Accent Newspaper November 8, 2010

First Copy Free

Nov. 8, 2010

Volume 13, Issue 4

theAccent.org

Students grow facial hair to raise cancer awareness PG. 5

ADVICE FROM A LIFE IN JOURNALISM PG. 6 WHO WERE THE BROS PEABODYS? PG. 7 news → Facilities

community → people

From Afghanistan to Austin, teaching soldiers to write

Lead levels keep drinking fountains closed at RGC

Karissa Rodriguez • Photo/Web Editor

OUT OF COMMISSION —A sign

on one of the Rio Grande campus water fountains informs students not to drink the water.

RGC remodel the only way to fix the problem Natalee Blanchat Staff Writer Photo courtesy of Kyle Long

ENGLISH TRAINING — ACC instructor Chris Leche (center in black) sits alongside Air Force soldiers from an English class she taught in

Afghanistan in 2009. “It was difficult to teach in a tent on the Bagram Airbase flightline simply because of the constant F-15s and other fighter jets taking off on combat missions,” Leche said in an e-mail describing her experience teaching the English class.

Writing courses designed specifically for veterans Christopher A. Smith

50, reenlisting as support staff.

On the way to class she’d hear the C-130s, C-180s and F16s that were constantly taking off and landing. In the cool morning air there would also be the Great Voice. A monotone human voice coming over loudspeakers, always calm, The day always began the same in the little without inflection, giving announcements and plywood B-hut that Christine Leche shared with sometimes instructions. six other people on Bagram Air force base in “The gunnery range is now open,” sometimes Afghanistan. Behind her plywood partition she would come over the speakers. would gather her toiletries quietly so as not to “Proceed to the bunkers, proceed to the bother her bunkmates and then step out into the early Afghan morning.

Andrew Pagan • Lead bunkers. Red alert, proceed to the bunkers,” Photographer would come over as calmly as a call to dinner.

It was a three block walk to the latrines and Leche spent nine months from 2008 to 2009 in showers, past the prison where suspected Taliban Leche teaches her Bagram and at Forward Operating Bases around insurgents were kept and along a road with ditches class of veterans how to improve their Afghanistan. She came to know her students well for diving in during mortar attacks. creative writing skills. and they trusted her.

She’d returned to her bunk to pick up books, “I liked the banter in the classroom. I like the student papers, and her computer, not an M-16 camaraderie of it,” said Leche. She strove to create an open and and body armor like most of her students.

Leche taught creative writing, speech and English to soldiers trusting atmosphere for her students who, coming from the strict and structured environment just outside the classroom who, instead of enrolling in college, signed up for the Marines, the Army, the Air Force. Some were 18-year-old kids toting rifles and going outside the wire on missions. Others were 40 or See VETERANS, pg. 4

Upcoming event

Editor-in-Chief

Teaching inside the wire

“Honoring the Service” Veterans Reading Thursday, November 11, 2010 7:00 p.m.

ACC Riverside Campus, Room 8100 The event will feature a reading of works written by ACC Veterans as well as a reading by awardwinning novelist and veteran Larry Heinemann.

news → Facilities

RRC televisions to remain blank as cable dealings fail Michael Needham Campus Editor

All of the blank television screens on Round Rock Campus might eventually be showing something, but it won’t be cable programming.

After months of negotiations with four major cable companies, ACC administration has hit a brick wall in their attempts to get cable television at Round Rock Campus any time soon.

“All we can do right now is put ACC stuff on the public

TVs because we can’t get cable right now from anybody,” said Round Rock campus manager Judy VanCleve.

Manager of Video Support Services for ACC, and the man who was in charge of trying to get cable programming for Round Rock, John Kennie, explained the difficulty involved in attempting to strike a deal with any of the cable companies.

“I have been making every effort to find cable,” said Kennie. “At this point no cable [provider] services that specific location.”

He explained that some cable companies were willing to bring service to the Round Rock Campus on the condition that ACC pays to get the line out there. ACC is unwilling to pay this cost because it is too high, said Kennie.

Facilities project manager Paul Mason said that it would have cost ACC $150,000 to $200,000 to get Time Warner Cable to run a mile of line from their nearest hub.

Kennie explained why they

See REMOTE pg. 3

Diana Leite • Staff Photographer

NO SERVICE — Students in the Round Rock

Student Life office socialize in front of one of many TVs found throughout the campus. Most TVs are not used due to a lack of an available cable provider.

The water fountains at the Rio Grande Campus, which have been off since Sep 29 will be out of commission for the foreseeable future. The fountains will not be turned back on until the building is remodeled with new lead free plumbing.

According to Rebecca Cole, the executive director of environmental health and public safety, the campus master planning committee will be submitting a timeline to the board of trustees for review sometime early next year. It will include costs and predictions on the amount of time it will take for construction and completion of remodeling.

“As of now, there is not a specific timeline for the remodeling of Rio Grande” said Alexis Patterson, ACC’s media relations coordinator.

The problem with scheduling the remodeling is finding somewhere to put everyone at Rio Grande while it’s closed for renovations, according to Patterson.

For now, ACC is supplying the campus with bottled water.

The estimated cost for supplying bottled water to the students and Simon’s cafe is approximately $51,000 for the academic school year, according to Cole via e-mail.

Additional testing for lead on the Rio Grande Campus drinking fountains was done in Oct and those results will be posted on ACC’s Environmental Health and Safety website in the next couple of weeks.

After the board of trustees approves a timeline, and the college comes up with a plan for the Rio Grande community, it will still be some time before the actual remodeling occurs.

According to Cole, the next step will be to get public approval for funding through bonds and other revenue sources.

Cole doesn’t believe that the water at Rio Grande is very dangerous.

“The original testing of the water fountains revealed a level of lead well below the action level required by the EPA.” said Cole “However, because it was slightly above the level of “no known risk,” the college moved forward with shutting down the water fountains as a precaution, particularly for high-risk groups such as children, pregnant women, the elderly, and people with compromised immune systems. We take a conservative approach where matters of health and safety are concerned.”

news → events

Central Texas split on annexation Sarah Neve

Assistant Editor Of the five school districts in central Texas that were considering annexation into the ACC taxing district, two voted to do so.

Elgin ISD and Hays CISD are joing the ACC taxing district and a campus will be built in Kyle and Elgin. Those campuses should open in 2013 according to the college.

The annexation will lower the cost of tuition for students in those districts from $150 per credit hour to $42 per credit hour, and raise the tax rate for homeowners in the district

by a total of $0.0951 per $100 assessed property value.

The other three school districts, McDade, San Marcos, and Bastrop ISD opted not to join the ACC taxing district.

McDade, the only district that wouldn’t have gotten its own campus if annexed, shot down annexation by 70 percent.

San Marcos and Bastrop voted against the bill with much closer margin of about 55 percent.

In an election marked with strong anti-government, antitaxes sentiment. ACC had a hard time convincing voters to agree to the taxes that go along with annexation.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a specific

political climate, but in a tough economy, it’s a harder sell on anything that involves a tax,” said Alexis Patterson, ACC’s media relations coordinator.

This semester, 272 students registered for classes at ACC that live in Elgin. In Hays, 1,007 students registered for fall 2010 classes. If any students in those two districts have already registered for their spring classes, they will be getting a refund on their tuition.

Over the Summer ACC entered into contracts to purchase about $35 million worth of land around central Texas. They are moving forward with the purchase of

the land in Bastrop that would have been the ACC Lost Pines Campus. It’s 87 acres of land that cost $3.19 million.

“By doing it now, we ensure that we have attractive land at the best value...It takes a lot of land to build a campus, and annexation will be revisited in Bastrop at some point,” said Patterson.

For the campus that will be built in Kyle, ACC spent $9.84 million for 96 acres in late June.

The land in Elgin was $3.3 million, and the college had been in an agreement for land in San Marcos, but that effort was contingent on annexation.

