HILLTOP VIEWSSt. Edward’s University • Wednesday, September 19, 2012 • Volume 32 • Issue 2 • hilltopviewsonline.com
7 | Life & ArtsThis week’s ‘Flix Fix features a horror film from the 1970s with an antogonist known simply as ‘The Baby.’
11 | SPORTSAn alumnus from the Hilltop takes a swing at qualifying for the esteemed-Professional Golf Association tour.
14 | VIEWPOINTSOne writer’s take on a few university traditions, both new and old, and some that are practiced by few–if any at all.
From the ashes of tragedy, Bastrop County rose to cel-ebrate a year of recovery and hope on Labor Day.
For most people, Labor Day is a time to kick back and en-joy a relaxing day off. But for current and past residents of Bastrop County, Labor Day holds a different significance.
On Sept. 4, 2011, fire sparked in the heart of the Lost Pines Forest in and around Bastrop.
Although many rumors began to spread about what parts of Bastrop were most
affected and how much was lost, it took a year to under-stand how deeply they were impacted.
Junior Kelsey Acosta was one of the first to lose her home.
“It’s weird to see how many people still don’t really get it,” said Acosta, who was on campus with her little sister, Shelby, at the time of the fires. “It’s not that we just lost our house. It’s that we liter-ally lost an entire chapter of our lives.”
That same feeling of loss is still present throughout Bas-trop County.
“I drove out there the last
week of August and was hit hard thinking about how that used to be my home,” said Ashley Conger, a St. Ed-ward’s student and resident of Bastrop during the fire. “It was just a patch of dirt and rocks and what little trees were left... It’s hard to put words to what was really lost.”
On the Anniversary of the Bastrop County Complex Fire, the Bastrop County Long Term Recovery Team, an organization formed by FEMA and the Texas De-partment of Emergency Management, presented “A
Students reflect on Bastrop fires one year laterAustin [email protected]
The new leaders of Stu-dents for Sustainability have planned a few anticipated new events. Current co-presidents sophomore doci-ology major Andy Hirschfeld and junior environmental science and policy major Janelle Sylvester have pas-sion for sustainable food by working alongside the lead-ership of former presidents
Portia Odell and Corina So-lis. They hope to continue through team-work to build upon the legacy that Odell and Solis created.
“[The previous co-presidents] helped make the club more fo-cused on sustainability issues and they made the club more official with the administra-tion and the school. We’re
picking up from where they left off,” Sylvester said.
Hirschfeld discussed the beginning threads of Stu-dents for Sustainability, which was formerly known
as the Environmental Club.“It was one of those clubs
that was gaining momen-tum. . . . there wasn’t nearly as much work being done as there was at my high school.
I wanted to work to change that,” said Hirschfeld. “I felt that this organization had a lot of like-minded people who were working really hard to get that done.”
Last year, the club managed to resurrect their garden of sustainable foods even during the drought. The garden, lo-cated behind Teresa Hall and in front of the Satellie Chiller Plant, was expanded this year after the university granted the club more land.
The co-presidents work closely to expand the garden with senior environmen-tal science and policy major Ashley Shaw, the garden co-ordinator.
“I’m hoping to plant some native flowers around the pe-rimeter to attract beneficial insects and make the garden stand out more. I’d really like to see some art out there, which we’re in the process of
Natalie [email protected]
Students for Sustainability adds new leaders, expands garden
Courtesy of Staff Sgt. Malcolm McClendon, Texas Military ForcesRelief efforts brought citizens together after wildfires swept through Bastrop County last year.
“[The previous co-presidents] helped make the club more focused on sustainability issues... We’re picking up from where they left off.”
-Janelle Sylvester, co-president of Students for Sustainability
BASTROP |3
GARDEN| 3
2NEWS WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2012 • HILLTOP VIEWS
On Wednesday, Sept. 19, from 10 a.m. to noon, St. Ed-ward’s University will host a nonprofit and volunteer or-ganization fair in the Mabee Ballroom. Students will be able to speak with represen-tatives from a variety of vol-unteer and nonprofit orga-nizations to find out how to get involved with their com-munity.
Lou Serna, assistant direc-tor of Campus Ministry, said he believes the nonprofit fair fits perfectly with the univer-sity’s education philosophy.
“As a university founded by the Congregation of Holy Cross, serving our commu-nity is a defining characteris-tic of both the congregation and St. Edward’s,” Serna said. “Nonprofit organizations help our community ‘con-front critical issues of society’, which is part of our Univer-sity mission.”
Serna hopes the fair en-courages students to give something back to their com-munity.
“For those who are not sure what they are looking
for, they can learn a lot about what is available in the com-munity,” Serna said. “For those with an idea of what they want out of their volun-teer opportunity, it is easier for them to target their expe-rience.”
St. Edward’s sponsors many volunteer opportunities for students who are interested in serving. One of these op-portunities is Alternative Spring Break. Through this program, students go to one of many possible destina-tions to do volunteer work together.
Tyler Riola, a senior ac-counting major, participated in Alternative Spring Break. Riola went to Phoenix, Ariz. to volunteer at a homeless shelter.
“For me, there was, of course, a huge difference be-tween being at the homeless shelter and being at St. Ed-ward’s,” Riola said.
“Being immersed in that environment helped me real-ize what I take for granted. Even a simple cell phone call, for example.”
Serna and Riola share the view that serving is an en-lightening experience.
“I would say that students should definitely perform vol-unteer work. The opportuni-ties that St. Edward’s offers are once-in-a-lifetime experi-ences that, to my knowledge, aren’t offered anywhere else,” said Riola.
Jeff Arn, a fifth-year senior, also supports nonprofits as a part of the St. Edward’s mis-sion.
“St. Ed’s admission and its core values are centered around getting back to the community. I feel like it’s important for a St. Ed’s stu-dent to embody those values,”
Arn said. “We should use the skills and values that St. Ed’s taught us to give back to the community.”
Serna said he hopes to in-fluence students to gain posi-tive experience through their own volunteer work.
“There are many people in the world struggling, and as a person of privilege, I have a moral obligation to help oth-ers,” Serna said.
The fair is sponsored by Campus Ministry, Career Services and the Office of Community Engagement.
Adam [email protected]
Volunteer fair provides ways to give back
July 28 12:03 a.m. Public Intoxication Andre Hall Closed
POLICE BLOTTERDate Time Incident Location Resolution
Aug. 1 8:23 a.m. Damaged Property Parking Garage Active
Aug. 7 2:21 p.m. Graffiti Ragsdale Center Closed
Aug. 7 10:05 p.m. Theft RCC Active
Aug.11 9:30 p.m. Damaged Property Parking Garage Closed
Aug. 13 2:36 a.m. Investigation Woodward & Congress Closed
Aug. 14 3:25 p.m. Ill Person Fondren Hall Closed
Aug. 15 4:41 a.m. Injury–Fall Fleck Hall Closed
Earlier this year, Sister Donna Jurick’s role as vice president of Academic Af-fairs was sectioned off and distributed among other staff members. As a result, Brenda Vallance now acts as temporary vice president of Academic Affairs.
Jurick joined St. Edward’s University in 1988 as vice president and academic dean. Her title later ex-panded to include provost and to executive vice presi-dent in 2006, and a position as the university’s chief aca-demic officer.
“I was speaking to a friend the other day,” Ju-rick said, “And she joked, ‘you gave up half your job and still manage to not leave at 6:30!’”
F o r m e r l y the dean of the School of Behavioral and Social Sci-ences, Vallance will take over the role temporarily until the university can find a permanent replacement for vice president of Aca-demic Affairs (VPAA).
“You hire a search firm to generate candidates, which is exactly what we have be-gun to do,” Jurick said. “We will hire over the course of this year a VPAA.”
Jurick said that the divi-sion, as well as the need for a permanent VPAA, was
“in order to address the fact that the institution is grow-ing,” necessitating changes in the organization of roles.
“Positions similar to the VPAA in the past reported directly to Sr. Donna, and the current VPAA position now reports directly to the president,” Vallance said.
Vallance said that the job posting is advertised in The Chronicle of Higher Edu-cation, as well as on the uni-versity’s website. Vallance will be applying for the job of permanent vice president of Academic Affairs.
Jurick continues to be heavily involved in aca-
demic affairs. She contin-ues to reside on the presi-dent’s administrative staff, is chair on the university’s Strategic Planning Com-mittee (2010-2015) and on the Academic and Gradu-ate Council. Jurick is also a staff member of the Board of Trustees’ Institutional Oversight and Academic Affairs Committee.
