Kansas.com: Mark McCormick

Quest for publicity is getting desperate

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 01:38 CST

Look at me. Please. I'll do anything. Say anything. Even if I say it on my church marquee and it hurts people.

I've used it to attack the IRS for reviewing my church's tax-exempt status and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius for accepting PAC money from George Tiller.

For a few days recently, I claimed our president-elect was a Muslim and that his election earlier this month was a "sin against the Lord."

I've since taken that message down and replaced it with a salvation Scripture from Acts and a quote from the Mayflower Compact.

The Barack Obama message must have drawn lots of calls. My voice mailbox as well as my receptionist's voice mailbox were full Friday.

Rapper's message ironic but inspiring

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 01:36 CST

What we put in our minds and spirits matters as much as what we put in our bodies, and the almost hypnotic hip-hop culture has become the delivery system of choice for many common toxins.

If you believe that kids need clear messages because they have not mastered nuance and complexity, Saturday's presentation at the Wichita Children's Home may have proven difficult to embrace.

Rapper, actor and convicted felon T.I., in town for a concert, delivered a sincere message that struck me as ironic coming from someone who built his success on images and ideas many of us find revolting.

That day, though, the rapper moved freely into those places inside kids' heads and hearts that often shut down when people in business suits show up to lecture them.

And while I was skeptical at first, it grew increasingly difficult to argue against T.I.' s presentation of personal responsibility, even though he delivered it at times in broken English and with his jeans hanging below his butt.

Wichitans' generosity then is hope for now

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 22:05 CST

Six years ago this month,more than 5,200 people stood in line at the Bread of Life food pantry waiting for a Thanksgiving dinner.

Wichita's aviation manufacturers had cut more than 9,000 jobs in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks the previous year. Around 100 new families a week from all over the metro area and from as far as 50 miles away signed up for food every week from Bread of Life, according to an Eagle article.

Despite the difficulty and even desperation of that day, the humanity on display there seemed to surpass credulity.

And with a similar day upon us in the wake of hundreds of aerospace job losses, we need to re-create that generosity on a grand scale.

The United Way of the Plains announced its highest-ever pledge total Thursday -- a little more than last year's $16.35 million, a feat defying all economic logic. With 500 layoffs apiece at Cessna Aircraft and Hawker Beechcraft, recently settled strikes at Hawker and Boeing Wichita, and shortened workweeks at Spirit AeroSystems, things must have been going poorly for months, yet people still managed to give.

One nation, indivisible: What will it take?

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 01:37 CST

So who are we really? Is America the country where a poor, black child raised by white grandparents can become president, or the country where Alice Love's granddaughter tells her she lost her playmate because of the election's outcome?

Are we the country where the most diverse demographic coalition ever assembled elected its candidate? Or the country where Alice's daughter dreads going back to work this week at a local fast-food restaurant because a few patrons have sunken to calling employees the "N" word and saying they couldn't wait for the assassination of President-elect Barack Obama?

"A lot of people are having a hard time with this," Love called to tell me Monday.

This moment may represent the nation's best opportunity to pivot out of a painful past. But disturbing images have surfaced since the U.S. elected its first black president.

These folks don't represent most of us. They're just a comparatively few frustrated folks making our transition to a more conciliatory era tougher.

Vote shows the power of getting involved

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 01:38 CST

Look what happens when you get involved. By a slim 1,617 votes in unofficial returns, near-northeast Wichita avoided perhaps the saddest scenario in a free society: the loss of hard-won spoils to apathy.

The $370 million school bond almost fell, and with it, critical efforts to upgrade outdated facilities.

But as The Eagle reported last week, in four near-northeast precincts, two-thirds of you voted "yes."

Without your votes, the bond fails.

Yours also were the only Sedgwick County precincts that voted 90 percent or greater for Barack Obama.

Bond's passage is a win for Wichita students

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 02:40 CST

The proposed $370 million Wichita school bond passed, and frankly, I'm shocked. Taxpayers have felt abused lately. First, an arena tax. Then tax money goes to a group that included a wealthy theater mogul. Food prices and medical premiums scream skyward while wages sputter.

The bond was one of the few opportunities taxpayers had to express concern, if not anger, at government excess.

I'm thrilled, though, that students sitting in overcrowded schools this morning weren't the targets of all of that justified frustration.

Make no mistake about it, with Tuesday's bond victory, Wichita's kids won big.

