Lorenzo Garcia News Assistant Anthony Mendoza Staff Writer [email protected]e relentless demands of class and work can leave even the most energetic students feeling stressed and worn down. When a student becomes a vic- tim of theft, the emotional toll can feel like a hard slap to the face, especially when the item stolen is their primary mode of transportation. Bicycle-riding students at UTSA may have cause for con- cern over the safety of their bikes; many thieves see high- end student bikes as an oppor- tunity to turn a quick profit. Haseeb Ali, an entrepreneur- ship major and junior at UTSA, returned from an exam to dis- cover his $200 bike had been stolen in broad daylight. “My bike lock was lying bro- ken next to the rack and my bike was gone,” Ali recalled. “I walked home; it was horrible, my bike was nowhere to be found.” UTSA Student Tom Wilmo- tt’s bike was stolen from outside the Recreation Center, but later found a short distance away from the Rec when the thief could not detach a lock from the bike’s wheel and frame. “I figured the thief had tried to ride away with my bike, but ended up carrying the thing through the parking lot,” said Wilmott. “Realizing how sketch that looked, they must have dumped it.” Some thieves are able to cut bicycle cables and chains in broad daylight using bolt cut- ters or a saw. “ey do this in plain daylight, with people walking by. To them it looks like somebody is just messing with their lock,” said Wilmott. e UTSAPD recommends using a U-lock, which secures the wheel to a bike rack. UTSAPD distributes these locks for free if students reg- ister their bikes with parking services and allow the police department to engrave the bike with an owner-applied number. Detective Sergeant omas Calucci, head of the UTSAPD’s criminal investigation division, reported that not only has the department recognized the problem, but they have also successfully reduced the num- ber of bike thefts. “A few months ago we made several on-campus arrests and about two to three in the past month. Jakob Lopez Sports Editor [email protected]ere are major changes coming for the landscape of col- lege football. e National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has approved a case that allows football play- ers under athletic scholarship at Northwestern University to be considered employees. Kain Colter and Ramogi Huma, founders of the College Athletes Players Association (CAPA), lead Northwestern football players in an effort to gain play- er reform. is ruling sets forth the pos- sibility of football unions, which will allow football players to seek compensation for issues such as promotion of one’s ath- letic image, player safety, medi- cal coverage, increased scholar- ships and head trauma. College football programs have more than enough money to allow players their share. Jennifer Alejos Arts Editor [email protected]e UTSA Department of Communication will be host- ing its annual Communication Week from April 7-12. e event is aimed at informing stu- dents of all majors the impor- tance of diversity and how it is achieved through communica- tion. Communication Week will kick off with an opening cere- mony by Department Chair Dr. Paul LeBlanc and Dr. Sarah De- Turk. A presentation from TJ Haygood, founder and CEO of Confidential Search Solutions, will follow at 9 a.m., to be held in BB. 2.01.18. e theme “Diversity El- evates Communication” will take a comprehensive look at how various individuals from the community have used their spheres of influence to create established businesses in San Antonio as well as how diver- Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio Volume 49 Issue 10 {WWW.PAISANO-ONLINE.COM} {SINCE 1981} } { UTSA Associate Vice President for Eco- nomic Development in the UTSA Insti- tute for Economic Development, Rob- ert McKinley was selected to receive the International 2014 Advancing International Trade Award for the state of Texas. San Antonio Saturday, March 29 was the largest Cesar E. Chavez March for Justice in San Antonio’s history. ousands of resi- dents marched from the West Side to the Alamo. Texas Texas A&M Vice President of Student Affairs Joe Weber has been nominated by governor Rick Perry to take over as Executive Director of the Texas Depart- ment of Transporta- tion. U.S. Federal Judge Da- vid C. Bury upheld a law passed by the Arizona Legislature that restricts access to abortion-inducing medications. e law will take effect by the end of this week. World e Malaysian government has an- nounced that they will search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 indefinitely, even though odds of find- ing it have become unlikely. Sports UTSA’s Softball Team hosts the Charlotte 49er’s at Roadrunner Field this Saturday at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. and Sunday at 12 p.m. UTSA sweeps Louisiana Tech over the weekend in three game series page 9 Learn more about the 30th student art exhibition page 6 April 1, 2014 UTSA UTSA Comm week to create diversity “It gives athletes a sense of power and feeling that they are above regular students. ” Anonymous Athletics Employee See UNIONIZING, Page 8 The UTSAPD recommends buying a U-Lock to protect bicycles from on-campus theft. Marcus Connolly / The Paisano Amelia Reyes Staff Writer [email protected]e deadline to enroll for healthcare coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was Mar. 31. e Obama administration has announced that enrollment reached six million sign-ups, and that there is an extension for those who started on their applications before the March 31 deadline. But what does that mean for students? e ACA is intended to provide healthcare coverage for all citizens, and plans are available for people according to specific needs. “Prior to enrolling, I had no health insurance,” stated un- dergraduate Claudia Saladaña. “If I was in an accident or if my appendix burst, then I would have had no way of financing myself for any emergencies like those.” According to healthcare.gov, there are three categories that Health care: What to expect Mia Cabello Staff Writer [email protected]Last week, the UTSA College of Engineering invited the cam- pus community to celebrate Engineering Week, from March 24 to March 28. UTSA’s Engi- neering Week, or “EWeek,” cor- responded with the sixth an- nual San Antonio Engineering Week. EWeek featured five days of engineering themed events that recognized the organiza- tions and accomplishments of the College of Engineering stu- dents and faculty. Electrical and computer en- gineering junior Haley Garcia participated in Engineering Week and was in favor of the event. “A lot of students shy away from math and science,” said Garcia. “Engineering Week shows that these aren’t intimi- dating subjects and it elimi- nates stereotypes that engi- neers aren’t social.” According to Katie Parks, the College of Engineering Student Council President, the goal of EWeek 2014 was to increase the visibility of the college and its student organizations within the UTSA community. To ac- complish this goal, members and volunteers of engineering student organizations hosted EWeek events designed for stu- dents of majors: Engineering Organization Expo Day, which showcased engineering organi- zations and programs, Integral for a T-Shirt Day, which offered participants free Engineering Week San Antonio 2014 T- Shirts, and Square Root Beer Pong, which offered free root beer floats to water pong par- ticipants. e College of Engineering also hosted a networking lun- cheon for engineering students on Wednesday, March 26. is EWeek event was an opportu- nity for engineering students to converse with engineering professionals and build rela- tionships with potential future employers. e Engineering San Anto- nio 2014 Banquet, held on Fri- day, March 28, marked the con- clusion of UTSA Engineering Week. e banquet honored the students, faculty, and spon- sors integral to the success of UTSA’s engineering program. Beer pong and engineering: what they have in common Is your bicycle safe? Students play “water pong” on the University Center lawn during Engineering Week. Courtesy of Deborah Silliman Wolfe Could football form a union? SPORTS LOCAL UTSA See COMMUNICATION, Page 4 See OBAMACARE, Page 3 See BIKE THEFT, Page 3
Transcript
Lorenzo GarciaNews Assistant Anthony Mendoza Staff Writer [email protected]
The relentless demands of class and work can leave even the most energetic students feeling stressed and worn down. When a student becomes a vic-tim of theft, the emotional toll can feel like a hard slap to the face, especially when the item stolen is their primary mode of transportation.
Bicycle-riding students at UTSA may have cause for con-cern over the safety of their bikes; many thieves see high-end student bikes as an oppor-tunity to turn a quick profit.
Haseeb Ali, an entrepreneur-ship major and junior at UTSA, returned from an exam to dis-cover his $200 bike had been stolen in broad daylight.
“My bike lock was lying bro-ken next to the rack and my bike was gone,” Ali recalled. “I walked home; it was horrible, my bike was nowhere to be
found.”UTSA Student Tom Wilmo-
tt’s bike was stolen from outside the Recreation Center, but later found a short distance away
from the Rec when the thief could not detach a lock from the bike’s wheel and frame.
“I figured the thief had tried to ride away with my bike, but
ended up carrying the thing through the parking lot,” said Wilmott. “Realizing how sketch that looked, they must have dumped it.”