“I’m happy continuing to be [executive] VP,” Jurick said.
University alters executive position
“You hire a search firm to generate candidates, which is exactly what we have begun to do...We will hire over the course of this year a VPAA.”-Sister Donna Jurick, VP for provost
Courtesy of Liza Manjarrez and Tomas SeguraAlternative Spring Break is a popular volunteer opportunity.
Bryanna [email protected]
In the Sept. 12 issue, the story “University mourns professors” incorrectly reported that Harald Becker died Aug. 8. Becker died Sept. 8.
CORRECTIONS
3NEWSWEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2012 • HILLTOP VIEWS
figuring out,” Shaw said.Expanding the garden is
not the organization’s only goal.
“[The] main goal is to have the student body more aware of Students for Sus-tainability and what we are doing on campus to enhance and promote sustainability,” Sylvester said.
Shaw said she hopes the organization can also help build a sense of community through its dedication to be-ing green.
“I hope to show every-one that it’s easy and fun to grow your own food and that eating healthy, seasonal food doesn’t have to be a challenge,” Shaw said. “Gar-dens have this great ability to merge age and socioeco-nomic gaps in communities.”
Although Students for
Sustainability plans to inte-grate a few changes such as informing the student body of club activities and events, it also intends to further develop one of their plans called the Green Fund.
“The Green Fund is an ini-tiative that Students for Sus-tainability has been working on for years,” Sylvester said.
“The goal of it is to have a small increase in tuition...that money would go toward sustainability initiatives on campus.”
The Green Fund would be a fee tacked on to tuition every semester, similar to the mandatory Technology Fee.
Such initiatives would include more recycle bins,
composting with Bon Ap-pétit and expanding the gar-den.
The co-presidents of Stu-dents for Sustainability wish to carry on the reputation of their club while advancing their mission to educate the student body about sustain-able living.
pounds of bottled water and non-perishable food donated to Catholic charities through SEU Campus ministry
Night of Hope,” an event that celebrated the Bastrop County recovery efforts over the past year and featured local Bastrop artists such as the Chubby Knuckle Choir and Hannibal Lokumbe. The night also included speakers such as KEYE TV anchor Judy Maggio, a film by An-drew Shapter commemorat-ing the fire and six survivor stories, which varied in con-tent from stories of family urns discovered after the fire to American flags that sur-vived it.
The Bastrop County Long Term Recovery Team also headed the efforts to rebuild the 1,023 uninsured and low-income homes that were de-stroyed by the fire and to be-gin rehabilitating the loblolly pines found in the affected areas of Bastrop State Park.
A number of other organi-zations also help victims ex-periencing psychological ef-fects of the fire. Darla Absher, a professional with one such organization called Bluebon-
net Trails, said in an inter-view with The Bastrop Ad-vertiser that they have helped 786 people in group sessions who sought help dealing with the after effects of the fire.
Fire victims have also found support from smaller groups, creating the sense of commu-nity that has always been a part of Bastrop County.
“I had only been at my job for a couple months and was absolutely blown away by how the people surrounding me pulled together to sup-port me,” Conger said. “You don’t really know how nice some people can be until something really bad hap-pens.”
Those affected say that they don’t want to forget because forgetting would mean losing more than the fire took.
“We forget that we don’t control the world we live in,” Acosta said, “The fire was something that we had to live through, reflect on, learn from and then just move on. Dwelling on the matter would just be depressing.”
The Student Govern-ment Association (SGA) commenced plans for the fall semester.
On Sept. 6, the Senate hosted its first meeting in Fleck Hall. All students were welcome to attend. At the meeting, SGA an-nounced some of its new initiatives for this year, one of which was a Green Initiative that seeks to im-prove sustainability on campus.
There are also other planned projects that seek to involve and inform the student body.
“The Association is host-
ing a debate between the College Democrats and College Republicans, at which there will be a vot-er registra-tion booth,” said SGA P r e s i d e n t Brady Faglie. “This event is being hosted with the in-tention of encouraging students to be informed and partici-patory citizens.”
“Of course, the year is early and there are many other initiatives and proj-ects that will come up dur-
ing the year. As for now, we have a survey on our official Facebook page... that pres-
ents several key issues for students to vote on as most important to them,” said Faglie.
SGA hosts open meet-
ings every other Thursday at 6:45 p.m. in Fleck Hall. Students are welcome to attend and discuss issues of concern to them or pro-pose solutions to pressing issues.
Faglie believes that the organization is ready to serve the student body well this year.
“We have a very strong group of individuals who are intelligent, motivated and passionate about representing the student body,” Faglie said.
Follow SGA on Facebook by liking the “St. Edward’s University Student Govern-ment Association” page and follow on Twitter @SEU_SGA.
$471.47Looking back on Bastrop fires
Bastrop communityremembers, rebuilds
Adam [email protected]
Continued from page 1
Continued from page 1
Garden builds community, awareness
“...we have a survey on our official Facebook page... that presents several key issues for students to vote on as most important to them.”- Brady Faglie, SGA President
raised towards rebuilding efforts through SEU Campus Ministry
2004 students lost
homes 14 students had to evacuate
1,554 total homes destroyed
Photo illustration by Andrew HatcherThe campus garden is located in a fenced-in plot behind Teresa Hall.
Theater
Apartments
Teresa Hall
CampusGarden
Hunt Le Mans
KNOWINGYOUR SGA
Student government discusses raising involvement on campus
4 NEWS WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2012 • HILLTOP VIEWS
Sounds of construc-tion have been resonating throughout Moody Hall. This construction is respon-sible for the metamorphosis of Moody Hall’s atrium.
The result is the new Inter-national Lounge located in front of the Office of Interna-tional Education.
Before the construction began, the atrium had sev-eral couches and some study space but was not structured for productive studying, ac-cording to some students. The lounge has since under-gone a wave of change.
“I really like the new lounge. It’s a chill lounge and is better for academic purposes,” said junior Claire Corn.
The atrium construction began in Aug. 2012 and end-
ed early Sept. The lounge was created in order to bring stu-dents together in a structured environment, according to the St. Edward’s University website. The lounge has al-ready begun to meet this goal by providing a brighter and more organized area to study and spend time be-tween classes.
The couches have been re-placed with new desks and computers. The desks can be ar-ranged and used for study groups. While working at the computers, students can gaze at the bamboo and ceiling fixture that is illumi-nated with light. The lounge has an international look and feel complete with bamboo
and a warm color palette.Now that library study ar-
eas are decreased, the lounge’s central location and new atmosphere have given stu-dents another place to study and hang out.
“It is really modern and
nice. The building is easy to get to and that is why many people come here,” said Olga Murillo, a first time visitor to the lounge.
The sounds of construc-
tion have been replaced with the sounds of students. Leah Stoddard, a faculty member at the Office of International Education, sees the lounge through her office window and has seen it full of student life since the renovations were completed.
“I think students like the new lounge. It’s a great place to study in groups because you can use the funky desks and interesting couches,” Stoddard said.
The lounge has proven to be useful for more than just studying. On Sept. 10, the Study Abroad Fair was held in Moody Hall. The new lounge gave the university the opportunity to have the fair in a convenient location, enabling many students to at-tend.
On Aug. 30, freshmen made their way to bus stops outside residence halls for “Catch the Bus to HEB Plus,” the newest event on the St. Edward’s University Hilltop-per Welcome Days agenda. The trip was organized by Student Life.
“We tried this out for the first time to see how it would go,” Assistant Direc-tor of Student Life Lindsey Woelker said. “I went to the University of Michigan for undergrad which gave me different ideas for events on campus, and we wanted to give this one a try.”
Freshman Katherine Mc-Gowan went on the trip and said she considered the event a success.
“It was invigorating and enthralling,” McGowan said. “I liked the opportunity to
blend a collegiate experience with a domestic experience
here in Austin.”Some Living Learning
Communities attended as a group to support the event and bond with their fellow members.
“I went with most of my LLC, the business commu-nity,” freshman Austin Chan-dler said. “It was great. I’m happy St. Ed’s has programs like this.”
The event was a success be-cause of the number of par-ticipants.
“The response was amaz-ing,” Woelker said. “When the first bus showed up at 10:30 [p.m.], we already had around twenty students wait-ing for it. In the end, we had over a hundred students in-volved.”