2010 eLectIOn resULts Elgin ISD *For Against Hays CISD *For Against McDade ISD *For Against San Marcos ISD *For Against Bastrop ISD *For Against

VOtes

Percent

2,064 1,360

60.28 39.72

6,879 4,891

58.45 41.55

147 343

30.00 70.00

4,570 5,568

45.08 54.92

4,750 5,847

44.82 55.18

FORUM

page 2

www.theAccent.org

Nov. 8, 2010

Karissa Explains

Elgin, Hays vote to join the it ALL ACC taxing district

Making healthy eating choices

Karissa Rodriguez

Photo/Web Editor

When I first became a college student I relied solely on greasy fast food and soda for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It definitely was not the healthiest choice in food, and I’ve changed since then, but unhealthy eating habits are a problem many college students have.

Making healthy eating choices is important for college students because the right foods fuel your brain and make you sharper and more focused in class.

Don’t skip meals Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day and the most common meal college students skip.

There have been numerous studies that have proven the positive effects of eating breakfast. Eating breakfast gives your brain and muscles an energy boost by feeding it glucose which will make you sharper in the morning and energized throughout the day.

One other benefit from eating breakfast includes increasing your metabolism, which will help you avoid gaining unwanted weight.

Lunch is the second most common meal college students skip. Along with helping your metabolism, eating lunch keeps you going by giving you the energy you need to keep your mind focused. When you don’t eat lunch, you are more likely to snack during the day on unhealthy foods or overeat at suppertime.

Even if you don’t have time to sit down and eat a full breakfast, at the very least you should grab a piece of fruit to eat on the go. I am always finding that I’m too busy to eat so students in the same situation should learn how to plan out meals ahead of time.

Take a healthy snack with you to munch on until you have time to sit down and eat.

Eat in moderation The freshman 15 is not a myth and eating only one or two large meals will cause students to gain weight at a faster rate than those who eat three or more small meals throughout the day.

This is because you are forcing your body to metabolize food at a slow pace. The rate

your body metabolizes food is one of the factors that determines your weight.

Slow metabolisms mean you gain weight faster and fast metabolisms means you gain weight at a slower pace.

Drink plenty of water The human body is anywhere from 55% to 78% water depending on body size and to function properly, the body requires between one and seven liters of water per day to avoid dehydration.

Soda is readily available on all ACC campuses, but students should avoid drinking it because there are no benefits to drinking soda.

Drinking soda takes away calcium from your body because it contains a high level of phosphorus. This can increase your risk for osteoporosis in later life and can wear the enamel on your teeth.

Healthy alternatives for water include skim or soy milk, watered-down juice and unsweetened tea (specifically chamomile and green tea).

Choose foods wisely If you must eat fast foods, choose wisely.

Choose fast food that is proportional in size and avoid fried and greasy foods as much as possible.

Eating just one fast food meal can pack enough calories, sodium and fat for an entire day or more and eating it on a regular basis can lead to a host of different health problems.

Some tips for eating a slightly healthier fast food meal include ordering pizza with half the cheese, avoiding the salad dressing and other special sauces fast food restaurants include on meals, order more vegetables and choose leaner meats.

The main thing to remember is that keeping and maintaining healthy eating habits will keep the body healthy and can lead to a longer life. Additionally, multiple studies have found that students who eat healthy see improved grades and experience less stress.

Karissa explains it all is a recurring column that focuses on providing students with advice on general topics that affect them. Want to suggest a topic? E-mail Karissa at pictures@austincc.edu

National anti-government attitude reflected in election results for three other communities Staff Editorial The blind hatred of all government and taxes expressed nationally during the midterm elections trickled all the way down to the ACC annexation proposals when voters in San Marcos CISD, Bastrop ISD and McDade ISD voted not to join the ACC taxing district despite the college’s comparatively low tax rate, and the clear benefit an ACC presence would have for students and for the economy in those communities.

The red tide of tea party anger and distrust washing over the country has caused Central Texas to miss an opportunity for more education, more jobs, and more opportunity.

On the list of arguments made against annexation, a new property tax was the strongest spot of contention. Once part of the ACC taxing district property owners agree to pay a total tax rate of $0.0951 cents per $100 assessed property value.

This rate is .0549 less than the average Texas community college tax rate.

There seemed to be a concern that the tax rate would forever be increasing, but the current ACC tax rate is actually lower than it was in 2006.

While a new property tax is a burden,

Letter from SGA president

Guest Columnist Dear Student Body, Please do not be alarmed at the sites of women wearing mustaches or unshaven men on campus, during the month of November. This month, SGA has committed to helping to bring awareness of Men’s Cancer Issues by

parterning with ‘Movember’.

At the end of the month, there will be a mustache growing contest with prizes for students who participated.

This is just one of the many events on campus hosted by Student Government.

Many students ask, What is Student Government?

Student Government (SGA) is an organization committed to serving the needs and guaranteeing the rights of students of ACC. For instance, at our last SGA meeting, many members, as a show of solidarity against the rash of teen suicides that have recently swept the nation, wore purple. Purple was the color that was adopted for this cause.

Thank you to all students who answered the QEP surveys. Your opinion is highly valued; your participation and input will help pave the way for future students of ACC to

share in positive rewarding experiences set forth by you.

The Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) survey was one of many ways to be heard.

SGA holds meeting every two weeks at the Highland Business Center location.

You are welcome to attend these meetings. All students currently enrolled in Austin Community College are already members of Student Government so we encourage you to join us. An officer is available to answer your questions by calling 512223-3116 or by sending an email to sga@austincc.edu.

You may find questions to answers by visiting our website as well - www. austincc.edu/sga.

On Behalf of Student Government Association, Sophia Downing President ACC SGA

a new community college in these communities would have provided an affordable education option for students, and would have been a stimulus for the local economies.

A 2005 Texas Comptroller’s report stated that “every dollar spent on community and technical colleges generates an additional $2 in economic activity, for a total annual impact of $633 million.”

Instead of bothering to consider the positive influence of having a community college in their neighborhood, voters seemed to act out of a narrow self interest and misinformation.

A columnist, Darryl Jamail, in the Hays Free Press even went so far as to say that he’d rather not join the ACC taxing district because he was fine with paying higher tuition for his kids to attend community college if it meant he wouldn’t pay a property tax forever.

He didn’t want to pay a tax forever when his family was only be using the services of ACC for a few years. He, and many others, missed the point. It’s about paying a little extra to live in a more educated, more successful, more prosperous community. ACC delivers on that regardless of whether or not you and

yours are actually attending classes.

In fact, a 2002 study released by the Texas Association of Community Colleges found that “returns far outweigh the costs, particularly when a collection of social savings is included in the assessment.” The study also states that taxpayers will “recover all investments in 8.2 years.”

The benefits to the local communities were laid out many times, but those opposed to annexation seemed to think that it was all some sort of nefarious plot

by ACC to profit off the tax dollars from the new districts.

It was not the ACC administration that decided to try to annex these school districts. It was the Texas Legislature that drew the ACC service area, and it was local groups in these five communities who approached ACC about annexation.

The annexation issue will come up again, not because the college administration has any personal desire to grow the tax base, but because it’s part of ACC’s mission to provide affordable education to central Texas. Hopefully voters won’t pass up on such a good opportunity again.

Corrections for 10/18/10 In the Oct. 18 edition, the headline for a story about a theatrical production of the Rocky Horror Revuem, the headline should have read “Religion professor stars in Rocky Horror Revue.”

Karissa Rodriguez designed the “Rio Grande Campus lead levels” chart.

Chris Scott designed the “Lets get ready to rumble” layout and Sarah Neve wrote the content.

The editorial headline should have read “Rick Perry set to win another election, Bill White better for higher education.

Advertising 512.223.0122

Editorial 512.223.0393

Fax 512.223.0904

Office of Student Life

RRC, 4400 College Park Drive, Room 2107 Round Rock, TX 78665 Editor-in-Chief....................................................................................... Christopher A. Smith Assistant Editor..................................................................................... Sarah Neve Photo and Web Editor........................................................................ Karissa Rodriguez Layout Editor.......................................................................................... Chris Scott Life & Arts/Multimedia Editor ....................................................... Sarah Vasquez Campus Editor....................................................................................... Michael Needham Accent Adviser....................................................................................... Matthew Connolly Accent Coordinator............................................................................. Lori Blewett Student Life Director.......................................................................... Cheryl Richard Staff Reporters Diana Leite, Hilary Shepherd Lead Photographer Andrew Pagan Staff Designers Elizabeth Brown, Carmen Maverick Writers Natalee Blanchat, Jason Witmer, Daniel MacCready Photographers Adrienne Sparks Staff Artist Odin Amador ACC President Dr. Stephen B. Kinslow Board of Trustees Dr. Barbara P. Mink—Chair; Allen H. Kaplan—Vice Chair; John Michael V. Cortez—Secretary, Tim Mahoney, Nan McRaven, Jeffrey Richard, Dr. Victor H. P. Villarreal, Guadalupe Q. Sosa, Dr. James W. McGufee

Have something to say?