Some thieves are able to cut bicycle cables and chains in broad daylight using bolt cut-ters or a saw. “They do this in plain daylight, with people walking by. To them it looks like somebody is just messing with their lock,” said Wilmott.
The UTSAPD recommends using a U-lock, which secures the wheel to a bike rack.
UTSAPD distributes these locks for free if students reg-ister their bikes with parking services and allow the police department to engrave the bike with an owner-applied number.
Detective Sergeant Thomas Calucci, head of the UTSAPD’s criminal investigation division, reported that not only has the department recognized the problem, but they have also successfully reduced the num-ber of bike thefts.
“A few months ago we made several on-campus arrests and about two to three in the past month.
There are major changes coming for the landscape of col-lege football.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has approved a case that allows football play-ers under athletic scholarship at Northwestern University to be considered employees. Kain Colter and Ramogi Huma, founders of the College Athletes Players Association (CAPA), lead Northwestern football players in an effort to gain play-er reform.
This ruling sets forth the pos-sibility of football unions, which will allow football players to seek compensation for issues such as promotion of one’s ath-letic image, player safety, medi-cal coverage, increased scholar-ships and head trauma.
College football programs have more than enough money to allow players their share.
The UTSA Department of Communication will be host-ing its annual Communication Week from April 7-12. The event is aimed at informing stu-dents of all majors the impor-tance of diversity and how it is achieved through communica-tion.
Communication Week will kick off with an opening cere-mony by Department Chair Dr. Paul LeBlanc and Dr. Sarah De-Turk. A presentation from TJ Haygood, founder and CEO of Confidential Search Solutions, will follow at 9 a.m., to be held in BB. 2.01.18.
The theme “Diversity El-evates Communication” will take a comprehensive look at how various individuals from the community have used their spheres of influence to create established businesses in San Antonio as well as how diver-
Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio
The deadline to enroll for healthcare coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was Mar. 31.
The Obama administration has announced that enrollment reached six million sign-ups, and that there is an extension for those who started on their applications before the March
31 deadline.But what does that mean for
students? The ACA is intended to provide healthcare coverage for all citizens, and plans are available for people according to specific needs.
“Prior to enrolling, I had no health insurance,” stated un-dergraduate Claudia Saladaña. “If I was in an accident or if my appendix burst, then I would have had no way of financing myself for any emergencies like those.”
According to healthcare.gov, there are three categories that
Last week, the UTSA College of Engineering invited the cam-pus community to celebrate Engineering Week, from March 24 to March 28. UTSA’s Engi-neering Week, or “EWeek,” cor-responded with the sixth an-nual San Antonio Engineering Week. EWeek featured five days of engineering themed events that recognized the organiza-tions and accomplishments of the College of Engineering stu-dents and faculty.
Electrical and computer en-gineering junior Haley Garcia participated in Engineering
Week and was in favor of the event. “A lot of students shy away from math and science,” said Garcia. “Engineering Week shows that these aren’t intimi-dating subjects and it elimi-nates stereotypes that engi-neers aren’t social.”
According to Katie Parks, the College of Engineering Student Council President, the goal of EWeek 2014 was to increase the visibility of the college and its student organizations within the UTSA community. To ac-complish this goal, members and volunteers of engineering student organizations hosted EWeek events designed for stu-dents of majors: Engineering Organization Expo Day, which showcased engineering organi-zations and programs, Integral for a T-Shirt Day, which offered participants free Engineering
Week San Antonio 2014 T-Shirts, and Square Root Beer Pong, which offered free root beer floats to water pong par-ticipants.
The College of Engineering also hosted a networking lun-cheon for engineering students on Wednesday, March 26. This EWeek event was an opportu-nity for engineering students to converse with engineering professionals and build rela-tionships with potential future employers.
The Engineering San Anto-nio 2014 Banquet, held on Fri-day, March 28, marked the con-clusion of UTSA Engineering Week. The banquet honored the students, faculty, and spon-sors integral to the success of UTSA’s engineering program.
Beer pong and engineering: what they have in common
Is your bicycle safe? Students play “water pong” on the University Center lawn during Engineering Week.
Cour
tesy
of D
ebor
ah S
illim
an W
olfe
Could football form a union?SPORTS
LOCAL
UTSA
See COMMUNICATION, Page 4 See OBAMACARE, Page 3
See BIKE THEFT, Page 3
2 ADVERTISEMENTMarch 25, 2014
Once we made those arrests we saw a decrease in thefts. It’s still a problem though,” re-ported Calucci. When asked how students can help prevent bike theft, he explained that the UTSAPD investigations team solves crimes more easily when “solvability factors” are available to the investigators. According to the detective, solvability fac-tors are any items in a report — such as serial number or physi-cal evidence — which assist in solving a crime.
Calucci explained that if the police cannot identify the thief using the university’s security cameras, their next move is to check local pawn shops or sites like craigslist.
However, the detective stat-
ed that “it’s difficult to prove bike ownership if the owner doesn’t know the serial number.” Even though the investigators don’t always have access to se-rial numbers, the department apprehends eight out of ten thieves, on average.
On how to minimize the chance of becoming a victim of bike theft, the detective offered a few pointers.
First, “If you go to parking services and register your bike there and let us engrave it with an owner-applied number, we give you a more secure lock for free.”
Second, he stressed the im-portance of reporting any suspi-cious activity to UTSAPD. “I’d rather go to (the station) and take five minutes checking out
something than having to deal with someone who had their bike taken,” said the detective.
If students feel reluctant to openly report something they have seen, the UTSA silent wit-ness page on the UTSAPD web-site allows students to report crime without releasing person-al information.
Finally, he explained that quick communication with the police after a crime occurs is a boon to the investigative time. “The larger agencies, such as SAPD, typically don’t follow up on these kinds of bike cases, but we’re here for students and we put 110 percent into it,” said Cal-luci. “We’re here for you, we’re here for the community.”
NEWSApril 1, 2014
3
Continued from page 1
Bike Theft: stealing property in broad daylight
Obamacare: what students can expect after the ACA deadline citizens qualify for: private in-surance plans, a low-cost plan based on income and household size - and Medicaid.
The private insurance plan covers essential health benefits such as emergency services, maternity care, mental health services and lab services. The low-cost plan previews local insurance options with prices based on income and individu-als per household.
Medicaid will continue to cover families with limited in-come — for example, a family of four with an annual income of $24,000 would be eligible for Medicare and is automatically covered by the ACA.
The ACA expands Medicaid benefits to be accessible from a private insurance plan. How-ever, Texas has chosen not to expand Medicaid coverage.
Most plans include free pre-ventative services, such as vac-cines, HIV screenings, depres-sion screenings and more.
UTSA also offers student health insurance plans through the Health Services website, which are covered by the ACA. “Our services can help provide an affordable way to access
healthcare and access to our health clinics,” stated Assistant Director of Health Promotion and Marketing, Barbara Reyes.
According to the Health Ser-
vices website, all University of Texas Health Science Center Students are automatically en-rolled in the Student Health In-surance plan. All other UT- Sys-tem students can apply online. The UTSA insurance plan has no co-payment for university clinics and a small fee for off campus clinics.
Some students believe that UTSA insurance is difficult to
navigate and expensive. “I really did not look into UTSA’s health insurance and I felt the fees for the school insurance would increase my loans,” stated Sal-adana.
Graduate engineering student
Rafael Zamarripa stated that he was on his parents’ insurance plan but thought that enroll-ing for healthcare through the government site was important. “To me, having health insurance gives me a peace of mind. I don’t have to worry about being hurt and having to pay for help,” said Zamarripa.
Both students, however, thought navigating the health-care.gov website was a night-mare. “If I set out an entire day for registering for this, I think I would have been extremely frustrated. You definitely need to take your time and be patient with it,” said Saladana.
Zamarripa agreed, “Yeah, it can be confusing and frustrat-ing. But others should sign up for healthcare insurance be-cause it’s something we all need.”
For more information about the plans offered by the govern-ment and how to enroll, visit their website at www.healthcare.gov. For information on UTSA’s
Student Health Insurance Plan, visit www.ahpcare.com/utsys-tem and search for UTSA.
