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Happy Chinese New Year! Saturday, Jan. 28 marked the start of the Chinese New Year, ringing in the year of the Rooster.
Jacob Martindale — THE BATTALION
Lowell Mick White, instructional assistance English professor published his third book, “Professed” in October 2013.
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President Donald Trump was inaugurated Friday, January 20.
Aggie authors Cassie Stricker — THE BATTALION
Students, faculty, writers share the inspiration behind their work By Mariah Colón @MariahColon18
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or many aspiring authors, publishing a book can often fall under the timeline of “one day,” but for some students and faculty, “one day” came much sooner. Natalie Black, biomedical sciences senior, published two books with her younger sister, the first when she was just a freshman in high school. “My sister and I actually co-authored two novels,” Black said. “The first one is called Double Sided and we published that one when I was a freshman in high school … and the second book we published was a sequel to that and it was called The Third Side and that one was published two years
later.” Black said the initial idea for writing the novels came from her younger sister. “My sister was actually the one who decided she wanted to write a novel, and my father told her it was silly to wait until she grew up and that she should just start now,” Black said. “So she asked me if I would help her because I was a little bit older and a little bit stronger as a writer at the time, and I said, ‘Sure.’” While Black and her sister focused primarily on fiction novels, other authors channeled stories that resonated closer to home. Lino Anunciacion, English senior and published poetry author, said his inspiration comes from events that happened in his own life. “While some of the poems are fictional a lot of them are based on things that have happened to me — traumatic things, good things, romantic things. I pretty much write as a cathartic means of expressing my
own personal life story,” Anunciacion said. “Every collection I have is like a marker of my experience and my journey as a writer and as a human being.” Anunciacion has had five of his poetry collections published. He said he would advise students hoping to be published to self-publish as soon as possible and build up their name and reputation. “You find the poems that you want, you figure out the thematic connections and the messages that you want to put out there that a poetry collection could afford you that a single poem couldn’t,” Anunciacion said. “You collect those poems and put them in a Word document. I go through Createspace.com, a platform through Amazon that allows you to upload your manuscripts, you upload a book cover and they will print your books for you.” Lowell Mick White, instructional
By Luke Henkhaus @Luke_Henkhaus Family and community members gathered at the Brazos Valley African American Museum Saturday afternoon to celebrate the life and 100th birthday of area native Johnie Mae Gillespie-Anderson. The first of three daughters born to John and Gertrude Holston-Gillespie, Gillespie-Anderson entered the world on January 29, 1917 — a time when the Women’s Suffrage movement was gaining momentum and the United States was only months away from officially entering the first World War. Her birthplace and early home was a black community in Bryan called Silver Hills and although she would move several times during her life, Gillespie-Anderson stayed deeply connected to her Brazos Valley roots. Oliver Sadberry, Brazos Valley African American Museum Curator and A&M Class of 1970, said the celebration of Gillespie-Anderson’s century of life was consistent with the BVAAM’s mission to preserve and convey the experiences of African Americans in the Brazos Valley and beyond. “This is part of the history of the community,” Sadberry said. “This lady — Jan. 29th she’ll be 100 years old. She was born in this area, so she’s been in and out of this area all of her life. So that’s certainly part of the story that we want to tell.” The celebration included scripture readings, prayers and remarks from three local Reverends, a musical tribute from the Anderson Family Choir and the presentation of an official proclamation from the city of Bryan wishing Gillespie-Anderson a happy birthday. Byron Ferrell, to whom Gillespie-Anderson is a great aunt, said for
Five generations of Johnie Mae Gillespie-Anderson’s family gathered to celebrate her 100th birthday.
President Donald Trump has issued more than a dozen executive actions in a little over a week, some of which were met with widespread opposition. Here’s a brief summary of some. — Staff report
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Immigration ban
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US pulls out of Trans-Pacific Partnership
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Affordable Care Act relief
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Freezing regulations for administration review
AUTHORS ON PG. 2
Brazos Valley African American Museum celebrates 100th birthday of local woman
Cassie Stricker — THE BATTALION
Trump signs several executive actions during first week in office
BVAAM ON PG. 2
The United States refugee admissions system is suspended for 120 days as of Friday, as well as banning entry from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days. People with dual citizenship with two passports in any of those areas, as well as people with green cards and work visas, are blocked from entering the country. It also suspended the Syrian refugee program indefinitely.