In this new, global economy, our students compete not only against suburban neighbors with better facilities but also against kids in Germany and Japan, to say nothing of China, an emerging economic giant.

Recipe for doubt-free voting on school bond

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 01:38 CDT

Even as an unapologetic cheerleader for public education, my first reaction to the school district's proposed $370 million bond issue was, "Gee, more money? Didn't we just have one fairly recently?"

I needed to hear the justifications and see the challenges before I could sign on as a supporter.

But over time, I've figured out (as I'm sure you will) that we need to pass this bond.

At first, I worried about the price tag and the portion I'd be responsible for. Money has been as tight at my house as in anyone's house lately.

But as the online calculator at Kansas.com shows, the cost for the owner of a $100,000 home would be $42.55 a year -- less than $1 a week.

Answers to help you vote yes on bond issue

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 01:39 CDT

My letter writer described himself as still on the fence about the proposed $370 million school bond issue we'll vote on in little more than a week.

He said he understands the district's needs and he wants to support the bond issue, but needs more answers.

"You've done a good job pointing out the misinformation spewed by the bond opponents, but what about fact-checking the school board?" he asked. "They tell me the bond issue will have an annual impact of about $1 per week. Well, we're getting 275 new classrooms. These have to be staffed. Does my $1 pay for that?... What is the true cost? If it's (really) $2 per week, tell me the truth and I'll vote yes."

He asked those and other good questions, including one about maintenance costs. I felt sure many other voters still wrestling with whether they'll vote for the bond probably have similar questions.

So I sought out school board member Lynn Rogers for an explanation that I hope gets my letter writer and others of you off the fence and into the "yes" camp.

Facts hurt bond issue opponents' arguments

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 01:39 CDT

Did you read Citizens for Better Education spokeswoman Helen Cochran's opinion piece in Sunday's Eagle?

You should, and then you should consider whether it reflects how you value children and schools in relation to the Wichita school district's proposed $370 million bond.

Cochran said 2 of every 5 of the district's 11th-graders don't read at grade level; five of the seven Wichita high schools failed to make "adequate yearly progress" on state tests; and USD 259 was the lowest-ranked district (in test scores, maybe; she doesn't say) out of 26 in Sedgwick, Harvey and Butler counties.

"Proponents offer no concrete evidence that the $370 million bond proposal will raise test scores or lessen dropout rates," she wrote.

But her answer?

Where's the outcry over child suicide?

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 01:38 CDT

Late last month, a small boy was found hanging from a belt looped on a bunk bed. His family buried him on his 11th birthday.

Wichita police investigated the boy's death as a suicide but await the coroner's report, which will determine how he died.

Some family members, whom I'm not naming because The Eagle doesn't identify suicide victims, say they're relieved that police have reserved judgment. They don't think the boy committed suicide.

Many of us might reflexively dismiss the notion that a child this young would or could commit suicide. That a child this young would know how to fashion one slipknot for his neck and then tie the other end to a bed post.

In our minds, perhaps, children aren't supposed to die, and they certainly don't kill themselves.

Rescues of homeless teens on the rise

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 01:40 CDT

Risa Rehmert, street outreach and safe place coordinator for the Wichita Children's Home, says that in her 16 years on the job she has never seen so many teenagers on the street calling her for help and a safe place to stay.

And as bad as it is, Rehmert thinks it will get worse.

What she has seen on the streets ought to shame us all into action.

Rehmert said the number of rescues -- situations where teens reached a designated "safe place" like a QuikTrip and called the crisis line for help -- reached a new high of 211 last year. The previous high was 186.

And while she hasn't had time to do the accounting for this year, she thinks there will be more.

More than you can see, even with less of me

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 01:38 CDT

What you see next to this column is a representation of me. Not all of me. Not even most of me. You can't see the long, jagged scar traveling from my ribcage to just south of my navel, the path surgeons took to relieve the extreme ulcer pain and stop the internal bleeding I'd endured for years. You can't see the bulging blue veins on my left hip, products of two blood clots, or the way my left leg swells to twice the size of my right. You can't see here any of the imperfections I see in my mirror every day.

Even if you could, there's more to me than what you'd see, even now that there is less of me.

Since late spring and early summer, I've dropped more than 60 pounds through a regimen of diet, exercise, science and medicine. I'll talk about that more in a few weeks when I reach my goal.

