Brown: Despite national title, Lawrence still lacks
Lawrence needs to rise to the occasion and become the best college town in the nation.
By Jesse Brown (Contact)
Thursday, May 1st, 2008
Lawrence seems to be at the pinnacle of its awesomeness.
It has the best college in the nation, the University of Kansas, which was the Men’s Basketball 2008 National Champions and the Orange Bowl Champions. It is one of the smartest towns in the nation, and has an excellent music scene. All of these achievements bring pride to the town of Lawrence. It makes me proud that I live here in Lawrence now more than ever.
But with all the pride I have for this town, there are a few things that stick out like an ugly sore thumb like its poor excuse of a movie theater and its pot-hole ridden streets.
I love movies. Before I moved to Lawrence, I would go see movies all the time. But I just can’t bring myself to going see a movie in Lawrence’s Southwind Theater. It makes me want to wait for the movies to actually come out on DVD.
The best word I could use to describe Southwind Theaters is mediocre. Lawrence deserves a top-notch movie theater with comfortable stadium seating and a surround sound with great speakers. We are eight years into the new millennia, so why does Southwind Theaters look like a theater that is outdated? Why did AMC Theaters skip Lawrence?
Anyone who daily drives the streets of Lawrence can testify to Lawrence’s pot holes. I’m glad that we, KU students, are proud of our school’s achievements and I’m also glad we get to ride in style bumping around like we all got shocks. I know I felt really cool on that glorious Monday night when we beat Memphis for the championship and I rode around yelling “Dicky V. could eat his heart out, that ACC loving slut!” while I appeared to be white water rafting on Lawrence’s shoddy streets. Actually, nothing that night could have ruined the high I was on for our school winning the National Championship, but the problems still persist.
By participating in the glory of our victory on Massachusetts Street, I forever forged a special bond with KU and Lawrence. I only wish to exclaim that Lawrence has no faults in its awesomeness. I want to tell anyone that is plenty of fun stuff to do here in Lawrence, whether you want to see a good movie comfortably, see a good band in one of Lawrence’s venues, or to simply root for the Jayhawks in any of the Lawrence’s restaurants and bars.
“We got our swagger back,” exclaimed Athletic Director Lew Perkins at the celebration on Tuesday following the championship. He was right, KU did. Now it’s time for the rest of Lawrence to step in line in becoming the best college town in the nation.
Brown is a Lee’s Summit, Mo., junior in journalism.
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you think that fixing pot holes and getting a new movie theater are what will make lawrence the best college town in the country? that's ridiculous. who cares about some road issues and a movie theater?
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