This order withdrew the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade partnership with 11 other countries aimed at increasing economic involvement between them. The agreement had not gone into full effect because it was waiting for all 12 countries to ratify its initialization.
The Secretary of Health and Human Services can delay implementation of any ACA provisions that can be perceived as a financial inconvenience to states or individuals.
All regulations with the exception of health, safety, financial or national security matters must be approved by the Trump Administration directly. TRUMP ON PG. 3
Women’s basketball falls to Mississippi State in 71-61 loss By Alex Miller @AlexMill20 Texas A&M started hot against Mississippi State Sunday, but soon fizzled and was unable to recover despite a furious second half surge. The Aggies’ (15-6, 5-3 SEC) streakiness combined with a solid finish from Mississippi State (21-1, 7-1 SEC) led to the Bulldogs’ 71-61 victory at Humphrey Coliseum Sunday afternoon. A&M was unstoppable to begin the fourth quarter, scoring the first seven points of the frame as the Bulldogs started 0-of-5 from the field. Using a 10-0 run dating back to the third quarter, the Aggies were able to pull within 55-50 with 6:31 remaining in the game. That, however, was as close as the Aggies would get. The Bulldogs made their final four shots from the field and were 7-of-8 from the free throw line in the final two minutes of the game. Curtyce Knox scored a game-high 20 points, adding seven assists for A&M. Knox did not have a strong supporting cast throughout the majority of the game, however, as State neu-
tralized her options and forced the assist-machine to take the majority of A&M’s scoring upon herself. All-American Victoria Vivians led the Bulldogs with 18 points, adding five rebounds. The duo of the versatile Vivians and 6-foot-7 center Teaira McCowan – who had 10 points – controlled the post on both ends of the court, giving State a hefty advantage in the paint. A&M battled back-and-forth in the third quarter to keep State’s lead marginal, and was still in reach following the third period as the Bulldogs led 55-43. Vivians knocked down a three for State to open the second half, but Knox scored four quick points for A&M to get the Aggies within 44-33 with 7:44 in the third quarter. State continued to showcase its dominance, following the fast points with a drawn out 6-0 run to push its lead back to 50-33 at the 5:11 mark of the third period — its largest of the game. The Aggies went three minutes between scoring during that span. After Knox scored the first seven points of BASKETBALL ON PG. 3
FILE
Sophomore forward Anriel Howard scored eight points and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds in the Aggies’ loss to Mississippi State.
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The Battalion | 1.30.17
AGGIE AUTHORS CONTINUED assistant English professor and published author of three books, had a longer publishing experience for his first novel. “My first novel took about three years to write and three years to find a publisher,” White said. “I kept sending it out and sending it out until somebody liked it. It’s a long process and some writers get depressed by it, by rejection… I knew it was a really good book and I had faith in it and eventually somebody understood what I was trying to do, but it took about three years and 60 rejections.” White said his inspiration comes from the world around him. “The story collections are set in Texas and are about people’s lives. Usually people have some sort of a problem that makes for a more interesting story,” White said.
“[That Demon Life] is about a bunch of crazy people living in Austin and engaging in bad behavior a lot, and Professed is set in a large university in Austin that we don’t like at A&M and it [is about] people involved in the academic world, what they confront and how they live their lives.” Brandon Larson, English senior and published author who wrote a fictional novel called The American Civil War of 2018 based on the political climate of 2011, said like White, the people and situations around him are his biggest inspiration. “If I had to say anything I think what inspires me in my writing is the stories of people,” Larson said. “Everyone has a different story and a lot of times through my writing real people are expressed in my characters — their personalities, their traits, things that have happened to them. So that inspires me to tell people stories.”
Alex Sein — THE BATTALION
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk recently announced plans to provide global satellite internet.