For now, I want to focus on this journey which only confirmed what I already knew, yet hadn't fully experienced: that what matters most resides inside of us. We're so cruelly superficial in this culture anymore, and we practice this superficiality in ways that damage our spirits and our bodies.

I've long viewed my weight as failure, and not just one. More like a million: one for each attempt to control it. I felt ashamed whenever someone pointed a camera at me. All I wanted at that moment was invisibility.

Events for Parks bring high emotion

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 01:41 CDT

Kindergartners sang and danced at Monday's dedication of the new school named for famed photographer, filmmaker and author Gordon Parks.

Not long after the smiling children took their seats, David Parks, sniffling and wiping his face, strode to the podium where principal Stephanie Stovall stood. He asked for a departure from the program.

He handed Stovall a photograph he'd taken of his father, astride a horse. She said she'd ensure its display in a place of honor in the school.

Sunday and Monday saw several points of departure for the string of Gordon Parks events: The christening of Parks Academy, the start of a new lecture series, and a new set of emotions -- fulfillment as well as loss -- joining the pride and wonder of previous Parks-related events this year.

Parks family members attended the dedication Monday afternoon and the inaugural Gordon Parks Lecture Series that evening, but the emotions began to flow Sunday night at Crestview Country Club.

Don't let economic pressures hurt kids

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 01:38 CDT

As the economic crisis continues to roll over the work force, children are sure to share in the misery.

Mark Masterson, director of the Sedgwick County Department of Corrections, said the adult jail population is up.

"My bet is child abuse is up due to economics," Masterson said. "That is an area where the stress shows first."

Sarah Robinson, executive director of the Wichita Children's Home, said that when the aerospace layoffs began a few years ago, abuse cases rose. Neglect cases have held steady since then.

Robinson said the Children's Home is seeing more calls for "flex money," funds that it releases in emergencies to help keep children from being removed from a home by social services. They're also seeing a tremendous spike in homeless teenagers seeking help.

Religion not ridiculous to believers

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 01:41 CDT

If not for "Real Time," the weekly hour of political insight and satire featuring comedian Bill Maher on Friday nights, I wouldn't have HBO.

I've become quite a fan.

Except when Maher attacks religion. Sitting through his rants every week, I feel guilty about watching.

Maher often calls religion a collection of fairy tales. He mocks people who believe in angels and demons. He's fond of referencing the Garden of Eden's "talking snake." Those are just taunts, but his underlying point is that religion has been dangerous, even deadly.

On Friday, Maher will release "Religulous," a documentary billed as an "uproarious nonfiction film about the greatest fiction ever told." "Religulous," I'm guessing, is derived from the word ridiculous, and the greatest fiction ever told intends to tweak "The Greatest Story Ever Told," a reference to the story of Jesus.

People the testament to Parks' legacy

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 01:41 CDT

On the evening of Oct. 6 at the Hughes Metropolitan Complex, you can see the latest masterpiece from writer, photographer and filmmaker Gordon Parks.

That's the night of the inaugural Gordon Parks Lecture Series at Wichita State University, a night fashioned from his humble beginnings in Fort Scott, from his diverse talents and from his capacity to evoke life's beauty and horrors in his work.

Earlier this year, WSU beat out the Library of Congress and the New York Public Library for a prized collection of Parks' manuscripts, photographs and personal effects valued at $500,000.

That effort brought new meaning to the phrase "work of art."

For about a year, WSU president Don Beggs and his vice president and general counsel, Ted Ayres, worked tirelessly on an aggressive campaign. Elizabeth King, president and chief executive of the WSU Foundation, and Terre Johnson, the university's vice president for development, managed the pledge drive. Friends of the university, such as 1942 alum Pete Armstrong, offered critical advice and letters of support.

Opponents of school bond skip specifics

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 01:37 CDT

I got my answers, but in the form of more questions.

Last month, I asked Citizens for Better Education, the group leading the opposition to the Wichita school district's proposed $370 million bond, how they'd address the issues confronting the district: How to provide storm shelters for schools that lack them, provide schools for kids who will no longer be bused for integration and deal with school overcrowding in northeast Wichita.

In the process, I got to know CBE spokeswoman Helen Cochran. I liked her. She's a smart lady with a folksy Memphis charm.

But in all fairness, she and CBE offered no viable alternatives, only interesting ideas. And lots of questions about why the district should ask the taxpayers for more money.

School Board president Lynn Rogers offered a big-league rebuttal.