HEB Plus proved to be the perfect choice for a first-year shopping trip.
“Planning it was super easy,” Woelker said. “We were working with alumni to get it off the ground, and HEB was so helpful in helping every-thing run smoothly.”
Woelker said the trip will likely become a regular event each year during Hilltopper Welcome Days.
“I would fully support [the trip] happening every year,” McGowan said. “I would fully support it going all year long, maybe if they did some kind of monthly service.”
McGowan’s interest in the event didn’t stop at the level of purely enjoying the expe-rience — she also had other interests in attending.
“For me, it was about buy-ing some healthy foods,” Mc-Gowan said. “I bought a lot of fruit and vegetables because I wanted to eat healthier. The
food in the cafeteria is good, but sometimes I want to eat something healthy outside of that.”
Other students went to the event looking for somewhat different products.
“I bought fifty dollars of candy and some batteries,” Chandler said. “I would to-tally do it again. I really en-joyed it.”
Students did not get just groceries and everyday household items from the shopping trip.
“I think it was a great way to get to know your fellow students,” McGowan said. “We got to help each other shop and figured out what ev-eryone else liked to eat. It was a great bonding experience.”
Renovations in Moody Hall swap couches for new computers
Buses take students on first annual HEB grocery shopping event
Sonya [email protected]
Tyler [email protected]
Wikimedia CommonsStudents bought food and other necessities for college living.
Photo by Emily BlasdellThe International Lounge in Moody Hall provides study space.
“It is really modern and nice. The building is easy to get to and that is why many people come here.”
-Olga Murillo, student
5GAMESWEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2012 • HILLTOP VIEWS
CHECK US OUT AThilltopviewsonline.com
FOR WEATHER, SURVEYS, BLOGS AND ADDITIONAL COVERAGE FROM ALL OF OUR SECTIONS!
gameslook for the answer’s to both games in next week’s issue!
LIFE & ARTSWEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2012 • HILLTOP VIEWS 6
The devastation of Hurri-cane Katrina is still evident in Mississippi seven years since it first reached land.
Separated from his home, work and friends, Jeff Schmuki, artist and current professor at Georgia South-ern University, was forced to find new ways to continue making art. The hurricane left him with only two t-shirts, a pair of jeans, a laptop and his pick-up.
Schmuki diversified his ap-proach to making art in the seven years following Ka-trina. Although he’d studied ceramics, his nomadic life-style made practicing ceram-
ics impractical. He diversi-fied his approach to art by incorporating living mate-rial, welding, engineering and
more. “I am a product of a liberal
arts institution,” Schmuki said.
Schmuki’s exhibit “Arma-gardden” opened Sept. 7 at 5 p.m. in the St. Edward’s University Fine Arts Gallery. During the opening, the art-ist explained how his experi-ences have shaped his art.
The exhibit will remain open to the public until Sept. 27.
Schmuki’s exhibit is a hy-droponic system of tubes, powered by solar energy, that nurture several dozen eatable plants. The sounds of the hy-droponic system, like water gurgling, are amplified and broadcast through a home-made speaker system. This creates an eerie background noise that sounds wholly organic. During the installa-tion’s stay, a few students will
be in charge of monitoring the system so that the plants will be correctly supported.
The prints created by Schmuki and his partner that hang on the walls around the living installation are com-posed from old hydroponic system drawings and sprin-kled with plant-like colors.
The overall effect is as if the visitors to the installation have stumbled upon an eco-logically-friendly scientist’s futuristic plans.
Schmuki began his trans-formation as an artist by picking up several Chia Pets at a thrift store. While cutting the Chia Pets apart and glaz-ing pieces of them, Schmuki became enamored with the growth of the Chia plant.
Since that first brush with organic material, Schmuki has continually incorporated Chia and other plants into his work.
In 2009, Schmuki created the Mobile Collards Gar-den Public Intervention. He painted a container pink and placed a hydroponic system that supported the plants sprouting from it within the container. He then took his piece into grocery stores and began conversations with people shopping in the fresh foods section. He asked them questions about the origin and make-up of their food.
“I started becoming more of an activist in my work,” Schmuki said.
Willa [email protected]
Fine Arts Gallery exhibits pieces that are alive
Photo by Peter Beck“Armagardden” is made up of of a hydroponic tube system.
[slapdash] “Art ghoulery” JOIN HILLTOP VIEWS
come to weekly meetings in Moody 209 at 5 p.m.
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7LIFE & ARTSWEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2012 • HILLTOP VIEWS
Weekly ‘Flix Fix takes the legwork out of wading through thousands of film choices on Netflix, bringing you the most truly bizarre, quirky and out-right amazing gems instant streaming has to offer.
“The Baby,” released in 1973, is a self-described “rarely seen ‘70s cult shocker” tucked away in the dark re-cesses of the Netflix horror section.
Viewers are completely un-prepared for what they are going to find.
This movie has everything you would expect of a cult classic and much more: bad hair, suspense, cattle prods, murder and a full-grown man in a diaper.
“The Baby” moves at a dif-ferent pace than the gory horror films that you may be accustomed to, but what it lacks in gore it makes up for in suspense by being both highly disturbing and rather revolting story-telling.
The story fol-lows a social worker, Anne, as she investigates a case involving the Wadsworth family. The fam-ily does not seem too unusual at a first glance. It’s a single mother, her two grown daughters Germaine and Alba, and their baby brother. Only the baby is actually a full-grown man.
The first time you watch
this movie, you might think, “What am I watching and why am I watching it?” but
stick with it, this movie is re-ally very entertaining.
While the storyline is wacky and disturbing, the characters are the real gems.
The Wadsworthes are the
most malevolently tacky mix-tures of bad hair, deep-seated psychological issues, and un-settling sexual tension.
Germaine is the near-spit-ting image of a soulless Lana Del Rey and Ms. Wadsworth looks like Jack Nicholson in drag.
And of course you have to give props to the man who played Baby, because it takes real dedication to crawl around in a diaper for the en-tire filming of a movie.
“The Baby” may not make you high pitch scream, but it will leave you with an unset-tled feeling in the pit of your stomach that will stick with you for a long time.
Kelsey [email protected]
Stephanie [email protected]
70’s cult horror film terrifies, intrigues and raises questions
Culinary celebrity Anthony Bourdain gets a taste of Austin
IMDB.com“The Baby” disturbs viewers with its man-baby title character.
WEEKLY ‘FLIX FIX | THE BABY
During a recent episode of “No Reservations, ”An-thony Bourdain said a “hip-ster apocalypse” hit Austin. Bourdain kicked off the final season of his award-winning show “No Reservations” in Austin during the South by Southwest Festival. The episode aired Sept. 3 on the Travel Channel.
Bourdain focused on bands and food, but overall wanted to figure out what makes Austin so beloved and bi-zarre.
The show’s first stop was at Barley Swine, where Bour-dain was accompanied by the rock trio Ume. They feasted on food that was more on the fancy side with dishes such as foie gras, fried shrimp heads and grilled chicken testicles.
Bourdain also visited Franklin BBQ. Bourdain was simply amazed by the quality of the meat, calling it a “re-ligious experience of BBQ” and “far and away, the best I’ve ever had.”
He visited Perla’s to have
the trigger fish and an octo-pus dish with the head chefs. They spoke about how the one thing that does not work in Austin is high-end res-taurants.
Next, he fo-cused on the city’s iconic food trucks, where he was surprised by the variety and quality of food that can come from these restaurants on wheels.
While at his favorite trailer, El Taco Rico, he savored their dove enchiladas and barbacoa.
He went on to travel to dif-ferent restaurants in Austin with the company of differ-ent bands. He had fish tacos at Quality Seafood Market with The Sword respectively.
With Neon Indians, Bour-dain dined on Mexican pas-tries and porkchops at La Mexicana Bakery.
With legendary guitarist Alejandro Escovedo, Bour-dain had cabrito, or goat
neck, for dinner at El Azteca. The final stop was with The
Golden Boys at Texas Chili Parlor, the band’s favorite restaurant.
This episode really sought to spark the viewer’s interest in trying the more unique foods in Austin as opposed to the famous hamburger and pizza places on South Congress.
During the episode, Bour-dain said it was “a great week of music, fantastic food and partying with a bunch of cool new rock star friends.” This episode reminded Aus-tinites why they love their hometown so much and of the unique foods from all the wonderful local eateries.