A&M experts question SpaceX plans for satellite internet
BVAAM CONTINUED
By Alex Sein @AlexAndRSein
him the occasion was nearly indescribable. “I can’t even put into words what it means because people just don’t live to be 100 these days and the things that she has been through and seen since 1917 — it’s amazing,” Ferrell said. Ferrell said despite her age, Gillespie-Anderson remains quite capable, both physically and mentally. “My aunt has a lot to offer,” Ferrell said. “She’s just an amazing person. You can tell she’s healthy, she’s in her right mind, she gets along fine, but it’s just a blessing because she was able to be here this long and that in itself is just awesome.” Over the course of her life, Gillespie-Anderson held a wide variety of jobs, working in cotton fields, a winery, a laundry room and a cafe, and later become a dedicated volunteer at her children’s schools and the Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church. Gillespie-Anderson’s grandson John Agent reflected on all his grandmother has seen in her century of life, and said he is often amazed at how much she has retained. “It’s like this wealth of experience,” Agent said. “A lot of it she can’t share back because you have to kind of remind her, [and then] she throws it back at you. But when she throws it back at you, you’re just sitting there in awe.” Agent said even as her age has increased and her descendents have become more and more numerous — now including 14 grandchildren, 24 great-grandchildren, 23 great-great grandchildren and one greatgreat-great granddaughter — Gillespie-Anderson has remained dedicated to the happiness of others.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk recently revealed his plans to provide global satellite internet, but there are still many obstacles to overcome before it becomes a reality. Musk’s satellite Internet, in theory, would have many advantages over what is available today — aside from global coverage, it would be significantly faster and would have more bandwidth. According to Ars Technica, the system would employ approximately 4,400 new satellites, and it could theoretically cover the whole planet with high-speed internet. However, Walter Magnussen, director of communications at A&M, is not as optimistic about the plan. “What’s happening right now within wireless communications is as the cellular companies and everything else are transitioning, beginning to transition, from 4G to 5G, the cell sizes become very, very small,” Magnussen said. A cell, according to Magnussen, is the area that a single satellite can cover with the same speed of Internet, and that size is rapidly shrinking. With 5G coverage, the cell size could drop to only a few houses. Magnussen said to cover every place on the planet, there would either have to be millions of satellites or massive upgrades to satellite technology. According to Radu Stoleru, associate professor of computer science and engineering, there may be many smaller problems with the satellites as well, namely their proposed LowEarth-Orbit (LEO) trajectories. “For LEO satellites, there are some additional challenges to reliability,” Stoleru said. “Because the view/connection to a satellite, from a fixed point on the Earth, is quite limited in time (when compared with GEO sat-
Cassie Stricker — THE BATTALION
The BVAAM celebrated the 100th birthday of Johnie Mae GillespieAnderson this weekend.
“At 100 she’s still very humble, and very polite,” Agent said. “So that’s one of those things I’ve always kind of laughed about, that she really works hard at making sure everybody else is okay.”
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ellites, which remain in the same position on the sky — thus your satellite antenna at home does not need to move).” Stoleru also cited unpredictable atmospheric conditions and enormous costs as reasons why Musk’s plan might prove problematic. However, while Magnussen agrees that costs may be too high for worldwide application, he believes there could be a niche market for high-speed satellite internet, namely those on ships or planes who need access to the internet no matter the cost. However, according to Guy Almes, former director of the Academy for Advanced Telecommunications who first brought the internet to A&M, SpaceX’s recent launch of 10 Iridium-NEXT satellites could be a harbinger for their own satellite internet plans. “Iridium’s total plan, as I understand it, is for 70 satellites to be launched, into low Earth orbit, and they can do internet connections up to speeds of 1.5 [megabits per second],” Almes said. “Including in really remote places for reasons that have to do with the low Earth orbit and their technology.” Iridium plans to provide services like Facebook connectivity to remote parts of the world, but in the future, they hope to expand their network to do much more. Almes also believes that although global satellite coverage is possible, in the past, it has been plagued by latency — it takes light too long to travel between traditional Internet satellites and the ground. “What’s exciting about networks like Iridium is that if you pull those satellites into low Earth orbit,” Almes said. “Then the speed of light delay and getting the packets from the earth to the satellites and back to the earth are very low, but the problem then is in low Earth orbit, you need a whole bunch of them.”
