prospector assayer of student opinion the www.utepprospector.com The University of Texas at El Paso · September 21, 2010 schustereyecenter.com 1700 Curie, Suite 2400, El Paso, TX 79902 | 533 Optional 0% financing on bilateral procedures with no previous eye surgery. You Deserve It! Add us on BY BEATRIZ A. CASTAÑEDA The Prospector Times have been tough for some UTEP students, including one who graduated last year and has been unable to find a job. “e fact that it took me a while to graduate is a big disadvantage now because everything I did is somewhat outdated now,” said An- drew Bonney, UTEP alumni with a degree in electronic media. Bonney works at a local bar-restaurant in the El Paso area and has been looking for a job since his graduation. Bonney said it has been discouraging, because he was not able to get the experience in college that would have ultimately prepared him for the real workplace. “My advice for students is to get as much experience as they pos- sibly can,” Bonney said. “I waited a while to graduate and for me, it might be time to go back to school for a master’s degree and hope- fully get a job that I want to do.” According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the current national unemployment rate is 9.6 percent compared to 9.7 per- cent in 2009. e unemployment rate for Texas rose to 8.2 percent compared to only eight percent last year. George Barton, director of the University Career Center, said the fields that employers are hiring for are mostly the same as last year. “We’re beginning to see some progress, things are still tough but some employers are beginning to open up their doors and hire,” Barton said. According to Barton, health professions, accounting, engineering, math and finance jobs are still in demand, but teaching and education professions have been a tough market to get into in the El Paso area. “Students are beginning to realize that they have to hustle and use resources such as the career center to look for jobs,” Barton said. “People need to take advantage of everything that is offered here, we have more help than we’ve ever had for students.” According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, a 2010 student survey showed that the more frequently a senior used ca- reer services, the more likely he/she would receive a job offer. e study also said graduating college seniors who used their campus career cen- ter were more likely to get a job offer. Of the seniors taking part in the study, 71 percent of students who used the career center received job offers. Fewer than 29 percent of Career Fair see JOB on page 4 BY NICOLE CHÁVEZ The Prospector Dozens of students have made their way to the University Career Center to ask for help in preparing their résumé as the 2010 Career Expo looms ahead. “Students are getting prepared, employers are coming and they are interested in UTEP talents,” said Betsabe Castro-Duarte, associate director of the UCC. “But they are more selective.” Castro-Duarte said many students are afraid of not catching the attention of employers due to the current economic conditions. “Times are getting worse. When trying to get a job, you are competing against the existing work force, graduates and also unemployed workers,” said alia Aguirre, junior criminal justice major. Some of the UCC recommendations for the career expo are to dress professionally, get your résumé revised and introduce yourself correctly to company representatives. is year, 105 companies will be at the fair com- pared to 99 from last year. Some of the companies that will have on-site interviews include Texas In- struments, Shell Oil Company and Dell. “Actually, a lot of companies wait until the Expo (to come) to UTEP,” Castro-Duarte said. Companies such as Microsoſt are having differ- ent events to attract students and recent gradu- ates. Microsoſt plans to have an information ses- sion, an interview prep session, workshops and interviews during and aſter the fair. “Employers, as students, are taking advantage of the fair, they are planning to do what they do in several visits in just one,” Castro-Duarte said. Students get prepared for job fair Ñ Fighting Fighting for a job for a job see EXPO on page 6 Don Haskins Center Sept. 23, 9-4 p.m. Sept. 24, 9-1 p.m. Be there! Career Expo 2010 ENT • 7 ʻROCK THE NATIONʼ Professor’s cultural studies of music shape career SPORTS • 15 MEMPHIS COMES TO TOWN Miners look to make it two in a row
Transcript
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BY BEATRIZ A. CASTAÑEDAThe Prospector
Times have been tough for some UTEP students, including one who graduated last year and has been unable to fi nd a job.
“Th e fact that it took me a while to graduate is a big disadvantage now because everything I did is somewhat outdated now,” said An-drew Bonney, UTEP alumni with a degree in electronic media.
Bonney works at a local bar-restaurant in the El Paso area and has been looking for a job since his graduation.
Bonney said it has been discouraging, because he was not able to get the experience in college that would have ultimately prepared him for the real workplace.
“My advice for students is to get as much experience as they pos-sibly can,” Bonney said. “I waited a while to graduate and for me, it might be time to go back to school for a master’s degree and hope-fully get a job that I want to do.”
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the current national unemployment rate is 9.6 percent compared to 9.7 per-cent in 2009. Th e unemployment rate for Texas rose to 8.2 percent compared to only eight percent last year.
George Barton, director of the University Career Center, said the fi elds that employers are hiring for are mostly the same as last year.
“We’re beginning to see some progress, things are still tough but some employers are beginning to open up their doors and hire,” Barton said.
According to Barton, health professions, accounting, engineering, math and fi nance jobs are still in demand, but teaching and education professions have been a tough market to get into in the El Paso area.
“Students are beginning to realize that they have to hustle and use resources such as the career center to look for jobs,” Barton said. “People need to take advantage of everything that is off ered here, we have more help than we’ve ever had for students.”
According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, a 2010 student survey showed that the more frequently a senior used ca-reer services, the more likely he/she would receive a job off er. Th e study also said graduating college seniors who used their campus career cen-ter were more likely to get a job off er.
Of the seniors taking part in the study, 71 percent of students who used the career center received job off ers. Fewer than 29 percent of
Career Fair
see JOB on page 4
BY NICOLE CHÁVEZThe Prospector
Dozens of students have made their way to the University Career Center to ask for help in preparing their résumé as the 2010 Career Expo looms ahead.
“Students are getting prepared, employers are coming and they are interested in UTEP talents,”
said Betsabe Castro-Duarte, associate director of the UCC. “But they are more selective.”
Castro-Duarte said many students are afraid of not catching the attention of employers due to the current economic conditions.
“Times are getting worse. When trying to get a job, you are competing against the existing work force, graduates and also unemployed workers,” said Th alia Aguirre, junior criminal justice major.
Some of the UCC recommendations for the career expo are to dress professionally, get your résumé revised and introduce yourself correctly to company representatives.
Th is year, 105 companies will be at the fair com-pared to 99 from last year. Some of the companies that will have on-site interviews include Texas In-struments, Shell Oil Company and Dell.
“Actually, a lot of companies wait until the Expo (to come) to UTEP,” Castro-Duarte said.
Companies such as Microsoft are having diff er-ent events to attract students and recent gradu-ates. Microsoft plans to have an information ses-sion, an interview prep session, workshops and interviews during and aft er the fair.
“Employers, as students, are taking advantage of the fair, they are planning to do what they do in several visits in just one,” Castro-Duarte said.
Students get prepared for job fair
Ñ
Fighting Fighting for a jobfor a job
see EXPO on page 6
Don Haskins Center
Sept. 23, 9-4 p.m.
Sept. 24, 9-1 p.m.