Photo by Kristina SchenckTravel Channel poster boy Bourdain ate at La Mexicana Bakery on South First street.
“Bourdain seemed to really love the city of Austin and all it offers, stating that it was ‘a great week of music, fantastic food and partying...’”
“Germaine is the near-spitting image of a soulless Lana Del Ray and Ms. Wadsworth looks like Jack Nicholson in drag.”
8 LIFE & ARTS WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2012 • HILLTOP VIEWS
The sun shone brightly, the temperature peaked at over a hundred and the crowd grew by the moment until the fun began from the instant the clock struck six.
The 11th annual Hillfest, held on Friday Sept. 7, played host to various Austin-based food vendors and musicians.
Cabo Bob’s, P. Terry’s, Aus-tin Pizza and Lucky J’s of-fered a delicious array of food to suit any palate.
Even the more barbaric hunger could be satisfied thanks to the turkey legs that were also being served.
The delectables didn’t end there, though. Anyone at the fest with a sweet tooth needed only to visit Jim Jim’s Water Ice or find the funnel cakes.
Soft drinks were readily available, along with water. Unfortunately, due to the ex-treme Austin heat, the crowd drank the fest dry by about the halfway mark. But this slowed no one down.
Undoubtedly, there was one feature of Hillfest that stood out above the rest: Pax, our living Hilltopper.
Early in the festival, Pax could be easily spotted by a herd of adoring fans gathered around him, awaiting their turn to show the fleecy goat some love, and snap a photo with the beloved university mascot.
In addition to the beloved Pax, for the thrill seekers in attendance a mechanical bull, scrambler, and bungee trampo-line offered quite the adrenaline rush. There were also carnival style games providing fun and prizes to whomsoever wished to try their luck and skill.
“The rides were better in the pre-vious years, but there were more food vendors this year, which made up for it,” senior Michael Ricondo said.
And of course, since this is Austin, we cannot forget about the music. Austin, Tex-as natives The Eastern Sea and Wheeler Brothers graced the humble Hilltop for the affair. Both bands have al-
bums out now. The Eastern Sea was featured on MTV Buzzworthy this summer and will also perform at Aus-tin City Limits music festival this coming October.
Sophomore Sebastian Ro-man, who is a member of Student Life and worked with the University Program-ming Board to help organize
the event, said that the music was more of a focal point in this year’s event as compared to previous years.
“Creating this event around music represents the city it-self,” Roman said.
“The bands were pretty le-
git,” freshman Anjelica Cor-tez said. “I liked the atmo-sphere too, how everyone was actually sitting on the grass together. It was relaxing...a nice break from classes.”
Ricondo also appreciated the atmosphere.
“The environment was chill and relaxing...the people made the experience. All from different backgrounds, different places, all hanging together. It was definitely memorable,” Ricondo said.
Moreso than any other Hillfest, the 11th really went out with a bang. A fantastic fireworks show closed the event and brought together the entire student body.
“What I liked most about Hillfest was seeing everyone standing, sitting and kneel-ing across the road in front of Main Building lawn during the fireworks,” Roman said. “I was down by the soccer field and the sight of everyone to-gether cheering and united during the show proved that we had been successful in cre-ating unity within the univer-sity, which is one of the main purposes of Hillfest.”
Eleventh annual Hillfest starts school year off with a bangRyan [email protected]
Photo by Amy BarrientosStudents take in the firework spectacle as Hillfest ended.
Photo by Amy BarrientosAttendees compete to win prizes by shooting water at a target at the classic carnival game.
Photo by Amy BarrientosUniversity Programming Board included a swing ride among the many Hillfest attractions.
“I was down by the soccer field and the sight of everyone together cheering and united during the show proved that we had been successful in creating unity within the university....”
- senior Michael Ricondo
9LIFE & ARTSWEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2012 • HILLTOP VIEWS
Truthfully, the name John Nash may not ring any bells for most; however, this math-ematician, Nobel Prize for Economics recipient, and subject of the 2001 film “A Beautiful Mind” is one of the most influential economists of the last century. In addi-tion to all of these accom-plishments, Nash is also a diagnosed schizophrenic.
At 84, Nash has been around the world giving lec-tures, attending conferences and accepting awards for his contributions to modern eco-nomic theory. Recently, he came to Austin for charity.
Nash and his wife Alicia attended and spoke at a spe-cial screening of “A Beautiful Mind” at the Alamo Draft-house Village on Sept. 16.
When asked if the movie was a fair representation of what happened through-
out his life, Nash had mixed emotions.
“The film has a different story than the literal truth,” Nash said. “The movie shows some visual hallucinations, but this doesn’t usually hap-pen. You may have thoughts
or opinions that aren’t logi-cal.”
In spite of this, Nash added that it was a good film.
When asked the secret to overcoming his diagnosis, Nash said, “Diagnoses are too much respected… Time
moves forward and situations change. I don’t think people with a diagnosis should be… branded. Someone with in-fluenza has the flu, he isn’t an influenziac.”
The couple was also asked what it was like to spend so
much time on set with Rus-sell Crowe and Jennifer Con-nelly, the actors who play the Nashes in “A Beautiful Mind.”
“Jennifer is a wonderful ac-tress and I was very flattered,” Alicia Nash said. “I was dis-appointed Russell didn’t get the Academy Award.”
The event was put on by The Hope Concept Well-ness Center and The HOPE Project, a peer-led wellness center located in Dallas-Fort Worth. All proceeds went to the Planned Living As-sistance Network of Central Texas, an organization seek-ing to aid people with mental health issues and their fami-lies.
“Everything is specifically tailored to the individual,” said PLAN of Central Texas’ Board Chair Elizabeth Cho-ate. “We provided services and support for those af-fected by mental illnesses and their caregivers.”
Both the PLAN of Central Texas organization and this particular event were spear-headed by Cécile DeWitt-Morette, professor emerita at the University of Texas.
DeWitt-Morette knew the Nashes personally from her time studying at Princeton. She asked the couple to at-tend in order to raise funds for PLAN of Central Texas.
She started the organiza-tion because she has experi-enced mental illness in her own life. DeWitt-Morette’s daughter Jan is living with obsessive-compulsive disor-der.
“I wanted to help her, but I also wanted to help others at the same time,” DeWitt-Morette said.
With this in mind, she be-gan PLAN of Central Texas with eight other families struggling to provide ad-equate care for their family members living with mental illness.
Mitch [email protected]
Nobel Laureate raises funds for mental health and wellness
Photo by Mitch HarrisJohn and Alicia Nash stayed after the screening to sign autographs and pose for pictures.
South Korean rapper PSY entertains America Gangnam StyleMitch [email protected]
The world, or at least the United States, was unpre-pared when South Ko-rean rapper PSY unleashed “Gangnam Style” on the world.
Published on Youtube on July 15, PSY’s music video for his hit single “Gangnam Style” has since received more than 194 million views in three months. There is no question as to why.
PSY’s video contains every-thing one could wish for in a music video—dancing chil-dren on playgrounds, attrac-tive women in horse stables, expensive cars in an aban-doned parking garage, and an
infectious horse-riding dance craze that is sweeping the na-tion.
The dance consists of three parts—a horse riding maneuver (with ones hands gripping the rains and bounc-ing to the beat), roping like a cowboy (without ever throwing the rope) and a sideways leg shuffle (see at-tached picture).
However, the meaning be-hind the song has nothing to do with horses. It is, in fact, a classic Korean love song. Throughout the song, PSY is attempting to woo the “sexy lady” mentioned in the song.
The lady is not merely sexy though, according to the lyr-ics. She must also be “a girl
who looks quiet but plays when she plays” and “a classy girl who knows how to enjoy the freedom of a cup of cof-fee.”
PSY’s only chance of woo-ing her is by being “a guy who has bulging ideas instead of muscles.”
Contrary to popular be-
lief, Gangnam is not a style of dancing. It is however an extremely wealthy region of Seoul, South Korea.
“It’s like the Beverly Hills of Korea,” PSY said in an inter-view with ABC News.
PSY continued to explain the humorous juxtaposition of the video. “Dance doesn’t look like Beverly Hills… So that’s the point. It’s sort of a twist.”