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PODCAST COURTSIDE CONVO WILL TAKE LISTENERS THROUGH AGGIE MEN’S BASKETBALL’S 2016-2017 SEASON.
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BATT SPORTS REPORTERS WILL BREAK DOWN THE 2017 A&M BASEBALL SEASON ON SOUNDCLOUD AND ITUNES.
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The Battalion | 1.30.17
TRUMP CONTINUED
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Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines construction to advance The Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines, which received overall negative feedback to their construction, have both been directed to be built by President Trump after recently being halted. Companies involved in the Keystone XL pipeline were told to reapply. Construction of DAPL has been expedited. The Secretary of State has 60 days from the executive order to decide the pipelines’ fate.
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Streamline environmental review Infrastructure projects in the United States have been sped up. The Chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality has been instructed to create tighter procedures and deadlines for environmental reviews.
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Promoting “US made” pipelines The Secretary of Commerce has been instructed to plan for any pipelines created in the United States to use materials made in the country to the “maximum extent possible.” All material used to make pipelines will use American-made materials from now on.
Review domestic manufacturing As per his promise during the 2016 election, President Trump ordered a new directive in hopes of streamlining and lifting the burden on domestic manufacturing. Stakeholders will review and have a say in the new regulations on domestic manufacturing along with the Secretary of Commerce.
Increased border security Construction for the wall along the United States-Mexico border that President Trump promised during his campaign has now entered the designing and planning phase. Federal funding for the wall is being researched, as well as any additional funding needed, and aid from the Mexican government, “direct or indirect” according to the order, is being looked into. Five thousand more Border Patrol agents are being hired. The “catch and release” policy, which released illegal immigrants caught by officials would be released until their hearing with an immigration judge, has been ended and state and local law enforcement will act as immigration officers.
Increased undocumented immigrant security Undocumented immigrants will face a new level of scrutiny with a levy of new security measures being rolled out by the Trump administration. Measures will include hiring 10,000 Immigration and Customs officers, sanctioning countries who will not accept their deported citizens, removing high priority undocumented immigrants like criminal offenders and other steps.
Lobbying ban Every executive appointee in every executive agency cannot lobby for that agency for five years after leaving the agency. Those same individuals are also banned from lobbying for foreign entities or political parties.
Military review President Trump signed an order instructing new Secretary of Defense James Mattis to create a plan to defeat ISIS, create a preemptive protection plan for 2018 and review military readiness and submit those plans 30 days from Jan. 29. Mattis will also review the national defense’s missile and nuclear capabilities.
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Restructure National Security Council
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Freezing federal workforce hirings
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Abortion policy reinstated
A memorandum signed by Trump aims to give the National Security Council a new direction towards cybersecurity. The memorandum also allowed for high ranking members of Trump’s staff to attend National Security Council meetings like White House chief strategist Steve Bannon.
All government agencies, with the exception national security agencies, have been banned from hiring new employees as of Jan. 22.
The Mexico City Policy, which blocks tax dollars from funding foreign, non-government organizations that promote or perform abortions, has been reinstated by President Trump. This policy has been repealed and reinstated several times since its establishment by Ronald Reagan.