FANCY A FREE WAX?FOR FIRST-TIME GUESTS
SAN ANTONIO - ALAMO QUARRY / 210 822 2212 255 E. Basse Road, Suite #1540 / San Antonio, TX 78209
5763_San Antonio-Alamo Quarry_Newspaper_B.indd 1 2/20/14 11:13 AM
Continued from page 1
“If I set out an entire day for registering... I think I would have been extremely frus-trated. You definitely need to take your time and be patient with it.”Claudia Saladana UTSA student
“To me, having health insurance gives me a peace of mind. I don’t have to worry about being hurt and having to pay for help.”Rafael Zamarripa UTSA student
Interested in politics? Like to write? Join The Paisano News Team!
On March 25, UTSA Student Health Services hosted a screen-ing and panel discussion for the critically acclaimed docu-mentary “The Invisible War.” The panel consisted of Jennifer Tristan from the Rape Crisis Center, Michelle Klein from UTSA Counseling Services and sexual assault investigator Leon-ard Flaun.
The film investigated the fail-ure of the U.S. armed forces to respond appropriately to the growing instances of sexual as-sault in the military and features interviews with over 100 ser-vice members — both male and female — who were assaulted while serving their country.
The first goal of the film was to reveal that the victims of mili-tary sexual assault are trapped in close quarters with their attack-ers.
Unlike the randomly selected jury of civilian court, a court-martial consists of military offi-cers who are often familiar with the accused. Many of the veter-ans in the film claimed that the period following their assault was often as — if not more — scarring than the assault itself because of intense scrutiny.
In response to this part of the documentary, the panel asked the audience, “Why is it im-portant that the film be shown at UTSA?” One of the first ob-servations made was that the environment described by the veterans in the film mirrors the environment of the victims of collegiate sexual assault.
In both instances, the victim
often knows the perpetrator(s), lives in a confined area with them, has limited access to a thorough police investiga-tion and is often suppressed by friends of the victims if they at-tempt to speak out about their assault.
The audience was particularly distressed and angered about the retaliation against victims of sexual assault. One member of the audience, a student and cur-rent servicewoman, voiced her frustration with the widely held belief that women need to be responsible for preventing their assaults.
Panelist Jennifer Tristan, an employee of one of San Anto-nio’s rape crisis centers, com-mented that many women are afraid to report their rapes out
of fear of being treated like a criminal.
The second point made by “Invisible War” was the failure of the military to prosecute rapists or to deliver a just punishment.
A number of the veterans in-terviewed for the film revealed their rapists were still in the military — many had even ad-vanced in rank.
The film claimed that 20 per-cent of women and one percent of men who serve in the military will be assaulted and that offi-cers are the ones who serve on court-martials.
The panel then asked the au-dience a second question. “Mili-tary sex offenders that are not caught may return to civilian life and commit these acts on civil-ians. How does that make you
feel?”The unanimous opinion of the
audience was three-pronged. First, the notion that the mili-
tary was opening the door for attackers to be release to a much larger population of potential victims should be dealt with swiftly by the U.S. Department of Defense. Second, military at-tackers should be dealt with by the military.
Finally, the audience also stated that both members of the military and citizenry should be aware that anyone can commit sexual assault.
The producers of “Invisible War” asked the public to under-stand that even the most patri-otic leaders need guidance.
Documentary sparks student discussion
Rape Crisis Center representative Jennifer Tristan, UTSA Counselor Michelle Klein and Sexual Assault Investigator Leonard Flaun served on the panel.
UTSA and the San Antonio Express-News held the second event in their series of town hall discussions last Thursday, Mar. 27. The topic of the discussion was “Can San Antonio’s hunger problem be solved?”
The panel consisted of San Antonio Food Bank CEO Eric Cooper, United Way San An-tonio Education Issue Council manager Katie Pace, Assistant Director of the City of San An-tonio’s Department of Human Services Richard Keith and Associate Professor of UTSA’s Department of Demography and Organization Studies Dr. Johnelle Sparks. The modera-tor for the panel was San An-tonio Express-News social ser-vices reporter Melissa Stoeltje.
The moderator, Ms. Stoeltje, gave a brief introduction of the topic before allowing each pan-elist to introduce his or herself. “In Bexar County, over 260,000 people a year struggle to feed themselves,” she stated in her opening speech.
Eric Cooper introduced him-self first, explaining that the San Antonio Food Bank serves a re-gion of 16 counties and works with over 500 non-profits with-
in those counties to provide food to 58,000 people. “A third of them are kids, and about a third are seniors,” he explained.
Less than 20 percent of those over 18 who are receiving food assistance are unemployed. Cooper stated “Many would say that (the food bank is) feeding the working poor.”
Keith explained that the city’s Department of Human Services manages numerous food assis-tance programs and reduces hunger by helping families rise out of poverty.
Pace clarified that the role of the United Way is to act as a fundraiser for many non-prof-its throughout San Antonio. The branch funds parent led organizations that are currently focused on ensuring student nutrition.
Sparks explained that over the past four years her depart-ment has done extensive re-search on communities that are food-insecure.
“Food is a much larger com-ponent of low-income house-hold budgets than it is in high-income household budgets… The poverty in an area is direct-ly correlated with food insecu-rity,” stated Sparks. She further explained that 25 percent of children in Texas are consid-ered food insecure.
The first question asked by the moderator was “What are the underlying causes of food
insecurity?”Cooper responded first, stat-
ing that there is a direct corre-lation with food insecurity and poverty.
“If you want to address hun-ger, you have to address pov-erty,” he explained. Sparks em-phasized that for low-income families, access to good food is lacking due to their busy work schedules — struggling families often find it easier to buy cheap, unhealthy food.
“These people are smart, but they don’t have the time to di-rectly address their food needs,” remarked Sparks.
The second question, again asked by Ms. Stoeltje, was “What is the cost of hunger?”
Cooper again took the initia-tive, stating that food insecurity has the largest effect on children who go to school malnourished and are unable to learn because they feel tired and sick. “(The San Antonio Food Bank) in-vested in the effort of making sure they had nutritious meals when they arrive at school, and again at mid-day, so they’re ready to learn.”
Keith argued that by not providing nutritious food to kids now, there will be higher healthcare costs in the future.
Pace recalled a story a parent told her during the early years of her service with United Way.
A school nurse told a par-ent that the students at a local
school were not sick, they were malnourished because they didn’t have access to breakfast and lunch for two weeks.
This experience led to a part-nership with the San Antonio Food Bank that, according to Pace, provided a “20 pound bag for every single child in all 28 of the campuses,” the program
covers in 2013. However, she admitted that even that ac-complishment was not enough. Pace remarked that “the city has a lot of resources, but we don’t utilize them very well.”
The third question, taken from the audience asked, “How do we extend the reach of food assistance programs for chil-dren beyond the schoolyard?”
Pace responded by pointing out that there are organiza-tions in San Antonio who have already extended the reach of food assistance such as the YMCA.
Cooper highlighted the food bank’s KidsCafe program, which provides dinners to San Antonio parents who struggle to feed their children.
Further, he stressed the im-portance of such programs to break the cycle of poverty and called upon the community to support programs that offer similar services.
The next question from the audience was on whether there should be limitations placed on the quantity of “bad” foods that
can be bought with programs such as Women, Infants and Children (WIC).
Sparks responded that this was a “bad approach with good intentions” and that it stigma-tizes people who are on food assistance.
Cooper commented that San Antonio needs to remove the negative stigma surround-ing these programs to increase the enrollment of those who qualify. He believed this would only decrease the enrollment in these programs.
The next audience question asked about enrollment bar-riers for those who qualify for food assistance.
Cooper stated, “The number one barrier is education… It is
very difficult to correctly sign up for these programs. There is no margin for error. The num-ber two barrier is stigma… peo-ple don’t feel they have earned the assistance they receive from programs such as SNAP.”
Additionally, he observed that hope for improvement causes many families to hesi-tate beyond the program appli-cation deadline. Cooper added that 71 percent of the qualifying families in Bexar County are registered for SNAP. The na-tional rate is around 60 percent.
After a brief discussion by the other panelists, Sparks made the observation that the waiting period to receive benefits after registration is noticeably long, generally 5 to 6 weeks. This often results in families signing up for food welfare when they are most in need.