Be there!Career Expo 2010
ENT • 7
ʻROCK THE NATIONʼProfessor’s cultural studies of music shape career
SPORTS • 15
MEMPHIS COMES TO TOWNMiners look to make
it two in a row
perspectivesPAGE 2
editor-in-chiefAaron Martinez, 747-7477
September 21, 2010
theSubmit a letter to the editor! Letters will be edited for clarity and brevity. Letters over 250 words are subject to
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SPEAK YOUR MINDstaff
PAGE3NEWSTHE PROSPECTORSeptember 21, 2010
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those of the university.
Editor-in-Chief: Aaron MartinezLayout Editor : Sarah A. BurchettOnline Editor : Sergio RamirezEntertainment Editor : Justin Anthony MonarezSports Editor : Sal GuerreroMultimedia Editor : Herman RojasPhoto Editor : Bob CorralCopy Editor : Vanessa M. JuarezReporters: Alex Morales, Nicole Chavez, Sarah GarciaCorrespondents: Avelyn Murillo, Matthew Munden, Omar Lozano, Anoushka Valodya, Beatriz A. CastañedaPhotographers: Luis Jasso, Diego Bedolla, Jesus Perez, Diana Amaro
Volunteer Correspondent: David AcostaCartoonist: Blake LanhamAsst. Director-Advertising: Veronica GonzalezAd Representatives: Selene Macias, Alheli To-coli, Karina Sandoval, Monica Ortiz, Claudia MartinezStudent Ad Manager: Fernando HernandezSenior Ad Designer: Yasmin MarquezAd Layout Manager: Alejandra GuerreroAd Designers: Ignacio EsparzaAccounting Specialist: Isabel CastilloClassifi eds: Marcela R. LunaStudent Publications Director: Kathleen FloresEditorial Advisor: Lourdes CardenasWork-studies: Marisa Montilla, Catherine Jones
WASHINGTON–Hispanic-owned businesses are booming across the United States, specifi cally in the South.
Arkansas had a 160 percent increase in Hispanic-owned business, growing from 2,094 businesses in 2002 to 5,457 in 2007, according to a study released Sept. 14 by the U.S. Census Bureau.
“Our Hispanic community has grown signifi cantly,” said Fayette-ville Chamber of Commerce Presi-dent Steve Clark. “Th at diversity is very good for us. We have a Spanish language radio station now, which is something we would not have had fi ve years ago.”
Other Southern states also have in-creases. In 2007, North Carolina had 21,277 Hispanic-owned businesses, a 135 percent increase from 2002, with 9,043 businesses. Nationally, Hispan-ic-owned businesses increased by 44 percent, compared to an 18 percent increase in all U.S businesses.
“Th e diversity is very smart for us. If we want to attract new jobs, you have to have a very culturally and diverse community to do that,” Clark said.
North Carolina and Arkansas still have low numbers of Hispanic-owned businesses compared to some other states. California has the highest num-ber of Hispanic-owned businesses, 566,000.
Florida had the second-highest number of Hispanic-owned business-es, 450,000, followed by Texas, with 447,000.
Th e boom in business can be at-tributed to the growth of the Hispanic community in these states. In 2008, 7 percent of North Carolina’s popula-tion was Hispanic, up from 4.7 per-cent in 2000, according to the Census.
“We have found one of the biggest reasons people migrate here is educa-tion,” said Raul Herrera, vice presi-dent of the North Carolina Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. “Th ere is an opportunity for a very good educa-tion, and it’s fairly easy to pay off . It’s an opportunity to educate their chil-
dren and themselves that may not be available in another state.”
Although Hispanic and other mi-nority-owned businesses are surpass-ing the average growth rate, revenue produced by minority businesses is signifi cantly lower than non-minority businesses.
In 2007, average gross receipts for minority-owned fi rms increased to $179,000 from $167,000 in 2002 but remained lower than non-minority-owned fi rms, which grossed an av-erage of $490,000, according to the report.
“Minority fi rms are relatively recent to the game. Also there’s a factor of ac-cess to capital, which has been an area of frustration for minority-owned fi rms,” said David Hinson, director of the Minority Business Development Agency, part of the Department of Commerce. “Access to contracts has also been challenging.”
Herrera sees these problems every day in North Carolina. His group helps to educate the community to overcome those problems.
“Th e norm in the Hispanic com-munity is to do things very infor-mally, and that doesn’t help business grow,” Herrera said. “We try to bridge that gap by educating people through workshops.”
A recent workshop focused on marketing.
“Some of these business owners don’t realize what the benefi ts market-ing could bring,” he said. “Th ey are not used to thinking about things like that. Th ey are used to working, so we help them with that.”
Hispanic-owned businesses on the rise, Census Bureau fi nds
Special to The Prospector
According to a study released by the U.S. Census Bureau minority-owned businesses still gross less than non-minority owned firms.
see RISE on page 6
National
POLL RESULTSWill the athletic task force
result in a referendum?
The Prospector wants you!The Prospector is looking for correspondents (sports, entertainment and news) for fall 2010. If interested, please apply at The Pros-pectorʼs offi ce, Union Building East, Room 105 or visit www.utepprospector.com.
WHAT
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you think?This week’s poll question:Will you being going to the 2010 Career Expo?
vote at WWW.UTEPPROSPECTOR.COM
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44%no
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One year later...
Editorial
El Diario cries outAs the drug-related violence con-
tinues to ravage Ciudad Juárez, emotions are clearly overwhelm-ing for the largest newspaper in the city. Aft er another journalist was shot and killed last week, El Diario de Juárez ran a front-page editorial pleading with the warring drug car-tels to tell the paper what they can do to keep their journalists safe.
Th e editorial comes aft er gunmen shot down two El Diario photogra-phers Sept. 16, leaving one dead and the other seriously wounded. In the editorial, El Diario not only asked the drug cartel what the paper could do to stop further death or threats to its staff , but also pointed out that the Mexican government has done nothing to protect freedom of the press.
Since the editorial ran, it has stirred up major controversy over issues of freedom of speech and the dire situation journalists are in when working for a newspaper in the middle of a drug-war like the one in Mexico.
Some critics have already come out and condemned El Diario for not only running the editorial on the front page, but for asking the cartels what they can do to prevent further violence against their journalist.
As a student newspaper on the border, we understand how impor-tant this issue is and the ethical is-
sues raised by the editorial. We at Th e Prospector understand why they ran the editorial and sympa-thize with El Diario. Our reality as journalists in the United States and the reality of Mexican journalists are very diff erent, simply because of the frequency of violence being infl icted by the cartels and the government’s failure to pursue those responsible.
Journalists are at the frontline of this issue and they have received little protection from the govern-ment. Under Mexican President Felipe Calderón, 22 journalists have been killed and little has been done to investigate or hold responsible the perpetrators. In 2008, a jour-nalist from El Diario was gunned down in his driveway, in front of his daughter. Since then, the Mexican government has not come any closer to punishing those responsible for the atrocious act. So one must un-derstand that if journalists are not being protected, El Diario is obvi-ously backed into a corner, with no help in sight.