The Accent wants to know what you think.

Write a letter to the editor by sending an email to editor@ austincc.edu or by clicking the “contact us” tab at theaccent.org

All rights reserved. All content is the property of Accent and may not be reproduced, published or retransmitted in any form without written permission from the Office of Student Life. Accent is the student newspaper of Austin Community College and is printed by the Austin American-Statesman. Accent is published biweekly. ACC students may submit articles for publication in Accent to RGC’s Office of Student Life Room 101.1; e-mail articles to accent@austincc.edu or fax submissions to 223‑3086. ACC does not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, political affiliation or disability. Accent offers ACC’s faculty, staff, students and surrounding community a complete source of information about student life. Accent welcomes your input, as well as information about errors. If you notice any information that warrants a correction please e-mail accent@austincc.edu. Individual views, columns, letters to the editor and other opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the views of Accent.

NEWS

Nov. 8, 2010

Students invited to intramural men’s basketball tournaments

Students are invited to attend the ACC intramural men’s basketball tournaments that are taking place on Nov. 13. The games will kick off at 8:30 a.m. at the Virginia Brown Recreation Center and Brentwood Christian School.

“This is for the whole ball of wax,” said intramurals coordinator Tracy Partin.

The games will start out at both schools as the 10 teams compete against each other in an end of the season double elimination tournament. The winning teams from Virginia Brown Recreation Center will travel to Brentwood Christian School to play in the final rounds.

ACC recieves certificate for excellent financial reporting

The Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) has awarded ACC with the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting. The award is in response to ACC’s annual fiscal report for 2009. This is GFOA’s highest honor for governmental accounting and financial reporting.

ACC has been recognized by this organization for the last seven years.

In a statement issued by ACC, executive vice president for finance and administration Ben Ferrell explained that the certificate “is an important indicator of ACC’s dedication to openness and transparency in financial reporting.”

He went on to say that “ACC is committed to complying with the highest standards of accounting and reporting for public colleges and universities.”

Scholarship offered to students for tutoring at public schools

Students interested in mentoring and tutoring could earn $1,100 in tuition vouchers. The “Texas Campus Compact – Students in Service” grant is funding a scholarship that requires students to complete 300 hours of community service at public schools. Upon completion of the hours the student will be given the scholarship which they can use at any public college or university.

The focus of the tutoring will be in math and science at the high school level. Students from all majors are invited to apply. Students will have one year to finish the 300 service hours. Interested students should contact Dr. Giao Phan, chair of the Educational Instruction Department, at 512-223-9228.

Austin Toros discount tickets made available for students

ACC students are eligible to buy discounted tickets for the first home games of the Austin Toros. The games will take place at the Cedar Park Center on Nov. 27 and 28. They will be playing the defending champions the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. The prices of the discounted tickets are $8, $12, and $35. Parking is available at the center for $10.

The Austin Toros are members of the NBA Development League which was founded in 2001 and currently has 16 teams.

The deadline for purchasing tickets is Nov. 24 at 5 p.m.

Interested students can find more information at: toroshomecourt. com/acc

news → Faculty

ACC full-time faculty pay ranked first among Texas community colleges Hilary Shepherd The Texas Community College Association (TCCTA) will be completing their yearly faculty salary survey this month.

ACC has utilized TCCTA’s salary scale for the past three years, and has always been ranked among the top three community colleges with the highest faculty salaries in Texas.

ACC instructor Terry Thomas submitted a document to the ACC board of trustees in February on behalf of the faculty senate which stated that TCCTA’s average salary calculations were not necessarily an accurate measure of comparison.

“A ranking based on averages is easily distorted by the large number of longterm faculty at ACC,” wrote Thomas.

“The TCCTA use of quartiles gives a very limited comparison of salaries at the Texas community colleges. The survey ignores salary comparisons of most faculty with graduate hours beyond an MA. This penalizes ACC faculty because most ACC faculty have hours beyond an MA.”

For more inFormation on acc employee salaries go to theaccent.org/interactive

Median salaries from five Texas community colleges $70, 756

70K 60K

Assistant Editor The Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Accountability conducted an online survey that will be used to create a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) for the College. A QEP is a 10-year plan that the college will implement to help improve an area of student learning.

ACC is required to create a QEP as a requirements for accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACS).

The process used to develop the QEP is up to the college.

ACC is one of the only colleges to use a survey which is open to students, faculty, staff and the community to develop the QEP. “This is a homegrown process. This is something ACC developed,” said Amanda Karel, the ACC SACS coordinator.

899 students, faculty, and community members responded to the survey, which ended on Oct. 31. Their responses will be used to help select which area of student learning ACC’s plan will focus on.

Survey participants submitted ideas for improvement, and those ideas were sorted into 16 categories of student learning.

The two to four categories ranked by survey takers as the most important will be used to begin forming rough ideas for the QEP. “A lot of these are really close,” said Karel.

Goal setting and completion (51.6 percent), and problem solving (47.2 percent) were the highest ranked categories on the survey. Mathematics (21.4 percent) and Numerical literacy (17.4 percent) came in at the bottom of the list.

According to Karel, the final student learning topic will be announced in April 2011 along with a rough plan for implementation. After this there will be a year and a half to devise specifics such as funding and which programs will be responsible for implementing the plan.

SACS will visit the campus and make recommendations to help make the QEP better in fall 2012.

50K 40K 30K 20K 10K

Goal setting and completion.................. 51.6% Problem solving...........47.2% Self-directed learning ...........................47.4% Critical thinking ...........45.9% Study skills .....................45.9% Time management ....44.0% Transition from developmental to college courses .......... 36.4 Teamwork ......................35.9% Written communication .......... 34.5% Oral communication .......... 33.7% Information literacy .. 33.1% Success in distance learning courses ..........26.7% Other ................................26.2% Reading comprehension .......... 24.3% Mathematics .................21.4% Numerical literacy ....17.4%,

Dallas County Community College

Collin College

Alamo Colleges

Tarrant County Community College

Salary comparisons from five Texas community colleges Salaries from $100,000 to $199,999

609

600

Salaries from $80,000 to $99,999 Salaries from $60,000 to $79,999

500

477

Salaries from $40,000 to $59,999 Salaries from $20,000 to $39,999

400

378

288

300

288 230

120 38

survey results 690 participants ranked the 16 areas of student learning based on importance. Participants were able to choose more than one category.

$55,868

$53,335

$53,274

$50,976

news → education

Sarah Neve

“That method gives you a good picture of where people are in their compensation. It allows you to see, effectively, a weighted average of the salaries,” said Richard Moore, executive director of TCCTA. Examples of both the previous 12-sector grid and the current six-point scale are available online through ACC’s human resources website.

Currently, there are 50 community college districts in the state, all of which use TCCTA’s salary scale.

ACC was ranked number one last year, with 490 full-time faculty members and an average salary of $62,895, according to TCCTA’s 2008-09 survey.

Nevertheless, the faculty senate still asserts that ACC’s utilization of TCCTA’s data to measure faculty salaries remains an inaccurate method.

“It doesn’t take that long to acquire and formulate the comparative salary data,” Thomas wrote. “What does take a significant amount of time over several calendar months every year is the debate between the Senate and the administration over the methodology that will be used to compare salaries.”

Before using TCCTA’s six-point scale, ACC used a 12-sector comparison grid, a method that the Faculty Senate, according to the document, would like to revert back to.

“The Faculty Senate wants to use the more inclusive, 12-sector comparison grid,” wrote Thomas.

But Gerry Tucker, Vice President of Human Resources at ACC, says the transition from a six-point to a 12-point scale has not made a significant difference.

“In terms of what we’re doing, we have not changed our methodology,” said Tucker.