The final question asked about improving food quality in public schools.
Pace answered this last inqui-ry by highlighting the passage of SB 376 during the last ses-sion of the Texas Senate.
SB 376 provides free break-fast to all students for schools with 70 percent or more stu-dents who qualify for reduced lunch.
To learn more about the San Antonio Food Bank and how to donate, visit safoodbank.org
UTSA
UTSA
Communication: promoting diversity and leadership sity has made a positive impact in their lives.
The event is organized by Dr. Renee Cowan’s seminar class ti-tled “Leadership and Communi-cation,” and includes juniors and seniors from the communica-tion department. In the course, each student was assigned a specific role related to either promoting the event, obtaining guest speakers, reaching out to donors or raising overall aware-ness of communication week.
Senior communication major Kristen Rodgers, who is one of the directors of operations, said that communication week is a vital experience for any indi-vidual interested in developing relationships, especially in the world of business.
She said, “I think it’s impor-tant because we’re talking about diversity, and diversity can be hard to comprehend. With com-munication it really goes hand in hand to help you understand people.”
On her role in the project Rod-gers added, “This experience of being a director has really taught me a lot by gaining leadership skills because I’ve worked with all of the other directors by try-ing to figure out deadlines and handle being organized.”
Guest speakers for Commu-nication Week feature a diverse group of locally and nationally recognized business people.
Senior communication stud-ies major Alex Herrera, a mem-ber of the Guest Speaker Di-rectors group said, “We invited people from every industry, so if you come to communication week you’re going to get a little bit of everything; you’re not just going to get straight commu-nication people. We’ve invited motivational speakers, event
planners and entrepreneurs, so the students should definitely be excited. I think it’s a lot more diverse than what we’ve had in the past.”
Other events for the week include a Career Exploration Fair, a panel on “What can you do with a Communication De-gree?” and keynote addresses from Edmund Ortiz (North Central News at the San Anto-nio Express News), Sophia Ortiz (UTSA CAPRI Center), Wayne Terry and Sonia Canales (Diver-sity Supplier/Manager of H-E-B). The week will conclude with the 2nd Annual Student Open Mic and Professional Concert at the UTSA Main Building Ground Floor Teaching Theater on April 12.
Attendees to any of the com-munication week events will also be eligible to receive prizes ranging from Chili’s, H-E-B and Palm Beach Tan gift cards to Spurs tickets.
Communication Week will provide students with the op-portunity to network with re-spected professionals in the community. As Cowan ex-plained, “They get to see a wide variety of professionals who are using communication and their degrees in the professional world, but also because any stu-dent, and not just communica-tion majors, can network with these wonderful professionals. Of course, they’re going to learn so much.”
For more information, visit Facebook.com/com-mweek2014, on Twitter @comm_week_2014 or Instagram @Comm_Week2014. For in-quiries on booking classes and attending events, contact Dr. Renee Cowan at [email protected].
Continued from page 1
“The city has a lot of resources, but we don’t utilize them very well.”Katie Pace United Way San Antonio Education Council Manager
August 26, 2008 The Paisano Opinion 5
With all the hoopla around Google Fiber coming to San Antonio, there is very little talk about a crucial aspect of San Antonio, or any municipality, getting Google Fiber. Namely: is Google Fiber going to make it harder for telecommunications and Internet to become a public utility by entrenching Google’s, and other private, ownership more; easier to become a pub-lic utility; or, is Google Fiber a neutral influence on telecom-munications/Internet becom-ing a public utility? This also begs the questions: Is it even a good idea for telecommunica-tions and the Internet to be a public utility? and why?
To be clear, by “public util-ity,” I mean a system – the tele-communications system in this case – owned by a government, such as a city, county or state, or even by the federal govern-ment; and, at the federal level, for example, there could be a “Dept. of Telecommunications” created, just as there is a Dept. of Agriculture, Education, En-ergy, and so forth.
Perhaps somewhat ironi-cally, I searched the Internet for an expert who could pro-vide some thoughts – or even answers – to these questions. I came across an article writ-ten by Bill Schrier called, “Why Google Fiber will never come to Seattle.” Bill Schrier, it turns out, is the former Chief Tech-nology Officer for the City of Seattle who retired in 2012, and is now senior policy advisor to the Chief Information Officer of the State of Washington. In addition, Schrier has received his MPA (Master’s in Public Administration) from the Ev-ans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington in Seattle. Sounding promising, I wrote Mr. Schrier an e-mail
and here is what he had to say (note, I include most of what he wrote back to me, because it is so informative, well-explained, and does, indeed, answer my questions):
“In my ideal world,” Schrier writes, “governments would build municipal fiber utilities to reach every home and business. This has been done in some places such as Chattanooga and Lafayette, LA. The idea is that the government owns the fiber cables, just like govern-ment owns streets.
Then any private company can offer services across those fiber cables; internet access, video service (IP-TV and/or cable television), telephone ser-vice, security services (alarm-ing) and so forth. A consumer could, then, have multiple competing internet service providers to choose from, driv-ing quality of service higher and costs lower. This is just like a delivery service. You can choose FedEx, UPS, the Postal Service to deliver stuff to your house on the public street.
Of course the problem with that model is that exist-ing telecommunications and cable companies already have wires to homes and already offer most of those services. I don’t like this for two reasons: first, there is little competition – usually you only have two companies to choose from for Internet service. There is little incentive to offer faster internet service or to lower the price.
The Paisano is published by the Paisano Educational Trust, a non-profit, tax exempt, edu-cational organization. The Paisano is operated by mem-bers of the Student Newspa-per Association, a registered student organization. The Paisano is NOT sponsored, fi-nanced or endorsed by UTSA. New issues are published ev-ery Tuesday during the fall and spring semesters, exclud-ing holidays and exam peri-ods. All revenues are gener-ated through advertising and donations. Advertising inqui-ries and donations should be directed towards:
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April 1, 2014
5OPINION
Letter to the Editor
S h o u l d U T S A e x p a n d i t s A l l y P r o g r a m ?A l -
t h o u g h U T S A added sex-ual orienta-tion, gen-der identity and gender expression
to the list of protected groups un-der the UTSA Non-Discrimination Policy, anti-LGBT hate speech con-tinues to be a problem on campus.
If it were just a handful of indi-viduals participating in anti-LGBT hate speech, it would be another story. Unfortunately, some UTSA student organizations are also guilty of perpetuating LGBT-phobia through anti-LGBT hate speech. This is immensely counterac-tive to UTSA’s vision of fostering a safe space on campus for LGBT students, especially since violence against LGBT individuals is still a problem in San Antonio and Texas.
In April 2013, San Antonio residents Juan Huerta-Gonzalez, Aurelio Huerta-Gonzalez and Fili-berto Huerta-Gonzalez beat their 48-year-old neighbor while he was doing laundry at their apartment complex because they claimed he was flirty with them. Following that attack, on September 2, 2013, Ar-ron Keahey fell victim to physical violence at the hands of Brice John-son, a man he met on a social media app after being led to believe he was interested in forming a relationship with him. The attack was so severe that Keahey sustained multiple skull fractures and smashed facial bones. These incidents are not isolated and are bolstered by unaddressed anti-LGBT hate speech.
According to a study conducted by Robert Wood Johnson Founda-tion Health & Society Scholar Mark L. Hatzenbuehler at Columbia Uni-versity’s Mailman School of Public Health, “LGB youth living in a social environment that was more sup-portive of gays and lesbians were 25 percent less likely to attempt suicide
than LGB youth living in environ-ments that were less supportive.” The study, titled “The Social Envi-ronment and Suicide Attempts in a Population-Based Sample of LGB Youth,” also found that “Overall, suicide is the third leading cause of death among youth ages 15 to 24, and LGB youth attempt suicide at significantly higher rates than het-erosexuals.”
Student organizations that un-dauntedly engage in violent speech against LGBT individuals only do so because although UTSA is committed to its LGBT students, it refuses to vigorouslyreach out to student organizations on the issue of common courtesy to LGBT in-dividuals, like it does for orientation sessions and Risk Management Training.
To be fair, the Risk Management-Training is imposed by the state government, but UTSA showed its ability to adopt progressive policies independent of the state when it expanded its Non-Discrimination Policy to include LGBT individuals in August.