We see the editorial as a desper-ate shout for help and an expression of their frustration. However, if you censor the media and take away the voice of the press, then it is clear the drug-cartels are winning the war.
El Diario has already been forced to censor some of the coverage of the drug war due to threats against
its journalists, and now that there has been another attack on their staff they are left with little options. El Diario has now lost two staff members in the last two years and their coverage of the biggest issue af-fecting the country and this border will once again be diminished.
PAGE4NEWS THE PROSPECTORSeptember 21, 2010 PAGE5NEWSTHE PROSPECTOR
September 21, 2010
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students who did not use the career center received a job off er.
Anne Trahan graduated in Decem-ber 2009 with a fi nance degree and re-cently got hired at a local job for New York Life.
“I started looking for a job two months ago and then applied through UTEP’s job portal and the employers called me back a couple of days later for a job interview,” Trahan said.
Trahan said the job does retirement accounts, college education plan-ning, life insurance and basic fi nancial services.
“Not all hope is lost, I got hired and I had no experience in the fi eld yet. Th e company said they are willing to teach me how to do the job,” Trahan said.
Another NACE survey conducted, stated employers taking part in the Job Outlook 2011 Fall Preview survey anticipate hiring 13.5 percent more
new college graduates from the class of 2011 than they hired from the class of 2010.
Th e survey also found that fewer than 48 percent of responding em-ployers expect to increase their hir-ing; 40 percent expect to maintain their hiring levels, bringing on about the same number of 2011 grads as they did from the class of 2010. About 12 percent anticipate cutting college hiring further.
Barton said the job market is still tough and better job opportunities may be gained through graduate school. He said it is a big option for students to consider, especially when the job market is still bleak.
“When I graduated, I took the jobs that were off ered to me but then I de-cided to go back to graduate school because I knew it would take me fur-ther in the future,” said Luis Loweree, college of education instructional specialist graduate.
In fall 2009, UTEP’s graduate school had 3,570 students enrolled. Th is year, there are 3,781 students enrolled, a 24.5 total percent increase.
“If students get the help that they need, attending workshops and heav-ily preparing themselves, they are much more likely to fi nd opportuni-ties to get jobs,” Barton said.
Th e sturdy, stone building sitting quietly atop a perfectly trimmed, grassy hill appears to be serene enough for a natural history muse-um, but bustling activity on the inside of the Centennial Museum signals changes to its decades-old galleries.
Th e Centennial Museum, which opened in 1937 and is El Paso’s old-est museum, recently redesigned and added several new exhibits to the Ge-ology Gallery and plans are in place to update the three other permanent galleries.
“Th e cases that we have in the Eth-nology Gallery are probably about 50 years old,” said Museum Curator Scott Cutler, who has been at the mu-seum since 1993. “Th ey are dated and not very useful for exhibits, ideally we would like to get someone with experience as an exhibit designer to redesign some of those exhibits and update them.”
In the Geology Gallery, colorful backdrops with informative text have replaced the stark, white backgrounds in cases that hold various rocks and minerals.
“It (redesigning the gallery) hap-pened accidentally, because we just wanted to reorganize the cases in the geology room,” said Marshall Carter-Tripp, director of the Centennial Museum. “We ended up hiring Vic-tor Mirelles (UTEP graduate) to add some color to the back of the cases and he came up with the idea for the ceilings.”
Mirelles thought it would liven up the galleries to paint the ceiling of the Geology Gallery as a light blue sky, punctuated with wispy, white clouds. Th e popularity of the Geology Gal-lery’s paint job has led to plans for the
three other galleries to also be painted with an appropriate sky, and on Oct. 13, which is National Fossil Day, the Centennial plans to unveil the
Museum gets fresh paint, new exhibits a little at a timeCentennialʼs Geology gallery made-overCampus
see GALLERY on page 6
ESTAEBAN MARQUEZ / The Prospector
The Centennial Museum recently redesigned and added several new exhibits to the Geology Gallery.
PAGE6NEWS THE PROSPECTORSeptember 21, 2010
entertainmentPAGE 7
September 21, 2010
editorJustin Anthony Monarez, 747-7442
Paleontology Gallery’s new, stormy ceiling.
“One day I was driving on Mesa Street and there is a place where you can see that wide expanse into New Mexico. A big storm was coming and it looked exactly like this ceiling,” Carter-Tripp said, as she pointed to the painted ceiling. “We got it.”
Several UTEP art students have worked on painting the new ceilings, including Irene O’Leary and Lacey Mills, senior painting majors, and Marcela Varona, interdisciplinary studies graduate. Th e ceiling, painted with dark blue, purple and orange hues, tries to capture what scientists think the sky may have looked like when dinosaurs walked the earth.
Varona, along with Mills, has been working on the Paleontology ceiling since mid-May and expects to be done by the end of September.
“I think it (the ceiling) has improved the museum a lot because it makes the room more attractive and exciting to be in,” Varona said. “People who pass by the gallery are always peeking in, wanting to see what’s going on. So, people are excited.”
Dinosaur footprints will lead mu-seum visitors, over half of which are school-aged children, through the Ge-ology Gallery and into the Paleontolo-gy Gallery. According to Carter-Tripp,
the ceiling in the Mammal and Bird Gallery may resemble what people see when they are in the Rio Bosque Wet-lands Park.
In addition to colorful ceilings, the Centennial Museum added an inter-active kiosk that teaches visitors about earthquakes, tectonic movements and more. A new interactive exhibit that shows the ability of certain rocks and mineral to glow under various types of light has been a crowd favorite. In the Geology Gallery, a new case depicting the history of train transportation, the mining industry in El Paso and the im-portance of the railroad along with a video produced by the History Chan-nel about how the earth was made are also new additions to the gallery.
According to Cutler, the Centennial Museum is working to modernize its galleries on a shoe-string budget.
“Th e renovations we’ve made so far have come from the existing budget…but we’ve done a lot of the work our-selves,” Cutler said. “And by doing that we’re saving a lot of money.”
Th e Centennial Campaign for UTEP, which offi cially launched Sept. 14 at the fall convocation, has made the Centennial Museum a priority. According to the campaign’s website, “modernizing its permanent galleries would bring it up to a standard that matches a national research univer-sity” and off ers two ways that alumni and friends of the university can help to improve the permanent exhibits. One way is to reconfi gure the Eth-nology Gallery as a Habitat and So-ciety Gallery, which has a price tag of $300,000, according to the website at campaignforutep.org.
Carter-Tripp became the director of the Centennial about four years ago and under her administration, completely renovated the fi rst-fl oor, temporary exhibit galleries starting in 2006. Th e galleries, now accented by deep, teal paint on the walls and hardwood fl oors, used to have walls covered with carpet and seemed stuck in the past.
“I think Marshall (Carter-Tripp) has been instrumental in turning that mu-seum around,” said associate professor of art Anne Giangiulio, who is also working with the Centennial as an exhibition designer. “It was like a time capsule, I mean some of the dioramas on that second fl oor are so old that the Native American hair has actually bleached blonde. She’s painted and livened up the space because it had a very dated 70s mentality to it.”