PSY himself is actually 35-year-old Park Jae-Sang. Although he may be new to the states, PSY has been a k-pop sensation in Korea for more than ten years now. His first album was released in 2001, his first movie in 2002, and has even been a na-tionwide Korean talent show
judge.PSY shows no signs of
stopping either. “Gangnam Style” is currently number one on the iTunes music vid-eo chart. His appearances on Ellen, the MTV Video Mu-
sic Awards, and live perfor-mance in Dodger’s Stadium ensure that even if PSY fades into a one hit wonder, it will be a wonder we will not soon forget.
Photo by Mitch HarrisGangnam Style is characterized by classic “cowboy” moves.
“[Gangman] is like the Beverly Hills of Korea.”
-South Korean rapper PSY
SPORTSWEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2012 • HILLTOP VIEWS 10
With sweat dripping down his back, he lines the ball up with the basket and takes a breath before bending his knees, exhaling and sending the ball soaring down the court to swish effortlessly into the net.
Senior Joseph Saldana found a place on the NCAA Hilltopper basketball team in a way unlike many of his teammates—through an in-formal game while playing intramural basketball in the RCC.
“I don’t really know how it happened,” Saldana said. “During the school year a couple of players played a game against the coaches and I did really well. I dropped like 36 points. Later on, I got a random email from Coach Cook that said he was inter-ested in me being a walk-on.”
Saldana’s relationship with the Hilltopper basketball team has some history, but he was not immediately picked up by the team.
“Two years ago Joseph came to me about trying out for the team,” said An-dre Cook, head coach of the men’s basketball team. “At that point we did not have any walk-on tryouts, so I
told him to keep working on his game and to stay in touch with me.”
Not one to be easily dis-couraged, Saldana continued to strive to be an excellent basketball player.
“During that year he played intramurals against my former assistant, David Martin, and took his basket-ball class,” Cook said. “Coach Martin became very familiar with Joseph and his abilities. He also realized the type of person that Joseph is.”
Saldana guaranteed his place on the team not by be-ing particularly tall or shoot-ing three-pointers with his eyes closed, but by being a team player.
“As a player, Joseph is not blessed with height or a ton of basketball talent, but what he does have is a tremendous amount of heart—he plays 100 percent on every play,” Cook said. “I have no qualms with putting Joseph into a game.”
Saldana is also a part of the College Assistant Migrant Program (CAMP).
“I’m part of the CAMP program here at St. Ed-ward’s,” Saldana said. “Both my parents and my grand-parents were migrant work-ers. I’ve always had to work hard for what I had, and on
the basketball court you have to be dedicated.”
More than that, though, his upbringing was not an easy one, but one filled with constant struggle.
“My childhood was hor-rible,” Saldana said. “I...watched violence around me and I wasn’t disciplined. My hero is my uncle, Daniel Pearson, who really changed the way I view life. He taught me how to be a man—with-out him I wouldn’t be the man I am today.”
Through hardship and struggle, one thing has stood out to Saldana: persever-ance.
“So many people told me I that I was never going to make it because I’m short, but I did,” Saldana said. “It feels good to make my younger brothers, Imman-uel, Abraham and Jeremiah proud. They tell me all the time, ‘dude, you’re my hero.’”
The men’s basketball team will be back on the courts when they host the St. Ed-ward’s University Shootout Nov. 9 and 10.
SPORTS CALENDAR
MEN’S SOCCERSun. 9/16 | 1 p.m.vs. Midwestern State
WOMEN’S SOCCERThurs. 9/20 | 1 p.m.vs. UT-Permian BasinSat. 9/22 | 1:00 p.m.vs. McMurry University
VOLLEYBALLThurs. 9/20 | 7 p.m.vs. Arkansas-Fort SmithSat. 9/22 | 12:00 p.m.vs. Newman University
RUGBYSat. 9/22 | 10 a.m.Heat of Texas Tourney
MEN’S CLUB SOCCERSat Sept. 22 | 3 p.m.
@ Sam HoustonSun Sept. 23 | 3 p.m. @ Texas A&M
WOMEN’S CLUB SOCCERSat. Sept 22 | 1 p.m.@ SFA
Tyler [email protected]
Walk-on Cinderella story on the Hilltop
Sara Sanchez [email protected]
Portion control can help combat the on-campus dining blues
Photo by Erin ReasJoseph Saldana walked on to the NCAA basketball team.
Most of the freshmen read-ers of this article are probably trying to figure out how to navigate our school’s dining options without gaining the notorious Freshmen 15. Fear not, for modified eating hab-its can redeem you.
It is endlessly tempting to have a chicken tender sand-wich every day, or to have two servings of tater tots instead of one. But if you do this then add stress and lack of sleep and exercise to the mix, you’ll
dig yourself a hole pretty quickly. Try limiting your in-dulgence foods to only once a week, at most. Pretend like the ice cream sta-tion in Ragsdale is invisible. And when you are in line for those tots, think twice and ask your server to give you a reduced portion.
On your quest for more bal-anced eating habits, you will be confronted by resistance and negativity. There will be
times when you’re studying late and impulsively reach for the phone to order a large
pizza with extra pepperoni. To lessen the blow, invite some friends over and turn your one-man study session into a full blown pizza party.
You will not only have fun but also ensure that you only eat one slice instead of the whole pie.
College is not the place to deprive yourself of the things you love—it is a place to learn how to balance them with other areas of your life. So if you feel like you cannot get through the week without a brownie from Hunt, find a friend and split it, and marvel at how you can be in control of portion control.
“College is not the place to deprive yourself of the things you love.”
Photo by Shelby ColeSalad is just one of many healthy on-campus dining choices.
11SPORTSWEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2012 • HILLTOP VIEWS
Column as I see ‘Em is your weekly fix for all things NFL.
Giants at PanthersLook for Eli to have an-
other big night as two young quarterbacks go head to head against weak secondary defenses. High scoring game, Giants by 7.
Rams at BearsChicago, coming off a
rocky loss to Green Bay will be forced to contend with a hot St. Louis, look for Cut-ler to throw at least two in-terceptions. St. Louis by 3.
Buffalo Bills at BrownsBuffalo, with the most
rushing yards this season, will run all over the Browns defense. Watch for C.J. Spiller to dominate, Bills by 14.
Buccaneers at CowboysAfter turnovers handed a
loss to the Cowboys, look for Tampa Bay to force just as many turnovers this week. Bucs by 7.
Lions at TitansThe Lions put up a good
fight against the NFC fa-vorite 49’ers last week, if Detroit can get their penal-ties under control, they’ll be a major threat. Lions by 14.
Jaguars at ColtsBoth teams are struggling
out of the gate. Look for a sloppy game, multiple turn-overs and a low score. Colts by 3.
NY Jets at Miami DolphinsThe Jets are struggling
to take off, but against the
flopping Dolphins, they shouldn’t have any issue getting a win this weekend. Jets by 21.
49ers at VikingsNiners roll over the Vi-
kings, look for Frank Gore to have a big day. 49ers by 21.
Chiefs at SaintsNeither team has a win,
but the Saints definitely have an edge over the Chiefs. Another sloppy game, Saints by 7.
Bengals at RedskinsRG3 and the Redskins
showed massive potential against the Saints. The Bengals beat a lackluster team in the Browns. Look for RG3 to have a solid game. Redskins by 10.
Eagles at CardinalsArizona pulled out a
shocking win against the Patriots last week, but their luck doesn’t compare to the Eagles last minute wins. Philly won’t need luck this game. Eagles by 10.
Falcons at ChargersLook for a solid grudge
match between these two teams. Matt Ryan and Phil-lip Rivers will put up big numbers. Falcons by 3.
Steelers at RaidersA loss to the Broncos and
a win against the Jets has the Steelers sitting in the middle of the AFC as far as early season goes. The Raiders are faltering early. Steelers by 14.
Column as I see ‘em
Nolan [email protected]
Two decades ago, the Brit-ish musician Morrissey re-leased a song entitled “We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful.” One can only guess what prompted that thought because it does not seem to be the attitude of most of the world–and certainly not of St. Edward’s University.
Especially where Jeff How-ard, a former Hilltopper and golf team kingpin, is concerned. Since he gradu-ated in 2008, Howard has competed in various mini tour golf tournaments. His biggest event came in June when he qualified for the Preferred Health Systems Wichita Open, an event on the Professional Golf As-sociation’s Web.com Tour, which serves as a qualifying process to the main PGA tour.
As of March, when the PGA made several changes to the rules, the tour is now the only method to earning a place in the professional league. This can be done by winning three tournaments in a season, which nine play-ers have done since the poli-cy was adopted in 1997.