“We try to make sure that, overall, our salaries are comparable. What we’re guaranteeing is that in each of the sectors, we’ll be in the top three.”

TCCTA, which has been conducting surveys for 34 years, gathers data by first asking colleges to break the faculty down by their credentials, meaning faculty members with bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees and terminal degrees are placed into separate groups. Within those groups, TCCTA asks them to indicate the lowest and highest salary, and then divides the difference by four.

Staff Reporter

Austin Community College

Community weighs in on student learning

page 3

158 106

97

75 7

Austin Community College

0 8

Collin College

200

146

0

0

3

Dallas County Community College

Data for graphs provided by the Texas Tribune. For more public employee salary information go to texastribune.org.

0

30

Alamo Colleges

26

100

40 0

Number of Faculty

News Briefs

www.theAccent.org

5

Tarrant County Community College

graphs by Elizabeth Brown • Staff Designer

Remote location causes cable service issues continued from pg. 1 decided against satellite service.

“The problem is local channel availability; you will have to pay extra to get the local channels,” said Kennie. “The ACC cable channel will not be available using satellite or Direct TV.” According to Mason there are 23 televisions at RRC that cost an average of $1,500 each. Mason explained that seven of the televisions had been requested by specific departments for purposes other than cable programming, six had been put in high traffic areas to act as message boards, and 10 were put in break rooms to be used for cable programming.

RRC was built in a rural area, and that brought up issues that ACC wasn’t expecting,

Mason said.

“I assume that future campuses in other rural areas we will have to deal with this again,” said Mason. “Having learned what we learned at Round Rock, we probably won’t put TVs in break rooms until we know what’s going on.”

VanCleve explained ACC’s intention for having the televisions.

“The vision is to get everyone together and see what kind of things they want to show and then come up with a template and find out who will enter that stuff,” said VanCleve.

She said that informational slides could be displayed on the televisions showing students how to do things like properly throw away their garbage and recycling.

Students have mixed opinions about what the

televisions should be used for.

Nursing major Matt Courtney explained why he likes their current state.

“I’m actually kind of glad that they aren’t on because I come here to study with people,” said Courtney. “If I wanted to watch TV, then I’d stay at home. I’d just prefer for them to stay off.”

Conversely, computer science major Adam Fennimore told a story about when he wished there was cable.

“The other day I had a break between classes, and I was hoping to catch a bit of the baseball game, but the TVs weren’t on,” said Fennimore.

He didn’t see any point in having two giant televisions that are turned off.

“They should at least put something on them or give them to me,” said Fennimore. “I

could put something on them.”

In VanCleve’s opinion, even if the campus eventually gets cable service they might not show cable programming.

“I think the TVs in the public areas won’t change except the one in the commons,” said VanCleve. “The main reason for having those is to provide information not entertainment.”

She told a story about when she was the campus manager at Pinnacle Campus. She was in the faculty break room and two faculty members were fighting about what to watch on the television. She felt that this kind of a problem could be avoided by showing things besides cable programming.

“If we find really imaginative ways to use it, it will be good; it will be good for all of us,” VanCleve said.

page 4

www.theAccent.org

News | Nov. 8, 2010

Veterans write about experiences continued from pg. 1 door, relished the opportunity to let their minds wander.

She taught every day of the week from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. then again from 5:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. Any down time she spent grading papers and preparing lectures. No breaks.

Christmas was just another day in Afghanistan.

“How is my task humanly possible?” Leche wondered.

She had many students from remedial to advanced, and she had to prepare for each one.

She had to be ready to travel to the various Forward Operating Bases and travel was always a dangerous proposition.

Roadside bombs, ambushes and rocket attacks don’t distinguish between soldiers and teachers.

All the conveniences of home were gone, and even the pleasure of a walk on base was not safe. Leche quit her usual seven mile walk around Bagram when she learned that snipers routinely shot into the camp.

But the classroom. Leche knew she loved that.

“What sustains a person is the exhilaration of the classroom and the incredible enthusiasm,” said Leche. “I mean (the soldiers) pour energy into it and they pour energy into their assignments.”

Leche couldn’t give any less than her all so she threw herself into her work.

“What is real is what changes us. That’s the stuff of stories,” she told her classes. She never told them what to write about, only that they find something real, something that mattered, that moved them. Her students never had to write about the military or what they saw or experienced inside or outside the wire.

“They are writing what they need to write at the time,” said Leche who knows that helping soldiers write is about more than just earning a college credit. Writing about their lives can be cathartic. It can help while on deployment and, Leche

knows, it will be especially helpful as more and more veterans return home.

For nearly 15 years Leche has taught on U.S. military bases around the world and on returning to Austin, Leche worked with ACC’s creative writing department and English department to set up two classes designed specifically for military veterans, an English 1301 course and a Memoir for Veterans creative writing course. She also helped bring together the “Honoring the Service” Veteran’s Day Reading to be held Nov. 11.

“I think there is no doubt that there is a great need for this. I think that these will be invaluable course,” said Leche.

Visions of war Mark Harden is the manager of veterans affairs at ACC. He is a veteran of the American military, having served at almost every rank from private to warrant officer in his nearly 26-year career.

Harden is also a poet.

“I’ve been writing my whole life,” said Harden. But it was in 1993 that his writing changed.

“I don’t think I really began to develop the voice I have now until probably after Mogadishu, after my time there from August to December of 1993, during the Blackhawk Down debacle.”

Harden returned to an Army post with no time or room to relax, no way to deal with the memories or the dreams that crept in.

“There was no time to detox at all. Looking back on it, some of us were really struggling. I was really struggling,” he said.

So he started a blog. He started writing and sometimes he’d post the poems he was writing.

“I would think of things, and I would think, I want to get that out. I want someone to see what I see.”

And it worked. People began to see what Harden saw in his memories, in his dreams. He’s

had poems published, but he is still shy about his writing.

This is him on the page after all.

These are his ghosts.

One dream that haunted Harden was of the day he finally got to leave Mogadishu. He kept dreaming that he was in line to board the plane back to the states but he had to show his ID before he’d be allowed to board.

Harden pulled out his blue ID card and gave it to his fellow soldier.

“Chief you can’t get on the plane.”

“Why?” asked Harden.

“You can’t. You don’t have the right card,” answered the soldier.

In his dream Harden panicked. He thought “I have to get out of here.”

So he started running.

He ran through the market, empty now of its usual press of humanity, of all the old men and small kids and tired women. He kept running through empty streets and alleys, the same ones people had been fighting and dying in, except they were all empty.

He was trying to make it to the port, to a ship.

“I have to get out,” he thought desperately. Then he’d wake up.

Harden kept having the dream. He kept being jerked awake with a false memory of never being able to leave.

“I kept having this thing, so finally I wrote about it,” said Harden. “It helped. I haven’t had it in a long, long time.”

“Sometimes the only way to deal with it is to put it down on paper, away from you,” said Harden.

“You can’t let the grief get too close, because then it affects what you’re going to do next.

You compartmentalize it. You keep it away, and then it stays there or it doesn’t.”

Harden continues to write, a decade after he left the Army.

He’ll sit in his back yard in the shadow of his arbor, and he’ll still feel the shadow of a mosque. He’ll still hear the

Christopher A. Smith • Editor-in-Chief

STORY TIME — ACC student and veteran Paul Depmore reads a story he wrote for one of ACC professor Chris Leche’s English classes at a gathering Oct. 8 at Northridge campus. Depmore served in the Marines from 2000 to 2005 and attends one of two classes Leche teaches that are designed specifically for military veterans.

women wailing, see the kids throwing rocks. He knows how helpful writing has been to him and hopes veterans at ACC will take advantage of the creative writing class being offered.

“I think a creative writing class is going to be so good.

It provides an outlet,” said Harden. “I think that’s going to really, really help veterans.

Veterans are a unique community, especially now.”

A simple word “It helps me and at the same time it’s challenging,” said Sean Moore of writing about his experiences as a Marine serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. Moore is a student in Leche’s ENGL 1301 class.

Paul Depmore is also a student in Leche’s English class.

He, like Moore, also served in the Marines. Depmore, Moore and other students from Leche’s two classes got together in late October to read some of the stories and essays they had been writing in class.