Giangiulio has worked with the Centennial in the past as an exhibition designer for temporary exhibits like “UTEP at the Poles”, but is now work-ing with Carter-Tripp on a brand new exhibition that will become part of the permanent collection in the Ethnol-ogy Gallery.
“Marshall’s idea is to do these two native plant cases, one dealing with plants used for food, like ‘nature’s gro-cery store’, and the other with plants that have medicinal values or practical uses, like using hemp to make twine or yucca leaves to weave sandals,” Giangiulio said.
In the Mammal and Bird Gallery, Carter-Tripp plans to use some of Cut-ler’s nature photos as backdrops for the black and grizzly bears, mountain lion, eagles and other desert animals.
“Right now those animals are in cases that are just white,” Carter-Tripp said. “We have blow-ups (large pho-tos) of the habitats for each animals that are being produced right now and then the installation will take place.”
Cutler hopes that the renovations and new additions to Th e Centen-nial’s permanent galleries will be more useful for students and allow them to learn about the natural history of the region.
“I think this has been long overdue, I’ve seen it just kind of stay static in a way… and I don’t think the exhibits have been as eff ective as they could be,” Cutler said. “So that’s what excites me, the opportunity to have some real fi rst class, creative exhibits.”
Th irty percent of Hispanic-owned businesses are in construction, repair and maintenance.
However, Cindy Ramos-Davidson, CEO of the El Paso (Texas) Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, said other sectors are growing.
“Although many of our new, grow-ing Hispanic business are in the ser-vice industry, we are noticing a trend of businesses opening their doors in the medical, transportation and de-
fense arenas, among others,” Ramos-Davidson said.
Clark said Arkansas also has a large number of Hispanic-owned busi-nesses in the retail sector, and busi-ness in accounting and real estate are growing.
“We expect to see this continue,” Clark said. “We are very excited about it because it is very positive for our community.”
Alejandra Matos, junior multimedia journalism major, participated in Scripps Howard Foundationʼs Semester In Washington program this summer.
GALLERY from page 5RISE from page 3 EXPO from page 1According to Castro-Duarte, em-
ployers interested in engineering and computer science majors will make up the majority of companies at the fair, but companies such as H-E-B, Vector Marketing, Peace Corps and Th e Boeing Company are not looking for specifi c majors.
“I’m not sure about going, there is no real job at the fair for majors oth-ers than engineering and science,” said Hilda Campos, sophomore education major.
At the fair, companies will be of-fering full time, part time, co-ops and internship positions. Students of all classifi cations and majors are encouraged to attend the fair.
“No matter if students are fresh-men or sophomore, they need to start looking (for) a way in,” Castro-Duarte said.
Th e UCC is off ering a workshop titled “How to Navigate a Career Fair” from 11 a.m. to noon, Sept. 21 at the UCC Training Room. Regis-tration is available through JobMine.
For questions about the Career Expo, getting résumés or cover let-ters revised, contact the University Career Center at 747-5640.
Utilizing a multitude of creative me-diums and unconventional methods, UTEP art education graduate student Brenda Perry creates the type of deeply conceptual artwork that is mostly lack-ing in the Sun City’s contemporary art scene.
Perry’s art and installations have seen the walls of many exhibitions from New York City to Chicago, El Paso to London. Th e El Paso native is currently fi nishing her master of art education at UTEP aft er receiving her BFA from Columbia Art College in Chicago.
Her current role as a creative pro-ducer, she said, happened serendipi-tously as a result of her early exposure to forms of art.
“I didn’t really suddenly decide I (was) going to be an artist, I felt like it chose me,” Perry said.
Starting off with a fascination of the camera lens and early experimentation with photography, Perry’s work has evolved to include a fuller spectrum of artistic mediums, such as paint-ing, printmaking and sometimes even technological tools.
“(Th e use of more mediums) helps dramatically because I don’t limit my-self. I’m able to communicate on many
diff erent levels whether it be video or painting,” Perry said.
Her most recent exhibitions have demonstrated this creative mixture. Th e UTEP Glass Gallery recently housed works by Perry, including many vibrant back-lit glass and oil paint pieces and a separate exhibit that used blown-up images of intricate fi n-gerprints to refl ect on issues of identity.
Perry has also experimented with screen printing on perishable items such as bread or tortillas to spell out powerful phrases or words.
“It’s part of the installation, that they decay and crumble, just like us. We live our lives and then we die some day,” Perry said.
Some of her other work has relied heavily on early photographic tech-niques, such as the piece entitled “Sleep Cycles.”
“I do a lot of 19th century photog-raphy processes where you use natu-ral sunlight to make a natural image,” Perry said. “With this series I thought it would be a good idea to take a nap on the actual light sensitive material and have it [record] my movements.”
Th e series of images document posi-tions and movements of her body to produce patterns of silhouettes tossing and turning, which Perry said is meant to represent the myriad number of cy-cles in human existence.
Th ough most of the themes in Perry’s work have been based on self-intro-spection and observations of human universals, her most current projects have taken on other forms of artistic discourse.
“Lately my work has taken a turn mostly toward socio-political issues such as human suff ering, social injus-tice and environmental awareness,”
Perry said. “I just think that there is too much going on in the world right now to make art just about me.”
Providing her own artistic perspec-tive to the current violent state of Ciu-dad Juárez, Perry used obscure photo-graphs of recent Cd. Juárez murders and placed them on small square steel sheets using another 19th century pho-tographic technique called “tintyping.”
Th e process gives the images an an-cient appearance, an eff ect which Perry uses as metaphorical representation for how quickly the images are forgotten in society and discarded in to the past.
In addition to Perry’s role in produc-ing art, she has taught art and photog-raphy at various schools and programs around the country.
Professorʼs route brings him back home
LUIS JASSO / The Prospector
New profes-sor Robert Avant-Mier,
who arrived from Bos-
ton College, authored “Rock the
Nation.”
LUIS JASSO / The Prospector
The art of Brenda Perry, art education graduate, has been displayed on walls around the world, from New York City to Chicago, El Paso to London.
Grad student pushes contemporary art in EP
see ART on page 11
BY JUSTIN ANTHONY MONAREZThe Prospector
John Lennon sang the famous line, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans,” and newly arrived communication profes-sor Roberto Avant-Mier relates.
“I never planned it,” Avant-Mier said. “I think some people have a mas-ter plan, good for them. Mine was ac-cidental, so when I hear that line, that’s how I think my life went. You think you’re going to do this, and then, you know, this job opens up over here.”
His interpretation of the line nar-rates the El Paso native’s career path, from leaving the Westside for the Marines to teaching in the collegiate-littered city of Boston.
Recently, his career has led him back home.
“I had dreams of like coming back to El Paso, maybe being a professor at UTEP,” Avant-Mier said.
In his fi rst semester at UTEP this fall, Avant-Mier is teaching Methods of Research in Communication and Communication and Popular Culture.
Avant-Mier was born to a Mexi-can household in Smelter town, near ASARCO, during the remaining years of the settlement in the 1970s. His family was later displaced and had to move.