If student organization leaders and a sizeable amount of members were required to attend Ally Train-ings like they do Risk Management Trainings or if Ally Trainings were at least incorporated into student organization Get Orientated Ses-sions, incidents of anti-LGBT hate speech in student organizations will significantly decrease.
This type of expansion on UTSA policy will not be an infringement of the rights of UTSA student organizations because, as it was mentioned earlier, UTSA already requires student organizations to participate in Get Oriented Ses-sions and Risk Management Train-ing to improve the student organi-zation process.
The creation of this type of pol-icy has already been attempted in Texas. In December 2013, a group of students from a UNT women’s studies class petitioned their univer-
sity to provide an ally training pro-gram at new student orientations. They did not want the training to be mandatory, however; just available for students who were interested. Unfortunately their petition did not have the required amount of signa-tures showing support so UNT has not implemented the program.
Although there are admirable aspects of their approach, if the goal was to reduce normative LGBT-phobia in UTSA student organiza-tions, it would be more effective if Ally Trainings became a manda-tory aspect of student organization’s operations.
Admittedly, there might be draw-backs to the mandatory method, as it is possible that it will only intensify people’s LGBT-phobia due to feel-ings of “wrongfully persecution” for “just beliefs.” However, this program will not be mandatory for all UTSA students, just UTSA student orga-nizations.
Opponents might argue that a more moderate approach might be to require student organization leaders to attend Ally Trainings if it comes to the attention of the school authorities that they engaged in an-ti-LGBT hate speech during their organization’s general meetings.
This is a good approach, but I maintain that requiring student organizations to participate in Ally Trainings or incorporating Ally trainings into student organiza-tion orientations is worth trying out because it does not put undue burdens on the organizations, or at least not as much of a burden as the Get Oriented Sessions.
On the other hand, since these type of programs have not been successfully implemented at any college to my knowledge, it might be a stretch to say that such a feat is foreseeable in UTSA’s future, but I can only hope.
Edidiong AdiakpanManaging Assistant
Commentary
Editorial
Is school administration negatively affecting your edu-cation? The University of Texas at San Antonio is slowly taking more and more control away from the student body with the implementation of unrea-sonable attendance policies in the College of Liberal and Fine Arts and potential mandatory freshman orientation courses intended to guide you into the world of higher education. It seems more like another way for the university to control your educational path.
UTSA has implemented a policy for their COLFA stu-dents that stipulates how grades will be affected for be-ing late to or absent from class. With this attendance policy, anyone who misses a total of three days will have his or her final grade dropped an entire letter grade. After the third ab-sence, each subsequent missed day of class will further lower your overall grade until the seventh absence, which results in a failed grade for the course. This policy is not being prac-ticed campus-wide and begs the question of whether or not it is fair.
Each student is allowed three
excused absences. The word-ing here is very up front with little room for interpretation. Students pursing a degree in liberal arts often take longer studio courses than other de-grees, which last about three hours per course. Missing even one day of studio can set your progress back, with the need to make up the time lost. This sounds like a personal problem normally left to the student to work out, but with the COLFA policy these decisions are not just your own to make.
This policy does not consider all variables. Giving three free absences looks fair on paper but does not take in the human variable of life placing obsta-cles in the way of making it to class on time each day or at all. Students who must also work while attending school must constantly juggle with avail-able time and time dedicated to schoolwork. Students who have children must save the their “free” absences to cover any circumstances that might arise, but is this enough of a buffer to cover life’s unpredict-able ways?
As UTSA moves towards Tier One status, it will also
soon implement a required in-troductory course that must be taken by all incoming fresh-man. Pending the approval of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the new Academic Inquiry and Schol-arship course will introduce incoming freshman to college and show them the difference between university and high school education. The trend seems to be moving towards more administrative control over the student body, rather than leaving the students with more control over their aca-demic career.
The fact that UTSA is cod-dling adults like school chil-dren should not sit well with the student body. By placing added stress to the already cumbersome task of complet-ing degree requirements, the university is doing liberal arts and incoming students an in-justice with this stringent at-tendance policy and additional freshman courses. Students should not have to worry about signing a roster when the cost of education should be reason enough for you to control the path of your academic career.
T h e h a z a r d s o f h o l d i n g a s t u d e n t ’ s h a n d
In Small Doses. by: J. Corey FrancoComic
August 26, 2008 The Paisano 1ARTS&LIFE6April 1, 2014
Tuesday, April 19 a.m. – 9 p.m. Event: “Poetweets”San Antonio Central Library (600 Soledad St.) will be accepting 140-character long poems through twitter, which they will put on their page. Just tweet @mysapl to contribute. Submissions will be ac-cepted throughout April. For more information, call (210) 207-2577.
Wednesday, April 29 p.m. Event: “Afterparty: The Fac-tory A Tribute to Andy Warhol”To celebrate Warhol’s The Athlete series on display at the San Antonio Museum of Art (200 W. Jones St.), a party will be held with appetizers, cocktails and valet parking. Free for Young Friends members, nonmembers tickets are $100. For more information, call (210) 978-8100.
Thursday, April 310 a.m. – 4 p.m. Exhibit: XXX Student Art Exhibition The UTSA Art Gallery, located on the second floor of the Arts Build-ing, presents works by current students with subjects that include the human body, San Antonio culture, landscapes and personal experiences. For more informa-tion, visit art.utsa.edu.
Friday, April 47 p.m. Event: “NI-UTSA Pre-Fiesta”School spirit and San Antonio pride combine to kick off Fiesta. Music, activities and food will be available; so don’t miss out on this chance to celebrate the city at the UTSA Downtown Campus (Bill Miller Plaza). Visit myutsa.edu/calendar for more details.
Saturday, April 5 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Event: “San Antonio Book Festival”This marks the second annual book festival for San Antonio, held at the San Antonio Central Library (600 Soledad St.). It is a free and family-friendly event featuring over 90 authors from all over the country. For more infor-mation, visit saplf.org/festival.
A myriad of experiences await those who enter UTSA’s Art Gallery, from visual and auditory observation to cogni-tive and psychological aware-ness.
The UTSA XXX Annual Student Exhibition will be on display until April 16 on the second floor of the Arts build-ing. Each year, the Art Gallery features recent works done by students and a jury determines award-winning pieces.
Jenna Wright was awarded first place “Best of Show” for an
undergraduate student for her piece “Orange Rancher.” The 3D piece presents a model of a regular, suburban home pro-jected from the wall. Although the house is colorless, orange paint bleeds off the house onto two more houses stacked un-derneath it.
Constructions were a popu-lar method in this year’s exhibi-tion, where first place “Best of Show” for a graduate student went to Justin Korver for his structure. Korver’s work, “Con-struction II: Caution Stripes,” displays a large wooden box with pastel orange and blue stripes painted on the sides. However, the top and front are
open to show pink, insulation material with a soft light glow-ing from within the center.
The exhibition is not only a way for art students to reveal their dexterous work to the community, but also a way for UTSA culture to be celebrated.
Many works reference pop culture in unique ways. Chris-tina Reyes’ work “@justin-bieber #Justinbieber #bieber #swag #celebrity #music #art #painting #artschool #nofilter” portrays the famous pop star in an old European military uni-form circa the 1800’s. Because these types of portraits were re-served for important members of society, the juxtaposition of
the traditional background and uniform with Justin Bieber’s likeness creates an interesting effect.
Another portrayal of popu-lar culture was shown in Raul Gonzalez’ “#Blackfish,” which depicts an abstract of the killer whale. The title of the piece ref-erences the 2013 documentary about the controversial occur-rences at Sea World parks.
Other works display the mix-ture of culture at UTSA such as Alexandra Dubois’ “San Anto-nio Landscape,” Andrei Rent-eria’s “No Que No Hay Ham-bruna” and Joshua Perez’ “Born Again Hooligan, Only to be King Again.”
Although visitors will be tempted to study some pieces closely, others will leave visitors shaken. Jen Sakian’s “Camp De Tiro” is a shotgun fully deco-rated in glitter, multi-colored beads and antlers. As the shot-gun projects from the wall, vis-itors will feel the need to duck out of the way, adding to the experience of the art.