Moore, who had been an assault man and a scout sniper,

read an emotional story about life and death in combat.

Depmore read a story about taking out trash on a ship in the Persian Gulf that had his classmates laughing.

He explained that there are many lighthearted stories about military life that often don’t get told.

“Everybody’s got funny stories. (People) can relate to somebody making a fool of themselves,” said Depmore Whether serious or funny, both students agreed that it was good to have a class with veterans that could relate to their stories.

“I think it is a great to actually have an outlet,” said Moore. “(Writing) forces me to put all that out there so I can establish this is who I am, this is what I’ve done.”

Leche wants to find a way for those who have never served or never been in a class full of soldiers to see what she sees and hear the stories she got to hear every day.

“My job is to bring these stories to this other world,” said Leche. She has put together

a collection of her students’ writing from Afghanistan that she hopes to publish.

“I want people to honor what they give, who they are, how they care about their country,” said Leche.

Leche hopes that the classes she teaches at ACC will help further veterans’ ability to process what they went through, and it will allow all those who’ve never served, for those who soldiers are just visions of camo and guns, a glimpse into who these men and women are.

Leche is certain about her passion in life, and she knows she can keep doing it, keep teaching soldiers, veterans, and civilians.

“Being in the classroom with soldiers,” Leche said is what she loves. “The sense of discovery they feel. The sense of discovery I feel in being with them and the things that they teach me, that people in the toughest situations are good. That’s it. A simple word.”

That is also what Leche hopes others will see when they finally read what soldiers have to say.

CAMPUS LIFE Nov. 8, 2010

www.theAccent.org

Arts → Literature

Celebration brings altars, skulls, cars

page 5

Community → Rio Grande Campus

Interfaith panel explains beliefs

Michael Needham Campus Editor

Kids came to paint sugar skulls for the altar while their parents looked at the car and bike show and listened to live music.

The Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center (MACC), in partnership with ACC’s The Big Read, hosted about 500 members of the community at the Dia de los Muertos Celebration on Oct. 30.

“It’s cool that they got so many activities for kids,” said Adam Leyendecker. “There’s more stuff to do than just look at cars.”

Still, Leyendecker came for the car show.

He brought his candy orange tangerine 1973 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme. It has 28-inch rims, a 10-inch lift, a 350 motor, Lamborghini doors, an alligator ragtop and a three piece train horn.

“Man it’s loud,” said Leyendecker.

Leyendecker is a carpenter by trade. He decided that he could do the same thing with a car that he did with wood.

He bought a Buick Regal for $400, fixed it up, and sold it for $9,000. With that money he bought the Cutlass Supreme.

Leyendecker expressed his appreciation for the versatility of the celebration.

People from throughout the community built a variety of altars for the event. Altars are traditionally associated with Dia de los Muertos.

A group of ACC students lead by ACC administrative assistant Margot Rochon constructed one of the altars.

Theirs was made to honor the Mirabal sisters from the historical novel “In the Time of Butterflies,” by Julia Alvarez.

From the start Rochon had one clear idea for what she wanted in the altar.

“I love the idea of butterflies,” said Rochon.

“Butterflies are a striking visual element, so the first thing I thought of was having a lot of butterflies.”

Carla Douglass , sign language interpreter major explained that inquisitiveness is what brought her to help with the altar.

“I was just curious,” said Douglass. “I don’t celebrate Halloween. I wanted to see how they paid tribute to the loved ones they had lost.”

While there, Douglass learned why live flowers were

Adrienne Sparks • Staff Photographer

ICONOGRAPHY — Irene Perez-Omer describes Eastern

Orthodox Christian iconography at a sacred arts panel hosted

by ACC’s Philosophy, Religion and Humanities departments.

Theologians present sacred art Michael Needham Campus Editor

Andrew Pagan • Lead Photographer

HONORING BUTTERFLIES — Butterflies adorn an altar created and constructed by a group of ACC students to honor the Mirabel sisters from the “In the Time of Butterflies” novel at a Dia de los Muertos celebration. The novel, written by Julia Alvarez, is the basis for this year’s Big Read.

placed on the altar.

“Their fragrance draws the spirit of the dead,” said Douglass.

Dozens of kids painted designs onto sugar skulls.

MACC art instructor Lacey Richter helped the kids with their decorations. She explained the importance of the skulls.

“The sugar skulls are used on the altars,” said Richter. “They decorate them and use them as an offering.”

Creative writing department chair Charlotte Gullick was at the event to represent ACC. “ACC is here to get out the word about the Big Read,” said Gullick.

The celebration is just one of the events this semester that can trace its funding back to the National Endowment to the Arts grant that ACC received for the second time this year.

“I think that ACC got the grant a second time because we

are trying to promote literacy in untraditional places such as the Dia de Los Muertos Celebration,” said Gullick.

Thomas Torres, one of the judges for the car show, expressed his opinion of the celebration.

“The event turned out pretty well,” said Torres. “This event is an example of wanting to get the youth involved; it’s a call for next year to get people out here and fill this place up.”

Plants, icons, and songs can be considered sacred.

About 50 people showed up at the Rio Grande Gallery Theater on Nov. 3 where they heard three panelists of different faiths explain why.

“It is always so interesting to me to see intersections of people from such different religions and to see the common ground,” said ACC religion professor and coordinator of the event Melinda Rothouse.

Japanese Zen Buddhist ikebana, Eastern Orthodox Christian iconography, and Jewish liturgical song were the subjects of the panel hosted by the ACC Religion Department. The panelists were Iris Ramos from the Austin Shambhala Meditation Center, Irene Perez-Omer from IconArts, and Rabbi Neil Blumofe from Congregation Agudas Achim.

Ramos started by presenting a thorny floral arrangement she had prepared.

“I have practiced it to see if I can do it without getting stuck,” said Ramos. “I did get stuck tonight.”

Ramos explained how a floral arrangement can be likened to an enlightened society.

“An enlightened society is where everybody is appreciated for the sacredness inside of them,” said Ramos. “In ikebana we’re doing it in a dish with flowers and branches.”

After Ramos, Perez-Omar explained iconography.

“Iconography, more than art, is theology in a graphic form,” said Perez-Omar.

After singing, Blumofe explained the power in being somewhere where something is happening.

“Bringing moments that matter into time is what it is all about,” said Blumofe.

Nursing major Stacey Sutcliffe came to the event for extra credit.

“I didn’t know that I would enjoy it so much,” Sutcliffe said.

News → Student Government Association

Mustaches sprout as Movember begins Then

Now

Community → South Austin Campus

Broadcast empowers students Hilary Shepherd

Staff Reporter

The National Society of Leadership and Success will present a leadership broadcast with Tom Krieglstein called “Leveraging Facebook, Twitter and Your Digital Identity in College” at 10 a.m. on Nov. 12 in room 8100 at the Riverside Campus.

The broadcast will focus on the ins and outs of your digital identity to get ahead in school and life.

ACC has presented leadership broadcasts for several years now and the student response, according to Student Life Communications Coordinator Lori Blewett has been positive with roughly 100 students in attendance at the last broadcast.

“If you talk to students, they’re not sure what to expect when they attend the broadcasts. But they really come out of it with a sense of empowerment, and they’re able to turn that activism on campus,” said Blewett.

Lecturers in the past have included former NFL player Shawn Harper and Survivor: Micronesia participant Alexis Jones.

“We choose speakers who have a very powerful message for students that will change

Photo illustration by Karissa Rodriguez •Photo/Web Editor

SHAVING FOR THE CAUSE —Accent Editor-in-Chief

Christopher A. Smith shaved his beard for Movember to raise awareness for men’s cancers. Smith is taking a photo every day to show his facial hair growth progress through the month.

Students join in cancer awareness campaign by growing mustaches Sarah Vasquez

Life & Arts Editor

Sarah Vasquez • Life & Arts/Multimedia Editor

TAKE RISKS — ACC students watch a broadcast from Survivor: Micronesia participant, Alexis Jones at the South Austin campus. Jones, who grew up in Austin, was one of lecturers for the leadership broadcast The National Society Leadership and Success hosts at ACC campuses.

their lives,” said Tim Duffy, project coordinator and host of The National Society of Leadership and Success, the organization that presents the broadcasts.