The other re-cently institut-ed method for entry is to rank high enough on the money list to qualify for three events. The top 75 players on the Web.com mon-ey list are put together with PGA players ranked between 126th and 200th place and other quali-fied players, and at the end of the whole thing, the best 50 players earn places on the PGA Tour.
It is a process Howard has been wanting to get through since childhood.
“I started playing when I was about five or six,” How-ard said. “I played with my dad on the weekends and with my grandfather in the
summer. I played all kinds of sports, and I just gave up all my other sports when I was in eighth grade.”
Eventually, he would find his way from his hometown of Plano to St. Edward’s, im-
mediately joining the golf team to become what head coach Todd Ohlmeyer called “one of the better players in the history of our program.”
Howard received many honors during his time with the St. Edward’s golf team, including 2006 and 2008 All-Region and All-Conference, was a two time academic All-American his senior year and made the President’s Honor Roll twice.
It was also thanks to his performance at the 2008 Division II National Cham-pionship that the team was able to tie for second.
“The ultimate goal is to get to the PGA tour,” Howard said. “But the first step is to try to get full-time on the Web.com tour.”
He took that step when he shot a 69 in the quali-fier. Unfortunately, when the
tournament came around, he missed the cut by five shots after the second day of playing.
Missing the cut does not just mean losing. it also translates to the money Howard earns from playing golf.
In four years of playing, Howard has made $17,641, according to the Adams Golf Pro Tour Series web-site. Even pre-economic col-lapse, that does not go a long way towards living expenses.
“I get a couple jobs in the off-season,” he said when questioned on this issue. “When I was living in Aus-tin, I was caddying on the side and worked for one of my old teammates. He start-ed a food delivery company, and I worked for him for a while.”
Howard still plans to con-tinue with his career in spite of these troubles.
“Right now, I plan on still playing next year. I’ll make some money in the off-sea-son, save some money and whatever happens just try to keep getting better,” Howard said.
His old teammates also support him.
“Jeff is a hard worker and will put in the time to get better,” said Nick Cristea, another two-time All-American who graduated from St. Edward’s in 2009.
“I was very proud to see him qualify for the Nation-wide event.”
Collin Mayer, a four-time All-American from the class of 2010 concurred.
“It is a very tough uphill battle to make it as a com-petitive golfer, and Jeff ’s lat-est success is a testament to his dedication and sacrifice. I think Jeff has every bit of physical ability to successful-ly make it as a professional golfer,” Mayer said.
Sports InformationJeff Howard is attempting to qualify for the PGA tour.
Alumnus aims for professional golf tour
“I played with my dad on the weekends and with my grandfather in the summer. I played all kinds of sports.”-alumnus Jeff Howard
12SPORTS WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2012 • HILLTOP VIEWS
After playing two soc-cer games as a Hilltopper and notching a goal against Colorado School of Mines, transfer junior Anderson McDaniel earned the Of-fensive Player of the Week Award for the Heartland Conference. McDaniel left the University of North Car-olina Wilmington to be closer to home and to play soccer at a Division II university with long-time friend Gavin Bruce. McDaniel came to St. Edward’s University for soc-cer, but there is more to num-ber 10 than just an attacking forward.Shelby Sementelli: You are often on campus wearing a fedora. How would you ex-plain your fashion sense?Anderson McDaniel: I cannot believe I got caught with the fedora. Well there is actually a story behind that. I am currently in the process of growing my hair out. In that process, I have to en-dure quite a long stage of hair- length a w k w a r d -ness. During p re - s e a s o n I was shop-ping at Ma-cy’s and the famed fedora was on sale at the counter as I was checking out for only $4.99. I am a sucker for a bargain deal and had extremely awkward hair-length at the time.SS: Do you have any hob-bies, interests or habits that most people would not ex-
pect?AM: This summer I had an internship with Merrill Lynch, so it spiked my in-terests in the stock market and business world. This summer I moved into my first real apartment. I never knew this about myself, but I enjoy decorating my place. I spent a good por-tion of this summer mak-ing my room one of the coolest rooms in all of Aus-tin. I also love to enjoy the outdoor sun on my balcony with a book. I’m currently reading “A Briefer History of Time.” Everyone should check it out. I also like to jam out to some good tunes. Other than that, I am pretty boring, and I enjoy the company of my good friends and the great city of Austin.SS: What does your pre-game ritual look like?AM: Embarrassing to say, I am about as superstitious as athletes come and have too many rituals to count.
For my pre-game environ-ment, I am also a bit weird. I do not like pump up mu-sic or high intensity types of music. Usually you will catch me listening to the Beatles or The xx before a game to calm myself.SS: What do you think of
your team’s performance so far this season?AM: Since day one, I have really enjoyed my team-mates and coaches at St. Edward’s. They are all an extremely good and fun-loving group of people that all have a passion for soccer. We have a great time to-gether in the locker room, on the field and off it as well, and good cohesive chemistry goes a long way in a college team. That’s one of the strongest parts of our team. As far as on the field goes, we are do-ing quite well. We had two unfortunate losses against some highly ranked teams in Colorado, but we played well and had our chances to win the games. We just need to take the positives
from it, carry those on to the next games and do bet-ter.SS: What do you think of your performance so far this season and earning Heart-land Conference Player of the Week?AM: As far as receiving the honor of Player of the Week, I am very grateful and happy to earn it for St. Edward’s and my team. Re-ceiving it after playing only my first two St. Edward’s games is very humbling. Hopefully, my team and I can continue to put the work in at practice and play well enough so that we all can earn honors through-out the season.
Shelby [email protected]
ATHLETE PROF I LE
Rising stock: Anderson McDaniel
Sports InformationJunior soccer player Anderson McDaniel plays forward.
Shelby [email protected]
Fall sports start season off strong
VolleyballThe volleyball team opened
with the Hilltopper Classic, a home tournament on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1.
The Hilltoppers defeated Abilene Christian, fell to Col-orado State-Pueblo, swept Midwestern State and fell to Angelo State to split the weekend. Hilltopper senior libero Michelle Hundt was named the Heartland Con-ference Player of the Week of Aug. 27-Sept. 2.
The Hilltoppers opened conference play with a win over TAMU-International and bested St. Mary’s in the annual Battle of the Saints match in a nail-bitingly close win. The Toppers suffered their first loss play to Dal-las Baptist. They then swept SW Oklahoma State and fell to West Texas A&M. Hundt was honored with another Player of the Week award for the week of Sept. 3-9, along with Senior Mary McNa-mara.Women’s Soccer
The women’s soccer team has had a successful run this season, creaming all their competition in all of their five games thus far.
The Toppers bested New Mexico Highlands with a 2-0 victory, with goals scored by Jessica Traves and Taylor Wiseman.
The team fell behind in their next game against Ad-ams State College, but came back for a victory thanks to goals from Megan Anderson and Lauren Heller.
Junior defender Kate Orklid was named Heartland Conference Defensive Player of the Week for the week of Aug. 27-Sept. 2.
The team hosted Metro State, Incarnate Word and Regis College in an unofficial tournament Sept. 7-9. The Hilltoppers beat Metro State in their first game of the tour-nament, 2-1 and beat Regis with a 1-0 shutout. In the lat-est game against 9th-ranked Dallas Baptist, the Hilltop-pers surprised everyone with a 5-1 win against the confer-ence heavyweight.Men’s Soccer
Men’s soccer opened with a loss to Colorado School of Mines, ultimately fall-ing short in a 3-2 loss. The Hilltoppers then played no. 1-ranked Fort Lewis College. The first half of the game ended in a 0-0. Fort Lewis took control of the game in the second half and won 2-0.
The team traveled to play Dallas Baptist Sept. 13 for the conference opener. Dan-iel Riley scored his first goal of the season, as did Andrew Fox. James Martin added the game’s third goal just three minutes later to clinch the win. The Hilltoppers played fifth-ranked Midwestern State this weekend in a rainy match, which ended 0-0.
Sports InformationVolleyball started off with a slew of conference awards.
“Usually you will catch me listening to the Beatles or The xx before a game to calm myself.”
-junior Anderson McDaniel
VIEWPOINTS WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2012 • HILLTOP VIEWS 13
Frank Ocean. In the dense, often depressing fog of to-day’s music, he stands tall with his comrades in Odd Future–a lighthouse for mu-sic lovers everywhere to sail safely toward–untouched by the vulgarities and lowest common denominator mar-keting of pop culture. And yet, he provides plenty of songs anyone can (and will) easily sing along to, balanced with a unique, evolved per-spective on soul.