He spent most of his childhood in the Westside’s Town and Country subdivision, a working class neigh-borhood nestled between the wealthy foothills of the Franklin Mountain and the Upper Valley.
“Th ey assume that you’re a rich kid. My experience was not that,” Avant-Mier said. “I was born into the proj-ects, so when people call me a rich kid from Coronado, I’m like ‘urgh’.”
He attended Oran Roberts Elemen-tary, Lincoln Middle School and Coronado High School. Avant-Mier was a self-admitted metal head in high school, and he was passionate about music at an early age.
Avant-Mier said he did not reach his potential in school and he admits that he did not know what college was or that it was an option.
“Never had anybody in my family gone to college. Never had anybody told me to go to college,” Avant-Mier said. “I didn’t know what college was. I was a dumb kid from a very modest, working-class neighborhood at best.”
Many of his friends dropped out, got into trouble or had to get jobs, and they didn’t go to college, he said.
Aft er high school, he wanted to be successful so he enlisted in the Ma-rines at 17 years old.
“I just fi gured the best thing I could do was get out of my neighborhood and get a job,” Avant-Mier said. “If I got a job and survived, that would be sort of successful.”
As an enlistee, he noticed small diff erences between the offi cers and sol-diers. Th e main dif-ference was a degree.
“Th e Marine Corps was both a good opportunity and it pushed him to go back to school,” UTEP communica-tion professor Samuel Ric-cillo said.
Aft er serving fi ve years, deployment and traveling around the world, he decided to return to school. He sped through college in three years.
“I started to think that I wasn’t less than these guys (offi cers),” Avant-Mier said. “So my whole, big plan was to go to col-lege and come back to the
see Rock on page 10
Miners of the moment
PAGE8ENTERTAINMENT THE PROSPECTORSeptember 21, 2010
Two dayʼs of classical to kick off fi ve-month seriesBY SARAH GARCIAThe Prospector
It’s been said that classical music increases the intelligence of listeners.
Th e El Paso Symphony Orchestra off ers an opportunity to take a break from radio, rap and rock and let a trilogy of musical masters maximize your brainpower.
Th e music of Ludwig Van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms and Wilhelm Richard Wagner will be brought to life during a two-day event at the Plaza Th eatre, starting at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 24-25. Th e event will be-gin EPSO’s fi ve-month music series extravaganza.
“Th at’s something everybody can enjoy, especially Beethoven’s fi ft h,” said Francisco Ramos, a recent grad-uate of music education. “I think it’s awesome they are playing ‘Ride of Th e Valkries’ because people are only familiar with the beginning of it, and this will allow them to experience the whole thing.”
EPSO Music Director Sarah Io-annides will lead the ensemble in Beethoven’s quintessential “Sym-phony No. 5,” Wagner’s “Ride of the
Valkries,” and Brahms’ “Piano Con-certo No. 2.”
“Each work we perform has very diff erent qualities. Beethoven’s Fift h is a powerful work. Wagner has a diff er-ent power, but is equally strong and very direct,” Ioannides said. “For me,
Brahms is more intimate, but words cannot speak greater than the music itself. Th e message is in the listening.”
Th ough this will be her sixth and fi nal season, Ioannides continues to be passionate about her role in the EPSO and is dedicated to directing
the highest quality show for her per-formers and audience alike.
“I feel my primary role is to inspire the musicians to one common inter-pretation which is faithful to the com-poser, yet remains alive and is clear to the listener,” Ioannides said.
Ioannides and EPSO will be ac-companied by Ukrainian pianist Val-entina Lisitsa, who critics hail as an “electrifying pianist,” and plays like an “angel.” Assistant Conductor An-dres Moran will also lead a discussion about the evening’s program at 6:30 p.m. prior to both performances in the Philanthropy Th eatre.
Ticket prices range from $13-$39. Th ere is a 10 percent active military discount available. Discounted stu-dent tickets costs $8-$10.
Tickets can be purchased by calling the El Paso Symphony offi ce at 532-3776, online at www.epso.org, or at any Ticketmaster outlet.
Th e El Paso community, like educa-tion graduate Israel Gallegos, who is planning on attending the event, may nod their heads and tap their feet to these classical beats resuscitated from the past. Th is mosaic of music will most certainly quench the thirst of the musically dehydrated.
“Music is life and like string theory, all music is frequency and that’s what life is, a big wave of frequency mat-ter,” Gallegos said. “In reality, we are all music manifested.”
Music Director Sarah Ioannides will conduct the El Paso Symphony Orchestra for her final season.
‘Halo: Reach’ is a relic of a forgotten generation
BY MATTHEW MUNDENThe Prospector
When the original “Halo” was re-leased on Microsoft ’s Xbox, it nor-
malized fi rst person shooters on consoles. However, time has passed and series like “Halo: Reach” feel like relics.
Th e aim is awkward and the con-trols get in the way when the game begins. It takes awhile to reformat your brain to stop thinking of the left trigger, used as the grenade but-ton in the original, as the button to aim down the weapon, which is the norm for most modern shooters. Th e aim assist is extremely notice-able to the point that the guns seem to just lock on to enemies and reti-cules are oversized to assure that no matter what the enemies get hit. Reach feels like something that is nearly a decade old.
It is not too odd to say that. Th e original is about ten years old and little has been done to change up the base mechanics of the game. Th e head-up display has changed a little since the original and Halo 2 & 3 added the ability to hold dual weapons, which was something re-moved from “Halo 3: ODST” and Reach. But the game play is largely the same thing. In a world where the “Call of Duty” and “Battlefi eld” series exist, Reach feels like it is lacking something special.
Th e story in Reach is interesting but badly paced. It tells the tale of the fall of the planet Reach. Th e alien Covenant army launches a surprise attack and, over the next eight hours of game time, a team of Spartans, which are super soldiers, try to help the human army fi ght the aliens off . Th e game is interest-ing in that it lets the player know from the fi rst minute that this is go-ing to end badly for the Spartans. It gives a feeling of hopelessness to all of the events, but the story told in the actual game lacks any urgency. Th e cut scenes are well done and add drama, but the game play feels so slow and has no momentum to a point that it seems the invasion is of no threat.
As a prequel, Reach falls into the same problems that all prequels fall into. While it tries hard to connect everything to the original game, the introduction of a few enemies that were not in the original game felt a little baffl ing.
Th is game also felt more trial and error than any Halo had in the past. Sometimes I would walk down a hallway and turn to fi nd a kami-kaze Grunt waiting to kill me. I would return to the checkpoint and try again knowing what lies ahead. Th e team A.I. has not improved much either. Whenever, I saw that the game wanted me to get into the gunner position as a team member drove, I would oft en get killed be-cause they would fl ip the vehicle over or drive it off a cliff .
As with all Halo games, multi-player will probably be the decid-ing factor for many. It has far more options to customize armor and game types than any of the previ-ous games. Yet, when I would click on the quick match button, I would oft en be placed into a slayer match. I would search in custom matches to try to fi nd something else, but all I could fi nd were the generic slayer matches.