(to continue reading this ar-ticle, go to paisano-online.com)
45 students of all art concentrations participate in the annual student show being held at the UTSA Art Gallery.
Despite being overshadowed by the threat of war, the Grand Budapest Hotel, in the 1932 fictional European republic of Zubrowka, places comfort and luxury above all else with the help of their most devoted con-cierge, Monsieur Gustave in Wes Anderson’s film named for the hotel.
After the success of “Moon-rise Kingdom,” which earned him an Oscar for Best Origi-nal Screenplay, Wes Anderson presents fans with a satirical homage to old world luxury. While the main actors in the film include Ralph Fiennes, Tony Revolori, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody and Willem Da-foe, appearances are made by Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Keitel, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Mur-ray and Owen Wilson.
The film begins at the grave-yard site of “The Author,” with a girl reading the memoirs of a trip the author took to the Grand Budapest Hotel in the 1960s. The young “author,”
played by Jude Law, walks the faded carpets of the infamous hotel, staffed by only a few employees. Although the ho-tel looks to be in a continuous off-season, he meets a special guest: the owner of the Grand Budapest, Zero Moustafa (F. Murray Abraham). Over din-ner, Zero agrees to tell the story of how he came to own the ho-tel.
Zero’s story begins in 1932, in the glory days of the Grand Budapest Hotel. As a young lobby boy, Zero (Revolori) adopts Concierge Monsieur Gustave (Ralph Fiennes) as a mentor. Although M. Gustave upholds the professionalism of the Grand Budapest, he has nu-merous affairs with the wealthy older women that stay there.
Madame D., M. Gustave’s regular lover, passes away and leaves a valuable painting called “Boy with Apple” to M. Gustave, rather than to her son Dmitri (Brody). To ensure the safety of “Boy with Apple,” Zero and M. Gustave steal the paint-ing and secure it at the Grand Budapest Hotel, resulting in their need to flee the law, led by
Police Inspector Henkels (Nor-ton) and Dmitri’s murderous henchman (Dafoe).
What follows are a series of movie conventions that An-derson revisits in unique ways. Ruthless murders, a ski slope chase, a dramatic gunfight and a prison escape using minia-ture mallets and chisels create the absurdist setting of “The Grand Budapest Hotel.”
Although the film is several period pieces in one as it jumps from 1987 to the 1960s and finally to 1932, the costume design does not entirely rep-resent the periods. Instead, the costumes, which are bright and captivating, represent the main characters’ personalities and motives. For example, through-out the film M. Gustave and Zero remain in their bright, purple hotel uniforms to show their loyalty to the Grand Bu-dapest. Also, although the 1930s are shown in the cut and color of clothes worn by Zero’s
love interest Agatha (Saoirse Ronan), the main antagonist of the story, Dmitri, is dressed in a flamboyant all-black ensemble with his henchman wearing skull rings.
The set design is able to cap-ture the shabbiness of the hotel in its later years, yet show that the hotel was once luxurious. The story reveals the splendor of the Grand Budapest Hotel in 1932 with bright colors and chandeliers and an endless amount of staff to wait upon the guests.
However, the most signifi-cant piece of set design is the miniature hotel model that Anderson uses to depict the “grand” scope of the Grand Budapest Hotel. Rather than using an expensive digital shot to include the wonderful archi-tecture of the hotel and beau-tiful landscape behind it in a single shot, Anderson chose to use a scale model. This method reminds the audience of the
fact that M. Gustave’s story is just that: a story. The film’s me-ta-fiction is also revealed at the beginning of the film with the girl reading M. Gustave’s story and with the idea that the au-dience needs to move far into the past in order to reach the events.
Ralph Fiennes takes the spotlight in “The Grand Buda-pest Hotel,” despite the numer-ous appearances of Anderson’s other collaborators. He dives into his role as M. Gustave dili-gently, using pitch and rhythm in his voice to show M. Gus-tave’s overly self-confident, tense but always controlled character. Anderson seems to focus on M. Gustave’s dia-logue the most and makes his outbursts the comedic relief of most of the movie. However, as witty as Anderson’s writing is, the comedy of the character re-lies on M. Gustave’s vulgar out-bursts amidst elevated speech to shock the audience.
Anderson’s films reflect a sig-nature style of filmmaking, us-ing eccentric characters, ironic humor and melodramatic plot points to entrance the audi-ence. Anderson also uses the element of keys throughout “The Grand Budapest Hotel” as a visual representation of the theme of opportunity in the film.
“The Author’s” grave marker is covered with keys by ador-ing fans, while keys are also shown repeatedly in the Grand Budapest and the prison. In a plea for help, Zero and M. Gustave turn to the Society of the Crossed Keys, a network of concierges from grand hotels throughout the world helping each other in dire need. The help from these concierges al-lows Zero and M. Gustave to find a solution to their troubles.
(to continue reading this ar-ticle, go to paisano-online.com)
U T S A ’ s c r e a t i v i t y o n d i s p l a y a t 3 0 t h S t u d e n t A r t E x h i b i t i o n
Wes Anderson’s latest film invites viewers to check-in to the Grand Budapest Hotel.
‘ G r a n d B u d a p e s t H o t e l ’ : W e s A n d e r s o n ’ sf i v e - s t a r t r e a t
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August 26, 20082 The PaisanoARTS&LIFE 7April 1, 2014
A r t i s t P r o f i l e : D a p h i d A r tLizzette RochaContributing Writer [email protected]
Setting up a table with sever-al original paintings and blank canvases, Daphid did not know what to expect when he first started painting eight years ago. With DJ music pounding out of nearby speakers, he was approached by eager custom-ers at the live show and has continued creating artwork since.
32-year-old San Antonio artist, Daphid Art uses spray paint, vivid acrylic colors and stencils to create pieces por-traying movie stars, cartoon characters and musical artists. Daphid also creates unusual political art and unorthodox original designs. Showcasing some of his artwork at local art exhibits and solo shows, most of Daphid’s artwork can be found on his Facebook page or Instagram profile.
“I’m always working on commission pieces,” Daphid says. “A lot of my work comes through someone seeing some-thing they like and wanting me to create something for them. I usually get nervous with com-mission pieces and surprise myself and the customer after-wards with the outcome.”
Graffiti-style artwork de-scribes much of Daphid’s art. Using spray paint to give his paintings an extra dimension, Daphid has created several paintings of characters, includ-ing John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson from Pulp Fiction. Along with spray paint designs, Daphid has also created pop art
images of several iconic artists like Johnny Cash, Buddy Holly and The Beatles.
“I’ve been commissioned to do artwork in people’s homes and businesses, on small can-vases and on pieces of wood. I’ve lost count but I think I have done three hundred paintings and mailed less than 100 through Instagram and Facebook around the world,” he says. “Much of my work is done through word of mouth.”
Creating artwork on can-vases, panel pieces and wood, Daphid takes inspiration from artists that create repurposed art. Daphid has produced some of his artwork on unusual ob-
jects, including frying pans, a cabinet and even recycled VHS tapes. He also creates designs for t-shirts, which can be found on his Facebook page.
“Someone once gave me a box full of VHS tapes and so I decided to paint on them,” Daphid recalls. “One time I sat down and did fifty and went to an art show and sold about for-ty; that’s when I knew people really liked them.”
Getting his start at the Uni-versity of North Texas in Den-ton, Daphid studied photogra-phy and minored in philosophy.
“I enjoyed the history of pho-tography, like the invention of the camera, and I knew the his-
tory back and forth. I got tired of it in school though, having to do things for deadlines or fit into what the school thought was appropriate; I couldn’t work on nothing too gro-tesque” he says.
Shortly after dropping out of college, Daphid began focusing on his art career and started painting during a live show at a friend’s party. It was at his first live show where he realized he could start creating artwork full time.
“A pretty good payoff is post-ing my work and getting a big response. It’s very motivating to get those responses” he adds.
“I want people to see my
work and say ‘I can do some-thing like that’ and be inspired like I have been with other art-ists.”
With the “Good Fellas” compilation vinyl soundtrack blaring in the background as a silent film plays on a nearby screen, Daphid sits in his stu-dio and creates, usually work-ing for hours or taking a mo-ment to jot down ideas for his next piece.