In conjunction with ACC’s First-Year Experience Student Success Initiative, Sigma Alpha Pi presented a leadership

broadcast on Nov. 3, with renowned photographer Nigel Barker titled “Revealing a More Beautiful You.” Barker, who is also a judge on the show America’s Next Top Model, spoke about confidence.

“That presentation changed students’ lives and people’s perception about what beauty

really is: being confident. It’s about making a difference in the world. Showing compassion.

Putting your best foot forward,” said Duffy.

Students interested in developing and furthering their leadership qualities can visit ACC’s Student Life office for more information.

Austin is going to be filled with more guys sporting mustaches. It’s Movember the annual campaign that challenges men to grow a mustache.

Instead of a ribbon to raise men’s cancers awareness, Movember uses mustaches.

Movember, which is the merge of “Mo” (slang term for mustache) and “November,” began in 2003 in Austrialia and has now grown into a worldwide campaign.

Participants can sign on the Movember site (us.movember. com) as individuals or with a team to show the mustache growing progress and raise funds for the Prostate Cancer Foundation and LIVESTRONG. Several members of ACC’s Student Governance Association (SGA) will be participating this year to bring

awareness to ACC campuses.

SGA Rio Grande Senator and chair of External Events committee Sarah Whatley has planned a Movember event on Nov. 29 at the Rio Grande Campus. The event will have a health screening, free food, live music and of course, a mustache growing contest.

Chris Williams, SGA Senator for Non-Traditional Students, is a first time Mo Bro participant growing his own mustache.

“Personally, this is going to be horrible. I don’t grow facial hair at all, but really and truthfully, that shouldn’t matter. When you think of what people with cancer go through, growing facial hair should be the least of what you’re doing,” said Williams.

But Movember isn’t just for men. Women can participate as Mo Sistas to show support for the guys and/or their love of mustaches by recuriting participants, raise funds or wear fake mustaches.

page 6

www.theAccent.org

Learned What I’ve

Brandi Grissom Christopher A Smith Editor-in-Chief

Campus Life | Nov. 8, 2010

Brandi Grissom is an award-winning journalist who currently works for the Texas Tribune, an online, non-profit news organization. Grissom has also worked for the El Paso Times, the Alliance Times-Herald, the Taylor Daily Press, the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung, the Associated Press and the UT Daily Texan. Before she did all that, Grissom attended ACC from 1999 to 2001 and was the managing editor of the Accent.

I started college late. I graduated from high school in 1996, and I took some time off to work at a newspaper, actually. I worked at my hometown newspaper and lived in a few different cities and did a few different things till I figured out what it was that I really liked and what it was that I wanted to be when I grew up.

(My hometown) was in Alliance, Nebraska. The paper that I worked for was a six-day-a-week afternoon paper. Our paper came out at noon every day which is totally bizarre now. We were excited on the days we got to print in color.

I wanted to start school as soon as possible, but I also was paying for it all on my own. The least expensive route for me was to wait until I got residency in Texas and then get my core classes out of the way at ACC. I just love working at a newspaper, and so for me, at the time, (working at the Accent) was not just an opportunity to do writing, which I love to do, and some reporting, but to do the editing and put the paper together and see it through from start to finish every time it came out. It was an opportunity to get more experience at what I love doing.

I learned a lot more about editing there because I hadn’t done much work with other people’s writing before.

It was sometimes frustrating and sometimes really exhilarating to see people’s different perspectives and what people think of journalism. Some people approach stories in an entirely different way than I ever would.

I was working at the Accent on 9-11.

I remember sitting there thinking, holy cow, what am I going to do for the Accent? How am I going to report this? How am I going to tell this story? This is the most important story of my lifetime, certainly so far. So I had to figure out a way to tell the story, and the Accent didn’t come out for at least a couple more weeks so … I went to campus and started interviewing anybody and everybody that I could find on campus. But there weren’t very many people on campus. I don’t think we even had classes that day. I just remember there was hardly anybody on campus, and everybody was just in shock. And, I remember talking to a girl who was a student, and she was just sobbing because her brother was in one of the towers. She hadn’t heard from him yet, and nobody in her family had heard from him yet.

The town that I grew up in had 8,000 people in it and so for me it was a good transition to go from ACC to UT. I thought I had a lot of bravado. I felt oh, you know, managing editor of the Accent so… and I’ve worked at, you know, a real newspaper, so I thought I had my stuff together. And so I walked straight into The Daily Texan office and applied to be managing editor. Which, it turns out, is not that simple at all!

So once I figured out, oh, you actually have to work there for a while and earn your stripes first, I proceeded to go earn my stripes, and I started reporting at The Daily Texan and worked at the copy desk and was a news editor. And even though I felt pretty silly for applying to be managing editor on that first day, I was still determined that that was what I was going to do. So, I did. Eventually I was managing editor, and it was one of the hardest jobs I’ve had.

It was like herding cats.

What I learned at ACC was a lot about managing my time, learning to really prioritize. Between working at my day job and working at the paper and doing homework, learning how to prioritize is just an important life skill that you need all the way through your careers.

I basically have my dream job which is not something a lot of people can say, and I feel really blessed and fortunate to have that.

Karissa Rodriguez • Photo/Web Editor

INTERVIEWING THE INTERVIEWER — Texas Tribune writer and former ACC student

and Accent newspaper managing editor Brandi Grissom laughs during her interview with current Accent Editor-in-Chief Christopher A. Smith as the pair share their experiences working for the Accent.

Opinions from the students and staff at Rio Grande Campus

“Probably not; just because it has been like this for so long.

I don’t know if it would be completely safe to drink from the water fountain.

I buy bottled water anyways.”

r r

“After the warning signs over the water fountains areOPINIONS removed, are you going to start drinking water from them again?”

“Yes. There is a certain level of bugs and dirt in food and pipes anyways.”

“No. I don’t drink the water from public places for that very reason.”

Steven Reyna,

Darla Mottram,

“If they still have the water coolers, I’m probably going to drink from them.

But if I’m thirsty I’m gonna drink the water from the fountain.”

“I would drink the water again if they find the lead pipes and remove them.

Just because the levels are acceptable that doesn’t mean I am going to take it.”

“Yes, I guess. If they got the problem fixed. But I like the coolers better. The fountains are not as cold.”

Daniel Chapman,

Tripp Barlow,

History major

Fine Arts major

Sierra Pilgrim,

Psychology major

English major

Paige Blackman, General Studies

Sociology major Interviews and photos by Diana Leite • Staff Reporter

I get to tell stories that I think are important, and I have the luxury of having time to dig into those stories, to really learn my subject matter. And I get to work with people who inspire me to be better. I’m always challenged and pressed by my editors and by my colleagues to be better and do better. And I get to learn, not only new topics, but new ways to tell stories. When I started at the Tribune I could write the hell out of a story, but I couldn’t shoot video or edit audio or take a picture worth a damn. So now I can do those things somewhat competently. And that’s such an awesome opportunity, to be able to learn to tell stories in different ways.

LIFE & ARTS Nov. 8, 2010

www.theAccent.org

Arts → Games and Tech

Advice for gamers on how to host their own gaming tournament Jason Witmer

Staff Writer

Let’s face it. Video gaming is better in groups, and with the invention of online gaming, this has never been more true. Let’s take a step backwards and get back to the true roots of video gaming: live tournaments.

Sure, you can go online and play someone from Nothingsville, Missouri and consider yourself the victor, but to truly feel the accomplishment, you have to be able to look your opponent in the face and tell him or her, “I’m better.”

Finding a tournament these days can be trying, so most people opt to start their own.

It’s no easy task, but with the tools provided, and a little know-how, you and your friends, and hopefully others, will be competing to be the best in no time.

First, for any gaming event, a venue must be found. This can be an apartment, a house, an arcade, a Dave & Buster’s, you name it.

If you are going to have it in a public place, call ahead to make sure they can accommodate any equipment you’re bringing and don’t forget to keep an eye on it.

Next, figure out the game.

While one set game doesn’t have to be decided, it is best to try and stay within genres (fighting games, shooting games, etc.). Why not get everyone together to play the new Call of Duty: Black Ops? You’ll have to be sure to have enough controllers, consoles, and televisions for what you are trying to plan.

