The Battalion, February 14, 2017 by The Battalion

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MAN ON A MISSION Outfielder Blake Kopetsky returns for fifth season with added leadership, motivation By Heath Clary @Heath_Clary

lake Kopetsky saw his baseball life flash before his eyes last year. As a senior in 2016, Kopetsky injured his arm on opening weekend while diving for a ball in pregame warmups. The torn rotator cuff in his throwing shoulder required surgery and an arduous rehab process. He graduated from Texas A&M last May and pondered giving up baseball for good. Then he thought better of it, enrolled in graduate school and decided to come back for his redshirt senior season. The result has been an incredibly motivated leader who ea-

Cushing home to maps of fantasy worlds

Spencer Russo — THE BATTALION

The maps on display include ones from well-known books, films and shows such as “The Hobbit” and “Game of Thrones.”

By Alice Corcoran @AliceJ_Corcoran Cushing Library houses the world’s second largest collection of science fiction and fantasy works, including first edition novels of J.R.R Tolkien and numerous manuscripts by George R.R. Martin. On Feb. 9, the library opened its new display, “Worlds Imagined: The Maps of Imaginary Places Collection,” allowing a visual element to be placed alongside the many fantasy worlds that can be found in Cushing. The project was a joint effort between Cushing and Evans libraries. Jeremy Brett, the Science Fiction and Fantasy collection curator at Cushing library, and Sierra Laddusaw, map librarian at the Maps & GIS Library

in Evans, noticed popularity within the libraries’ map collections. They decided to begin collecting more, birthing the idea for the “Worlds Imagined” display. “Worlds Imagined” contains many unique maps, including works directly from the authors and fanart. “A really interesting map is the ‘Fairyland map,’” Laddusaw said. “It’s from 1925 so it’s a second edition, and every folklore is represented. You have Little Red Riding Hood over here and Rapunzel over there … We also have a Pokémon map, a Zelda map. There’s a National Geographic map of pantheon mythology. We love maps; we went full cheese with it.” Laddusaw said she hopes the display encourages MAPS ON PG. 3

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“I love where he is right now — he’s got a new lease on life.” Justin Seely, assistant coach

gerly awaits making an impact on the team he grew up rooting for as a young boy. “I figure I can’t play baseball forever, so I might as well give

it all I’ve got for one more year,” Kopetsky said. “I’ve been working really hard and hopefully it will pay off.” Whether it’s been his inspired play during practice and intrasquad scrimmages or the times he has gotten the Aggies up to the field to practice even on days coaches haven’t scheduled anything, Kopetsky has separated himself as one of the team’s top leaders. “It’s been nice having him back,” said sophomore third baseman George Janca. “He’s been around the program for three years now; he’s one of our older guys and he’s taken over the leadership role of getting us where we need to be and KOPETSKY ON PG. 4

Officer involved in shooting in Bryan By Megan Rodriguez @MeganLRodriguez A Bryan police officer was involved in a shooting with a 33-year-old black male on Feb. 12 at about 10:19 p.m. at the 5300 block of Mallard Drive, according to a Bryan Police Department press release. Officer Steven Laughlin and another officer were the first to arrive on the scene. They were advised by a woman that a man was in her home who was not supposed to be there. The female also told officers the man had been arrested before and his protective order had recently expired. While the officers were speaking to the female, the 33-year-old male, who has not been charged yet and as such will remain unidentified, approached the group. As Laughlin began to approach the man, the man placed his right hand into his back right pocket. Laughlin told the man to remove his hands from his pocket but the man refused and made multiple statements like “Are

Carlie Russell — THE BATTALION PROVIDED

Bryan police officer Steven Laughlin.

you ready?” and “I ain’t droppin’ nothing” while moving around the back side of the patrol vehicle. During the encounter, Laughlin kept the vehicle between himself and the man. According to the press release, the male moved toward the female but continued to ask Laughlin if he was ready. Laughlin told him, “Don’t do this” and the man responded “Do it man,” and continued to act like he was holding a gun. According to the press release, the man pulled a black object from his back pocket, took a shooting stance and pointed at Laughlin, who ducked for cover and fired his SHOOTING ON PG. 2

Paintings by retired professor Robert Schiffhauer featuring black leaders are on display on campus.

HISTORY PRESERVED Paintings of historic black leaders by retired A&M professor now on display in Architecture Building By Shelby Adamson @ShelbyPaige13 In conjunction with Black History Month, portraits of some of the country’s black leaders are currently on display in the Technical Reference Center in the College of Architecture. The Technical Reference Center, located in the College of Architecture in Langford, now displays artwork of the retired professor Robert Schiffhauer which focuses on significant historical figures. Schiffhauer and Susan Gordone, the wife of one of

the painting’s subjects Charles Gordone, reached out to Texas A&M representatives over the course of the past couple years to try and find a home on campus for the pieces of art. After not hearing back for some time, Gordone propositioned the College of Architecture to house the collection. “We wanted to celebrate his contribution to the college because he was important to the college, especially because his work helped us remember the legacy from unrepresented minorities from the PAINTINGS ON PG. 4