It has been a year and a half since Ocean released “Nostal-gia/Ultra,” the mixtape heard ‘round the world. Fans raved, critics frothed and A-list art-ists hoping for success by as-sociation rushed to get him to write or sing their tracks. There is no better evidence of
how high he is held in esteem than his work on Jay- Z and Kanye West’s “Watch The Throne.” It is the collabora-tion of the two most egoma-niacal rappers in the game, but when you press play, Frank Ocean is the first voice you hear, not theirs.
Fast forward, and it is July 2012. Ocean has announced his new album “Channel Orange,” and everybody’s ex-cited. Teased by the leaked first single “Thinkin’ Bout You,” and the just-released 10 minute soul opus “Pyramids,” critics predict a smash and fans are primed to make that happen.
The biggest thing Ocean ended up releasing was not bound to a melody, and con-tained not a hint of his music, but much emotion.
“Four summers ago, I met somebody. I was 19 years
old. He was too. We spent that summer, and the sum-mer after, together. Everyday almost. And on the days we were together, time would glide...it was my first love,” Ocean said in an open letter on his Tumblr blog.
Hefty words, especially hefty when they come from someone in the rap/R&B genre, one that thrives on images of pimps, ladies’ men, and “don’t hate the player, hate the game”–an image, by the way, that Ocean never shied from. See “Songs For Women.”
Before getting swelled in the hype, let’s point some-thing out. Frank Ocean is the first high-profile hip-hop/R&B artist to admit to being gay or bisexual, not the first ever. There are other openly gay artists in this genre who were out long before him, the
easy example being Odd Fu-ture’s DJ Syd tha Kyd. Others include the Le1f and Mykki Blanco, both of whom have been mentioned in “Rolling Stone.”
Of course, none of those three are anywhere near
Ocean’s level of fame and vis-ibility. If Ocean’s announce-ment does anything, it will hopefully shatter that wall, allowing artists to be judged on their talent, not their ro-mantic or sexual preferences.
In the short term, coming
out seems to have done won-ders for Ocean. His acclaim has turned him into a critic’s darling and pop success, and his performance at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sept. 6 was clearly the great-est spectacle of the night.
I saw Ocean perform July 19 at La Zona Rosa in Aus-tin, an experience I can only describe as magical. His voice seemed to float above every-thing with the sound of a higher being unencumbered by the trivialities and sorrows of life. It was as if the audi-ence were getting a brief peek into Paradise.
It reminds me of what Ocean said in his Tumblr let-ter: “I feel like a free man. If I listen closely....I can hear the sky falling too.”
I did too that night. But for once, it is not something to be frightened of.
Singer Frank Ocean opens up and breaks new ground in R&BSam [email protected]
Wikimedia CommonsFrank Ocean has become and R&B sensation this year.
Bomb scare prompts questions about safetyOUR VIEW
Imagine every St. Edward’s University student standing on the sidewalks of South Congress Avenue, waiting for the all-clear from administra-tors and police to re-enter campus after a bomb threat. Such a scene may be hard to imagine, but a similar scene was a reality for students at the University of Texas at Austin and two other univer-sities on Sept. 14.
UT Austin received a call from a man claiming to be a member of al-Qaeda around 8:35 a.m. on Sept. 14. The man insisted bombs would detonate on the Austin cam-pus 90 minutes from the call. Administrators took over an hour to alert more than
50,000 students and 22,000 faculty of the bomb threat, the Austin American-States-man reported. A campus-wide evacuation was issued at 10:53 a.m. and continued until 1 p.m..
After the inci-dent, many were upset with UT administrators’ decision to wait before alerting the school about the bomb threat. UT President Bill Powers in-sisted that they needed to evaluate the situa-tion before taking any drastic measures, but some students would have preferred more
immediate updates, accord-ing to The Associated Press.
With the rise of social me-dia, students now have an expectation of immediacy. Students are so connected
to the world via their smart-phones that they expect the same level of connectivity at school. They want to know
what is happening at any mo-ment. Even if an evacuation was not enforced early, a clear method of communication should have been established, reducing confusion.
On the same Friday UT re-ceived its bomb threat, North Dakota University in Fargo, N.D. and Hiram College in Ohio received threats of their own, The Associated Press reported. Even though all three incidents ended peace-fully, this raises the question of whether administrators should take violent threats more seriously.
UT administrators’ delayed response to the Sept. 14 bomb threat indicates that administrators had doubts
about the threat’s validity. But the fact is that the poten-tial damage done by a bomb should be enough to warrant a quick and authoritative re-sponse.
In the past, St. Edward’s has reacted quickly to bomb threats. In 2007, a series of bomb threats made to St. Ed-ward’s were taken seriously, with the St. Edward’s Uni-versity Police Department (UPD), the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Aus-tin Police Department con-ducting an investigation.
Like the UT incident, the St. Edward’s bomb scare end-ed peacefully, but there was clear, immediate action. After the bomb threat, UPD tight-
ened security across campus, easing stress.
St. Edward’s has responded effectively to threats in the past, and UPD continues to promote safety with its Emergency Response Guide, which outlines safety pro-cedures, including those in place in case of a bomb threat. UPD has extensive safety resources available on the university website.
In the case of a bomb threat, school administrators must react quickly and take the threat seriously. Even if most bomb threats are fake, there is always the risk of a real bomb being detonated on a college campus, and that is not a risk worth taking lightly.
“In the case of a bomb threat, school administrators must react quickly and take the threat seriously.”
14VIEWPOINTS WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2012 • HILLTOP VIEWS
St. Edward’s University is embarking on its 127th year of existence this school year. In all this time, it has amassed several quirky and interesting traditions. Some are legend, some are misunderstood, and some do not really exist. Here is a guide to which traditions are real, which are fake and the ones that were made up a few weeks ago.
Father Folk’s NoseFormerly located outside
of the Scarborough-Phillips Library, the bronze plaque of Father Paul Folk’s face now stands outside of Andre Hall. The bronze is mostly tarnished and the inscription difficult to read, except for one gleaming spot—his nose.
Legend has it that if you rub Father Folk’s nose before exams, you will get better grades. As to whether that is true or not, nobody knows. Because nobody has ever rubbed it. Ever.
Rubbing Father Folk’s nose may have been a vital part of exam week at one time, but it is no longer.
The Medallion CeremonyThe Medallion Ceremony
takes place only once in a St. Edward’s student’s college ca-reer. By attending, you receive a medallion of the school seal on a blue and gold band. Leg-end has it that students wear these medallions only for very few occasions—the cer-emony itself, graduation, and class reunion.
Attendance at this event is spotty at best and many freshmen never receive the prized medallion. However, this tradition is completely true.
Just glance around at Homecoming and Fam-ily Weekend. Dozens of el-derly men and women walk around campus celebrating their 50th in suits, dresses, and gleaming medallions. While the medallions may seem trivial during freshman year, the importance of the medallion only grows over time and stands as a tangible memento of what may be the four most influential years of a person’s life.
Walking through the Red Doors
The Main Building red doors are arguably the most iconic image of St. Edward’s University. However, this year there has been a special mysticism about the doors.
This year’s freshmen were told at orientation that there are only two times a student walk through the red doors. They enter the doors during the Legacy Walk their fresh-man year and exit them dur-ing the same event following graduation.
This tradition is not a tradi-tion at all, it started just this
year. While it may make the red doors seem more special and sacred, it is just plain inconvenient. You are telling me I have to walk around Main Building to get to my class just because the doors are somehow more special this year?
While a good idea in theory, the Legacy Walk is not a real tradition. Your tuition dol-lars pay for those doors. Use them all you want.
Not Walking on the SealOne of the first things stu-
dents are taught at St. Ed-ward’s is to never walk across the school seal in between Ragsdale and Holy Cross Hall. For the most part, peo-ple listen.
Some have heard threats that you will never graduate if you step on the seal. Some fear the verbal or physical abuse you may incur when walking through instead of around. But honestly, it does not matter. Do not walk on the seal because the sign asks you politely not to.
This is absolutely a real tra-dition. Do not be that guy; please walk around the seal.
Imagine walking to class one day and out of nowhere, an unused tampon lies soli-tary on the slick tile floor of your hall. Though this event did not happen often, it is the epitome of my life and high school career at an all-girls school. While this does not mean that I shrivel up and die in shock at the sight of the opposite sex, I must admit that the dynamics of a same-sex environment dif-fer greatly from the average setting of a coeducational school.