A tournament can’t happen without attendees, so be sure to let everyone know that it’s about to go down. Make calls, send text messages, create a Facebook event, tweet it, put out flyers, anything you can do to get the word out.

Tournaments generally have prizes for the winners, so you can try to get gift cards for places like GameStop, Best Buy or just a cash prize. Have everyone chip in a set amount

of money when they sign up, and remember the best payoff is 70 percent of the pot for first place, 20 percent for second place, and 10 percent for third place.

When everything is set up, and everyone is at the designated place, it’s time to set up the bracket. Just like in real sports, you’ll need to figure out who is going to play who.

Honestly, this can be a pain, so one suggestion is to use the website challonge.com, which is a free service that can create any type of bracket for your tournament. Try and keep it on a laptop or a smartphone near by so people can see who they will be going up against.

I encourage everyone to grab their friends, grab their games, and get to gaming and throwing tournaments.

Online play might be fun if you are alone, but if you have the opportunity to invite your friends over and do something fun and easy, I highly suggest you do it. Oh, and don’t forget the pizza.

Adrienne Sparks • Staff Photographer

ARCADE HITS — MadCatz gaming peripherals create a vintage feel to gaming tournaments.

The arcade stick controllers replicate the controls found on classic arcade machines and gamers can use these type of controllers on Xbox 360 gaming consoles.

Arts → Music

:

page 7

Arts → Music

Those Peabodys tribute band plays final show Bros Peabodys created to honor former local band Daniel MacCready

Staff Writer

“All these songs were written by Those Peabodys,” Bros Peabodys singer/guitarist Jack Lewandowski announced, casting a waft of confusion in front of a thin crowd during an Oct. 29 performance at The Hole in the Wall. It was the band’s final performance.

With no further declarations, the stage erupted with an onslaught of ‘70s-style, cock-rockin’ licks, raising blood pressures and eyebrows. Most of the crowd in attendance were captivated by their shear rock agility, but few were privy to the deeper phenomena they were witnessing.

Bros Peabodys, made up of San Antonio natives Kevin Gately, Jack Lewandowski, Ian White and Austinite Zach Kloepping exists only to play music they love, which just happens to be underappreciated Austin music, revealing an admiration of Austin’s music scene.

For Bros Peabodys, Those Peabodys was the underappreciated Austin band.

The band’s obsession with Those Peabodys all started with a random demo CD they acquired that ultimately lead to the formation of Austin’s most obscure tribute band.

“We’d usually go to Austin only to see Those Peabodys.

We’d sneak out, drive two and half, three hours combined to see this band play for 45 minutes. It was exciting going to Austin. You could just tell that there was more music going on there,” said Gately.

By the time Gately and his bandmates graduated from high school, the allure of the music scene brought them together in Austin.

Active musicians in their own right, they would still find every opportunity to see Those Peabodys.

“I’m so happy that I got to see them always in a local show.

We never had to fight through crowds. I could always be wherever I wanted to be to see them. My friends and I were all spoiled on this,” Gately said.

For eleven years, Those Peabodys had a niche following among rock purists, the Red River scene and the incestuous music community.

Despite their oozing talent, their momentum never quite reached buzzworthy status. A month after their formal split

Sarah Vasquez • Life & Arts/Multimedia Editor

TRIBUTE BAND — Bros Peabodys’ bass player Zach Kloepping performs at Hole in the Wall on Oct. 29. Kloepping is one of four members of the band who perform their favorite songs from Those Peabodys, a defunct local Austin band. in February 2009, their biggest fans would revive their music as Bros Peabodys.

“We all said everybody just learn the first album by the time we get to the first practice, which really wasn’t that much to ask, because most of us already knew it,” said Gately.

Bros Peabodys was born.

Gately started talking to venues where their predecessors had played and got mostly pleasant reactions from the bookers.

But there was one unavoidable curiosity: “Do the Those Peabodys know about this?”

Coincidentally, at Bros Peabodys’ first official show, former Those Peabodys’ drummer Eric Conn was playing with his band The Vitamins on the same bill. Conn demonstrated some restrained flattery, but most memorably, he was concerned with their potentially zealous set list.

“We were thinking we should play all the obscure songs, because that’s what people would appreciate,” Gately said with a laugh. “But Eric basically knocked some sense into us.”

In the “Live Music Capitol of the World,” bands are born every minute. Sometimes the search for recognition in Austin’s stew of music can obscure the notion of fun, and “making it” becomes the only objective of playing.

“To most people, Those Peabodys was just a band in Austin, so Bros Peabodys is going to be, at best, the same thing, but they’ve helped make Austin awesome for music lovers and musicians for over a decade. And that’s pretty cool even though it’s a thankless job.

They aren’t going to get a statue on Town Lake or anything. I guess we’re their statue,” said Gately.

College Rally Rally steps out of DJ booth, onto stage Sou nd

ACC Student Life leader recruited by brother Sarah Vasquez

Life & Arts Editor

The members of Rally Rally look like they belong to another punk rock or progressive rock band. But in fact, these four guys produce electro indie pop that make people want to dance.

“It doesn’t translate, right?” said drummer Jason Thomas.

Rally Rally started as a partnership between Adam Salazar and Ben Scheffler.

Both have a background in electronica music. The two decided to come together to create their own sound. “(Ben) would say come over and make some music. I’ll engineer,” said Adam Salazar, lead vocalist/guitarist. “That’s when we started playing and picking up real instruments again.”

Guitarist Miguel Salazar, who is an Austin

Community College student as a Commercial Music Management major, didn’t have a choice when he joined the band because he is Adam Salazar’s brother.

“He was recruited just by the fact that he was moving up to Austin. He had no choice in case the school thing doesn’t work out,” Adam Salazar said with a laugh.

“My brother always wanted to make music with me, so we found this perfect opportunity to do it,” said Miguel Salazar.

He’s also the director of entertainment for ACC Student Life’s Student Activity Advisory Board (SAAB).

Thomas became the final piece of the Rally Rally puzzle.

He and Adam Salazar are part of the same rave and DJ community.

“I always kept running into Adam at two or three o’clock in the morning, and I’d always say we need to start something,” said Thomas. “Almost two years went by before he called me and said come listen to this and play this, and we did. It was fun, and he’s been on my ass ever since.”

While most bands performed their first live show in a music venue among the

Red River street area, Rally Rally’s first performance was on a boat, a sold-out boat party to be exact.

Boat parties are popular in the dance music community.

The promoters can charge $25 to $30 a person including entertainment and food.

The band got the gig as a direct result of its DJing roots.

“Once people found out that we were getting together and working on a live band thing, a bunch of our DJ friends and people who throw parties started asking if they can book us for shows,” said Adam Salazar. “We thought (the boat party) would be a little-pressure opportunity to see how it sounded live.”

Unfortunately, performing on a boat proved to have its own set of sound issues.

Enclosed walls help the sound bounce into the crowd’s ears.

In an open environment, this doesn’t happen. On top of that, the moving vehicle had limited power.

“On that particular boat party, they underestimated the equipment we brought and the power draw we had. We had to do with less monitors which meant that three of us were sharing one. Jason had one

that wasn’t working as well as it should have because of the power consumption issues. We were basically playing blind,” said Adam Salazar. “Good times though. It was fun.”

Now that the band members have one EP and that memorable debut show under their belts, they are focusing on another EP that’s in the works.

“This EP that we’re coming out with now is more rock, more driving and also heavy on the electronics. It gives (the listeners) maybe more an idea of what we sound like now,” said Miguel Salazar.

“Once that’s done, it’s pretty much open the floodgates to shows, and we’re trying to get into doing the traditional shows and non-traditional shows,” said Scheffler. “We’ll be experimenting with that and experimenting with visuals just different ways to take what we do live into the studio and take (the music) out of the studio into the club.”

College Sound is a recurring feature. If you’re an ACC student and a musician, please contact Sarah Vasquez, Life & Arts Editor at editor2@ austincc.edu.