Th e Forge option also returned as well and it seems to have more functionality than before. I was able to build maps and set off Rube Goldberg style mechanisms with-out much trouble.
Reach had the number one enter-tainment launch of the year. It to-taled $200 million. I am sure most Halo fans will be satisfi ed with it. It is just what everyone expects it to be, yet that was just not enough for me.
PAGE10ENTERTAINMENT THE PROSPECTORSeptember 21, 2010 PAGE11ENTERTAINMENTTHE PROSPECTOR
September 21, 2010
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Open mic
Monthly series promotes spoken creativityBY OMAR LOZANOThe Prospector
Th is month’s installment of the Barbed Wire Open Mic Series will continue to off er El Paso a diverse look at its unique body of creative citizens, free of charge.
A former brainchild of UTEP’s Creative Writing department and the Bilingual Creative Writing MFA program, the series has since shift ed from university student’s control, to operating under funding from El Paso’s Museum and Cultural Af-fairs Department (MCAD) via Bor-der Senses, a non-profi t literary organization.
“When it started a few years ago, it was limited to the UTEP crowd and writing students, over time the pro-gram has become much more com-munity oriented,” said Amit Ghosh, co-founding director of Border Senses and lecturer for the computer science program at UTEP. “Border Senses is strictly a community or-ganization, [this] allows for folks to come in and not feel that they cannot participate [in the open mic] if they are not part of UTEP.”
Th ough the series’ focus in the past was primarily centered on featuring professional literary talent and help-ing the community understand and vent itself in various literary ways, it has since then evolved into including an eclectic range of musical talents.
“We have had full bands come in, we have musicians, artists and danc-ers even, so it’s really open to any type of artistic expression,” said Rob-
ert Santos, UTEP alumni, host and organizer of the Barbed Wire Open Mic Series.
Th is month’s installment plans to emphasize the diverse blend of these creative mediums by bringing together some of El Paso’s under-ground talent.
Th e series will feature Luna de Fuego, which is an experimental fl a-menco group with afro-latin infl u-ences, underground local hip-hop heads, Secret Levels and guest DJ, Ed Chalacy.
In addition to the musical acts, the event will feature about 20 to 25 open mic participants sprinkled throughout the night.
“Hosting an open mic [is] a gam-ble, you never know who’s gonna show up,” Santos said. “What I re-ally love about it is that the event is made up by the community, whoever comes in from off the street and signs up, that’s who the show is about.”
Santos said that the event has seen everything from last minute artists coming in and wooing the crowd, to even having Wu-Tang Clan vet-eran affi liate, Killah Priest, coming though the doors to rock the mic.
“It’s like a hub for the arts,” Santos said. “It’s [also] a great networking opportunity. We have had a lot of people come through, you see them perform alone at a show and at the next show they are teamed up with someone else that they met there.”
Regular spoken-word performer Alfredo Gutierrez said artist, musi-cian and poet participation is impor-tant for the community.
“Th e greatest faculty that a human being has is to be creative. When people exercise their creativity they are moving with the hand of the universe,” Gutierrez said. “Just the fact that they are out there as art-ists, poets and musicians performing and doing something beautiful and creative helps with the general ambi-ence of the community.”
Th is installment of the Barbed Wire Open Mic Series will take place at 7 p.m. Sept. 25 at the Percolator, located on 217 N. Stanton St. It is a free event and, for early birds, free coff ee will be served at 6 p.m.
For more information, visit www.barbedwire.bordersenses.com.
Writers, musicians and other artists around the community participate in the monthly Barbed Wire Open Mic Series, which takes place at the Percolator.
Th is past summer Perry was in-volved in the UTEP and Rubin Cen-ter sponsored, Summer Programs for Youth and Families, which invited children and community members to participate in art education and art-work creation.
“Brenda was really good with work-ing with young children and sharing her love of art with the children and their families,” said Kerry Doyle, assis-tant director of the Rubin Center.
Perry said it is a good thing to break the stigma of the artist serving no pur-pose in society, by participating in pro-grams with community benefi t.
“My artwork aff ecting the commu-nity in a positive way and bringing up awareness of social issues makes me feel like a useful member of society,” Perry said. “It makes me feel like [I’m] validating my existence.”
Th is fall Perry plans to fi nish her graduate studies at UTEP with her Solo Master’s Th esis Exhibition enti-tled, “Homage.” It will showcase Perry’s photography of trees photographed in
a lumber yard before they where cut. Using 19th century photographic tech-niques, the images of the trees will be placed on the exact pieces of commer-cial wood they produced.
Contrary to what would be imagined as an environmental protest, Perry said, the images are meant to pay trib-ute to the living trees by use of their re-spective materials as an art form.
Aft er her time at UTEP, Perry plans to continue her studies and pursue a second master’s degree in art programs in New York and Boston.
“I see myself involved in academia long term, whether as a professor or an educator of sorts,” Perry said. “My future plans as an artist are to continue making work, either here in El Paso or wherever I may go.”
Perry’s Solo Master Th esis Exhibition will be on display from Oct. 7 – 25 at the Glass Gallery, located on the third fl oor of the Fox Fine Arts Building.
Brenda Perry’s Solo Master Thesis Exhibition will be on display at the Glass Gallery from Oct. 7-25.
Marine’s as an offi cer and show them that I can give orders as well.”
He graduated and, subsequently, registered in graduate courses while
dating his future wife, Olga. Th ey married, and he received his mas-ters, ultimately, derailing plans to return to the military.
“I said ‘you already paid your dues and now it’s the time for yourself to
develop’,” said Riccillo, who hired him as a teaching assistant and di-rected his masters’ thesis.
Riccillo urged and helped him to apply for doctoral programs. Avant-Mier was accepted into several
schools but chose the University of Utah.
“I wanted to study music, so to me, my degree wasn’t worth anything if I couldn’t study music,” Avant-Mier said. “So when I got the chance to go to Utah and they had a program in communication and cultural stud-ies, I knew that I could do music.”
His research focuses on identity and nationalism through an inter-cultural lens. He particularly deals with issues in Latino popular music, such as Rock en Español and Chica-no music. He has published articles on race, ethnicity and whiteness.
Avant-Mier recently published his book, “Rock Th e Nation.” Th e book examines Latino and Chicano iden-tity in popular rock music today.
On the side of his academics, he maintained a steady practice of the art. During the 1990s, he played in a band called Liquid Lunch. He also fronted a Black Sabbath-tribute band called Irony Man.
“For the record, we were pretty damn good. We played every Black Sabbath song note-for-note,” Avant-Mier said.
Aft er receiving his Ph.D, he ap-plied for an assistant professor of communication position at Boston College. He was hired in 2004 and stayed there for six years.
“We didn’t know anybody, so we moved there on our own… We moved to Boston sort of on a whim,” Avant-Mier said. “We took a chance.”
Avant-Mier said his fi eld of study met the job description.
