Recently by Leah Swank

Pharrell Williams
Photo: Evan Agostini

Alright, so we all know who the famous French designer, Louis Vuitton, is. And most of us know of top music producer and singer Pharrell Williams. But do we ever think of the two together? Probably not.

Recently, however, the two did collaborate on a collection of jewelry called Blason, named after 18th century aristocrats. Many people also do not know that Pharrell and Vuitton collaborated a few years ago on a collection of eyewear. The jewelry is fashioned for mainly women but also for men, including necklaces, bracelets, rings, cufflinks, and belt buckles. Most of the pieces use multi-colored diamonds and feature the letters L.V. and the emblem of a shamrock associated with Vuitton's other pieces.

Pharrell worked with co-designer Camile Miceli for Louis Vuitton to complete this collection, and describes his work as "fanciful" and "fun" in this video interview with "The International Herald Tribune's" Jessica Michault. You can also check out some of the jewelry here.

John Sebelius, son of Kansas Governor, Kathleen Sebelius, recently began selling a board game he designed called 'Don't Drop the Soap,' a prison-themed game that is sold online at www.gilliusinc.com and at a small store in Lawrence, Hobb's on Massachusetts Street. The game includes five game pieces including a bag of cocaine, a handgun and three characters: wheelchair-using 'Wheelz," body builder "Anferny" and businessman "Sal 'the Butcher." The site describes the game saying, "Fight your way through 6 different exciting locations in hopes of being granted parole. Escape prison riots in The Yard, slip glass into a mob boss' lasagna in the Cafeteria, steal painkillers from the nurse's desk in the Infirmary, avoid being cornered by the Aryans in the Shower Room, fight off Latin Kings in Gang War, and try not to smoke your entire stash in The Hole." The game is marketed as "Not suitable for children."

The main controversy with this game, however, has not been with the fact that the product designer's mother is a key political figure. It is that the contact information on the Web site lists the address of the governor's mansion, Cedarcrest. Gov. Sebelius' spokeswoman, Nicole Corcoran, said that John Sebelius sought legal advice to be sure he followed proper requirements to market the game, and he even took out a loan to pay for the production of his work. Some senators have called for an investigation into the charges, however. Read more about the controversy at the Topeka Capital Journal.

Burger King Logo

This story was featured on the CNN Newsroom today. There was a family of five in Boise, Idaho that visited Burger King for dinner and was charged $2,243.00 for their meal. How did five people rack up such a bill? Well, they didn't. They were only supposed to be charged $22.43 but somehow two extra zeros got added on.

The family is very upset; the husband showed CNN reporters his bank statement and told them of the very large overdraft fee he would soon be getting because of it. He would be getting a $75 charge because of this transaction and another fee just like it for each of the seven purchases he had made right after that.

How did this happen? Was the cashier just inexperienced with a cash register, or could it be a larger problem that affects all Burger Kings nation-wide? Either way, I will definitely be checking my receipts very carefully from now on.

My boyfriend goes to K-State (I know, I know, boo on him) and as such, reads the K-State newspaper, the Collegian, regularly. He told me about this article that appeared in Monday, February 4's edition of the paper on page 7. Headline: Pleasures of anal sex outweigh potential health risk.

Basically, the writer, Matt Combes, goes into great detail about the safety issues involved with anal, and then talks about the best methods to act this out. He doesn't hesitate to admit that he is gay, and is a sexual-health educator. He is also very candid in his description of the safest way to go about doing this. My favorite line reads: "...buy a large stock in a lube company because you are going to be using a lot. I suggest brands with numbing agents to help your partner along." So, how is this stepping outside the box for him, or pushing the envelope as a journalist might say? Actually, it would probably be going farther in his envelope.

I was personally shocked that an article like this got put into the Kansas State University newspaper, or any collegiate newspaper for that matter. Manhattan residents are known to be quite conservative, so I don't see this article being very popular among the masses. But beyond that, I don't think this article would be very popular anywhere. Even though one may not be fully knowledgeable about what makes a good news story in college, most people have a general idea, and this is not it. How the editors of this paper thought that a story educating the public about anal sex was a worthy, let alone acceptable, topic is truly beyond me. It seems to me that an article promoting safe sex is still promoting sex, and if I'm not mistaken, most people still think that sex is a private matter, whether or not one is engaging in it.

My big issue with this article is this: why do we need to read about something that most people consider a personal issue in a journalism venue that is supposed to be for "youth" aged 18-24 when most people already know the information that was written anyway and choose rarely to talk and never to write about? Is this really appropriate? Is it "good journalism"?