Adrienne Sparks •Staff Photographer

RALLY THE BAND — Members of the electro indie pop

band Rally Rally gather after an interview with Accent Life & Arts Editor Sarah Vasquez. Guitarist, Miguel Salazar (third from left) is an ACC Commercial Music Management student.

page 8 | Life & Arts

www.theAccent.org

Arts → Literature

Nov. 8, 2010

Arts → Games and Tech

Students write 50k word novels Call of Duty Black Ops adds new

features to blockbuster franchise

Diana Leite

Black Ops first in Call of Duty series set during Cold War era

Staff Reporter

In November, everybody with access to a word processor and an overactive imagination is challenged by The Office of Letters and Light, a nonprofit organization based in California, to write a novel in one month.

Founded by Chris Baty in 1999, National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a month-long competition held annually, in which writers around the globe are challenged to write a 50,000-word novel between Nov. 1 to Nov. 30.

With e-mailed pep talks, events held online and in local venues, NaNoWriMo is the perfect opportunity for writers who need incentives and healthy competition in order to get their writing done.

“I have written short stories for several years in high school, and I did a little bit of creative writing. I had tried to write longer things before, but I had never succeeded. When I finally tried NaNoWriMo, it just kind of happened and I got the whole story out,” said Heather Martin, an ACC student. Martin has participated three times and is twice a NaNoWriMo winner.

NaNoWriMo emphasizes quantity over quality. There is no time for detailed editing processes and extensive research during the one month.

The only thing that matters is the output. The point of this approach is to force the writers to lower their expectations, make risky decisions in their plots and write as fast as they possibly can without their fingers falling off their hands.

According to the NaNoWriMo website, more than 650 Austinites are registered to officially participate this year compared to 2009, when 579 writers participated in the region.

According to a press release from Austin Municipal Liaison

Karissa Rodriguez

Photo/Web Editor

Odin Amador • Staff Artist

Emily Bristow, of those 579 participants, 240 achieved the 50,000-word goal and were declared NaNoWriMo winners.

This year, Austin is teaming up with Houston to challenge the state of Maryland in the annual Word Count Challenge.

The challenge is an optional side competition designed to motivate its participants to aim for higher word counts.

“One year I wrote 83,500 (words). That is a lot, but we were in a word war with Houston and we really wanted to beat them. It looked like I was going to finish at 53,000, but I saw that they were winning, so I sat down and wrote some more over the weekend,” said Bristow. She is also an eight times NaNoWriMo winner.

NaNoWriMo works entirely through donations. The money that is not spent within the organization or the website is used to fund the Young Writers Program.

The program is designed to provide the tools and support for teachers to bring the NaNoWriMo experience to the classroom. Amber Kesley, five time NaNoWriMo winner, participates with her 12, 13 and 15-year-old children that participate through the Young Writers Program.

“It is a family thing. That is what I like about it, coming together as a family to help each other,” said Kesley.

But no matter what a writer’s motivation is to participate in NaNoWriMo, the common goal is still the same: to meet the 50,000 word count and to write a novel.

“I think everybody should try to write a novel at least once in their lives. If only for the experience of stretching their own creativity. Everyone should try something new and creative every year,” said Alan Rogers, seven times NaNoWriMo winner.

Call of Duty Black Ops is the latest edition in the Call of Duty (COD) series making its return to PCs and gaming consoles worldwide on Nov. 9.

Black Ops is the seventh game in the First Person Shooter (FPS) COD series franchise for PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 (PS3), Wii and Nintendo DS. Players can choose to play in online multiplayer mode or campaign game mode.

In campaign mode, the game is set during the Cold War and players mainly control two characters who are Studies and Observations Group operatives on missions behind enemy lines in locations such as the Ural Mountains, Laos, Cuba, and Vietnam.

The online multiplayer mode of Black Ops, available in Free-For-All, Team Deathmatch and Wager Match modes, retains the experience points and unlockable reward system that has been kept since Call of Duty 4 and also introduces new features unseen in previous games.

New features to the game include a new currency system, theatre mode where you can create and edit your own video within the game to upload online and the reintroduction from Call of Duty 3 of a split screen mode where players can connect a second controller and bring a guest to play online without being on separate consoles (PS3 and Xbox 360 only).

The new currency system is a major part of the online multiplayer mode where players

Photo courtesy of Activision Publishing Inc.

can use earned money to customize their character and buy new weapons and perks.

Players can earn money through leveling up and match bonuses.

One of the most intriguing online multiplayer game modes is the new Wager Match mode.

In this mode, players are able to take currency that they’ve earned and gamble it by playing against others in four different types of matches.

Players win money for coming in the top three, and those who don’t win the match lose their money.

In the Wager Match called One in the Chamber, players are given only one pistol and one bullet. Once they successfully kill another player they receive their opponent’s bullet. If they miss, they must rely on melee to kill an opponent and earn a new bullet.

Another new addition is Combat Training mode which is ideal for players new to online multiplaying. Players are able to take on artificial intelligence characters offline to earn points to level up and gain personal experience at their own pace in both Free-For-All and Team Deathmatch modes.

In a press release dated Sept. 29, Black Ops developer Treyarch revealed that zombies will return to this game in the COD series. Players will

Sarah Vasquez Life & Arts/Multimedia Editor

be able to combat the zombie apocalypse in an up to fourplayer co-op game.

Also, without revealing any spoilers, players will not just play nameless soldiers to fight zombies, but will be playing as well-known real-life characters in real settings.

Black Ops will also be playable in stereoscopic 3D and compatible with 3D-ready HDTVs and PCs utilizing active shutter 3D glasses that will need to be purchased separately. It is only available for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. In addition to the standard edition of Black Ops, there will be two collectors’ editions (CE) available. The CEs available are the Prestige Edition and the Hardened Edition.

In prestige, players are given a toy replica of the RC-XD, a remote controlled surveillance vehicle used in the game. The Hardened Edition includes a custom Black Ops limited edition medal, exclusive Black Ops Avatar outfit , four playable co-op maps and includes everthing that comes in the Prestige Edition.

Black Ops rich online multiplayer mode makes this game a definite buy. However, those interested in only the campaign mode should save their money and rent the game since it only provides a few hours of gameplay.

Illustration by: Chris Scott Layout Editor

A Savior Red

Ballhawks

Echotone

High School

New Low

A Savior Red could have quickly become the next sequel to the Saw franchise, but fortunately, director, writer and actor Brian Scott Hunt strayed away from elaborate death scenes and a hot busty victim running away from the killer (sorry guys) in his debut feature film.

Instead, the audience is left with a suspenseful thriller that messes with the psyche. A Savior Red is a story about five friends that embark on what they think will be a money making drug deal. Instead, their friendship is tested as they fight to survive in this great debut from Hunt.

There’s a loud “crack” as the bat hits the baseball that soars out of the field. The flashing lights and overwhelming enthusiasm makes it hard to remember that there is a neighborhood outside the stands of Wrigley Field. And in the streets of that neighborhood wait the ballhawks. Ballhawks is a captivating documentary by Mike Diedrich about a group of men who stand and wait during every baseball season to catch those balls that get hit out of the field. While some people collect stamps and Happy Meal toys, these guys collect home runs and foul balls.

While everyone around the world justifiably flocks to our Austin city because of our “Live Music Capitol of the World” title, Echotone reveals a deeper look of the scene many visitors never see.

As the city continues to grow larger and new high-rise condos are built, the relationship between the music scene and the city becomes tense as the venues are threatened with new government regulations such as the sound ordinance. While the film doesn’t offer an immediate solution to this debate, Echotone is a beautifully visual assurance for those rooting for the music scene.

High School may sound like a simple title for another high school film, but in fact, it’s an amusing play on words. The synopsis is pretty cut and dry.

The valedictorian could lose his title and scholarship to his dream college because he got high with a childhood friend. So what is the solution? To get the entire school to fail the mandatory drug test. A principal can’t expel all his students, right? High School manages to be genuinely funny by avoiding crude jokes that many high school comedies redundantly use.

Adam Bowers directed, wrote, and acted as Wendell in this unconventional romantic comedy that isn’t the average rom com filled with pretty people with successful office jobs finding true love. Wendell is torn between two women: a drunk emotional mess or an environmental activist who inspires him to be a better person.

But Wendell isn’t the run-of-themill Prince Charming because he is just a guy with a dead-end job and is a bit of a selfish jerk. However, it’s his witty one-liners delivered brilliantly by Bowers that makes him so endearing.