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KOPETSKY CONTINUED getting everything scheduled when we don’t have practice.” Kopetsky grew up in Bryan as a diehard A&M fan and celebrated several of his younger birthdays at Olsen Field at Aggie baseball games. Even after a decorated career at Rudder High School, Kopetsky did not receive a scholarship offer to his hometown school and opted to attend Temple Junior College for two years. Following his first year of junior college, Kopetsky enjoyed a successful summer with the Brazos Valley Bombers, earning an offer from A&M, his dream college. “As soon as they offered me a scholarship to come here, I was like ‘Yeah, I’m coming without a doubt,’” Kopetsky said. “I did really good that summer — that was by far my best season of baseball besides this one coming up hopefully.” The Aggies, who lost six starting position players from last year’s Super Regional team, are going to count on Kopetsky’s bat and glove in 2017. He hit the ball hard in the fall and spring, and his line-drive swing coupled with his blazing speed should make him an intimidating presence in the middle of the order. “I love where he is right now — he’s got a new lease on life,” assistant coach Justin Seely said. “He’s a talented guy and he’s on a mission.” Kopetsky has played all over the diamond in his career, including pitcher — he was a reliable left-handed reliever down the stretch for head coach Rob

SHOOTING CONTINUED handgun several times, hitting the 33-year-old. The Bryan Police Department press release said, “Officer Laughlin believed the black object was a gun and he was in immediate fear for his well-being.” The object was a cell phone, but the male continued to move and conceal his hands. Once backup arrived medi-

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Childress in 2015 — and saw time in the outfield and at first base in the preseason. Recently he has been working more in the outfield and there is a good chance he begins the season starting in right field. “Blake’s really stepped up,” assistant coach Will Bolt said. “He’s a guy that was kind of forgotten about because he came here as a junior college transfer, played some, got hurt and now he’s in his fifth year and he’s taken a step forward.” However the coaches decide to use him, Kopetsky just wants to help the team. He was psyched up and ready to contribute to last year’s team in what he thought was going to be his final season

only to be saddled with the disappointment of a season-ending injury. Even though he couldn’t play or travel with the Aggies, he was at every practice trying to help in any way he could. That leadership has carried over to 2017, and Kopetsky is excited to finally get back on the field to play against a team with a different jersey. “If I had to say there was one guy who is the biggest leader on the team I would say it’s Blake,” said junior starting pitcher Brigham Hill. “He’s got experience and he’s playing like it’s his last year. He’s very passionate about what he does and I think he’s going to have a great season.”

cal aid was provided to the injured man and he was transported to CHI St. Joseph Regional Health Center in critical condition. The woman was unharmed. The incident was captured in its entirety by a body camera, and the video supports the facts listed above and will be released after consulting the District Attorney, the press release said. BPD has not identified the injured man because he is not currently being charged with a criminal offense.

As of 12:45 p.m. Feb. 13 it was reported that the male has shown improvement and is in stable condition. BPD has initiated two investigations of the incident, and the case is being investigated by the Criminal Investigation Division and internal affairs. BPD has a policy that places officers involved in shootings to be on administrative leave until there are results of an administrative review of their actions.

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A&M student, team, develops app for saying ‘Thank you’ Michael Chen says inspiration for app came from his goal of helping people, add niceness to world By Alex Sein @AlexandrSein The saying goes, “There’s an app for everything,’” and now an Aggie-made app provides another way to say, “Thank you.” Over the past several years, finance senior Michael Chen and his teammates, who are not Aggies — chief technology officer Zhen Wang, designer Kevin Ren, film director Bonnie Kay Banks and film editor Colton White — have developed an app called Givenera, which could change the way people approach social media. According to Chen, Givenera is based on traditional social media apps but the focus is on thanking people the user meets on a daily basis. “If you search information, you use Google. You shop online, you use Amazon,” Chen said. “You want to say ‘Thank you’ — you use Givenera. It’s to express your gratitude toward others. Our dream is to make helping others a lifestyle all over the world.” With Givenera, Chen said he hopes to instill in users a desire to thank people, and to build networks of friends across the entire world based on helping each other. The app has a builtin map which allows the user to input the locations where they thank people, and whenever someone sends a thank you note through the app, a bright spot appears on the map where the note was sent from. Chen said the inspiration for his life’s mission began on a crowded, late-night train in China. There, he saw a mother

sleeping on the floor with her child in her arms. “It was a cold winter. She slept on the floor, but she held her baby tightly to keep her warm, and I saw the baby’s smile on her face — I was so touched,” Chen said. “When I look at this scene, I always think that maybe 20 years ago I was the baby, and the mom was my mom. From that time, I regard helping those poor people as the mission of my life.” Chen said it was this experience that motivated him to study finance in the United States with the goal of helping people like the mother and daughter he saw on the train. David Tarvin, communication lecturer, said he has already implemented Givenera into his classes. “I am going to be offering my intercultural communication course, which is COMM 335,” Tarvin said. “I’m offering them extra credit if they use the app this semester, if they use it at least 15 times, so at least once a week.” Eventually, Chen said he and his team hope to light up the whole world, just as Givenera’s mission statement says: “Light up the map with kindness by helping others.” “My professor [Tarvin] and I — we believe education should equally teach students knowledge, plus guide them to be a good person,” Chen said. “However, our education system only rewards knowledge right now; it doesn’t have an accountable way to guide them to be a good person.” Chen said he believes appreciation should be another Aggie core value because of how powerful it can be in life. “Whether to get an A or a D in this class will not determine your future success,” Chen said. “But the spirit we emphasize — love, kindness and helping others — will bring you more opportunities in the future and the effects will be everlasting.” Nathan Crick, associate professor of rhetoric, said he thinks the app can change the face of social media. “It’s notable for reacting against the tendency for our social media platforms to become colonized by ‘trolls’ and drift toward polarization and narcissism,” Crick said.