“A goal that I have for myself is to be featured in an issue of Juxtapoz Magazine” Daphid says.
Adding, “They really put low brow, gutter art out there, art that is really up in craftsman-
ship and artistic ability but features lower moral subject matter such as prostitution, murder and everything that’s wrong with the world.”
Some of Daphid’s inspiration comes from artists like Andy Warhol, Marcel Duchamp, photographer Alfred Stieglitz and political graffiti artist Ban-sky. Along with being inspired by other artists, Daphid also uses his family to keep himself motivated. Daphid’s brother Lawrence works with special effects in Las Angeles for inde-pendent films, small produc-tions and commercials, while his other brother Julian writes and composes music as a DJ.
“My brothers and I have al-ways been involved in the arts trying to outdo ourselves, in a positive way. They are a really big influence on me, and I think I am to them as well,” he says.
Although Daphid may just be realizing his potential as an artist with pieces created deep within his studio, his art speaks with an underlying message in every stroke of his paintbrush.
“I want to say that it’s okay to do art on your own through my work,” says Daphid. “I want people to see my work and say ‘I can do something like that too.’”
For more information on Daphid Art, visit his Facebook page at Facebook.com/daphid-art or his Instagram profile, @daphidart.
Daphid Art manipulates images of popular movie characters, cartoons and musicians to create Pop-Art styled portraits.
Walking with the confidence and stature that made him a household name in the Star Wars franchise, Darth Vader walked calmly through a crowd of children and — without hes-itation — hugged and shook their hands while taking photos with their families.
This was proof that the alien and android invasion had al-ready begun. It’s just not where you thought it would be.
Instead of looking toward the skies for flashing lights, venture out to the Witte Museum’s brand new “Alien Worlds and Androids” interactive exhibit that opened Feb. 22.
Presented in the Kathleen and Curtis Glenn Gallery, the interactive exhibit invites you to discover how “science fiction meets science fact.”
Venture through nine differ-ent sections where everything you always wanted to know about alien life on earth and in other solar systems is on dis-play to be discovered.
Enjoy a wealth of informa-tion about technologies used to discover alien life, solar sys-tems and planets. Find out how robotics and artificial intelli-gence is making an impact, not just on the movie screen but in our everyday lives.
“Are We Alone?” sets the pace by confronting the ques-tions about life in the universe that people for centuries have always pondered, while “Look-ing for Life in Space” examines
the role of an astrobiologist in search of sophisticated alien civilizations and the habita-tion conditions on exoplanets (planets outside the solar sys-tem).
The “Alien Life on Earth” section widens your experience by introducing you to the mul-titude of seemingly alien life that already inhabits the earth. It explains that some scientists believe life on earth started near hydrothermal vents under the ocean, producing the car-bon dioxide that fostered the first carbon molecules.
Study the creatures known as “extremophiles” that have been known to thrive in the harshest of conditions here on earth — adding credence to the notion that life can thrive in any uni-verse, in any environment.
Perhaps the most chilling section is “The Human Micro-biome,” where you learn one out of every ten cells in your body is human; the rest are bacteria and fungi. If you need more insight you can venture to a touchscreen monitor and inform yourself about each of the microbes that are currently in your body.
“Explore the Solar System” furthers the universal theme of planet and solar system explo-ration. The exhibit identifies the technology that has been gath-ering data for decades about the farthest reaches of planets that have been explored so far, such as NASA’s use of probes, such as Voyagers 1 and 2 that were launched back in 1977.
One of the most exciting parts of the exhibit is the “I-Cy-
borg” area that is highlighted by full-scale replicas of famous movie characters such as Iron Man, the alien that terror-ized Sigourney Weaver in the “Alien” films and the head of a “T-800” from “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” which includes a push button that mimics the machinery sound the head makes when moving, trigging a feeling that Arnold Schwar-zenegger is right behind you.
“I think the kids being able to see characters from the movies and then tying it into science, everyday real life, robotics and how fantasy becomes reality is a big part of it,” said Ruben Luna, manager of exhibits at the Witte Museum. “As they get older, the kids seeing this will maybe pique an interest in them to want to pursue sci-ence.”
Moving further along, the exhibit shows the significance of the technological advance-ment of artificial body parts that have helped to extend the lives of men and women who have used them to either sur-vive or better themselves. One example is the Israeli-produced robotic suit called the “ReWalk” that has people with trauma-tizing spinal injuries walking again.
Enhancing the overall in-volvement of the interactive exhibit are the “Artificial Intel-ligence and Robots,” “Robot Space Explorers” and “The Ro-botization of Planet Earth” sec-tions.
Feast your eyes upon robots known only as C-3PO and Gort as their relevance in sci-
ence fiction movies helps to complement the conception of how robots have become an essential player in a technology driven world.
Increase your knowledge of the use of GPS and military drones. Experience some ro-botic systems first hand by ma-neuvering one of the robotic arm displayed. Or witness the landing of NASA’s Curiosity rover that has been on Mars since 2012 and see how it has been spending its time on the
red planet. Finally, end your journey by
exploring the natural history of meteorites, and don’t forget to stop by and feel actual lunar and Martian meteorites.
“It was very interesting. Usu-ally people think about aliens in space. But it’s actually about life on earth and robotic life,” said Christie Sosa, who was on hand for the opening. “It’s good to see and experience all this and to be exposed to this kind of science.”
“Alien Worlds and Androids,” sponsored by Global Experi-ence Specialists (GES) and as-sisted by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and NASA, will be on display until May 27.
For more information, call the Witte Museum at (210) 357-1863 or visit their website at wittemuseum.org.
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SPORTS
{Sports Events}
Wednesday, April 2 3 p.m. UTSA SoftballThe Roadrunners head to Corpus Christi to take on the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders.
7:30 p.m. SpursThe Spurs host the Golden State Warriors at the AT&T Center.
Thursday, April 3
7 p.m. Spurs The Spurs head to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to take on the Thunder at the Chesapeake Energy Arena.
Friday, April 4
7 p.m. UTSA Baseball The Roadrunners head to New Orleans, Louisiana, to take on the Tulane Green Wave at the Greer Field at Turchin Stadium. Saturday, April 5
2 p.m. UTSA BaseballThe Roadrunners head to New Orleans, Louisiana, to take on the Tulane Green Wave at the Greer Field at Turchin Stadium. 2 p.m. & 4:15 pm UTSA Softball The Roadrunners host the Charlotte 49ers at Roadrunner Field.
Sunday, April 6 12 p.m. UTSA BaseballThe Roadrunners play their final game in New Orleans, Louisiana, against the Tulane Green Wave at the Greer Field at Turchin Stadium. 6 p.m. SpursThe Spurs host the Memphis
Grizzlies at the AT&T Center.
NCAA COLLEGE FOOTBALLContinued from page 1
The top ten college football programs have increased their revenue from just under $300 million in 2000 to well over $750 million in 2011. With over 150 percent growth in this short amount of time, the earnings show no sign of slowing down.
“It (the ruling) gives athletes a sense of power and feeling that they are above regular students,” said an anonymous UTSA athletics personnel, dis-agreeing with NLRB’s ruling. “If athletes start unionizing and are being treated as employees, then college football will be-come even more of a business
and will mimic the NFL.”Collegiate football players
spend an average of 40-50 hours a week committed to their pro-gram during the four-month football season. CAPA argues that these hours are similar to that of a full time employee and that compensation is required not only for personal reasons, but for academic reasons as well.
This sort of ruling creates ripples of panic for universities and athletic directors across the country. Not only will athletes gain more control, but they will also undoubtedly change the tradition and meaning behind college athletics.
“They are in college for an education,” said the anony-mous UTSA athletics person-nel on athletes losing sight of the tradition of college athlet-ics. “They are just fortunate to have the athletic ability and skill to help pay for their education. I wouldn’t say it is bad, but it does enable the athletes to for-get about the real reason they are in college.”
Indeed, what will happen to the tradition of athletics if, say, the players union goes on strike before a bowl game demand-ing certain particulars? College athletics would be blemished much like the NBA, MLB and NFL are every time their play-
ers go on strike. Is the collegiate landscape of athletics ready for such a drastic change?