“Th ey needed me for what they wanted. Th e job they were off er-ing was what I did, so I got kind of lucky that I fi t their job description,” Avant-Mier said.
Avant-Mier nearly turned in his tenure application before he heard about the position at UTEP. He gave UTEP another chance.
“Aft er six years of Boston, I thought it wasn’t going to happen. I gave up hope,” Avant-Mier said. “Th e day the applications were due, like on Dec. 2, I sent in my applica-tion. Why not take the chance?”
Th e position at UTEP allowed his family to reunite with family and friends, live cheaper and avoid big city issues, such as public education.
“Its good to hear a Chicano pro-fessor wants to facilitate learning for Hispanic students,” said Abril Perez, junior multimedia major. “I’m glad he wants to shine some light on our education and our Hispanic people.”
Justin Anthony Monarez may be reached at [email protected]. Sarah Garcia contributed to this story.
Rock from page 7
Special to the Prospector
Professor Robert Avant-Mi-er reads the first chapter from his book, “Rock the Nation,” at Barnes and Noble.
Th e Miners have played three games this year, with two of those games played against pre-tenders and one against a
contender. To say the least, there haven’t been any surprises this sea-son, so far.
UTEP is 2-1 this year and a lot of us knew that is where they would be sitting aft er three games. Now, a 3-0 Miners record would certainly be a surprise.
If the Miners were sitting 3-0 no one would be complaining and the Sun Bowl would draw a lot more fans than just 39,000 for a rivalry game. Come on El Paso!
But we are not undefeated, so we have to move on. Trevor Vittatoe has played well to start off the sea-son, completing 66 of 111 passes for 815 yards with eight touchdowns and only one interception.
Kris Adams has bounced back from a disappointing 2009 cam-paign with 12 grabs for 248 yards and three touchdowns. His streaky play has helped the Miners’ receiver core, which lost its biggest play-maker in Jeff Moturi.
UTEP has not established a running game aft er their contest against Arkansas-Pine Bluff , which they were expected to dominate.
Yes, they did have 254 yards rush-ing against NMSU, but not a single back had 100 yards rushing in the game or let alone all season. Plus, we were playing the Aggies, who aren’t exactly a top defense.
Our defense struggled against Houston, but has dominated the two other games, which were at home. On the road, the Miners al-lowed the Cougars to rack up 54 points on a total of 658 yards on off ense.
UTEP gave up 308 yards on the ground and 348 yards through the air. Plus, senior Braxton Amy, the biggest playmaker on defense, was lost for the year. Simply, the defense has to fi nd a way to fi ll the void that has been left by his injury.
UTEP’s real season starts on Sept. 25 against Memphis at the Sun Bowl. Th e Miners have never beat-en the Tigers, even when they were terrible.
Memphis is not going to be an easy game. Th ey are under a new head coach (Larry Porter) and Eric Price, who was the former off ensive coordinator for UTEP, is also new to the coaching staff .
For the fourth time in his career, senior quarterback Trevor Vittatoe threw for fi ve touchdowns in a single game as he led the Miners past New Mexico State 42-10 Sept. 18 at the Sun Bowl.
UTEP (2-1, 0-1 Conference USA) had a fi eld day through the air as they retained the Silver Spade and Brass Spittoon against a winless NMSU team.
“We put two and two together fi nal-ly tonight,” Vittatoe said. “We played
all sides of the ball, off ense and de-fense especially. We really stepped up and came together as a team.”
Besides his fi ve touchdowns through the air, Vittatoe completed 19 of 30 passes for 246 yards. He also showed his running ability for the fi rst time this season as he rushed the ball three times for 54 yards.
Senior receiver Kris Adams almost had another 100-yard game but came up short, fi nishing the day with three catches for 86 yards and two touch-downs. He did, however, have the longest play from scrimmage when Vittatoe hit him in stride for a 68-
yard bomb in the third quarter to put UTEP up 35-10.
“Th at kind of helped my confi dence again, because last year was kind of a bad year for me,” Adams said. “I just got back into a groove and I think we are ready to go.”
Th e Miner defense allowed NMSU to score their only points in the sec-ond quarter, giving up a touchdown and a fi eld goal. Th ey gained 153 yards in the second quarter alone and gained only 143 yards the rest of the game.
UTEP was able to apply constant pressure on NMSU’s quarterback
Matt Christian all night. Th ey forced the only interception of the game when Royzell Smith stepped in front of a Christian pass in the fourth quar-ter and returned it 13 yards to the Miner 48.
“Anytime you can hold an off ense like that to 10 points, you have had a successful night,” Smith said. “To play fast and physical like we did, I was re-ally happy about that.”
El Paso native and NMSU transfer Julio Lopez had his fi rst catch of the year, which resulted in a touchdown.
BOB CORRAL / The Prospector
Senior quarterback Trevor Vittatoe completed 19-30 passes for 246 yards and five touchdowns helping orchestrate a win against rival NMSU Sept 18 at the Sun Bowl.
Soccer
BY SAL GUERREROThe Prospector
Frankly speaking, soccer is a sport that is not known for high-scoring aff airs. But the Miners threw that no-tion out the door with their 12-1 shel-lacking of Alabama A&M Sept. 19 at University Field.
UTEP (7-1) completely dominated the contest against a winless Lady Bulldogs team who, in the game against the Miners, scored their sec-ond goal of the season.
“We came out of the game healthy. Hopefully we gave some people some confi dence, we reversed some roles today,” head coach Kevin Cross said. “Players that play less minutes got to play a lot of minutes. Th at will give them more confi dence going into conference play.”
Six diff erent Miners scored against Alabama A&M. Freshman Jade Bab-cock led the way with the hat trick scoring her fi rst goal at the 32nd min-ute and the other two in the second half.
“All my goals are a team eff ort. We work hard in practice and it comes out in the game,” Babcock said. “(Th e hat trick) felt pretty good but if it wasn’t for my team, I wouldn’t have scored.”
Along with Babcock, four of her teammates scored twice in the con-test. Brittany Kindzierski, Katie Dor-
man, Tori Martyn and Gina Soto all had two goals apiece.
“I feel pretty good. I haven’t scored in a while so it feels really nice. It was pretty sweet,” Soto said. “I know we are good and we’re a strong team and next weekend we are going to play tough.”
Soto said their performance this weekend proved they are ready to open up conference play.
Th e Miners capped off their week-end home-series in good fashion. On Sept. 17 UTEP faced Lamar Univer-sity and dismantled the Cardinals 6-1.
Sophomore Tess Hall recorded a hat trick scoring three times against Lamar. Dorman registered two goals of her own and Kinzierski scored one on the night.
Cross said the contest against La-mar was one of the toughest games his team has ever played. Th e Cardi-nals registered four yellow cards and one red card while committing 10 fouls throughout the match.
While UTEP recorded two wins during the weekend series, they were not without a loss.
Senior Anoop Josan injured her an-kle against Lamar and was seen walk-ing around in a brace. Junior Brittany Th ornton tore a tendon in her knee last week but is said to be probable for the conference opener.
