansas

Saturday, November 13, TBD At Texas, Darrell K Royal Stadium, Austin, Texas (TBD) Saturday, November 20, TBD At Texas Christian, Amon G. Carter Stadium, Fort Worth, Texas (TBD) Saturday, November 27, TBD At home vs. West Virginia, David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium, Lawrence (TBD)

BASKETBALL, MEN’S

Wednesday, November 3, TBD At home vs. Emporia State (exhibition), Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence (TBD) Tuesday, November 9, TBD Vs. Michigan State (State Farm Champions Classic), Madison Square Garden, New York, New York (TBD)

Friday, November 26, TBD Vs. Dayton/Miami (ESPN Events Invitational), HP Field House, Orlando, Florida (TBD) Sunday, November 28, TBD Vs. Alabama/Belmont/Drake/Iona (ESPN Events Invitational), HP Field House, Orlando, Florida (TBD) Friday, December 3, TBD At St. John’s (Big EAST-Big 12 Battle), UBS Arena, Elmont, New York (TBD) Tuesday, December 7, TBD Vs. UTEP, T-Mobile Center, Kansas City, Missouri (TBD) Saturday, December 11, TBD At home vs. Missouri, Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence (TBD) Saturday, December 18, TBD At home vs. Stephen F. Austin, Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence (TBD) Tuesday, December 21, TBD At Colorado, CU Events Center, Boulder, Colorado (TBD) Wednesday, December 29, TBD At home vs. Harvard, Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence (TBD) Saturday, January 29, TBD At home vs. Kentucky (Big 12/SEC Challenge), Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence (TBD)

Friday, November 12, TBD At home vs Tarleton State, Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence (TBD)

PHILLIPS 66 BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP Wednesday, March 9, First Round, TBD, T-Mobile Center, Kansas City, Missouri (ESPN Networks)

Thursday, November 18, TBD At home vs. Stony Brook, Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence (TBD)

Thursday, March 10, Quarterfinals, TBD, T-Mobile Center, Kansas City, Missouri (ESPN Networks)

TOM ORROW

|

37 Friday, October 15, 5 p.m.

At Baylor, Ferrell Center, Waco, Texas

Saturday, October 16, TBD At home vs. Texas Tech, David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium, Lawrence (TBD)

Thursday, November 25, TBD Vs. North Texas (ESPN Events Invitational), HP Field House, Orlando, Florida (TBD)

&

Thursday, October 14, 6 p.m.

At Baylor, Ferrell Center, Waco, Texas

FOOTBALL (remaining)

TO DAY

VOLLEYBALL, WOMEN’S (remaining)

KU

SPORTS SCHEDULES

2022 / |

2021

Saturday, March 12, Final, TBD, T-Mobile Center, Kansas City, Missouri (ESPN Networks) NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP (televised on CBS, TBS, truTV, and TNT) Sunday, March 13, Selection Sunday, TBD Tuesday-Wednesday, March 15-16, First Four, TBD, UD Arena, Dayton, Ohio

KU

TO DAY

&

TOM ORROW

|

38

Friday, March 11, Semifinals, TBD, T-Mobile Center, Kansas City, Missouri (ESPN Networks)

Thursday/Saturday, March 17/19, First/Second Rounds, TBD, KeyBank Center, Buffalo, New York; Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana; Dickie Arena, Fort Worth, Texas; Moda Center, Portland, Oregon Friday/Sunday, March 18/20, First/Second Rounds, TBD, Bon Secours Wellness Arena, Greenville, South Carolina; Wisconsin Entertainment & Sports Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Veijas Arena, San Diego, California Thursday/Saturday, March 24/26, Sweet 16/Elite Eight, TBD, AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas; Chase Center, San Francisco, California Friday/Sunday, March 25/27, Sweet 16/Elite Eight, TBD, United Center, Chicago, Illinois; Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Saturday, April 2, Final Four, Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana Monday, April 4, National Championship, Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana

BASKETBALL, WOMEN’S

Wednesday, November 10, 7 p.m.

At home vs. SIU-Edwardsville, Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence Sunday, November 14, 2 p.m.

At home vs. Tennessee State, Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence Wednesday, November 17, 7 p.m.

At home vs. Omaha, Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence Sunday, November 21, 2 p.m.

At home vs. Saint Louis, Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence Friday, November 26, 3:30 p.m.

Vs. Tennessee (South Point Shootout), Las Vegas, Nevada Saturday, November 27, 8 p.m.

Vs. University of Texas at El Paso (South Point Shootout), Las Vegas, Nevada Wednesday, December 1, 7 p.m.

At home vs. University of TexasRio Grande Valley, Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence Sunday, December 5, 2 p.m.

At home vs. Vanderbilt, Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence

Wednesday, January 12, TBD Vs. Texas, Austin, Texas Sunday, January 16, TBD At home vs. Baylor, Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence Wednesday, January 19, TBD Vs. Kansas State, Manhattan, Kansas Saturday, January 22, TBD At home vs. Texas Tech, Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence Wednesday, January 26, TBD Vs. Iowa State, Ames, Iowa Saturday, January 29, TBD Vs. Oklahoma State, Stillwater, Oklahoma Saturday, February 5, TBD At home vs. TCU, Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence Wednesday, February 9, TBD Vs. West Virginia, Morgantown, West Virginia Saturday, February 12, TBD At home vs. Kansas State, Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence Wednesday, February 16, TBD At home vs. Oklahoma State, Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence

Sunday, December 12, 2 p.m.

At home vs. Santa Clara, Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence

Saturday, February 19, TBD Vs. Texas Tech, Lubbock, Texas

Tuesday, December 21, TBD At Wichita State vs. Wichita State, Wichita, Kansas

Wednesday, February 23, TBD At home vs. Iowa State, Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence

Tuesday, December 28, TBD At home vs. Northwestern State, Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence

Saturday, February 26, TBD Vs. Baylor, Waco, Texas

Sunday, January 2, TBD At home vs. TCU, Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence Wednesday, January 5, TBD At home vs. West Virginia, Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence Saturday, January 8, TBD At home vs. Oklahoma, Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence

Wednesday, March 2, TBD At home vs. Texas, Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence Saturday, March 5, TBD Vs. Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma

Adam M. Adam M.MD Goodyear, Goodyear, Adam M.MD Goodyear, MD

Emily Emily DO Heronemus, Heronemus, Emily DO Heronemus, DO

James C. James MD C. Huston, Huston, James MD C. Huston, MD

Neal D. Neal D.MD Lintecum, Lintecum, Neal D.MD Lintecum, MD

Stephan Stephan Prô, MD Prô, MD Stephan Prô, MD

Luis D. Luis D.MD Salazar, Salazar, Luis D.MD Salazar, MD

Douglass E. Douglass Stull, MDE. Stull, MDE. Douglass Stull, MD

Richard G. RichardMD G. Wendt, Wendt, RichardMD G. Wendt, MD

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