The ruling creates more questions than answers in the short term. With Northwest-ern University appealing the case and the NCAA strongly opposing the idea of student athletes being considered em-ployees, along with the concept of unionizing, the discussion is far from being over.
Fortunately, UTSA football has nothing to worry about — for now. The ruling only affects private universities, but it cer-tainly has implications for pub-lic universities in the future.
“If it begins to affect public
universities then all of these college athletes would be rec-ognized as state employees,” added the anonymous UTSA athletics source. “It could hurt recruitment, because I’m sure there would be numerous rules and regulations put into effect for these so called ‘athlete em-ployees.’”
With the NCAA decision to implement a four-team playoff, the NLRB ruling comes at an already volatile time in college football.
The UTSA Athletics depart-ment declined to make any public comment regarding the ruling and declined to be inter-viewed.
Unionizing: The future of college football?
Spurs demolish Pelicans for 17th consecutive victorySAN ANTONIO SPURSJakob LopezSports Editor [email protected]
The San Antonio Spurs (57-16) tied a franchise record for consecutive wins on Saturday, March 29, as they defeated the New Orleans Pelicans (32-41) 96-80 for their 17th consecu-tive victory in front of a rau-cous sold-out AT&T Center.
San Antonio had five players in double digits, as well as 10 players with points as the game ended.
“Those guys have done a hell of a job,” said Spurs Head Coach Greg Popovich on the New Or-leans Pelicans. “They’ve got a lot of guys missing, but I’m re-ally impressed by them.”
Anthony Davis was a notable New Orleans’ player missing. The All-Star has been averag-ing 21.3 points, 10.3 rebounds and 2.9 blocks for the Pelicans.
The Spurs made sure to capi-talize on his defensive absence. Guard Marco Belinelli hit 4-of-5 three pointers during the night, finishing with 18 points and four assists.
“He plays a great all-around game,” said Popovich of the Italian Belinelli. “He’s not just a shooter, but he’s a good passer and one of our two best cutters on our team without the ball. He really understands how to play unselfishly; he’s been im-portant to us.”
Tim Duncan put in a con-sistent performance with 12 points, eight rebounds and six
assists. Duncan’s play capped off a terrific week that saw him average 20 points, 8.5 re-bounds, 4.3 assists and 2 blocks in four games to claim Western Conference Player of the Week honors.
With the team on a winning streak and Duncan finding a rhythm, the Big Fundamental made sure to emphasize the Spurs’ focus.
“We’re going game by game,” said Duncan after the win. “I know that’s kind of cliché, but we want to be playing well and we want to be playing healthy. We don’t care what the streak is. We don’t care how it goes; we’re not basing anything on that. We’re not playing each game trying to continue the streak, we’re just trying to play the best that we can and have
a good rhythm going into the playoffs.”
After the game, Popovich was look-ing forward to the Indiana Pacers, who the Spurs played on Monday, March 31.
“Every NBA game is a test; people beat each other all the time. It’s definitely fun to go against those guys because they’ve played so well this year. Last time they beat us really easily, so it’s a game we’re looking forward to.”
The Spurs defeated the Pac-ers 103-77 to improve their re-cord to (58-16) for a franchise record 18 consecutive wins.
They look to continue their streak on Wednesday, April 2 against the Golden State War-riors.
Tim Duncan scores two of his 12 points agianst the Pelicans.
The UTSA Roadrunners (19-9, 6-3 C-USA) swept the Loui-siana Tech Bulldogs (9-17, 3-9 C-USA) last weekend, March 28-30, at Roadrunner field.
With clear blue skies and no signs of rain, the Roadrunners took full control of the week-end, plating a total of 19 runs against the visiting Bulldogs.
“This was huge, 6-3 is a lot better than 5-4 when you look at it in league play,” said UTSA Head Coach Jason Marshall on his team’s much needed sweep against LA Tech.
Friday night’s thriller had fans on the edge of their seats, with UTSA and LA Tech both mak-ing spectacular defensive stops and taking quality pitches at the plate.
Sophomore center fielder Jes-se Baker not only provided one of the decisive hits in the 8th inning, but would notch two assists during the night. Baker threw out LA Tech’s Steven Blanchard in the fourth inning and Colby Johnson in the sixth inning. The Bulldog’s tried to score on both plays, but Baker’s throw was always a step ahead.
“He (Jesse Baker) is an elec-
tric talent,” commented Coach Marshall on the center fielder’s play. “Our defense is the center-piece of the ball club, and you saw it tonight.”
The Roadrunners rallied in the 8th inning to score two runs to go up 3-2, and pitcher Matt Sims threw a perfect ninth in-ning to give him the save.
UTSA sophomore starter Brock Harston was hit with another no-decision, allowing only one earned over six in-nings pitched.
“It’s a typical, we call it “Fri-day Night at the Fights.” It sets the tempo for the weekend, and it’s going to be tough,” noted Coach Marshall on the impor-tance of Friday night games. “But Brock is so reliable, and you know what you’ll get on a
week in, week out basis.”Both teams struggled to find
the scoreboard in game two, with UTSA scoring only one run through four innings. How-ever, it quickly changed in the fifth, as UTSA blasted five runs to take a commanding 6-0 lead.
With the bases loaded, senior first baseman Mike Warren drew the walk to score the first of UTSA’s five runs. The senior would go 2-for-4 that day, with a game-high three RBI’s.
“I have been here for four years. I’ve seen this team through the ups and down’s, and as one of the seniors it’s our role to do the best we can, and be the leaders out on the field,” Warren stated after the game on what it means to be one of the veterans out on the field.
After the Roadrunner’s big fifth inning, the Bulldogs scored one in the seventh, but allowed UTSA to score the final four runs of the game. UTSA took game two, and eyed the sweep going into the series finale.
The atmosphere grew eerily similar Sunday afternoon as UTSA took the early two-run lead after three innings of play, but failed to sustain the same offensive prowess as the day before. The Bulldogs tied it up with a pair of runs in the fifth, and showed no sign of allowing
UTSA to take the sweep. Nevertheless, it did not stop
UTSA’s John Welborn from blasting his first homerun of the season to spark the Road-runner’s four-run inning. Wel-born went 3-5 with three runs scored.
“Welborn’s homerun to lead off was an exclamation on a good weekend, and we needed that,” said Coach Marshall after the game.
The Bulldogs scored one more run, but were unable to do anything else in the final two innings. UTSA’s sweep put them at 19-9 and marked their second best start through the midway point of the season.
“There haven’t been a lot of teams in UTSA’s history that have started 19-9,” stated Coach Marshall on his team through the first 28 games. “But to be playing in C-USA, and knowing we have stepped it up a notch from a competitive standpoint, I can say I’m very pleased.”
UTSA (19-9) will travel down the road to take on local rivals Texas State (16-11) on Tuesday, 6:30pm. The game will also be streamed on ESPN 3.
Roadrunners sweep Louisiana Tech in three game weekendUTSA BASEBALL
The Roadrunners swept the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs improving their C-USA record to 6-3.
Rampage fallSAN ANTONIO RAMPAGEThe Rampage dropped two straight games against the Hamilton Bulldogs over the weekend.
The San Antonio Rampage (27-32-3-6) lost in the closing seconds against the Hamilton Bulldogs (30-32-1-4) 4-3 at the AT&T Center Sunday, March 30. The Rampage have now lost two games in a row against the Bulldogs.
“It’s the way we needed to play,” explained Rampage Head Coach Tom Rowe after the game. “The guys did a great job, no complaints with the effort. It’s just individual mistakes that keep hurting us. We played well. Bad coverage and bad decisions
cost us the game.” Coming off a fresh loss, the
Rampage were determined to take control of the game. In the first period, the Rampage kept the pressure on Hamilton’s de-fense as most of the puck action was on the Bulldog side of the rink.
With 2:01 left on the clock, a slap shot by right wing Joey Crabb was met by the back of the net thanks to the as-sisted effort of fellow right winger John McFarland and defencemen John Lee. To continue reading this story go to www.paisano-online.com
To read “Soccer Talk” by Diego Ramirez go to: www.paisano-online.com