MAPS CONTINUED people to revisit works they have read in the past or spark an interest in new ones. “What I hope people get out of this is that they view places in a new way, and say to themselves, ‘I want to read that,’ or ‘I want to watch that’ or ‘I want to go back and look at it again,’” Laddusaw said. Maps can do more than inspire nostalgia or curiosity of a new world. David Carlson, dean of University Libraries, said maps provide a different perspective on the fantasy world. “People like maps from a display perspective, but when combined with fantasy, it allows for a different way to imagine the story … it adds a different graphical element to show where the story might have gone,” Carlson said. The collection opened Feb. 9 with guest lecturer Priscilla Spencer, a fantasy cartographer. Among her illustrations are “Map of the Source” for Myke Cole’s “Shadow Ops: Fortress Frontier,” “Battlefield Map” for “Breach Zone” and the map for Jim Butcher’s “First Lord’s Fury.” Spencer said the most important part of map making is determining the point of view Spencer Russo — THE BATTALION in the map. “You need a sense of perspective and a point of view. The A new display in Cushing Library showcases maps of fictional best maps have human decision and are deliberate, they have and fantastical worlds.

Hanna Hausman — THE BATTALION

Finance senior Michael Chen said he wants appreciativeness to be considered a core value of A&M.

Tarvin said he hopes Givenera will promote meaningful communication between his students and the people around them, and will make them appreciate the impact that a simple “Thank you” can have. “I think it has the potential to encourage others to recognize gratitude,” Tarvin said. “It’s important for us to reach out to others and to express any kind of thanks. I think the app is called ‘Givenera,’ so he wants to create an era where we all think about giving to others.”

artwork and the map exudes a tone in one quick visual way,” Spencer said. “Who is making the map? You need to feel like they exist in that world and the fictional map-maker needs to have a personal connection with the narrative.” Spencer said maps should feel like they come from the world they are displaying. “When you look at the map at the beginning of ‘The Hobbit,’ you want to feel like you are looking at the map Bilbo and Thorin used on their journey. Maps should make you feel like you are holding an artifact of that world, and you can see that world’s priorities and values through visual cues,” Spencer said. Eric Schall, Class of 2011 and geoscientist, said what drew him to the event was the collision of the imaginary and reality that exists within maps of fantasy worlds. “Part of storytelling is to tell us things about our world. Taking that same concept, you can apply it to what Priscilla is doing [fantasy map illustrations],” Schall said. “Maps can be propaganda — like displaying a country as an octopus holding onto its colonies — and they reflect a place’s culture. They allow us to share experiences before we experience them ourselves because they convey information to the reader. Geology and cartography is the nexus of science and art.” The exhibit is open to the public and will run through Oct. 10.

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Nineteen of retired architecture professor Robert Schiffhauer’s 50 paintings of prominent figures in African American history are currently on display in Langford.

college and Texas in general,” said Cecilia Giusti, the associate dean for Outreach and Diversity for the College of Architecture. Schiffhauer, an A&M professor of architecture for 40 years, chose to create these portraits to bring these people back to life so they may be studied and shared, Giusti said. “We thought it was very relevant to honor [Schiffhauer’s art], especially since we started the semester remembering MLK, so the offering reception was the same day that the university celebrated MLK here on campus,” Giusti said. Gordone is the project director and archivist for the Torch

Bearers project, which looks into archives that are unreachable through digital media and aims to uncover stories that have been lost throughout history. “I am wanting to make sure that the lives of these people are studied. You know, this portrait collection [is] about paying homage to those in our past for overcoming the dark nights of history and of yesterday and guiding through them into the dark nights of today and tomorrow,” Gordone said. “We talk about them as the ‘torch bearers’ because what they contributed to the world is still part of how we advanced.” Nineteen of Schiffhauer’s 50 portraits will be temporarily on display in the College of Architecture. Ian Muise, Class of 1992 and visual resource curator at the Technical Reference Center, met with Schiffhauer to decide which portraits to display.

“The people that we have profiled here are statesmen — they’re involved with the arts through music or theater or something like that,” Muise said. “So they’re a good cross-section of civil rights figures — Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. are both represented.” Gordone said the paintings being displayed are important to her because she wants her late husband to have a place on campus. “I wanted to leave something on campus to relay his legacy. He had not only won the Drama Pulitzer, he had broken down so many barriers in Hollywood and New York,” Gordone said. “He was a national figure. I was trying to find a way to leave his memory on campus.”

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