“Hopefully the soccer gods will be good to us. Th ornton tore her menis-
cus…it was a little disappointing be-cause she was playing her best soccer,” Cross said. “Anoop Josan got kicked on Friday. She has a swollen ankle and the trainer is optimistic he can get her well by Friday.”
Th e Miners open up conference play against UAB at 7 p.m. Sept. 24 at University Field. Days later at 1 p.m. Sept 26 UTEP plays host to Memphis.
Aft er coming off a victory against I-10 rival New Mexico State, UTEP looks to make it two in a row as they welcome Memphis to the Sun Bowl, a team they have never beaten.
UTEP (2-1, 0-1 Conference USA) is over .500 aft er carving up NMSU 42-10 Sept. 18. Senior quarterback Trevor Vittatoe threw for fi ve touchdown passes and had a total of 300 all-purpose yards.
“Vittatoe threw the ball well and we caught the ball well,” head coach Mike Price said. “He did an excellent job scrambling and running with the football, he really showed good speed.”
Even though the Miners have two wins on the year, they are still winless in conference play. Th e Tigers are coming off their fi rst win of the season and have never lost to the Miners in C-USA play.
“Now we’re in C-USA play. Th e tapes we look at of Memphis…they are very athletic. Th ey’re big strong and physi-cal,” Price said. “Th ey are one good football team.”
In the three meetings in conference play, Memphis is 3-0 against the Miners. Every time the two have played, Mem-phis has handed the Miners their fi rst loss in conference or it was the Miners last loss of the season.
“It will be a super challenge for us to take (Memphis) on,” Price said. “We know the importance of this conference game and how it falls in our schedule.”
Last year, Memphis ran all over UTEP en route to a 35-20 victory. Th e Tigers rushed for 270 yards and threw for an-other 216 yards.
Memphis (1-2, 0-1 C-USA) got their fi rst win of the season aft er they beat Middle Ten-nessee State 24-17 in their home opener.
Th e Tigers are led by a two-headed running attack in senior Gregory Ray and true fresh-man Jerrell Rhodes. Ray has carried the ball 44 times for 175 yards and two touchdowns. Rhodes has rushed the ball 39 times for a 131 yards with no touchdowns.
“Th ey are shoveling two tail backs…they’re working hard to get continuity,” Price said. “Th ey play really hard, they play with two backs.”
Memphis has also rotated quarterbacks due to the lack of experience this season. True freshman Ryan Williams and red shirt sopho-more Cannon Smith have been sharing the play calling this season. Williams has seen the most work as he played in all three games,
while Smith a transfer from the University of Miami, has only played in two. Williams has completed 43 of 70 passes for four touchdowns and two interceptions. Smith has connected on 13-21 passes for 130 yards and a touchdown.
Th e Tigers also have a new off ensive coor-dinator in Eric Price, who is the son of UTEP head coach Mike Price. “It’ll be real diff erent. To say the least, it’s going to be weird,” Price said. “Eric text me Sunday night and said ‘Th is is weird’.”
Running back Donald Buckram’s ability to play against Memphis is still a question. Price said there will be no word on Buckram’s status until he can evaluate his practices during the week.
Th e Miners take on Memphis at 7:05 p.m. Sept. 25 at the Sun Bowl.
UTEP looks to make it two in a row against MemphisFootball
ESTEBAN MARQUEZ / The Prospector
39,214 fans filled the Sun Bowl to watch UTEP take on rival NMSU on Sept. 18
On the fi rst drive of the game Lopez caught an 18-yard pass in the back corner of the end zone for the open-ing score.
Th e Miners played statistically well on off ense, going nine of 14 on third down conversions. Th ey scored on six of seven drives and the only drive they did not score on was because they were called for two holding pen-alties, stalling the drive.
For the third consecutive week, UTEP was without their star tailback Donald Buckram, who was held out due to injury. Buckram’s knee is still not 100 percent and head coach Mike
Price said he needs to practice more to see the fi eld.
“I had a good feeling on Th ursday that (Buckram) might not play be-cause he was not 100 percent,” Price said. “He had a good Friday and a great warm-up, the best he has had, but he just didn’t practice enough.”
Up next for the Miners is a show-down with Memphis at 7:05 p.m. Sept. 25 at the Sun Bowl. Th is game will mark the fi rst father-son show-down between Tigers off ensive coor-dinator Eric Price and Miners coach Price.
“It’s going to be a new experience for us, me and my family, fi rst time ever,” Mike Price said.
UTEP celebrated their 42-10 win against I-10 rival NMSU Sept. 18 at the Sun Bowl.
STOMP from page 13
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WIN AN IPOD TOUCH!Register your vote in the 2010 Students’ Choice Awards brought to you by The Prospector. Make your opinion heard today! One grand prize of one iPod Touch will be awarded to one entry to be selected at random.Entry deadline October 29th at 5 p.m. Results will be published in The Prospector’s 2010 Students’ Choice Awards Issue on November 16th.
One entry per student. At least 15 blanks must be filled in to be counted or entered for prize. By entering you agree to have your name published in The Prospector (print and online editions).
Please send or drop off completed entry to:
Students’ Choice Awards, c/o The Prospector,
105 Union East, El Paso, TX 79968-0622, or drop
them off at Student Publications office located at
EAT & DRINKBest Place to Dance_______________________________________Best Sports Bar__________________________________________Best Drink Specials ______________________________________Bar to end the night________________________________________Best Margaritas___________________________________________Best Wings _____________________________________________Best Coffee______________________________________________Best International Food____________________________________Best Mexican Food_________________________________________Best Chinese Food ________________________________________Best Vegetarian Food ______________________________________Best Late-night food________________________________________Best Sushi________________________________________________Best Pizza________________________________________________Best Burritos______________________________________________Best Buffett_____________________________________________Best Fast Food ___________________________________________Best Breakfast Place_______________________________________Best Spot for a Romantic Dinner ____________________________
PLAY & SHOPBest Car Shop___________________________________________Best Bike Shop__________________________________________Best Hair Salon__________________________________________Best Shopping Center/ Mall _______________________________Best Gym_______________________________________________Best Spa/ Massage ________________________________________Best Movie Theater _______________________________________Best Place to Bowl_________________________________________Best Billiards_____________________________________________Favorite Store ____________________________________________Best Car Wash ___________________________________________
CAMPUS & CLASSESFavorite Mode of Transportation _____________________________Best Professor___________________________________________Best Department _________________________________________Best Major______________________________________________Best Make-out Spot on Campus____________________________Best Place to Catch a Nap ________________________________Best Place to Park on Campus_______________________________Best Place to Work on Campus____________________________Best Place to Eat on Campus ______________________________Best Place to Hangout on Campus __________________________Best Place to Study on Campus ____________________________Best Place to Tailgate_____________________________________
SERVICESBest Place to Work ________________________________________Best Phone Service _______________________________________Best Customer Service_____________________________________Best Supermarket_________________________________________Best Bakery______________________________________________Best Tattoos______________________________________________Best Bank________________________________________________Best Place to Buy Textbooks ________________________________