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FILE
Senior guard Curtyce Knox led the Aggies with 20 points and seven assists.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL CONTINUED of the period for A&M, her teammates finally came to the rescue, and the Aggies closed the quarter with seven scattered points from Danni Williams, Anriel Howard and Khaalia Hillsman. The first half had contrasting quarters for each team, as A&M had a strong start, but cooled in the final ten minutes due to foul trouble and limited production down low. State had nine assists on nine made shots in the second quarter, and the Bulldogs held a 41-29 lead at the break. Vivians and McCowan stepped up big for State in the second quarter, combining to score 19 of the Bulldogs’ 26 second quarter points. On the other end, the State defense was solid, limiting A&M to just nine points in the period on 3-of-11 (27 percent) shooting. Knox made a jumper to extend the Aggies’ lead back to seven at 22-15 with 9:16 in the second quarter. The Bulldogs embarked on an 11-0 run, however, giving State the lead back at 26-22 with 5:25 left in quarter – one it would never relinquish. The first quarter was filled with several runs, leading to A&M holding a 20-15 advantage after the first 10 minutes of play. The Aggies were 64 percent from the field to the Bulldogs’ 35 percent, but seven A&M turnovers kept it from taking full advantage from the shooting differences. After a sluggish start from both teams, A&M took the first lead 2-0 on a layup by Hillsman with 8:41 to go in the first quarter. State’s defense began to strangle the Aggies’ paint play, however, forcing four turnovers and the Bulldogs converted on the other end to take a 7-2 lead at the 6:32 mark of the opening period. The Aggies started to click, using a 10-0 run to take a 12-7 lead with 3:02 left in the quarter. State went ice cold, missing seven straight shots and had nearly four minutes pass between made baskets. State closed otd deficit to 14-12 after two consecutive made buckets, but back-to-back threes by Knox and Williams gave A&M their largest lead of the quarter at 20-13 with 13 seconds remaining. William made a jumper from the middle of the paint just before the buzzer, cutting State’s deficit to five at the end of the quarter. A&M returns to action Thursday when it hosts Florida (11-10, 2-6 SEC) at 7:00 p.m.
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The Battalion | 1.30.17
AGGIE DANCE TEAM TAKES CENTER COURT By Michelle Milstead @mmilsteadd
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hile the Aggie Band may have football halftimes on lockdown, the Aggie Dance Team takes that honor at every home men’s and women’s basketball game — and the occasional volleyball game, too. Their dance routines mostly constitute hip hop and jazz styles, and include pom sequences that serve to cheer on the team helping the Yell Leaders in energizing the crowd. Baylee Fisher, dance science junior, joined the 23-member team her sophomore year after having danced for almost 17 years. She said even though it is a lot of hard work, the payoff of being on the dance team makes it all worth it. “I want to pursue a career in dance and I think it’s a really good experience to have when I want to teach and be a coach to younger girls,” Fisher said. “Obviously practice and working gets tiring and overwhelming sometimes but once you’re performing, it’s worth it. Plus we get to perform at A&M, which is one of the best universities, so that’s probably the best part.” Fisher said the most challenging aspect of being a part of the team, besides managing all of the time it requires, is making sure she is always presenting a respectable image not only for the Aggie Dance Team but
FILE
The Aggie Dance Team performs during halftime at both men’s and women’s basketball games. They also occasionally perform at volleyball games.
A&M as a whole. “Being a dancer at A&M we have a lot of eyes on us so we have to be a good represen-
The 23-member Aggie Dance team takes the Court during men’s and women’s basketball games during halftime. FILE
tation for our school,” Fisher said. “Our appearances are a really big deal. Anywhere we go we have to be attentive and ready to go and not like ‘I dragged myself here and I’m tired’ because yeah, we do work really hard but we still need to look good.” Business freshman Brittany Powell has only had one semester on the dance team but said the team has already made a huge impact on her freshman year because of the friendships she has made with the other girls and the community she has found within the team. “I love all the girls on the team and I didn’t expect that because even in past dance teams I’ve been on there’s always been that one group you talk to,” Powell said. “I didn’t expect the older girls to be so welcoming but they invite me to do things outside of the team and are always trying to include us so I think we’re really like a close group of friends now.” Madison Kuczynski, economics junior, is on her third year of being a member on the dance team and said it has taught her a lot about adaptability with leadership changes as well as learning how to get along with all types of personalities. Her freshman year on
the team there was a different coach who she said had a more hands-off approach, but the new coach the team has had for the past two years is a lot more involved. “My experience on the team has changed a lot every year,” Kuczynski said. “Freshman year I had a different coach and it was a lot more chill but there was definitely a divide between grade level on the team. But the girls who are now in charge of social activities and our coach is really into team building and team bonding, so it’s just been cool to see how when leadership has changed, it’s also changed the team dynamic.” Kuczynski said her motivation in being on the team is not only about the joy she gets from performing but also about the experiences she gets to make and the friendships she has formed. “The tournaments are really fun, like the March Madness,” Kuczynski said. “Last year we went to Nashville and we went to Oklahoma City, and we had great games so it was really fun to be there. Also we got to go to Disney in Anaheim so that made for really fun memories to look back on.”
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