The American Civil Liber-ties Union (ACLU) seems to think single-sex schools promote harmful stereo-types about gender differ-ences, and thus the ACLU prefers co-ed schools. The ACLU’s views on same-sex classrooms can be found in their prelimi-nary findings from their Teach Kids, Not Stereo-types Cam-paign.
For example, since graduat-ing from St. Agnes Acad-emy in Hous-ton, Texas, I have found the necessity to adhere to certain hygiene standards. Shaving included. Dressing neatly, included. Makeup, tragically, included. Society, I have discovered, places much more importance on appearance than my small, all-girls school did.
For a school that was sup-posed to place great stereo-type-based standards on education, the girls at my
school seemed to have got-ten too comfortable with the fact that no boys means no need for the confining lim-its of ultra-feminine values which organizations such as the ACLU seem to fear. It seems as though society views private education, es-pecially in the same-sex en-vironment, pessimistically.
Because my school was as-sumed to have taught their students ways of female empowerment, society im-mediately time-travels back to earlier decades and falsely labels the diversion from average schooling methods as destructive, as if female empowerment equates to a society of close-minded women who seek to destroy the foundations of a pre-dominantly male-dominat-ed country.
The ACLU is guilty of the serious offense of putting this stereotype of same-sex
classrooms on a grand scale by recently releasing their study of same-sex class-rooms and announcing their mission to ban single-sex classrooms. The organiza-tion argues that dividing classes by sex promotes an unhealthy mindset con-structed of gender stereo-types.
But when 900 teenage girls are in a small commu-
nity, the result is not a close-minded school of women, but an empowered commu-nity of academic women. The girls learn to open up their minds to the many possibilities of life.
The classes I took in high school catered to the devel-oping minds of teenage girls, challenging students not only academically but also socially. These classes built within all of the students at the school a strong moral compass. My peers and I all graduated as better people.
The reason for this is that students entering the school start off with one common aspect: their gender. This similarity opens up more room to discuss certain top-ics that normally not be dis-cussed around the opposite sex.
High school is when soul-searching and the self-identification process starts. The insecurities and inhibi-tions that people bring with them from middle school are more likely to fade in single-sex classrooms than coeducational classrooms, and the results are apparent. I believe students from sin-gle-sex classrooms are more likely to succeed academi-cally because they do not fear speaking their minds, as many kids do in coeduca-tional environments do.
Austin Independent School District (AISD) is currently in talks of opening the School for Young Men, a single-sex school that would parallel the remarkably suc-cessful all-girls school Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders. I praise the AISD for ignoring ACLU’s ignorant view on single-sex classrooms.
School traditions: the good, the bad and the downright made upMitch [email protected]
The ACLU releases study about single-sex learning environment Nathalie [email protected]
Photo by Emily BlasdellOne of St. Edward’s real traditions is to not walk on the seal.
“Students in single-sex classrooms are more likely to succeed academically because they do not fear speaking their minds, as many kids...do.”
15VIEWPOINTSWEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2012 • HILLTOP VIEWS
3001 S. Congress Ave.#964, Austin, TX 78704Phone: (512) 448-8426 Fax: (512) 233-1695
Hilltop Views is a weekly student newspaper published by the School of Humanities and serving the community of St. Edward’s University. The opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the university, whose mission is grounded in the teachings and doctrine of the Catholic Church.Letter Policy: Hilltop Views welcomes all letters to the editor. Letters may be edited for space, grammar and clarity. Letters will be published at our discretion. Anonymous letters will not be printed.
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Amidst the stress of our everyday lives as financially struggling college students, an escape from reality helps to stay sane. Many turn to ac-tivities like sports as a stress reliever, while others turn to friends. However, I choose to escape to a place where others will not find silence as awk-ward, where knowledge is infinite upon every bookshelf.
Of course, this place is none other than the Scarborough-Phillips Library, which un-fortunately is not open for use due to renovations until the next academic year. In the meantime, temporary library facilities are located in Doyle Hall.
The closure of the library provides many disadvantages for our student body as we struggle to find study areas.
Indeed, staff has aimed to provide many other areas
on campus for students to study in. For example, I find that the third floor in Rags-dale Hall serves as a relatively quiet space to complete a few assignments, as long as there are not any club meetings or events tak-ing place in the ballrooms. Also, studying off cam-pus is an option for students who take advantage of the metro or who own cars.
Regardless, I find that a proper library is an irre-placeable part of a university, providing the sources and environment for students to work efficiently, no matter how many other areas may be opened until renovations are finished.
The environment of a li-brary simply motivates one to continue working by limiting
the number of distractions.The opportunity to study outdoors is rather disastrous, as we knowingly live in a state filled with overwhelming
heat and humidity that can give a student a heat stroke, rather than an environment to truly channel one’s focus into their assignments.
Many of the indoor lounge areas, as pleasant as they are in appearance, serve as rela-tively distracting settings that are filled with the consistent noise of people socializing, numerous posters on walls
that shout for your attention to be read and televisions that practically beg to be watched.
I was told that the use of one’s dorm as a study area can be catastrophic, for the place that you sleep in should not be the place where you study, due to the easily accessible bed that watches you as you study for hours on end, se-ducing you with its pillows.
So what areas are left for truly efficient studying?
As great as our newly reno-vated library will inevitably be once opened, the attempts to compensate for our tem-porary loss could have been made into a better transi-tion. Our library continues to stand as an essential place for our student body to effec-tively study, and the lack of a library hinders our ability to get our work done.
As we enter into the presi-dential election season, both parties are pulling out all the stops.
In the past few weeks, Re-publicans and Democrats have hosted their national party conventions. The votes are in, the nominations have been made and accepted. The Republicans nominated Mitt Romney while Demo-crats nominated with Barack Obama for another term.
The parties detail their re-spective platforms which is a statement of party priniciples at National Party Conven-tions. But in this day and age, we know most of that stuff in advance, so these conventions
are really more like gigantic, expensive political pep rallies, complete with a whole host of charismatic speakers giv-ing pep talks.
Over the two weeks of po-litical cheerleading, many great orators spoke on the behalves of both parties. Ev-eryone from the candidates’ wives, to national leaders, to politic’s good ol’ comeback kid Bill Clinton.
But one speech soared high above the rest.
The Republicans hinted all week that a secret speaker was to take the stage in Tampa, Fla. on Aug. 30. The antici-pation built and built as the nation kept their attention to the Republican National Convention (RNC). And then it finally happened–on
the closing night of the RNC, an 82-year-old Clint East-wood took the stage armed only with an empty chair, an invisible Obama and artful mastery of improv comedy.
For twelve minutes, the
seasoned Hollywood veteran verbally tore into the invisible Obama with no sign of mer-cy. On and on he went drill-ing the invisible Obama with a slew of unremitting and, often times, unintelligible
questions. I truly feel sorry for all the people who had transcribe Eastwood’s speech because at times it was nearly impossible to understand what he was saying, let alone follow the logic of the inter-rogation.
In the days following, the infamous speech was the topic of national debate. Was Eastwood’s speech brilliant comedic commentary on the job that Obama has done since taking office, or was it the nonsensical and slightly egotistical ramblings a of se-nile old man?
Twitter feeds blew up with posts about Eastwood’s speech and the newly created hashtag, #InvisibleObama. Moreover, the crowd at the RNC seemed to love it, or
at least the parts they could understand. As Eastwood mumbled his way from one zinger to another the audi-torium filled with laughter. Romney didn’t even seem to mind that Eastwood’s lengthy speech cut into his acceptance speech.
Many media outlets claimed that this speech was a good thing for the Repub-licans because it showed that they have a sense of humor and know how to have a good time–both important char-acteristics needed to run a country and try to tackle the over $16 trillion of national debt.
Actually, forget Romney 2012. I am voting Eastwood. He is the real political and co-medic genius.
Clint Eastwood’s chair performance raises eyebrows at RNCKelsey [email protected]
Wikimedia CommonsClint Eastwood was a special speaker at the RNC.
Library closure makes studying a hassleJoanna [email protected]
“The closure of the library provides many disadvantages for our student body as we struggle to find study areas.”
16PHOTO ESSAY WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2012 • HILLTOP VIEWS
HILLFEST ‘12 Photos by Amy Barrientos
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